A/N:

A Queen Among Women: It truly is. But I'm glad you think so!

Dalyn Hughes: Maybe, but the reason he was looking to go to Manual's agency was to keep an eye on Iida, and I don't know where Edgeshot's agency is.

Something was wrong. Iida wasn't making any moves to defend himself whatsoever. Izuku skidded to a halt in front of his classmate.

"Iida?" The green-haired teen snapped his fingers in front of the expressionless helmet twice, receiving a startled swing at his hand.

"Calm down, it's just me." Izuku gave a wave that people give when trying to deescalate a situation, which actually seemed to work.

"Sorry. I don't know what came over me." Iida's voice was calm, but his eyes were frightened.

He had a feeling things were going to happen between him and Iida, but this was a bit beyond what he had expected.

In his distracted state, he didn't notice Ojiro come up from behind until he was tagged.

"Darn it," the teen muttered. "You feeling better?" he asked his friend with a tap to his tracker.

"Yes, I'm fine."

"If you insist." Midoriya quickly ran off to the recovery station, passing a few teammates and radioing others.

The game went smoothly after that; he didn't even run into Bakugo.

"Attention students! The last five minutes will be a sudden death! From here on out, if you get tagged, you're out for the rest of the game!" All Might announced over the speaker system.

Renewed vigor filled each and every competitor, until the only ones left standing were Izuku and Kaminari on team B and Hagakure and Bakugo on team A.

"I'll take Bakugo. You got Hagakure?"

"Sure thing man," the electric teen replied.

"Like I'll let you tag me, Deku," Katsuki sneered.

The two ran towards each other and let loose. Izuku's speed and agility were just as blinding as Bakugo's explosions that he used to redirect his trajectory. Izuku was on the offensive, using his ferocity to force his classmate to keep retreating without a chance to counter.

Kaminari and Hagakure had their own battle nearby, but nowhere near as intense as their teammates. A quick struggle resulted in Hagakure using her invisibility to sneak around Kaminari and grab his shoulder.

Nearby, a chain swung through the air with devastating speed. Bakugo took a few strikes, most of which would leave bruises or red marks. He hardly noticed the pain, solely focused on not being beaten again.

A loud buzzer rang through the grounds, cutting off the fight before a winner could be determined. "Time is up! The score is seventy-two points for team A and seventy points for team B!"

"Looks like you lucked out, Deku."

"I could say the same about you."

Both classmates and their teams returned to the entrance of Ground Gamma, where All Might was already waiting for them.

"You all did very well today. There is not much to discuss, so I'll let you all change and return to the classroom before doing so."

After a short trip back to the main campus, the guys and girls split ways to change.

"Hey, Midoriya, look at this," Mineta whispered.

Just next to his locker, a poster on the wall had been peeled back to reveal a hole carved into the wall.

"Don't even think about it Mineta. Getting caught peeping is more than enough to warrant strict punishment," Iida advised from a short distance away.

"Sometimes you have to take a risk!" Mineta retorted. He put his eye right into the hole and began muttering nonsense about what he was going to see.

"That's real heroic, you know that?" Midoriya asked as he pushed the teen away from the hole. That same moment, one of Jiro's earphone jacks shot through the hole, almost impaling Mineta's eye. It flopped around looking for a target, then slowly retreated

"You would have deserved that, you know," the green-haired teen stated as he fed the jack into the hole.

"Sorry about that, we'll get someone to fill this in," he offered when Jiro's earlobe retracted to the room next door.

Not surprisingly, most of the girls made blatant attempts to avoid the short teen throughout the rest of the day.

"As I said before, you all did very well. However, I do have some notes for each of you regarding what you could do or not do to earn more points should we do this again." As he spoke, each student was handed a sheet of paper with feedback.

'Don't rely on yourself so much?' Izuku asked himself as he skimmed the page.

"That is all for today. I will see you all next time!"

All Might left, and the kids began sharing what they got back with each other.

"I had a feeling he would mention my mobility," Kirishima muttered.

"Yeah. I don't think he saw me enough to leave feedback," Hagakure replied.

"It's only natural, given your circumstances. Still, he has a point when he mentions my lack of awareness of my surroundings," Ojiro added.

The final bell of the day went off, and the students quickly packed their things to go home. Most of them were out of the door quickly, except the person Izuku needed.

"Iida, I need to talk to you," Izuku said as he approached his classmate.

"I'm sorry Midoriya, but I must be heading out," he replied nervously. He hurriedly packed his books and was halfway to the door when Izuku stepped in front of him. For a brief moment, Iida stepped back in response.

"I'll make it quick, but I need you to listen."

"Very well. What is it?" Iida asked once everyone else was gone.

"I can see how you are around me now. I can tell how scared and unsure you are when I'm near you. And what I want to say is, I get it if you don't want to be my friend anymore."

"You really think that's what I want?" Iida questioned after making sure his hearing was okay.

"Don't give me that bullshit. Just now you tried to get away, and you literally froze in place during training. I get that being trained by Stain is enough to ruin a person's reputation, but you also have to go about class knowing my mentor is the reason your brother is in the hospital. You probably won't be remotely comfortable around me again any time soon. So starting now, I'll treat you as a classmate. Nothing more, nothing less."

Izuku went to leave and was already out the door when his classmate grabbed his shoulder. It wasn't rough, but it wasn't a friendly, gentle grab either.

"Why did you do it? You had to have known who Stain was and what he did, yet you willingly let him take you under his wing."

Izuku sighed, not at all eager to go where this was going. "Sit down, it's a loaded response."

Iida and Izuku both sat down in the nearest seats, neither speaking as Midoriya prepared himself to recall some unpleasant things.

"Just...imagine. You're a child who wants nothing more than to be a hero; the greatest hero. You're already practicing to use whichever of your parents' quirks you inherit. You prepare catchphrases for when you become famous and spend day after day waiting for your quirk to finally manifest. Your friends get their quirks one by one, but nothing changes for you."

The teen took a deep breath and continued.

"Then one day you're taken to a doctor for a checkup. That's when you get told you're quirkless. Each and every test they use have come to the same conclusion; you'll never have a quirk. At the age of six, your entire dream is all but shattered. The people you thought were friends make it their mission to make your quirkless life miserable, the teachers do little to help, even your own mother indirectly tells you she doesn't believe you can be a hero."

All at once, Iida had been dragged into a story he never expected. He had known quirkless people had it rough in modern society, but he had never guessed just how bad it had been for his classmate.

"Your former best friend constantly bullies you, telling you you'll be nothing, that compared to them, you're less than the dirt they walk on every day. That you should jump off the roof and hope for a quirk in the next life."

Izuku turned to look out the window, not trusting himself to make eye contact at this point of the story.

"And you know what? Maybe I would have. Maybe I would have taken his advice and killed myself. Whether or not he truly meant it, I would never find out. But I didn't. I didn't because I met him."

"I'm sorry, Midoriya. You don't have to keep going if you don't want to," Iida tried to offer.

"No, you wanted to know, so I'm going to tell you. As I was saying, when I first met him, he had saved me. I would have died that day if he didn't stop the villain that attacked me. Yes, he scared me. Yes, I was constantly telling myself to call the police, but he did something no one else did."

Izuku looked into Iida's eyes, then spoke.

"He gave me a chance. He saw potential in me that no one else saw. He, the Hero Killer, was more willing to help me than anyone else I had known. And that's why I trained under him. For the first time, I had a chance to become something more than a quirkless loser. As ironic as it is, Stain was the one who gave me the means to try to be a hero."

Midoriya wiped away the tears he didn't even notice until he finished, and his classmate was looking like his emotions were undetermined as well.

"I'll let you go now. I'll see you tomorrow, I guess."

Izuku had gotten all the way to the main gates when Iida came up from behind and asked him something.

"Was it Bakugo? Was he the one who told you to...well...do that?"

"It's that obvious, huh? Yeah, it was him. I still don't really know why he has it out for me. Maybe because I was an easy target, maybe it's for that one time I offered to help him after a fall."

"I do want to be your friend. I admit it's hard to be around you when I know you had loyalties to the man that ruined my brother and almost killed me, but you also fought him to save me. You've been a good person to us, and I know that not even too deep, I don't want to lose you as a friend."

Izuku smiled, which was slowly returned.

"It'll probably be hard to be around you for a while, but I want you to know that I don't intend to hurt your feelings," Tenya offered.

"Thanks."

"But on that topic, what are you going to do when the others find out? I know about that video Kaminari has on his phone, and it sounded like Mina may have recognized your costume."

"I don't really know. I guess I'll cross that bridge when we get there. But on a happier topic, what did All Might give you for feedback?"

"Oh, he said I should work on my navigation of small, cluttered spaces. I understand where he's coming from, as I am easy to outrun under the right circumstances. What about you?"

"He told me not to rely on myself so much," Midoriya replied.

"It makes sense. You were trained to work on your own. It would only make sense that you stick to that even when you have teammates. Or at least place most of the burden on yourself."

"Yeah, I see that looking back."

The two chatted all the way to the station, where they parted ways.

As the detective had said, rumors had a way of spreading. By the second day back from internships, almost everyone at UA had either seen or heard of Stain's possible student.

"I heard of the 1-A students has a costume just like the one Stain's apprentice wore," Izuku heard one of the other UA students say.

"What if it is one of the 1-A students?" another asked.

Things weren't any better in homeroom. A few of the conversations revolved around the rumors, and a few students stole quick glances in his direction.

"Everyone, get to your seats," Aizawa instructed upon entering the room.

"Summer vacation is nearing, as you all know. After careful consideration, we have decided to hold a training camp in the woods for vacation."

He may as well have told them they won the lottery. All at once, the class exploded into excitement.

"Oh man, I can't wait! I went camping as a kid, but this is going to be so much more exciting!"

"I wonder what kind of training they're going to have us do?"

"Who cares? As long as there's open baths!"

"Enough!"

The room went silent faster than it had become excited.

"If you don't pass the final exam next week, you will not be allowed to go."

Once again, the room erupted into cheers, only this time of encouragement.

"You're all dismissed. And Midoriya, your costume has been repaired, so you can pick it up now if you wish."

The tired man quickly stepped out of the room with the green-haired student on his heels.

"Guys, huddle up," Mina ordered.

"What's up? Is something wrong?" Kirishima asked.

"Yeah, what gives?" Sero asked.

"Kaminari, do you still have the video saved on your phone?"

"Yeah, here," the teen replied. He pulled his phone from his pocket and went to the video. Mina grabbed the phone and paused the video.

"So this person is the one Stain's talking to, right?" she asked with a point at the mystery figure.

"Seems so," Jiro replied.

"Well, does the costume look familiar to anyone else?"

The phone was passed around so everyone could get a good look at the screen.

"Oh my god, isn't that Midoriya's costume?" Yaoyorozu muttered.

"That's my point. It's hard to make out, but it appears to be mostly green. But think about it. He's quirkless, yet has enough skill to get into 1-A. We've seen just what he's capable of, and not many people can pull off what he has."

"Hey Iida, didn't he go to Manual's agency as well?"

"I am not at liberty to discuss such matters behind his back," the teen replied.

"Yeah, and there's no way that can be Deku. Sure, he's a great fighter and all, but that doesn't mean he's Stain's apprentice!" Ochaco declared.

"Uraraka is right. Just because there is a similarity in costumes and skills does not mean Midoriya is a killer."

"That's true. But still," Mina said as she replayed the video.

"Izuku, I taught you everything you know. I guess it's fitting that it comes down to the two of us now."

"Hey, play that again," Kirishima said.

"Izuku, I taught you everything you know. I guess it's fitting that it comes down to the two of us now."

Many of the huddled students shared stares as first few seconds of the video were played over and over again.

"It can't be," Ochaco muttered.

"We need to get to the bottom of this, soon," Jiro muttered.

"Are you extras really worried about Deku? He's still a loser," Bakugo sneered from his desk.

"Are you sure? You've experienced his skills firsthand more than any of us," said Sato.

As if on cue, the classmate they were discussing walked back into the room with his suitcase. The huddled group dispersed and returned to their seats in time for the first class of the day.

By the time hero training had come around, more than a few plans to uncover the truth had circulated.

"Hello class! Today we will be doing a joint training. Change into your costumes and meet at Ground Beta. I'll give further details there."

As the boys stripped and changed into their costumes, a few took note of finer details of Midoriya's new outfit. It was still a dark green with black highlights, but segmented armor plates had been attached down his shins and on the knees, along with his elbows and forearms.

The respirator had been redesigned to function just as well at a smaller size, and his shoes had been outfitted with metal toes and heels. Before leaving, he wrapped both chains around his torso like bandoliers and placed the red goggles on his forehead.

"How long are you going to stare?" he asked without turning to face the others. He left the changing room, not giving them a chance to reply.

"I think he's on to us," said Kaminari. The lollygagging teens quickly made their way to Ground Beta, where a few 1-B students were also heading.

"Hey Tetsutetsu! How's it hanging?" Kirishima greeted his 1-B counterpart.

"Just fine man, how about you?"

"Good for the most part. You all on the way to Ground Beta?"

"Yeah. Vlad King mentioned something about a joint training."

(A/N: I know this happens in season 5, but I already planned on doing this before the season came out, and I still haven't read the manga. However, I will probably use some similar circumstances and team ups to make it easier to write.)

"Anyways, let's pick up the pace."

Soon enough both classes were in front of the giant city-like arena. All Might, Aizawa, and Vlad King were already waiting for them.

"Welcome students. I'm sure you've put the pieces together by now, so I'll get straight to it; you will be participating in a specialized 4 on 4 exercise much like you first day. However, every team will be composed of two students from 1-A and two students from 1-B. The point of the exercise is to test your abilities to effectively communicate while dealing with both known and unknown enemies."

"Ah man, where's the fun in being teamed up with the horrible 1-A class? There's nothing to prove if you can only beat a few at a time," a familiar blonde with an over-the-top suit complained.

"Monoma, do not make me deal with you before training even starts," Kendo sighed from behind him, hand already raised to come down on his shoulder. The teen quieted down, but still whispered grievances under his breath.

"Unlike the first exercise, the sole purpose of this exercise is to capture your opponents either with the provided capture tape or other means available. While incapacitation by force or injury is technically allowed, points will be deduced should you chose that route."

"Excuse me sir, but will Aizawa and Vlad King be participating as well?" one of the 1-B students asked.

"No. They are both here to observe and take notes for future reference. Any other questions?"

"Will we be picking our own teams or are they already chosen?" Midoriya asked.

"They have already been randomly generated," All Might answered, then pulled a list from his pocket.

"The first match will be Yaoyorozu, Komori, Kirishima, and Tsunotori against Fukidashi, Kodai, Mineta, and Aoyama. The other teams are as follows..."

Midoriya patiently waited until he heard his name. He was paired with Monoma, Kendo, and Tokoyami and would be facing Tetsutetsu, Ashido, Tsuburaba, and Shoji in the last match.

One by one the matches went by until it was his turn to head in. Before leaving, he went up to Aizawa and took off his goggles.

"I know these are useful, but they sort of defeat the purpose of the exercise. I'll grab them when I'm done," he said, then ran into the large city.

"What are those?" Vlad King asked as Aizawa placed the red goggles in his pocket.

"From what I've seen, they're quirk nullifiers, but have a few other uses as well."

Like the teams before them, the both groups were given two minutes to discuss their enemies' quirks and how to counter them.

"Shoji's biggest strength is his ability to gather information of his surroundings. We'll need to be as quiet as possible if we don't want to get caught. Ashido is athletic, and her acid can be used to aid her movement and be used as a weapon," Midoriya explained.

"Tetsutetsu's strength is his ability to become nearly impervious with his steel form. And Tsuburaba can solidify the very air he breathes. It remains solidified for a few minutes afterwards, and is completely soundproof," Kendo offered.

"So we must find a way to turn the tides in our favor. Personally, I think Shoji will be the greatest threat," Tokoyami added.

"So, what exactly can you two do? I know Monoma can copy quirks, but what're your limitations?"

"As if I'd give away my weaknesses to someone from 1-A."

"Monoma, they are just trying to make it easier to come up with a plan," Kendo sighed. "I can enlarge my fists to the point where I can easily wrap my fingers around a person. My strength also increases, but only in my arms and shoulder muscles. Monoma can copy two quirks and use them separately, but only for five minutes after touching whoever he's copying. What should we know about you?"

"Dark Shadow, despite being physically connected to me, is his own conscious being. He and I work well together, but I do not need to be fully conscious for him to be able fight. That being said, light is his weakness, and to much darkness makes him harder to control."

"I'm also really fast and strong!" Dark Shadow added with a peek from underneath Tokoyami's cloak.

"As you both discovered at the sports festival, I'm quirkless. However, I'm a great martial artist and can run through environments like this with ease. I have these two chains, a combat knife, smoke pellets, and flash marbles."

As he spoke, he grabbed four of the mentioned spheres from his belt and handed them out to his teammates.

"You can put these in a pocket, but I prefer to put it in my mouth. Just make sure you close your eyes and cover your ears before using it."

Izuku popped the last marble in his mouth and started planning. Monoma, despite his attitude, was willing to contribute if it meant beating at least two 1-A students in a battle.

"You're going to want to keep an eye on Midoriya, Vlad. You'll see what makes him different," the tired teacher suggested when he saw All Might get ready to announce the beginning of the last exercise of the day.

"Final match, begin!"