Yagi Household (3:00am)

Izumi walked out of her bedroom and went straight to the bathroom. She repeatedly splashed water on her face to come back to reality. 'It's not real. That didn't happen! He's not here anymore!' She saw her own reflection and covered her damp face with a towel. 'He left, but he'll come back when he comes to his senses. And I'll be waiting to chew him out for making everyone worry!' she thought as she walked back to her room.

The other day had been like something out of a dream. She and Kacchan discovered her dad is All Might, and were going to begin training under the world's greatest hero. The day after, she saw a report about the destruction of Aldera's roof. That... did not dig up good memories. And that is likely what led to her having a nightmare of a bloody, bruised and dead-looking Izuku demanding they play heroes and villains. The worst part was that he said their dad would want them to.

'Old Man...' Izumi had some underlying issues with their biological father. She had so few memories of him, and if it weren't for the pictures, she would've forgotten what he looked like ages ago. But Izuku could remember so much. He was smart enough to write down the memories they had with Hisashi in a book when he was three. Izumi had looked at it before, but never more than once. Her name rarely came up, and it was mostly Hisashi and Izuku. She didn't spend enough time with her plain old man with a weak fire-breathing quirk. With her mom being the great Teleki, her dull pops wasn't exactly interesting to her.

Izumi sighed. Not wanting to go back to sleep and needing someone to talk to, she booted up her laptop and dialed a number of an old friend of hers. The screen lit up to a blonde-haired blue-eyed girl her age.

"Hi Izumi, what's up you don't usually call at this time.""Yeah, well I didn't wanna go back to sleep so I thought I'd call you. How's your dad?" "Good, working on something I think you'll be interested in. You know how Tartarus has quirk-disrupting radio frequencies that only affect the inmates? My dad's working on cuffs that can seal powers away. Imagine it, the most powerful bad guy, turned quirkless with the click of a cuff."

Izumi had started regretting calling her friend. "Yeah, I can't imagine taking a quirkless villain seriously." The blonde's smile dropped. "Hey, is something wrong? You seem troubled." Izumi breathed in and thought about what to say. She could use a set of ears to listen to some of the baggage she'd accumulated over the last 40 hours. "My dad told me something crazy, and no matter what you can't tell anyone."

"What, that your dad is All Might?" the blonde asked smugly. "No, that my dad is... you knew!?" The blonde chuckled into her hand. "My dad personally made all of his suits from the Young Age to the Golden Age. Don't you think I'd eventually be in the loop? And evidently I'm better at keeping secrets." Izumi pouted, but then got a call from someone else. "Hold on, Melissa, I'm getting someone else. It's Kacchan." she clicked accept.

"Good, you're awake." his idea of a pleasant good morning. "Hey Katsuki, long time no talk." "Hey blondie."Melissa cringed slightly since he was also blonde. "You had a nightmare, too?" Katsuki turned his head from the screen with a huff. "Of course not! I just couldn't sleep, simple as that!" He said while repressing his nightmare of attending Izuku's funeral.

"Anyway! We start training for U.A. tomorrow. And blondie, you get the honor of being our first choice in tech support." Melissa rolled her eyes at a term she found degrading, but kept her smile. The three of them talked about the future until the sun rose. At the end, Melissa asked what's the situation with Japan's newest vigilante. She couldn't much other than bare bones details. It was clearly a touchy subject. One that she'd leave alone for the time being.

Police Department

"There seems to be no end to the Green Devil's acts of cruelty. Within the past 24 hours, more than twenty low-ranked criminals have been found in broken and mangled in the alleys of Musutafu. The majority of them suffered broken bones, dislocation in various joints, third degree burns and internal bleeding."

Tsukauchi turned off the news on his TV and sighed at his desk. He was swamped with work trying to catch an outlaw who seemed to be growing more brutal and violent by the day. It would be nice if his victims weren't too traumatized to the point of being as good as mute. Just then, one of the detective's junior officers came in. "Sir, we have one who sustained consciousness, but..." "Let me guess, he won't talk." Tsukauchi sighed.

"N-Not exactly, sir. It's more like he can't talk." Tsukauchi looked up from his desk with quizzical eyes. "What do you mean he can't talk? Is the devil threatening to kill him? Tell him we can offer protection in exchange for any information." The officer shook his head. "No sir, he literally cannot talk right now. The Green Devil broke his face. I'm talking fractured skull, broken nose, missing teeth and dislocated jaw. There's also signs that he was strangled because his voice is so hoarse and rough, to the point of sounding like rubbing sandpaper on a desk."

Tsukauchi's mouth went agape with horror. Surely the actual scene was more gruesome than the description. He wondered to himself how could a child be so heartless? "Sir, this vigilante, something changed in him. He's more active and much more violent. At this rate, it won't be long before the heroes have to intervene." A fact that Tsukauchi dreaded. "Keep looking. I want to bring him in before that happens." "Yes sir."

Tsukauchi didn't pretend not to notice that the Green Devil suddenly started beating criminals half to death the day after All Might told him he would begin training Izumi and Bakugo.

...

The Green Devil flew above the city, wearing a black hoodie with green accents. He wore black pants and black combat boots that were lit with the flames keeping him in the air. His whole ensemble had soot in various places. The lower half of his face was covered in a mask of green fire, much like his eyes which barely showed his pupils. The hair over his forehead stood up on end. He spent his time looking for any scummy throats to get his hands on. It was to hold himself back from going to the people he really wanted to see broken. But alas, he couldn't. All Might and Teleki were still coddling the monsters who ruined his childhood. Nothing had changed, he saw that for himself. His attention was pulled by rising black smoke. 'Let's get this over with.' he thought bitterly.

A chubby bald man was on the floor with his head bleeding and a criminal standing over him. There were other bystanders trapped in a corner behind burning trash. "Why are you doing this!?" the man asked, to which the criminal smirked. He was a tall, muscular man with pink hair and red facial marks akin to war paint. "I just wanna make a new friend! And you know what, I think you'll make a good present when he finally gets here." The criminal turned his left hand into a blade and was poised to slice the poor man's throat. "Please, no!"

Suddenly, the heated alley felt cold. The flames surrounding the other bystanders turned green. The criminal smirked when he knew what this meant. "He's here." The flames opened up for the people to escape, and a massive fireball crashed into the criminal, knocking him down. The man that was on the floor could finally escape, which just left the devil and his summoner. "I thought I'd need a sacrifice to get you, but this works too." The criminal smirked. Izuku ignited his palm in searing hot fire. The criminal held out his hands in front of him. "Hey easy, kid! I wanna talk, not fight!"

This intrigued Izuku. Usually when he found bad guys, it was "Kill him!" or "Run!" For whatever reason, he let his fire die down slightly. "I'll get right to it; join me!" The Green Devil's head tilted slightly and his eyes widened. You couldn't tell, but his mouth was hanging. "You've got one hell of a quirk, and you know how to use it. You'd be surprised at how hard that is to come by. And yeah, you may be doing the heroes' job, but how long do you think until you've taken their spotlight enough for them to want you gone? But with me, with us, you'll have more friends to help you out. You'd get to do whatever you want and enjoy the perks of being on the winning team. What do you say?"

The Green Devil took a hunched form with his legs bent and his hands clawed in front of him with green fireballs at the ready. "Hell no." He threw the heated orbs at the criminal, only for him to cut through them with his bladed arm. Green embers floated around him. "Damn, ain't that disappointing." Suddenly, the embers wrapped around him and formed a chilling form of fiery bondage. The binding was so tight, he couldn't lift his arm blade to cut free. The man felt his heart start pounding and his confidence going up in smoke. 'He's strong, too bad. I was hoping I wouldn't need this. It would've really impressed the boss if I took him without it, but oh well.'

As the Green Devil was fishing his phone out of his zip pocket, he caught the thug moving out of the corner of his eye. He dug a mysterious syringe out of his pocket with his right hand and injected it through his pants and into his thigh. "Sorry kid, but you're the one who chose to play hero when you shouldn't have." Izuku shot more condensed cold flames to hold the criminal tighter, but it was in vain. The bastard cut through with newfound strength and both his arms becoming blades.

"OH THAT'S THAT GOOD SHIT! SUCK IT KALE, YOU BUSH LEAGUE SUPER FOOD!" The Green Devil jumped back at this surprising turn of events. The man now had a manic grin on his face with drool spilling, bloodshot eyes and veins throbbing all over. His demeanor also changed, to that of a gleeful anarchist hell bent on creating carnage. Most notably, his quirk seems to have been boosted. Instead of just transforming his hands into sharp blades, he can do it to his arms. "WHAT'S WRONG KID? SCARED!?"

The maniac lunged at Izuku, ready to impale him. Izuku put up a flaming barrier, but it didn't work. The man cut right through it, and managed to graze his cheek ever so slightly. The Green Devil delivered a roundhouse kick to the man while he still had his momentum. He fell down and Izuku backed up to create some distance. He quickly made an assessment of the situation.

'He used a drug to enhance his power. Dammit Ingenium, you let one slip! Cold flames won't intimidate him while he's drunk on that power booster, and my shields are weak to sharp objects. And that metal on his arms must make for a pretty good shield. This isn't a great match up for me.' The bastard had shaken his head and turned back to the vigilante that knocked him down. "All right, rug rat, let's go! Give me all you've got!"

Izuku lit his fists in hot flames. 'He put innocent people in harms way just to get the chance to talk to me. He wanted to recruit me and mentioned having friends. He even has a secret weapon in case things go south. This guy is... a real villain!' Izuku's internal monolog was cut when the villain lunged at him again. The Green Devil rolled to the side and hovered above his opponent.

'I still have long-range attacks and aerial mobility! I'll cook him from above until he can't take anymore! Then maybe get some intel about his friends!' Izuku released scorching hot flames from both his hands unto the villain, who was engulfed in the heat entirely. "AAAHHHRRGGGHH!!" His pained screams were matched by the roaring of the flesh-melting heat consuming his body. Izuku was being careful not to incinerate him like the night he unlocked his heat. 'As long as I'm focused on controlling the temp, this won't be like that time! Once he goes quiet, I'll-'

Crash! Smash!*

He was cut off by a metal monstrosity jumping onto a wall near him and jumping off of it to deliver a heavy hit to his abdomen. Izuku released a pained scream as he crashed into the adjacent wall and hit the ground. The force of the blow was strong enough to make him vomit blood. An earth-shaking impact landed right in front of him. He saw the villain in full-body metal armor, shining like a well-polished sword in the moonlight with smoke seeping out of the air thin crevices. His knuckles, shoulders, elbows, knees, toes and head were all spiked and menacing.

"Thanks for the little warmup, runt. NOW DIE!" He raised his right fist and turned it into a spiked wrecking ball of great destructive power. Izuku ignited flames to propel himself out of the way, a full second before he became a red stain on the floor. 'Damn! He got a bigger boost than I thought! He's completely different from the man I faced before, he's out for blood!' The villain needed a few moments to pull his wrecking ball fist out of the crater it formed before attempting to swing again.

Izuku sidestepped the attack. While the villain was several leagues stronger than him, Izuku was smaller, much faster and more agile. Catching such a small and quick target with such a bulky and heavy enhancement is next to impossible. Izuku used that to his advantage. He rocketed towards the villain and collided with his armored midsection. "WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO DO!?" "This!" With all his strength, Izuku blasted off the ground while holding the villain, leaving the entire alley ablaze in his wake.

He made it above the roofs before flipping and throwing the villain back down into the alley. He landed on his back with a thunderous crash. Izuku wasn't done as he came down with two large fists made of fire. With ruthless repetition, he unleashed a flurry of blows on the villain's midsection. He ended the final punch with an explosive impact, lightning the already bright alley even brighter.

He huffed and puffed in the air, having expended a good deal of strength. However, when the smoke cleared, the villain was still standing, hardly phased by the attacks. "How sad! I expected a devil to give me hell! Don't tell me that's all you've got!!" Izuku was stunned speechless. He had treated that whole onslaught like it was nothing!

He wasn't given time to stare in shock as the villain had leaped off the ground hard enough to create strong wind pressure. He cocked back his left fist and tried to strike the Green Devil out of the sky. He narrowly missed, instead grazing a few tufts of hair. The green flame user spun himself to be above the villain and struck him in the back with another fire fist punch. They both crashed into the ground with a green explosion and flames burning intensely. 'Think Izuku! He won't give you enough time to try and melt through his defenses, and there's no telling how long it'll take for the drug to wear off!'

The villain picked himself up and swat at the Green Devil trying hold him down. "It's a shame, really! You could've been something great!" The villain began casually walking to the devil at the end of the alleyway. Izuku fired a large wave of flames from both hands, but it didn't slow him down. "Your quirk is useful, and can probably do a lot! But you picked the wrong side! The one that will eventually betray you!" Izuku tried binding his feet with condensed flames. "Strong enough to have it all..." The villain lunged at him, effortlessly breaking out of the binding.

"TOO WEAK TO TAKE IT!!!"

"Gorhg!" His left fist was brutally shoved into Izuku's stomach. The greenette spit up a concerning volume of blood before collapsing on the villain's arm. His whole body went slack as the flames hiding his face disappeared. The villain began breathing hard as the adrenaline from the battle and the effect of the quirk drug began to wear off. He looked down at his prize with pride. The armor on his face broke, revealing half his face and his twisted grin.

"Don't worry, brat. I won't kill ya. Even if I wanted to, it's not up to me. Let's try recruitment later when we've both cooled down. Hehehe..."

...

"...I already said no." "Huh? Urgh!"

The villain looked down to see the armor over his stomach had become brittle and flaked off. And in his stomach was a flaming blade over the Green Devil's hand. Turns out, Izuku's earlier attacks weren't futile after all. It wasn't that the villain was uninjured, he was just too high to notice the damage he was taking. The impact of the blows coupled with the intense heat weakened his armor. Izuku just had to hold out long enough for his rush to reach its end. And now that the drug has begun fading, he's done.

The flames in his eyes and on his lower face reignited, filling the villain with a growing sense of dread. 'Your sharp blades were a good counter, you should've stuck with it instead of brute force. This makes for a good finisher!' Izuku's searing hot hand blade moved even deeper into the man's stomach, making him vomit a large amount of blood. While most of his body was still covered in armor, he could feel himself burning up from the inside! He tried desperately to pull away, but Izuku kept his hand sharp and hot.

"ah-AAARRHHHH!!" The man cried out as his internal organs were set ablaze. The Green Devil reached up for the man's throat with his palm extremely hot. Izuku grunted and increased the output and temperature of his flames, to the point that green flames escaped from the villain's mouth and eyes! Izuku shoved his body to the ground while still connected to it, and placed his foot on his chest. The man was entirely engulfed in the viridescent flames of the devil.

When the light finally subsided and smoke cleared away, Izuku was standing over a heap of charred meat and brittle metal. The villain was completely unrecognizable at this point. His eyes were melted right out of the socket. His throat was incinerated, making the bones of his neck visible to anyone brave enough to look. His pink hair was burned away and the skin on his bottom jaw was entirely gone. What laid on the floor of that alley was a half cremated corpse.

Izuku breathed in. The familiar strong stench of a freshly burnt corpse. Except this wasn't like last time. He did take a man's life intentionally, yes, but it was a necessity if he wanted to survive. He breathed in again, this time breathing in some of his own flames. Absorbing the cold ones into himself allowed him to regain some of his stamina. He hovered off the ground and flew off into the night sky, leaving behind what looked like a gateway to the Viridescent Hell with a freshly sacrificed human. He hadn't noticed it, but the people he saved didn't leave, they just got out of the way of the battle. One of them recorded the whole thing.

...

As the Green Devil flew, he examined the damage to himself. He had a nasty bruise on the left side of his abdomen and stomach from where he was punched. And a cut on his cheek from the beginning of the fight. As much as he wanted to be proud of himself for his first big takedown, he couldn't help but think about what that man had said. The villain had made it clear he came from some kind of gang or organization. And they were recruiting, building their numbers. If that's true, he needs to be even more vigilant about cleaning up the scum on the street.

"Even if I wanted to kill ya, it's not up to me."

'He wasn't the boss villain, just a pawn. A dangerous pawn with illegal drugs. How many others could there be? And whoever this boss is, what does he want from me?'

He began to lose altitude as his heavy thoughts weighed on him. The things that villain said stuck. The police were already after him. How long until the heroes followed suit? The villain made it clear that if he's not on their side, he's against them. And now Izuku has a target on his back. One for the Green Devil and another for Izuku Yagi. Lovely. The boy honestly doesn't know what would be worse. Being tortured by villains or going back to that house.

Izuku landed roughly on the sidewalk in front of a hospital and let himself collapse on the nearby bench. He had been awake for over 24 hours and just survived a life or death battle. He needed rest. With any luck, no one would bother him before he wakes up.

Elsewhere

"You performed better than I anticipated." A man clapped as he finished watching the battle between the Green Devil and the blade formation user. He had seen everything up until the villain's head was engulfed in fire. "I knew you would prevail, Izuku, but I never expected you to end it off so gruesomely. You have my praise."

"Although, and this may be an unfair comparison, Endeavor would have finished this fight even quicker. Your flames weren't quite burning with the same intensity as the night you faced your old friend, mother and sister. But that's fine. It's clear that when you're pushed to your limit, you can adapt, learn, evolve and keep fighting. It fills me with awe to see your true potential breaking out. Potential I can't wait to see realized. Until then, I will happily provide you with the environmental conditions you need to be your best. Other fire users will pale in comparison to you. I'm looking forward to it, my boy."