The Dark Knights Rising
(Inspired by Batman, the Batman: Arkham series, Young Justice, and DC in general)
In this story, Batman and the Bat-Family are some of the biggest names in hero society, having been the first quirkless heroes, and having been as big of an icon as All Might himself, inspiring millions of people across the world...
And they've been gone for over a decade.
Ever since one last climatic battle with the Joker that split the team apart, the identities of its members have been exposed to the public, whom have now faded into obscurity. Alfred and James Gordon were murdered by the Joker during their last battle, and Jason Todd is presumed dead as well. Tim Drake was brainwashed by the Joker into becoming a demented sort of servant, but was freed from his conditioning, only to be locked in a vegetative state with no signs of ever waking up. Barbara Gordon was crippled and gave up the mantle of Batgirl, succeeding her late father briefly as Police Commissioner in Gotham before taking up a place in All Might's agency as Sir Nighteye's replacement, taking up the alias of Oracle and handing off the role of commissioner to Harvey Bullock. Dick Grayson, meanwhile, who had long since abandoned the title of Robin to take up his new name of Nightwing, and had long since been the leader of the Teen Titans, then the Titans, eventually supplanted the original Justice League when they fell apart after most of their members were killed in a climatic battle with Brainiac and Darkseid. The remaining individual members of the original JL are either dead, retired, or gone into hiding over the last ten years, and All Might has stepped up to bear all the burdens of the world in their place, becoming the number one hero, an icon even greater than Superman himself.
And Batman? Bruce Wayne? He would disappear, abandoning the title of Batman out of shame and guilt and going into hiding... but not before dismantling every single criminal empire in Gotham in a rampaging state of revenge.
Meanwhile, many of Batman's old rogues gallery have gone their own ways over the last ten years. Two-Face's mental degradation and split personality has finally driven him to the brink of madness and forced him into Arkham Asylum for the rest of his life. Killer Croc's mutations have finally taken him over completely and turned him into a massive, hulking crocodile-like cannibalistic monster. Scarecrow and the Riddler have gone to ground, Black Mask and Penguin have lost their empires thanks to Batman and have gone into hiding as well. The League of Assassins, under Talia Al Ghul, have set themselves up as mercenaries known as Shadows, co-led by Lady Shiva and Bane. Clayface has reformed and gone on the straight and narrow, as has Poison Ivy, the latter of whom took over Wayne Enterprises and turned it into Eden Industries, a corporation that focuses on developing environmentally-friendly technologies, solutions to helping plant life, and developing methods to combat climate change. Mister Freeze has passed away from his condition, having finally found the cure for Nora's disease after he was forced to work for the Joker when he held her hostage and curing her, setting her free to live her own life before he died. Harley Quinn, meanwhile, has gone to ground herself after having turned against the Joker before the last battle and helping the Bat-Family to defeat him, and no one has heard of the Joker since, with everyone assuming that he is dead.
However, without Batman around to inspire fear into the hearts of lesser criminals, crime has begun to rise in his absence. All Might is able to keep the peace by taking out supervillain after supervillain, evil plan after evil plan, but he is always being forced to concentrate on so many massive threats that he is starting to lose focus on the smaller pieces of the bigger picture, that being the rise in small-time crime thanks to the global effects of the absence of the Bat-Family. Now, the streets are beginning to feel a rise in crime, and the average pro hero is beginning to feel the strain. Worse yet, the fall of the Bat-Family has led to a fresh wave of discrimination against the quirkless, as they are used as an example of why the quirkless aren't fit to be heroes, and how they can fall and fail so easily...
In Japan, Izuku is feeling the strain of this new wave of hatred from Bakugo, who, instead of having the power of explosions, has, somehow, attained the powers of Superman through unknown ways. However, instead of being as humble as Superman, this instead feeds into Bakugo's ego, and he resolves to be an even greater hero than both All Might and Superman combined, treating everyone around him like dirt for it, especially Izuku, whom he attacks for thinking that he can ever be as good as him, or even anything compared to the quirkless weakling that was Batman.
However, during this time, he meets a girl his age, a mute, quirkless girl by the name of Cassandra Cain, who has taken up the fake name of Yui Kodai as she moves to Japan. Cassandra's past is locked in mystery, as the girl can neither read nor write in any language, nor can she speak anything as well. The only language she knows is violence, which she puts to good use in defending Izuku from a group of quirkist muggers.
Soon enough, the two of them join a club at Aldera that is meant to help protect fellow quirkless people such as themselves called the Detective Club. There, they meet fellow quirkless people Stephanie Brown, Duke Thomas, Harper Row, and a young Maya Ducard, and decide to try and make a future for themselves in a world that doesn't tolerate the quirkless by using their collective skills in helping to solve minor crimes around the neighbourhood, eventually getting them into the sights of a minor villain by the name of Nobody.
The first arc of the story would revolve around the Detective Club working together to expose Nobody for his crimes when not even the police could, and eventually learning that Nobody is actually Maya's abusive father. However, at the climax of the arc, Nobody, in a fit of rage about how the Detective Club is interfering with his plans, sicks the Sludge Villain on them. The Detective Club are just able to hold off the villain before All Might makes his appearance and defeats him.
And this is where the first real divergence in the story from the main MHA canon happens, as instead of asking All Might if he can be a hero without a quirk, Izuku and the Detective Club warn him about Nobody, and about how he is running some sort of information racket in the local area. All Might chastises the group for trying to take on a villain on their own, especially when they were untrained and without any hero licenses-
After the fall of Batman and the Bat-Family, as well as the dissolution of the original Justice League, new laws have been passed that have made hero society even more strict on who can and cannot be a hero, as well as on quirk usage and the exclusion of quirkless from heroics as a reaction to Batman's vigilantism. It should be noted that Batman was already rather unpopular due to his manipulations in the name of the greater good, which only served to alienate himself and his Bat-Family from the wider hero community even more than when they were just vigilantes. However, this has only made further problems, as hero society has closed its fist more tightly around its people, only for more of said people to begin to slip through the cracks. The changes are so negative that the Titans had ended up withdrawing themselves from politics and any diplomatic ties in protest, becoming a strictly neutral and apolitical hero group.
-But tells them that he'll forward it to the police, and leaves, Sludge Villain in tow.
However, that proves to not be good enough for the Detective Club, and they decide to finish the job and track down Nobody, who, when eventually caught by them, takes his daughter hostage, rants at them for ruining his chances to get into the 'Court', and sicks his other brute, Amygdala, on them.
So, while most of the Detective Club are trying to fight Nobody and rescue Maya, Cassandra ends up taking on Amygdala on her own. However, instead of simply fighting and defeating the brutish villain, Cassandra, in her limited way, is actually able to convince the villain to stand down and surrender himself, compelling him into a change of heart, showing off her heightened capacity for empathy for others.
As such, Amygdala ends up surrendering, and Cassandra joins the others in freeing Maya from her villainous father, and then beating down on Nobody to prevent him from getting away...
And that is when All Might bursts onto the scene once more, and takes down Nobody with a single punch.
As it turns out, when the Detective Club had told All Might about Nobody's information racket, he had informed his sidekick, Oracle, about the situation once he'd handed the Sludge Villain over to the police, and Barbara had tracked the villain to his hideout at the same time as the Detective Club had. All Might, once again, chastises the Detective Club for trying to take down the villain on their own and putting themselves, especially Maya, the daughter of the villain, in danger, and once Nobody is taken into custody, All Might orders them to follow him.
Soon enough, the Detective Club find themselves in a police building, being held in custody for chasing down Nobody without a license, and are confronted by Detective Naomasa Tsukauchi, who grills them over their attempts to take down Nobody, putting themselves in needless danger when they could've just left it to a pro hero, and the Detective Club can't help but feel ashamed for getting one of their friends almost hurt by her own abusive father.
But then, just as Naomasa is about to have them sent away, back into their holding cells, he is stopped by two individuals entering into the scene, who have come to offer the group of children and offer of their own.
They are Principle Nezu of U.A., and one Doctor Marian Drew.
The two talk with the Detective Club, and lay out the facts to them: as it stands, these six quirkless children have attacked a known villain and his thugs - who were also already under investigation - almost got one of their friends hurt by said villain, and did all of this without any legal right to do so, possibly earning them one hell of a bad time from the law.
However, they also tracked down said villain quicker than the officials investigating him could, took down one of those brutes without so much as a fight, and were generally more of a help to the local community by doing so than the police officers who were trying to take down Nobody.
As such, they've come to make the Detective Club an offer that, in all honesty, they really can't refuse:
They can either take the U.A. entrance exam to enter as students, under watch of course, or they can have this incident on their criminal records.
But, if they fail the entrance exams, then they will immediately have this criminal act on their records.
The Detective Club, seeing no other options, take the deal.
As such, the Detective Club find themselves under house arrest for the next ten months until they can take the exams to get into U.A., but also find themselves able to train together (mostly learning from Cassandra) as they are forced to stay together under the guise of the pro hero Gunhead, who's a lot nicer than they'd been expecting, and actually congratulates them on taking down Nobody (though not without warning them of the risks of doing so and pointing out what they did wrong), and even giving them some pointers as they train themselves to be as strong and smart as they need to be to pass the entrance exam. During this time, they learn that Gunhead was actually once a member of the Outsiders, a team that had been set up by the Justice League as a way of training future members of the Justice League, only for it to eventually be disbanded when the original Justice League fell apart and the Outsiders' sponsors pulled out when the Titans went apolitical.
However, the ten months would not be without interruption. Thanks to All Might handing off the Sludge Villain to the police, the incident at Aldera never happens, and Bakugo is never saved by Izuku and All Might, and his ego is never tempered in such a way. As such, he continues to act with the same attitude as he had before, only made worse by his Kryptonian powers, which makes him feel like he could already be on par with Superman himself.
However, during this time, Izuku was pulled out of Aldera under the conditions of his house arrest, and it leaves Bakugo confused as to why he is gone, wondering if he is trying to evade him now. Angered by this prospect, Bakugo seeks Izuku out, eventually finding him in Gunhead's agency where he and the rest of the Detective Club are training themselves for the entrance exam under Gunhead's supervision, and ends up pounding at the door, demanding to know where Izuku is, almost breaking it down entirely with his super strength. When he is inside, he demands an explanation for where Izuku has been, completely ignoring the attempts by the others to stop him thanks to his Kryptonian biology, laughing at them in fact for how little of an affect they have on him.
(In case you couldn't tell, Bakugo is meant to be a lot more terrifying in this story than he is in canon, simply due to the fact that he has the same powers as Superman, who is pretty much indestructible in DC canon. It's also meant to be a sort of parallel between Izuku and Bakugo, as well as a reverse of the dynamics between Batman and Superman, as whereas Izuku, the quirkless hero, lacks the privilege and advantages that Batman had, he has the heart and optimism to make up for it. By contrast, Bakugo has all the powers and abilities of Superman, but grew up in a place of privilege like Batman, which has inflated his sense of self and allowed him to become an egotistical bully, almost the complete opposite of Superman's humble attitude.
Think something like Superboy-Prime meets Injustice meets Homelander meets Brightburn meets Omni-Man meets the Plutonian from Irredeemable.)
However, it is Stephanie who eventually gets him to clear off, threatening to alert the authorities about him and ruining his chances to become a hero. Bakugo sneers at this, but leaves at this threat, snarling at Izuku not to go to U.A., or Bakugo will reign hell on him and his quirkless friends.
When Bakugo leaves, the rest of the Detective Squad quickly move to help up and comfort Izuku, and they quickly realise what Bakugo has been doing to Izuku all this time in Aldera. Stephanie ends up revealing that she's already sent an alert to Gunhead about Bakugo, who has promised to pass it to the proper authorities. Izuku is shaken by Bakugo's constant treatment of him, though counters whatever they say by saying that Bakugo would be a great hero, probably the greatest hero who ever lived. The others wonder if that would be a good thing.
Soon enough, the day of the entrance exam comes to pass, and the Detective Club are led away by the heroes into their own training area, mercifully away from Bakugo. Soon enough, they complete the written exams (though Cassandra, still operating under the fake name of Yui Kodai, has to undergo a special exam due to her inability to read, write, or even speak), and they soon begin the practical exam, fighting against the villain bots and taking them down, working together to break as many as they can, which is not something that a lot of other applicants think of whilst trying to pass. They even end up teaming up with other people outside of their group, such as Mina Ashido, who is renamed Mina Grayson and is revealed to be the youngest daughter of Dick Grayson and Starfire, and has all of Starfire's abilities as well, Ochako Uraraka, and Iida Tenya, who are the same as they are in canon.
Soon enough, the entrance exam ends with a spectacular finale, as the Detective Club and their new allies work together to take down the Zero Pointer before it can crush an injured Koda and Kendo, and leave to learn of their results. Bakugo, who had finished his exam in a blink of an eye by blitzing around his battle centre at superspeed and destroying all the robots before any of the other contestants could even so much as look at them, watches them from a faraway building with a frown.
A week later, Izuku is awaiting the letter in Gunhead's agency alongside Cassandra (who has been living with him since she is technically homeless), Stephanie, Harper, Duke, and Maya, all of them worried about whether or not they had made it in, and whether or not they would be going to jail for taking out Nobody or not.
Soon enough, Marian Drew arrives from U.A. itself to personally deliver the news, and she doesn't hold back on her criticisms on their fighting styles during their practical exams, pointing out every time that they slipped up during combat and what they needed to improve on, before going to their written exams and haranguing them for all the wrong answers that they gave.
When they ask if they passed, Marian responds that they did so with flying colours.
Later that night, the teachers of U.A., now including All Might, who is currently looking for a successor to take up the mantle of One for All, gather around to discuss what is coming up in the new years, and Nezu brings up the recent editions to their ranks, several legacy heroes, such as those from the Iida and Grayson lineages, as well as not just one, but an entire group of quirkless students training to be heroes, the latter of which is the first time a quirkless person has ever entered into U.A.'s hero course, much less multiple at the same time. Some of the teachers question if it is safe for these quirkless students to be in the hero course, but the others, particularly Marian, state that there being quirkless people like herself in the hero course isn't the problem.
The problem is Bakugo.
As it stands, Bakugo is clearly Kryptonian, Superman's species, or at least something close to it. The powers that he had were too close to his to not be. What's more, he's got an attitude problem, an ego the size of the moon to boot, and the power to back it up. He'd cleared out his entire battle centre of so many villain bots that they had needed to redo the entire exam for everyone else that was supposed to be in the centre with him. The only other person who did that was All Might, and Bakugo is already close to his record.
Aizawa can already tell that he is going to be a problem child, and the others ask how they'd been kept unaware of Superman ever having a child. Nezu reveals that they'd had their eyes on Bakugo for a while, but unfortunately it wasn't as long as they would've liked. Bakugo has been more or less keeping his powers under wraps, and Aldera is proving to be less than forthcoming about his actions. It's only now that he's really beginning to show himself off. Nezu suspects that his parents have been hiding Bakugo's power from everyone, as there is no way someone of the powers that Bakugo has, powers like Superman, could've come from their quirks. Not naturally, at least. All Might gives him a look, but Nezu waves him down. That's a conversation for later.
Bakugo's powers are a problem, but like said before, his attitude is going to be an even worse problem as well. One of the teachers quickly brings up the incident in Gunhead's agency, where Bakugo had confronted and almost assaulted Izuku Midoriya, which was reported, by Stephanie, to Gunhead and the local heroes. Midnight quickly asks why it is that Bakugo has even been allowed into the school because of that stunt, not to mention the fact that Aldera is clearly covering for him and offering up documentation that paints both Bakugo and Izuku in lights that are clearly biased in the former favour over the latter, and Nezu makes it clear to her, and the rest of the teachers:
As it stands, Bakugo has all the powers of Superman, who was probably the strongest hero in all of existence, but has none of the humbleness to go along with it. He has an ego even bigger than his head, and all the power to back it up and more.
Superman, at the height of his power, could level an entire city all on his own. The only thing that was stopping him from doing so was his dedication to helping the innocent.
Bakugo does not have that dedication. He clearly cares more about fighting and defeating his enemies rather than defending the vulnerable.
So, what is stopping him from doing what Superman could've done? What is stopping Bakugo from realising that, with his superhuman, god-like powers, that he is not beholden to any laws?
What is stopping him from becoming one of the greatest villains who ever lived?
As it stands, Bakugo is one of the most delicate cases that U.A. has ever had to handle, a young man with immense power beyond any of his current classmates, beyond any of the local heroes in the surrounding area, and has the ability to complete devastate everyone in the schools, sans All Might, on a whim. He's also got one of the biggest egos that they've ever seen, and isn't afraid to use his powers to intimidate others into submission. The only reason that he hasn't gone villain yet is because of some belief that he holds that the heroes are the people who always wins, and villains are just losers, and he wants to do nothing but win, hence his want to become a hero. They need to work with this, otherwise he might just turn into one of the greatest monsters that ever lived.
All this time, Nezu is reminded of, and reminds the others of, an incident from during Superman's time known as the Brightburn Devastation, where a young Kryptonian refugee had landed on Earth years after Superman's rise, but eventually, in his young age, became deluded by his own power and became a monster, singlehandedly destroying his own hometown of Brightburn and devastating half of Metropolis before Superman could stop him. The villain had to be put down by then-president Lex Luthor using lethal amounts of Kryptonite to stop him, as nothing else would.
Then, he is reminded of the time that the original Justice League had to defend the planet from an army of Kryptonian invaders, led by General Zod, who had colonised Mars and was using it as a jumping-off point to attack the Earth. Half of the entire original League had died during that attack, including the first Question, the first Black Canary, the first two Green Lanterns Hal Jordan and Guy Gardner, the first Flash and more, and so many innocents had been killed by the devastation that Zod's Kryptonian army had reigned on the planet before they were stopped and killed by the Kryptonite weapons made by Batman and used by Superman and the surviving members of the League. Superman's cousin, Supergirl, or Kara Zor-El, now governs the colony on Mars, but still...
If they didn't treat this right, then they might end up creating the next Brightburn, or General Zod, or something far, far worse.
The teachers point out that this can't mean that they just bend over for Bakugo and accommodate him whenever he feels the need to act out, and Nezu makes it clear that it doesn't. They just need to be more aware of how he will react than any other students. Marian, mercifully, changes the subject, and asks if they have any leads on this 'Court' thing that Nobody was said to have mentioned from the Detective Club's statements from when he was taken down. Nezu comments that there isn't, but does understand Marian's concerns, as if Nobody was trying to gain entry into some sort of organised crime group, then it's possible that the Detective Club could've made an enemy out of some very dangerous people.
But there's nothing to be done about it now. The new year is about to begin, and they need to get their plans for the next few weeks in order. Aizawa and Kan have already decided on who has first call on the USJ this year. All they need to do now is leave, spend the night finalising their plans, and then come back tomorrow for one last conference, and then get started.
The teachers clear out, but Nezu and Marian Drew stay behind to talk. Nezu asks Marian if she is certain that the Court means something important, and if she really thinks that what is coming is coming. Marian is certain, and she knows that if she's right, then they will need a new family to combat them. Hell, the whole world will.
Then, they contact a partner of theirs. Pamela Isley, the head of Eden Industries (whom Marian called Pam), and tells them that they've found the missing Cadmus baby, and that they're going to need the Krypto-Solution.
Soon enough, the school year for U.A. begins, and the Detective Club (minus Maya, as she's too young to join them in U.A. yet) find themselves placed in Class 1-B, thankfully away from Bakugo. They attend U.A.'s orientation, and notice that 1-A and, thankfully, Bakugo, are not present.
Once the orientation ends, their teacher, Vlad King, leads them out to begin physical exercises, first on their bodies, and then examinations of their quirks and abilities and the possible limits that they may have (the general idea is that it's different from Aizawa's quirk application test, in that it separates the use of their quirks from their physical forms). During these tests, the class gets to know each other, with the Detective Club mingling with their new classmates and getting to know them, and said classmates initially underestimating them due to their quirklessness, only to be surprised by how agile and fit that they were over the last ten months of training that they've spent together, especially Yui Kodai (the fake name for Cassandra Cain) and how, despite her inability to speak, read, or write, she was somehow one of the most well-trained people in the class, maybe even the school as well.
Soon enough, the day would end, and the Detective Club would leave for the day, only to be confronted once more by Bakugo, who is furious at the idea that Deku, much less a bunch of other quirkless freaks, but it is only when Aizawa appears, warning him of his place in U.A. and how his threats of expulsion still stand, does Bakugo stand down and, in frustration, leave. The Detective Club thanks Aizawa, only for him to make it clear that he doesn't think that they, being quirkless and formerly vigilantes, belong in U.A., and leaves as well.
Then, they are joined not just by Mina, Ochako, and Iida from Class 1-A, but also Kendo and Setsuna from their class, and they end up heading out for the night now that the Detective Club's house arrest is over, to which the Detective Club would eventually let them know of their previous acts of vigilantism against Nobody, to which most of their new friends would be amazed by this, though Iida and Kendo would take umbrage with this act of vigilantism.
Soon enough, the Detective Club and Class 1-B would begin their training lessons, their teacher setting them up against props and training dummies whilst Aizawa and All Might would have Class 1-A battling against each other in mock hero-villain battles. Mina and Bakugo would be paired against each other during their battle trial, and Mina would be able to use her Tamaranian ancestry to put up a fight against the Kryptonian Bakugo, but even she would fall as he put her into the ground, winning the battle in his favour without so much as a scratch on him. However, he would end up not being granted the MVP of the match, seeing as he had abandoned his teammates and defeated the villains of the match rather brutally, angering him.
Meanwhile, the Detective Club would be ordered to stay behind after school days to attend extra training lessons under Doctor Marian Drew, who makes it clear that, as unfair as it is, their quirklessness puts them at a severe disadvantage against almost all the other students in the school, and they need to put in a lot of extra work in order to close that disadvantage. During this time, the group end up growing closer with Marian Drew, coming to see her as a friend and something of a confidant, unaware that she and Nezu have their own plans for the club...
Soon enough, the day would come where Class 1-B would need to chose their class representative, and they would all pick Kendo as their representative, with Izuku serving as vice-representative. Izuku would at first be resistant to the idea of being considered to be one of the leading figures of Class 1-B, but Marian would encourage Izuku to keep his position, commenting that Izuku already seems to be adopting a leadership role within the Detective Club, and that it might be good to lean into this as a possible training experience for the future.
However, later that day, the U.A. barrier would end up being destroyed, and a swarm of reporters would end up taking advantage of it to surge into U.A., demanding a statement from All Might for his decision to begin teaching in U.A...
And during this time, Cassandra and Izuku notice that something is moving around in the distance, and, alongside the rest of the Detective Squad, goes to investigate.
It is there that they find two villains sneaking into the school. One is a brutish fellow in an old suit called Bimmu, and the other is a berserker of a man by the name of Mad Dog, who Cassandra recognises from her past, but doesn't speak up about it.
The Detective Club quickly alert the heroes in the school as to the villains, but are forced to defend themselves from the two when they realise that they have been discovered. A violent clash between the two sides begins, with Mad Dog taking on Cassandra, proving to be the closest thing to a match that she has, and slowly begins to recognise her as well...
And that is when All Might and the other heroes arrive to arrest the two villains, once again chastising the group for fighting the villains, but recognising that, in this instance, they had been acting in self-defence and had alerted the heroes beforehand as well.
And Cheshire, a mercenary for the League of Assassins, thanks them as well from her hiding spot in one of the trees above, and the two other League of Assassin mercenaries that had come with her, for providing her with the ample distraction, as she slips out of the school, a timetable for U.A.'s classes in hand.
Later, Vlad King would approach the students to tell them that it's time to begin developing their hero costumes, and have to submit their own ideas for what they want their costumes to be. Marian and Nezu, meanwhile, are able to convince the Detective Club to make their own costumes, and they get together to start thinking up ideas on what they want their suits to look like.
Then, they look back onto the past, to the heroes that have come before them, and they think back to Batman, the hero of the past that had inspired them to make the Detective Club in the first place.
As such, they decide to make their costumes in the image of Batman and the Bat-Family, and design them to have cowls and cloaks, masks, the whole nine yards. The only thing that they decide to leave out, for now, is the Bat logo.
The next day, Vlad King announces that Class 1-B is going on a trip down to the USJ to begin their rescue training. He was able to snag their time in the USJ first from Aizawa to a coin toss, and now they're get to have the first go on it. Class 1-B are excited to hear this, and carry that same air of excitement all the way to the USJ...
Right up until they are confronted by the League of Villains, now supported by the technological prowess of the Riddler and his gang, and are scattered by Kurogiri across the facility, left to be hunted down by the villains.
The Detective Club soon find themselves with their hands full, fending off the thugs and hired guns of the League of Villains, not just their common thugs (think the common gangsters and goons from the Batman: Arkham series), but also the small-time villains from Batman's rogues gallery that they've brought in as well, from Abattoir to Clock King, to Fright and Lady Spellbinder, to even the likes of Kite Man and the Carpenter, trying to defeat the bad guys and defend their classmates, all the while Shigaraki and the Riddler play games with them, luring them into trap after trap to try and get the best of them.
And that's when the rest of the Detective Club, other than Cassandra, get to have their moments in the spotlight.
While Cassandra is busy kicking ass and taking names, Stephanie is forced to deal with one of the Riddler's traps, and ends up figuring out the clues on how to defeat it that the Riddler left behind (y'know, because riddles and clues are kind of his thing), and deactivates it, solving the riddle and demonstrating her ability to solve puzzles and identify patterns. Harper Row, meanwhile, ends up encountering another one of the Riddler's traps, but is able to figure out how the electronics of it works and overrides it, turning it against the villain and showing off her skills with technology and gadgetry. Duke Thomas, meanwhile, ends up battling against a group of villains led by the Tally Man, only to suddenly bend the light and darkness around them to defeat them, revealing that he does indeed have a quirk.
And Izuku? Izuku is able to demonstrate his ability to lead and inspire by rallying the rest of the Detective Club to him, the group solving the Riddler's ultimate puzzle and defeating him, knocking him out of the USJ's systems and leaving Shigaraki vulnerable.
But then Shigaraki reveals his trump card. Two villains that he'd been holding in reserve. One a mutant villain by the name of Killer Moth, and the other a hulking beast that has been lobotomised and modified to become a Nomu, known as Solomon Grundy.
And that is when Marian Drew steps up to the plate as well, swearing to herself and throwing off her disguise to suit up and take on the villains.
As it turns out, Marian Drew was just a fake name.
Her real name is Harleen Quinzel...
Or rather, Harley Quinn.
Harley Quinn quickly gets to work, taking down the last of the villains before fighting against Solomon Grundy all by herself. At the same time, she tells the teachers and the Detective Club to go after Killer Moth, which they reluctantly do. Soon enough, with all their skills, the Detective Club are able to take down Killer Moth, neutralising him, whilst Harley Quinn is able to take down Solomon Grundy all on her own.
And that is when All Might finally arrives, and the rest of the League of Villains are forced to retreat.
Back in their hideout, Shigaraki berates and threatens the Riddler for his failures to make the traps work, as well as his constant need to prove himself as some sort of mastermind by leaving riddles everywhere and clues to defeat his own traps. The Riddler, however, counters that they shouldn't have ever gone to the USJ to try and assassinate All Might anyway, as doing so would've just made him into a maytr, not to mention the resources and manpower that they've lost on such an excursion. Now they've revealed themselves to the world, with little gain to be had as well.
However, All for One quickly chimes in, and comments that this was merely a learning experience for his successor, nothing more. He would know differently now.
And that is when we get to the true scope of the League of Villains. All for One has recruited not just the Riddler, but Scarecrow, Penguin, and Black Mask to his side, the former granting him access to his fear gas so that he can continue his research on the nature of fear as well, and the latter two contributing their remaining manpower in order to rebuild their criminal empires.
Not only that, but All for One has many more allies and partners in the waiting as well, including the newly minted villain Punchline, a Joker-obsessed fangirl and psychotic anarchist who has gathered the rest of Joker's old gang to herself and recruited the pyromaniac Firefly to her cause of destroying hero society as they know it, the Mad Hatter, who at this point has been lost to a psychosis thanks to his continual usage of his mind control tech and is cared for by his Wonderland Gang, that being Tweedledee, Tweedledum, and March Hare. Then there is Overhaul of the Shie Hassaikai, a remnant of the Yakuza that is contributing their resources to try and rebuild themselves, and Re-Destro of the Meta Liberation Army, who seeks to create a world where the strong may rule and is using All for One and his quirks to do so.
And finally, there is Talia Al Ghul, having taken over both the League of Assassins and Shadows after her father's, Ra's Al Ghul's, final death, and leads through her chief lieutenants, Lady Shiva and Bane. She has contributed the entirety of her League of Assassins and Shadows to All for One's cause, paying lip service to his ideals, but is secretly using All for One, and all the other villains as well, for her own, secretive agenda...
Together, they all make an alliance of dangerous and powerful villains, each seeking to usurp and betray the other, but all working towards a mysterious central goal, much like the Light from Young Justice.
They are the newly-formed Court of Owls.
The villains criticise All for One for allowing Shigaraki to go forward with this scheme, but All for One defends it by saying that the heroes were no doubt already aware of them thanks to Nobody's failure, and that this would at least serve as a learning experience for them all. Not to mention the intelligence that they've gathered on the next generation of U.A. thanks to Cheshire's infiltration, the attack on the USJ itself, and their own mole inside of U.A., will serve them well in the future. Some of the villains wonder if Bakugo, who has been identified as the baby clone of Superman stolen from Cadmus over fifteen years ago, will be a threat to them, but the others, most notably Talia, do not view him as a threat. Bakugo is predictable, his ego his greatest flaw. They can counter and neutralise him, and maybe even control him, easily.
It is the other students that she is worried about. Most notably, the so-called 'Detective Club', and their mentor, Harley Quinn.
As is shown, the Court of Owls kept their eyes on the Detective Club for a while after Nobody's defeat, but eventually moved on from them when they were judged to not be a threat after Bakugo tried to intimidate them. The Court's surveillance had fallen upon Bakugo immediately after that. However, with the defeat of Bimmu and Mad Dog by this Detective Club, followed up by what happened at the USJ, that being Killer Moth's capture and Riddler's defeat by the club, not to mention the loss of their first Nomu, Solomon Grundy, to Harley Quinn of all people secretly being a teacher at U.A., the Court was beginning to think that they might need to keep a better eye on these young hero-wannabes, especially now that they were sporting suits similar to the Bats.
Punchline suggests finding out who these children are and killing their families in order to make an example out of them, but the others quickly shoot that down, reasoning that that course of action would only result in the heroes coming at them with nothing to lose and with bloody vengeance on their minds.
For now, they would simply wait and bide their time. Their loss at the USJ wasn't that big of a concern, as they hadn't lost any real critical assets during that engagement. All they had to do now was bide their time and keep to their plans. They already have enough agents in high positions of power to complete their plans. No matter what Harley Quinn, All Might, the Titans, or any other hero try, there wasn't anything that they could do to stop them.
Batman was gone, now. Japan, Gotham, and the whole world was now theirs for the taking.
But Talia was not as relaxed as they were. If what she knew about Harley Quinn was true, and what she suspected that she wanted to do with this 'Detective Club'...
Well, she would need to be ready.
Meanwhile, in the aftermath of the USJ, it takes every connection that Nezu has to have Harley's involvement in the event and her role as a teacher in the school covered up, as well as straining all the trust that his subordinates have in him to not have her arrested, as at this point, Harley Quinn is still a wanted criminal, and her having been a teacher at U.A., all the while Nezu was aware of this and actually hired her on despite what she has done in the past, seriously weakens the trust that they once had in him.
However, that doesn't change the fact that Harley is now one of their coworkers, and not only that, but is genuinely reformed from her ways of villainy. Sure, she's certainly more on the Anti- side of the spectrum, but she's a hero through and through now, and is desperately trying to make up for the past.
And later on, Harley and Nezu talk, where it is revealed that Nezu was able to get Class 1-B to sign NDAs regarding her role in saving them at the USJ. Nezu then reveals that he's found a link between this 'League of Villains' that attacked the USJ and the 'Court' that Nobody had mentioned in the past, and tells her that he's learnt that both Bimmu and Mad Dog were members of the League of Assassins judging from the tattoos covering them, but had killed themselves via cyanide pills in their cells before they could be questioned further.
Harley immediately picks up on what he is saying, and pleads to him that they're not ready, that they need more time. Nezu sadly remarks that they don't have time. Not anymore. Not if what he thinks this 'League of Villains' truly is what he believes it to be.
Harley, after a pause, lets out a sigh, and reluctantly agrees, calling Pamela Isley once more and telling her that it's time to get things ready.
And so, Harley and Nezu calls forth the Detective Club, whom are confused as to Harley's motivations and why a famed criminal helped and saved them at the USJ, and lead them down to underneath U.A.'s campus grounds...
And directly into a cave under the main building lined with lead, where one Miss Pamela Isley, formerly Poison Ivy and now CEO of Eden Industries, is waiting for them, and greets Harley with a kiss.
The Detective Club, now joined by Maya Ducard, are confused as to why they are here, and the three figures of authority, Harley, Nezu, and Pamela, begin to lay it down onto them. Whatever the League of Villains are, they're just part of a bigger picture, part of what might be a larger conspiracy in the making, one that the Detective Club may have just made themselves an enemy out of. There are some very bad villains out there, even more vile and monstrous than the Riddler, than Killer Moth, than Solomon Grundy, Nobody, and Shigaraki combined.
This isn't just some random group of villains throwing their weight around. This is the first move in a larger war, the opening battle, and if hero society is going to survive, then they're going to need all hands on deck.
But, ever since they had taken down Nobody, the Detective Club were being scouted, from the beginning of their house arrest all the way to the USJ, by Harley, and Pamela, and Nezu. They were being secretly examined and observed, and Harley and Nezu had been hoping to groom the group into the roles that they wanted them to become, but that should've been later. There should've been more time for them to train and learn and become better.
But now, they've been forced to move up their timetable, and present the Detective Club with their ultimate goal:
They wanted to rebuild the Bat-Family, and they wanted the Detective Club to form the basis of it.
The Detective Club are shocked by this, and they, particularly Izuku, ask why Harley and Nezu had chosen them, and not someone like All Might or Bakugo. Nezu and Pamela counter that All Might's lost touch with the ground level version of crime, and he wouldn't know how to solve it beyond a quick punch or kick. Besides, he's too badly needed to deal with all the larger, more massive threats out there alongside the Titans than just dealing with street-level crimes. Harley, meanwhile, asserts that Bakugo is nowhere near fit enough to be a part of the Bat-Family, much less any other team out there. The boy's too arrogant, too angry and full of himself. He's got the power and none of the responsibility, and they don't need a loose cannon like that on the team.
Plus, he's always lived with power. So have pretty much all the other heroes out there. For good or ill, they've all lived with power, and have been influenced by it. None of them know what it's like to live without it.
But the Detective Club... they've all lived without power. They all know how to live without it, and ergo they know that there is a responsibility to that power, seeing as they've never known when others use that power responsibly.
Batman, Bruce... he was more than just a man in a bat costume. The entire Bat-Family was more than that. They were a symbol, a symbol that struck fear into the heart of every criminal not just in Gotham, but across the world. Much like All Might was the Symbol of Peace and Superman was the Symbol of Heart, Batman and the entire Bat-Family were the Symbols of Fear...
But now, they're all gone. Batman, Superman, and the entire Bat-Family were gone. The old guard of heroes were gone, and All Might's out of touch with the streets. The average criminal was becoming bolder, and now there is a criminal conspiracy growing in the background, one that needs to be fought.
There needs to be a new symbol. Not fear, though, for fear can only get you so far. Batman and the old Bat-Family tried that and look where it got them.
There needs to be a new symbol, a better symbol.
There needs to be a new Bat-Family.
Something that the Detective Club has the potential to be.
The Detective Club would look between each other, musing over the offer that they have been given.
And then, as one, they looked to Harley, to Nezu, and to Pamela... and agreed.
And so, the various members of the Detective Club would take up the symbols of the Bat onto their costumes and adopt appropriate names for themselves. Cassandra would become Orphan, Stephanie would choose Spoiler, Duke would take up the moniker of Signal and Harper Bluebird. Maya would be held in reserve until she was ready but would decide to redeem the name of Nobody and take it up for herself.
And Izuku? He would adopt the name of Batwing, and be designated as the leader of this new generation of the Bat-Family, with Harley, Pamela, and Nezu as their mentors...
All the while Harley and Nezu make plans for Izuku and Cassandra to one day take up the mantle of Batman themselves.
After this, there would be several plot points that would come up over the course of the story. Firstly, would be the sports festival, where the Bat-Family would be pulled out of the event to train and protect themselves from identification from their enemies and to keep the secrecy of the rejuvenated Bat-Family. It would be during this event that Bakugo would once again blitz through the event, forcing all the other students to have to team up against him, only to fail once again. However, a rivalry would begin to form between Bakugo and Mina, as the half-Tamaranean girl would provide Bakugo with the first real challenge of his life, something that he both despises and relishes. However, after the sports festival, Bakugo would find himself slowly becoming a pariah amongst his classmates, and even amongst heroes for his egotistical demeanour and his flagrant flaunting of his powers, as well as his arrogant belief that he is destined to become an even greater hero than All Might and Superman themselves, angering him even further and making him toe the line between good and evil even more, even when his parents, who had rescued him from Cadmus years ago for unknown reasons, tried to deter him from his darkening path.
All the while, the Court of Owls would manipulate him every step of the way.
Meanwhile, the new Bat-Family, under the leadership of Pamela and Harley, would begin a shadow war against the Court of Owls and crime in general. However, they would eventually be discovered, not by the villains, but by one Barbara Gordon, All Might's sidekick who now goes by the name of Oracle. At first, she is contentious of Harley's intentions in rebuilding the Bat-Family, resistant to the idea, but eventually concedes to her and becomes another leading figure in the Bat-Family, serving as their key coordinater and one of their trainers.
And meanwhile, a man in a red hood gathers his outlaws to challenge this new Bat-Family, feeling insulted by their existence...
And the Clown Prince of Crime bides his time, awaiting his return.
After that, I'm not sure how the rest of the story will go. I can imagine a plot point where Harley Quinn suffers from a midlife crisis when she realises that she is becoming like Bruce in leading the new Bat-Family, and I can imagine the story ending with either the Joker or All for One being the final villains of the story, but other than that, I'm not sure where the story would go from there.
That's up to you, really.
Honestly, much of this story idea exists because I find the idea of Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy not only leading, but also forming a new version of the Bat-Family, something that they've fought before, to be just too ironically interesting to not put down to word.
On a side note, whilst I was writing this out, I was considering fuzing some of the characters together. Like, I've already written Izuku here as Batwing, whilst Cassandra is taking both the name and place of Yui Kodai, and Bakugo is sort of like a worse version of Superboy. Why not go the whole hog? I eventually decided not to, but the idea is still up there in my head, where Jiro takes the place of Spoiler, Hatsume takes Bluebird's name for herself, and that Kuroiro guy from Class 1-B would take up the identity of Signal.
However, that's all up to you if you want to pick this story up, so by all means, if you do, send me a PM or leave a comment to let me know, and then go wild with it!