As Izuku adjusted to his new body, he found himself reflecting on his first few days with his Quirk. Goading Bakugo into nearly killing him, breaking his nose, snubbing All Might. Present Izuku, huddled in the bus seat, reviewed his past actions and wondered who was piloting his body that day. It felt amazing in the moment, but once the adrenaline ebbed away, he could only see his past actions with horror.

He told himself it was teething issues with his new Quirk. Maybe he let the power go to his head a little bit. He would be fine. He just had to rein himself in a bit.

During Thirteen's explanation of the USJ, Izuku didn't spot the portal right away. He felt Shoji stiffen and recoil in terror, the eyes attached to his surplus appendages petrified at the sight of swirling darkness enveloping the central fountain. Izuku followed his line of sight and saw the Nomu saunter through the darkness, heralding a flood of lesser villains into the USJ.

Izuku subconsciously stepped forward. A glare from Aizawa stopped him in his tracks. Heart pounding, skin tingling with an electric thrill of adrenaline coursing through his veins and setting his nerves afire, Izuku gulped down deep breaths of air and told himself to get a grip. First provoking Bakugo into nearly killing him, then charging headlong into an entire army of villains, his Quirk was making him reckless. He needed to think calmly about this. Trust the pros in charge. Escape, not fight.

Thoughts of keeping his head down went out the window the moment darkness enveloped him. After a terrifying moment of sensory deprivation and weightlessness, Izuku felt a pull on the back of his neck, then he was unceremoniously dumped back into reality. He hit the water with a clumsy splash and floundered as he breathed in a mouthful of water.

Movement darted in the corner of his eye. Izuku saw rows of jagged teeth and a mouth yawning wide to crush his bones. Izuku pushed and spun, shoving himself out of the villain's path. His hand whipped around, and he dug long, bloody furrows in the villain's back.

Screeching in fury, the villain spun around. This time, they took a slower approach, turning as Izuku frantically paddled sideways around him. As escape proved inevitable and his vision blurred around the edges, Izuku braced himself and hoped he could somehow hold the jaws back.

A green blur slammed into the distended shark head of the villain. Tsuyu nimbly planted her feet and shoved off the villain, darting towards Izuku like an arrow. Her legs made one last powerful kick as she carried Izuku up and out of the water.

Izuku hit the deck of the boat and coughed up the water in his lungs. Taking sweet gulps of air, he choked out, "Thanks."

Tsuyu ribbited. "I didn't find anyone else around here, and there's a bunch of villains in the water. It's only a matter of time before they come aboard."

Cowering as far away from the railings as possible, Mineta rocked in place and said, "We're dead. We're so dead!"

As oxygen seeped back into his brain, Izuku felt thoughts flicker through his head. "They don't know our Quirks."

Tsuyu cocked her head. "What makes you think that?"

"For one, they're keeping their distance." Izuku pointed at the villains floating in the water, circling the boat like sharks, hunting for the scent of blood. "And two, the warp villain sent you here, where you're strongest. In the mountain or wildfire zones, you would've been much worse off."

"Alright. How does that help us?"

Izuku racked his brain. The boat had no engine and no supplies. Tsuyu could move nimbly in the water, but odds were the villains would outspeed her in a straight swim for shore, never mind Izuku and Mineta. Izuku's own Quirk was useful on land, but he'd have a much harder time fighting underwater. As for Mineta…

"Do your spheres float?" Izuku asked.

"Why? Y-you're not going to throw me back in, are you?"

"No, but we'll try to trick them into grabbing them."

Izuku tore up the wooden boards of the ship's deck, Mineta tossed his spheres into the water, and Tsuyu assembled the two together, making the start of a bridge. The villains, noticing their work, circled closer to the spheres.

"Are you sure the tape's going to hold up in the water?" Tsuyu asked just loudly enough to carry to the villains.

"It'll have to. The spheres are the only thing we have that floats. Make sure the villains don't take them or we won't be able to escape."

The villains took the bait. Tsuyu fled as the villains charged the fledgling bridge and tore it apart. It was only after they finished breaking it that they noticed a huge cache of sticky spheres, held below the water by the bridge, suddenly shot to the surface and spread out. Within seconds, every villain had a sphere latched onto an arm or their face.

Izuku grabbed the biggest board, stuck Mineta's spheres to the bottom, and threw it in. Tsuyu, I'll help push. Now's our chance!"

The villains tried to give chase, but weighed down by the spheres as they were, they could only flounder while the students swam for shore.

Mineta stumbled off the raft and kissed the ground. "Land! We're alive!"

"Don't celebrate yet, kero. There's still more villains around. We should find the nearest hero and stay out of danger."

That left two places they could go. The fountain was still swarming with villains, though Izuku spent a few moments to confirm Aizawa could handle them, but at the front door, there was no sign of Thirteen. Ochako and a few others wrangled with the warp villain long enough to give Iida a chance to slip away.

Izuku sighed in relief. Help was coming. All they had to do was hold out for a little longer.

Unfortunately, the villains knew they were on a timer.

Izuku heard a meaty thwack, like a side of beef getting slammed with a sledgehammer. He looked back and saw Aizawa nearly bent over backwards, nose pulverized and spurting blood everywhere, his goggles crushed into yellow shards and embedded in his forehead.

The ground blurred beneath Izuku's feet. He vaguely heard Tsuyu calling after him, as though his ears were packed with cotton and she were a hundred miles away. The world narrowed to a tiny slice of reality - the monster, the villain commanding it, his teacher, and his hands.

He punched. He felt the force dissipate into the monster's bulging flesh without so much as a ripple. Force nullification. He sank his nails into its skin, and though he drew blood, the gashes quickly mended themselves. His emotions were muted to a dull surprise, but his brain churned through data. Two Quirks. Possible Quirk marriage or the product of a different Quirk. Either way, he had to-

The Nomu backhanded him. Izuku felt his ribs snap and his skin tear away as he went sliding across the stony ground.

Shigaraki loomed over him. Grinning from behind the preserved hand gripping his face, Shigaraki scratched his neck and said, "Well, what do we have here? A Rick the Door Technician, thinking himself the endgame boss?" Dried skin and cracked fingernails reached towards him. Izuku numbly processed his impending demise. Tactile Quirk, harmful physiological effects powerful enough to affect the user. Izuku took a deep breath. His ribs were mending, but his shoulder still refused to move.

"I think I'll put you out of your misery. Aren't I such a nice guy?"

Tsuyu's tongue lashed out towards his wrist. The Nomu dropped Aizawa and snatched her tongue out of the air. Tsuyu croaked and flailed as the monster squeezed.

Shigaraki glanced away from Izuku, his fingers poised an inch from his chest. Izuku lunged. One hand grabbed the villain's wrist and pulled. His leg shoved into Shigaraki's shin, forcing his knee to bend. Momentum forced Shigaraki forward and down, while his head whipped back. His neck stretched, and his jugular bulged out beneath his irritated skin.

Izuku jabbed with his sharpened fingernails. The Nomu let go of Tsuyu's tongue and backhanded Izuku's hand. Izuku's fingernails left a shallow gouge across Shigaraki's neck, but in return, Izuku's entire arm flopped like a broken umbrella.

Gritting his teeth, Izuku lashed out with his other arm. The Nomu grabbed his wrist, squeezed until bones cracked, and hurled him across the plaza. Izuku rolled onto his feet. Neither hand could move, but he felt his bones shifting beneath his skin, slowly mending themselves. Using his left forearm, he clasped his right arm straight so it would heal properly.

Shigaraki ran a finger over his neck and studied the smear of blood on his fingertips. "You nearly killed me. Not very heroic of you, is it? But I suppose that's to be expected out of somebody chasing fame and money. All you heroes disgust me."

Izuku scowled. "At least I'm trying to help people. You're trying to kill us because you enjoy it."

Shigaraki giggled. "Guilty as charged. But that doesn't change the fact that heroes are rotten to the core. I'm going to get rid of them all, starting with All Might."

Izuku hissed. He sprinted forward, and the Nomu lumbered into his path. Leaping up, Izuku lunged for the monster's eyes. He ripped one out of its socket and crushed it between his fingers. The Nomu didn't even twitch. Its single remaining eye swiveled its attention onto him. Its hand darted up, swatting him aside like a fly. As it plodded over to Izuku, its empty socket grew a new eye.

Izuku wiped blood off his chin and flexed his hands. Parts from the Nomu regrew, but slowly. If he removed something important enough, he could keep it down. Internal organs were out of the question with its brute strength and resilient skin, but its exposed brain offered an obvious target.

He waited for the Nomu to swing again. As its shoulders tensed, Izuku leapt, narrowly clearing the meaty fist aiming to shatter his legs. His foot found purchase on its upper arm, giving him just enough traction to clamber closer to the Nomu's head. Roaring defiantly, Izuku plunged his hand towards its exposed brain.

The Nomu disappeared from underneath him. Before Izuku could understand what was happening, the Nomu grabbed his leg and slammed him into the ground. Again. And again. Stone cracked beneath his broken body, and splatters of blood flew everywhere. Limbs twisted, skin scraped off and leaking blood, one eye swollen shut and nose smashed flat as a pancake, Izuku wheezed as he wriggled towards the Nomu.

As broken as he was, his body still labored to repair itself. Shigaraki crouched over him and watched his skin crawl across the gaping wounds.

"Interesting. You're like a weaker version of the Nomu. I wonder what Sensei could do with you."

Izuku shuddered. He reached out with one mangled arm, trying to pull himself closer. Shigaraki stamped on it and pressed down until he felt bones snap.

"What's the matter, little hero? I thought you were going to beat up that big bad villain." Shigaraki sneered at him from behind the spindly fingers attached to his face. "Or are you hoping a hero's going to come and save you?"

Izuku felt no rational thought. Every part of his body screamed in pain. He could feel his own internal organs melding together to the profound complaints of the neurons monitoring them. All he could feel dimly aware of was the need to win. To save everyone. To stop the villains.

Permanently.

Through his fading vision, he saw Shigaraki's hand reaching towards him. One finger grazed his forehead, then two. Izuku twisted, trying to bite a finger off, but his teeth were scattered across the ground, and new ones were still rising through his gums.

Shigaraki had laid a third finger on him when the doors flew open. The fourth had only grazed a hair when Shigaraki suddenly and violently vacated the space he had previously occupied.

Izuku shakily rose his head and saw All Might grapple with the Nomu. He wore no smile as a massive punch rocketed the Nomu through the ceiling.

He felt massive hands gently cradle him. Wind whipped through his hair, and within moments he was lying in an ambulance as it sped for the hospital. Izuku tried to open his mouth, to tell them his Quirk would fix it all and they should worry about his classmates first, but he had bitten his tongue off at some point, and it hadn't grown back yet.

As consciousness flickered out like a dying candle, Izuku's last thought was that he still wasn't strong enough.

A/N

Izuku: maybe mutating my DNA wasn't such a good idea

*one violent beatdown later*

Izuku: from the moment I understood the weakness of my flesh, it disgusted me