Archive of Our Own

Little Izuku

Izuku was having a good day until he very suddenly wasn't. The day at the mall with his class was supposed to be relaxing, productive, and social. However, he found himself alone, abandoned, and sighing.

Uraraka ran off so quickly, and he had no explanation from her as to why. She seemed embarrassed, maybe shy? Or maybe she just really needed that bug spray… Either way he was there, gripping the straps of his yellow backpack as he stood in the middle of a packed mall, by himself, like an idiot. Izuku started walking, because standing there like a weirdo wouldn't really achieve anything, and he did need those wrist weights after all; it's why he came in the first place.

Izuu walked briskly, dodging people as he wove through the crowd. He had no idea where that store was… Unfortunately, that meant Izuku didn't see the child until it was too late.

Stumbling as something collided with his legs, he immediately jumped back and scrambled to apologize. The child had bright pink hair and eyes, and the red haired and red eyed mother crouched down to examine her son as she sent Izuku a glare.

"I'm so sorry!" Izuku said again, wringing his hands anxiously. "I was looking for this store to buy my weights, they've been getting too light lately- what I mean is I totally didn't see him! That's not an excuse and I'm super sorry-" He cut himself off as his arms went numb, and he had to actually check to make sure it was still there. "What…?" There was no warning, his arm just suddenly felt as though it didn't exist at all.

"Mom, my Quirk. I didn't mean to." The child showed his hands to his mom, only one having a glove on it. Izuku nearly jumped at how quickly the mother stood and turned to face Izuku, panicking.

"I'm so sorry!" She said, mimicking Izuku's earlier statement. "My son got you with his quirk! Um, it's sort of complicated." Izuku couldn't feel his legs very well and he felt wobbly, as if he'd collapse. "When he touches people they mimic the age he is. He's nearly eight, right now." She winced. "It wears off! You'll be fine in about two… or three… or four days. But five is the max, I swear! Who can I call for you?"

Izuku tried to make his tongue work but his whole body was numb. He collapsed to his knees, and slowly his limbs started to tingle. It felt like pins and needles intensified by one hundred, and he gasped as it spread up his arms around his neck, down his waist to cover every inch of him. A sharp pain rang through his head and Izuku slumped, unconscious in front of the panicking mother-son duo.

If they'd been a different mother and son, they would have stayed. They would have picked up the now seven year old child, sleeping on the ground in a shrunken version of his previous clothes, and taken him to a security guard. The unconsciousness only remained for up to 5 minutes, after all. They'd have gotten the police involved, and he'd have been given to UA safely to wait out the quirk. This… is not what happened. The son stared at the spot where the older boy had been before turning to his mom.

"Mom, that's a Hero Student." She whipped around to him as he pointed at the curly green haired child with his shaking non-gloved hand. "He goes to U.A., and he was on TV for the Sports Festival…" His mother paled drastically before scooping her child up and walking briskly in the other direction.

"It'll be fine, baby. The heroes will find him, and he won't remember us anyway." The mother knew her son's quirk was often called useless, but after using it on a Heroics student… it'd been deemed villainous. She couldn't do that to her child. The green haired kid would be fine. So many people were in the mall, someone would get him help. They would. She tried to convince herself that as she exited the mall and took her son home without looking back.

When the boy woke up he was confused. He was somewhere loud, and there were people everywhere. He looked around for anyone he recognized before realizing… he didn't even know who was looking for. Did he have a mom? A dad? He racked his brain, scrunching his nose and mumbling with a hand on his chin as he tried to remember.

His name was… Midoriya. Midoriya Izuku. He was quirkless, and he was… eight? Seven years old? He nodded to himself, before pushing off the floor in search of an adult. He didn't know why, but he felt like adults were supposed to help. Maybe someone told him that if he was lost to get an adult? He couldn't remember…

Izuku looked around and approached the closest person, a man standing against the wall, talking on his cell phone.

"E-exuce m-m-me?" Izuku stammered. He felt all shaky inside, but he didn't let it stop him as he clenched his shirt in nervous determination. "I n-need an a-a-adult to help m-me." The guy looked down with a frown.

"I'm not interested in helping lost kids. Buzz off." The man then turned back to his phone and Izuku shrank back. He really needed an adult…

Izuku tried again, a woman this time. She had three children with her, all varying ages and varying attempts of escaping her playfully to explore. Maybe a mother would help him?

"U-um, I need h-help." Izuku said as firmly as he could. The woman raised her head as she caught one of her children, giggling in her arms, and her eyes widened.

"Oh, you poor dear, have you lost your parents?" She seemed genuine so Izuku melted in relief.

"I don't k-know.. I c-can't remember." Izuku admitted. The woman looked confused.

"Kid, you're what, seven?" Izuku nodded, since it was probably close enough. "You should know who your parents are." She sounded exhausted and Izuku frowned.

"I'm s-sorry, I can't r-r-remember." He repeated, more pleading. The woman wrangled in another of her escapely and very giggly children and frowned at Izuku.

"Look kid, I have my hands full right now. If this is some morality test or something, please go. A lost kid sucks but I'm sure someone else will help you if you've actually developed sudden amnesia for real." She then turned back towards her own children and Izuku padded away, eyes teary.

Izuku didn't want to be told to go away again… it made him all sad inside. Like his stomach was in knots and bubbling like hot water. He clutched himself as he made for the exit. Maybe he could find a police officer…? Izuku didn't get much farther as he began hyperventilating outside, leaning against the cold wall of the mall.

Sliding downwards and pulling his knees to his chest, the green haired child sobbed. Where was his mom? His dad? Did he even have one? Either of them? Was he abandoned? Why did he know his name but nothing else? He spiraled, panicking and sobbing as he hid his face in his knees.

Nobody paid much attention to the soft sobbing of a small green haired child outside the mall. Children threw tantrums, and surely a parent was nearby. Why should the civilians care? Someone else would help, surely. A Hero would help, that's what they did. Right?

Izuku cried and cried, listening to footsteps pass him by until one set stopped, and clothing rustled. Izuku peeked a teary eye out to see red eyes and light blue hair. The man was crouched to be at Izuku's level, and staring intently. His face was riddled with scars and what looked like an odd dry skin rash of some kind.

"H-H-hello." Izuku stuttered, arms wiping at his eyes and nose. The man eyed him, what he was wearing, and his eyes seemed to burn into Izuku.

"What's your name?" The man's voice was a firm rasp, as if he hadn't had any water in days. Izuku sniffed loudly.

"Midoriya Izuku." The man didn't seem surprised, but his eyes burned with curiosity… and excitement? Maybe triumph? Izuku couldn't tell. "A-are you an a-adult?"

"Yes." The man said carefully. Izuku tried for a wobbly exhausted smile.

"W-will you h-h-help me? Adults are s-supposed to h-help." He choked out. "But n-nobody wants to h-help m-me." The man's eyes narrowed before he nodded slowly.

"Yes, yes I will help you." The man grinned then, all wide teeth and thin lips, but Izuku was not afraid. Izuku reached his hands upwards, and the man looked extremely uncomfortable, but he stood and picked Izuku up. The man set Izuku on his hip, Izuku wrapping his arms lightly around the man's shoulder and neck. He held Izuku oddly, fingers gripping him tightly while others didn't even graze him.

"Do you have a touch based quirk?" Izuku mumbled, head falling into the man's shoulder.

"Yes." The man's answer was curtly but Izuku beamed tiredly. Crying was exhausting…

"I bet it's cool. Probably five finger touch activated, and probably dangerous considering the way you're holding me." Izuku mumbled, eyes slipping shut. "I bet it's super cool. You should tell me all about it and I'll write it in my notebook. I like quirks, even though I don't have one." Izuku yawned and he felt the man tense slightly but kept walking. Wait… what notebook? Izuku couldn't remember…

"You don't have a quirk?"

"No, 'm quirkless." Izuku answered tiredly through another yawn. "Doctor said I shouldn't be a hero." Izuku was nearly shocked awake by that comment. He didn't remember that before… "Everyone says that." Izuku couldn't help it, his eyes slipped shut. He scrambled to remember, to know where he was getting these things. All he got were flashes. Bright orange flashes in his vision, green hair, white rooms and old doctors. He got more pieces than anything, but it was all soon slipping away as he fell asleep on the shoulder of the stranger who saved him.

"I couldn't just leave him there!" A voice rang out, angry.

"What'd you bring him here for? He's a hostage isn't he?" If the first voice was mad, the second one was scary.

"Of course not! He's a kid! He doesn't even remember shit we've done, let alone what he's done!" The first voice exclaimed. "He was all alone and I couldn't just leave him there like the people who did that to me!"

"Shit. You know he's already been reported missing, right?" A third voice chimed in. Lower, but in a strangely feminine way.

"We are not keeping him." The second voice huffed firmly.

Izuku shifted, yawning and lifting a hand to rub his eyes as he woke up. People were yelling…? He blinked huge green eyes open to take in his surroundings. The couch faced away from the voices, so Izuku turned around to peek over the back of it.

The room wasn't large, but it was spacious. The whole thing was wood and there was a bar on one side. Izuku saw three people sitting on stools and one… man? Person? Someone was behind the bar. Izuku wasn't so sure, considering the person was made entirely of a dark purpley mist with yellow slits for eyes. Izuku's eyes widened.

"Oh my gosh, is that a mutation quirk? Or is it just a quirk you've chosen to use to hide your appearance?" The four people turned rapidly, confused, one in a black hoodie only a little resigned. "Can you control the mist? What does it do? Is it cool? Can I touch it? Can anyone touch it?" Izuku climbed onto his feet to stand on the couch and leaned over the back of it excitedly. "Are those yellow parts your eyes? Can you speak? Is there a physical body underneath your suit or is it only mist? How are you wearing two sets of clothes then? What's the metal brace for? What-"

"Jesus kid, do you ever shut up?" Izuku recognized the scary voice and squeaked, slamming a hand over his mouth. Izuku felt flashes of heat and phantom burns, and he curled in on himself.

"Sorry." He mumbled, hiding his face. "I know, it's creepy and annoying." He resisted crying and he sat back down, wilting. "I just think quirks are cool." The man stood to walk around the couch, crouching in front of him. Izuku shifted to face the man, his back to the others in the room.

"Oh yeah? What about this?" The man lifted a hand and Izuku's vision was full of blue. Fire danced in the man's hands, vast and beautiful as the heat brushed his face. Izuku was mesmerized.

"Woah." Izuku watched, eyes shining, and couldn't help but think of the orange he remembered. "It's not orange." He said helpfully. The man huffed.

"No. My quirk is called Cremation, my fire is so hot it burns blue." He then extinguished the flame and Izuku saw red tinged skin left behind.

"You're hurt." Izuku's tiny hand grasped the purple marred hand and examined the red flesh. "Burns hurt a lot." The man frowned.

"Yeah. You get burned ever?" Izuku nodded absently, tracing the angry flesh on the man's palm and wishing he could fix it.

"All the time. He doesn't like that I don't have a quirk." Izuku admitted and then paused. He?

"Who's he?" Izuku froze at the tone and looked up to see the man's face was contorted into an expression Izuku couldn't help recognizing as anger and pure hatred. Izuku squeaked and withdrew.

"No one, no one." Izuku cringed, and felt bad for not answering. Would the man be mad? Izuku didn't want him to be mad...

"Hey hey, I'm not going to hurt you." Izuku uncurled a little to see intense blue eyes in the same purple marred face. "Is someone hurting you?" His eyes spoke of anger, but Izuku thought it might not be for Izuku.

"N-no, it's f-fine." Izuku stammered, answers coming from nowhere. "H-he doesn't do it a l-lot. Only w-when I get i-i-in his way." He winced at how weak the excuse was, and the way the man rolled his eyes. "Your eyes look a-angry." Izuku told him. The man huffed a laugh, amused.

"I was burnt a lot as a kid. Asshole of a dad, who's now behind me." The man tried for nonchalance but Izuku could tell it still bothered him. Izuku uncurled to wrap tiny hands around the man's neck in a soft hug.

"I get burned a lot too." Izuku frowned, trying to remember. "He's mean, doesn't like me at all." He then beamed as he pulled away, remembering something. "I'm guessing it's some kind of an explosion Quirk, based in his hands, but I can't remember…" He met the man's eyes and he saw recognition there, oddly enough.

"Explosions in his hands?" The man looked over Izuku's shoulder at the three other people Izuku had completely forgotten about. Izuku turned and waved shyly. He then paused, spotting blue hair under the black hoodie.

"Oh! I know you!" Izuku beamed and hopped down. He reached the stool and tilted his head up and up and up with a bright smile. "Hi!" He climbed up and sat himself in the man's lap easily. Izuku looked around the room from his new vantage point. "I'm Izuku, and this one saved me." He gestured to the man behind him with a beaming smile. The purple one with the blue flames laughed and plopped down on his original stool.

"Saved you, did he?" The man seemed amused, and Izuku frowned. Why? It wasn't funny, Izuku was serious.

"Bet your ass I did." Izuku's savior grumbled. "Yes, we know who you are, Izuku. I told them. These idiots are my… party members." Izuku heard the hesitation and tilted his head back to see the man's face.

"You mean friends?" Izuku asked, "That means friends, right?" The man looked between a grimace and a sneer.

"I… guess." The words sounded pained and forced, but Izuku was satisfied. He looked away to see the person with red hair watching fondly, the purple scarred man trying not to outright laugh.

"Can we be friends?" Izuku asked, eyes huge. "I've never had friends before. Not since…" Izuku paused, he remembered… a doctor. Yeah, quirkless. Right. "Not since my diagnosis." He wilted a little but perked up when someone cleared their throat.

"I'm Magne." The person was large and muscular, hair red with large lips and sunglasses inside. Izuku beamed at the person.

"Are you a boy or a girl?" He tilted his head slightly. It was polite to ask if you were confused, he knew, but Izuku couldn't remember why he knew that.

"A girl." The answer was firm, and Izuku nodded easily.

"I'm Izuku, and I'm a boy." He told her. "Want to be friends?" Her lips twitched into a sort of smile and she nodded.

"Sure, why not?" She grinned, and Izuku beamed. He then looked to the purple man expectantly, eyes wide and shining.

"Well, I'm Dabi." The man waved. "That's pretty much it. Sure, we can be friends. I guess." Izuku nodded happily.

"I'm Izuku!" Everyone laughed but Izuku didn't mind. He had friends now. He tilted his head back once again to the man he was sitting on and waited. His neck hurt a little but he didn't care. Red eyes trained on him and Izuku smiled.

"Shigaraki Tomura." The man mumbled.

"Are we friends, Mura?" Izuku asked happily. Dabi and Magne burst out laughing, and Tomura looked ready to self-destruct.

"Sure, Izuku." Izuku couldn't stop smiling as he looked back at the last person. Izuku waved, and waited. Like the rest.

"I am Kurogiri. We can be friends." The voice was deep and vaguely far away sounding. Izuku smiled so hard his cheeks started to hurt.

"I'm Izuku. Are you a boy or a girl?"

"A boy, like you." Kurogiri said, making Izuku smile.

"I'm so happy to meet you. Your quirk looks so cool." Izuku grinned before turning himself all the way around to face Tomura. "Can I see yours? It's five finger contact based right? Probably something you don't like using since I haven't seen you touch a single thing. Does it work on objects then or just people? Would it affect me through my clothes?" He paused, wondering if anyone was going to stop him. He glanced cautiously over at Dabi, but the man said nothing, merely nodded to Izuku.

"It's called Decay." Izuku snapped his head back to see Tomura reaching for a short glass that rested on the bar. "Five fingers and… gone." He pressed his fingers down onto the cup, which turned to dust in front of Izuku's very eyes. Izuku leaned forward in awe, reaching over to touch the pile of dust.

"So cool." Izuku muttered, letting the ash fall through his fingers. "How fast does it work? Can it travel through the ground? Could it take down whole buildings? Could it level a city if it had enough time?" He placed a hand on his chin as he mumbled. "What does it do to a person? Does it go so fast there isn't any blood or does it take minutes as the person slowly loses themself in agony? Can it be controlled? Gloves would work if they only covered a few fingers. Maybe cut the tips off the fingers of the gloves? Do they make gloves that cover only a few fingers? With the surge in five finger contact quirks it would be silly if they didn't…"

"I believe they do make those." Izuku looked up to see everyone staring, Kurogiri having spoken. Izuku flushed.

"Sorry." He shrank a little. "I didn't mean to ramble."

"No worries, kid. That was some super interesting stuff there." Dabi leaned forward on his elbows. "What was that about taking out cities?"

"Well if Mura" a choke "hides in a place no one will find him, he could theoretically touch the ground and just keep decaying things. If there's no limit to how long he can use it, he could just sit there with a hand in the ground until the city is gone." Izuku explained, pantimining with his hands as he went. "A building would be much easier. Just stand at the base and touch the ground. Once the floor and supports are gone. Boom, crash!" He continued pantimining, grinning as he mimicked a building collapsing.

"Did… did you just come up with mass destruction after seeing a quirk once?" Magne seemed stunned, and Izuku frowned.

"Yeah but that's not very nice. Mura could easily be a hero too." He leaned back into Tomura's stomach thoughtfully. "Like the Hero Thirteen, Quirk: Blackhole. It could also be used for mass destruction. Again, stand in front of a building and just wait. Alternatively, Decay could be used to take out rubble to free people. It would make searching areas covered in debris much faster. He'd have to go slowly, making sure he doesn't get any survivors, but it's very possible. Any quirk is a good quirk for heroics or villainy." Magne and Dabi were both looking at him intently, as if they couldn't solve a puzzle.

"What about mine?" Dabi asked finally. "Mine burns me, it's too hot for my skin." Izuku frowned thoughtfully.

"Do you have normal skin or is it modified in any way? Most quirks are built to fit your body." Izuku frowned harder as Dabi's face hardened.

"I have the skin of an ice quirk user." Izuku thought it over. Carefully.

"Most common ways to get that are to have one fire elemental and one ice elemental user. That sucks, not a good combo." Izuku scrunched his nose in concentration. "Can you control how hot the fire is?"

"I guess. It was weaker when I was younger, and it got hotter as I… trained." Izuku didn't like the look on his face and moved on.

"Why not make the fire cold?" The adults blinked. "Fire can be cold, it's called cool flame. Makes almost no heat, and usually it's a chemical reaction. If your body isn't meant for heat, why force it? You could try making it as cold as you can, maybe see if the quirk can push past what science can. Oh! Maybe you'll end up with some of ice fire, which would make sense if you've been using the wrong end of the spectrum." Izuku saw cold anger but also burning determination in Dabi.

"We're keeping him. I'll be back for dinner." Then the man stormed off, pushing open a door and disappearing.

"Did I… did I say something wrong?" The adults in the room took one look at Izuku's eyes and couldn't help but agree with Dabi.

"No, you said something very right." Mura's voice rumbled through Izuku since he was leaning on the man's stomach. "Idiot's just gone off to train his quirk." Izuku beamed.

"I helped, then?" He resisted bouncing. Magne grinned at him.

"Yeah, kid, good work. Want to hear about my quirk?" She moved to Dabi's stool, which was closer, and leaned forward with an elbow on her knee.

"Of course I do!" Izuku's eyes sparkled as he leaned forward too.

"Well, it's called Magnetism." Izuku listened with rapt attention. "I can use my quirk on both women and men, but they polarize in opposite directions. I can grab multiple people at once, but opposite charges attract towards one another while two of the same charge repel each other."

"Can you pull them towards yourself?" Izuku asked for clarification.

"I use my giant magnet for that." She grinned.

"A Support Item?" Izuku asked, interest peaked. "That's so cool! What does it do? You said it's a magnet? Was it made specifically for your quirk? Is it big? Can I see it? Does it pull every charge to you or just one type?" He realized he was squirming with excitement when three fingers touched his shoulder and he stilled. He sent Tomura an apologetic smile.

"It's huge, and I carry it on my shoulder." Magne answered. "It's mostly a weapon, but yeah it's a Support Item, I guess. I can pull girls towards it only, and my Quirk doesn't work on myself." Izuku nodded, fingers itching for a notebook at her answers. He then froze, wondering where that thought came from. He'd had it once before, in the mall…

"Izuku?" He tilted his head back to look at Tomura, who was watching him intently. "You good?"

"I remembered something, that's all." Izuku smiled. "I want a notebook!"

"You did mention you wanted one at the mall." Tomura nodded.

"You have a notebook?" Magne asked. Izuku turned to her and frowned.

"I don't know. I think so?" He tilted his head and glared at the ceiling. "I can't remember. I have little flashes of things, and sometimes words come out of my mouth before I actually know where they came from."

"What sorts of things do you mean?" Tomura sounded unhappy for some reason. Izuku looked at him, trying to reassure him.

"I'm okay, Mura? See?" Izuku grinned for him. "I just get colors and things. Before Dabi asked if I got burned, I didn't remember the boy with the Explosion Quirk at all. But then it just came out of my mouth like I knew it all along!" He beamed at Tomura who looked deep in thought.

"If I started asking you things, d'you think it'd help you remember?"

"Maybe. We can try!" Izuku beamed. They were testing something!

"Okay. What do you know about U.A.?" Tomura asked. Izuku giggled.

"It's my dream school! I want to be a hero, even though everyone says I can't." His smile fell and he shook it off. "But All Might went there! He's gone now but the Principal's name is Nezu and he has an intelligence quirk! All the teachers are Pro Heroes, too." He beamed at Tomura, who just nodded.

"Izuku." He turned to Magne attentively. "Can you tell me about your quirk?" Izuku frowned.

"I don't have one. The doctor says I never will. My friend says I'll never be a hero, and so does mom." He then froze. He had a mom?

"Tell me about your friend." Izuku tried to focus.

"Um, he has the Explosion Quirk. He's my age, and he's going to be a hero! He's mean though, he calls me a name and he says I'll never be a hero." He saw sparks in his vision, and angry proud voices in his head. If covered his ears, would they go away? Izuku tried it, but they didn't go away, no matter how hard he pressed.

"Izuku?" Fingers brushed his forehead and Izuku slowly let go of his ears and opened his eyes. When had he closed them…?

"Yeah, Mura?" He said, blinking as the loud voice faded.

"Did you remember something?" Izuku nodded, frowning.

"He yells a lot. He's loud, loud as his hands." Izuku scrambled to remember harder. "He says my name when it's written looks different. It looks like something else…" He couldn't remember and made a noise of frustration.

"Was the name Deku?" Izuku blinked and then beamed at Tomura.

"Yeah it was!" His smile then slipped, "That's mean, though…" Tomura poked his forehead again.

"We won't call you that anyway." His gravelly voice said. Izuku nodded in thanks, believing him. Suddenly the door slammed open, smacking into the wall, and he jumped, leaning back into Tomura in surprise.

"Shigaraki we're back!" A girl came bouncing in, a uniform-like outfit swishing as she came in, twin messy buns bouncing on her head. "can't keep us away~" She sang, and then froze. Her eyes were yellow and sharp looking, but they widened as she took in Izuku and his position on Tomura's lap.

"Don't tell me that's a new recruit?" A man followed the girl in, and he looked like a lizard. His purple hair flowed behind him, green scales covering the rest of him. Izuku leaned forward, ignoring the girl's squeal.

"Is that a mutant quirk? You look so cool! Like a lizard! Can you stick to walls? Is your tongue super long? What can you do? Do you have lizard-y instincts?" His eyes sparkled as he rambled, the man seemingly stunned in place. "Can you do anything else or is it just the mutation? Are you fast? Can you use those swords?"

"Why're we blocking the door?" A third person came through, a man in an odd black vest with a red undershirt and a white mask. He held a hat in hand as he hung up a yellow trench coat.

"Cute!!!" The girl squealed. The man, turning around, also froze at the scene and seemingly ignored the girl's excited squeal.

"Oh. I see. We've kidnapped a child, then?" Izuku glared, offended on Tomura's behalf.

"Mura saved me!" Izuku said hotly, hugging the black sleeved arm he could reach.

"Aww, Tomura!!" The girl hopped in place excitedly and pulled a knife. "Can I stab him? I bet some blood would look so pretty in those curls~" Izuku blinked in confusion.

"No thank you." Izuku denied, eyeing her. Was she serious…?

"Don't touch him, Toga." Tomura rasped. "He's mine now. I saved him." Izuku smiled and ignored the odd wording.

"So we did kidnap a child." The tall man said smugly as he slunk forward to lean on the bar. "Fascinating."

"Can we be friends? What's your quirk?" Izuku asked immediately. His eyes flicked behind Izuku so Izuku tilted his head back and saw Tomura nod. Izuku beamed, turning back to the man in the mask expectantly.

"It's called Compress." The man seemed amused as he pulled out three blue marbles. "Anything I touch I can trap inside one of my marbles. Even people. They lose their quirks temporarily, though. They stay safe and sound inside my marbles, unless I trap them with something dangerous, of course."

"The contents of the marble remain active?" Izuku's eyes were huge as he leaned forwards, nearly toppling out of Tomura's lap. "Can you set someone on fire and trap them, and then, would they die in the marble? If they're shot, will they bleed out inside? Is it only good for carrying things? Will they remember everything they do inside the marble? Can they move inside it? Can you marble yourself? That'd be so cool for getting through small spaces, someone could just toss you!" The man took off his white mask, which had another mask under it, revealing warm brown eyes that seemed very interested in Izuku and an amused grin.

"My my, I see why you've decided to keep this one intact." The man said, eyeing Tomura appraisingly. "Child, what's your name?"

"I'm Midoriya Izuku! Do you want to be friends?" The three newcomers collectively froze once more, the girl having just started moving closer again and the lizard having been moving towards the couch. Why did they freeze like that? Did they not want to be friends? "Mura and Dabi and Magne and Giri are my friends already." Izuku assured the man quickly. He laughed in response.

"Why, yes, of course. I am Mister Compress." He gave a small, flourishing, seated bow and Izuku laughed.

"That's not a real name." He said between giggles, "But okay, Compress." The other two started moving again, the girl plopping herself cross legged on the floor, the lizard sitting on the couch.

"To answer your questions, yes people can die in my marbles. They do remember what happens inside, but not what's happening outside of the marble. Very handy indeed." Izuku turned to Tomura excitedly.

"Mura! I really need a notebook. The quirks are so cool!" Tomura huffed.

"Fine, squirt. We'll find you something to write in." Izuku beamed, hugging Tomura around the waist.

"Thank you!" He pulled back and turned to the girl on the floor who was pouting lightly. "Will you be my friend too?" She grinned, large canines on full display.

"Of course I will! I'm Toga! Toga Himiko!" She started shaking her fists up and down in her lap, grinning. "You're so adorable and I'm so glad you're joining our League!"

"What's your League?" Izuku tilted his head. "Is it like a group?" She nodded happily, buns bouncing. "What do you do?"

"We're making the world a better place." Tomura's voice answered for her. "We're taking out society's trash." Izuku frowned in confusion. Compress leaned forward to answer.

"We want to create a better society for everyone to live more freely." Compress said evenly.

"Don't heroes do that?" Izuku asked, genuinely curious. Tomura behind him huffed slightly, and Izuku was lifted up to sit on the counter so he no longer had his back to the man. "Mura?"

"Have you noticed that people yell at heroes who lose their fights, or don't save enough people?" Tomura narrowed his eyes at Izuku, who scrunched his nose and thought about it.

"Sometimes. They get mad at them when they don't save everyone, especially from villains." Izuku decided. "Because heroes are supposed to protect us?" Izuku looked up, hoping he was right.

"But why should they be criticized, do they need to be perfect?" Izuku shook his head.

"Everyone makes mistakes." Izuku said seriously. "It's part of being human." Tomura grinned at him, and Izuku smiled in relief. He got it right.

"That's exactly right, Izuku." Tomura praised. "Heroes should be allowed to make mistakes, no? But society says they can't… they need to protect us and be perfect. That's not right, don't you think?"

"But, that can't be fixed, Mura. Heroes are everywhere, and besides, the people would be the problem." Izuku pointed out.

"Heroes are at fault too." Izuku leaned to the side, past Tomura, to see the lizard mutant turned around on the couch. "When heroes start getting paid to save people, they're not heroes anymore. That is Stain's teaching."

"Who's Stain?" Izuku blinked at the man. "Also who're you? Want to be friends?"

"I am Spinner, the one who will spin Stain's dream into a reality." The man grinned. "You are a true hero, one to be spared."

"I'm not a hero." Izuku frowned. "Not yet. I want to be, though." Spinner didn't say anything as he simply turned around again.

"Izuku." Tomura called his attention. "Would you save people even if you didn't get paid?"

"Of course I would!" Izuku said fiercely. "Everyone deserves to be saved."

"Everyone?" Izuku nodded at Tomura's raised eyebrow. "Even people who are poor? People who are homeless?"

"Yes." He said, determined.

"What about bad people, the people who've been to jail, are they worth saving?"

"Everyone." Izuku repeated firmly.

"Even villains?" Tomura's eyes were serious, and Izuku paused to think.

"Are they trying to hurt me?" He asked, tilting his head. "If someone attacked me without warning, as a hero, I would fight back."

"Okay." Tomura looked deep in thought. "What if they're a villain, and you know they're a villain, but they promise not to hurt you. Would you talk to them?"

"Probably. Are they threatening other people? I'd want to protect civilians." Tomura nodded easily.

"They're goal isn't to hurt civilians. They're innocent, bred by the mindset of heroes and society." Tomura grinned. "So you would listen, then? Would you save them, even if they were trying to kill you?"

"Everyone deserves saving." Izuku said firmly. "Even villains are people. They hurt people, and heroes hurt them a lot back… but I think they could be saved. Villains usually don't live happy lives."

"Do you think you could ever agree with a villain?" Izuku glanced over at Compress.

"Of course I could." Izuku laughed. "Lots of villains have the same stuff as me! Some of them even like All Might, like I do!" The girl, Toga, giggled a little crazily.

"I like red! Red is so pretty… like blood." She giggled madly and Izuku smiled at her.

"I like red too." He kicked out his shoes, careful to avoid kicking Tomura, and pointed at the blocky red sneakers happily. "See?" Izuku gave her one last smile before turning back to Compress. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, I meant more on the moral scale. Could you agree to killing someone in self defense?" His brown eyes were curious, a flare of something Izuku couldn't place.

"I dunno." Izuku frowned in thought. "Do I have a choice? Can I lock them up?"

"No. It's either kill them before they kill you, or let them try to kill you first." Izuku didn't like this question.

"Heroes kill villains all the time." Tomura's raspy voice cut in softly. "Sometimes accidentally, sometimes purposefully. With a Quirk like All Might's, one punch a little too powerful and poof… no more bad guy." Izuku frowned. His muscles hurt a little from frowning and smiling so much.

"I would do what I needed to do to be alive. I need to be alive to save people… right?" Tomura looked pleased at his answer.

"Exactly." He then grinned. "Would you play a game with me? It's a question game." Izuku beamed at him.

"Sure! How do we play?" He resisted bouncing on the bartop on which he sat.

"I'll ask you a question about a scenario, and you'll be the hero or the villain." Izuku nodded. Easy. "You've got to answer fast, or you lose. Got it?"

"Yeah! Let's go!" Izuku grinned.

"A building is collapsing. You're a hero, and there's civilians inside. But the villain is getting away. What do you do?"

"Am I alone or do I have a partner?" Izuku asked immediately.

"You're all alone." Izuku nodded.

"Okay, I'd save as many people as I can from the building before it collapses. Prioritize the rescue." Tomura grinned.

"Excellent. You win, good job, Izuku." He ruffled Izuku's curls with three fingers and Izuku grinned. "Next one. You're a villain, and you're being attacked by a hero with a fire Quirk! He's trying to burn you until you collapse or pass out. What do you do?"

"Do I have weapons or a quirk?" Izuku asked, leaning forward excitedly.

"Weapons, yes. Quirk, no." Tomura grinned.

"Okay. Best case would be a gun since nobody expects that anymore. Long range weapons would be best because of the heat around fire quirk users so knives wouldn't be great unless you were throwing them, in which case they might melt. Wearing a mask and hiding in the smoke would be good cover, but not great for my own visibility. A high vantage point would be best and then trying to incapacitate them by aiming for limbs, legs would be best. Avoid getting too close, skin contact is not a good idea." He held his chin as he rambled, tapping his mouth lazily. "Avoid burning nearby buildings and people, even as a villain, too much damage can bring more heroes to the scene and hurting civilians makes them angrier…"

"That's good, Izuku." Izuku looked up at Tomura who was grinning widely. Izuku tilted his head.

"But I didn't win, yet." He pointed out.

"Sometimes having a good plan is enough. Ready for your next one?" Izuku nodded excitedly, wiping his palms on his khaki shorts. "You're a hero again. The villains are collected in the middle of a forest in several buildings as well as outdoor areas, and you need to kidnap one of them for information. You have a team, you pick how many, fewer than 10. Go!"

"In the middle of the forest, the trees would be the best place to hide… ambushes would be better than a large-scale attack… Isolate them in small groups or one by one so I'd need a team of even numbers… duos would be more reliable to send at a time. Six or eight. I'd need to find my target before attacking, either by using a quirk or just by spying on them for a few days… pick the most opportune moment, that's important." He rambled, trying to find the best angle. "I'd need an easy extraction so I could grab and go, forget heroic monologuing and shoving my win in their face. Stealth in the mission, and in the getaway." Izuku looked at Tomura proudly. "Done!"

"Jesus." Izuku turned his head towards Spinner, who was once again backwards on the couch and facing the group. "You're wicked smart, Midoriya." Izuku's face went pink.

"I just like analyzing quirks." He said, ducking his head shyly. "I like watching hero battles and trying to find ways to win before the hero does."

"How old are you, Izuku?" Izuku turned back to Tomura.

"Seven, or eight." He answered, frowning lightly again. "I can't remember. Maybe nearly eight? That's between them…" He shook his head apologetically. "Sorry, Mura."

"No worries, squirt." He said, grinning wildly. "He's right, wicked smart at just seven…"

"Can we do another scenario? The next should be a villain one. It's a pattern." Izuku grinned happily at Tomura.

"Okay, one more." He huffed. "You're a villain, and you want to reform society. Wipe the board clean and start over to create the world of your own choosing. How would you do that?" Izuku blinked at just how broad the question was. Reform society?

"I'd need to take out the leaders. Probably the Hero Commission, the heads of each Hero School, and anywhere else that might try to take over my new society." Izuku tapped his chin thoughtfully. What next? "Heroes would be a problem. They'd never listen, even if what I wanted was a good thing. Like equality. They'd probably…" He took a deep breath and tried to focus. He was a villain in this scenario. "They'd have to go. The higher they are on the charts the more carefully I'd need to do it. Finding and killing them at home would be best, especially while they're outside of their hero costumes." No government, no heroes, what next?

"I'd need to set up some sort of my own government, either with myself as a leader or as an advisor to the leader of my choice. I'd need lots of allies for this, of course. Skilled ones to take out the heroes." He added thoughtfully. "My new government would need to pass my new beliefs on to the people. I'm a villain, so they might not trust it at first. Although if I'm going for equality, lots of the oppressed would adjust well, and even support me and mine. I'd need a way to enforce these laws, such as police officers or a new kind of hero. Personally I'd also have mandatory checks of institutions such as schools and hospitals to make sure they're following my rules especially." He looked up happily. "Done!"

"Very good, Izuku." Tomura said again, grinning madly with his teeth exposed.

"What would your goals be? Theoretically. You said equality?" Magne asked, and Izuku turned to her.

"I'm Quirkless, and… and I'm treated pretty badly for it." He curled in on himself a little as he spoke. "I try to protect the people who are similar to me, people who are bullied for having weak quirks, but I'm too small. Not enough of a hero, yet." He frowned. "In a better world, that wouldn't happen. It wouldn't matter what your quirk is, or what you looked like. Everyone has a chance to fail, everyone has the opportunity to succeed. Everyone deserves to be saved." Izuku smiled. "People try, and All Might is so inspiring. But even he can't make the world better like that."

"Would you?" Tomura asked. Izuku tilted his head in confusion. "Would you be willing to create that world, that better place?" He clarified. "If people did try and were called villains, as you said, would you help them even though you'd be called a villain yourself?" Izuku didn't answer, processing and thinking. What would he do?

"Would the public calling you a villain be enough to dissuade you from helping better society?" Magne asked quietly.

"Is the title and glory all that being a hero is worth?" Spinner put in.

"People will hate you if you support them… people will hate you if they succeed and you're against them…" Toga muttered a little dreamily.

"What is a hero? What is justice?" Tomura asked, voice soft. Izuku looked between every person in the room, surprised by their questions and not having an answer.

"I don't know." He answered honestly. "Maybe I'll know when I'm older…" Izuku said softly. Tomura seemed understanding, not surprised.

"It's a very hard scenario. For now I'll say nobody won, but if you ever have an answer… let me know." Izuku's green eyes clashed with intense red ones, and he beamed at the man.

"I can do that!" Izuku enthused.

The door then slammed open, again making Izuku flinch toward Tomura. This time it was Dabi, and he was grinning. His smile was wild and free, wider than Izuku thought possible with crazed, glowing blue eyes. He didn't seem to care that his arms were steaming a little, which was concerning to Izuku. However, he didn't get to voice this before Dabi's breathless and giddy voice rang through the room.

"Hey guys, what'd I miss?" Dabi panted, massaging his shoulder with an eyebrow twitch. Izuku watched, frowning.

"Are you okay?" Dabi seemed to pause before grinning, and nodding.

"Yeah, squirt. Though I have a surprise for you. Want to see?" Izuku nodded rapidly, eyes wide. Dabi came closer to the bar and took the seat next to Tomura.

Dabi held out a hand, mimicking when he'd previously shown off his quirk, and lit his palm. Instead of a vibrant blue, the flames were a mass of darkness. It swayed and cracked like fire, shifting from Izuku's awed breaths.

"Cold flame…" Izuku reached out, not touching it, and he felt misty coldness seeping into his hands. He laughed, delighted. "It's beautiful! Like ice fire!" He smiled at Dabi who made a distantly sad expression before grinning at Izuku.

"Yeah, your advice was great. As a kid I was… trained… to use the highest temperature of flame I could. I had never considered going to lower temperatures." Izuku beamed.

"So I helped? Really?" Izuku's eyes tracked Dabi's hand as the man extinguished the flame to reveal an uninjured palm. Redness from previous burns lingered, but no new rawness or blisters had formed. "Amazing…" He breathed.

"All thanks to you, squirt." Dabi stood, grinning, and patted Izuku's fluffy hair firmly. Izuku blinked at the three pats, but laughed.

"Genius, that one. A real hero." Spinner complimented. Izuku went to respond, but looked down the hall at footsteps from a man Izuku didn't recognize. He wore a full body suit, including a mask, in black and white. The suit was tight and showed off his muscles, and Izuku tilted his head in curiosity.

"Hello. Want to be friends?" He asked, leaning forward. Izuku thought he heard Dabi mutter 'always asks that first' but ignored it.

"Sure!" A cheery voice answered. "No way, you're too young to be here!" A second more angry voice said. Izuku frowned.

"So, are we friends?"

"Of course we are! Absolutely no way." The man answered, voices switching out.

"Twice here had an accident a while back." Tomura answered Izuku's unspoken question. "It didn't go over well, and he's been like this ever since."

"Why're you wearing a costume?" Izuku said, knowing not to ask about whatever the 'accident' was.

"It keeps my head from splitting. None of your business! It's not perfect but it helps. No it doesn't!" Izuku nodded, adjusting. "People reject me because of it. Disgusting discriminatory bastard heroes! That's why I'm here with the League. I can be happy here, and they accept me."

"Oh… that makes sense." Izuku hopped down and headed for the man, standing in front of him and tilting his head all the way back. Izuku then reached his hands upward expectantly.

"Twice, he wants you to pick him up." Tomura said when the man didn't move. The man, Twice, slowly bent and scooped Izuku up to seat him on his hip.

"You're small. How old are you? Like I care!" Izuku hummed.

"I'm close to eight. I've always been small though." Izuku reached out his hands, on a mission, and placed them on Twice's head. "You're perfect the way you are, and everybody deserves to be saved." Dabi made a noise behind him, but Izuku ignored him again. "Did Tomura save you, too?" The white places on his mask, which Izuku assumes were eyes, widened and slid by him to land on Tomura.

"Yeah… yeah I guess he did." Twice murmured. Izuku beamed at him, moving his hands from the man's head to wrap around his neck and shoulders.

"He saved me too." Izuku said. "I think he saved all of the people here. Maybe not in the same way, like you and me, but I think he did." Izuku leaned in and whispered in Twice's ear, "He's my hero." Twice laughed loudly, leaning forward as he did, nearly dropping Izuku who giggled.

"That's hilarious! No it's not!" The man chuckled, gasping for breath. Izuku grinned playfully, and wiggled to be put down.

Feet on the ground and Twice wiping imaginary tears out of his eyes, Izuku climbed onto a bar seat and smiled.

"So you'll be my friend, then?" Izuku asked again, more sure Twice would say yes.

"Of course kid! As if!" Izuku clapped happily.

"Great! You're Twice, right? I'm Izuku! What's your quirk? Can I see it? Is it powerful? Is it cool like Dabi's and Tomura's and Magne's? Like Compress??" Izuku's eyes sparkled as Twice took a seat. He faintly noticed Compress and Spinner watching from the couch.

"My quirk is called Duplicate, and it makes it so I can make doubles of anything. Objects or people, doesn't matter. I need their measurements! It's useless if I don't have those! If it's a person, I have no control over them and I can only make two at a time. I can also duplicate myself. No I can't! I won't!" Izuku laughed.

"That's so cool! Are the clones exact? Can they use the original's quirks? Can they die just like real people? Could Compress put them in a marble and keep them to use for copies of you for emergencies?" Izuku leaned forward, fascinated. Twice tapped his chin, motion exaggerated.

"The clones aren't as durable as the originals. They melt into sludge after they take too many hits. They fall apart! It's gross!" Twice changed expressions between voices and Izuku giggled.

"If Tomura decayed a clone, would it turn to ash or sludge?" Izuku tilted his head clinically. Twice hopped to his feet and pointed at Tomura excitedly.

"Shigaraki! We're testing this! No we're not! It's pointless!" Tomura sighed, and Izuku turned huge pleading eyes to the man.

"Oh please, Mura?" Izuku bounced in place. "I'd get to see your quirk in action!" Tomura sighed again, this time in defeat.

"Fine. Who's clone?" He grumbled. Izuku clapped happily.

"Mine! Mine!" Izuku volunteered. Tomura scowled.

"No. Someone else." Izuku frowned sadly, but nodded.

"I can do Dabi! We have his measurements for the mission! Shhh we have no mission idiot! And no measurements!" Izuku tilted his head at Twice's dramatic shushing before turning to Dabi.

"Is that okay with you?" Izuku asked Dabi, eyes wide and face serious.

"Sure, I guess. Better get used to my clones dying anyway." Dabi shrugged with a grin.

"Oh yes! I've been wanting to decay your face since I laid eyes on your ugly face!" Tomura jumped to his feet in excitement, grinning, at Dabi. Izuku's small face scowled in disapproval.

"We don't call our friends ugly, Tomura." He crossed his arms, and Tomura blinked at the lack of the usual nickname. He then huffed and sat back down, slumping.

"Fine. Whatever." Dabi choked at Tomura's agreeable response and Izuku grinned.

"Yay! Twice! Twice!" Izuku hopped in place in excitement. "We're going to be killing Dabi!"

"Let's do it!" Toga exclaimed as she pumped her fists with a grin.

"Twice!" Izuku beamed at him expectantly. The man held his hands out and goop fell onto the floor, plopping down in a pile. Izuku gasped as Twice held his hands still and the Sludge slowly morphed into a perfect copy of Dabi. "Woah! That's so cool!!" Izuku ran forward and took fake-Dabi's hand, examining it. "It's so perfect!" Fake-Dabi laughed.

"Oi, scarface, get over here!" Shigaraki called. Fake-Dabi sighed, and meandered over.

"I hope Decay isn't as painful as it sounds." Fake-Dabi muttered. Tomura pressed a hand into the clone's chest, and Izuku's eyes widened. Fake-Dabi's chest turned gray, the color of ash spreading, and then suddenly he collapsed into a pile of goo. Izuku clasped in delight.

"Duplicate wins! I wonder if it's because Mura's quirk can't kick in fast enough before the clone takes too much damage. If he Decays only limbs first would it get a different result? Can clones lose limbs without melting if they get medical attention? Is it worth giving them medical attention if you can just destroy them and make more? I wonder–"

"Izuku!" He looked up to see Dabi smiling fondly. "Kid, slow down." Izuku smiled apologetically.

"Sorry, I–"

"No, no, keep going." Dabi held up a hand. "It's just that if you want to try all your ideas, you'll need to slow down." Izuku blinked, and then beamed.

"Okay!!"

Izuku woke up on the couch where he'd laid down after several exciting experiments and dinner. Although, he didn't have a blanket or a pillow then, and he realized someone must've given him some. The thought made his insides warm.

He yawned and sat up, rubbing his eyes, bleary with sleep. Sounds filter through his ears, though he was only partially listening, and from what he could hear it must be the news.

"If anyone has seen the student, please contact U.A. High School or your nearest police station. I repeat, if you've seen him, please contact U.A. High School or your nearest police station." Izuku looked over the back of the couch to briefly see a woman with a microphone on the TV above the bar before the screen switched away to someone else. Dang it, he didn't get to see who was missing.

"Mura?" Izuku yawned. The man sitting at the bar turned, the TV switching off quickly.

"Hey Izuku, how long have you been awake?" Izuku stood to wobble over to the bar.

"Not long." He dragged a stool next to Tomura and climbed up, leaning on the man's side.

"Were you watching the TV? I had the news on." He heard Tomura rasp, though Izuku had shut his eyes.

"No, though I heard a reporter say to contact U.A., is everything okay?" He leaned away from Tomura to stretch, back popping nicely as he did.

"A student is missing, that's all." Izuku frowned.

"Will the heroes find them?" He asked. Tomura seemed amused, and ruffled Izuku's messy curls with three fingers.

"Maybe. Though maybe not, heroes make mistakes sometimes." Izuku nodded in acceptance.

"I hope whoever it is, is doing okay." Izuku said earnestly. "Maybe they're just lost."

"Maybe that's it." Izuku smiled at Tomura, but turned away as he heard footsteps coming from the hall.

"Oh, kid's up." Dabi appeared, and Izuku waved.

"Hiya." Izuku said. Dabi waved tiredly, yawning.

"Izuku." Izuku turned to see Tomura looking at him seriously. "Tonight, everyone will be going on a mission, and you can't go with them. They won't come back until tomorrow night." Izuku frowned.

"Why not? I want to help." Tomura grinned, but he shook his head.

"It's great you want to help, but they have a job to do. It could be dangerous for you." Izuku sighed, pouting.

"Fine. But I am not happy."

"Oh~ Baby's not happy Shigaraki!" Toga skipped into the room.

"He can't go with you on the mission, it would be too risky." Tomura glared.

"But what if he went with me and Twice?" Dabi eyed Tomura thoughtfully. "We're not supposed to be seen at all, staying back in the fight. It'd be safe and he'd get to see us working." Tomura narrowed his eyes, and Izuku looked back and forth between the two, excitedly.

"Fine. But if they see him–" Dabi grinned.

"Then we'll just have to be extra careful, won't we?" Dabi raised an eyebrow, and Izuku ran over to hug Dabi's legs.

"Yay! Thank you, Dabi!" Izuku squealed.

"Yeah, just don't run off, squirt." Izuku nodded rapidly.

"I'll stay put! Promise!" Dabi patted him in the head.

"Oi, don't let him anywhere near Muscular or Moonfish." Izuku turned to see Tomura looking very serious, red eyes gleaming.

"Duh." Dabi rolled his eyes, and bent down to scoop Izuku up. "The Mustard kid doesn't seem so bad, though."

"Whatever. Just don't let Izuku out of your sight." Tomura glared. Izuku patted Dabi's cheek, looking at Tomura.

"Don't worry, Mura. I'll stay put." Izuku assured him. "What's the mission?" Dabi took a seat on a stool, still holding Izuku, and set him in his lap.

"We're doing a version of that forest mission you explained yesterday." Tomura grinned. "There's someone there that we wanted, but now we want him even more." Izuku tilted his head.

"So you're going to a place in a forest to take someone and get out." Izuku nodded thoughtfully. "What about the quick get away?"

"Kurogiri's quirk is called Warp Gate, it's like teleportation."

"Woah." Izuku's eyes sparkled. "That's perfect! Will you be extracting the person all stealthy-like?"

"Sort of. We want to make a little bit of a splash. Any ideas?" Izuku tilted his head at Tomura's words, shifting a little to lean more into Dabi.

"Well, you could have two teams. Like a distraction team and an extraction team, but for that to work the target would have to be separated or something from the main group already." Izuku frowned in thought. "If all of the threats were in one place, the distraction team would have to be there. That way, they'd think anyone away from the distraction group would be safer. They'd want the target far away from the perceived threat. The distraction team would have to be people who could basically put on a show. Flashier quirks to catch the attention of the people to keep the others hidden. They'd need to hold the attention, and keep any threats contained. The extraction team would need to be stealthier, quirks that be used in the downlow and in smaller ways. Spreading all our allies out would be a good idea…" Izuku paused, and then smiled at Tomura apologetically. "Sorry, Mura. That's all I got." Izuku looked around and froze, seeing everyone suddenly in the room and staring at him. He hadn't even noticed them arriving… "Oh, hiya." He waved.

"Kid, that's perfect." Dabi said from behind Izuku. Izuku tilted his head all the way back to look up at Dabi.

"Really?"

"Let's change the plan! NO, the old plan was better!" Izuku blinked at looked at Twice, Compress looking thoughtful next to him.

"I could be on the distraction team, of course. I can hold an audience's attention." Izuku grinned at Compress' flamboyant declaration.

"Muscular and Moonfish would definitely be distracting." Dabi mused. "They can't be subtle for the life of them."

"Mustard would be good for the stealth team, he could be useful if we encountered people who aren't the target." Magne added. "In the original plan, he was going to use it on a wider scale, but that would attract a lot of attention."

"Dabi could be on the stealth team too, without using his quirk: torching the whole place would be obvious as hell…" Tomura added.

"Twice would be good for my team, and Toga would too. She could get more people's blood if Mustard is taking them out." Dabi put in. Izuku just looked from adult to adult with wide eyes.

"Who are you going up against?" Izuku blurted. "It's heroes, right?" Everyone froze, and Izuku blinked huge eyes at them. "Will… will they hurt you?"

"Yeah, they will." Tomura murmured. "They said we're villains, and heroes take down villains by any means necessary." Izuku frowned.

"They have a camp in the middle of the woods? Who all will be there?" Tomura sighed.

"We're attacking a Training Camp of U.A.'s first years. They'll be the PussyCats, and their teachers. Eraserhead and Vlad King." Izuku perked up.

"I know them!" Izuku grinned. "Eraserhead avoids the media because he says it gets in the way of his job. He's got an erasure type quirk centered around his line of sight. He uses a capture scarf and yellow goggles during heroics! He's an ambush style underground hero." Tomura nodded for him to continue.

"Vlad King has a blood manipulation quirk. It only works on his own blood after it leaves his body, and he isn't affected by blood loss – which is super cool and is definitely an advantage if he's really injured – but he's also really strong. That's not part of his quirk, he's just super buff." Izuku grinned.

"The Wild, Wild PussyCats are rescue heroes, and work in perfect sync from years of teamwork! Mandalay is the leader, and she's got a telepathic quirk that allows her to spread messages to people telepathically. Super cool, but also bad if she can just tell people you guys are attacking. Pixie-Bob has an earth manipulation quirk, where she can move mountain debris, make monsters to fight people, and even cause avalanches. Ragdoll has the quirk: Search, which allows her to see and find up to 100 people in a huge area, and even their weaknesses. Every person she catalogs stays in her memory! Tiger is last and he has a stretchy quirk. I think it's called Pliabody? He's super flexible and can bend or flatten or stretch himself in super cool ways, and it can be creepy too. He's also super buff, like Vlad King." Izuku looked at all the attentive people watching him, his friends listening as if what he said mattered, and he wilted a little. "Because they're going to try and hurt you, you'll hurt them back, won't you?"

"Yes, we will." Tomura confirmed. "But we don't need to kill them. We have two targets, and if we can get them after showing off a little, then we'll just leave." Izuku nodded slowly.

"Who are you after?" Izuku tilted his head.

"Well, Ragdoll for one. She's got a powerful quirk." Izuku didn't know why that mattered, but he nodded in acceptance. "The other is a student. We wanted him originally for recruitment, but… he's hurt someone we've come to like a little bit."

"So you're hurting him back, a little bit?" Izuku asked, confused.

"Mostly we want to see how society reacts to a child of a main institution like U.A. being taken. A test, of sorts." Compress said, smiling at Izuku. "We're not petty criminals, we're working together to achieve a larger goal." Izuku nodded.

"Okay. So, I can go, then?" Izuku asked, scrunching his nose up in thought. "I could go with the stealth group, cuz then I wouldn't be seen, but I could also go with the distraction team. I obviously couldn't really help, but it would definitely be distracting if heroes saw a kid with what they thought were villains."

"You'd definitely be a distraction all right…" Tomura muttered, making Izuku tilt his head. He snuggled closer to Dabi with a smile.

"But we'll be lying to them a little." Izuku added, grinning. "They don't know you wouldn't hurt me."

"But you do?" Toga asked, a feline grin on her face. "You know that?"

"Of course." Izuku nodded. "Dabi said so. He said he wouldn't hurt me." Izuku smiled as warm and scarred arms wrapped around his shoulders. "See? Do I look set on fire to you?" Everyone laughed, and Izuku beamed at them. Why would anyone think these people could be villains?

Izuku was happily eating lunch when he noticed Toga drinking something red and sloshy from a bag.

"What's that?" He asked, tilting his head. Tomura and Dabi both looked up, and Toga grinned at him. Her fangs were dripping with red.

"It's blood! Do you want some?" She bounded over and held out the bag, but Izuku shook his head.

"No, I have a sandwich." He said, beaming at her. "Toga, do you drink blood because of your Quirk?"

"Yeah! My Quirk is called Transform! It means I can change into anyone I want if I drink their blood!" Izuku's eyes went round.

"That's so cool!" He exclaimed, grinning at her. "Can you drink three different people at the same time and then switch between them? Is there a time limit? Can you use the Quirks of people you look like?? Can you change size and become smaller or taller based on who you're pretending to be?"

"Kid, you're a walking ray of sunshine." Dabi said, making Izuku turn to him.

"Why?" Izuku asked, tilting his head, and Dabi huffed.

"You're chill with literally everything."

"My quirk does have a time limit." Izuku turned back to Toga, who was sipping her blood again. "Depending on how much I drink, the longer or shorter amount of time I can stay Transformed!"

"That's so cool." Izuku repeated, smiling as he nommed on his sandwich. He frowned as he chewed the bite, and then looked up at Toga after he swallowed. "People with blood quirks have a higher statistical chance of being treated badly because of quirk discrimination." Toga's grin faded a little.

"My parents didn't like my quirk, they wanted me to be normal." She said, her smile smaller but not gone. "Blood is so pretty… and I wanted to become the person I loved, but they didn't like that. But it's okay! Shigaraki here let me join and now I can have all the blood I want!" She was grinning again and Izuku laughed.

"Mura saved me too." Izuku told her, making her giggle.

"Of course he did. That's what he does!" Toga laughed, despite the glare she received, and Izuku smiled for the rest of lunch.

For the next few hours, the League went over plans and strategies and placements to implement what Izuku had suggested into their original plan. Izuku didn't follow most of it, but he did make suggestions.

For example, taking out Mandalay first instead of Pixie-Bob. It would make it so they couldn't call for backup with her quirk, and the suggestion earned Izuku head pats.

After dinner, the League was bustling around to get ready, and Compress was discussing with Kurogiri something about a harness. Izuku just sat on the bar, happily swinging his legs, and watched the chaos with Tomura sitting to his left.

"Why do they have to leave first?" Izuku asked, frowning.

"Because they need to find the two targets, remember?" Tomura answered. "You can join them tomorrow night. It'll give them a chance to let the other three know you're going with them."

"It still sucks." Izuku huffed. "Compress and Twice are staying behind, right?"

"Yes we are! Stupid plan, making us wait!" Twice exclaimed from the side, making Izuku laugh.

"Well I'm glad I get to go at all." Izuku decided, "Even if I don't like waiting."

"Oh, Izuku?" Tomura grabbed his attention. "Remember how I said you'd be a good distraction?" Izuku nodded. "It's because, technically, you're missing." Izuku frowned and tilted his head to the side.

"I know." Izuku told him. "I have a mom, I think. She probably reported me missing." Tomura blinked in surprise.

"And you're not mad we're keeping you? You don't want to leave?" Izuku shrugged.

"I… don't remember her. If I go back, she'll just be sad and I'll be sad. If I stay, at least one of us can be happy." Izuku beamed at Tomura. "You guys are my friends, and I don't want to leave."

"Jeez squirt," Dabi ruffled Izuku's hair from his other side. "making me grow a heart." Izuku giggled.

"You already had one." Izuku grinned. "Remember? You said you weren't going to hurt me. That means you're good!"

"Whatever you say." Dabi rolled his eyes.

"Izuku, remember how you said you guys need to distract?" Tomura caught his attention. Izuku nodded. "We might say things that don't make sense, okay? Just to make the Heroes mad. Is that alright?"

"Yep!" Izuku grinned, looking at Tomura. "You are my friends, and I know that."

"So what's Izuku's role?" Spinner said, frowning. "Is he just going to sit there and not say anything?"

"He could pretend to be a hostage." Dabi shrugged. "Scream and all that."

"Maybe we could do the opposite?" Magne suggested, "He's a hostage, but he doesn't even know it." Everyone looked confused, but Izuku lit up.

"Oh I get it!" Izuku exclaimed brightly, "You mean I pretend to be innocent and not know you guys are the bad guys!"

"You think we're the bad guys?" Dabi asked, raising an amused eyebrow.

"Well you sort of are." Izuku giggled. "The Heroes definitely think so."

"So he's just gonna giggle and act like a little kid?" Spinner checked.

"Ohh I'll tell them all about how you guys are my friends!" Izuku beamed. "They'll be mad about that. Right? Because they think you're bad, so they'll think you've brainwashed me or tricked me!" Dabi laughed and reached over to pat Izuku's curls again.

"Sure, that works." He huffed. "Kurogiri, the warehouse first right?"

"Yes, Dabi." Kurogiri's deep voice confirmed. "Mustard, Moonfish, and Muscular are all there waiting."

"Yay! Let's go!" Toga grinned, spinning a knife. Izuku watched from the bar as the back wall was engulfed in purple mist, and then each person walked through and disappeared.

"Woah." Izuku turned to Kurogiri, "Is your teleportation coordinate based? How many portals can you open? Does it matter at all? Can people die inside if you never let them out and leave them stuck somewhere in between!?"

"My quirk is coordinate based, but I can't tell you much else." Kurogiri said, "I've never tested it beyond its basic abilities." Izuku slumped a little but he nodded.

"Izuku, I have a notebook for you." Izuku whipped around and gasped as Tomura handed him a notebook. Izuku took it carefully and hugged it to his chest immediately.

"Thank you Mura, I love it!" Izuku squealed, "It's mine? I can keep it?"

"Yes, you can keep it." Tomura said, grinning. "Here's a pen. Now you can plan whatever world domination you want." Izuku laughed brightly as he accepted the pen, and immediately started scribbling away.

The next day was just Izuku happily scribbling away in his notebook, asking Tomura what the names of everyone's quirks were, including the ones Izuku hadn't gotten to meet. Muscular, Moonfish, and Mustard. Lots of Ms.

The notebook was quickly filling, and Tomura promised to get him another when he finished the first one. It made Izuku feel warm inside and he'd given Tomura as big a hug as he could to thank him.

As dinner wrapped up, Izuku was once again sitting on the bar and waiting for everything to be ready.

"Izuku." Compress called as he approached, holding something odd with straps and something that looked like a seat, "This will make it so you're strapped to me, and you'll need to stay there while we're there. Okay?"

"I can do that!" Izuku nodded, grinning.

The next few minutes were spent with the four adults (if you even counted Twice) collectively trying to figure out the harness while Izuku just watched on with curious amusement.

It ended up with Izuku sitting in a sort of kid-holder-backpack. He could see over Compress' shoulder, but his torso and butt were attached to a harness that Compress wore. The straps went around the man's waist and over his shoulders.

"I'm a backpack!" Izuku declared once he was all strapped in.

"Yes you are, little one." Compress laughed. "Are you ready, Twice?"

"Let's go already! No, we can't!" Twice announced, making Izuku laugh.

"I'll still be sending the Nomu." Tomura told Compress, almost as an afterthought. "We'll release it on the opposite side of the forest from the stealth team to keep any students nearby focused on the Nomu."

"As long as it doesn't disturb the plan." Compress said, nodding politely.

"Here are your communication devices, don't lose them." Tomura said, sending the adults warning looks. He even gave Izuku one, which made the child beam with delight.

"Ready, little one?" Compress asked as he settled his mask back in place, having removed it to put in the earpiece.

"Ready!" Izuku confirmed, putting his hands on Compress' shoulders. Without delay they stepped into a swirling purple portal and Izuku gasped as they ended up in a dark forest. Izuku couldn't see anyone. "Where are we?" He whispered.

"There should be a clearing just ahead, and we'll jump in after Magne takes out Mandalay." Compress whispered back. Izuku nodded and said nothing, knowing quiet was best.

Izuku waited quietly, occasionally fidgeting, but he grinned when he finally saw the telltale pink light of Magne's Quirk.

"W-what?" A feminine voice cried.

"Mandalay!" Another voice yelled out. Compress sprinted forwards to enter the clearing, and Izuku immediately caught sight of Magne pinning the telepathy hero with her magnet stick as Compress jumped out dramatically to stand by her side.

"Aw, are these kitties not up to the task?" Compress teased. Izuku giggled.

"W-why… I thought they made doubly sure…" Someone said shakily. A small boy with… purple balls on his head? "Why are there villains here!?"

"That looks like… Midoriya!" Someone shouted. Izuku glanced at the speaker, a boy in a blue shirt, glaring behind glasses. Izuku waved.

"Hello!" He beamed.

"Mandaley is unconscious." Magne said smugly. "First objective completed."

"How is everyone this evening? U.A. High School? Pro Heroes?" Compress asked, a hand waving extravagantly. He'd probably have bowed, but Izuku would've been tilted funny so he didn't. "We are the Vanguard Action Squad of the League of Villains!" There was Tomura's splash. A name drop.

"The League of Villains? They have Midoriya?" A boy with a tail exclaimed.

"Ah, we reverted him to the age of seven." Compress lied, hands swishing. "Such a cute little thing, isn't he? Not so dangerous now…" Izuku giggled, clinging to the Villain's shoulder.

"Can you believe how many friends I have?" Izuku beamed at them. He tapped his chin, eyes wide, playing his distraction. "Will you guys be my friends too?"

"Midoriya! You have to get away from them!" The glasses boy yelled, taking a single step forward.

"Release our leader! Release the child!" A blond hero, Pixie-Bob demanded. She sprinted towards Compress and summoned a massive dirt monster as she went, but Compress jumped forward and tapped her. The dirt structure she'd controlled dissolved, falling back to the ground limply. Compress held up a blue marble that had once been Pixie-Bob, and jumped back towards Magne.

"Pixie-Bob!" Izuku exclaimed happily as Compress handed him a little marble to hold on to. Unfortunately for the Heroes, it wasn't the Pixie-Bob marble, it was a distraction marble. "Quirk: Earth Manipulation! She can create anything out of the earth! Monsters… avalanches… pillars to escape… such a cool quirk!" Compress laughed.

"You see, this little one is the reason we're able to be here. No memories of anything above the age seven… so innocent…" Izuku smiled innocently to sell it, as if he had no idea what that meant or what Compress was lying about. The glasses boy looked devastated, the tail boy looked shocked, and the small one just fell backwards onto is butt. These were Hero Students…?

"Like we'd let you use him!" Tiger growled, "He'll be coming with us!"

"I don't think so…" Magne grinned. "Backup." Out of the forest behind them, Moonfish and Muscular appeared. Izuku only recognized them from Compress and Tomura's descriptions, and he immediately decided he didn't like them.

"Mission… such pretty flesh… don't tempt me… I have a job to do…" Moonfish begged and whined in his deep and ominous voice, mouth gaping open. Izuku didn't like the sound of that.

"Come on… let me at 'em already!" Muscular cracked his knuckles, "I want someone to pulverize…" Izuku frowned at him.

"Kids! Get to the camp! Inform Eraserhead of the situation!" Izuku lit up immediately at Tiger's words.

"Oh! Eraserhead is an underground hero with the ability to erase quirks in his line of sight! He hates the media and avoids it religiously! He is best in ambushes and doesn't like drawn out fights where he can't look at everyone at once!" Izuku listed off loudly for all to hear.

"Very good, Izuku." Compress praised. Izuku then tapped Compress on the shoulder. "Yes?"

"We should send Muscular to fight Eraserhead. From what I have in my notebook, he most likely can't win against Eraserhead. I don't like Muscular. Can we make him go away?" Izuku whispered in his ear. Compress laughed aloud.

"I like it, Izuku. Order away!" Izuku beamed.

"Muscular! Go and attack Eraserhead!" Izuku pointed in the direction the frozen students had started towards. "Avoid the students, the Pro is the goal!"

"No!" Glasses boy yelled. Muscular grinned.

"Yes! Finally! A target of my own!" He then bent his knees, and launched forward. He was gone before any of the students moved.

"Tiger! Let us–" The tail boy started.

"No! Run for camp and trust Eraserhead will win! You know who's with him!" Tiger threw a hand out protectively.

"I know who's with him! Vlad King is here, too!" Izuku laughed. "Quirk is the ability to control his own blood! Did you know he can't bleed out? He's so cool, and he's super strong too! He can even harden his blood to trap people!"

"Midoriya, stop!" The glasses boy ordered. "Don't talk about heroes!" Izuku frowned.

"Why? My friends said I could talk all I wanted, don't you like me?" Izuku sniffed dramatically, wiping his eyes as if there were tears. "People tell me to shut up all the time, but my friends don't!"

"That's right, Izuku." Magne said, grinning at the horrified hero student. "See? Just like I said. Those bad people don't appreciate you." Izuku almost laughed, not expecting her to play along.

"Midoriya, I didn't mean it like that!" The boy in glasses shouted.

"Go! I'll save Midoriya, and my two comrades! Go, don't worry!" Tiger interrupted, teeth bared towards the three villains and Izuku.

"Moonfish?" Izuku turned to the one Tomura said was slightly insane and definitely a cannibal. "That hero's flesh is very bendy." The Villain groaned in an odd way that Izuku didn't like. "Why don't you start with him?" Moonfish ejected his teeth, throwing them forwards with force, only to be smashed away by Tiger's blows. That seemed to kick the hero students into gear, and they charged away from the battle and into the forest. Izuku beamed. Good! They'd all be safe, then. Well… all except the one Tomura wanted.

"Should we disengage, has it been long enough?" Magne asked, looking over her shoulder. "Also, take the hero, please, Compress. If she wakes up, she can contact everyone and ruin the plan." Compress reached out a hand and marbled the unconscious woman, switching them in his sleeve and handing a random other one to Izuku.

"Your Quirk is so cool, Compress." Izuku beamed. "Pretty, too." The man laughed.

"I'm glad you think so, little one." Izuku played with his marbles, but he looked away from the two marbles he now had, just in time to see Tiger smash a fist against Moonfish's head. Moonfish slammed into the ground, almost definitely knocked out. Izuku couldn't help but smile a little. What a shame.

"Extraction team is done! We have the targets! Head to the retrieval point in the next five minutes!" Dabi's voice came from Izuku's earpiece.

"Well, well, looks like we'd better retreat." Compress sighed dramatically, making sure Tiger could hear them.

"Moonfish is done for." Magne grinned, nodding.

"Back home, we go!" Izuku yelled, one hand pointing at the sky.

"Don't think I'll let you escape!" Tiger started charging them, and Izuku gave a fake gasp.

"I'm sorry! You can have my marbles!" Izuku threw them as far as he could, both of them, and let them bounce and roll away in the opposite direction. Tiger bounded for them, scooping them up, and glared as they all started to retreat into the dark forest.

Compress immediately hopped into a tree, jumping delicately from one branch to the next, Izuku laughing happily all the while.

"Faster! Faster!" Izuku cried out in joy. Compress chuckled, and then had to immediately dodge a massive ice wall covering their escape. Izuku gasped at the sheer power behind it, but then shrieked in surprise.

"Midoriya!" Izuku looked down as Compress landed in a nearby tree, and he saw someone who looked like they had a candycane on their head.

"Hello! Sorry, me and my friends want to go home! Can you move your glacier?" Izuku called down to him. He was standing with a brown haired girl, and a green haired… girl. Probably a girl? The person was a frog.

"It's my friends and I, Izuku." Compress chided. Izuku nodded.

"My friends and I want to leave!" Izuku corrected himself.

"They're villains! They stole you and they're not your friends!!" The brown haired one yelled. Izuku frowned.

"They are my friends! They saved me!" Izuku denied. Then he wiped his eyes, and sniffed dramatically again. "But the boy with the glasses told me to shut up! He was mean, and I won't be friends with him!"

"You mean Iida?" The brown haired girl exclaimed. "He's one of your best friends!"

"Mura is my best friend! And Dabi!" Izuku yelled. "Let's go, Compress, onward!" Compress launched off the branch, and headed up and over the ice.

Izuku… probably knew these U.A. Hero Students. They all knew his name, and the girl said he was friends with them. He'd ask Tomura. Nothing they said made sense…

"The Hero Course students are not as big a deal as I thought they'd be." Compress said nonchalantly. Izuku giggled.

"There's the meet up point!" Izuku pointed to the small clearing. Compress headed right for it, and landed lightly next to Dabi, Spinner, Toga, Twice, and the person Izuku assumed was Mustard. Compress unclipped the harness and slid Izuku down his back and set him down on his own two feet, and then marbled the harness. Izuku happily walked over to Dabi, who picked him up protectively. "Muscular and Moonfish are taken care of! I didn't like them." Izuku said brightly. "Magne is right behind us, so don't worry!" Dabi laughed.

"Everything go according to plan, then?" Dabi smirked.

"Muscular and Moonfish's captures were not a part of the plan." Mustard said a little coldly.

"Yeah but it was probably Izuku's plan." Izuku giggled at Dabi's words.

"Guys! We have a situation!!" Magne burst into the clearing, Dabi's grip tightening on Izuku as three hero students burst out behind her, and Izuku gasped. It was three from before, glacier boy, frog, and the brown haired girl, and they all stopped to stare the villain group as Magne joined them.

"Oh? Hi there." Izuku waved a little, and then secured his hold on Dabi, arms wrapped around his shoulders tightly.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey! I know these kids!" Twice exclaimed. "Who are they?"

The red and white boy looked furious, and he took a single step forward before Dabi spoke.

"Ah, ah, ah." He adjusted Izuku in his hold. "Close your eyes, Izuku."

"Okay, Dabi." Izuku hid his face in the man's shoulder obediently. Whatever the reason was, Izuku trusted him.

"Careful, Todoroki Shoto." Dabi's voice said silkily. Izuku felt one of Dabi's hands release him, and heard the telltale sound of him lighting a dark flame. "One wrong move and the little one gets torched."

"Give him back!" A croaking voice yelled.

"Deku is our friend!" Another girly voice yelled, "I don't care about whatever you did to make him like that, or how you're using him, Deku's one of us and he always will be!" Izuku cringed into Dabi, tightening his hold on the man's shoulders.

"Shh," Dabi patted his hair. "Izuku, what's wrong?" Izuku lifted his eyes, and saw Dabi really was asking.

"They called me Deku. I'm not a Deku, I'm not useless." Izuku whispered. Dabi's eyes hardened, and he gritted his teeth.

"I know kid, we'll be home soon." Izuku nodded, and dutifully hid his face again.

"Aw~ you upset the baby!" Izuku distinctly heard one of Toga's knives coming out of her sheaths. "I already have two samples, but a third would be a lovely addition!" Izuku inhaled sharply at the noise he heard next, remembering the huge glacier.

He looked up, eyes wide, to see Twice had advanced and then immediately had to dodge backwards, away from spreading ice, with his tape measure in hand.

"That's hot!" Twice exclaimed. Toga charged the two others, who weren't ice boy, brandishing a single knife as the little metal tubes flew at the brown haired girl's face.

"I'm Toga, Ochako!" She landed on 'Ochako' and pinned her. She then threw her knife and it flew at the frog one, stabbing the knot of hair and pinning the hero student to a tree. Toga's metal tubes then inserted themselves into the brown haired girl's thigh.

"It has been five minutes since the signal." Izuku's head whipped around as he heard Kurogiri's voice, the hero students all freezing. "Let us go, Dabi."

"Giri!" Izuku exclaimed happily.

"Bye, bye, Ochako! We'll see each other again, soon!" Toga said as she stepped through the portal that spawned in next to her. Mustard went through with Magne, and Twice jumped through another.

"Time to go, squirt." Dabi said in his ear, and Izuku nodded. Compress and Dabi walked backwards towards the gate, eyeing the students who had started to charge. Suddenly, Izuku cried out as a beam of blue sparkles smacked into Dabi's arm and Izuku went tumbling to the ground.

"Izuku!" Dabi's shout rang as Izuku rolled across the dirt. Izuku coughed as he pushed himself onto his elbows.

"H-hey!" Izuku coughed. "That's so mean!" Suddenly he was being pulled backwards into someone's arms. "Let go! Let go!" Izuku screamed.

"Hey, it's okay, it's me, it's Todoroki!" The voice was soothing, if a little panicked, but Izuku could barely care.

"No! STOP!!" Izuku struggled. Arms were around his waist, his back against the boy's stomach.

"Izuku! Give him back!" Dabi yelled. Izuku squirmed, making the boy holding him unable to use his hands for anything but restraining him, which Izuku assumed would make it harder for the boy to use whatever his quirk was. It involved ice…

"Izuku…" Izuku froze, but so did everyone else. "Give back my youngest party member, or I'll decay every one of these heroes right in front of you." Tomura's voice was soft. Deadly. Izuku looked up and saw Compress had released an unconscious Pixie-Bob, Mandaley, and Ragdoll, and laid them at Tomura's feet. Where had he gotten Ragdoll?

"Mura!" Izuku cried, reaching for Tomura uselessly as the hands holding him tightened. "Please, please let me go back to them. He saved me!"

"How did he save you?" The boy's voice asked a little breathlessly.

"That's what Tomura does, he saves people!" Izuku tried to explain while still struggling. "What Tomura is doing is so important! He wants to fix things! People are broken, and he helps them not be broken anymore! He saved me when I was all alone and scared, and he saved Twice when he was falling apart! He saved Toga and Dabi from their pasts and gave them a new home! He saves people and he brings them together and he's going to do it whether you like it or not!" Izuku ranted, panting as he struggled. "I want to go back, please let me go back!"

"I can't–" The boy never finished his sentence, and Izuku realized why when he saw the portal open behind him, and Magne's fist coming through it. His capturer collapsed, releasing Izuku who immediately stood and ran for Tomura.

"Mura!" Izuku gasped out, and the man scooped him up and into his arms. He vaguely noticed Compress marbling the heroes once again.

"It's fine, Izuku. It's fine. Those heroes won't take you away." Tomura spat out the word, seething anger filling every void. "I should kill all of you for touching Izuku!"

"Deku–" The brown haired girl stepped forward, only to be stopped by a weak and small trail of ice.

"Wait!" The red and white boy was leaning up on his elbows, one eye shut and barely conscious. "Shigaraki's quirk could kill him in a second!"

"You heroes don't know anything." Tomura said, almost wistful as he clutched Izuku. Izuku put a hand over the one covering Tomura's face, mimicking its position. He looked into Tomura's one visible eye, surprise in the deep crimson.

"Let's go back, Mura." Izuku said, a little pleadingly. "Let's go home." Nobody seemed to move, hero students staring, and Tomura just wordlessly stepped backwards into the portal. Izuku sighed in relief. Safe.

When he was put down on familiar hardwood floors, he was surprised to see not one, not two, but three people. Two in chains near the wall, one on the floor being scooped up and pressed into a chair by Spinner and Magne.

"Mura, did you ever learn to count?" Izuku said, eyes not leaving the three captives. "This is more than one." Dabi snickered, and Izuku turned to him with his arms raised. He scooped Izuku up and placed him on his lap as he sat on a barstool.

"The girl is Mustard's fault." Dabi answered. "He missed her while knocking out the surrounding kids, and she tried to resist when we grabbed Bakugo." Izuku blinked. "The other one–"

"Bakugo?" Izuku interrupted. He saw orange in his vision, flashes and white and loud pops. He heard shoves and taunts and scrapes and burns. Izuku shrank into Dabi suddenly. "Kacchan…" He murmured as Dabi's arms wrapped around him.

"I'm sure you know the other one." Dabi continued, stroking Izuku's hair. He stared at the third captive, red and white hair clear as day. "We grabbed him at the last moment for trying to take you away." Izuku nodded slowly.

"You called him…" Izuku frowned. "Todoroki Shoto?" The boy inhaled sharply, but Izuku focused on Dabi.

"That's right. Got second in the Sports Festival. His quirk is Half-Cold Half-Hot, he can produce ice from one side and fire from the other." Izuku gasped in delight and turned to the boy with sparkles in his eyes.

"That's so cool!" Izuku leaned forward, only being held in place by Dabi's warm arms. "Can you switch which side you use each on? Can you make the fire blue? Can you make it black? Is the ice immune to your fire when used in combat, or can it get in the way by melting at inconvenient times? Can you freeze an entire city solid with endless ice as long as you want as your fire side keeps your temperature regulated? Does drinking water make your ice more effective? Can you produce fire even if there's no oxygen!?" Izuku gasped for breath, grinning in excitement.

"Breathe, Izuku." Tomura chided, taking a seat in the middle of the room. When had they put a stool there? "I'm not sure the hero brat will let you try all your theories out." Izuku frowned, and he got down from Dabi's lap to wander towards the prisoners. None of them were gagged, but none of them were talking either.

"I'm Izuku." Izuku waved, smiling brightly at Todoroki Shoto. "Do you want to be friends? I'll forgive you for trying to kidnap me, if you'll be my friend." The boy hesitated, but he nodded.

"Yes. We can be friends." He said softly. "I'm Shoto. How old are you? I'm 15, though I'm younger than my classmates by a few months." Shoto smiled softly.

"I'm seven, probably." Izuku grinned. "I can't remember much, but Mura is nice to me anyway." He glanced over his shoulder to give Tomura a beaming smile. "I don't know if I'm younger than my classmates. Though, I don't even know if I have classmates." Izuku smiled and stepped a few feet over to be in front of a girl with an orange ponytail on the side of her head. Izuku mimicked the crooked ponytail, tilting is head to the side. "Hello, I'm Izuku, will you be my friend?"

"I'm… Kendo." The girl said, voice wobbly. Izuku beamed.

"Hiya, Kendo." Izuku waved and then retreated a few steps to look at the two happily. "Are they going to be staying?" Izuku tilted his head at Tomura. He hummed thoughtfully.

"The Todoroki can stay, if he likes. The angry one can't stay, we'll be dealing with him properly. Kendo was an accidental steal… she can probably go."

"Woah, woah! Who says Todoroki can stay?" Dabi exclaimed, eyes burning.

"Dabi, what if he's good for us?" Izuku asked. "We can explain why what we're doing matters. He might like it here." Dabi looked torn, teeth gritted, but he leaned backwards onto the bar.

"Fine. Whatever." Izuku clapped happily.

"Yay!" He then grinned at Shoto and Kendo. "You can leave, soon, Kendo. I'm not sure when, but it might be awhile because the heroes aren't allowed to find us. Okay?" She looked torn between shuddering in fear and sighing in relief. "Shoto, will you consider staying?" Izuku turned to him. The boy only blinked, face blank.

"What would I be staying for?" Shoto asked, voice bland. Izuku glanced backwards at Tomura, who hummed in approval.

"We want to fix society. The way things are… people get hurt. I get hurt… a lot." Izuku started, turning back to Shoto. "I don't have a quirk, and people don't like that. Twice had an accident, and people don't believe in him anymore. They said he's crazy, and not worth saving. Toga's quirk is different than other people's, and she wasn't accepted for it. Everyone here… they're fighting for a reason. Because nobody saved them, and Tomura did." Izuku huffed, and clenched his fists, determined eyes burning into mismatching ones. "Everybody deserves to be saved. Even villains. My friends… they deserve to be accepted, and that can't happen right now. They want to fix it! People are going to get hurt, they know that. But heroes hurt the villains all the time, to make sure they save people. Tomura is going to be saving people like that, by hurting the heroes."

"But why will hurting the heroes help anything? Won't it make people hate you?" Shoto asked. Izuku nodded.

"People already hate them." Izuku pointed out. "But they think saving people is worth it. I don't know if I'd hurt someone… but I know Tomura would. Dabi would. So would Twice, and Toga, and Spinner, and Mustard." Izuku admitted softly. "What they want… they want to stop the government, and the hero commission. They'd be starting over, making better rules and a better system where everyone can be accepted. In history, villains had all kinds of supporters far and wide. The heroes only had the most powerful and most perfect. Heroes… heroes are flawed too." Shoto's eyes darkened and Izuku's widened. He reached forward and touched Shoto's cheek lightly. "You've been hurt by a hero… haven't you?" Shoto looked away, pulling his face away from Izuku's fingers. Izuku stepped back with a sad smile. "I hope that answered your question."

"Midoriya…" Izuku turned to see Kendo watching closely. "How did they save you?" Izuku tilted his head.

"I was all alone." Izuku murmured. "So alone, and nobody would help me. I was scared, because I couldn't remember anything but my name. People saw me crying and alone and they didn't care. But Tomura found me, and Tomura cared. He helped me without hesitation, because he does that. He saves people who the heroes won't save." Izuku turned away from her and headed for Tomura. The man opened his arms and Izuku climbed into his lap, getting comfortable and smiling softly.

"Izuku, you should get some sleep." Tomura said softly. Izuku nodded.

"Okay, Mura." Izuku held still as Tomura lifted him and walked him down to his bedroom, carrying him carefully with two lifted fingers.

"Izuku." Tomura called his attention as he set Izuku on the bed. Izuku stayed seated, watching as Tomura crouched on the floor in front of him. "How did you like the mission?"

"I enjoyed it, but I'm confused." Izuku admitted. "Some of them… some of them knew me. You told me they would, and that's why I'd be a good distraction. I thought you meant they'd know me because I was missing, not because they might actually know me. They acted like I was a friend, or a classmate." Izuku paused. "I don't recognize the boy, but the name means something to me. Bakugo is Kacchan. The one with the explosions in his hands. But… I don't understand why he's so much older than me."

"Do you have any guesses?" Tomura was searching his face, and Izuku nodded.

"I think I'm younger than I used to be." He looked down at his tiny hands, frowning. "I think someone used their quirk on me, in the mall where I woke up. And they seemed to know me, which means I'd have to be a U.A. student, like them. Spinner calls me a true hero, which probably means I'm a hero student. One who he found worthy before I got younger. But… the students seemed to hate you, which probably means you've attacked them specifically before. Attacked me, before."

"We have." Tomura confirmed. "We attacked the U.S.J., an off site U.A. Rescue Training facility." Izuku blinked.

"That must've been super hard, wow that's cool." Izuku then shook his head. "You obviously knew me, and when you saw me and heard my name, you could have just abandoned me and you didn't." Izuku looked up from his hands into red eyes. "If you knew who I was… why?"

"Because I couldn't just leave you sitting there all alone and crying." Tomura said seriously. "At first, I wondered whether it might be a good opportunity to ransom you or something. But by the time I got back to the bar, and Dabi suggested you were a hostage… I didn't see it that way anymore."

"You saved me, even though I was who you thought to be an enemy." Izuku whispered.

"You never really did choose to be my enemy." Tomura's lip curled upwards in amusement. "I kind of chose for you." Izuku giggled quietly.

"Thank you for telling me, Tomura." Izuku said with a smile. Shigaraki just nodded.

"Get some sleep."

The next afternoon, Izuku peacefully swinging his legs with a happy smile on a bar stool, Tomura watching the TV.

"It appears the principal offenders of the U.A. High training camp called themselves the League of Villains Vanguard Action Squad. For U.A. High, in both the U.S.J. Incident and the Hosu Incident, the name 'League of Villains' –" Tomura changed the channel.

"Among the victims of the training camp attack was the child of the Pro Heroes, Water Hose, who were killed by Muscular–"

"We must conclude that there is some sort of problem with the management of U.A. High. Even if my child wanted to become a hero, I couldn't not possibly enroll–" The TV chatter abruptly ended, and Tomura laughed lightly.

"I'm really grateful for all the publicity we've been getting." Tomura said amusedly. Izuku looked up to see every person in the room staring at the three heroics students. "Don't you agree…?" His eyes slid from one to the next. "Bakugo Katsuki… Todoroki Shoto… Kendo Itsuko…" Izuku smothered a giggle with a hand. Bakugo glared, lips parted in a soundless snarl. Shoto's face was blank, eyes only trained on Izuku. Kendo looked terrified.

"You don't need to be scared." Izuku reassured her. "Tomura won't hurt you." Izuku sent Tomura a beaming smile, and laughed as the man ruffled his hair with three fingered fondness.

Izuku couldn't sleep, and he found himself sitting on the floor in front of the three hostages. Compress was in the corner, watching, but he didn't say anything so Izuku just waved.

"What are you doing up, Izuku?" Shoto's voice whispered, thick with sleep.

"I'm thinking." Izuku placed his chin on his knees.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Mura says I was a U.A. student, when I was older." Shoto seemed to straighten, blinking away tiredness as rapidly as he could. "That means… I must have a quirk."

"You said you get treated badly because you don't have one, right?" Izuku nodded to the boy.

"What is it?" Izuku asked, eyes sad as he looked at the boy. "What's my quirk?"

"It's a power up type." Shoto informed him. "At the beginning of the year, you had so much power that you shattered the bones in your arms and fingers when you used it."

"Did I manage to train that away?" Izuku made a face, and Shoto huffed.

"Yeah, you did. Recently, you started spreading the power through your whole body. You glow green, like lightning around you." Shoto smiled softly. "You're actually the reason I remembered why I wanted to be a hero. We fought in the Sports Festival, and you… you saved me."

"You must be sad, because I'm little again." Izuku smiled sadly. "Because I'm useless again. Quirkless."

"I think you're the same as you always were. Quirkless or not." Shoto assured him. "You were so passionate about saving everyone, I can see that in you. You're still Midoriya." Izuku giggled.

"Sometimes I think my older self never got the chance to really meet Mura." Izuku admitted. "The League… they have these goals. People don't see them because they focus on Tomura's actions and they ignore his words. I wonder what older me would say if he was here…" Izuku trailed off.

"I wonder that too." Shoto murmured. Izuku pushed off the floor.

"Goodnight, Shoto." He said with a wave as he left the room.

"Goodnight, Izuku."

The morning after that, Tomura was once again watching the news. Izuku sat on the floor at Shoto's feet. The boy's feet weren't touching the floor, his knees propped up, and Izuku wondered if that meant Shoto could use his feet for his quirk. Izuku glanced back at the TV. This time, U.A. was on screen.

"We deeply apologize for the incident that allowed harm to come to eight first year students of the hero course because of our unpreparedness." A man was saying. "We apologize for causing unease in society due to our negligence in properly defending ourselves as a place of learning. We are truly sorry." The three people on screen bowed.

"Who are they?" Izuku whispered to Shoto

"Aizawa-sensei, Vlad-sensei, and the principal." Shoto whispered back.

"Eraserhead, Vlad King, and Nezu?" Izuku checked. He received a nod and Izuku turned back to the TV.

"I'm from Yomiuri TV." A male voice rang out. "Since the beginning of the year, U.A. High School students have had four encounters with villains."

"Woah, really Tomura?" Izuku exclaimed. The man just grinned.

"This time, there were even students injured. How did you explain to their families, and what are some specific countermeasures you are taking?" The reporter finished.

"We will increase policing in the surrounding area and review the security within the school, ensuring the students' safety with a strong position." The principal, Nezu, said calmly. "That is what we told them." As Eraserhead's face showed back up, Tomura clicked the TV off.

"It's so strange…" Tomura started. Izuku settled further into his spot on the floor. Tomura spread his arms out widely, "Why are the heroes being criticized? The way they were dealing with things was just a little off the mark. Is it because it's their job to protect? Everyone makes a mistake or two. Are they supposed to be perfect?" Tomura sighed. "Modern-day heroes are so uptight. Don't you think?" Izuku resisted a giggle, remembering when Tomura said that to him, and the hero students remained silent.

"Once heroes receive compensation to protect people, they aren't heroes anymore." Spinner said passionately. "That is Stain's teaching."

"The strange system of transforming peoples' lives into money or glory… the society that sticks tight to those rules… the citizens who blame the losers rather than encourage them… Our fight is to question: What is a hero? What is justice? Is this society truly just? We'll have everyone thinking about it. We plan on winning." Tomura paused, "Dabi, release their restraints."

"Hah? They're going to fight, you know." Dabi raised an eyebrow. Izuku stood, and made his way to stand by Tomura's seat.

"It's fine, we need to treat them like equals, since we're scouting them." Tomura said before he looked down as Izuku tugged on his shirt.

"Don't let Kacchan out. His hands are dangerous." Izuku warned. The memories had been swirling around in his head, and he'd made some sense of them, finally. "He explodes his sweat, and his quirk is more dangerous the warmer it is. His hands have been trapped in those since he got here." Izuku pointed at the huge metal traps completely consuming both hands. "He's definitely built up enough to hurt you. Please, don't." Nobody moved, but Bakugo growled, a low noise in his throat radiating from his chest, and Izuku shivered.

"Okay, squirt. He stays restrained." Tomura sighed. Izuku beamed. "Dabi, release the other two."

"And if they fight?" Dabi asked irritably.

"They should be able to tell if they'll win or not if they fight, right, U.A. students?" Tomura picked up Izuku, who blinked in surprise, and plopped the boy in his lap. "Especially with their friend on the line. Right, Izuku?" Izuku laughed, and Dabi walked forward, cautiously glaring at Shoto.

"I do apologize for using such forceful methods." Compress said from his spot in the corner. "But please understand that we are not just a mob trying to commit crimes. As Izuku mentioned, we have a goal to accomplish." Dabi finished with Shoto and moved to Kendo.

"Even though our situations differ, everyone here has been restricted and suffered because of people… rules… and heroes…" Kendo and Shoto were both free, Kendo rubbing her wrists and Shoto just staring at Izuku in Tomura's arms. Izuku looked up at Tomura, unable to really see the man behind the hand on his face.

"Mura, can we finish the broadcast from U.A.?" Izuku asked. Tomura nodded.

"Sure, Izuku. As long as your friends stay right where they are." Tomura reached for the remote, and Izuku turned to the two untied hero students with a smile.

"We're going to put your teachers on screen! Is that okay?" Shoto nodded very slowly, and Kendo seemed completely frozen. "You'll need to stay right there, though."

"Sure, Izuku." Shoto said blankly. "We'll stay right here." Izuku nodded happily, and turned as Tomura clicked the TV back on.

"You spoke about the students' safety, Eraserhead." The reporter was saying. "During the incident, you and Vlad King were both completely unaware of the attack until after the incident was practically over. Can you explain how this happened?" Eraserhead leaned forward in his seat, no longer standing like before.

"Vlad King and I were teaching the students who failed their exams separately, letting the PussyCats handle the other students." Eraserhead said seriously, sort of glaring at the camera. "Through reports from student witnesses, we concluded there were 10 villains total, with two arrested. Vlad and myself were unaware at the time, due to the Villain's working in stealth while removing the instant one-sided communication Mandalay provided. A Villain came to us alone, and that was when we discovered the attack."

"You lost three students and three heroes during the attack." The reporter pressed. "As well as that, there have been rumors that Midoriya Izuku was sighted there, having sided with the Villains. Is it possible that U.A. not only allowed their students to be attacked four times, but let one defect and have three kidnapped?"

"The remaining 31 students are uninjured." Nezu cut in. "The gas attack accounts for all of the student victims, aside from the missing ones. We have determined that it was a sleeping gas from one of the enemies' Quirks. In addition, we are providing mental care to the students, but at the moment, we do not see any signs of serious psychological trauma."

"Are you saying that it was a bright spot in this tragedy?" The reporter asked harshly.

"We believe that the worst possible outcome is one that would infringe on the future." Nezu placated.

The reporter took a breath. "Can you say the same for the kidnapped Bakugo? He enrolled at U.A. with excellent marks and won the Sports Festival. In addition, during the incident with the Sludge villain in middle school, he resisted the powerful villain alone, so he has a history of showing how tough and heroic he can be. On the other hand, the violence in the finals and his attitude at the awards ceremony, show that he is not always very stable mentally. What if the villains kidnapped him because they had an eye on that? What if they did so with the other kidnapped students for different reasons? Kidnapping them with deceitful words and dyeing them with the path of evil? What if it has already worked with Midoriya Izuku? What evidence is there that any of them have a future?" Eraserhead's face darkened, glare sharpening and he stood.

"As an educator, I take full responsibility for Bakugo Katsuki's violent behavior." Eraserhead bowed. "However, his actions at the Sports Festival originated in what he considers 'ideal strength.' If villains saw that and that they had an opening, then I believe they were being short-sighted. As for the others, Kendo is not one of my students, but she is a promising young hero student who tries her best to stand amongst the best at U.A. High. Todoroki is talented in his own right, and has come a long way since the beginning of the year, and holds firm in his ideals." Eraserhead looked up, eyes burning into the camera. "Midoriya Izuku is one of U.A.'s brightest, and is trying harder than anyone to become a hero, and I believe there is no possibility he has joined the enemy side."

"That is not evidence, though." The reporter denied. "This isn't a question of how you feel, I'm asking whether or not you have a concrete plan in place."

"We are not just standing around idly." Nezu answered. "We are currently investigating along with the police. We will definitely get our students back." Tomura clicked off the TV.

"That hero…" Izuku said, eyes on the dark and empty TV, "He doesn't understand, does he, Mura?" Izuku looked up at Tomura, who nodded slightly and patted his head.

"No, he doesn't." Tomura then sighed. "The heroes are confident, and investigating… we don't have time to talk leisurely anymore. Sensei?" Izuku eyed the man curiously as he leaned back to face the hidden screen that Izuku hadn't ever really noticed before. "Lend me your power."

"Sensei?" Izuku perked up.

"You have another leader…" Shoto murmured.

"Mura, who's Sensei?" Izuku asked curiously. Then everyone paused, glancing at the door at the three rhythmic knocks.

"Hello, this is Pizza-La, Camino Store." A voice said from outside. Izuku leaned into Tomura, bunching both hands in the fabric of the man's shirt–

"SMASH!" The wall exploded, All Might crashing through behind Spinner and Dabi. Izuku shrieked, and Tomura buried Izuku's face in his chest.

"What the-!?" Spinner yelled.

"Kurogiri! Gate!" Tomura ordered, clutching Izuku.

"Pre-emptive Binding…" Izuku was ripped from Tomura and suddenly wrapped in identical wooden restraints, "Lacquered Chain Prison!"

"A tree? What the heck…" Dabi lit his arms on fire, only to be kicked in the face and knocked unconscious by a yellow caped hero jumping out in a blur.

"Dabi!" Izuku cried out.

"Don't be impatient." The old hero scolded. "It'd be in your best interest to stay put."

"Just what I'd expect from one of the most competent new heroes around, Kamui Woods! And the veteran faster than the eye can see, Gran Torino!" All Might declared. "You can't run anymore, League of Villains! Why? Because we are here!"

"Right after that press conference… don't tell me this was pre-arranged?" Compress exclaimed from the floor.

"Tree man! Stop pulling me! Push!" Twice complained.

"No! No!" Toga cried out.

"Please! Stop hurting them!" Izuku shrieked, struggling.

"When one is on the offensive is when one neglects defense most." Another hero entered. Edgeshot? "We're not the only ones here from Pizza-La Camino Store." He opened the door to reveal heavily armed and armored police. "Outside, you're surrounded by skillful heroes, like Endeavor, and the police." All Might stood from his dramatic crouched position.

"I'm sure you three were scared. You did good bearing it." All Might walked over and yanked Kacchan's chains off him, leaving Kacchan rubbing his wrists like Kendo had. "I'm sorry, it's fine now, kids. Kamui Woods, release Young Midoriya." Izuku felt the wood around him snake away, and he fell about a foot to the floor with a small shriek. Izuku scrambled to his right, throwing himself over Tomura's imprisoned form.

"No! You can't have Mura!" Izuku dug his fingers into Tomura's binds. "He saved me, you can't take him away!" Tears welled in his eyes, and he squeezed them shut.

"After we went through all the trouble to prepare this…" Izuku sniffed, opening his eyes to see Tomura's one visible eye glaring at All Might, "Why are you coming to me, you last boss?" Tomura paused. "It can't be helped. 'We're not the only ones here.' The same goes for us… Kurogiri! Bring as many as you can over!"

"Nomus, I presume?" All Might leaned forward.

"What's the matter, Kurogiri?" Shigaraki demanded when nothing happened.

"I'm sorry, Shigaraki Tomura, the Nomus that were supposed to be at a fixed location… are not there…!" Kurogiri gritted out, as if in pain.

"Hah?" Tomura gasped.

"You are still green, Shigaraki." Izuku looked up at All Might, who had placed a hand on Kendo's shoulder protectively. She looked like she was sagging in relief, while Kacchan looked ready to murder someone, and Shoto was just staring at Izuku.

"Huh?" Tomura said again, this time angry and voice flat.

"League of Villains, you underestimated everything too much, the souls of young students, the diligent investigations of the police, and, our anger!" All Might declared, smiling the whole way. "That's enough of the childish pranks. This is the end. Shigaraki Tomura."

"All Might!" Spinner shrieked. "This is the hero acknowledged by Stain…!"

"The end… you say?" Tomura muttered. Izuku dig his fingers in harder, as if his tiny fingers would make a difference against the thick wooden restraints. "Don't be ridiculous. I've only just begun." Tomura started shifting, moving in his binds, and Izuku gasped and stayed sitting on the floor as Tomura stood. "Justice… peace… I'll destroy this garbage heap that you put a lid on with these vague ideas! It was for that purpose that I set All Might apart and started gathering people to my cause… don't be ridiculous… This is the beginning! Kurogiri!" As soon as Tomura finished speaking, Kurogiri was impaled by something red and thick. Magne shrieked at the same time Izuku screamed.

"No! Stop!" She begged. "I can't see, what, did you kill him?"

"Please, you can't!" Izuku cried, tears finally falling.

"I played around with his insides and made him unconscious. He is not dead." Edgeshot declared. "Nimpo: Thousand Sheet Pierce! This man was always a nuisance. I'll have him sleep." He said it with such distaste, such anger, Izuku couldn't help a glare.

"He is not a nuisance!" Izuku cried, seething inside as he glared up at the heroes, "He's my friend! You don't even know him!"

"Hikiishi Kenji," Magne gasped as the yellow hero began eyeing her, "Sato Atsuhiro." Compress– "Iguchi Shuichi." Spinner– "Toga Himiko. Bubaigawara Jin." Twice– "With little information and time, the police officers worked through the night to determine your true identities." They missed Dabi… "Do you understand? There's nowhere left for you to run." He then turned to Shigaraki, who was still standing with a teary-eyed Izuku at his feet, "Hey, Shigaraki, can I ask you where your boss is?"

"This is… unsatisfying… don't be ridiculous… don't be ridiculous…" Izuku hugged one of Tomura's legs as the man seemed to be falling apart.

"Where is he right now?" All Might said, barely smiling.

"Go away… disappear…" All Might's smile went down, a grimace of anger in its place.

"Shigaraki!" He yelled as Tomura screamed:

"I HATE YOU!" And then, to Izuku's immense surprise, two gooey portals open to reveal screaming monsters with exposed brains. Izuku clutched Tomura's leg harder.

"Nomus?! They came from nowhere!" Kamui Woods exclaimed. "What is that?"

"Edgeshot! What about Kurogiri?!" The old hero yelled.

"He's still unconscious." Edgeshot reported. "He didn't do it!"

"They just keep coming!" The old hero said tightly as more goopey portals opened and more brain exposed heads appeared.

"Kamui Woods! Do not let them go under any circumstances!" All Might ordered, a finger pointed at the wooden hero.

"Yes, sir!" Izuku heard and then choked, goo sputtering out his mouth and consuming him. He landed on his knees, coughing and choking.

"Damn it!" A voice rang through the space with coughing. Izuku gasped for breath, seeing the three hero students standing in front of an ominous looking man in an odd spot of helmet. "What… the hell…?!" Kacchan coughed out. Izuku realized he was somewhere else entirely, somewhere that looked sort of exploded.

"Sorry, you four."

"Hah?" Kacchan yelled. A swoosh went off behind Izuku, and Tomura and the rest of the League appeared. Spinner was on his hands and knees, throwing up nothing and panting. Toga was standing, at least, but she had a hand over her mouth.

"What the–?" She whined, looking a little green.

"Something stinks! Smells good!" Twice exclaimed in his two voices. Compress and Magne stood as if ready to fight, and Kurogiri was prone on the ground like Dabi. They were all behind him in a half circle, Tomura landing on his knees in front of Izuku.

"Sensei…" Tomura leaned forward a little.

"You failed again, huh, Tomura?" The masked man spoke calmly. He walked forward, right past where the three hero students were frozen. "But do not be discouraged. Just try again. I have brought your associates back a well. Even this child. Because you are so fond of him." The man gestured to Izuku who clutched the back of Tomura's shirt. "These children, as well." The villain added calmly about the hero students. He came to a stop right in front of Tomura, and held out a hand. "Do it over as many times as you need to. That is why I am here. It's all for you."

Izuku shook slightly, both hands holding onto Tomura's shirt, eyes still damp. He didn't want to lose Tomura, he didn't want to be abandoned and alone again!

"You're here, after all, aren't you…?" The man said after a moment, seemingly to himself. Then, out of nowhere, the man was slammed into, All Might having fallen from the sky, and the masked man was holding All Might in place with just his two hands.

"I'll have you return my students, All For One!" All Might yelled.

"Will you kill me again, All Might?" The masked man sounded a touch sarcastic, and a lot amused.

The ground under the villain, All For One, cracked and shattered. Chunks seemed to levitate, dust plumed, and then the force knocked the League back and off their feet. Izuku cried out, and he could hear Toga's cries of distress as well. The League all made noises of discomfort as they were tossed off their feet, and Izuku lost his grip on Tomura as they were blown back. Izuku tumbled, coughing on dust as he found himself lying on his stomach.

"You're pretty late." All For One said conversationally, as if he wasn't fighting All Might. "It's a little more than five kilometers from the bar to here. It was easily 30 seconds after I released the Nomus before you arrived. You've gotten weaker, All Might."

"What about you? What's with that industrial mask you've got on? Aren't you overexerting yourself?" All Might said, standing. Had he been blown off his feet too…? All Might started hopping in place on one foot. "I won't make the same mistake as I did six years ago. All For One!" All Might stopped hopping. "I will take these three young hero students back, save Young Midoriya, and this time, I will throw you in prison for sure! And all of the League of Villains you control with you!" All Might lunged, and All For One extended a single hand.

"There's so much to do. It'll be tough…" His arm seemed to warp and grow unnaturally, red lightning crackling around his one arm. "For both of us!" All Might was blown backwards, slamming through several buildings and down a couple blocks. Izuku gasped. The power… "Air Cannon plus Springlike Limbs, Kinetic Booster times four, Strength Enhancer times three. This combination is fun. Maybe I'll add a few more enhancer types."

"All Might!" Kacchan yelled. Kendo looked frozen with terror, and Shoto was pale, face covered with shock.

"Even without your worry, he won't die from something like that." All For One chided the students. "So run far away from here, Tomura, and take those children with you." Tomura reached for his Sensei, Izuku pushing himself to a sitting position a few feet away, and All For One raised a hand as his fingers turned black and red at the ends. They extended, shooting out like Kamui Woods' had, and stabbed right into Kurogiri. "Kurogiri, get everyone away from here." He ordered the unconscious portal user.

"Hey, wait! He was defeated and is now unconscious!" Magne exclaimed as the red and black stabby things made Kurogiri's body jerked around. "I'm not sure what's going on, but if you can use Warp, then you should get us away!"

"I just got mine, Magne." All For One said evenly. "On top of only being able to transport short distances, unlike his coordinates based transport, I can only bring people to me or away from me, and I can only send them away to someone I am very familiar with. So I'll have Kurogiri do it." The Villains all glanced at each other, and then purple warp exploded out of Kurogiri's body. Izuku gasped. "Forcible Quirk Activation! Now, go!"

"What about you?" Tomura asked All For One, voice soft. He then jerked, gasping, as All Might flew out of the rubble in a stream of dust clouds. All For One then pushed a little upwards, and began to fly.

"Think constantly, Tomura." All For One's masked voice rang. "You still have much more room to grow!"

"I won't let you get away!" All Might slammed down a fist, and Izuku shielded his eyes from the resulting shockwave.

"Sensei…" Izuku looked at Tomura, who was staring up towards his teacher, and didn't know what to do. How could Izuku help? What could he do?

"Let's go, Shigaraki! While that pipe mask is holding All Might back!" Compress yelled. Izuku watched him marble Dabi, and then every person in their group got to their feet. "Grab Izuku and Todoroki, forget the other two, and let's go!" Izuku went to stand, wiping his eyes, but his arm was grabbed and he was yanked sharply by a cold hand. Izuku cried out, which made the whole League turn their full attention to him, and was dragged backwards.

"Ugh, what a pain…!" Kacchan said, lowering himself into a crouch. Kendo had a determined face, but it was full of fear. Shoto was the one who had a hand on Izuku, picking him up by his waist.

"Mura!" Izuku leaned forward, hands outstretched, but Shoto was holding his torso firmly. The League charged, attacking Kacchan and Kendo as Shoto backed up with Izuku in his arms.

Twice snapped out his tape measure, Kacchan dodging with a grimace. Toga lunged with her knife, Kendo swatting her away with a huge slap. Compress came running for Shoto, but Kacchan let off two huge explosions right in his face.

"Compress!!" Izuku shrieked, wiggling. The boy's hold on him shifted, flipping him around and burying Izuku's face in his shoulder, clutching Izuku to his chest.

"Bakugo! Let's go!" Shoto yelled. He stomped a foot and a wall of solid ice was suddenly standing between the hero students and the Villains. Izuku gasped, stilling with surprise. "Kendo! Come on!" Shoto started running, and then sliding on ice as Kacchan exploded upwards and after Shoto, Kendo running after them.

"Mura!" Izuku screamed, "TOMURA!" Over Shoto's shoulder, Izuku saw All For One throw the red and black spikes out, only for All Might to spam a punch into the side of his arm and send the man into a wall. Shoto kept sliding, Izuku in his arms with his classmates behind him, until they were blocks and blocks away.

Izuku shook as Shoto ran, hiding his face and pressing it into the boy's left shoulder, eyes wide and disbelieving. The League was… he'd abandoned… he'd been stolen… he didn't even know if they…

Izuku pressed a hand to his mouth, but he couldn't stop the sobs that wracked his body. He squeezed his eyes shut as he cried, hoping it was a dream, that he wasn't being taking away from the place he'd felt the most cared for and protected, from the people who were like him and were saved same as he was, and that he would wake up and be able to demand a hug from Tomura to feel better.

But… it wasn't a dream. He knew that. Izuku knew that as Shoto's feet pounded on concrete and every step radiated through Izuku's skull, he knew that as his tears soaked into the boy's shirt, he knew that as warm arms pressed him closer into Shoto's chest. It wasn't a dream… and he had been stolen.

"I'm so sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry." Shoto's stream of quiet and devastated apologies filtered through his ears, in one side and out the other. Izuku's hand tightened in his shirt. If he was sorry, why did he do it? Why did he take Izuku? Why couldn't they have both just stayed? Izuku choked on tears, sobbing and alone. He clenched Shoto's shirt and tried to breathe.

"We need to follow the evacuation instructions." Izuku heard Kendo say.

"Shut up!" Kacchan yelled. "I know!"

"Bakugo, this isn't the time. We need to get Midoriya somewhere safe." Shoto interrupted. "We need to tell the Pros we're not hostages anymore."

"Please let me go." Izuku whispered, tears finally slowing. "Please, please let me go."

"Izuku, I can't." Shoto said softly. "I needed to get you away from the fighting. This was the best way, and you can't go back to the League right now. Understand? That man, their leader, he probably got them out. Okay?" Izuku curled further into Shoto, trying to hide from the truth.

"I know." Izuku choked out. "I don't want to be alone again." Shoto's hands on him tightened.

"You won't be alone. I promise." He said firmly.

"That's a police officer!" Kendo cried in relief. "Hey! Hey!" Izuku didn't see, but he heard her footsteps running away with Shoto and Kacchan running after her. "I'm Kendo Itsuka, okay? And this is Todoroki Shoto, Bakugo Katsuki, and Midoriya Izuku. We escaped, and we need to tell the heroes we're all safe." She was saying quickly.

"I understand, I'll call Tsukauchi. He's in charge, and he can let everyone know. Don't move, kids. They'll send someone to collect you." A deep voice placated the panic in the girl's rushed explanation.

"The heroes will hurt me." Izuku mumbled into Shoto's shoulder.

"What? Why do you think that?" Shoto asked, an odd inflection in his voice.

"Because I helped Tomura, even though I'm a hero student, and Eraserhead believed in me." Izuku whispered. "Because that's what heroes do. They don't go easy on villains, and that's what they think I am. A villain, a villain for Tartarus just like the League."

"I won't let them." The hands on him shifted, bringing Izuku away from Shoto's shoulder so they could look each other in the face. Izuku's teary green eyes on Shoto's heterochromic ones. "You don't deserve Tartarus, and you won't be punished. Okay?" Izuku couldn't bring himself to believe him. "I'll save you, from them. If I have to."

"From the heroes?" Izuku asked, eyes huge.

"If they try to throw a seven year old version of my best friend in Tartarus? Yes. No hesitation." Shoto's eyes were serious, and Izuku nodded slowly.

"Okay." He whispered. Izuku leaned forward, placing his face once again against Shoto's shoulder, this time to close his eyes. "Don't let them take me away, Shoto." A hand gently caressed Izuku's curls.

"I won't. You won't be alone. I promise."

When Izuku woke up, he squinted into the light. He rolled over, trying to make the light dimmer, but something beeped. Loudly. Izuku gasped and sat up as straight as possible. He was alone?

"Hey, hey, Izuku, you're okay." Izuku turned panicked eyes to see Shoto standing up from a chair by the wall, and moving to sit on the side of the bed. "It's fine, you're not alone. This is a hospital." Shoto took one of his hands, and Izuku tried to breathe.

"Tomura…?" Izuku felt tears threatening to spill, and Shoto released his hand to give him a cup of water from the nearby end stand.

"Shigaraki and the entire League got away, except for 'Sensei'. He was arrested by All Might the same night we escaped." Shoto summed up as he watched Izuku sip the water. "After you fell asleep, a group of around 10 police officers escorted us to the nearest station, and then they transferred us to the hero ward of the nearest hospital. That's where you are now. Bakugo, Kendo, and I were all cleared and given permission to leave. You're still here because they're trying to figure out what specifically made you… smaller… than you used to be."

"Younger." Izuku corrected softly. "I think it was a Quirk. I woke up in the mall, and I don't have anything from before that, like why I was even at the mall, or why I woke up." Shoto frowned.

"The class went to the Mall as a group, apart from Bakugo and myself. Uraraka said she left you alone, but when she went back to find you, you'd moved." Shoto recited. "They said they searched the mall within an hour of when you'd last been seen, but there wasn't any evidence of you."

"I talked to two people." Izuku said thoughtfully. "A man on the phone, and he told me he didn't wanna help lost kids. Told me to run along, or something. The woman I approached had three kids, and she assumed I was pranking her." Izuku frowned. "She said that a seven year old should remember their parents, and if it wasn't a prank I should just get someone else to help me." Shoto seemed to glare a hole into the part of the bed he was staring at, but he nodded.

"That'd probably account for 20 minutes max, and then you left?" Izuku nodded.

"Well, I went outside." He said, "I collapsed outside, and I was crying and breathing really fast, and I thought nobody would come to help me. But… Tomura did." Izuku didn't even notice the cup in his hand was empty until Shoto took it from him. Izuku blinked.

"Izuku, this is serious, and I need you to pay attention for a moment." Shoto said, placing the empty cup on the end stand.

"Okay." Izuku brought his knees to his chest, and fell silent obediently.

"At the Camp attack, one of the Villains claimed they'd deaged you, and then used you to plan their evil plans. You remember that?" Izuku nodded.

"They were part of the distraction team, with me. To protect the extraction team." Shoto nodded stoically at Izuku's words.

"Right. Anyway, the heroes believe you helped the Villains against your will because they made you younger." Izuku frowned, but didn't interrupt. "Kendo and Bakugo both already gave their statements, and so did I. They both said you seemed happy among the Villains, and even advocated for them. Anyway, that's what the heroes and police know. I don't know if they want to punish you, but that's all the information they have. You can tell them whatever you want, okay? And I'll just make sure they don't do anything bad." His eyes glittered with determination.

"With your quirk?" Izuku tilted his head. "I bet you could freeze the whole room, smash the window and then create a slide all the way down to the bottom. You'd have to melt it away, of course, so the police can't follow." Shoto gave Izuku a tiny smile that made Izuku beam. "You have a nice smile." Izuku complimented.

"And you are a little genius." Shoto replied. "Yes, I'll protect you with my quirk if I have to. For example, if they try to drag out of here right this minute to Tartarus, obviously, I can't let that stand. Or if they treat you like a threat and draw weapons or use quirks, I'll stop them. However, I don't think it'll come to that. They'll just talk to you and ask some questions, and then they'll thank you and leave. Don't worry about it." Izuku gave the boy a wobbly smile, and then jumped slightly when the door slid open.

"Ah, Midoriya, it's good to see you awake." It was a man in a white coat. "You have two visitors, would you like to see them? You can be honest."

"No. But they can come in anyway." Izuku scooted over, looked to Shoto, and patted the bed. The boy blinked slowly, but then he came and sat on the bed, on top of the covers. Izuku then climbed over Shoto's legs and settled on the boy's lap. When Izuku was done, he looked up to see that the two guests had taken two seats near the wall.

"Midoriya, I'm Detective Tsukauchi." Izuku waved shyly.

"Hi. I'm Izuku." Izuku shrank back a little, leaning into Shoto's chest.

"We're here to ask you a few questions. Some of them might seem random or pointless to you, but please answer all of them to the best of your ability. Okay?" The Detective smiled at him, the cat headed officer remaining silent at his side.

"Okay." Izuku whispered.

"First, I'm legally required to inform you that my quirk is called TruMan, and it's also my police alias. It allows me to tell when someone is lying." Izuku nodded slowly, withholding a million questions, and grabbed Shoto's right sleeve to play with. "What's the first thing you remember?"

"First thing recently or first thing a long time ago?" Izuku asked without looking up from Shoto's sleeve.

"Is there a difference?" Izuku frowned.

"Of course there is. I used to be older, and now I'm younger. I remember being even younger than this, but not older. The recent first thing is not at all the same as the first thing a long time ago."

"I understand, I apologize." The Detective placated. Izuku huffed. "So, how about the last thing you remember, recently?"

"I was at the mall." Izuku said, finding a loose string in Shoto's sleeve and yanking on it. "I woke up, and everything was loud and there were people everywhere, and I could only remember my name, and what my quirk was. I sort of remembered my age but not really. So I went looking for an adult." The string unraveled, the stitching along the sleeve coming undone, and Izuku smiled slightly. "Two of them told me to go away. A man on the phone, and a woman with her children. I went outside, I started crying, and then Mura found me. He saved me." Izuku felt his smile drop at the thought of Mura, and he fell silent.

"Can you tell me about the escape? From the bar, and from the second warehouse location."

"We didn't escape." Izuku denied. "Mura's Sensei retrieved us with his new warp quirk. It brings people to him, or it sends people very far away to someone he is very familiar with. It's a cool quirk, but the drawback for the people he warps is gross. It tasted like sewer water, and it felt like coughing up jello." Izuku paused, trying to get back on track. "At the second location, I didn't do anything. Shoto grabbed me, and then he carried me as he and the hero students ran away. He created a huge glacier, not as huge as the one he did the first time I saw him at the camp attack. That one was so big it completely blocked our exit between one second and the next. Compress was with me then…" Izuku trailed off again, the thought of the League slamming into his brain with the reminder that he was stolen from them. Stolen by the Heroes.

"Thank you, Midoriya." The Detective said. "Another question, what's your relationship with the League of Villains, and their leader, Shigaraki Tomura?" Izuku sighed. The man had a truth quirk.

"Mura saved me. He's my hero." Izuku smiled as he found another string on Shoto's shirt to pull. "Dabi is good too, I helped him fix his quirk. Tw–"

"Fix his quirk?" The Detective cut in. "How did you do that?" Izuku wilted, releasing Shoto's sleeve and turning halfway to hide his face in Shoto's shoulder. "Midoriya?"

"No." Izuku said, voice muffled by Shoto's shirt.

"Midoriya, what was wrong with his quirk?" The Detective repeated lightly.

"I don't want to tell you, and you can't make me." Izuku said firmly into Shoto's shoulder. "Quirks are personal, and you'd use the information to hurt them!"

"No, of course we wouldn't." The Detective denied soothingly. "We just–"

"Just because your quirk tells you when something is a lie doesn't mean it prevents you from lying!" Izuku exclaimed. He then lifted his face and turned to glare directly at the man, who was watching him blankly. "You said the quirk tells you when you're lying, which means it doesn't notify you when someone tells the truth. Or, in contrast, it only tells you when someone tells the truth. Coaxing the truth out of someone is different and you can't do it. That would have to involve a confession quirk which you very obviously don't have!" Izuku lessened his glare, gave one last huff, and he went back to playing with Shoto's sleeve. "Nobody can make me reveal their secrets. You can't force me."

There was a silence for a moment, until the Detective stood and the officer followed suit.

"Thank you, Midoriya." The Detective said finally. "We'll be on our way." Izuku didn't deign them a response as they left and slid the door shut behind them.

"You okay, Izuku?" Shoto asked softly. Izuku's only answer was to flip all the way over and firmly bury his face in Shoto's chest. "Ah. I see."

Izuku rose to consciousness slowly, blinking uncomfortably and his muscles aching. Where was he? Wasn't he at the ma– Izuku shot up in bed, sitting straight up with a gasp. He was 15 again, he was a first year at U.A. with One For All!

"Izuku…?" Izuku glanced to the side to see Todoroki had dozed off in the chair, with his face resting on Izuku's bed. The boy froze as he made eye contact with Izuku, and then bolted upright like Izuku had. "Midoriya!"

"Todoroki…" Izuku blinked. "Oh my god, I am so dead." He buried his face in his hands, his muscular, 15 year old, scarred hands, and sighed. "They can't throw a seven year old in Tartarus, but a fifteen year old–!" A hand landed on his shoulder and Izuku looked up with a sharp inhale.

"Izuku, breathe." Todoroki said, staring him down. "You remember everything?" Izuku nodded, biting his lip.

"I remember tripping on something, at the mall, but I can't remember anything else. I must've passed out, and then I woke up as a kid…" Izuku paled. "They're gonna ask me if I sympathize with the League of Villains and I can't say no. I meant what I said, I mean, it matters more now that I'm older and I can offer the League more but everything I said still applies and oh my god I just admitted I might be a traitor to you and I'm so sorry…!"

"Izuku, calm down." Shoto ordered. Izuku froze. "It's going to be okay. You have to calm down so you can figure out how you can talk your way out of this rationally. You're brilliant, and you'll think of something. Okay?" Izuku took a deep breath, and nodded. Shoto smiled softly, and Izuku shifted in place, a little bit dizzy.

"Why are you helping me?" Izuku asked as the lightheadedness from hyperventilating faded a little. "I'm basically a villain now."

"Because you're the reason I remembered why I wanted to be a hero, you saved me." Izuku blinked at the familiar words. Shoto had said that during the night Izuku had visited him at the bar… "The way you talked about their goals, and the way the League centered around you, I know I'll want to be on your side. You've shifted something for them, and even as a little kid what you were saying made sense to me." Mismatching eyes burned into his, and Izuku couldn't even blink. "I tried imagining an older you making the same speech, saying the same things, and… I could picture it. You saying we needed to save people whether we were called heroes or not… About making the world better for the people who aren't saved by heroes because they're not the same as everyone else… All of it sounded so much like the Midoriya that was my friend. I knew that even if you went back to your older self, there was no going back." Izuku swallowed, and nodded stiffly.

"What are we going to do?" Izuku whispered.

"We're going to talk to the heroes, and we're going to go back to U.A., and we're going to stay there until we see Shigaraki again. When we do, we run as fast as we can." Izuku choked, and then laughed, gasping for breath as he leaned forward.

"I'm glad you two are getting along." Izuku calmed himself and looked to see the face of Detective Tsukauchi. "I'm Detective Tsukauchi, Midoriya." Tsukauchi nodded to him, and Izuku held out a hand to shake. He decided to play dumb. Sort of.

"We met before. You came to see All Might after the U.S.J. and I don't know if I introduced myself then. I'm Midoriya Izuku." The Detective shook his hand, a tiny frown in place.

"So, Midoriya, do you remember where you've been the past few days?" The Detective asked, sitting down. "Your classmates reported you missing." Izuku blinked.

"Oh, I didn't know that." It was true, he'd thought it was his mom when he hadn't come home. Although, Shoto mentioned Uraraka had looked for him…

"What were you and Todoroki discussing?" The Detective gave a smile, but Izuku knew what he was asking.

"He mentioned going back to U.A., and he made a joke that if we see Shigaraki again we run as fast as we can." Izuku answered easily. Shoto smiled on his left. It was true, Shoto had said it.

"I see. What brought Shigaraki up?" The Detective pressed.

"I asked what we were going to do now, as in, what the plans were." Izuku replied, answering as cautiously as possible. "When I first woke up, I panicked and Shoto helped me calm down. I like having plans." All true, Izuku thought smugly.

"I see. Do you know what's been going on recently?"

"No, though I presume it had something to do with Heroes. Big news is always heroes, and I'd also guess the League of Villains." Izuku tried not to grin at the Detective's sigh.

"Midoriya, did you know you spent multiple days with the League of Villains, and joined them on a raid of a heroes base?"

"No." Izuku answered immediately, blinking in surprise. The mountain was a hero base? Seriously? Tomura…! The Detective sighed.

"Can you tell a lie for me? To make sure my quirk is working."

"What is your quirk, anyway?" Izuku asked, tilting his head

"I'm sorry, I've informed you before so it slipped my mind." His voice was bland, and Izuku wondered if the slip really was accidental. "My Quirk is called TruMan, and it allows me to tell when someone is lying." Izuku sighed rather dramatically.

"A lie, you said?" The man nodded at Izuku's question. "Well, I'm Todoroki Shoto, son of Endeavor who loves his father very much." Shoto choked and covered it badly with a hacking cough, and Izuku grinned at him.

"Thank you, my quirk is definitely working." The Detective sighed. Izuku tilted his head again.

"So why are you looking for lies, Detective Tsukauchi?" Izuku narrowed his eyes in mock suspicion. "Is this an official police interview?" The man nodded tiredly.

"Yes. I am to check if you have any memory of joining the League of Villains as a seven year old." Izuku blinked at the wording.

"The League did not exist when I was seven years old, as far as I can recall." Izuku admitted. It was true. "I think I'd remember being an aspiring hero and joining a villain group that young." Izuku raised a challenging eyebrow, and the man's lip twitched.

"Can you tell me your relationship with Shigaraki Tomura?" Izuku paused, Shoto stilling beside him.

"He attacked me at the U.S.J., and in Hosu Stain told me that Shigaraki had shown him a picture of me, and said that I was an enemy or something." Izuku shrugged. "He's a villain, and I'm a hero student. Do you want more?" The Detective looked exhausted and frustrated.

"Do you feel sympathy for the League of Villains? Do you have any plans to join them?"

"I feel sympathy for them, they're villains and they're bringing all of hero society down on their heads by targeting U.A. and their students." Izuku said seriously. "However, I have no plans to join the League of Villains, and for you to accuse a hero student like that is an insult to U.A. High School." It was true. Accusing a hero student was an offense to the school, in Izuku's opinion. On top of that, Izuku had no plans because he had no idea where Tomura was. Except… "The only thing you might even call a plan is what I was talking about earlier with Shoto. If we see Shigaraki Tomura, we run." Izuku added, crossing his arms a little dramatically. The Detective placed two fingers on his forehead in exasperation.

"What is the last thing you remember?" The Detective settled on when he looked up. Izuku paused to think.

"Remember?" Izuku threw in a question, hoping it'd help confuse the quirk. Questions couldn't ever be lies. "I went to the mall with my class." Izuku said firmly. He did. He went to the mall. "Uraraka left me alone, and I started looking for some wrist weights. But then I think I tripped, and everything goes black." Izuku finished. The man nodded.

"After that?"

"I woke up in the hospital, and Shoto was with me." Izuku answered easily. "I panicked, as I said, and he calmed me down." Asking the same questions wouldn't work on Izuku, he was ready.

"Okay. I think I have everything I need. Thank you, Midoriya." The Detective climbed to his feet and Izuku smiled.

"It was fun talking to you." He said honestly, waving. As the man left, Izuku fought a triumphant grin. He'd done it. He'd lied to a lie detector and gotten away with it. Multiple times.

"Izuku, how are you not being arrested right now." He turned to see Shoto's huge eyes, disbelief painting them, and Izuku couldn't help it. He burst out laughing, and he didn't stop until all his air was gone and Shoto was laughing with him. Maybe it would all be okay…

(Overhaul Arc, way in the future)

Reunion

Izuku stared at the group in front of him, eyes huge as his eyes drank them in. They were clearly not expecting him, Izuku having tracked them down without their knowledge. Izuku glanced at Shoto, who nodded to him and let go of Izuku's hand. Izuku then stepped forward, green eyes fixed on Tomura and Dabi. He headed straight for Dabi and held out a single hand. The fire user squinted suspiciously, but he took Izuku's hand. Izuku smiled at it, reaching out another hand to run his fingertips across Dabi's knuckles.

"Hiya, Dabi." Izuku smiled softly. He looked at Shigaraki, a wobbly smile in place. "Mura… Do I look set on fire to you?" Suddenly he had a face full of Dabi and Izuku made an 'OOF' sound, the man having pulled him into a tight hug. Izuku wrapped his arms around the man, and sighed. "You did a real shitty job of explaining at the U.S.J., Mura." Tomura laughed, and Dabi released him.

"Well, we got around to it eventually." Tomura smirked at him, and Izuku chuckled.

"Oh yeah, your master plan. Shrink your favorite enemy and then adopt his seven year old self for a few days." Izuku rolled his eyes sarcastically. "Damn, I can't believe I fell for it." Shoto came over, standing nearby and clearly with them, but not invading their space.

"Hello, Izuku." Compress smiled at him. Izuku's eyes immediately zoned in on his arm and stepped forward suddenly, taking the metal monstrosity in both hands.

"You're hurt." Izuku whispered. His arm was completely gone, replaced by a shody metal replica. "Who did this?"

"Ah, Overhaul. The same time we… lost… Big Sis Magne." Compress sounded like he was trying for his usual dramatic cheer, but he was failing.

"I should have smashed his face harder when I had the chance." Izuku's fingers tightened on Compress in anger towards Overhaul, and he froze as Tomura's three finger grasp touched his shoulder. He released Compress, and leaned back into Tomura's side. "Sorry, Mura. Compress." Shoto seemed to smother a laugh, and Izuku turned a little to stick his tongue out at the boy.

"Don't be sorry, Izuku." Tomura called his attention back, a grin present even in his voice. "I'm glad you're back." Izuku snickered as he straightened.

"Aw, did you miss my endless quirk ranting and maniacal planning?" Dabi swatted his shoulder, and Izuku laughed.

"You were a freakishly smart seven year old." Spinner put in. "A real hero." Izuku snorted.

"Definitely. I'm defecting from U.A., dragging my best friend behind me, and joining the most feared villain group in all of Japan." Izuku turned to the lizard mutant sarcastically. His eyes then softened. "I missed you too, Spinner."

"Izuku!" Toga hopped in place. "You're big now! So cute! You were cuter as a seven year old!" Izuku sighed.

"Toga, if you're crushing on me–"

"I'm not, silly!" The girl giggled. "I found someone else… Ochako and I are the very same…" Toga made a wistful noise, and Izuku laughed nervously.

"Oh, by the way, I brought Shoto." Izuku said, gesturing to the boy. "We're keeping him. He's mine."

"Seriously?" Dabi groaned, "Why him?" Izuku glanced back to smile at Shoto, and then blinked as the boy stepped forward to wrap his arms around Izuku's shoulders from behind.

"As Izuku said," Shoto said, placing his chin in Izuku's curls. "I'm his." Toga squealed dramatically as Dabi's mouth dropped open in blatant shock, and Izuku laughed fondly.

"Alright then! So, what now?" Izuku looked at them all, finally feeling whole again for the first time since returning to his proper age, and he smiled. He was finally back where he belonged.