Chapter Text
UA was THE hero school. The most important, the most famous, and so on. UA produced hundreds of pro heroes in the past, including close to half of the current top ten. It was even the alma mater of All Might, the greatest of all heroes and the Symbol of Peace.
It was a dream. Midoriya Izuku’s dream. For many, many years he dreamed of being able to walk its halls and training areas. He loved the heroes, especially All Might! His mom once told him to just open an All Might-themed museum, he had THAT much limited edition merch laying around at home.
Finally, he managed to realize this dream and got into UA. With many prospective heroes, each of them armed with a wonderful quirk and an unyielding desire to make the world a better place. And a seriously sleep-deprived teacher that was also an underground hero that he happened to be a fan of.
Midoriya Izuku sets the volume to the max and starts speaking.
“My name is Legion, and we are the League of Villains.” He announces, the last of his comrades exiting Kurogiri behind him. “We’ve decided to interrupt your training exercise in order to kill the Symbol of Peace. Although, it seems he’s absent.”
Unfortunately, Midoriya is the only one to appreciate the level of irony that his life is operating on. He is even wearing his favourite All Might hoodie.
Eraserhead shouts to Thirteen to get the students out and then charges down the stairs. A tactical mistake. Sure, there are only a few villains in the USJ main plaza. Sure, they all look barely older than the shocked students crowding next to the entrance. But he is still severely underestimating the people that broke into UA.
“Kurogiri, scatter the students.” Izuku commands, his mask changing his voice. True to his villain’s name, he set it to change his voice every few seconds. The initial announcement was the only thing he would say with his true voice during the attack. “Decay and Vampire, intercept.”
His best friend and his probably-not-a-girlfriend leap forward, engaging a pro-hero in melee combat. Knife and disintegration versus combat scarf and a lot of combat experience.
Izuku is worried. Extremely worried. Eraserhead is an expert in capture and can deactivate quirks merely by looking at you. He is as famous as an underground hero could get. Thankfully the mask stops Izuku from stuttering and making other noises that are seriously unbecoming of an aspiring criminal mastermind.
On the other hand, it is a horrible match-up for the underground hero. Vampire fights de facto quirkless, and is very good at it. Decay’s quirk requires five finger contact and is potent enough to end the fight in a single touch - and with Vampire there, Eraserhead can’t keep it offline constantly, as it would allow the shapeshifting villain to blindside him.
However, Eraserhead is still a professional hero, with many tricks up his sleeve! He has that object resembling a scarf, that is clearly a very advanced and skill-based capture weapon! It had to take years to master it to this level, and...
“Legion.” Kurogiri appears out of nowhere, interrupting Izuku’s mumbling (thank god for the voice alteration thing). There is a lot of soot on the warper’s body armor. “Thirteen is incapacitated. The Ingenium’s brother got out. I sent all the students from the list to the ambush site, but one of them…”
“Yes, I can see him.” Izuku replies, feeling the incoming headache as clean as day. The explosions and ‘DIE!’ screams are rather noticeable. He didn’t intend to fight his old bully during the attack. It would hurt Kacchan much more to be teleported away and safely incapacitated by the second team. With ego as fragile as his, treating him as if he wasn’t worthy of attention would be… crushing. But since he wants to do it so much…
“BAKUGOU, STOP!” Eraserhead shouts. He could have just as well tried bargaining with a landslide (its intelligence level and attention spans were comparable with Izuku’s quirkist bully).
He goes for the head, of course. Starting with a punch. Straight one. With his right arm. Like always. Izuku grabs it and throws Kacchan over his head, drawing a knife. It is stopped centimeters away from his old bully’s face with Eraserhead’s capture scarf, extended to the max.
“You really are a great hero, Eraserhead.” Izuku announces, while Vampire stabs the now defenseless teacher in his right side. Secretly he is relieved - the hand moved on his own, he didn’t plan to almost murder a kid. That would go against the League’s long-term goals.
Kacchan has enough situational awareness to use his explosions to escape from the trap.
Decay grabs the underground hero’s head with all but one of his fingers and rams it into the pavement. Tenko’s love for excessive violence is there all along, although he is kind enough to not overdo it. And sticks to the plan.
“I wouldn’t move if I were you, Eraserhead.” Izuku announces. The teacher halts his attempts at struggling, and stares at him. “Decay’s quirk is a five point finger matter disintegration. He has all but a single finger on your head. If you move too much and make the fifth one touch you…” He shrugs. Hopefully this will be enough, he isn’t here to kill Eraserhead.
“Oh, and thank you for distracting your teacher with your antics…” He turns towards his former bully. He wants to savour the moment. “... Kacchan.”
The look on Bakugou’s face is priceless when the recognition settles in. The positive side of being officially dead (together with all your loved ones) is that you don’t need to hide your name when you turn to villainy.
“D… DEKU?!” And now he is reminded why he hates Kacchan so much. If he didn’t tailor his plan explicitly to avoid non pro-hero casualties, he would have sent Tenko after him. Seeing his bully vanish into dust would be quite cathartic. “YOU QUIRKLESS BASTARD! DIE!” He leaps forward, accelerating himself with microexplosions.
Izuku didn’t think that it was possible. But somehow Kacchan got worse when he wasn’t looking. When he examined his actions from the perspective of time (they haven’t seen each other ever since the housefire that ‘killed’ the Midoriyas), he realized that Bakugou was basically an angry meme made flesh rather than a human being. And somehow, just somehow, he got WORSE. And even more one-dimensional.
Unbelievable.
“Mustard, gas him.” The last member of the party pulls up a support item resembling a flamethrower and covers the charging student in poisonous gas. It isn’t a dose enough to kill him, not in a single burst. But it is enough to make him lose control over his limbs and fall to the ground.
He was too focused on Izuku to notice the attack, apparently.
“So, can I dust him?” Tenko announces in the resulting silence. “I want the EXP.” Eraserhead looks suitably distraught and cornered.
Izuku is happy about his best friend’s acting skills. Or, at least, he hopes that Tenko is acting. His desire for destruction and murder are a feature rather than a problem normally, but Izuku can’t help but be worried about it right now. They are only planning a single murder today, and it's not Eraserhead.
“Oh, no need to go that far, Decay.” Izuku says. His mask once again proves useful - it made him sound like a confident mastermind instead of a slightly terrified teenager with a complicated family situation who is WAY over his head. “I’d like some information from you, Eraserhead. Where is the Symbol of Peace? According to our intel, he should be participating in this training session. But I don’t see him.”
Eraserhead doesn't have time to answer. The entrance bursts open.
“FEAR NOT!!!” The giant announces with a voice that could shake a mountain. “FOR I AM HERE!!!”
He is here. The Symbol of Peace. The number one hero. The All Might. Izuku almost drools for the occasion to see his favourite hero in person. The massive figure radiates both immense strength and undescribable charisma. Makes villains tremble and civilians feel that everything will be alright.
Then Izuku remembers that he is a villain. And that the League has organized distractions to keep All Might occupied elsewhere during the attack, since despite their boisterous claims, they weren’t here to fight him.
Izuku bluescreens. This isn’t part of the plan.
“Kurogiri, get Hellhound!” He shouts, his voice changer making him sound urgent but not panicked. The warpgate opens up and something massive enters the field. The quadrupedal monstrosity of claws and fur, designed with destruction in mind. The most successful second generation Noumu to date.
It is massive and inhuman enough to give the Symbol of Peace a pause. For about two seconds. Then he charges towards it, too fast for the eyes to follow.
His first punch generates enough air pressure to make Tenko fly off Eraserhead, who immediately jumps backward, gaining some ground. He is limping noticeably, his costume stained with blood. Not fit for combat anymore.
Unfortunately for the heroes, Hellhound doesn’t seem to notice the punch.
“Hellhound is a bioengineered superweapon, designed to fight you at your strongest, All Might.” Izuku announces. Good bluff was a key to success. Then again, what is he supposed to say? ‘Sorry I’ve panicked so much that I had Kurogiri warp in my house dog that has temper issues worse than Kacchan and some illegal upgrades?’ He has an image to uphold, even if the plan is going to hell.
All Might doesn’t even flinch. He unleashes a flurry of blows. Hellhound is tanking them nicely, its Shock Absorption holding well. The strength behind the attack is still potent enough to push it back slightly, and each time it attempts to lunge at the Symbol of Peace with his fangs and claws, the attack is either pushed back or deflected.
The battle is too intense for anyone to interfere. But eventually, it ends. All Might overwhelms the Shock Absorption and sends Hellhound flying through the roof.
Izuku stares in awe, thinking that All Might is truly the coolest of heroes. Then he reminds himself that the hero just punched out Hellhound and is about to defeat the League.
The second team picks that very moment to send him a message. A picture displays itself at the side of his vision, Mindscrew, Gentle Criminal and Gremlin making the victory signs next to several incapacitated students.
This has to wait.
“So, villains.” All Might stands up, surrounded by clouds of dust. “Are you going to surrender peacefully? Your ‘superweapon’ is done for, after all.”
Is he giving them time to surrender, because he can see that most of his enemies were underage? Or…
Izuku figures it out. And screams in terror. At least internally. They are so much off the plan that they might as well have no plan at all.
By sheer stroke of luck, that is the moment when he gets a message that the other teachers - and Thunderbolt, the Number Three Hero - are almost at the USJ. Four minutes until the second phase of the original plan can be executed.
As Tenko would say, they were getting a continue. He just has to buy some time to make it look natural.
“Surrender?” Izuku asks. “How about this? If you manage to knock one of us out, the rest will surrender and fully cooperate with the police.” He can see the sudden sweat on All Might’s face.
Few of the students left near the USJ entrance are administering first aid to Eraserhead, who seems to have collapsed due to blood loss. Izuku didn’t even notice that until now - All Might was really good at drawing attention.
Izuku should have asked Eraserhead for an autograph instead of trying to interrogate him. Now the occasion is clearly lost.
The students felt safe to do that, despite the villain presence near them, as the All Might was there. Major miscalculation, though understandable considering that it was ALL MIGHT.
“I would prefer to not use my strength against children.” All Might is good at acting. Really good. But he doesn’t know that Legion knows about his limits.
“You prefer to not use your strength… or are you unable to do it?” Cornering All Might is giving him a rather complicated set of emotions. Sure, he isn’t trying to kill him - it would be counterproductive to the League’s long term goals, to begin with. Besides, All Might is his idol! But he has to do it, and if he is doing it he can as well do it well.
“No quirk is without weaknesses.” Izuku speaks confidently. Quirks are his hobby - he loves talking about them, even in such circumstances. “Yours is extremely powerful, and appears to be infinitely versatile. There is only a single potential weakness of it that I can think of - you have either a time limit or have a stamina bar, as my friend Decay would say. Which is why I organized all those beautiful distractions for you, in order to tire you out before the attack.“ He sees All Might’s face flinch, confirming his suspicions. “And then I sent in the Hellhound with its Shock Absorption quirk, to weaken you further. So here’s my theory - you aren’t punching our lights out… because you can barely stand upright.”
Silence. The students next to Eraserhead - and a conscious but paralyzed Bakugou - look at either Izuku or All Might with growing dread on their faces. They can’t believe his words - he is a villain, after all. One previously unknown - all members of the League were previously unknown, it is their debut mission. Only Gentle has a reputation, but he was technically hired for the job. But All Might is still standing there, instead of taking them down in a split second.
Ten seconds until the teachers arrive. He bought enough time with his villainous monologue.
“Decay, Vampire - kill him!” He shouts. Their attack is delayed by a further second as they are trying to comprehend why Izuku - the All Might’s number one fanboy - just told them to kill his idol. Then they decide that he has a plan, so they lunge forward.
“Kurogiri, phase two.” He says to the living warpgate. The cloud shifts itself as it prepares for the sudden warp.
The teachers burst into the USJ. They are all pro heroes so they waste no time. Snipe fires at Tenko - first bullet goes through his hand, making Decay yell in pain and jump back from All Might. The next two bullets hit Kurogiri’s suddenly opened warpgate, and emerge from another part of his body… right behind Snipe’s back.
It isn’t a mortal wound, but for now, the League of Villains can cross one of the heroes out. Too bad this tactic wouldn’t work for a third time. Thirteen and Snipe were enough.
Midnight rushes forward, whip in one hand while the other is ready to unleash her quirk. Present Mic runs sideways, towards the position that would allow him to use his quirk without hitting All Might or the students.
Cementoss conjures a hundred meter long wall of concrete, separating the League from the All Might. Izuku breathes a sigh of relief. Vampire and Decay retreat.
Then comes Thunderbolt. The current number three hero, and one of the lackeys of the Hero Commission. As far as Izuku’s knowledge goes, he was regularly ‘inspecting’ the UA at Commission’s behest as a form of additional oversight over the notoriously independent school - Nedzu’s empire is small, but people in power are suitably worried about it.
He wears a rather unoriginal costume, resembling all those pre-quirk ‘speedster superheroes’. He even has some thunderbolt decorations over it. Really uninspired, and Izuku suspects that he has stolen most of it from an old hero, O’Clock. But you don’t become a number three hero by being incompetent - Izuku questions his morals and aesthetics, but not combat skills. He immediately recognizes Izuku as the ringleader (or perhaps Ingenium’s brother described him as such?) and goes after him.
He is fast. Faster than All Might, though lacks his resistance and sheer strength. Of course, getting hit by something at mach whatever is going to knock Izuku out instantly, even if the person behind it would be easily crushed by a quirkless bodybuilder if immobilized.
But Izuku knows that he is coming. And unlike everything else today, this is personal. And the reason for the League’s attack.
Reflex Boost. Overhaul.
He feels something in his body change, as it accommodates the quirks he calls upon. Thunderbolt crosses the hundred meters distance in a heartbeat, his leg going for Izuku’s head to knock him out instantly.
Reflex Boost gives him enough of a reaction time to raise his hand in defense. His hand touches the incoming Thunderbolt’s leg for an instant - and that is enough. Overhaul requires nothing more.
Thunderbolt, the Number Three Hero, is instantly splattered over half of the USJ. Bakugou, who is the closest to Izuku when it happens, is painted red. Only his eyes are spared from the recoloring.
“Always so hot-blooded.” Izuku, who is trembling internally from shock, terror and joy, announces in the dead silence. “Although it’s just blooded now, I guess.” He has no idea what he just said. He isn’t exactly conscious. And internally he is freaking out just as much as everyone around him.
Vampire stares at him like he just descended from the heavens, introduced himself as a god of blood and proposed to her while offering her half of his godhood. Students and half conscious Eraserhead stare at him in terror. Even the other teachers halt their advance, trying to comprehend what just happened. Someone (a student most likely) screams.
“What, too soon?” Izuku decides to dig his grave deeper. “Oh, well. Kurogiri, we’re leaving.”
The warpgate embraces him seconds before the Present Mic’s sonic attack.
***
“That was…” Vampire - known also as Himiko Toga, he isn't letting his friends be villains without proper villain names - says in the resulting silence.
“... fucking awesome!” Decay - also Tenko Shimura - finishes for her. His hand is already fixed (Overhaul was an infinitely useful quirk, almost as overpowered as One for All in Izuku’s opinion).
They all finished changing. They still had a lot of laundry to do, but it could wait.
“Oh, please.” Izuku looks down, not really sure how to react. “The plan almost failed. I didn’t expect All Might to show up, and if I didn’t have Hellhound prepared just in case, we would all end up being captured. Also, Eraserhead was taken down by accident, since K..kacchan…” He pauses, because Himiko leans towards him and lands a kiss on his cheek.
He blushes. A lot. Mask and clothes intercepted the majority of the blood, and he washed off whatever made it past them, but Himiko could still smell it on him. And he knows how it makes her act. It is going to be a long day.
Tenko mumbles something about ‘fucking normies’ and decides to play on his console. Since Izuku fully understands the woes of an introvert within a group of people, he lets him do that. Mustard decides to join Tenko, which is probably better than hearing him rant about ‘that damn elite school’ not being able to do a thing about him.
Izuku switches on the TV - a necessary part of the living area of the villainous headquarters - and watches the news with Himiko at his side (he doubts that anything safe for All Might level of strength could pry her off him). The attack on UA was already reported (police and paramedics are swarming the complex, hard to hide something like that), but nobody knows what exactly happened.
Warpgate opens up in the middle of the bar. Kurogiri brings back Gentle, Gremlin and Mindscrew. The rest of his ‘party’ which he had sent after the students whom he deemed as potential threats. Like Endeavor’s son. They are good at taking down people without hurting them.
Izuku refuses to hurt students. Save for Kacchan, but he kinda deserves that. And even in his case, he prefers to do it without lasting bodily damage. Psychological damage stings more.
Gremlin is, of course, hyperactive. She crosses the distance between them and yanks him from Himiko’s embrace (resulting in a loud ‘Eh, that’s not fair!’ coming from behind his back, although somehow the resident vampire manages to retain the hold on his arm) in order to face him.
Face him from a very close distance. Her concept of personal space was thrown through the window years ago.
“How did my baby work?” There is way too much pink hair way too close to his eyes, in Izuku’s opinion. “Did they hurt it?!”
“It worked great.” Izuku replies in his voice. “It’s not damaged. And neither am I, thank you for asking.” Himiko giggles behind him. Mustard laughs openly. “Now please, put your taser-sword back in the sheath before approaching people, okay?” He almost got hit by it, and he knows from experience that it would ruin the day for him.
“Oh, okay.” She backs down. Somewhat. Izuku’s voice altering mask is Mei Hatsume’s newest baby and she is an extremely protective mother. “Going to the workshop now, see you later!” Then she is gone.
“So, how did it go?” Mindscrew decides to ask. He was in charge of the second party, mostly because Gremlin is no commander material and Gentle was… well, he is Gentle. Izuku kinda expected him to forget about the plan and end up in fierce discussion over tea brands with Yaoyorozu’s heir if she mentioned her love for it during the battle.
Besides, he was merely borrowed by the League for the operation. Izuku prefers giving commanding positions to regular members. He needs to learn how to delegate. And they need to learn how to command when he isn’t around.
He is standing behind Mindscrew, probably giggling internally for all the new content he is going to publish with La Brava once she finishes downloading the camera feed from USJ. But she isn’t here, so he restrains himself.
“Too well.” Izuku replies. “Thunderbolt dead. Snipe, Eraserhead and Thirteen badly wounded. But All Might was actually there, so I totally panicked because ohmygod that’s All Might so I had Kurogiri summon Hellhound and… “ His voice suddenly halts as Mindscrew’ quirk takes hold.
“Take three deep, slow breaths.” Mindscrew - aka Hitoshi Shinsou - says. Izuku follows, before the brainwashing’s hold on him breaks.
“Okay, sorry for starting to ramble.” Izuku takes another deep breath. “We almost killed All Might by accident.”
Hitoshi and Gentle stare at him, trying to comprehend what he just said. Izuku isn’t surprised. He was there but he still can’t process what happened.
“I thought he would simply not show up, after all the distractions we’ve made. But he ended up forcing through his limit. ” Izuku continues. “Which is really cool, and very heroic, and I totally love him for that, but, uhm… “He raises his hand, stopping Toshi from what was going to be another brainwashing session. He can calm himself down, if he really wants to! “He ran out of strength punching out Hellhound, and tried to bluff his way out of it. I went on a villain monologue to buy time until Thunderbolt arrived, but I think that a lot of UA students now know that he has a time limit.”
“Which isn’t that much of a problem.” Gentle announces. “All Might is a giant, the Symbol of Peace! Naturally, there is nobody out there who would believe in him having ‘limits’!” Fair point. It took Izuku himself a while to believe in it, and he had an extremely trustworthy source of information. “Now excuse me, but I believe that I have tea to drink.”
And shaking hands to calm down. Gentle is a terrifyingly dangerous combatant, but also a big softie. Before he joined Mr. Compress’ crew, he was busy making a mess in front of cameras in shops that sold subpar merchandise… and thoroughly (but non-lethally) beating the heroes that tried to stop him.
Kurogiri warps in again.
“I recovered Hellhound.” He announces, before heading towards the bar. “La Brava is back too.” Gentle Criminal proves that Kurogiri isn’t the only teleporter around by vanishing instantly.
Izuku silently congratulates himself for giving Hellhound a GPS collar.
Those remaining in the bar celebrate with a toast. Kurogiri, the League of Villains unofficial nanny, refuses to hand alcohol to the minors. With Gentle gone, the only other adult is Tenko, who prefered energy drinks to alcohol.
Celebrating their villain debut with soda is decidedly un-villainous.
He agrees with Himiko’s plan to take him (and both Hitoshi and Tenko) for some karaoke in the evening. Her attempts on making the least sociable members of the League have at least some social interactions (planning how to tear down society as they know it apparently isn’t social enough) continue, despite the grumbling they cause.
After a quick videoconference with the Doctor concerning the Hellhound’s performance (and repairs), Izuku asks Kurogiri to warp him home. It is time for the family drama to start.
There is still a chance that he wouldn’t make it to the karaoke. He just had to not survive the family meeting.