Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Art done by SofiaMochi on Instagram, go check out their account, they got awesome stuff!

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Now

            If there is a hell, Izuku imagined there would be no worse punishment than continuing a soul-sucking job for the rest of eternity. He’d been watching this zombie for three days, and each day they get ready in their apartment, putting on a white shirt stained purely with blood, a torn tie, and pants that were thoroughly shitted through. Other than that, Yurichi was pretty whole for a zombie, thanks to their Quirk. Not all zombies were like this, others were just your typical zombie. It was – in Izuku’s opinion – the truly depressing ones that followed the nine-to-five pattern after long being dead. Some would say Izuku wasn’t any different than them, other than being living. But at least his job was fun and may possibly save the human race. If he could ever get to that stage. He’s no hero, but being a Quirkologist hadn’t been too bad in this situation. He just hoped Yurichi here would help get him to that next step in a cure.

            Now, one issue. Per Yurichi’s “schedule”, he left for work around eight in the morning. But despite the fucker tying a tie better than Izuku could have ever managed, Yurichi never set foot outside the building. Izuku watched for three days as Yurichi left his apartment, was nowhere to be seen for eight hours, and then reappear back in his apartment and “unwind” from the day. It had to be something with Yurichi’s regeneration Quirk that put him in a unique class of his own. Not too dumb to be your stereotypical zombie, not too smart to be one of those damn yurei’s that stalked survivors, and set up traps and ambushes. Smarter than most, dumber than some. Izuku hoped just dumb enough to make his job easy.

            Izuku looked down from his binoculars and checked the time on his phone – something he’d had to custom make on the fly a few years ago and never had the chance to replace since. It was fifteen minutes to eight, might as well start heading in. He put away the binoculars and stood up on the rooftop of the building across the street from Yurichi’s. He had been scoping the area out for any variables that may impede his mission. He’d taken a peak into a few buildings - not too extensive a search, just enough to assure him there wasn’t a horde waiting to roll out on the streets at the slightest disturbance – and he’d seen a few small groups come and go down the streets. Nothing too worrisome, just a couple of zombies in Yurichi’s building on the ground floor. He had really hoped Yurichi would walk out so Izuku wouldn’t have to go in, but it wasn’t looking likely.

            He climbed down the fire escape and stopped at his truck just parked a little further down the street. He opened the door and looked to Eri sitting in the passenger seat. Eri was a little girl he’d rescued from a yakuza gang known as the Shie Hassaikai. Her age was unknown, but maybe eight years old if Izuku had to guess. He suspected she wasn’t aging as much due to either her own peculiar Quirk, or Chisaki’s treatment of her while she’d been prisoner with the yakuza. Least now she was looking healthier. She wore the same drab clothes everyone else wore these days -bright colours being another attraction for zombies – and wore a thick coat two sizes too big for her.

            His abrupt opening of the drivers door startled Eri. She didn’t shriek, but sank farther back into her seat. She relaxed when she realised it was just Izuku.

            “Hey Eri.” Izuku said and pointed to Yurichi’s apartment. “I’m going to get Yurichi, I need you to get in the drivers seat, just in case things don’t go as planned and we need to get out of here quickly.”

            “Okay, Mr. Midoriya.” Eri glanced out the window. “Um… There’s something over there that looks a little weird.”

            Izuku looked and saw what she was meaning. It took a moment, but farther down the street something was casting a large illusionary barrier. It looked more like an intense heatwave rippling the air. He’d been focused on the building he hadn’t noticed it approaching.

            “Thanks for spotting that, Eri.” He gave her a reassuring look and unslung his rifle. “Watch behind the truck, please.”

            “Okay.”

            Izuku unslung his rifle and braced it against the door. He’d spent a lot of times with rifles, the best ones for zombie killing he found were the .22 caliber with a suppressor. Quiet and effective after using a bow, which he sucked at. Besides, the calibre was cheap to buy in mass quantities and had the added bonus of sometimes ricocheting inside a zombies skull and scrambling the brains up pretty good. But of course, one should never just shoot a zombie once. His rifle could go between semi and automatic fire, had a scope, laser sight, and a double drum magazine. When the rifle was out, he had his .22 pistol, again with suppressor and laser attachments, because sometimes he couldn’t use a rifle effectively in close quarters. Now, when he really needed to put a hole in something, either because his target shrugged off .22 rounds or he needed it to be really dead, he had a spare 1911 in a shoulder holster loaded with needle point rounds and a sawed-off shotgun with a four-shell magazine loaded with single bore rounds.

            He took aim down the street and let loose a couple of rounds. The mirage flickered as each bullet passed through it, and a shimmer of focused light to the side caught his attention. He adjusted and put half a dozen rounds at the source, the illusion fell and the zombie stumbled. They were pink haired, short, and eyes seemed to shimmer brightly. He put a round through its head before its illusion could come back up. Beside the illusionary zombie were a few others shuffling towards the truck, each with various Quirks or mutations enhanced by the virus. Back in the day he would have loved to study the Quirks, but now not so much. He did pause and consider each. There was an emitter with an orbit of small debris around it, a bull mutant, another with thorns growing out of it, and the illusionist.

            He focused his sight on the next zombie, lining up the crosshairs with its head when the ball of metal and wires that made up his right eye went a little whacko, zooming in and going out of focus. He cursed and gave his right socket a good smack to fix the issue, he needed to get that looked at but there weren’t a lot of cyberneticists to be had around here. His eye returned to its normal functions he resumed shooting down the rest of the zombies. The emitter with the refuse orbiting around them was a little difficult, he had to sort of spray and pray until one of the bullets managed to get past the refuse it collected. The shot struck it in the forehead and it dropped to the ground lifelessly in true death.

            Izuku glanced around for more anomalies, and thankfully saw none. “Streets look clear to you, Eri?”

            “Yes.” Eri said.

            “Alright. Get your driving shoes on and be ready.”

            Eri looked nervous at the idea of trying to drive the truck again, but she bravely nodded and grabbed her stilts from the backseat and got in the driver seat. Izuku let his rifle hang by its sling and drew his .22 pistol and headed for the building. Hopefully no more unexpected visitors stopped by.

            He entered the apartment building, immediately found three zombies had moved to be close by the door and he shot each of them a few times in the head. They didn’t have a chance to react. He checked the doors as he approached the stairwell, seeing which ones were locked and which ones weren’t. He’d checked them before on the second day, but it didn’t hurt to check a second time. He could try picking the locks and clearing each one to make his exit more expedient should he fuck up. But more time he spent doing all that, the more time he was leaving open for something to go wrong. He was just going to pull a Katsuki and go right in. Just not as loud. Quicker he got to Yurichi without alerting other zombies, the better.

            He entered the stairwell and was immediately faced with five zombies lingering on the first set of stairs. Quickly, his pistol moved, sights lining up on each of their heads and putting a couple of shots in each. He couldn’t help but think of Katsuki reprimanding him with Jesse Eisenberg’s rulebook for zombie survival, his old friend had taken it to heart and did not miss a single chance to drill the golden rules into everyone’s skull. Despite it being from a movie, it had sound advice. He resisted a chuckle as he double tapped each zombie with a couple extra bullets as he passed, the irate blond in his head ridiculing him on procedure.

            Switching out the magazine, he went straight for the third floor and stopped abruptly. At the top of the stairs was an abnormal rock formation blocking him off from the third floor. The zombie was entirely encased in rock, the cause being its own Quirk. Oh, that explained why Yurichi hadn’t been able to go anywhere. It would be too good to believe it was just stuck there. Likely this person had a hardening ability like Eijiro Kirishima, but the virus enhanced it like it usual and made things complicated. He thought about slipping by, but why risk it? If he got too close it would pulverise him.

            Holstering the pistol, Izuku retrieved the shotgun, quietly sliding back the action enough to make sure he had a shell in the chamber. Hopefully he wasn’t going to need to use it. Stepping out further on the stairwell, he reached out a hand and knocked on the wall beside him. As he feared the zombie immediately moved, breaking an arm free of its stoney prison and gnashed its teeth together, it sounded like rocks clacking against each other.

            Izuku kept knocking on the wall. “Come on, dummy, get your ass over here, nice and slow please.”

            The zombie tore another arm free and smashed them down onto the lower parts of itself, freeing its legs. Izuku half expected it to take a tumble down the stairs but it surprised him by taking a leap. He moved out of the way just in time for the zombie to fly past him and go through the wall, falling outside and landing on the street. Pretty spry for a rock guy. But that had been a lot of noise. He should have kept moving, but being cursed with a curious and intuitive mind, he had to check and see if the damn thing had died from the fall. He glanced out the hole to see it rolling onto its back, stone hands tearing away chunks of rock from its face, tearing away gross decaying flesh with it and revealing a pair of red angry eyes glaring up at him.

            “Ah, shit.” Izuku cursed.

            He ran up the rest of the stairs and quickly found the door to Yurichi’s apartment. He oriented himself and found the door. Putting away the shotgun and drawing his .22 pistol again. He knocked on the door to Yurichi’s apartment. He could have gone and kicked it open, of course, but it was rather amusing to see the zombie open the door and a pale dead face give him a curious look.

            “Hi.” Izuku said, and shot Yurichi in the head.

            Yurichi fell backwards. Izuku stepped through the door, catching and lowering the body steadily to the floor. The apartment itself was small with a big window, the one he’d been looking at from outside. Pretty bare with furniture, a tv sat on one wall, cracked like someone had been shoved into it. Other than that, it seemed rather tidy.

            Midoriya secured Yurichi’s arms and legs with zip-ties, simultaneously inspecting the body. Pale with purple blemishes, Midoriya wasn’t sure what contributed to his condition there other than the virus, but otherwise Yurichi was physically whole. The hole in his head was spitting out the bullet fragments and sealing the whole shut. Yurichi’s Quirk was working like Midoriya hoped, he would have stopped and checked to see if the zombie had a heartbeat, but he could hear the rock zombie making a lot of noise as it charged up the stairs. Taking a quick peak out the front door, the ruckus the zombie was causing was also alerting the other zombies too. He shut the door and locked it for all the good it would do.

            He went to the window and looked out. A three-story drop, he could survive that, yeah. He grabbed Yurichi and stood him against the window, then spartan kicked him out of the apartment. Midoriya watched him fall just as Rocky got back up to the third floor. Yurichi landed, Midoriya took a step back, calculating his jump, and just as Rocky broke down the door, he leapt. There was the moment of feeling his stomach jump into his throat, the split second “Fuck am I doing?” going through his mind, then his feet landed on Yurichi’s stomach and he let himself fall over on him, giving the zombie a mouthful of his arm. The zombies’ teeth gnashed against the leather, his dull teeth not even breaking through. Midoriya could have sworn he heard Yurichi swear as he landed. He didn’t get long to consider that as he looked up to see Rocky jumping out the window after him.

            Izuku rolled to the side, disregarding the rifle and going for his shotgun. Rocky hit the ground; a stone fist intended for Izuku’s head instead hit Yurichi’s. Rocky’s full weight cratered the ground around it, pulverizing more of Yurichi’s body. For a second, Izuku froze, mouth open in a silent “Oh”. Rocky pulled his fist back, revealing a pulverized head underneath.

            “Son of a bitch!” Izuku swore, getting back to his feet as Rocky turned towards him. Even with a regeneration Quirk, there was only so much damage a Meta-human could take, even a dead one.

            He leveled the shotgun and fired round after round at the hip. The recoil hurt his wrists, but he couldn’t shoulder the damn thing without a complete stock. The single bore rounds blasted chunks of Rocky, but they only grew back as it charged towards him. Lurching to the side, barely dodging the zombie was it tried to grab him in a bear hug, he drew his other pistol and fired a couple shots into its knee in the hopes of slowing it. The zombie spun, delivering a powerful backhand hitting Izuku in the side, knocking him back several feet to the ground. Pain shot up his side and the air left his lungs. He struggled to breath for a moment, almost panicking in the moment as Rocky took an unsteady step towards him, one hand reaching up and tearing away another chunk of rock trying to block its vision.

            Then his truck rammed the zombie so hard it sent Rocky skipping over the street till it slid to stop. Pieces of it had torn off from the impact and more had chipped away. Izuku started to breath normally and got back on shaky feet. Rocky didn’t get back up, and from the unnatural angle of its head, they were as good as dead. Uh… dead again.

            The front of his truck had taken the impact well. The reinforced bar was bent inward, but nothing that would stop his truck from functioning. The driver door opened and Eri stepped out, looking much paler than usual and pretty nauseated. She stared at the zombie for a long moment, during which Midoriya had run over to Yurichi’s corpse and dragged it back to the truck. Dragging the corpse was not what his body wanted, what it really wanted was to lay down and die, but the other zombies inside the apartment were starting to shuffle out the door and he was feeling spiteful enough not to be a mid-day snack.

            “Mr. Midoriya.” Eri said, sounding scared. “I just ran someone over.”

            “I saw that.” Izuku grunted as he tossed Yurichi in the back and ran for the driver seat. “Good job.”

Chapter Text

 Then

            Katsuki Bakugo - also known by his hero name: Dyna-might - stood atop the UA barrier, activated to the highest protocol, and watched a nation die before him, feeling completely and utterly useless.

            For the past month since the virus started spreading, he had been on the streets blasting hordes of the undead back to hell and herding the refugees to the UA college. It was a losing battle, as there was no end to them, and their struggle felt futile. If only the zombies were just a resurrection of the body, then this would be simple. Hell, it would be easy; given the amount of firepower backing UA. But the virus had to go and boost their Quirks as well, making the task of getting a handle on the situation nearly impossible.

            Currently he was stuck on patrolling the walls. Nezu had activated the UA barrier to its fullest and they needed to patrol the colossal structure. All the people running for safety and all the noise drew more zombies to them, and several times they had to repel the smarter ones from climbing it. Though up here, Katsuki was pretty much useless. His Quirk was explosion, that made noise, a lot of noise. The only reason he was stuck on the wall to begin with was because he almost died in an ambush with several other heroes by a bunch of yurei. They were quickly learning the zombies weren’t all the same, the yurei were somewhat cunning, which was a hell of a lot more dangerous than the zombies nearly destroying whole city blocks with their amped up Quirks. But being stuck up here because of it just pissed him off. He was a fighter, perfect at destroying things, and this was a situation that required him to destroy a lot of things.

            Farther down the wall, the support department geeks and a few of the mechanically inclined refugees were erecting automated turrets on the wall. The UA barrier came with its own turrets, but they were the non-lethal and non-destructive type. They were meant to discourage the brazen crooks who tried to break into the school for a quick minute of fame. UA was also located by a city, and the city council and the UA board disapproved of the idea for lethal armaments to be firing over the city. The last couple years with the nonsense of villain attacks on the heroics course only added more turrets. They were as useless as Katsuki on this wall. They needed actual firepower to repel zombies. They were initially going for energy-based firepower, but the power draw they created had them resorted to good old-fashioned bullets. Each barrel on the turrets had the suppressors built in to reduce noise. Mei had suggested to Katsuki about a suppressor gadget for using his armour piercing bursts, but it was too big and clunky to reasonably use.

            And it looked like a giant dick, like a tank suppressor. It was a very decisive ‘no’ with several exclamation points.

            Katsuki glanced back into the campus. One month in and they were already erecting several new buildings. UA had gone from being a refuge to needing to be an established town in a month. Scavenging crews were going out almost daily gathering more food and supplies. Two days ago, a couple of heroes had gone out and raided a supermarket a villain gang had locked down. Katsuki hadn’t been a part of the raid, but he heard how it had gone down. Least none of his classmates were personally involved. Tough decision had to be made, decisions Katsuki wasn’t even sitting well with. But the list of needs for the campus was a mile long. They needed more buildings because people were sleeping outside. Tents were a temporary solution, but the list of needs didn’t stop there. They had to establish farmland for crops, ways to generate power, where people needed to take their shits, take a shower, oh and then there was the-

            Katsuki let out an aggressive sigh and kicked the wall. “God dammit!”

            A voice from the side broke him from his thoughts. “Uh… Mood?”

            He turned to face the speaker. It was Momo Yaoyorozu, one of his classmates in class A. Smartest person in the whole school, Momo was gifted with a Quirk that let her create almost anything she could think of so long as she knew it’s molecular structure and had the fat in her body to make it. He hadn’t seen her for weeks now since Nezu had set her the task of making the essentials for the campus. Her Quirk was the most versatile thing available to them and they were damn lucky to have her.

            Right now, though, she looked like shit. She had large bags under her eyes and had lost a lot of weight, and that’s keeping in mind she was athletic before things had gone to shit. She wasn’t even wearing her hero costume, just a t-shirt and jeans, which just seemed so unlike her. Momo was from a rich family, always seemed more put together than the rest of them and a little fashionable. This was the most dressed down he’d seen her in all three years of their course.

            Momo watched his face, gauging his expression and shrugged. “Sorry, I’m not so verse with slang like Kaminari.”

            God, even the way she talked sounded tired. Katsuki said, “Why are you up here? You look like you need rest.”

            “You actually sound concerned.”

            “Course I am, even a blind man could see you look like shit.”

            “Well… thanks for noticing. I guess.” She walked to the edge of the wall and stared out at the city. “I wanted a change of scenery, but this doesn’t look much better.”

            “Want scenery, you should be on the wall over there.” Katsuki jabbed a thumb behind him. “Nothing but forest that way.”

            “I know.” She said. “I was just curious to see how things looked over here.”

            Katsuki studied her face, how her eyes seemed to stare off into the city, not even seeing it. She’s being doing more creating than what she trained to be while attending UA: a hero. Even though making things crucial for everyone’s survival, she’s been doing nothing but stuffing her face full of food and making more stuff. Katsuki hadn’t even seen her come back to the dorms sometimes, it was like she was permanently living at the cafeteria. This was probably the only break she’d gotten in a long while. So, he just let her have her moment and tried to get back in his own head. Standing here on guard duty was boring as hell, he wanted the turrets up so he could leave and do something else, even if it meant grabbing a garden hoe and working in the gardens.

            “Have you found your parents yet?” Momo suddenly asked.

            The question hung in the air for a moment, Katsuki just shook his head and stared out at the city. There were a bunch of corkboards by the front gates. Everyone in UA had written their names on pieces of paper and stuck them on there in the hopes relatives would check and know who was still alive. There were a couple happy reunions for his peers, but he was still the only Bakugo on the board.

            “Not yet.” He said, though the suggestion that they might still be alive felt slim. “What about yours?”

            “I know my parents were on a trip to Europe for business.” Momo said. “Mingling with other rich folk, setting up connections, that sort of thing.”

            “Have you heard anything from them?”

            “No.” She looked down, the UA barrier was tall, like really tall. Katsuki didn’t know how tall, just that it would be a few seconds if one were to fall from this height. That thought suddenly made him uneasy. “They have a top-notch security team, their own private plane that could fly around the world if they wanted, and both are powerful meta-humans themselves.”

            “Sounds like they got the odds stacked in their favour.” Katsuki said encouragingly.

            She looked back up at the city. “After what I’ve seen so far, I’d like to think so.”

            “They’ll make it.” Katsuki assured her.

            “Thanks.” She leaned against the wall and tapped her fingers. “How has the class been doing? I haven’t been present much these days. Some class president I am.”

            Katsuki sighed. “Well… I’m up here guarding a stupid piece of shit wall watching jack shit happen as the world dies, so that’s something.”

            “Please be more optimistic.”

            “This is me being optimistic, if I were a pessimist I’d be going “Oh god oh god, we’re all going to die!” and all that other bullshit.”

            Momo gave a laugh, small and quick. “And?”

            “You want the good news or bad news first?”

            She closed her eyes. “How good is the good news?”

            “Not too good to be true.”

            “Bad then.”

            Katsuki sighed, taking off his gauntlets and setting them aside. They were uncomfortable to wear after a long time. “Tsuyu and Ojiro are considered M.I.A. Tsuyu was scouting someplace to our north, and Ojiro was sent out to investigate a call for help. Both were with a team of six people, a mix of heroes and police. None of them have reported in for over a week now.”

            “Dammit.” Momo said, shaking her head.

            Katsuki would have been amused to hear her swear, but he wasn’t exactly feeling in the mood. “Do you want me to continue?”

            “Yes.”

            “Are you sure?”

            “Yes!”

            “Awase is dead.” Katsuki said and hesitated. “Don’t ask me how, I wasn’t there. Happened two days ago, Ashido and Iida can probably tell you what happened, but neither are willing to go into details.”

            “Dammit.” Momo said again.

            “Careful, you start swearing I’m going to be accused of corrupting you.”

            “You corrupted half the class already.”

            “Yep.” Katsuki said, sounding proud and rightly so.

            It hadn’t been easy getting some of his classmates to start cursing, he even managed to get Tenya – the rule abiding, stick-up-his-butt, fancy school guy Tenya to swear. If only the one time. That had been a major achievement. Katsuki had begged his parents to get a shirt designed for the speedster. He had that shirt all gift wrapped and waiting for him on Christmas day. The look on his face when he unfolded the shirt was priceless. It had the colour scheme similar to his hero costume with the word “Fuck” emblazoned on the front in cursive – because Tenya was from the private school Soumei, it had to have some class – the uptight Tenya nearly lost his shit all over again. It had been a great day.

            “What about good news?” Momo asked. “I could use some of that now.”

            “Everyone else is still alive and in good health.” Katsuki said. “That about sums it up. Support course reinforced everyone’s costumes with material to reduce the chance of getting bit, and they’re out doing what they do best. Except-”

            “I asked for good news.”

            “I know. But it’s not really bad news either.” Katsuki stated. “Aizawa is suppose to be back with a couple busloads of survivors soon. They went all the way to the outer edge of Tokyo city.”

            “That place has been a nightmare from what I heard.” Momo grimaced. “How has anyone survived there this long?”

            “It’d be a damn miracle. Though I don’t know why Aizawa decided we needed to go.”

            “Each person we save is one less zombie to fight, I guess. Who did he go?”

            “Couple of the staff and some of Class 3-B. I heard they radioed in a while ago saying they were just outside Musutafu.”

            “Ah…” Momo paused, one hand covered her eyes from the gleam of the sun and she squinted in the distance.

            She could have made binoculars to get a better sight on whatever she saw, but Katsuki figured she wasn’t feeling the energy to create anything and rightly so. He would have taken the opportunity to scold her if she had just popped out binoculars in front of him.

            “Think I know where they are.” She said.

            “Huh?” Katsuki followed her gaze. He didn’t see anything for a moment, but then he saw someone fly up in the distance, a zombie being thrown into the air. Then a large area of the city started to droop down into the ground. Buildings, cars, trees, whatever. Katsuki cursed, grabbed the binoculars from his belt and zoomed in. He spotted the buses driving down the streets toward UA with a horde of zombies on their heels.

            “Great.” Katsuki grumbled, then pressed a finger to his earpiece. “Dyna-might to Gate A, buses are inbound with a shit ton of zombies behind them. Prepare to receive.”

Chapter Text

Then

            Katsuki had given the alert. Soon after he got the call from the gate captain for the heroes to get down there and reinforce it. He could tell from atop the wall the buses were luring a large horde of zombies behind them, and it was a good call to make. The area he’d seen the buildings droop into the ground had been Honenuki from class 3-B trying to slow down the horde. However, there were still plenty of zombies that managed to avoid his trap and were gaining on them. Red lights flashed over the gate - though no alarms sounded since they’d disabled them - and reinforcements headed for Gate A to prepare to receive the buses and repel the dead. Momo ran back to the main UA building to wait. Katsuki knew she hated walking away from a potentially bad situation, but both she and him knew she was in no condition to fight, she’d be nothing but dead weight.

            Katsuki jumped off the top of the wall, using his explosions to slow his fall and hit the ground running towards Gate A. They configured the gates into an airlock system. The inside gate were closing shut, but he managed to slip through at the last second and stand with the rest of the guard’s readying their weapons and Quirks. More stood above them on catwalks. The exterior gate opened, revealing the buses and the horde just a couple football fields away. The buses were driving like hell, he could imagine the drivers sweating in their seats, trying to push the gas pedal through the floor if it gave them that little more speed. Buses weren’t built to be fast, and with the extra armoured plating they’d slapped on slowed them down even more.

            As the convoy entered the range of the turrets, energy blasts and lead rained down on the horde, obscuring them in a cloud of dust, blood, and meat. Katsuki ran up to front of the line, facing one palm towards the zombies and made an O with his other and pressed it against the flat palm. He waited, watching for a clear shot, and when he saw a large zombie get clear of the dust cloud, he fired an armour piercing burst into the zombie’s chest. The condensed energy blew a hole in them, nearly blowing them clean in half.

            This move had been his ultimate move back when training to be a hero. It was concentrated explosive energy intended to be a game ender for tough villains. It had the energy and the potential to kill. He’d trained for hours perfecting the move, gauging each bit of power he put into it, getting to the point he could blast the head off a pin from fifty yards. He didn’t think he’d have to use it so liberally until today, and there were no restraints he had to worry about.

            Other heroes and guards with ranged Quirks ran up beside him, throwing whatever they could at the zombies that got through the initial burst of fire and being careful to avoid hitting the buses. They kept clear as the buses slid past and the gates sealed shut behind them. Katsuki fired his AP shots till the gates closed. He took several steps back and waited to hear something smack against the gate. Minutes passed, before a voice on the intercom spoke up from one of the people watching atop the wall.

            “Dead repelled, everyone resume their normal duties.”

            There was a collective sigh of relief and Katsuki walked back towards the buses. The airlock was big enough to fit four buses comfortably. All that space was good as the people on board stepped out. The captain shouted orders and directed the refugees to line up against the buses. They made two lines on opposite sides, about two dozen guards watching from above as they moved. Katsuki couldn’t help but noticed a few red feathers had been stabbed into the buses steel plating.

            He spotted the one person he’d been hoping to see, a black-haired man with a scar under one eye, and a long ass scarf that was not what it appeared to be. His teacher was helping a refugee step off the bus and directed them to stand with the others, he stepped back when Katsuki approached.

            “Aizawa.” Katsuki said nodding to the feathers, “are those who I think they are?”

            “Bakugo.” Shota greeted. He hid his face in his scarf and shoved his hands into his pockets. His first-year teacher used to dress like a hobo in baggy pants and shirts, but he now dawned body armour that fit him a bit too tightly. He could tell the underground pro was a little uncomfortable. “Yes, Hawks was infected. He found us when we were on our way back. We managed to lose him a few miles ago.”

            “You didn’t kill him?”

            “Didn’t get a chance to try.” Shota shrugged. “I used my Quirk to get distance between us and not much else. Those feathers of his do some damage when he wants them to. I would have liked to take the time and kill him, but it’s a bit hard to do when there’s also an entire horde converging on us as well.”

            “Yeah.” Katsuki said. “All the top ten’s are going to be a pain.”

            “Yeah.” Shota grunted and noticed the captain walking up to him.

            “Eraserhead.” The captain said, a woman Katsuki knew as Emi. She’d been a police officer before this whole shitshow started and now helped manage some of UA’s new security personnel. “I need you to join the others. Standard procedure, all that stuff. You understand?”

            The underground pro sighed and nodded. He pulled his scarf up over his head and dumped it on the ground. It hit the ground a lot heavier than a scarf should. The captain gave Shota an odd look but didn’t bring it up. He walked back over to the refugees lined up against the wall waiting eagerly to be let inside, into someplace that was safe. Katsuki studied each of their faces. He could read the hardships they’d undergone on their faces like it was chiseled into stone. These folks had gone through hell.

            “Listen up! I will say this once, and only once!” Captain Emi shouted for all to hear. “Any weapons on your person, any blades and firearms, are to be discarded on the ground in front of you right now. After we have collected your weapons, you will all then strip down to your underwear and be inspected for bites.” She gave a few folks glaring at her a hard look. “We haven’t had an outbreak inside these walls and that is not going to happen now. If you don’t want to strip, you can leave out the way you came.”

            A hand shot up from one of the refugees, a young man smirking. “What if we got bites where our underwear is? Shouldn’t you at least check there?”

            “You, necrophiliac, shut it.” Emi said with a scowl. The look from her and others made the young man shrink in on himself. Emi continued as if she hadn’t been interrupted. “The initial strip down is to rule out other bites, each of you will be examined by our medical staff for other signs of infection, so don’t think you’re going to hide anything from us. This is an invasion of privacy, we know, but it is for your protection and everyone else’s on this campus. So, again, if you don’t like it, you can just leave.

            “One more thing. If I see any Quirks activated without justified cause for use, my people will shoot you. We’ve already had some folks try and get their way through powers or attempt sabotaging the campus, and as you can see, we’re all still here. Which means if you get uppity with me, we will put you in the ground. Do I make myself clear?”

            A few of the refugees gave audible confirmations and they all started stripping. Katsuki stood back, keeping an eye out, just daring someone to try something. This had been uncomfortable to do in the first few days but after someone almost got through the inspection with a bite, Nezu had everyone crack down harder on the inspections. If one person got through these gates into UA and turned, it would be a clusterfuck of a situation to handle.

            He heard a gasp from the other line, then one of the guards shouted. “We got a bitten!”

            “I’m Quirkless!” Another voice shouted. “I’m immune! Don’t fire! Don’t fire!”

            Katsuki’s head snapped in their direction. That voice sounded familiar. He hurried over and spotted the individual that started all the ruckus. The refugee was standing by themselves against the bus, the others were hunkering away, trying to get away from the firing zone as the guard pointed their weapon at the man’s face. They held a shirt in front of their body, bite marks evident on their arms and torso, some in various stages of healing, another one bandaged. Katsuki couldn’t see their face with how messy and long their green hair was. The guard was shaking, obviously ready to just shoot the man on the spot.

            Katsuki raised a hand to the guard. “Stop! Don’t fire!”

            “Dyna-might.” The guard said, nodding at the man. “He’s bitten!”

            “I know, I heard.” Katsuki stepped between him and the man. “Just hold on for a second.”

            He walked up to the man to get a better look at him. His curly green hair had grown out of control, and half his face was covered with a bandage wrapped around his head to cover his right eye, the bandage’s stained with old blood. His face was dirty, but Katsuki could still make out the freckles on his face, and he had a pretty good beard after a month of not shaving. Beside the bite marks, he’d picked up a few other injuries that had longer to heal, a couple burns and slash marks from blades or claws.

            The stranger recognized Katsuki a lot quicker than he did. His one green eye met Katsuki’s red and widened. “Kacchan?”

            That name, that dumb childish nickname struck him like a bat. The last time Katsuki had seen Izuku had been when he graduated Aldera Middle school a whole year early. The nerd would be twenty-one, where Katsuki was now twenty-two. Izuku had been bookish, scared of his own shadow, and always had his nose in his notebooks muttering up a storm about Quirks. He’d try and be small and insignificant in his surroundings, hiding from those gifted with powers and… and were complete jackasses about it.

            Katsuki closed the distance between them and wrapped Izuku in a hug. It was assumptious since they hadn’t had the best of relationships, as in Katsuki had been one of those jackasses. But he was just glad to finally see someone he knew. Someone, who at one point in his life, had been like family. Izuku did stiffen at the embrace, eyes darting to the confused guard and up at the ones above them. But slowly, he wrapped his arms around Katsuki and returned the hug.

            “It’s great to see you nerd.” Katsuki hissed.

            “Kacchan?” Izuku asked, clearly confused. “Are you crying?”

            “No.”

Chapter Text

            Then

            Katsuki eventually had to let Izuku go. Assuring people Izuku was Quirkless wasn’t enough to squash their worries. But it did get him to the medical staff for a DNA test and foot X-ray to insure his claims were true. Regardless of that, Izuku would still get put in the tank. The first couple of weeks just about everyone who came to UA got put in the tanks. It was standard till they figured out what the virus could and couldn’t do. So far, the Quirkless were immune to the virus, and Izuku had several bites and hadn’t turned. But better safe than sorry.

            The medical staff were starting to think the virus took affect sometime within twenty-four hours. Katsuki personally thought it took six hours at most, but it could be somewhere under a few minutes if the person who was bitten died. Results varied person to person, and they didn’t get a lot of volunteers to be monitored. Quirks were amplified by the virus, and could be destructive depending on the Quirk. Anyone wanting to do research on the virus would have to wait till UA built some facility outside of campus to do it. For now, there were still a lot of unknowns, like why it only seemed to affect Meta-humans and why their Quirks got a boost from it.

            After things were done at Gate A, Katsuki had to take a shower to make sure he didn’t spread any contaminates that may have been on Izuku. By the time he was done, his shift was over and he had the rest of the day to himself. He went about his usual habits in his off time, but his thoughts were focused on Izuku. So, he gathered a couple things into a bag and went to the tanks. He had to bribe one of the tank overseers with a chocolate bar from his secret stash to get through. At this time, Izuku would be done with the tests and placed in quarantine.

            A functionary led Katsuki to Izuku’s room. The tanks were what they called the new isolation ward at UA. A separate building set to the side and heavily guarded. It was a bunch of clear glass boxes with a bed and a toilet, the only privacy the occupants got was a curtain that stopped a foot off the floor. It was uncomfortable and left much to be desired, but again, a necessary precaution. Most people pre-collapse had seen zombie movies, and upon learning his classmate Ochaco hadn’t seen a single zombie flick, Katsuki made her watch every movie he could get his hands on till she got the point.

            Katsuki wasn’t really suppose to be in the tank. Unless there was concern of a powerful meta-human turning, it was generally discouraged for anyone with a Quirk to go near it. Only the Quirkless were set to guarding the place and occasionally if there was someone like a hero staying in the tank, then a couple of other heroes would be posted outside. Katsuki was also sure there a few other safety features built into the place that weren’t shared with everyone else. There were more than a few movies of zombie in containments breaking out, and in his opinion, problems like that would easily be solved with a deadman switch and lots of fire.

            The functionary stopped in front of a room, inside Izuku was laying in a cot. He’d gotten a chance to get cleaned up and dawn grey linen pajamas. He was a sight better than he had been at the gate, he still needed a haircut but the man was absolutely rocking the beard. Eijiro was still trying for one, but it was always scraggily and patchy in some spots. No amount of grooming would make it look better and Mina finally made him shave it off. Izuku’s bandages were replaced with fresh ones and he’d been given a proper eyepatch for his eye.

            They still had Recovery girl on the staff roster, but she didn’t use her Quirk on anyone who could be infected. Her Quirk sped up the healing process, draining the patient of stamina as a trade off, but with the infected it just sped along the transformation. They almost lost her to an infected patient once when they wanted to see if she could cure someone. Whole thing had gone from zero-to-a-hundred real fast after she gave the poor soul a peck on the cheek. It was better to keep her on standby and ready to treat the people she could help instead of wasting her time and energy on the lost causes. If Izuku turned out clean – which at this point, Katsuki figured there would be no doubts - he’ll probably get a healing, but he’d be low on that list.

            Izuku sat up from the bed as the functionary opened the door, when Katsuki stepped in they closed the door behind him, locked it, and took a few steps away, close enough to observe but far enough to give a sense of privacy for what little there were. Their hand did linger on the holster, no doubt worried and ready if things took a sudden violent turn. Katsuki gave Izuku a smile, not his creepy I’m-going-to-kill-you smile. He was using the one Best Jeanist had forced him to practice while doing his work studies in first year. Then before he had left, Jeanist had made some comment about how Katsuki would fail to master such a smile. So, Katsuki practiced the look every day in the mirror till he was fairly certain he didn’t look like a psychopath and proved that self-righteous asshole wrong. He realized now how easily he succumbed to reverse psychology.

            “Brought you a couple of things.” Katsuki lifted the bag in his hands and took a seat on the edge of the bed. “Couple of books to pass the time and this.”

            He handed Izuku a canteen from inside the bag. He took it cautiously and twisted the cap off to give it a sniff. “Is that orange juice?”

            “Yep.” Katsuki said. “Our doctors here have expressed concerns about the lack of vitamins. One of the refugees has a Quirk that helps speed up plant growth. It works great, but it affects orange trees more than the other crops we got going. We get to have oranges for breakfast, lunch, and supper. Can have them raw or squeezed into a cup.”

            “Quirk like that really helps these days.” Izuku took a sip from the canteen and made a face. “Oh man, that’s almost too sweet for me.”

            Katsuki cocked an eyebrow. “Seriously? I give you juice and that’s your response?”

            “It’s been a while since I had something with this much sugar. Last couple of months, my diet has been anything edible.” Izuku licked his teeth. “When I check a grocery store, the entire place is sacked with only the salad section still untouched.”

            “You’re joking.”

            “I joke not. Even with the end of the world and possible starvation, people will not eat their greens.”

            “Even you?”

            “By the time I find it, it’s gone moldy. I wasn’t desperate enough to contract food poisoning.”

            “Oh.” Katsuki mulled over what he was going to say next. There wasn’t a lot of good conversations starters to go with. “So… what happened to you, Deku?”

            “Deku?” Izuku gave him a questioning look.

            “Midoriya.” Katsuki corrected and sighed. “Sorry, old habits.”

            “Maybe. But it’s been a while since I’ve heard you say it like that.”
            “Like what?”

            “Like it’s actually the lovable nickname you gave me when we were kids.” Izuku said, “Not something malicious like I have something to be ashamed about.”

            Katsuki eyes darted to Izuku’s feet; the extra toe joint the Quirkless kept while the Quirked stomped the defect out with their evolution. That toe joint had led to years of bullying. Katsuki had no right to act like they were friends, zero right at all. They’d grown distant around middle school, and had probably been the reason Izuku had upped and vanished before high school rolled around.

            Katsuki was silent for a moment, trying to think of something to say. “Deku- I mean, Midoriya. I’m… uh…” He put his face in his palms, took a long moment to breath and tried to restart. “I don’t know how to start. I know we don’t have the best of history, I’m just… I wish I could undo a lot of things I did.”

            “I can see that.” Izuku shrugged. “You kept me from getting shot and you’re actually being nice for once.”

            “For once?!” Katsuki snapped and winced at his knee jerk reaction. Izuku took it in stride, chuckling to himself and taking another sup from the canteen. “Sorry.”

            “If you keep apologizing, we’ll be at this all day.” Izuku drummed his fingers on the canteen. “It’s a start, and I’m actually glad to see someone I know. The few people I’ve met these days are total strangers. They’re either untrustworthy or paranoid. For now, I’ll put our past aside. Agreed?”

            “Agreed.”

            “Do you want to call me Deku?”

            “Can I? I feel like I’m going to have a stroke trying to say your name.”

            “You can, so long as I can call you Kacchan.”

            “You call me that anyways.”

            “Yeah, but this time you can’t complain about it.”

            “Fair. It’s a deal.” Katsuki said and tapped below his right eye and pointed at Izuku’s. “So, I recall you had an eye there last time I saw you. What happened?”

            “Ah…” Izuku’s hand went to his eye, his expression saddened. “Well… my mom happened. She turned.”

            Katsuki closed his eyes. Inko had been like a second mother to him when he’d been younger, like an aunt even though they weren’t biologically related. Way before he and Izuku started to drift apart. She was kind when his mother was harsh. A sweet lady who put in a lot of work to raise her son and make him happy in life. He’d hoped she was out there surviving somehow, but he knew the odds were against it as it was for everyone.

            “How?” Katsuki asked.

            “Bit, just like everyone else.” Izuku said, staring down at the bed. “I was back in the country visiting her days before everything happened. I was at the store when things started going to shit. I ran home hoping to get us on a ship or a plane to get us out of the country-”

            “That wouldn’t have worked.” Katsuki informed him. “Communications with the other nations went dark sometime ago, but before that, we had confirmation this is happening all over the world. Nations were collapsing left and right, we’re probably one of the few doing better than the rest.”

            Izuku’s eyes went wide. “Seriously?”

            “Yep.”

            “Man.” Izuku blew out a puff of air. “Well… Pretty sure America is one of the few staying strong. 2^nd amendment, preppers and all that, yah know?”

            “Yeah.” Katsuki said. “Anyway, Inko?”

            “Right.” Izuku took a long drink from the canteen and sighed, Katsuki had a feeling he was wishing for something with a bit of a kick to it. “I rushed home and found the apartment door broken down. One of our neighbors had been infected and broke in. I… I found them standing over her body in the living room… I was too late.”

            “Shit.” Katsuki rubbed his face. “I’m sorry.”

            “Things got hazy.” Izuku continued, eyes seeming to drift. “I remember grabbing the coat rack and beating their head in with it till they were dead. Was a little difficult to do, being a lot tougher and amped up than they were before. I almost died.” He stared off into the distance. “I managed somehow, and went to mom’s side. Her stomach had been torn open. There was blood everywhere, no chance she was alive. Then a couple seconds later, she woke up.”

            Katsuki waited for him to say more, but Izuku obviously needed a minute. He wiped away a tear forming in his eye. “Sorry, I just haven’t had a chance to really process things since then. It was non-stop survival out there, everything being a do-or-die situation.”

            “I understand.” Katsuki said. “We got time.”

            “Time. Yeah, we do.” Izuku took a deep breath. “She woke up. I knew she wasn’t herself. We’ve all seen zombie movies, it was obvious what had to be done. I just… had trouble bringing myself to end things for her, to give her a merciful end instead of a tortured existence.

            “I went and grabbed a knife from the kitchen, I wanted to try and make it as clean as I could, not brutally kill her like I did the neighbor. When I hesitated, she used her Quirk on me. I felt the tug on parts of my body, my organs, like a hand had reached into my chest and was rummaging around for something to grab.” Izuku clutched a hand over his chest and shivered. “The pull wasn’t hard enough to tear things out of my body, but when she grabbed my eye, it just popped out. By then… it was already settled she wasn’t my mother anymore; she was something else. I stabbed her in the head, killed her, and that was that.”

            Katsuki waited a moment to hear if he said anything else. Tears ran down both their faces and Katsuki cursed himself for not bringing tissues. Izuku’s were notorious criers, you always needed a box of tissues on hand but Katsuki hadn’t thought to bring any.

            He said. “Deku, I’m so sorry.”

            “Like I said, I haven’t really processed it this past month.” Izuku shrugged. “I guess that’ll come to me eventually now I’m not running for my life. In part, I’m glad I wasn’t a mess because it kept me alive. But I still wish she was here.” He glanced out the room at the functionary. “What about your parents?”

            “I don’t know.” Katsuki said. “I was in another city doing a patrol when things went to shit. I got stuck trying to contain the outbreak in Naban with the agency I was interning at. I got to Musutafu and tried looking for them at their house but they weren’t there. I don’t know if they’re surviving out there somewhere or… or dead.” He shook his head. “In one week, both our lives and everyone else’s got royally fucked up. Who’d have figured?”

            “All the doomsday cults.”

            “Yeah, bet they were thrilled to be right.” Katsuki considered Izuku for a second. “So, why were you in Tokyo when Aizawa picked you up? Your mother lived in Musutafu, same area as UA.”

            “Oh, I wasn’t in Tokyo.” Izuku explained. “I actually had no idea UA was still standing. I was at the cities edge when I nearly got ran over by one of the buses as they were hightailing it to here. I would have been zombie food if Eraserhead hadn’t thrown out his scarf and caught me by the leg. He got me onboard and explained the whole situation to me.”

            “Did you tell him about the bites?”

            “I was a little scared to.” Izuku chuckled. “I was just taken out of a bad situation, I wasn’t under threat of turning, but I had no idea if everyone else knew the Quirkless were immune and if they’d just shoot me right then and there.”

            “You know that makes you one of those assholes in the movies who doesn’t tell people they’ve been bit.”

            “Hey, I had a valid reason.”

            “Sure, you did.” Katsuki shook his head. “Say, where did you go after middle school? Never saw you in high school. Did you change schools?”

            “Oh.” Izuku chuckled. “Remember those notebooks?”

            “Yeah. What? Did you become a Quirk analyst?”

            “Sort of. I went to university and got my PHD in Quirkology.”

            “Hold on a second.” Katsuki raising a hand to stop him. “University? PHD? How long did that take you to get?”

            “Well.” Izuku thought it over. “I challenged exams and got to skip high school and got accepted into university. Got my Major by the time I turned eighteen.”

            Katsuki’s mouth dropped open. “What the fuck?”

            “Hey, we knew I was smart, just not how smart.”

            “No kidding. What the hell is Quirkology?”

            “It’s a more in-depth study of Quirks.” Izuku explained. “Quirk analysts and doctors can give you a more general idea of what a Quirk does and needs to function. My field of study took me right down to the DNA segments and sought out new applications. For example, a Quirkologist figured out how to make costumes using the DNA of the hero. Her work was used to make Lemillion’s costume.”

            “Oh yeah.” Katsuki said. “I remember him explaining that. Hagakure, my classmate, eventually requested her costume from the company that did his.”

            “That’s the invisible one, right?” Izuku frowned. “There was a podcast about it. Was her costume really just a pair of gloves and shoes?”

            “Yes.”

            “Wow.” Izuku rubbed his temple. “Talk about minimal effort.”

            “She went with a cheap ass costume company and got cheap shit. That’s what happens when you don’t do your research.” Katsuki shrugged.

            “Right.” Izuku said. “Anyway, I got hired at Dynamo Industrial in America. I had done some papers they found intriguing and got me on one of their research teams.”

            “Doing what?”

            “Quirk replication.” Izuku scratched the bandages over his eye. “Exactly how it sounds. There were a couple of theories I had that we worked on, but that one we put more effort in. Sounded practical on paper, but application was a whole other thing.”

            Katsuki’s eyes grew wide, he remembered a certain student from a joint training class back in first year. Said student also had a zombie related Quirk. “Deku, answer honestly. Did your research cause the apocalypse?”

            “What?” Izuku straightened. “No! What makes you think that?”

            “Zombie movies.”

            “Is that where all your zombie knowledge comes from?”

            “Hey, they got some sound pointers in there.”

            “No.” Izuku shook his head. “We did not cause the zombie virus. We weren’t working on anything like that. My research involved harnessing Quirk DNA with machines.”

            “And that worked?”

            “With some very expensive equipment, though we were beginning to tinker with the design to make it cheaper.” Izuku took a moment to collect his thoughts. “The U.S. government caught wind of the program and gave us more funding, turns out they have a genetics vault full of DNA samples from Meta-humans. We started with industrial type Quirks, such as one that converted certain products back into their base composites. Mighty useful, specially for certain types of trash. Fed the machine a tire one time and it completely blew the fuses with the power draw, but we got the raw material from it.”

            “That sounds interesting.” Katsuki said, and he had to admit, reviving dead Quirks was neat.

            “It was.” Izuku paused. “We did start getting the military heads of the government looking into it as well. My research could have side stepped the agreement between nations about not involving Meta-humans in warfare. Least till someone found out how they work.”

            “That’s illegal as hell!”

            “Yeah, yeah, we all knew that. We put our foot down and the discussion went no further. Weaponizing our research would have greatly increased our funding but would have opened a whole new can of worms.” Izuku stated. “Thankfully Dynamo wasn’t interested in the weapons business, nor the flack of what weaponizing that technology would have brought, they’re mainly a support company. Anyone else I think would have sold out the moment they saw all the zeroes on those bank cheques.”

            “Damn.” Katsuki said. “And you don’t think someone will pick up where you left off and make them anyway?”

            “My research notes are all encrypted on a private server at the company. Only me and my colleagues can access it, but I was the only one who actually seemed to be making any headway with the project. If anyone else were to try, it would likely take them twice as long to get to the point I was at, even with all my notes and the code keys to decipher them. So, we don’t have to worry about anyone weaponizing Nuke-head or Astronomer anytime soon.”

            “But you’re sure nothing about it could have caused all this?” Katsuki asked.

            “Chances of someone with one of my motivators going around and turning people into the living dead are exactly zero.” Izuku stated. “You should be more worried about someone strapping my inventions to their back and attacking UA. But guess what? We got a bunch of zombies outside with amped up Quirks to deal with, so we’re good.”

            “Didn’t by chance hear of any other projects that could have resulted in this?” Katsuki waved around them.

            “Not a single one. I’m as confused and scared as the rest of you. While also vastly intrigued by the virus affects.” Izuku downed the rest of the canteen and twisted the cap back on. “Thanks for the drink by the way.”

            “No problem.” Katsuki took the canteen and stood up. “I should go check how things are going outside. I’ll come visit more while you’re in here. With any luck, you might get an early release.”

            Izuku smirked. “If everyone is as paranoid as you are, I doubt it.”

            Katsuki laughed and knocked on the door, the functionary hurried over to open it. “Don’t diss the movies, they taught us many things, such as what not to do during an apocalypse.”

Chapter Text

Now

            Izuku parked the truck inside the garage of his safehouse and shut the motor off. His body hurt from just about everywhere, and he rested his head against the steering wheel. The garage door closed shut behind them, silent since he liberally oiled every moving part of it to reduce friction noise and make closing a lot smoother. This was one of the nicer houses in the city of Maebashi. The city was a junction for zombie hordes, and they periodically moved through this area, so it was absent of any human presence besides him and Eri. That’s what made it safe was how unattractive it was to everyone else.

            He would have fallen asleep right in the driver seat if Eri didn’t speak up. “Mr. Midoriya? Can I go watch TV?”

            “Of course, Eri.” Izuku said. “Get cleaned up first though, and make sure Leo is secure in the kennel before I walk in.”

            Eri nodded, got out of the truck and ran inside. He caught of glimpse of Leo, his golden retriever, greeting her at the door with a wagging tail. The dog was very excited to see they were back, even though it was just a few hours. A dog’s joy was unrivaled. When the door shut, Izuku let out a long sigh and got out of the truck. He opened the tailgate and stared down at Yurichi’s corpse. The body still did not have a head.

            He grabbed one of the body bags he kept in a Rubbermaid on one of the shelves, and with a bit of effort and wiggling of limbs, he got Yurichi into the bag. One of his previous hideouts had a door going right from the garage to the basement where he liked to keep his lab, but when he noticed yakuza sniffing around the area, they moved. He wanted to do some renovations to this one, but for now he just settled with dragging the corpse through his house, over the clean floor, and towards a solid wooden door that opened to a set of stairs. Leo sat in his kennel, the dog nervously watching him drag the bag into the house. When he got to the door, he ended up just letting the bag fall down the stairs. Bastard deserved it for getting killed.

            A few moments later Izuku emerged from the basement after securing the body to a surgical table with enough chains and straps someone with a strength enhancement Quirk might have trouble getting free. He stripped off his leather jacket and dumped it into a lidded bin by the door labeled “Bio-hazard”. He gave the floor a good wipe down with strong chemicals in case Yurichi managed to leave some bit of himself behind. Then he went to the master bedroom which had a connecting bathroom, stripped off all his clothes and got in the shower. He set it to scolding hot water and rubbed furiously at his skin with a bar of hand-made soap.

            In the apocalypse, no one else had running water in their homes on account of the Collapse. UA had running water because they were UA and could do just about anything they set their minds to. Izuku had managed to get water in this house by finding a Quirk that generated water and stuck it in a motivator, the devices that used DNA from Meta-humans to harness their Quirks. He had the luxury of hot water and electricity thanks to those. Normal people would have used solar panels for off the grid power production, but they stuck out like a sore thumb and invited unwanted attention. The motivators were his area of expertise and had much more advantages over other tech. He’d simplified the production process, so it wasn’t even that hard to make them anymore. Since the whole apocalypse happened, he had plenty of time to progress with his devices.

            When he stepped out of the shower, his skin was raw from all the scrubbing and he was bright as a tomato. He got into a clean set of clothes and walked out to see Eri - also cleaned up and in a different set of clothes - sitting in the living room watching “My Little Pony” on the big screen TV. He’d found a bunch of CD players at an antique shop. She had it set to a low volume and had let Leo out of the kennel. The dog lay on the floor beside her, enjoying the pets she was giving him in between colouring in her colouring books. He clicked his tongue twice and Leo shot up from the floor and ran over to him. Izuku held out a hand for Leo to lick and the moment the dog did so, he felt all the aches and pains in his body subside, leaving him drained of stamina. He gave Leo a slice of jerky and let him out in the backyard for a bit.

            He’d found Leo in a settlement a couple years ago back when he worked for the Shie Hassaikai. Leo was a retired breeding dog up who’d been put up for sale at a cheap price. The breeders who owned him had severed the vocal cords on all their dogs. The surgery – if it could even be called that given the telltale signs of sloppy work on Leo - was a barbaric practice, but not uncommon to find in this post-Collapse world. Either you trained your dog never to bark or you put them down before they attracted every damn zombie in the neighborhood. During the first week of the apocalypse, Izuku had been with a group of people for a time and actually watched them argue about throwing out a crying baby. Since then, he didn’t want anything to happen that would put him in a situation like that.

            He opened the fridge and took out a loaf of bread, some smoked meat, and homegrown vegetables. He had a green house in the backyard he’d built himself, as well as some strawberry plants. There was also an apple tree at Eri’s request growing in the middle of the backyard. One motivator covered the entire area back there and enhanced the growth rate. Grass and weeds were affected by the Quirk too, but he let it grow wild and unkempt to keep up with the abandoned look.

            Life was hard. But they endured.

            “Eri.” Izuku called to the living room. “Do you want a sandwich?”

            “Yes, please!” Eri called back.

            He assembled the sandwiches and put them on two plates. He gave one to Eri and sat on the couch to watch the TV with her. Before he did, he remembered to let Leo back in and the dog joined them. Eri ate half her sandwich and gave the rest to Leo. Izuku stayed till his plate was clean then took the dishes back into the kitchen and grabbed a clean lab coat off the rack. It was time to see if all his efforts had been for nothing.

            Down in the basement, Yurichi was right where he’d left him, and still the zombie didn’t have a head. Izuku had a bowie knife strapped to his thigh he always kept on him. Eight inches of sharpened steel, nothing complicated, a good knife for stabbing people, zombies, or skinning game. He drew the blade and made a cut on Yurichi’s arm and watched the blood slowly pool out. The cut didn’t seal shut after thirty seconds, so Yurichi just wasn’t healing slowly like he’d been hoping, he wasn’t healing period.

            “Dammit.” Izuku cleaned the knife and sheathed it.

            Knowing it was unlikely to work, but willing to try anyway, he cleaned a part of Yurichi’s leg with chemicals and went back upstairs to grab Leo. He spotted the dog on his back getting belly rubs from Eri, totally having the time of his life till Izuku made a low whistling sound and the dog jumped to his feet and ran down the stairs.

            “Everything okay?” Eri asked.

            “Yeah.” Izuku said and closed the door.

            Leo was down the stairs and sitting by the surgical table. Normally at this point if the zombie were alive, Leo would be trying to bark at it, but due to the surgery he’d undergone, the barking would be soundless. But Leo didn’t try to bark, another confirmation Izuku didn’t like. He tapped the section of the leg he’d cleaned and clicked his tongue twice. Leo jumped up, resting his paws on the table so he could reach the leg and gave it a couple of licks. Izuku watched the cut he’d made. Still not closing. Fuck!

            “Kennel.” Izuku ordered Leo. The dog jumped down and ran to the kennel in the corner. Izuku closed the door behind him and locked it shut. Give it about an hour and if Leo didn’t turn, he’d let the dog back upstairs.

            During the next hour, Izuku took samples from the corpse and stuck them in the analyzer. He’d have a breakdown of Yurichi’s DNA, and he could see what was left of it. It was all a wasted effort at this point, but he still held a little hope of yielding something from this. The virus was a spiteful little thing. It latched on to Meta-humans and bonded with the Quirk segment, both killing the host and boosting their Quirk. When the host was truly dead, such as Yurichi and his crushed head, then the virus seemed to just self-destruct, taking the Quirk with it as it died. He didn’t know why this was, why the virus behaved in such a manner. He was a Quirkologist, thus his expertise was mainly in Quirks, but he knew a way to cure it, or at least had a theory he wanted to try, all he needed was one damn regenerator to make it to his lab alive.

Chapter Text

Now

            It was night when Izuku finally emerged from his lab. Eri had already gone to bed an she’d let Leo out. The dog stuck with Eri most of the times and right now the dog was posted outside her bedroom door. Izuku retired the lab coat in a bin for cleaning and made sure the house was locked down for the night. He made sure all the blackout curtains were in place and turned off any source of light that didn’t need to be on. All the windows on ground level had been painted over and boarded up so no passerby would see someone was home. Most people he’d see wandering these days belonged to some group or gang. Already no human had any reason to wander in this area, especially when there was safe refuge – and better targets - in the many settlements scattered across Japan.

             After that was done Izuku went out on the back porch to have a smoke. It was an addiction he’d picked up in the first month of the apocalypse, it helped stave off the hunger when there was hardly anything to eat. But now he couldn’t go a day without smoking at least three of them. He’d tried getting off them back at UA, but the moment he left he picked the habit up again. Plus, which was worse? Dying of lung cancer, being murdered by other survivors, or being ripped to shreds by a zombie? With the likelihood of death on every horizon, what did he care?

            As Izuku waited on the porch, he pondered on things like he usually did when troubled. He hadn’t been able to salvage anything from Yurichi, the Quirk segment, like so many before, was gone. He’d need to dump the body someplace the next time he went out. The rot smelled horrible and he’d sealed the body back in a bag. Some settlements had dumping grounds where they’d take the dead to be burned. Tokyo had one not too far from his hideout. The pits weren’t guarded or anything, nobody liked sticking around because of the stench the burning made. He’d be able to stop by and dump Yurichi in anytime without being spotted.

            There was the scuff of boot on the roof behind him and then a figure landed on the porch beside him. Izuku wasn’t alarmed, Stain dropped by from time to time and always let Izuku hear his approach. If you didn’t catch the slight noises he purposely made to announce his arrival, it was your own fault. Plus, Izuku had motions sensors placed around the safehouse; he’d been alerted to Stain’s presence before he decided to leap onto the roof for his theatrics.

            Stain was dressed mostly in his attire from back in the days when he’d been the hero killer. In addition to his basic gear, Stain had thrown on a biker’s jacket and tough cargo pants you could rake a knife across and not even cut. Izuku would know, he’s seen Stain do it. The jackets usually left the wearer sweating like a camel, but it beat taking a bite from a zombie. He also wore a mask to block blood and viscera from his missing nose.

            According to what Izuku had managed to scrounge up about the killer, Stain was something of a fanatic on the subject of heroes, always wanting them to stick to the original hero code. He’d been a vigilante for some time before he decided to take it upon himself to cleanse the rankings of, what he called, fake heroes. Pretty much any celebrity heroes just in it for the money or dealing in some dirty business. He either killed or left the severely wounded and disabled from their fights, and his standards had actually led to several heroes who were actually good ones in Izuku’s book, to die or retire from the field.

            Stain was eventually captured and imprisoned in the Meta-human supermax prison: Tartarus, which was now just a bunch of ruins sitting off the coast of Japan. The prison had lost power shortly after the Collapse started, and a bunch of its prisoners escaped while some had been left in their cells to rot, and rot they did. The prison did have Stain’s file including his Quirk details. It stated the man could paralyze his victims if he managed to get a taste of their blood. Hence why he had so many knives and spikes on his body. Stain had forgone the blood drinking habit since that was just another chance of infection. The man may seem maniacal at times, but he was smarter and craftier than most people would realize, and didn’t rely on his Quirk like a crutch like most Meta’s did.

            Stain stood up from his crouch, “Tokyo’s been-” He stopped to cough at the cigar smoke. He reached out a hand and plucked it from Izuku’s lips and tossed it over the edge.

            “Hey!” Izuku said indignantly. “I need those.”

            “Why would you dull your senses with that?” Stain retorted. “It reeks.”

            “Says the guy who doesn’t have a nose.” Izuku retrieved a pack from his pocket and retrieved another. Stain tried to grab it but Izuku swatted his hand away and growled. “Fuck off.”

            “You’ll develop cancer this way.”

            “I can hope.” Izuku patted his pockets, looking for his lighter. Stain held up a hand clutching said lighter. Cursing, he tried to snatch it back, but the dick jerked it out of reach. Izuku cursed his short genes. “It’s been a stressful day, let me smoke, dammit!”

            “Tokyo has fallen.” Stain said.

            Izuku stopped trying to grab the lighter. “What? When?”

            “Started a week ago. Someone broke down several sections of their wall and lured the biters in. It’s been a slow process of attrition, but they’ve lost the fight. I’ve been watching the convoys leaving for the last two days, they’re sending everything and everyone they can to UA.” Stain leaned against the railing and folded his arms. “Some of the refugees have gone to other settlements, but they’re overwhelmed as is, and with a major supply chain gone, well...”

            “Shit.” Izuku leaned against the railing and twiddled the cigar between his fingers. “That’s going to put a strain on things.”

            “Tokyo was the only other long-term supplier besides UA, one of the last remnants of the old world.” Stain agreed. “None of the other settlements are as dependable as them, either lacking the security or the resources to compete. Tokyo was able to make some decent competition, but that’s done now. This also means those ration cards are worthless.”

            Izuku cursed. The ration cards were the new form of currency. He had a good trading relationship with a small family in Chichibu surviving on their own who didn’t care about his name or face. He’d bring in game from the forest and sell it to them in exchange for the ration cards and supplies he couldn’t make himself. The ration cards were Stain’s payment for helping search for people like Yurichi and Stain used them for whatever he wanted. Izuku had a green thumb and was a formidable hunter, he didn’t have much use for the ration cards besides being currency. UA only ever wanted to trade their stuff for metal and electronics these days.

            “This gives UA more power now.” Izuku stated glumly. “Just what we need.”

            Stain gave him a puzzled look. “Weren’t they allied with Tokyo?”

            “When did you hear that?” Izuku asked. “They defected from the Japanese government about seven years ago, maybe eight.” He scrunched his brows in thought, it was hard keeping track of time these days. “There wasn’t much of a government to stop them and now there’s no one who will give a damn.”

            Stain shook his head. “Power plays by Nezu?”

            “Yep.” Izuku confirmed. “Which means we can expect UA to enact a monopoly. Things are going to tough from here on out. So, Stain, what does this mean for our working relationship?”

            There was a moment of silence as they contemplated. Finally, Stain said. “I need a UA pass.”

            Izuku gave him a good long stare, looking for any sign of humour in the psychopath’s face. “Say psych right now. Really? You can’t be serious. You’re just going to escape to the land of paradise?”

            “I have business that needs settling and unfortunately it’s in UA. I can’t walk past the gates without a pass. I could get us some contacts inside while I’m at it.”

            “You can try, but Westside is where it’s at these days.” Izuku stated. “UA’s security is pretty tight these days.”

            “Which is why I need the pass.”

            “How does this involve me?”

            “You were in UA for a time. How do I get one?”

            Izuku sighed. “Standard procedure is they’ll interview you to see what you bring to UA. They got access to public and law enforcement records and copied everything to their own servers. They can double check your ID and information, green flag anyone of value and get them into UA. You, on the other hand, will be shot on sight before you get a chance to speak.”

            “Why?” Stain asked.

            “You were on the news and got arrested.” Izuku reminded him. “You’re somewhat famous, and when you show up in their searches, they’ll think you’re there to clean house. They’re always willing to take in a few killers, but they won’t accept a raging psychopath like you inside the campus. No offence.”

            Stain nodded, considering. “What if I already had a pass?”

            Izuku held out a shaking hand for the lighter. Stain gave it back and waited patiently as Izuku lit his cigar and smoked till his nerves settled down. “I popped by Musutafu for a bit to listen in one some radio chatter the other day.”

            “That’s risky.” Stain admonished. “I hear Nezu doesn’t take kindly to that sort of thing.”

            “It doesn’t hurt to keep an ear out for trouble. I know UA is currently expanding to their south into the city. They’re encompassing more city blocks and converting them to residence. Largest project they’ve undertaken so far, it’s ambitious, but it probably has to do with all those refugees you mentioned. They won’t have it closed off in a day. Their key builder, Cementoss, has been dead for years now, so construction will be slower. They got to clear the area of any zombies, raiders, or bandits before they can make it completely theirs. But they will have an abundance of people going in and out, like construction workers and security personnel. You could be able to blend in there before they get the walls and turrets up.”

            “I take a card from one of the workers and sneak in.” Stain concluded.

            Izuku shook his head. “They always check the cards. Your face won’t match when it pops up on their computers. You’ll need one of your own.”

            “But you said if I tried to go through the interview process, they’ll kill me.”

            “I know.” Izuku tapped the railing in thought. “But I have something that’ll help.”

Chapter Text

Now

            Izuku led Stain down to his lab where he had his computer setup. It consisted of a large server and several PC’s running Quirk simulations and other small projects he was working on. He sat down at the keyboard and typed in a few commands until one monitor showed a map of Japan with green server icons scattered about in the southern region. Some of them he could easily access from the safety of his hideout. A couple settlements had devoted their time and resources to maintaining the internet, of which he appreciated. A few of them Izuku had to find and travel to restart their systems and get them working. He added a few of his motivators to the systems to keep them running. In this day and age, knowledge was nearly priceless.

            He heard a fridge door open and spun around to see Stain peering into the science fridge. “Hey! Leave that alone!”

            Stain had grabbed one of the petri dishes containing a diseased looking sludge and was examining it. “What are these?”

            “Cell colonies.” Izuku ran over and took the petri dish out of his hands. It had the name “Denki Kaminari” stencilled into the side. He set it back in the fridge with the others. “Most of these are dangerous, and when I say dangerous, I mean infectious.”

            When Izuku started finding ways to assimilate infected Quirks into his motivators, he also experimented with infecting the healthy ones he had too boost their potential. There was always a chance the virus self-destructed during the process. He was attempting to make a new power source with Kaminari cells being infected, it had cost him many headaches and broken equipment, but he had some working motivators now with his infected cells. Despite the virus’s nature, it provided a lot of benefits for his research.

            Stain took a step back and seemed to be considering cutting off his own hand. “Why do you have them?”

            “I’m a Quirkologist, it’s part of what I do.” Izuku went back to the computer and started working. “Just don’t touch anything in here. I’ll have your pass in a bit.”

            Stain nodded, finding a sink and scrubbing his hands clean before walking over and watching Izuku work. “You have internet down here?”

            “We’re not completely thrust into the dark age, Stain.” Izuku chuckled. “Lot of servers are still active, cellphones are working; I think people were more concerned with the lack of internet and social media than the flesh-eating zombies. Just don’t trust everyone you meet online, always use a VPN, and for the love of God, don’t tell anyone you slept with their mother.”

            “Noted.” Stain pointed to the monitor with the map. “So, these are all the servers that are active.”

            “Yes and no.” Izuku was scrolling through a different monitor looking for something. “It’s all the servers I’ve more or less highjacked for my research and those individuals you’ve been helping me find. and I’m going to need to mask my location for what we’re about to do.”

            “I see.” Stain glanced at the surgical table. Yurichi was completely sealed in the body bag. “Didn’t turn out well, I see.”

            “No, it did not.” Izuku found the template for the UA passes. Hopefully they hadn’t updated those since he left. He grabbed the digital camera he owned off the charger. “Stand over by that wall and don’t smile. Just act like you’re getting your picture taken for your passport.”

            Stain glanced at the camera. “You sure about this?”

            “If I get your picture and ID into the system, good chance no one will look at it twice once you hand them the pass” Izuku insisted. “To them it means you went through the interview process, no need to look further than that. UA also has plenty of villains inside – approved by Nezu - so even if someone does recognize you, just flash the badge at them if they ask questions.”

            “What about a disguise?” Stain suggested.

            “How good are you at acting?”

            “… Take the picture.” Stain begrudgingly moved over to the wall.

            Moments later, Izuku had everything set up. The card was being printed and he was getting some programs activated and firewalls reinforced. A window opened on the computer asking him to execute the final one.

            Izuku looked back at Stain. “Now, I expect this will cover Yurichi’s cost and then some. Understand? Last chance to turn back on the deal.”

            Stain gave him a puzzled look, but nodded his head in the affirmative. Izuku turned back and entered in the last passcode and pressed ‘Accept’. There was a moment of silence as the computer processed all the programs it was running, then one of the servers turned red. Shit.

            Stain stared at the red icon. “They’re tracking you?”

            “Yes.” Izuku opened another window to get a progress report. “I’m hacking right into UA’s mainframe. There’s no subtle way to do it, Nezu is a master programmer. I’m pretty much going in with the equivalent of a baseball bat, smashing and breaking everything, causing so much mess I can squeeze your profile in there without him noticing.”

            “Is that wise?” Stain asked, as another icon went red. He seemed to be having second thoughts.

            “Hey, you wanted a way in, this is the best way to do it.” Izuku stared at the progress bar, willing it to hurry up. “His counter program trying to track me will have to go through all the servers. I won’t be able to use them any longer after this, he’ll be dead set on finding whoever took a crack at his system. This is why I wanted to know if you were sure. I expect something after this, alright?”

            “Really?”

            “Unless you want to go attack a UA scouting party, take a pass that doesn’t belong to you, and get shot at the gates when it doesn’t work, then by all means, go ahead.”

            By the time a fourth server turned red, a window opened stating operation success. Izuku typed a couple of keys and the red icons disappeared entirely from the screen. Nezu was welcome to do with those however he pleased.

            “Four servers.” Izuku shook his head. “Not great, but not too bad either, I thought I’d lose a couple more there.”

            He reached over to the printer and plucked the card from the pads surface. It had Stains picture and all the little gimmicks that made it an authentic UA pass. Izuku gave it one more lookover before holding it out to Stain. “There you go, my friend, one genuine UA entrance badge, ticket of one to paradise.”

            Stain took the card and examined it. “I know some folks who would kill for something like this.”

            “Then better hold on to it tight, cause I’m not making another one like it.” Izuku activated another program on the computer to sweep the system for bugs or viruses that may have slipped through. You can never be too careful with Nezu.

            Stain held the card, staring at it for a long considering moment. “Why did you leave UA? I don’t think I ever asked.”

            “The UA life isn’t for everyone.” Izuku stood up. “Especially with the way Nezu is running it. You know what they say, a utopia can’t exist unless it’s off the backs of a dystopia, and his got a few cracks in it.”

            “Okay.” Stain pocketed the badge. “So, what can I do in return?”

            Izuku glanced around and spotted the papers he’d printed earlier. A list of names, addresses, photos, and Quirk descriptions of individuals vital for his work.

            He handed it to Stain. “One of these regenerators. Yurichi got killed, so I need another. I got more extensive information if you need it, but at this point I am scraping the barrel. Anyone with even a weak regeneration Quirk will have to do. Failing that, I better charter a boat and go looking on another continent.”

            Stain eyes flicked over the list, “You know, you never told me why you need them. You ever going to let me in on the secret?”

            “I’m letting you in by helping me.”

            “Sure.” Stain folded the papers and shoved them in his jacket. “These guys aren’t immune to the virus or something, are they?”

            “The virus is Quirk related.” Izuku shook his head. “Healing Quirks or regenerators aren’t immune to it; the only immunity is-”

            “Quirkless, I know.” Stain said, giving the scientist a suspicious look. “But how sure are you?”

            “Knew a guy once with regeneration.” Izuku explained. “Got bit, turned into a zombie, and became impossibly hard to kill. Their Quirk just healed papercuts before then, and after infection they were tanking bullets. We eventually just burned them to ashes.”

            “And you didn’t think to tie them up someplace till you needed them?”

            “At the time we were all screaming for our lives.” Izuku snapped. “I didn’t think I needed regenerators back then. Now I do.”

            “What for?” Stain asked.

            Izuku sighed. “A theory, not one I’m too confident on, but I see worth trying. Now please, just go find these people. Who knows if they all wind-up dead tomorrow.”

            Stain started walking up the stairs. “Could just get a mounted gun on a truck and do some drive-by, if they’re zombified then they’ll be easy to pick out.”

            “They aren’t fragile but they’re not immortal either.” Izuku called after him. “Yurichi got his head crushed and now I can’t get anything from him. So, if you do find one, do your best to keep them in one piece.”

            “No promises.” Stain called from the door before shutting it.

            Izuku shook his head. More than twelve years ago, he’d been working for a support company, had competent staff and co-workers to aid in his research. Now he had to work in a basement during the fucking zombie apocalypse while being chased by UA and yakuza, and work alongside a psychopath. His life is so fucking weird.

Chapter Text

Then

            “Please! Just let us in!” The civilian cried. “We went through hell to get here!”

            Katsuki stood on the rampart atop the gate, kitted up in his hero gear again, though now he really wanted to strip the damn thing off and burn it, because this was bullshit. He wasn’t the only hero here, just a couple of the big guns to dissuade anything rash. Many of the UA guard - now given a name called U.A. Security Forces or U.A.S.F. - looked tense, and rightfully so. Turning away the refugees always brought out raw unfiltered emotions. To think there was a safe place to rest after days of being hunted by the dead, to be stripped of who you were in order to survive, then finally reach your destination only to find yourself barred from it. Katsuki can attest it doesn’t bring forth joyful tears. The whole thing left him feeling bitter afterwards.

             The group of refugees below were dirty, wearing pretty much rags, and hadn’t had a decent meal in weeks. They wanted in, Katsuki wanted to open the gates and let them. But orders were orders. Captain Emi standing just a few feet from him also didn’t look to happy about delivering the news, she gripped the megaphone tightly in her hands, as if the next few words she said were going to kill her.

            “UA does not have the resources to sustain anymore refugees.” Emi stated once more. “We do not have anymore room. Please, turn around and leave. Do not make this more difficult than it already is.”

            “There’s just ten of us!” Another said. They reached down and picked up one of the children. “At least take the children! Please!”

            Emi gripped the megaphone tighter, teeth clenched. Katsuki could sympathise for her and the refugees. UA couldn’t maintain the status quo with the population it currently held. They were already foreseeing food shortages in the next few weeks, the Meta who sped up plant growth couldn’t use their Quirk 24/7. Nezu was already getting people working on expanding the farms into the forested area west of the campus, but until things were stable, they could not take in anymore people. Maybe if the person demonstrated abilities or talents beneficial to the campus, but otherwise they couldn’t be let in. Someone did try and bring in refugees despite Nezu’s orders and it resulted in the eviction of the newcomers and the people who’d let them in got assigned to shoveling manure for two weeks.

            “I’m sorry.” Emi said. “We can’t take in anyone else.”

            They lowered the children, shocked and contemplating what to do next. One of the refugees had been scowling up at the wall during the whole interaction, and they took the pause in conversation to point at one of the heroes. “What about you heroes? Do you stand by her decision? You’re suppose to protect us, not just a school.”

            Katsuki stepped towards Emi and raised a hand for the megaphone. “Can I talk to them?”

            She eyed him suspiciously. “What are you going to say?”

            “Nothing stupid, just give them a little hope.” He assured her. “Promise.”

            She scowled and handed the megaphone over. “So much for my authority mattering.”

            It does. That’s why I asked first. Katsuki wanted to say, but grabbed the microphone and spoke to the refugees. “It’s neither her decision nor ours to keep you from entering UA. But there is something else for you.”

            Katsuki watched the refugees light up with interest. He silently hoped he wasn’t condemning these people to die. He pointed off in the distance to where he knew to be one of several camps being established around UA. “In that direction is a camp of refugees. Good folks in attendance, all just trying to get by and waiting for us to get our shit together. They can give you food and protection till we sort out what needs sorting. It’s not much, but it is something.”

            The refugees looked in that direction. They’d be going back into the city, towards danger, but Katsuki knew the camp wasn’t more than a couple blocks away. They’d get there with hopefully little incident. The refugee who’d called out the heroes opened their mouth to say something, but the elder of the group grabbed them by the shoulder and shook their head. They talked among themselves for a minute, then turned around and walked away, shooting glares back at them till they were out of view.

            Emi sighed. “Being a cop sucked, but being a guard sucks even harder.” She gave Katsuki a look. “You know Nezu’s been bitching about those camps, you’re not doing them any favours by sending them there.”

            Katsuki shrugged. “His problem to worry about. There’s nothing else to do when people show up looking for help.”

            “I know.” Emi said. “Till things get better, we’re stuck as is.”

            ---

            Katsuki ended his shift on the wall hours later. Besides the refugees, nothing else had happened. He was glad so far none of the interactions have gotten hostile, probably due to UA putting on a show of force. They had strong heroes in their ranks and experienced people from law enforcement. They were training new recruits to help protect UA, scavengers, and their supply convoys. They had a small army and that strength brought either respect or fear.

            Of course, they weren’t the only ones managing to stay afloat in Japan. Tokyo had been a mess, but now word was getting through an established settlement had formed in the bowels of the city, and its residents were fighting for every inch of ground they could. Shota and a couple other heroes and guards volunteered to go help them. Nezu had been reluctant in splitting his forces - and Katsuki could agree somewhat with that choice, but building ties now would hopefully establish alliances in the future – regardless, Nezu conceded and two buses full of heroes, U.A.S.F., and supplies left the front gates three days ago. They hadn’t heard back from them yet. Katsuki liked to think things were going alright.

            He went straight to the UA building, passing a line of people walking in on their way to the cafeteria. Lunch rush was working hard feeding the campus. He could cook meals fast, but was lacking the supplies to keep feeding them for long. The people inside weren’t too aware of the food issues yet, they were just glad to get anything. They might become aware later when Nezu decides to reduce rations to make them last longer, and then things might get a little heated. If they didn’t figure out the food issue before winter came, they were really screwed.

            He stepped into the changing rooms to find Eijiro, Tenya, and Shoto inside. Hitoshi was there too, falling asleep against one of the lockers. He had been Shota’s apprentice and late addition to the Hero course in the first year. Hitoshi had been stuck with 1-B and every interaction with the guy was annoying. He had a complex about his Quirk and other powerful Quirks and so on. He’d smoothed out the following years and was somewhat tolerable to be around. Eijiro and Tenya were in the midst of suiting up, and Shoto was just sitting there, staring at his hands.

            It had been a while since Katsuki had seen the son of Endeavor. Shoto tended to keep to himself, especially after the whole expulsion fiasco. He was stuck in the general education course, but that didn’t mean anything in regards to his capabilities. His Quirk was strong and versatile, creating giant icebergs at will, and from what Katsuki understood, an equally strong fire half. Though Shoto neglected using his fire for some grudge against his old man and just use his ice, the root cause of that whole drama in first year.

            Katsuki only spared half-and-half a glance before speaking to Eijiro and Tenya. “On patrol today?”

            “Not quite, but equally exciting.” Eijiro said, tying up a shoelace.

            Eijiro’s Quirk allowed him to harden his skin to the consistency of rock. He didn’t need to worry about getting bitten like the rest of them. His hero costume was still sleeves and pants, his headgear had been switched up with a half face mask to stop anything from accidently getting in his mouth and causing infection. He’d be fine with that so long as he didn’t go into unbreakable mode, which made him look like he could cut someone just by looking at them. Was really intimidating, and because of the virus’s amplifying ability, Katsuki wondered what an amplified version of Eijiro’s Quirk would look like.

            Tenya had been in the midst of putting on his breastplate, the dude Quirk was Engine, with tailpipes sticking out of his calves. From a family of speedsters, his costume was a lot like his families. A suit of armour providing protection and would probably be a new fashion trend among the campus. First few days of the apocalypse, Tenya had been running around providing support to several areas in the city, and had been a great help when all normal communications blacked out.

            Tenya said, “One of the scouts reported a hardware store is still stocked and practically untouched. Nezu’s ordered a scavenging team to go out and get as much as they can. It’ll be a big trip.”

            Katsuki watched Tenya finish putting on the greaves of his costume, pondering. “Do you need me out there?”

            “No need,” Tenya said. “You’ve been patrolling the walls all day. A couple of teams are going to secure the site. We predict it will be a couple of trips to get everything.”

            “Securing?” Katsuki walked over to his locker and pulled off his gauntlets, he glanced at Shoto who was still staring at his hands. So far, he didn’t seem to register Katsuki was in the room. “I thought it was too dangerous to hold any ground out there unless they had some impressive walls, like Costco or something.”

            “Well…” Tenya started to say then glanced at Eijiro.

            “Other survivors have been hitting the places we go to.” Eijiro explained. “Usually when we go back to get a second load. By the time we get back, other folks have already gone through, and either taken or trashed what we need. No surprise to anyone, I’m sure, but our scavenging trucks are easy to follow, and this is a big haul. We need everything we can get our hands on.”

            Katsuki nodded. They would need everything. It had been a week since he’d seen Momo again, she’d been back to work making things for the campus. Anything they could find would be one less thing for her to make. She was a human after all, not their personal 3D printer.  He didn’t like what this apocalypse was doing to his friends both mentally and physically.

            “Well, I hope it goes smoothly for you.” Katsuki said, he glanced at Shoto. “Hey, Candy cane, what’s up with that look?”

            Everyone turned to look at the man staring at his hands. Shoto still didn’t seem to register them.

            “Should leave him be.” Hitoshi spoke up for the first time, he cracked an eyelid open to look at them but closed his eyes and tried to get back to sleep. “Going through the motions, yah know?”

            Katsuki tsked and went to his locker and started stripping out of his gear. “Heard anything from Aizawa, Shinsou?”

            Hitoshi opened his eyes again, this time giving Katsuki a questioning look. “No, same as before.”

            Katsuki grunted. He stashed his gauntlets in the giant briefcase that housed his costume and started working on the rest of the gear. He stopped when he realized it was unusually quiet in the locker room and looked back to see everyone but Shoto looking at him. “What?”

            “Are you alright, man?” Eijiro inquired.

            “Yeah. Why the hell are you looking at me like that?”

            Tenya adjusted his glasses. “You called Shinsou by his actual name.”

            “No, I didn’t.”

            “Yes, you did.” Hitoshi said.

            “Shut up! Your shitty ass isn’t hearing clearly.”

            “Whatever you say.” Hitoshi stood up and stretched, already knowing where the conversation would end and just skipping the hassle. “I’m going to try getting back to my room and crash for the rest of the day. Good luck you two.”

            Hitoshi walked out. Eijiro followed after him and Tenya moments later. Katsuki had time to strip off his gear, shower, and get in a fresh pair of clothes, and still by then, Shoto hadn’t moved an inch. Katsuki hesitated at the door, then cursed himself and walked back in and nudged Shoto with the briefcase. The young man flinched and looked up at him. He was some mix of horrified, anger, and uncertainty. Likely doubting himself for whatever had happened out there.

            “What happened out there?” Katsuki asked, when Shoto didn’t respond he said. “Whatever your deal is, you’re back in the game. Start acting like it before you get someone killed.”

            Shoto’s face went through several different emotions, then just went back to staring at his hands. Katsuki shook his head and walked out the door. He had other things to be getting to.

            ---

            Katsuki dropped off his gear with the support department and went out for a stroll of the campus. It was becoming its own quaint little town, with apartment buildings sprouting up everywhere. They were a lot of camping tents everywhere, but their numbers were smaller than what they had been a couple weeks ago. Construction was a high priority and was easy thanks to Cementoss aiding in most of the construction, and a few other Quirks helped with that as well. They wanted more shelters up and everyone indoors before the first snowfall. They could have it done within a few weeks if they found enough materials to make them. At least the heroes and students had their own buildings, people were currently crowded into whatever there was.

            Izuku had been released from quarantine a week ago. From what Katsuki heard, Izuku got placed at a clinic close to the main building. Recovery Girl’s office was now restricted in use for only the severely wounded and dying. The workload had quadrupled in size and they had to prioritize medical cases. The clinic had been established the first week as a series of tents to do triage. As the days passed, they converted and expanded with a staff of experienced nurses and doctors. They took the majority of the workload and were already training more staff. Things like the flu, minor injuries, and Quirk diagnosis were left to them.

            Katsuki found the clinic. Funnily enough, it was actually hard to find when there wasn’t a line stretching from the front door to the horizon. There were still a couple people milling about outside, and the waiting room inside was full, but better than what it had been before. He was able to walk up to the front desk, a dirty and chipped old thing pulled from a dumpster with mismatched legs. They didn’t have a bell for him to ring, which he found a little disappointing. The secretary behind the desk looked up at him, head swiveling on a long neck. The look they gave him was different than most looks he got from strangers, and he wasn’t sure if she knew who he was or not. All the same Katsuki didn’t want special treatment.

            They asked. “Can I help you sir?”

            “Yes, I’m looking for Izuku Midoriya.” Katsuki said. “I’m not here for an appointment. I’m just a friend.”

            “A friend.” The secretary tapped their fingers on the keyboard. “He just stepped out for a smoke break a moment ago. He’s just out back.”

            Smoke break? Katsuki wondered. He thanked them for their time and found the backdoor. Stepping outside into the alley between the clinic and a residential building, he immediately found Izuku in medical fatigues and wearing a standard eyepatch over his missing eye. He’d shaved the beard, gotten a haircut, and was looking much better than he had when he’d arrived. He was leaning against the wall trying furiously to light a cigarette in his mouth. Katsuki’s sudden appearance startled him so bad; he dropped the lighter.

            “Oh.” Relieved, Izuku reached down for the lighter. “Scared me for a moment there.”

            “What the hell is this?” Katsuki snatched the cigarette from his lips as he stood back up and held it between them. “You smoke now?”

            “Staves off the hunger.” Izuku snatched the cigar back and paced it between his lips. “I got into the habit while I was out there. Helps stretch the rations and the feeling of an aching stomach. But now I’m addicted.”

            “I’m aware. Remember that long finger extra? He was always smoking these when he was around me, that prick.” Katsuki pointed the cigar. “But that’s still not good, you could get cancer this way. What would Inko think?”

            Izuku gave him a wounded look. “That’s not fair, Kacchan.”

            “I-” Katsuki hissed and swore. “Forget I mentioned it.”

            “Alright.” Izuku brought the lighter back to the cigar and tried to light it again. His hand was shaking terribly. After a few attempts and no light, he looked back at Katsuki almost pleadingly.

            “What?” Katsuki asked.

            “Do you mind lighting this?”

            “With my Quirk?”

            “Unless you got a lighter handy, sure.”

            “My Quirk?”

            “…Yeah.”

            “My Quirk I’ve trained relentlessly to become the best god damn hero the world has ever seen, a Quirk that causes massive explosions, explosions that could level entire buildings if I wanted to, to light your cigarette?”

            “You can just say no.”

            “Sure, I can help you.” Katsuki snatched the cigarette again, clasped it between his palms, and blew it to ash. “There you go, day one since you quit smoking.”

            “Dick.” Izuku scowled as he shoved the lighter away and paced in the alley. “What are you doing here?”

            “Came here looking for you, heard you got placed at the clinic.” Katsuki said. “I haven’t seen you since the quarantine, let’s go get dinner or something and catch up.”

            “After you blew up my last cigar?” Izuku snapped, the sudden tone catching Katsuki off guard. “Go fuck yourself.”

            “Hey!” Katsuki raised his hands. “You think something like that is free? Those cigars could be worth thousands right now, they’re a valuable commodity for trade.”

            “And who do you think is the consumer?” Izuku asked, leaning against the wall. “Good job wasting it too, it was my last one.”

            “I can get you a new one if you’re so broken up over them.”

            “A full pack.”

            “A full pack? I just burned the one.”

            “Yes. Not half a pack, or one less than the whole amount. An entire fucking pack of cigarettes.”

            “You greedy ass-”

            The door opened and the secretary stuck their head out and spotted them. “Everything alright?”

            “Everything is fine.” Izuku assured them.

            “Alright.” They shot Katsuki a suspicious look. “Your break is almost up, got some patients waiting to see you.”

            “I’ll be right there.” Izuku said and they retreated back behind the door. Izuku gave his pockets another pat down and scowled. “Kacchan, you got any gum?”

            “Half a pack.” Katsuki said. Izuku shot him an irritated look. Katsuki fished out the pack and tossed it to him. “You want it? Go ahead, take it.”

            “Thanks.” Izuku caught the pack and popped a piece in his mouth. Taking a deep breath, he put on a happy face and walked back to the door. “I’ll meet you at the cafeteria later, and you better have those cigars.”

            “After you took my gum? Those are probably worth more.”

            Izuku tossed the pack back at him. “Then get me two packs for all the trouble.”

            “Fucking… Fine, I will.” Katsuki conceded. When the door closed, he looked around and cursed himself. “Way to go, Katsuki. Turning a new leaf. Extraordinary effort.”

Chapter Text

Then

            Katsuki met up with Izuku again at dinner. The UA cafeteria was still the only place big enough to handle the amount of people residing on campus, and Lunch Rush prepared batches of food in shifts for different groups of people through out the day. Builders and guards were constantly rotating day and night to get stuff done. Due to the numbers and food issues, Lunch Rush tried to keep the meals simple as possible for quantity, and he always managed to make the same dish taste different each time, just a little pinch of spice and seasoning here and there so people weren’t getting sick of eating the same thing too soon. Katsuki was glad they had Lunch Rush of all people on campus. Speaking of food; today’s meal was white rice and beef stew. Most of the dishes were always a stew of a sort. Katsuki figured it was because you could throw most anything into a pot full of water and serve it.

            Katsuki sat at one of the tables, reminiscing how he and his classmates would gather here during lunch time and talk about the latest tests and trials. Sometimes Monoma from Class B would come over and harass them a little, give out a few jabs here and there before Kendo came over and wacked him on the neck karate style before dragging him away. Now Katsuki sat at a table alone, his classmates off doing other duties for the campus, putting their lives at risk. That was fine, they trained to fight danger, just not this sort.

            He spotted a mop of green hair sprint into the cafeteria and get in line. Katsuki watched a shaking Izuku stand in line, looking dead on his feet and a little impatient. His eyes wandered the cafeteria and eventually found him. The scientist gave him a quick nod and turned back to the line. Moments later Izuku ran up to the table with a tray of food and sat down across from Katsuki.

            “Hi.” Izuku said and started stuffing his face with rice.

            Katsuki watched for a minute, wondering if he needed to talk with Lunch rush about giving the man larger portions. He reached into his pocket and retrieved the three packs of cigarettes and slid them across the table. He traded the pack of gum with Momo for them. There was no one else he could think of to get them, and he threw in a favour for her to collect whenever she wanted – Katsuki did not hand out favours lightly, and Momo knew it. One pack of cigarettes would have sufficed, two would have met the quota, but three felt like a better apology for going off at him earlier.

            “Thanks.” Izuku snagged the packs and shoved them into a pocket. He was visibly shaking, twitchy, and looking all around terrible, but he downed the rest of the rice, grabbed the spoon and started inhaling the soup. Between gulps, he asked, “Can I smoke them in here? Or are there rules against that?”

            “Yes.” Katsuki said, feeling fairly concerned about the state of his friend. “Is everything okay?”

            “Between addiction, Nezu riding my ass, and the overwhelming number of patients I’m forced to see, it makes life outside the walls look like paradise.” Izuku gave up on the spoon and started drinking right from the bowl.

            Katsuki watched him, a little amazed at the speed he was going through his meal. “One: Have you been getting enough to eat? Two: What the hell was that comment about Nezu?”

            “My entire day has been sustained with anything I could get my hands on.” Izuku explained. “Like candy bars or something. I pretty much had to make my patients pay me with food just so I could get through the day. But I don’t even know when the day started or ended. I just know there was food somewhere in between.”

            Katsuki considered his words for a second. He’d gone through half of his tray of food, but it was more loaded than Izuku’s, in fact more than anyone else in the room. He was a hero and part of the security for UA, he was expected to be at his best and thus needed the nutrients needed to keep functioning. He made sure no one was watching as he slid his tray across to Izuku. The scientist didn’t complain as he switched Katsuki’s rice bowl out with his own.

            When Izuku eventually settled down a little, he answered the second question. “As for Nezu, fuck, where to start? Did you know he was experimented on by humans? By a couple of Quirkologists, to be specific? Because I didn’t know that when I was explaining to him what I did for a living.”

            Katsuki winced. “Not really common knowledge. Recovery girl only said something to us during our first-year tests, other than that there’s just general rumours and such. Never gets into details.”

            “Details matter.” Izuku groaned. “The second I was done talking he stuck me in the clinic right at the deep end. I’m working as a doctor and a Quirk doctor and nothing else. He didn’t care about my speciality when I explained the motivators to him and how it might benefit us. He comes by occasionally nitpicking every damn thing I do. Guess since he can’t get at those assholes who experimented on him, I’m a suitable scapegoat.”

            “You’ve only been here at least a week.”

            “Feels much longer than that.”

            “Wow.” Katsuki leaned back and ran a hand through his hair. “I thought he would have jumped on those motivators the moment you brought them up. From what you told me, those are a huge deal.”

            Izuku shrugged. “So did I, and I always wanted to meet Nezu after hearing so much about him. He just… I’m sorry, I know he’s the Dean and all, but he’s kind of a dick.”

            Katsuki frowned. “He’s not in a great position, dealing with refugees and the whole world ending and stuff. Maybe once things smooth out, he’ll relax.”

            “I’ve been in that position before, ‘hoping’ things will smooth out.” Izuku grumbled. “Never panned out.”

            Katsuki shifted uncomfortably. “Are there plenty of Quirks that could benefit us if you had motivators for them?”

            “A few.” Izuku paused to think. “I see a few others that got me thinking back to an idea I was having. If I connect motivators in series to achieve an end goal, I could get them working, I just haven’t had the opportunity to try it out. So far, I’ve just done motivators working individually.”

            “What about using an electric Quirk?” Katsuki asked. “Kaminari from my old class has one. Bet it would solve a lot of our power issues.”

            Power was another thing on the long list of “To Do’s”. They’ve been working with gas generators and small power sources and Quirks. There was a fusion reactor towards the edge of the city far from UA that powered the region. Nezu had sent a couple teams to secure it, but found it had been damaged when the workers had struggled against the zombies. They got it somewhat functioning, but it was subject to frequent shutdowns and nobody on campus was an expert on fusion power. The support staff were already doing their best to maintain it. Nezu was working on establishing other long-term solutions, such as solar panels. But the materials and the number of panels needed to power the campus alone wouldn’t cut it, and that’s leaving out the UA barrier that required lots of power to keep the defences functioning.

            Izuku thought it over. “I haven’t had a chance to talk with Kaminari yet, but I saw the sports festival. Does he generate his own electricity or does he need to charge?”

            “He’s got a voltage limit.” Katsuki leaned back and tried to muster what exactly he knew about Kaminari. “I recall our training camps he had to put a current through a high-capacity battery for hours to raise his limits. I’ve also seen him plug into wall sockets.”

            “For real? He just plugs in?”

            “Yeah, got a phone charger plugged into the wall and just sits there with the other end between his teeth.”

            “So not absorbing or distributing.” Izuku muttered. “Cycling through his body. Humans naturally generate their own power, enough to turn on a lightbulb. Kaminari could just be exceeding the standard.” He looked up and asked. “What happens when he reaches his limit?”

            “He goes stupid for a while.” Katsuki said. “It happens a lot.”

            “I’ll need to talk to him to get more information then. He could be a power source; does he already supply the campus with power?”

            “He protects the scavenging convoys mainly. Zombies can still get a shock to the system and he can cover a large area with his Quirk, plus he’s a human taser and zombies just spazz out when he touches them.”

            “I’d have to build a motivator for his cells and see what they give me.” Izuku glanced up at the lights. “I doubt just one motivator would be enough to power everything. If I could even build one and get it working. Electric based Quirks tend to get temperamental with the motivators.”

            Katsuki was surprised to hear that. “Really? I thought you could just stick a Quirk in there and it works.”

            “Not always.” Izuku shook his head. “Some motivators require modification to adapt some Quirks. The one I mentioned for converting items back into their composite materials; we had started out with a machine the size of a SUV, and it just got bigger from there as we worked out the kinks.”

            Katsuki tapped a finger on the table, thinking. The motivators were a huge thing. Why have a human stand around using their Quirk till their exhausted when they could use machines? Though it seemed Nezu had a clear-cut plan for the whole campus and its residents, and lately the Dean had been… quarrelsome, to say the least. Just confident in his decisions and taking pretty much no criticism. The fact so many people now relied on UA to remain standing amongst the chaos around them had people putting more faith in the sole leader of the campus, and it might be inflating some egos. Katsuki had certainly noticed a few heroes and students have a shift with their self-esteem, little things here and there that bothered him. They were no longer just heroes, and people weren’t just admiring them from the sideline. There was a newfound reliance, respect, and fear the others were drinking up and enjoying. Some of them had even stopped going by their hero persona.

            Putting that all aside and returning to the main issue. Nezu wasn’t allowing Izuku to continue his research and they were most likely missing out on a lot of benefits it could bring. Hell, a motivator with just Momo’s Quirk would be a big deal, and she could stop being the campus’s 3D printer and go back to doing hero work. It would alleviate the materials issue they were facing, but they would still face a lot of other problems. Izuku would probably need his own lab and supplies to get started, but perhaps there would be somebody willing to share a shop.

            “I think there’s a way you can continue your research.” Katsuki said.

            Izuku gave him a curious look. “How?”

            “Mei Hatsume.”

            “The crazy inventor that used one of your classmates as advertisement in your first sports festival?”

            “Same one. She’s a little weird and has almost no awareness of social boundaries. But none of that is the point. She builds some really neat things, but there’s usually always an explosion. Powerloader talked Cementoss and Nezu into building her a bunker for a workshop near the outskirts of the campus away from the civilians. It’s heavily sound proofed too.”

            “Her own workshop? Just for her?”

            “She’s brilliant, always running some new ideas, and good enough Nezu can’t let her stop making things. She contributed a lot to the defense systems designs and renovations. She has a lot of leeway in how she does things and unlimited access to materials. She can’t just go and take it all, of course, but you get the idea.”

            Izuku’s eyes widened as he understood. “That could work. Would she agree to help me?”

            “It’d be hard keeping her away from your projects once you mention them.” Katsuki grinned. “I’d say she kick down the door to Nezu’s office and demand he make you her partner.”

            “That’s a plan. Get her to agree to take me in and convince Nezu to let me?”

            “Let’s not bring Nezu in just yet.” Katsuki hesitated. “I said she might kick down his door and all that, but that doesn’t mean Nezu will just roll over and let you do your thing. Better we do that when you got something to show for it.”

            “If it doesn’t backfire.” Izuku pointed out.

            “Then solve an issue he can’t say was a waste.” Katsuki suggested. “If you’re up for that, we can go find Mei right after you’re done eating.”

            With that, Izuku gobbled down the rest of his food in a heartbeat, grabbed his now empty tray and stood up. Katsuki couldn’t understand him with his mouth full, but he understood a “What are we waiting for?” when he saw it.

Chapter Text

Now

            Eri wandered out of her room the next morning to find Izuku wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Just to be sure, she went to the basement door and gave it a few hard knocks. When nobody answered, she went to the garage and saw the truck was still there. She gave up the search and went to the kitchen to make some food. Leo slept on the couch, waking when she started rattling pots and pans. He then walked into the kitchen and sat by the doorway and watched her.

            Izuku disappeared often as she learned. This used to make her panic after they escaped the Shie Hassaikai, but now it was normal to wake up in a house by herself with only Leo for company. Sometimes Izuku would be gone till noon, sometimes even an entire day or much longer. Those times when he was gone for days at a time, she could tell if he popped back to the house or not, things would be misplaced and bits of food were gone. Speaking of food, Eri had learned how to cook some things and she was an okay cook. Times when Izuku was actually present in the morning he took over cooking duty.

            She usually spent the days reading and watching TV, living a relatively normal life as he would say, though Eri couldn’t say if anything was normal, she had no idea what normal was, a lot of her memories were all about being stuck in a stone-cold cell underground. Izuku found toys and old CD’s and did his best to give her as much of a childhood as she could get. This is while facing the reality the world was gone before she even had a chance to know what it was like.

            Izuku had found a show for her to watch called “My Little Pony”, and insisted she watch it. Some of the ponies had horns with magic powers like she did. They didn’t see their powers as curses, more like a gift. It had become a sort of comfort show for her, something she could relate to. Internally she knew this was how Izuku was trying to get her to see herself and come to terms with her own Quirk. The magic ponies on the screen could make things float and stuff with their powers, she killed people with hers.

            Above the TV were a trio of monitors, each displaying four different camera views around the property. Izuku had set up many security systems around the house for when he was gone. As she spent her day reading and watching TV, she’d occasionally glance up at the monitors. A couple of times she’d see a lone zombie stumbling about past the camera’s sight. Sometimes a zombie would walk towards the house, and when they got close enough, they stepped on one of the motivators Izuku had made and buried around the property. He warned her not to go near these ones, said something about them not being like traditional landmines, whatever those were.

            Now - a couple hours after making breakfast and colouring in one of her books - a zombie stumbled into view on one of the monitors. She stopped colouring and stared at the screen. The zombie wasn’t agitated, simply shuffling about, wandering, clueless to the danger it was in. It stood at the mouth of an alley just behind the house that ran through the block to the other side. Their home was several houses away from the corner. Izuku had set the traps several feet inside the alley to reduce chances of someone seeing them, or from being set off all the time by the zombies and drawing unnecessary amounts of power from the house. Well, more than usual.

            “Please keep going.” Eri muttered. “Just walk away.”

            The zombie shuffled, head swiveling back and forth. It took a couple steps in one direction, then a few stumbling steps further into the alley. She couldn’t turn off the screens, Izuku didn’t allow that because a moment without knowing somethings a problem is a moment towards death. Still, Eri would have very much liked to turn the damn things off.

            “Turn around, please.” Eri tucked her knees in to herself, eyes glued to the screen. “Please.”

            The zombie took a few more steps, passing the red ribbon Izuku had tied around one of the fence posts, marking where the first traps lay. The next step it took landed on a pressure plate. The second after that, it exploded like a blood balloon, coating the alley in blood and meat. There was no boom, no explosion, just a simple activation of a Quirk that set her stomach churning. Remembering the feeling of being subjected to that specific Quirk for most of her life, sat in a chair while Overhaul killed her over and over to collect his samples and put her back together. Then lock her in a room and do it again the next day, and the day after, and after-

            Leo suddenly nudged her elbow, squeezing his head under her arm as she hugged herself tightly and panted in her face, his dog breath assaulting her nose. She grabbed Leo and hugged him, petting his nice soft fur and trying to calm down. Leo always seemed to know when she was reliving something from her past and started bugging her. She didn’t mind, he was a good dog.

            It was after lunch time when Izuku returned. Eri had gone back to reading her books and absentmindedly petting Leo who was sprawled out on the couch beside her. She heard the closet at the end of the hall open and Izuku step out and quickly shut it. That baffled her, since it was a closet and not the door to the basement. Every time Eri asked why he’d been in the closet in the first place, he’d just give a small laugh and assure her it was nothing. She’d even knocked on it a couple of times, but never got a reply, she always got the impression it was empty every time. She didn’t know what was in there, just that it was a solid wood door with a heavy lock in place, whereas the basement door had five different locks and a steel bar for extra measure.

            Leo jumped off the couch and ran to Izuku, tail wagging excitedly at seeing his owner return. Izuku stopped, giving the dog a few good head scratches behind the ear and looked up at Eri. She could see he’d showered, somehow. His hair looked damp and she could smell the chemicals and soaps he’d used to wash off. He took sterilizing and eradicating possible contaminants very seriously, even if he was immune.

            “Morning.” Izuku said with a yawn. The bags under his eyes told her he must have been up since midnight.

            “It’s afternoon, Mr. Midoriya.” She said, watching him walk to the kitchen.

            “It is?” He stopped to checked the timer on the stove. “So, it is. Sorry about that, have you had breakfast?”

            “Yes.”

            “What about lunch, have you had any? I can cook something this time.”

            “Uh… sure…” Eri said. Leo returned to her side and plopped back down on the couch.

            Izuku opened a cupboard and started muttering. “Still got these potatoes to go through. Hm… Could make vodka from potatoes, right? Wonder how much a bottle of it is worth on the market these days.”

            Eri heard him. “Mr. Midoriya, what’s vodka?”

            “Nothing Eri. Just going to make hashbrowns.” Izuku grabbed a few potatoes and threw them into the sink for cleaning. As he started chopping the first one, he asked, “How’s your Quirk training been coming along?”

            Eri groaned and hit her head with the book. Izuku had been asking her to try and use her Quirk regularly on the plants in the greenhouse. Since it affected living biological matter - as zombies weren’t affected by her Quirk the times Izuku had her try – she was suppose to rewind a couple of bamboo plants and flowers he set aside for her. They grew fast and wouldn’t be a detriment to their food source if they were snuffed out of existence, which she always did. The only time she had a sort-of success was rewinding a strawberry plant Izuku had forgot to water for a few days. He could have had her do it in an isolated space, but figured having her use her Quirk in the greenhouse was no big deal. They had to wait for everything in there to regrew for weeks after. It had been the shortest burst of power she could manage without it getting out of control.

            Her Quirk was finicky, temperamental as Izuku liked to call it. Rarely it worked like she wanted it to, and mostly it did whatever it wanted. She couldn’t control how much time scrolled back. Izuku tried to get her to think of it like a floodgate, where she controlled of when the gates opened and how much got through. That’s not what she pictured at all. She pictured it as the first time Izuku had her drive a car. She could turn the key, start the engine, and press the gas, but the brakes were non-existent. Once she got to a certain speed, the car didn’t want to slow down and she either had to crash or keep going till it ran out of battery. The only person who did have the brakes was Izuku, only because he had vials of the temporary Quirk-erasing formula Chisaki had been using her to make. Most trials ended with a dart to the shoulder and that was it for the day.

            “You’ll get there someday.” Izuku assured her. “Some of the most powerful Quirks have their downsides. Long as you keep training, you’ll get the hang of it.”

            Eri only groaned again. This time getting a laugh from Izuku. It was so easy for him to say things like that when he didn’t have a Quirk.

            “So, the reason I bring this up, Eri.” Izuku paused, checking to see if she was listening. “I may have something new to gauge your Quirk. After we eat, I think we should head down to the lab and give it a try.”

            “No!” Eri’s snapped up, eyes wide and horrified at the idea.

            Times when she did try her Quirk, she was at least comforted by the idea that no one else was around to get hurt. Plants were plants, but people were different. She’d rewound her own father out of existence and her mother had given her up to the Shie Hassaikai. Then Chisaki became the leader and tore her apart, over and over, trying to figure out how to turn her Quirk into a cure for Quirks. When she tried to escape, whoever Chisaki had set to keep an eye on her died. When her Quirk went out of control, she killed more people. If someone tried to help her leave, they died too. People always seemed to die when they were around her.

            “It’s okay.” Izuku assured her, scraping diced potatoes into a pan with oil. “Everything is still set up from the last time, and I’ve made some improvements since then. Leo will be in his kennel up here and I’ll be safely behind panels of plastic.”

            “I still don’t like it.” Eri whined.

            “I know.” Izuku paused in his chopping and leaned against the counter, facing her. “But I truly believe you are the key to helping us Eri, and not in the sense Chisaki was thinking. You aren’t a weapon or a killer, you’re just learning to control something nobody has ever tried to help you with before. We’re taking all necessary precautions; we are all perfectly safe.”

            Eri shifted uncomfortably. Leo had sensed her agitation and snuggled close to her, reminding her he was there. “I still don’t like it. But- But I trust you.”

            A look of surprise crossed Izuku’s face. He gave a slow nod and wordlessly went back to chopping.

Chapter Text

Now

            After eating, Eri was down in the lab sitting in a chair with sensors on her head and horn. They connected to a boxy machine next to Izuku as he worked at the computer. A barrier of plexiglass separating them, held up on a steel fame he could store away on the side of the room when they were done. Her Quirk was just energy of some sort, so something as simple as that worked fine. She felt like it would have been better if he was standing behind a solid brick wall or something. It just felt like he was too open when her Quirk goes haywire.

             As Izuku worked, he muttered in his usual fashion. She really didn’t understand much of what he was saying, something about Quirk energy and processing, then some snippet about her Quirk and tree rings. A potted plant sat in front of her on a stool just a few feet away, a lovely yellow flower that smelled great. She looked around the lab, eyeing the table where a sheet had been laid over a body. It didn’t feel all that much different from Chisaki’s lab. She really wanted him to hurry up and get this over with.

            “Okay.” Izuku clapped his hand which startled Eri out of her thoughts. He swiveled in his chair to look at her. “Everything is green. Focus your energy on the plant, the machine should analyze the power coming from your horn. The hope being is we know what’s going on with your Quirk and have some sense of measurement of the power you’re emitting. Concentrate on the plant and try to hold a continuous feed of power. How much you want to channel is up to you, just make it consistent.”

            Eri glanced at the plant. “Can I bring it closer? I’m not that accurate.”

            Izuku waved at the barrier and their surroundings. “Leo is safe upstairs and I’m behind this barrier. Nobody is going to get hurt, you are free to do what you want whenever you are ready.”

            Eri took a deep breath and focused on the plant. Her body tensed as she thought about activating her power. Moments passed, she concentrated further, trying to muster the energy together. This was so much easier when she wasn’t being watched. She felt a tingling sensation around the area of her horn, and a soft glow emanated from it. Moments passed.

            “Remember the floodgates.” Izuku reminded her. “Just open it a-”

            A loud crack cut him off as a bolt of time reversing energy struck the flower. The power was not what she had intended to go for, Izuku had broke her concentration by speaking. Instantly the flower was gone and power struck wildly at her surroundings.

            “Shit!” Izuku flinched away, taken aback by the sudden surge of power. He glanced at the screens and his eyes widened. “Maintain it! You’re doing good, Eri, a really good job! I got a clear reading.”

            Eri gripped the arms of her chair, he body shook and trembled as the power continued lashing out, searching, hunting for something to kill. It struck harmlessly at the barrier protecting Izuku and he stared at the screens unbothered how close to death he could be if it weren’t for it. No matter how much she tried to think of this Quirk as a power, it acted more like a curse, a thing preying on the abundance of time others had, a leech. She was no longer in control.

            “Okay. That’s enough, you can stop now!” Izuku turned away from the screens. “Can you stop, Eri?”

            “Help! Me! Mr. Midoriya!” Eri clenched her teeth, trying to will her Quirk to stop.

            It did not stop or falter, instead if ramped up the power output. She went from horrified to panic and her power became wilder and more aggressive. The room grew bright with light nearly blinding her. Why couldn’t she control it? From movies and Izuku’s tales, it was easy for others to control their Quirks. But why couldn’t she? Why did she even have this stupid curse in the first place?

            There was a pop, a horrible sting in her shoulder, and her Quirk was simply gone. Temporarily of course. She melted into the chair, panting, feeling as if she ran a hundred miles. She turned to see Izuku. He had stuck a gloved hand out past the barrier, holding a revolver aimed at her. The stinging in her shoulder was one of the red darts filled with the temporary Quirk erasing bullets Chisaki had created. She hated these things so much, but she was glad there was something that could stop her. Izuku waited, gun hand slightly shaking. Sometimes the drug didn’t work as long on her as oppose to other Metas. Her Quirk could always start up again in retaliation to being snuffed out. Seconds ticked by and nothing happened.

            “Eri,” Izuku said. “Are you okay?”

            “Yeah- Yeah.” She replied, a tear streaming down her cheek. “I’m fine.”

            “Okay.” He took a tentative step into the open. There was no damage done to the lab, the only victim had been the flower. He looked at the machines she’d been hooked up to, seeing the smoke drifting from the cracks. He let out a low whistle and looked back at her, she was silently crying now. “Do you want unicorn pancakes?”

            “Yes.”

            ---

            Izuku sat at his computer hours later. Eri had gone to bed completely exhausted. That’s typically what happened after her Quirk went haywire. He’d made a tall stack of those awfully shaped pancakes she loved and even brought out the good maple syrup. He was glad the “My little Pony” show was having some affect on her, even being just a comfort show. Though he really needed to find more to broaden her understanding of culture.

            Displayed on the screen were the readings from the sensors attached to her horn. It had mapped out the energy flow within and the amount being used. Quirk Energy was a term he and his science team had coined often during their experiments. Diving in depth with Quirks, they had to realize that as much as some of them can easily be explained with practical science, things ran much deeper than they appeared. There were gaps in the powers that needed to be crossed and ways to be fueled. Sometimes it was extreme changes to one’s biology, but other times, it seemed liked magic. Course magic was an unscientific explanation and not something you just throw around in a lab willy nilly.

            Some examples of what he would say Quirk energy applied to would be cases like Momo. Fat cells in her body were converted to whatever she wanted to make so long as she had the knowledge and know-how to make them and a supply of food. She could make complicated devices or basic materials. It couldn’t only just be fat cells, she made cannons, actual cannons, and didn’t look like she lost much weight. Only at times she pushed herself to the extreme - like she was doing at UA after the Collapse – did she show physical change. Something had to be filling in the gaps, nobody could make the things she does without starving themselves.

            Then there was Tenya Iida. His Quirk, engine, made him a speedster. Izuku managed to get him to agree to an X-ray one time to see what the engines in his legs looked like. They were a mix of engine and flesh in some ways, with the Quirk needing orange juice to fuel it. Tenya had said one time that he could improve his Quirk by pulling out the exhaust pipes in his legs and they would grow back, also allowing him to go at greater speeds. Just another thing that had Izuku’s head swimming with confusion and constantly going back to Quirk energy. But it was what Tenya’s Quirk did.

            With Tenya, Momo, and others like them, they knew the Quirk needed required an external source in terms of fuel and nutrients. But how that turned into something that could warp reality didn’t make figuring it out any easier.

            What happened in between? This was still a question Izuku was puzzling out, but during his motivator project, he was sure Quirk energy was the answer in some form. They stuck Quirk cells in the machine and could muster the Quirk when needed. Sometimes it did require an alternate source of fuel in order for it to work, or modifications, but it still worked without needing a host. The way it was able to conjure the Quirks got energy from somewhere.

            He’d identified the energy, so it was no longer just a hand-wave explanation, but its design was still outside his understanding. He knew his motivators pumped the energy into the motivators and out came the Quirk. Maybe hundreds of years later, someone will be able to break it down into finer detail, but now it was not his concern. On the monitor, he was watching Quirk energy go from Eri, to the horn, and come out reversing time on any biological being. Eri was like a battery and the horn was a tesla coil, but nowhere in here did he see that energy change.

            He let out a tired sigh and rubbed his temples, already feeling the familiar headache growing. This was why some folks called Quirkology a dying science. You figure out one piece of the puzzle and are left with a thousand more questions. Why did someone need to dive so in depth to understand Quirks when they worked just fine without really understanding them? Izuku was only able to progress in the field because of the motivators and he’d been leaning heavily on them for support and funding.

            There was another thing about the horn that bothered him. Eri was affected by her Quirk too, she wasn’t immune to its affects. Whenever she got injured, the Quirk reversed her back to perfect health, albeit with some scars. When it got out of control, it didn’t affect her at all. There was some control there, maybe subconsciously, but in a way that fulfilled a need. What he got from it was the time reversal energy wasn’t just in the horn. Well, no, maybe it went to the horn, became what reversed time and flowed back to her. The horn could be like a wand or something, taking the brunt of the energy and saving her from being blipped out of existence.

            And right now, she was up in her room asleep, her horn shrunk down to a small grey bump in her forehead. The horn was an indicator of her Quirks readiness. It would be dormant till the horn grew in length over the next few weeks or months. She wouldn’t be using it for practice anytime soon, which he knew she’d be fine with. It only got that small when she had an outburst like today.

            This data he’d gathered would be useful towards adopting her Quirk into the motivators. Every Quirk had something that needed to be added into the design, and her Quirk was no exception. The machine he’d used to read the energy levels during that test had been burnt out, and the motivators also blew a fuse whenever he tried putting her Quirk in them. A dozen different motivators tossed to the pile by some aspect of the time reversal. One time he’d opened a motivator to find the cell colony he’d placed in there to be gone, vanished into thin air. Sometimes they were burnt to ash as well. He was convinced at this point her Quirk – much like the virus – was being petty and refusing to allow him to research it. He’d never had this many trials and errors before when replicating Momo’s Quirk. He was starting to understand now why time Quirks were rare and complicated.

            He leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling. He had many theories he wanted to try with her Quirk, but the one he was more focused on now was that Eri could be the key to saving the human race, to curing the zombie virus. He was going over several plans in which to do it, but none he could act on till he got a regenerator. Still, if it worked, he’d need to figure out a way to cure zombies en masse. But that too was far outside his range of doing.

            “How did you get the Quirk Erasers to work, Chisaki?” He muttered to himself.

            A year and a half after escaping UA, he’d wound up in the employ of the yakuza organization known as the Shie Hassaikai. Their leader, Chisaki or Overhaul depending how he was feeling, had been interested in Quirks much like Izuku. Only they had different reasons. Izuku wanted to harness Quirks for his motivators, and Chisaki wanted to destroy them. He considered Quirks to be a pandemic amongst mankind, a disease to be cured. He even despised his own Quirk, but was prepared to use it whenever to strike fear into his subordinates.        

            The two of them had worked together aiding each others research as a deal of sorts. Izuku was mostly in the dark about the Quirk Erasure origins. He was happy to help, because it did make sense: the virus infected Meta-humans. So, remove the Quirk, remove the disease. Course since it was in the early stages of development, they were stuck on temporary formulas.

            Eventually he’d been introduced to the source of Chisaki’s research. Eri was just a little girl with no control of her Quirk, kept in a cell, nothing more than an innocent. Yet Chisaki saw fit to abuse and murder her repeatedly with his Quirk in order to extract material necessary for his research. Izuku had been witness to how the procedure was conducted and had been sickened by it. Chisaki could disassemble and reassemble anything he touched, organic or not. Humans popped like bloody balloons in his touch and he could put them back together if he wanted. He watched him do it to Eri for two years before finally coming up with an escape plan for them both.

            Eri’s Quirk had sparked hope for the future, whoever wielded it could change the world. Izuku and Chisaki both agreed she’d be the cure humanity needed. They just didn’t agree how.  So, he just had to figure out how to cure zombies before UA or the Shie Hassaikai finds them.

Chapter Text

Now

            Setting up safehouses was something Izuku had never considered he’d be good at. Of course, when on the run and having to look over his shoulder, having backups was a lifesaver. Literally in some cases. You could never have too many, only too few. It had helped when he escaped UA, and again with the yakuza.

            Yesterday he’d gone out to do some errands and decided to do a checkup on a couple of safehouses he’d established in the city. They were all loaded with the basic necessities and a couple held backups of his research – both digital and physical - should something happen. When he checked, he found one of the safehouses had been discovered by those bottom feeding bandits and stripped of everything, even the kitchen sink.

            So, here he was back in his lab consulting the map for another safehouse. This time he resolved to put in some… deterrents. He’d already used lures in some places with a moderate zombie presence big enough to scare away most folks. More lures were placed around the area to lure the zombies away when the time came to using the safehouse. But recently he’d been experimenting with these landmines using Chisaki’s Quirk. They were quiet and very effective, he'd almost be tempted to implement it in a motivator he could carry around, but he only had the disassemble function working, and he feared he may fuck something up and wind up killing himself. So, he kept them as landmines and stayed well away from them. He was already printing the motivators and piling them up on the side as he thought of where to go next. He’d need about loads to effectively encircle an area.

            He’d switched out the printer’s supplement bag three times already when he started getting the shakes. Digging into his pockets, he found only an empty cigarette carton. Annoyed to find he’d gone through another pack; he went over to a cabinet by the computers and opened it. Only to find the stash in there was gone.

            “What the hell?” He muttered. He checked a couple more drawers and cabinets, but found none.

            He went upstairs, passed Eri reading a picture book while using Leo as a pillow, and went right to his room and checked everywhere for another pack. Moments later, he came up empty. He was officially out of cigarettes.

            He tapped his foot anxiously and started muttering. The jitters were getting worse. Cigarettes were highly valued and most traders he went to had a small stock that sold for way more than its weight in gold. Usually, the ration tickets were enough to sate his needs, but Tokyo was gone, rendering them worthless. He had a spare truck somewhere, blankets, which together might get him some packs. But was it really worth it? He couldn’t make his own…

            He’d had discoveries and breakthroughs in his research, but that thought there felt like a lightbulb moment to him. He went back to the basement and stared at the printer. He could… but no, that… that was just a waste, right? He couldn’t seriously use what could be considered a million-dollar piece of equipment to supply his addiction. But he made it, he got it working, so who got to say what he could use it for? He went over to his computer and pulled up a blank schematic.

            Half an hour later, he had a basic blueprint for a cigarette with its dimensions and molecular makeup all written down for the printer to process. Pleased with himself, he hovered the mouse over the print icon and paused. Was he really about to do this? Was smoking really worth it? He was already dependant on them, why didn’t he just stop? He could stop, he tried before, it was possible.

            But… with Tokyo gone, he could have a monopoly on the cigar industry. Yes, that’s why, he’s doing it. For business.

            Chuckling to himself, Izuku clicked the mouse and leaned back in his chair and watched his masterpiece be formed. As it printed, he realized there had been an error of sorts. The cigar was bigger than he expected. By a lot. When it was done, it was the size of his entire arm and had sucked the remainder of the supplement bag bone dry. He stared at it, confused where things had gone wrong till he checked the blueprint again and realized he’d messed up the dimensions spectacularly. This is why he needs his cigarettes.

            Correcting the error and putting a new bag on the IV, he tried again. This time a slightly bigger than normal cigar sat atop the fleshy mass. Izuku picked it up, inspecting it closely, even giving it a sniff. Looked okay, smelled okay, would it smoke the same? Wouldn’t want to sell bad product.

            He snorted. “Who the fuck am I trying to convince here?”

            He put the cigar between his lips and lit the end with his lighter. He took several deep breaths and felt the sweet burning sensation fill his lungs. He sat back in the chair and relaxed, feeling the shakes in his body subside and taking a moment to himself. The printers were his proudest achievement, full credit to the Quirk of course, but figuring out how to get them working had been the best thing ever.

            The cigar was gone far too soon and he found himself contemplating the bigger one. He could break it down and roll his own but that was too much work. Maybe there was a giant somewhere in need of a smoke. He turned back to the blueprint and considered for a moment. If he was going to become the producer of cigs and such, he’d need connections. Something he’d have to work out with Stain when he got back, or if he got back. It had been a couple weeks since he and the hero killer last spoke, and Stain might have objections to carting around cigars. For now, Izuku would just work on building up his private stash.

            He went to the printer options and set it to print five hundred cigarettes. He didn’t instruct it to print cartons with them either, he already had plenty of those laying around he could fill and it would be a waste to even include them. He started grabbing the cigars off the printer and shoving them into cartons when there was an alert from the computer. A flashing Icon that took up the entire monitors alerting him someone had entered the boundary he’d set around the house. Checking the camera’s, he saw Stain calmly walking to the front door. Well, speak of the devil. He’d almost been worried the psychopath had been killed at UA, or worse, had been captured.

            Double checking the other cameras to make sure no one else was lingering around the area, he ran up the stairs to answer the door. Eri was still reading, both her and the dog raised their heads in curiosity as he rushed past them. He double checked Stain was alone through the peephole and opened the door. Stain was dirty from travel and had several new bloodstains on his clothes. He looked to be absolutely covered in contaminants.

            “Stain, everything okay?” Izuku asked.

            “As okay as things can be.” Stain pushed past him into the house and stopped when Izuku blocked him.

            “You should take a shower first.” Izuku insisted.

            Stain rolled his eyes. “After we talk. My business in UA is concluded, and I found a regenerator.”

            Izuku nodded and stepped aside. “Head for the lab, we can talk there.”

            Stain walked past and stopped when he noticed Eri and Leo watching them. He hesitated, then gave a small wave. “Hello, Eri.”

            Eri waved back, a little uncertain. “Hi Mr. Stain.”

            Izuku snorted. Stain and Eri had met before. He was pretty sure Eri was forever going to be wary of strangers. If she were put in a crowd without any life-or-death scenarios and backstabbers, he was pretty sure she’d be the awkward timid sort that wanted to get the hell out. Stain seemed a little awkward with kids, or maybe just Eri. He was polite, but mostly tended to ignore her existence, something Eri appreciated.

            They went down to the lab and Stain saw the printer piled with cigars. He gave Izuku a look, “I see you’re using your resources wisely.”

            Izuku rolled his eyes. “We both have our bad habits. You kill heroes, I smoke. But that’s besides the point. Who did you find and how?”

             Stain said. “When I was at UA, I was able to access one of their computers and do a search-”

            “Woah, woah, woah!” Izuku raised a hand to stop him, alarm bell ringing in his head. “Who’s computer?”

            “The public ones.”

            “They got public computers now?”

            “It’s like you said, people are more concerned with the internet disappearing than the actual zombies themselves.” Stain shook his head; disappointed humanity prized the internet more than survival. “They got a library separate the UA facilities with a computer lab. Newly built.”

            Izuku rolled his eyes. “Glad they’re doing well enough to have some amenities.”

            “Yeah. So, I entered the names of the regenerators into a website – it’s on every computer in there, I checked – it helps lost family and friends reconnect. All you do is enter the names of the person you know and check the results. A bunch of settlements are involved in this apparently.”

            Izuku blinked. That was the same thing folks did with the corkboards by the gates in UA. If he had known that exited, he wouldn’t have needed to employ Stain’s assistance. “Son of a bitch. So, who did you find?”

            Stain pulled out a folded piece of paper and handed it to him. “Memo Chaura. She was last seen in Nagano. Somone from a group called the Tengu is responsible for posting about her on the site.”

            Izuku took the paper. “Is she with the Tengu?”

            “No.” Stain said. “Says on the paper right there. She’s a wanderer who routinely stops by to trade for supplies. It also says she is mentally unstable and dangerous to strangers.”

            “Sounds like a good fit for you.” Izuku said sarcastically and read it. “This doesn’t say much.”

            “It’s why I took so long getting back to you.” Stain walked over to a chair and sat down. “There wasn’t enough information about the Tengu, so I went to do some scouting. Do you know anything about them?”

            “A bit.” Izuku said. “They’re a group of refugees UA had turned away. They banded together after UA chased them out of the city and went to establish a settlement of their own. They don’t have good relations with UA, but they are willing to trade with them, especially since UA started outsourcing their scavenging needs to everyone outside their precious barrier. It’s helped Tengu build up their settlement to house all their people comfortably. They’re peaceful, unless you decide to piss them off, and they’ve waged small wars against raiders and the likes. They have a lot of heroes in their ranks, some of whom were at UA at one point or another but ultimately decided to leave.”

            “I know they’re well fortified and take their security more serious than UA.” Stain scowled. “The pass was enough to get me through the checkpoints without so much as a second glance from the guards. The Tengu do things differently, but they had sat me down in a room after I made myself known to the guards was interrogated. They found my answers unsatisfactory and sent me on my way.”

            Izuku cocked an eyebrow, “You didn’t try to sneak in?”

            “There wasn’t an opening I could find that didn’t involve slaughtering a bunch of folks, and settlements can get a bit pissy about that.” Stain got a dark look. “Much as I would have loved to kill a few.”

            Made sense, Stain didn’t like fighting heroes head-on or outnumbered. Izuku looked back at the paper. “Well, a good thing you didn’t. They are a quiet group, but they can be vicious from what I heard. Sort of thing folks got to be these days. Still, this is a good lead. Thank you.”

            “Sure.” Stain said, his one hand was on the hilt of one of his swords, tapping. “How about this time I help you?”

            Izuku raised an eyebrow. “You actually want to help get someone this time?”

            “Yes.”

            Izuku slowly stepped forward and poked Stain in the chest. He poked him a few more times to be sure, then reached up and poked his face. The knife came out so fast, Izuku had no chance to react. Next thing he knew, Stain had him bent all the way backwards, head nearly touching the ground, one foot up in the air and struggling to keep his balance. Stain held the knife to his throat and kept him from falling all the way.

            “Okay! Uncle! Uncle!” Izuku tapped Stain’s arm. “I needed to know it was you.”

            “You didn’t think it was me?”

            “You don’t offer to get this involved.”

            “I help when you pay me.”

            “Exactly. You go find them and let me do all the hard work.”

            Stain scowled and brought Izuku to back to his feet. “My affairs at UA were settled greatly. The UA pass was far worth its value.”

            Izuku rubbed his throat and inspected his hand for blood. “Seriously?”

            “Yes. I wouldn’t have been able to get in otherwise.” Stain hesitated, “Even if the guards checking my pass were easily fooled, the rest of their defenses… well, I wouldn’t have been able to do it by myself.”

            “You thought I was joking?” Izuku raised an eyebrow. “Nezu takes his security as serious as his tea. It’s a never-ending project. I bet their systems have had twelve different upgrades to the system with him personally overseeing it after I hit them with that cyberattack.”

            “I can imagine.” Stain said. “So, we good to go?”

            “Yes.” Izuku walked over to the map of the country and scanned it, finding Maebashi where they currently were and where Nagano was in relation to them. “That’ll be a two, maybe three hours of driving with my truck to the other side of Mount Azumaya. No way to tell how the roads are. Might be longer if we need detours.”

            “There are roads running through the mountains.” Stain pointed out. “I stick mostly to cities when I travel, easier to navigate and I can avoid the zombies easily. I don’t know what travelling through the mountains will be like.”

            “I heard that’s where raiders like to hang out and catch unsuspecting travelers.” Izuku pointed to a few spots. “Ironically, our safest method of travel is through the cities.”

            “You and I are experienced in moving around undetected.” Stain noted. “Your truck is silent when it runs. All we need are good roads.”

            “Prepare for the worst I say.” Izuku traced a highway. “We can head out tomorrow, I’ll throw together some things for the trip.”

            Stain nodded and checked his watch, Izuku saw it was a gold-coloured watch with silver trim, instead of digital it had a normal clock face. “Say eight or nine in the morning?”

            “That’ll work.” Izuku agreed.

            “You should bring Eri with you.” Stain said.

            Izuku gave him an incredulous look. “What? Why?”

            “Experience. You can’t keep her locked up in the house forever. She has to see the world at some point, it’s just a matter of how prepared you’ll let her be by the time that happens.”

            Izuku hesitated. He was already taking Eri out on errands and stuff. Going to the Tengu would be farther out and into uncharted territory. He had a good sense of the surroundings city, and had thought like Stain had with getting exposure to the world’s hostile environment. He just hadn’t wanted to throw too much at her, he wasn’t even sure if she was fully recovered from hitting Rocky with his truck. But then again, more exposure meant this would eventually be normal for her, and keep a cooler head under pressure.

            “Okay.” Izuku finally said and added, “Might as well bring Leo too.”

            “Not the dog.”

            “Yes, I’m bringing the dog. He’s useful. If we get into a scuffle, we’ll need him. Trust me.”

            “Fine.” Stain checked his watch again. “If that’s everything, I should run and get supplies before we leave tomorrow. You do whatever it is you got to do. We can meet up near the outskirts of Maebashi, by that one rundown gas station with the zombie tied to the sign?”

            “Sounds like a plan.” Izuku watched Stain leave. “Thanks for this, Stain. I really appreciate it.”

            “Don’t thank me yet.” Stain said, and closed the basement door behind him.

Chapter Text

Then

            The elbow to his ribs jolted Izuku out of his thoughts, and the forkful of mashed potatoes that had been about to pass his lips were instead spilled over his lap. His right hand had been occupied writing notes and equations down, and now sported a bold streak across his work. He glared at his assailant, his new eye – built by courtesy of Mei Hatsume and installed by a cyberneticist they were fortunate to have on campus – flared a brilliant red.

            He hissed. “What?!”

            Katsuki raised an amused eyebrow and gestured with his head to another table in the cafeteria. “She’s looking at you again.”

            “I’m a little busy.” Izuku grabbed a napkin to clean up the potatoes, all while looking for his eraser. “You have no idea how hard it is to keep track of these thoughts right when you have them in your head and don’t write them down immediately.”

            “You got Uraraka Ochaco giving you the star struck look while you’re focused on…” Katsuki looked at the notebook and his face contorted as if someone had fed him a lemon. “Some alien language.”

            “It’s a DNA segment.”

            “That’s not DNA.”

            “You took the high school course in biology, this isn’t just the DNA, there’s the chemistry makeup, the math-”

            “There’s math involved with Quirkology?” Katsuki asked.

            Izuku rolled his eyes. “Math is involved in more fields of research than you realize.”

            “Don’t talk down to me, nerd. You got a PHD for all of this?”

            “Some were required for the course, others I picked up while I was doing my experiments.”

            “Like what?”

            Izuku thought it over, then counted off on his hands. “Genetic modification, gene therapy, Quirk therapy, a bunch of subjects in biology, a-”

            “Forget I asked.” Katsuki shook his head and dug into his own bowl of food and paused. “Wait, you have a PHD for all of those?”

            “It’s expensive and time consuming to take each course. I’d rather put it all into my research.” Izuku tried carefully to erase the streak on his paper and preserve his work. “Besides, not all geniuses need to have a piece of paper in their pocket to tell others how brilliant they are.”

            “I think they should. A crackhead could spout shit, sound smart, and nobody would be the wiser.”

            “I think them being a crackhead is a dead giveaway.”

            “Times like this, I remember why I gave you so much shit back in middle school.” Katsuki scowled and elbowed him again, this time the eraser smudged Izuku’s paper and the scientist groaned. Katsuki chuckled. “Come on, I know her, I think the two of you would be great.”

            “The apocalypse isn’t time to be messing around with things like dating.” Izuku gave him a knowing look, “Also, it’s not like you should be the one concerned about others dating life.”

            “What the fuck do you mean?”

            The last couple of months, Katsuki had been trying to get out more and meet new people, try to be more than the guy in a costume, which was easier said than done. He had the celebrity status though and that brought complications, such as a host of people waiting at his door ready to mingle. It was already a challenge for most folks to find the one, and heroes had a lot more work to go through to find them. Katsuki didn’t back down from a challenge, but people skills were not his strong suite.

            “You know.” Izuku said and grabbed his pencil once more to finish writing down his thoughts.

            “At least I’m not like some folks trying to put babies in everyone.” Katsuki scowled. “I’m taking my time looking, and meanwhile you got someone ready to throw themselves at you, and by someone, I mean thee Uraraka Ochaco.”

            Izuku gave him a look. “Is this praise from Bakugo Katsuki I’m hearing? Lord Explosion Murder, hard-ass, and all-around jerk?”

            “I’ll put my trademark on it too.” Katsuki said. “And you’re paying for that hard-ass comment later. Uraraka is a great fighter, a great rescue hero, good cohesion with any team you put her with. She puts in the work, the training, and kicks ass. When she could have been learning from other rescue heroes on becoming the best one out there, she took work studies with fighters, experimented with multiple fighting techniques, weapons, and other things. She has also nearly kicked my ass on many occasions.”

            “So, if I ever wanted your respect, I would have just needed to kick your ass?”

            “You? No. Uraraka? Yes.”

            “If you think so highly of her, why don’t you go date her? Maybe it’s you she’s really looking at.”

            “It’s what I thought at first.” Katsuki admitted. “After some inquiry, I was corrected in my thinking.”

            “I see.” Izuku leaned forward to look past Katsuki to the indicated table. There sat Ochaco scooping food from a bowl while listening to her group of friends discuss something. She turned her head to look at his table and their eyes met; they held eye contact for a second before she turned away to cover a blush. Izuku own cheeks heated up a little. Oh no.

            He processed that emotion for a moment before looking back at a smug Katsuki. “You really think she’s into me?”

            “Need I repeat myself?” Katsuki was almost smiling like the cheshire cat.

            “But… how? Why?”

            “Oh, for the love of god!” Katsuki sighed deeply. “Didn’t you have any friends in America? Perhaps a fling or two?”

            “You know better than that.” Izuku glared at him. “No one I’ve met has ever even humoured the idea. I even tried dating apps and those never went well. I kind of gave up on the whole thing.”

            “Well, here is your chance to try.” Katsuki suggested. “Everyone is stressed, everyone is probably going to die sometime in the next year, and all the stress and near-death experiences makes people really fucking horny. You know, cause the brain realizes “Oh shit, I nearly died, better pass on my genes.” And all that stuff?”

            “Yes, I remember reading something about that in an article about hero couples who bond during stressful times. When they’re removed from those situations, they suddenly realize they aren’t the perfect match and then it’s divorce and all that shit. With the way you’re talking about Uraraka, she needs something more than…” He waved to himself. “Well, more than me and a one-night stand.”

            “That’s it.” Katsuki stood up and grabbed his tray.

            “What are you doing?”

            “Never in my life would I have ever thought I’d be doing this.” Katsuki grumbled and then loudly for Izuku to hear. “I’m going to be your wingman; you will have a date by the end of the day.”

            “No, Kacchan!”

            “Too late, twerp.” Katsuki laughed as he walked over to Ochaco’s table.

            Izuku cursed under his breath and quickly started gathering his things into his bag. He’ll finish eating at Mei’s workshop. Right now, his goal was to get out of the blast radius of whatever disaster Katsuki would unleash.

            ---

            “Okay, Aoyama. I need you to do another blast dead center of the target.” Izuku instructed. “Go on my mark.”

            Yuga Aoyama positioned himself at the line, and when Izuku clicked the timer, he fired his naval laser across the distance in a section of Mei’s workshop and hit the target Izuku had set up for him. Yuga was a blonde Frenchmen, an exchange student in the heroics program, whose costume was something much like a knight’s armour with flashy 80’s glasses. It was all very shiny and had the addition of a sparkly cape completed the ensemble. Even when most people had started the switch over to dull and darker clothing to avoid attracting zombies, Yuga still clung tightly to his style, even if it made him a beacon to everything in a ten-mile radius.

            Yuga’s Quirk was Naval Laser, a sparkly beam of energy shot right out of his belly button. He wore a belt to harness the energy and to stop it from leaking out which it apparently did. Yuga could single-handedly wipe out hordes of zombies on his own, the only issue he was encountering was getting the beam to the right intensity to do that. He just didn’t have the stamina to keep the beam up at that intensity long enough to be effective. Izuku was willing to wager he’d only be able to cut through a horde three zombies thick with his beam before burning out. So, after figuring out the Quirk wasn’t going to get better faster, they were now tinkering with the belt. Izuku had several variants sitting on the table next to him as he recorded the results of each. The target was a conductive alloy Yuga wasn’t going to melt right away and had been hooked up with sensors to track the energy output and focus of the beam. One variant was a shotgun belt, which split the laser in a variety of directions. They quickly found it ineffective.

            After twenty seconds of firing, Yuga’s laser started to flicker. Izuku hit the timer and called out. “Twenty seconds of consistent fire. Good job, you can take a break.”

            Yuga let out a breath and relaxed, walking over to the table and grabbing a bottle of water. He looked slightly nauseous, but he was handling it well. Izuku wrote down the results and checked the tablet displaying the readings from the target and noted them down as well. His phone buzzed in his pocket, a simple smartphone he’d found and repurposed for himself. It had a few little tech upgrades here and there Nezu wouldn’t care too much about. They had to be really careful these days about what resources he used while Nezu was keeping an eye on them.

            He gave the phone a quick check and pocketed it again. Mei was on her break again and was throwing ideas at him. She was on the other side of the shop, a solid wall between them so soundproofed he barely registered the explosions. They shared the space but kept their projects separate. Izuku’s stuff was more fragile, and every explosion Mei set off would set him back to square one. They still helped each other; it was a requirement of being shop partners.

            “That your lover, monsieur?” Yuga inquired; he still had a bit of a French accent with his Japanese. He’d been in the country long enough to start adopting a Japanese accent, just a bit longer and he’ll start sounding like a native. He took a seat and deep gulps of water.

            Izuku gave him a critical look. There is suddenly a lot of people interested in his love life. “No. What makes you think that?”

            “Many folks are curious.” Yuga admitted. “Gentlemen like yourself must certainly be a lady-killer, non?”

            “I wish.” Izuku scoffed.

            “Very well.” Yuga seemed unsure on how to proceed from there, so dropped it. “How did I do this time?”

            Izuku flipped the pages to last weeks results. “Better than last. How did the belt feel?”

            Yuga checked the belt and shifted a bit. “Feels better than the others and my original one. I like it.”

            “Good, place it in the box. Mei will have a look at it later, see what tweaking needs to be done. Let’s try this one here.” Izuku picked up another one of the belts and handed it to him. “Different focusing lens and a much tighter beam.”

            “In a moment,” Yuga patted his stomach. “My tummy is starting to hurt.”

            “Please don’t say tummy.”

            There was a twinkle of humour in Yuga’s eyes. He switched the belts and continued with his break as Izuku finished taking down some notes and glancing at the tablet. This work was something more aligned to his profession, but it was still being like a Quirk doctor. Now instead of helping kids who just had their Quirks activate, he was helping gear up heroes with better equipment for the apocalypse.

            After Katsuki had introduced Izuku to Mei and they got working on his motivator project, he was able to hide it from Nezu for about two weeks. In that time with Mei’s access to resources and Momo’s Quirk, he’d been able to make a couple of motivators for the designated farming area inside UA. The Meta who had the ability to speed up crop growth could only affect a small area and boost them for two hours a day. Izuku had been pleased to be able to keep the motivators running consistently with their Quirk and produce a healthy harvest in only a couple of days. Unlike their origins, the motivators only needed power to function and they could work around the clock if need be for an undetermined amount of time they’d yet to encounter. It brought the food shortage to an end, and with the hunters bringing in game from outside, they were hopefully on track to having a food supply to get them through the winter.

            Nezu on the other hand, had not been too pleased. Not only to learn Izuku had gone behind his back, but others too and used valued resources to do it. Their goal had been to show his motivators in action and the potential they had for the campus, only Nezu treated it like a betrayal of his trust, which it sort of was. But the only reason they had done it was because he carried a grudge against Quirkologists and Izuku felt he could have helped the campus. Nezu had been the only thing stopping him.

            Nezu did appreciate the boost in their food supply, but he still dished out some punishment. Mei now did not have unlimited access to resources, both she and Izuku had to get approval for their inventions with Maijime (AKA: Power-loader), or from the rat himself. Momo, who was already feeling the pressure of giving everything she could to UA, was now monitored to make sure she didn’t make anything outside of campus requirements. All for her health and safety as Nezu had put it. Izuku had apologized profusely to both of them. They’d lost some freedom, and he’d been elevated from working at the clinic to a shop with Mei. It didn’t feel like a fair trade-off, and sometimes he wished he’d just shut his mouth and kept doing what he was told. But who knows where they would be now without the motivators ending the food shortage.

            Izuku looked up from his notepad. “Mind if I ask you a question?”

            Yuga smiled. “It’s what you do.”

            “What does it feel like having a Quirk?” Izuku asked.

            Yuga blinked, puzzled. “Why do you ask?”

            “Just curious.” Izuku fiddled with his pen. “You don’t have to answer.”

            “Have you asked others?”

            “Yes, but it’s different for everyone. I don’t mean to pry if it’s personal.”

            “No, no, it’s quite alright.” Yuga thought it over for a second. “It’s like I got a second bladder.”

            Izuku did his best not snort at the description. “I have never heard someone describe it that way.”

            “But it is.” Yuga reiterated. “If you really think about it, my Quirk is like a bladder. It leaks sometimes too, but my belt stops that from happening.”

            Izuku nodded, though he was wondering if this was too much detail to give out. “Too?”

            Yuga ignored him. “I never have too much power, and when I fire my laser, my tummy hurts.” Izuku groaned at the use of the word, but Yuga continued. “If I try to push it, I get nauseous, so I got to watch how much I use it. But like muscles, I can extend my endurance with training.”

            Izuku nodded, one finger tapping the notepad, then started writing down notes. “Thank you for that, Yuga, I really appreciate it.”

            “It was no problem for me, Ami.”

            Izuku was going to have to learn French if he was going to continue conversing with Yuga. He grabbed the tablet and stared at the readings. “I was wondering if there would be something you’d be okay with doing.”

            “Yuga looked up curiously. “What is it?”

            Izuku handed him the tablet. “The device you’ve been using as a target. You know it was to measure your energy output to see if it dropped off at all while using these belts.”

            “Yes, that’s how you explained them to me.” Yuga chuckled. “Be a shame to kill a zombie with less than lethal energy, non?”

            “Yeah, well I got curious and me and Mei did some modifications.” Izuku stated. “Based on the readings I was getting, we decided to rig the target to convert your laser into power.” He reached down and tapped the tablets screen and the numbers it displayed. “From what I’m seeing here, and perhaps further refining the methods, you could be our next new power source.”

Chapter Text

Now

            Izuku watched the distant horde of zombies through his binoculars. He’d stopped the truck several blocks away. The hordes sudden appearance was an unwelcome sight, walking right in the middle of the path he needed to take to Nagano. In the direction the zombies were heading were gunshots, car horns, and loud music playing on some massive speakers. Stain was on the other side of the truck, observing the area with his own binoculars, he wasn’t just watching the horde, but the windows and roofs of nearby buildings.

            Eri poked her head out of the backseat window. “What’s going on?”

            “Someone’s pruning the horde.” Stain said. “It’s a large one, not sure who’s doing it.”

            “Pruning?”

            Pruning a horde was a common tactic when directing a zombie horde to another location. The tactic originated from UA, something Izuku had participated in before the method became routine everywhere else. It was by far the best method of moving hordes.

            To prune a horde, you get things that make a lot of noise like these folks were doing, plan a route to take and a location to leave the dead. Then get friends, and friends with lots of friends and guns, and just start making noise. When you got the hordes attention, you can pick out the more active and powerful zombies hidden amongst them. At UA, they had Snipe and other marksmen on rooftops, guns equipped with suppressors so the zombies didn’t get sidetracked, and pick off troublesome zombies and lead the rest away. It was also great for small survivor groups to deter hordes from their settlements and safe places, or clear them out of someplace advantageous. Izuku wondered if UA still did things like this. Before he left, it had been pointed out they possessed enough powers and weapons to wipe out a horde completely. They never tried it; too much work and resources would be involved if they were to do it, and Nezu wouldn’t allow that.

            Izuku scanned behind the horde into the distance where they were coming from, it took him a moment to identify a building. He pointed it out to the others. “There’s a stadium over there. Someone must have finally decided to clear it out.”

            Stadiums were great places to build settlements. They already had high walls and lots of space inside to build a few structures. Better yet were the few entrances there were and could be blocked off. Why they hadn’t been a refuge in the early days was because of the governments efforts to contain the undead. They sent teams out to places like these to flip on some speakers at full volume and draw in the horde. Then call in an airstrike and blow the damn thing up. Some planes didn’t arrive, leaving lots of zombies in those stadiums. Whoever was drawing them out had guts.

            “We’ve been spotted.” Stain alerted them.

            Turning around, Izuku spotted the truck rolling up behind them. Same brand as the one he drove, built at Westside and modified to the owner’s preference. Painted the same dull grey brushed on instead of sprayed. Electric vehicles were a huge boon these days being able to go anywhere and not attract a horde like gas powered cars. Finding a place to plug in was a harder though. Anyone who could afford one got them. They did have shorter range during the winter as the, but that wasn’t a problem since a tree could outrun a bunch of frozen zombies.

            The truck stopped right beside them. There were two people, one in the driver seat, another manning the turret in the back with a huge gun. Izuku didn’t know what kind of firearm it was, he wasn’t a gun nut. But it looked like it would tear through them and his truck in seconds if the gunner felt inclined to do so. Thankfully all the gunner was settling for was a suspicious look and kept the gun pointed forward. Izuku didn’t know how fast that thing could swing around, but all the same, he didn’t want to give them a reason.

            The driver rolled down the passenger window and leaned to look at Izuku. The driver reached up to their shirt collar and pulled it aside to show a scar from a bite wound. Izuku slowly raised his arms, pulling back one of the sleeves to show his scars, two bite marks overlapping each other and a patch of healed burnt tissue. The Quirkless community was really thriving these days. It was common knowledge they were immune to the virus and survivors often associated them with being trustworthy, mainly because they were one less person to worry about being infected. Revealing their scars, if they had them, had become a sort of greeting. They had an easier time moving between settlements and other groups of survivors.

            Although, there was one group that took things a little… differently. The crazy sons of bitches in the northern region who called themselves the Human Reclamation. A pure Quirkless faction who’s initiation consisted of them sticking the arm of any survivor - with no obvious Quirk mutations - into a cage with a zombie. They’d either live or die, and the living would be graciously welcomed into the fold. The newly infected were impaled on stakes outside their compounds. Yep, with about ten or so percent of humanity still remaining, the fucked-up crazy son’s of bitchers were still alive.

            Izuku rolled his sleeve back up. “I’m not looking for trouble, just admiring the horde you got yourselves there.”

            “Biggest in the city by our reckoning.” Collar guy said. “We blocking your path, friend?”

            “The zombies are.” Izuku looked back at the horde. “Where are you taking them anyway?”

            “You know the hero, Burnin?” When Izuku nodded and the driver continued. “She and her gang got this pit at the edge of the city where they dump the dead and burn them. We plan to take them there.”

            “Must be a big hole. Is she not worried about an uncontrolled fire?”

            “Nope.”

            “Could you perhaps share the route you’re using?” He saw the gunner narrow his eyes a little more. “I don’t want to end up running into you folks again. I got places to be.”

            Collar guy nodded. He reached into his jacket pockets, making Izuku tense up for a second, but he produced a map instead of a weapon and unfolded it. He showed it to Izuku, finger tracing the red line marking the roads. “We plan to take them through here by the hospital. We got other crews attracting more hordes nearby. We’re gathering as many as we can and getting them out of the city.”

            “You’re sure that’s wise?” Izuku asked. “You’d be setting up opportunities for rival gangs or other hostile groups to move into that free space.”

            “People are actually more peaceful when you got room.” The gunner said. “Space is free. These days everyone is turning what space they got into bountiful harvests.”

            “I’ll leave it to you folks to decide.” Izuku nodded. “Thank you, and good luck with your horde.”

            “Good luck with your trip.” Collar guy spotted Eri peaking her head out from the backseat of Izuku’s truck. “Say, if you’re all looking for a place to stay, we got plenty of room. We always accept families, doesn’t matter who or where you came from, we watch each other’s back.”

            “That’s nice of you.” Izuku said. “I’ll have to think over your offer. For now, I got some business to attend to.”

            “I understand. Safe travels.” Collar guy rolled up his window and the truck took back down the road.

            Izuku walked back to his truck. “If I could have more interactions like that where guns didn’t need to be drawn, I’d think I’d stand this world a little better.”

            “They’re too friendly.” Stain grumbled, climbing back into the passenger seat.

            “Best kinds of fools you could ask for.” Izuku pointed out. “They’re at least willing to try and make life a little decent these days.”

            With a few corrections and a turn around, they were back on the road to Nagano. Izuku drove while Stain consulted the map. It was a lot of guesswork and using a compass. They’d stopped a couple of times to make sure they were going the right way. Street and road signs were missing, and the ones still up were graffitied or so faded they couldn’t tell what had been originally on them.

            “Someday I dream of a world where we got proper road navigation.” Izuku said.

            “You don’t have a GPS in this thing?” Stain looked at him. “You got internet, but no GPS?”

            “Yeah, I got a GPS.” Izuku pointed at the map he was holding. “Where’s our next turn, oh great lord of roads?”

            “Unbelievable.” Stain grumbled and went back to staring at the map.

            “What’s a GPS?” Eri asked.

            Oh right, Eri hadn’t actually experienced the old world before the zombies. He needed to make a list of things to catch her up on, like good books and movies. She was already advancing in her reading skills, he needed to find more literature.

            “Global position system.” Izuku answered and pointed at the sky. “A series of satellites in space help pinpoint your exact location on the planet. Everyone uses them.”

            “Except this guy.” Stain flipped the map over, scrutinizing it and checking the compass.

            “Can’t say I’m all that eager about letting a satellite know where I am.” Izuku glanced at the map.

            “Are you one of those tinfoil hat conspiracy theorists?”

            “No, I got different reasons to distrust them.” Izuku turned down another street Stain indicated they should go. Only to find there was rubble in the way and he backed out. “Besides, I worked with a map so often, I don’t need a GPS.”

            “Well, we appear to be lost.” Stain said.

            “No shit, Sherlock. You’re holding the map, not me.”

            Stain glared at him. For a second, Izuku wondered if he was going to stab him.

            Eri giggled. “You guys argue a lot.”

            Izuku gave her a bright smile in the rearview mirror. He tried to show positive feedback when she was happy, things like laughter didn’t come easy to her. “How’s Leo doing back there?”

            “He’s asleep.” She reached over and gave the dog a few pets on the head. Leo didn’t stir when she touched him, and she noticed. “He usually wakes up when I pet him.”

            “That’s a good, he usually gets carsick. Sleep is good.”

            “I told you not to bring him.” Stain grumbled, once again flipping the map over.

            “Are you seriously having trouble with the map? I thought you traveled a lot.”

            “I’m trying to help you get this hunk of junk to Nagano. Without it, we’d already be halfway there.”

            “How do you get around then?”

            “North.” Stain pointed north and then others. “East, South, West. Got something in my way, I climb it. Something trying to eat me, I kill it. I don’t need to memorize street signs; just give me a landmark I can see and I can find my way around.”

            Eventually they were back on the highway, going the right way. Stain looked at the position of the sun and checked his watch. Izuku squinted at it, trying to make out the time. Stain said. “We got another hour or two of sunlight, hopefully we’re in Nagano before then. This should have been a two-hour trip.”

            “Between detours and bad roads, maybe four.” Izuku said. “We also left pretty late in the day.”

            Stain gave him another glare. “Whose fault was that?”

            “I just needed to get a few things squared away before we left.” Izuku shrugged. “Scientific research doesn’t have a pause button.”

            Stain rolled his eyes and pointed up at a road ahead. “Turn left.”

            ---

            They hit another block in their road about halfway to Nagano passing through a forest section. A small group of zombies shuffling down the road away from them. For a minute, Izuku had considered just driving the truck right through them at full speed. Even though the truck had kicked a rock zombies’ ass, he didn’t want to risk hitting something that would stop the truck and leave them in the middle of a zombie pack. Plus driving blind through a horde is always a recipe for disaster. So, he and Stain got out the suppressed .22 semi-automatic rifles from the back and got in some target practice. He’d parked close enough to the horde they didn’t register them as they took positions and started picking them off. Occasionally they’d look around, making sure nothing was sneaking up behind them. Izuku called Leo and the dog bolted upright and became their lookout.

            “You remember when zombies were an issue?” Izuku asked, rocking in a new magazine and braced the rifle on the open door.

            Stain paused his firing to give him a weird look. “They are an issue.”

            “Yeah, if you let them catch up to you, or you don’t know what you’re doing, or they got some pretty serious power with them.” Izuku lined up his sight and put a round through the noggin of a zombie with purple glowing hands flying around them. The hands disappeared instantly. “I remember I was put with a team back in UA, ran into a zombie that conjured a volcano in the middle of the city. That was something you don’t see everyday.”

            “I saw that on my way there.” Stain nodded. “What’s your point?”

            Izuku set the rifle down for a moment. “Nowadays, most everyone knows how to deal with them. Such as earlier with the group luring that horde. When it gets cold, the dead slow down or freeze altogether. Winter is prime time for killing zombies. Actually, thinking about it now, we’ve only run into two groups of these assholes on our way to Nagano. Feels like things are slowly winding down.”

            “Say that now and I guarantee things will get worse.” Stain warned him. “The group who took out Tokyo must have used those herding techniques to draw in a large number of zombies and set them on the city.”

            “You ever find out who did that?”

            “Only rumours of it being some gang of raiders, nothing concrete.”

            “That seems to be our only issues these days. The human element.” Izuku fired another round and watched the zombie crumple to the ground. “Humans and what they choose to do with their dead.”

            Stain sighed. “Things look good here, but there are now millions of zombies in Tokyo. Between all the survivors in this region of Japan, they have drastically thinned out the numbers in this area over the years. But what if whoever led that horde decides to take it here?”

            “Then we’re screwed.”

            “Right.” Stain leaned against the door, thinking. “How many people lived in Japan before this?”

            “Before?” Izuku glanced at their surroundings. “General population was going down in the twenty-first century. After the emergence of Quirks and the… adjustment to the new lifestyle-”

            “People killing each other senselessly over powers till they were normalized.” Stain remarked.

            “Right. I heard we were just now getting our population numbers back up. Probably two hundred and fifty million give or take. It’s what I heard on the radio anyway.” Izuku thought it over some more. “When the infection started and entire cities were lost to the undead, the government firebombed half the country to control the spread. I don’t know how many were killed but…” He eyed the small group in front of them.

            “Numbers aren’t adding up?” Stain asked.

            “Well, we could always ask the zombies to do a census.” Izuku quipped and fired another shot into a poor undead bastard’s head. “Thing is, we might never know. Maybe if we could get the survivors to cooperate and give us a headcount, we could subtract the total from the pre-fall total and have our answer.”

            “I find it weird.” Stain said. “When I’m moving around, I see fewer and fewer zombies every year. But I don’t see any bodies. If people were gathering the dead and burning them, there would be times the skies were choked with ash.”

            “Zombies hordes do migrate.” Izuku pointed out. “Randomly of course. But perhaps they’re instinctually moving south to warmer climates.”

            Stain paused. “Zombies can’t swim, can they?”

            “Oh god, I hope not.” Izuku laughed, the noise caught the attention of the zombies, but at this point, there wasn’t really enough of them. Still, he stopped. “Maybe the amphibious ones, sure. But I don’t know what to make of there being less dead, seems more like a good thing if you ask anyone else.”

            “Anyone else?” Stain gave him a questioning look. “You want the zombies here?”

            “No.” Izuku said. “Call me a fool, but I still got hopes there’s a way to cure this virus.”

            Stain shook his head, scowling, he picked up the pace with his shooting and the bodies kept dropping. They were seeing past the zombies now. Izuku glanced inside at Eri. She had her head pressed against the back of the passenger seat, looking like a typical impatient kid. She’d been loading the magazines as they talked and shoot, but she looked ready to move on. Izuku bet that was the same look he’d have when his mother ran into a friend at the supermarket.

            “You want a turn, Eri?” Izuku gestured to the rifle. “We’re almost done.”

            “I just want to go.” Eri whined.

            “Isn’t she a little young to be killing zombies?” Stain asked.

            “Are you serious?” Izuku stepped around and patted the front bumper of the truck. He’d still yet to work out the dent. “A few weeks ago, she absolutely demolished a rock zombie with my truck. Saved my life too while she was at it. Plus, aren’t you the one who said she should come along and face the dangers of the world and all that?”

            “I did.” Stain fired again. “Killing, even if it’s the walking dead, still takes its toll. Different than just seeing and understanding, it’s an act. Kids should still get to be kids.”

            “They should.” Izuku frowned, recalling a certain somebody who’d taken her childhood away. “Life just doesn’t agree.”

Chapter Text

Now

            Finding the Tengu settlement in Nagano was quite easy, given there were massive dense smoke stacks in the distance, indicating a settlement with a capable industrial base. Mostly that was settlements melting down all sorts of metals and alloys to ship to UA. In fact, Izuku bet there was in increase in forges and smelteries to create the ingots UA desired. Anyone could take in a load of scrap to UA and trade it in, but it was higher in value if they already did the work of melting it down.

            As they were driving in, Izuku had been debating on how to approach things. He couldn’t just walk in, even if he passed the interview process. Several heroes had deserted UA and joined the Tengu, and that could still be a trend. The last thing he needed was to be recognized and captured, or worse, word getting back to UA and they pick up the trail again. At one point there had been a bounty for him, and he wagered it may have increase in price over time and there may also be one from the Shie Hassaikai.

            Stain had done a bit of scouting of their defences, and he said they consisted of mainly human guards with a few automated turrets. Like he had said, there wasn’t a way to sneak in without killing some guards. That wasn’t worth the trouble it would be down the road; the Tengu really, really didn’t take shit from anyone. In fact, from the numbers they were seeing now that they had the settlement in their sights, it was possible the Tengu was on high alert due to some hostile activity that had taken place recently. There were a couple sections of the wall that looked to have been hastily repaired and extra guards positioned around it. Sneaking in wasn’t just off the table, it had been ripped to shreds and tossed into a fire.

            Stain was pressing hard on the ideas that involved killing or mass slaughter. His hero killing days didn’t stop with the apocalypse. Mention heroes and the psychopath got a hate boner. Izuku stopped bringing up the matter because the man had recited his beliefs of a true hero way too many times. Probably wouldn’t be surprised if he did kill a couple of heroes while he’d been at UA, the cryptic bastard. Stain would have a better chance getting into Tengu if he used his Quirk and paralyzed people to take the sting out with murder. But then where would he hide them and how long would they be paralyzed? They knew nothing about the layout inside and it would just keep getting complicated the longer they took.

            Good thing is, Memo Chaura wasn’t a resident here. The only reason they were thinking of going in was to talk with the person she’d been contacting, someone by the name of Camie Utsushimi according to the post online. If they could talk to her, somehow convince her they were relatives of Memo, they could then know her whereabouts and go find her. After much discussion though, that also did not seem likely to succeed.

            So, they finally settled on just watching the gates. There were five of them, heavily armoured and guarded. Raiders could take a battering ram to them for weeks and never get through. Izuku had brought along enough supplies in the case he either needed them or could trade them for information. It would last them a week splitting between the four of them, and they all just hoped Memo showed up before they ran out.

            Izuku parked the truck inside an abandoned building, a hole blown through the side let him drive the truck inside. The place had already been picked clean by scavengers, and being so close to Tengu, there might not be many stragglers to worry about. Still, he covered over the hole with vines and set up tripwires to alert him should someone walk through any of the entrances. The building had a great view of two of the gates from its position, and since Stain was the sneakier of them, he’d go watch the other three. The Tengu managed the communications in the area, and he could easily piggyback off their systems for a longer range, but that could lead to eavesdropping if someone was monitoring the traffic. So, they stuck to the short range radios he’d brought.

            Eri helped when she could. She’d grab a pair of binoculars and watch the gates while Izuku prepped some meals, which were just MRE’s he’d found and kept for cases like this. Had he known how awful they were he would have thrown them into a lake if he had anything else edible. Sometimes he’d quiz Eri while they watch the gates, trying his best to give her a basic education. But mostly she just played with Leo and read the picture books she packed for the trip.

            Three days passed, Izuku was having another MRE while sitting on the second floor of the building in a lawn chair and watching the gates. He’d thought the MRE’s were a good thing, but whoever invented these had something against humanity and their colons. Thankfully hot sauce was a solution and he poured that shit on like it would cure the lung cancer forming in his chest and dug in. He deeply wished for a bowl of homemade Katsudon, just like his mother used to make.

            Movement by one of the gates caught his eye and he stopped chewing and grabbed the binoculars. The gates were opening and the guards were on high alert. Once the gate was open enough, three beefed up Semi-trucks rolled out with an escort of four Humvees, two leading from the front, two following from the back. All of them were coated in that awful gray paint and a colourful winged creature painted on the hood. Two of the trucks were hauling flatbed trailers loaded down with huge bars of freshly refined metal, poorly covered with tarps. The third had a box trailer, he couldn’t see what was inside, but he had a feeling he knew what it was.

            He grabbed his radio and squeezed the transmission button. “Stain, one of the east gates got a convoy leaving the premises. Appears loaded down with cargo heading south-east. Looks like a routine delivery of metals and electronics.”  Izuku zoomed in with the binoculars as the gates closed. There wasn’t much to glimpse in there besides more guards. “It’s likely heading to UA. You hear why they needed so much metal while you were there?”

            “I always assumed it was for their wall.” Stain admitted. “I saw piles of metal in some places and warehouses full of electronics. They got a well-established industrial base going. Don’t you know since you were there for some time?”

            “I haven’t the slightest clue.” Izuku said. “Nezu started this whole arrangement with other settlements during one of the first expansion projects UA undertook. The metal I get, lots of applications. The electronics, not so much. He just stores them, not really doing anything with them. He’s trading a lot of food, weapons, and other supplies for this junk. UA didn’t have the capabilities of keeping up with the influx of material before.”

            He could imagine Stain shrugging on the other end. “The wall make sense. Reuse old circuitry for their turrets and metal to make the walls.”

            “Maybe.” Izuku watched the convoy disappear around a corner. “But they don’t have to make the walls entirely out of metal, it’s too expensive. Cement and rebar work just fine, it’s what they’ve been doing since the first expansion, the turrets make sure nothing gets close to lay a hand on the barrier. So, all this metal doesn’t make sense to me.”

            “Is it going to be a problem for us presently?” Stain asked.

            Izuku sighed. “No.”

            “Then get back on task. We’re not here to worry about UA and their metal harvesting.”

            “I know. It’s just… Tokyo was the last semblance of humanity who could oppose them. Now they’re gone and I’m a bit worried what that means for the rest of us.”

            “What can UA do? Take over the world?” Stain snorted. “They can have all the zombies they want.”

            “True.”

            Still, it was odd. UA still had Momo with them to make things. Of course, Nezu liked to think long term and get UA’s industry up to snuff before anything fatal happened to her. But all that metal couldn’t just be for building industrial complexes, there had to be something else to it. He wouldn’t trade so many resources for an overabundance of junk.

            Hours passed till night fell. Izuku turned his mind to other things, and one of them was wondering if he should take the risk and walk into Tengu. Then Stain suddenly spoke from the radio.

            “I got activity.” Stain said.

            Izuku picked up the radio. “Where?”

            “North gate. I see a lone figure walking up to it. They’re cloaked, armed with a bow, and appear nervous.”

            “Is it Memo?”

            “Maybe. I’m going to get close to see.”

            “Don’t scare them off if you can manage.” Izuku got up and found Eri asleep in her sleeping bag with Leo curled up beside her. He shook them both awake and gestured for them to get down to the truck.

            “I’m not getting that close,” Stain said, sounding somewhat offended at being told what to do. “The gate guards are watching, and they got some serious looking rifles if you’ve been paying attention.”

            Eri and Leo jumped into the backseat of the truck while Izuku disarmed the alarm in front of the hole. He took a quick peak outside to make sure the streets were clear before climbing into the driver seat.

            “Gates are opening.” Stain spoke again. “A blonde woman came out carrying a backpack. She’s contacting the figure. I’m getting close to see if I can overhear what they’re saying.”

            “What’s going on?” Eri asked.

            Izuku shushed her and waited the next few minutes for Stain to update him. This had to be Memo, it had to be. Or maybe this wasn’t the only person who visits the Tengu. Maybe while he’s been ready to go, Memo is walking up to the gates he’d been watching and doing her trade off and he won’t know because he’s sitting in his truck waiting for one person to tell him if they got her or not.

            “It’s Memo.” Stain reported and Izuku internally sighed in relief. “The blond I assume is Camie, and she’s walking back to the Tengu with a different bag. They made some kind of exchange. I’m tailing Memo now.”

            “On my way.” Izuku put the truck into drive and exited the building.

            “Keep your distance.” Stain warned him. “She’s observant of her surroundings. Let me tail her for a bit, maybe she’s got a hideout somewhere. We can’t spook her and have her running off. You waited three days already; you can wait a couple more hours and not rush things into disaster.”

            “Understood.” Izuku eased up on the accelerator. “Try to stay in signal range, relay landmarks where you can so I can keep up.”

            “Will do.”

            Izuku felt a smile split his face and resisted the urge to whoop in early victory. They had a regenerator in the crosshairs. Capture her and he was one step closer. Just had to keep his cool and not scare her off. Simple.

Chapter Text

Now

            The post had been right, Memo was unstable, probably very much insane. Couple times Stain reported she was randomly muttering to herself, suspecting she had a radio on her at first, but parsed out some of the things as her just talking to herself. Stain wasn’t missing the chance to make a comparison to a certain scientist he knew, and Izuku restrained telling him off since a child was present who needed a good role model. Memo was also paranoid, really fucking paranoid. Izuku was staying almost at the edge of their signal range with Stain because she doubled back, went around in circles, and took unpredictable routes through the city. She even disappeared into a building for a time and it took Stain a few minutes to catch sight of her again. Finally, he radioed in she’d stopped someplace that looked to be her current safehouse.

            Izuku followed his directions and parked the truck a few blocks away in an alley. The area looked void of any kind of life, not even nature had tried to reclaim this place yet. That was good, right now he needed things to go smoothly tonight, a horde of zombies would be trouble he didn’t need. He reached into the center console and withdrew a suppressed .45 pistol and a couple of magazines and passed them over to Eri.

            “Just in case something happens while I’m gone.” Izuku said. “Leo will stay with you in the truck.”

            “Alright.” Eri took the pistol nervously and checked it over like he’d taught her. Finally pulling back the slide to check a bullet was in the chamber.

            He doubted she would actually use it. Besides hitting the zombie with his truck, she had yet to actually kill a zombie. Even that one time had looked to be too much for her. Thanks, Chisaki for imparting all that trauma, yah prick.

            He handed her a radio. “Use this to contact us in case of emergencies, if it’s something you can’t handle, call it in, I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

            She nodded hesitantly. “Okay.”

            “No need to be nervous.” Izuku gave her a reassuringly smile. “Everything will be alright.”

            A moment later Stain appeared in front of the truck, waving a hand to get their attention. Izuku stepped out, checking his surroundings one more time before shutting the door. He pressed a finger to his ear radio, “Eri, can you do a radio check for me?”

            “Radio check.” Eri said, her voice speaking clearly through the radio.

            Izuku went to the back of the truck and pulled out a bag, retrieving two gas powered dart rifles, both custom made. He passed one to Stain when he approached with a bandolier of green feathered tail darts. Izuku put on his own, his holding three darts with purple tails.

            Izuku held up one of the green darts. “These are tranquilizers, they’re a potent mix for someone with her abilities. I’m hoping it puts her out with just one.”

            Stain nodded, “Or I could just paralyze her.”

            “Go for it if you can, I’m just giving us options.” Izuku loaded the dart into the rifle and slung it over his shoulder. “What did she have for weapons?”

            “Definitely a bow.” Stain asked, inspecting his own rifle. “Could have a pistol on her person somewhere, and knives. She wore a cloak so it made it difficult to pick out anything. Of course, there could be more stored away in her safehouse. How do you want to approach this?”

            “She’s got a home court advantage.” Izuku said. “We don’t know how long she’s been out here or what traps she could have placed. She may know the area better than us since she’s demonstrated her paranoia. Course, you could have a better chance sneaking in since you walk around like a damn yurei.”

            Stain nodded, a small smile indicating pride in his skill. “If she is a regenerator, why are we using darts instead of bullets? A bullet to a head could easily put her out like a light instead of these darts, and she’d recover from gunshots.”

            “The Quirk registrar didn’t give a lot of details about her Quirk.” Izuku explained. “Yurichi for example has a long history of workplace injuries he’s recovered from and one car accident. All of which was included in his file for reference of what injuries his Quirk could handle. With the virus boosting his Quirk, I estimated he could survive a shot to the head, which he did. He did not survive a rock fist pulverizing his skull, however.”

            “You mentioned that already.”

            “Right. Memo, on the other hand, doesn’t have an extensive history with her Quirk. People with regenerative abilities don’t often feel the need to test their limits. I have no idea how much damage she can take before her Quirk just quits. So, because of that and my desire not to run around the country for another regenerator, I want to do this safely as we can without any risk to either party. Maybe she can survive a gunshot to the head, maybe not. I am too tired to find out right now. Okay?”

            Stain raised both hands, backing off. “Point taken. Let’s go then.”

            As they were walking away, Stain tapped on the backdoor glass to get Eri’s attention and wave at her, giving her a smile. It was not a smile that was usually warm and friendly, more like a crazed killer finding their prey. Stain probably didn’t know any other kind of smile. Eri still waved back, though Izuku bet she’d ask him later if Stain was upset with her. The hero killer was strangely warming up to the kid.

            Memo’s hideout was a small shop on the corner of a street. Great place to hide and have a view of the roads. Most places already had the lower windows boarded up from the owners attempting to protect their property, they either died or abandoned their shops to join the other survivors in established communities. So, this shop looked just like any other place. The second floor of the shop wasn’t boarded up, but some had blackout curtains instead. Another set of curtains stood a couple feet from the windows so the resident could peer out without leaking any light out to the world. Garbage was strewn about outside to add to the abandoned feeling the building gave and probably hide some traps. Izuku went through a mental checklist of ways he’d set up the shop as a safehouse.

            “Doors are probably locked and booby-trapped.” Izuku whispered to Stain as he laid down in the rubble of a building across the street from Memo’s. “If I were her, I’d have something loud to alert me should someone try getting in through the doors, perhaps a shotgun trap.”

            Stain scowled. “Yeah, I’ve seen those before. But if she’s got traps too loud, then she has to worry about drawing in zombies. Spike traps and tripwires are more common and quiet. Cans filled with rocks set to drop or bells are a better alarm system.”

            “True.” Izuku muttered. “I wonder why she’s so paranoid. She’s not too far from a walled community, she’d be a hell of a lot safer in there.”

            “I can easily think of many reasons.” Stain said. “Mistrust of others for instance. She seems to have some kind of bond with Camie, enough she’s willing to travel to see her and trade goods. Or they just don’t want to let her in on account of her insanity, she could pose a threat to the inhabitants.”

            “Yeah, that might do it. So, how do you want to do this?”

            “I think-” Stain started to say then froze, eyes fixed on the building beside Memo’s hideout. Then he stood, unsheathing his sword and slicing it through the air in a single motion. The halves of an arrow shaft clattered to the ground in front of Izuku’s face.

            “Holy shit!” Izuku scrambled back and rolled aside, eyes searching their surroundings. He saw a pair of eyes and a bow standing in the shadows of one of the windows in the building next to Memo’s. He took aim with his rifle and fired off a dart. It stuck in the edge of the window and Memo ducked into cover. “How did she know?”

            “Did you forget the trip she led us on?!” Stain exclaimed. “Paranoid, really fucking paranoid!”

            Izuku got to his feet, hands shakily loading another dart into the rifle. Memo popped back into view, releasing another arrow and narrowly missing his shoulder. It still made him drop the dart and run to cover while cursing. She nocked another one in the split of a second the way an expert bowman would and fired at Stain who deflected the arrow with his sword. He sprinted forwards, one leg stepped in a pile of trash and triggered one of her traps, a board with nails jutting out sprang up to stab his kidneys. Thankfully he acted fast and sliced the wood before it could stab him, the top half fell to the side and he kept moving. Meanwhile, Izuku was loaded one of the purple darts into the chamber. He leaned out, aiming the rifle up and pulled himself back in as an arrow skimmed his cheek. He felt the trickle of blood roll down his cheek.

            “Fuck this.” He said. This dart rifle wasn’t doing him much good.

            Drawing his suppressed pistol and fired several shots at the window. He made sure to aim low, going for body shots. The bullets struck the glass and one managed to hit her stomach. She’d been aiming at Stain, but his shot caused her next arrow to go wild and skip off the street before breaking against a wall. Stain hopped up on the wall, parkouring up to the window, dart rifle in hand and fired it from the hip. Izuku could hear the hiss and pop. A second later, Memo leapt out another window, the green feather dart from Stain sticking out of her shoulder.

            Izuku dropped his pistol and took aim with his dart rifle. He fired the purple dart into her chest as she landed. Memo feet gave out from under her as she hit pavement, but she was quick to stand up again. Stain had another dart in his rifle and fired right into the back of her neck. She staggered, eyes drooping. Izuku took the time to load another dart and ready himself to fire again. She took a staggering step, glared at him with white-hot rage, then fell flat on her face. Izuku waited a second for her to move, then picked up his pistol and stepped out of his hidey hole.

            “Is she out?” Stain asked from his place on the window.

            Izuku took a couple steps towards Memo, then shot her with another dart for good measure and reloaded. “Maybe. Come down here and give me a hand.”

            Pulling a bundle of zip-ties out of his back pocket, he grabbed Memo’s arms and secured them tightly behind her back. He took the time to take a good look at her face, making sure this really was who they were after. Camie’s photo of Memo had been someone with light blue scaly skin and reptilian features similar to an iguana. This was Memo, and when he turned her over to check the bullet wound, he could see it had already sealed shut. Always good to have a confirmation.

            Izuku looked up as Stain approached, retrieving another bundle of zip-ties from his back pocket and handing them to him. “You can bind her legs; I’ll check her for weapons.”

            Stain nodded and grabbed the bundle. He bound the arms another two times first though, because one could never know. When Stain went to bind her legs, Izuku shot him in the chest with the dart rifle. The hero killer had one second to look up in shock before his body lost all its strength and he crumpled to the ground unconscious.

            ---

            Stain awoke to find his arms and legs bound together around a support pillar in one of the buildings. It took a moment to shake the affects of the tranquilizers and take in his surroundings. Izuku sat in an old weathered chair next to a pile of Stain’s weapons. The scientist had stripped him of all his gear. He had his modified smartphone in hand tapping away at the screen, long wires going from it to something in his hand.

            Stain spotted Memo sitting up against a corner. She was still unconscious, but something didn’t look right about her. Vibrant blue skin had turned almost a pale grey. It took Stain another second to notice the veins nearly popping out of her skin, they were a sickly purple, one of the signs of an early infection from the zombie virus. How had she gotten bit?

            He glanced at Izuku. The man was distracted with his device, so Stain tried to strain against his restraints, see if he had any wiggle room to get out. But Izuku had tripled the number zip-ties on him compared to what Memo had and added duct-tape overtop of it. The movement caught Izuku’s attention and he looked up at Stain.

            “So, Stain,” Izuku raised a hand, showing him the new watch Stain had been wearing. Izuku let it dangle from two fingers and twisted it around to reveal the UA logo etched into the backside. “What did Nezu tell you?”

Chapter Text

Now

            Izuku waited a full minute for Stain to answer. As expected, the psychopath didn’t say anything. He’d had time to research what articles on Stain there were on the remains of the internet and study the man in person himself. Stain was a die-hard for his beliefs, honestly believing what he did before the fall of society to be true, and still carried it out at times after all humanity has been through. Stain had strived to make heroes answerable for their deceptions and selfishness, picking his targets well, and never saying an untrue word - or rather chose to stick with a delusional truth – because he sincerely believed hero society needed a reality check. But now, Stain had been caught and appeared he wasn’t even going to attempt lying his way out. Lying by omission was one thing, you can’t lie if you don’t say anything, but actively lying must be too painful for the infamous hero killer. Maybe Stain preferred silence rather than begging or making excuses, or better yet, he knew no matter what he said, it wouldn’t make a lick of difference in how this conversation went.

            Izuku swung the watch back and forth. “This is a single use long range transmitter, designed and built about the fourth year after the Collapse. UA equipped these with their scouts and Shinobi task force. To activate, they merely had to press the button on the side and hold it for five seconds.” He pointed to the indicated button on the crown of the timepiece. “They’re cheap, and easy to make without involving Yaoyorozu. It’s why Nezu liked them so much. He was infrugal with the small stuff, frugal with the big stuff. Or do I have that backwards? Hm… with him I could never tell.”

            Stain only stared. The funny thing was, Mei had been the one to come up with the watches at Nezu’s request. She had to repair and mass produce them, and since she had so many of them, she roped Izuku in to help her. He didn’t do much more than make a part here and put together a watch there. Nezu knew Izuku helped with those watches. He’d most likely given one to Stain as a message of sorts, a reminder they were still looking for him and that anyone close to Izuku could easily be turned against him. Although with Stain it was harder to judge who’s side he was on, other than his own.

            Izuku pointed to the diagnostic scan on his phone. “This one is still intact. Battery is still charged, and none of its components are fried like they usually are after use. This has me wondering what your plan was. Did you want to be sure you’d be able to run away, be far and gone from my lab when we got back with Memo? Analyzing her Quirk surely would have kept me occupied till a bunch of U.A.S.F. kicked down my front door. Maybe you were hoping to take Eri with you? Has to be why you were acting so warmly towards her recently. You only acted civil before, but now you’re attempting at being friendly. Possibly to make it easier to take her.”

            It’s how Izuku had done it when escaping the yakuza. Eri had tried to flee many times on her own, only to come running back. It was either Overhauls threats getting the better of her thoughts, his lackies tracking her down, or the zombies. It had taken a long time for him to convince her coming along with him would be safe. He needed to assure her safety and a whole lot of help getting distance between them and the Shie Hassaikai.

            Stain still didn’t say anything, only now he was glaring as if trying to kill Izuku by looks alone.

            “I’m positive this is a recent development.” Izuku said. “Because if you intended to betray me from the start, I would have had that rat kicking down my door soon after we met. You were just now wearing this fine piece after visiting that prestigious academy. So, what did Nezu say?”

            Stain broke eye contact for a second, glancing over at Memo. Izuku followed the look, realizing what must have been on his mind. “You’re not infected, if that’s what you’re worried about?”

            “How did she get infected?” Stain asked. Oh, so, the tranquilizer didn’t take away his ability to speak. Good.

            Izuku pulled out a cigarette and lit it. Stain’s face curled up in disgust, but Izuku really didn’t care. If he had to do a bunch of talking in order to goad Stain into giving him answers, then Izuku was going to be as petty as he could be.

            He took several puffs before speaking. “The purple darts held the virus; the green ones were the tranquilizers.”

            Stain’s glare upon hearing this grew even more intense. Izuku had figured if they hit her once with the tranquilizers and they didn’t take, she’d run. So, he planned to shoot her with the darts loaded with the virus. They then could have chased her through the city, if need be, till the virus took over and dumbed her down, making her easier to catch. Course it didn’t go that way, working out perfectly in his favour.

            Izuku met his glare. “I would have had to infect her anyway. It made no difference if I did it now or later.”

            “Nezu was right then, you were infecting people at UA.” Stain said.

            “Ah, so that’s it.” Izuku leaned forward, he was still well out of reach of Stain, and he could see his hands were still working against his restraints. Stain recoiled as Izuku blew a cloud of smoke into his face. “Were you conversing with Nezu before you went on your little errand to UA or was that the business you had there all along?”

            “I’ve had no interaction with Nezu prior to my business at UA. I dislike him and the frauds who serve him. I needed to know more, like what you were doing with them.” Stain nodded at Memo. “I was also curious at the extent of your history with UA, what had brought you to live in the wastes when they were much more established than everyone else. After concluding my business, I found the computer lab, like I said. The site I used to find Memo made me curious and I entered your name next. The only result was a bounty.”

            Izuku shook his head disapprovingly. “A month ago, I would have thought our partnership to be ironclad. No reward would have tested it. Oh, how wrong I was.”

            “It wasn’t what he was offering. My curiosity flagged Nezu and I was caught and taken to his office. There he told me all about you and your experiments.” Stain spat at the ground. “Even before that, as I walked the campus, I heard your name spoken among the inhabitants in both fear and hate.”

            “Really?” Izuku said, feeling a stab of irritation. “What were some of the things he said.”

            Stain paused, eyes narrowing. It was as if he was judging Izuku from a pedestal, ready to pass a sentence, as if he wasn’t the one who was tied to a pillar and Izuku held all the power. “You turned countless innocents into zombies for your own means, even your childhood best friend. You cut them apart and stuck them back together like dolls, performing more twisted experiments to further your knowledge of the virus in ways to benefit yourself.”

            Izuku raised an eyebrow at that and scoffed, keeping a neutral expression despite the anger rising inside him. “Of course. What else?”

            “You don’t deny it?”

            “Are you in a position to believe anything I could say in my defense?” Izuku asked. When Stain didn’t answer, he said, “What else was there?”

            “Your escape, the ‘Midoriya Incident’ the called it.” Stain continued. “You unleashed your experiments on campus, killing many innocent people to save your own hide. There’s a memorial where you broke down a section of their wall. You intentionally hacked into their security and shut it down, leaving them dead in the water. Then they said you harnessed the elements themselves to lay waste to the campus. All for what?”

            “I wasn’t looking to become a martyr.” Izuku scowled, blowing another puff of smoke into his face. “There was a lot on the line, more than you could understand. My only regret about that whole mess was that none of those deaths were the right ones.”

            Truth was, the whole thing with his escape had been sudden and improvised. He had prepared several means of an escape should it ever come to it, but it just so happened to be in a way he hadn’t prepared for. The key part was to have a lot of distractions for the heroes, and turning off the security around the campus had been a critical step in most of his plans, since the automated turrets would have locked on to him in seconds the moment he walked outside the walls and then there would have been nothing left of him but a vaporized cloud.

            Stain looked away, clearly upset at himself for getting into this predicament. “What is it all for? The experiments, Yurichi, Memo, the others you’ve taken? I had my doubts to some of the rumours, but seeing what you did to her.”  He nodded at Memo. “Why are you even doing any of it?”

            Izuku snorted. “You didn’t think any of this was a big deal before, going out and finding people for me? You didn’t even seem opposed to the idea of tranquilizing her.”

            Stain looked back at him. “Yurichi and the others were already dead, become zombies, not much use other than putting to rest. Memo is crazy, I thought maybe you’d collect samples and let her loose. I don’t know. I just wanted to see what you would do.”

            “The price of knowing was more than your sense of morales. Not really a surprise given your background. Though credit to you, you put a lot more thought into this than your doctrine.”

            “You want to speak to me of morales? You’re no better than Nezu and his pawns.”

            “Neither of us are in that position.” Izuku stated. “But I guess if you hadn’t had some flicker of hope for me, you’d have cut off my head back at my house without a second thought.”

            Stain shook his head. “If anything of what Nezu said is true, then it is the people, not Nezu or those frauds, the people of UA who deserve to take their pound of flesh.”

            Izuku smiled, splaying out his hands, “Ultimately playing into Nezu’s hands like a good dog.”

            “I’m not one of his lackies.”

            “Doesn’t matter you who think you would have done it for, Stain. Nezu’s clever like that, knows how to spin things the right way for people to think it was their idea all along.” Izuku blew out a smoke ring. “When the rat latches on to someone’s mind, even the littlest bit, they’re already lost. I’ve seen it happen to people of integrity, and now you, stubborn bastard that you are. He doesn’t need you to be entirely on his side to be his tool. You should have thrown the watch away the moment you walked out their gates, instead of being stupid and arrogant enough to wear it in front of me.”

            Stain paused for a second, perhaps recalling his conversation with Nezu. A moment passed and he seemed to come to some sort of conclusion, if he did, he didn’t share it. “What are you going to do with her?”

            “Her?” Izuku looked at Memo’s slumped form, she’d be fully turned soon. He wondered if it was her regeneration Quirk speeding along the infection. “She comes back with me to my lab, like I’ve said before.”

            “But why? Why do you need the regenerators?”

            “A cure, Stain.” Izuku stared at the glowing ember of his cigar. “Or a treatment, rather. What I have in mind won’t outright fix a person with a little medicine.”

            “How?”

            Izuku considered him for a moment. “Well, after all we’ve been through and how much you contributed to my efforts, I guess you deserve that answer.”

            The cigar in his hands was already down to a stub. He dropped it on the ground and put it out with his heel and got out another, lit it, and took a puff. “You see, I tried to study the virus. I don’t have a lot of information researching virus’s and such. Someone who actually makes it their living to study things like it would know what they’re doing a hell of a lot more than me. However,” Izuku raised a finger, “The virus does attach itself to Quirks, its whole existence is dependant on humanities greatest trait. So, there is some overlap in my respective field.

            “A dear friend of mine once brought up the practice of Quirk grafting, an old science and research topic long abandoned. Lot of money had been poured into the thoughts and minds of that research pool to give the poor un-evolved beings, such as yours truly, a chance to join the evolutionary branch. It failed for a number of reasons, but interestingly enough, after all my experimenting to successfully extract my first infected Quirk for the motivators, the idea resurfaced. Took a bit of doing to get the process right, but the virus was the bridge those scientists have been looking for all this time.”

            Izuku paused to see if Stain was following along, after a moment of silence he continued. “Healthy organisms naturally reject the Quirk implants, even Meta-humans whose bodies are already adapted to powers do reject the Quirks being grafted in the experiments. It can still be doable, but the chances of success are very low. But the virus became the bridge that allowed the new Quirk to join seamlessly, it feeds on the host body to flourish, and keeps the Quirk alive in the undead to – as far as I’ve found – feast on it. When I introduced a new Quirk, the virus replicated the fragment and added it to the zombies DNA strand as if it had always been there.” He chuckled. “You should have seen the first zombie I grafted a Quirk to, it was a falcon heteromorph that took on a new fire Quirk, burst into flames like a Phoenix of legends. Burnt off a lot of my hair and some lab equipment… and itself, but I succeeded regardless and further refined it.”

            “Why would the virus do that?” Stain asked.

            “No clue. I’ve long since stopped thinking of the virus as just that, a virus.” Izuku studied the embers on his cigar. “Not a cold or simple disease. The more I studied it, the more I saw an intelligent organism, an intelligent hungry organism.” He tapped the embers off the cigar and sighed. “But going that deep doesn’t matter, what I know now is enough for my purposes.”

            Stain shook his head. “Even regenerators are reduced to a zombie fugue, they aren’t functional human beings. If you’re saying you can transfer a regeneration Quirk to another zombie, it doesn’t make them better, just harder to kill.”

            “Yes, but their Quirk is greatly boosted, forever keeping them in an eternal tug-of-war between living and death.”

            “But how does that become a cure?”

            “It isn’t, it’s just the first phase of the treatment.” Izuku checked the watch. “And it seems I’ve rambled on for too long. I’m afraid that’s all the time I’m willing to waste on you. You can continue pondering the rest of it in whatever hell you’re cooking in. We’re done.”

            Strain struggled against his bindings as Izuku drew his suppressed pistol. Two quick shots to the head and Stain’s body went limp. Izuku kept shooting, emptying the entire magazine into him, varying the shots from head to torso, going for all the important organs. It was a .22, so he really didn’t need to be stingy with the ammo. Once that was done, he stamped out his cigar, picked up Memo, and went back to his truck.

            ---

            Eri had been waiting in the truck for a long time. She had fallen asleep and woken up when Leo nudged her with his nose. Izuku’s dog had been trained to be alert and wake whoever they were with when something was approaching. She didn’t know how or why, Leo just did it. Of course, he’d do that when some trash was blown by a breeze too, but he was still adorable.

            She did a quick scan of their surroundings, her hands on the pistol he gave her, but she wasn’t really ready to use it. She spotted Izuku walking into view, carrying a body over one shoulder. He rushed over to the truck box and dumped the body inside, grabbing one of the muzzle pieces for zombies and sticking it on before securing them in place with tie-downs.

            Eri opened her door. “Is something wrong?”

            “She’s infected.” Izuku said. “We got ambushed by zombies and they took a bite out of her.”

            “I don’t see any blood.”

            “She’s a regenerator, injuries don’t last long with her.”

            Eri nodded, that made sense. But he watched his movements, mostly his face. There was something off, something that reminded of her of those cold dead looks Chisaki gave her, but she didn’t know why. Then she looked around and realized he was alone. “Where’s Mr. Stain?”

            “He left. He did his part and went to do his own thing now.” Izuku secured the last tie-down and got out of the truck box. “We probably won’t see him for a while.”

            “Are we going back home?”

            “Yes, but it’s going to be a different home this time.”

            “Why?”

            Izuku paused at the driver door. “We’ve stayed at that house a little too long for my tastes, I think we need some new scenery, keep Overhaul guessing where we are.”

            “Is that why you boxed up all our stuff before we left with Mr. Stain?”

            “Of course.” Izuku opened the driver door and climbed in. “I’m thinking about going to Utsunomiya, bit more a drive, but it’ll be a good place to lay low.”

            “Okay.” Eri closed her door and got her seatbelt back on. Leo curled up in his dog bed and seemed to fall asleep almost instantly. “Are you sure Overhaul won’t find us there?”

            “He hasn’t found us so far.” Izuku started the truck and put it into drive. “Nor anyone else for that matter. We just can’t let our guard down is all.”

            “Okay.” Eri said, hugging herself and hoping he was right.

Chapter Text

Then

            “He’s a walking talking fusion reactor, who’s done nothing but patrol the walls for the last couple of months.” Izuku was almost yelling. He’d even gotten out of his chair at this point and had a hand on Nezu’s desk, waving the papers in his face. “We’ve been over the calculations, Nezu. Read them!”

            Nezu patiently drank from his cup. They were in Nezu’s office in the UA building. Izuku had, at one point in his life, dreamed of walking these halls and pursuing a dream of heroics. But his Quirklessness closed doors and his intellect opened others. Now he was grown up, had seen different sides of the world, and when actually walking into UA for the first time felt… dis-illusioned. Now he was more than irritated with the staff and their beloved dean. Denying his projects was one thing, but the dean’s office itself was taking the cake.

            Most people on campus were struggling to rebuild their lives. They all were basically starting over from scratch, with nothing more than the clothes on their back. Nezu was sitting in a pristine office with some decoration and memento’s Izuku was sure hadn’t been there the first time he’d been in this office. As for Nezu, not a hint of stress or worry marked the little rat’s face. Not as if a few weeks ago several hundred people in his care were under threat of starvation. A problem Izuku had helpfully – and foolishly – resolved. Earning nothing in return but repercussions for him and his friends. Now he wanted to help the campus again, but had to jump through more hoops to do it.

            After a long agonizing wait as he sipped his tea, Nezu lowered his cup, “There is no need to yell, Doctor.”

            One second to jump on the desk and another to punt the rodent through the window. If Izuku was lucky, the glass wouldn’t be a ballistic version and the bastard would fall to his death. He and the others had worked long and hard on this project, calculating what they’d need for materials down to the kilogram with a bit of wiggle room for adjustment. They’d created models in the support departments VR server to get a sense of scale and complexity. This wasn’t some half-hazard request; they’d done the research to limit waste on their part. Nezu just had to approve it.

            Taking a deep breath, Izuku continued, “Power has been an increasing concern as of late. We both know the fusion reactor you’ve acquired is failing. You’re already diverting a lot of resources into building solar power, which is barely keeping up with demand. The defense system alone is the single reason we are having these issues and you insist on building more turrets instead of focusing on the long-term issue. Little power is actually going to the refugees and-” The lights flickered overhead and he stopped, giving Nezu a look as they accentuated his point. After a moment power stabilized. “- they’re cooking food over fires and huddling together for warmth. We’re late in the fall season with winter right around the corner.”

            Nezu nodded along, stirring another spoonful of sugar into his tea. “There are many issues to consider, Midoriya. We need the turrets or the zombies will break through the barrier and kill everyone. I don’t know if you’ve looked outside recently, but the city is flooded with undead. I have been precariously balancing the need for security and our current needs. If we had someone specialized in fusion reactors, power would no longer be an issue. Yet since no one has confessed knowledge of building one, then we need to prepare renewable sources of energy.”

            “What I’m proposing is a solution.” Izuku reiterated.

            “A temporary solution.” Nezu sipped his tea.

            “Which will do us a lot better than a bunch more solar panels. You need space for those and you can’t cover every roof on campus and meet the quota. You’d need more than what ground the campus currently covers and you can’t encroach on the farms at all or we’ll have no food.”

            “Your motivators certainly take a bit of power to operate.” Nezu said absently.

            “And in return we have all the food we’ll ever need, maybe enough to get us through the winter.” Izuku rolled his eyes. “What we’re suggesting will meet power requirements for the short term till a more viable method of power is ready.”

            “I can’t think of what is more viable than solar, maybe even windmills.”

            Izuku shook his head, irritated. “Both of those have to factor in the weather. Windy days and clear skies aren’t always a thing and winter doesn’t promise them every day. Both will need a shit ton of maintenance to make sure we’re getting the most out of them.”

            “Your tone, Doctor.” Nezu reprimanded and pondered something. “Could you perhaps make a motivator of Aoyama’s Quirk?”

            Izuku sighed and sat down in the chair. “I thought about it. Quirks are weird, some emitters require additional input of sorts, like a diet or something. It could take as much power to run it as it could produce. If I could do a more thorough examination of how he’s generating his Quirk, I could add the functions into the motivator for efficiency.”

            The motivators were just a vessel to operate a Quirk separate of its original user. Modifications had to be made here, either in size or complexity. Besides the usual current of power to keep the motivators functional and the Quirk cells alive, sometimes alternate fuel sources had to be introduced. For example, Momo’s Quirk would definitely require broken down nutrients or fat to work. With Yuga, if he didn’t add anything of a dietary nature, would require materials capable of withstanding the lasers temperatures once it got up to levels needed for power production.

            There had also been the thought about using Kaminari’s Quirk, which seemed self efficient. But his Quirk wasn’t viable because Izuku found he’d need what was equivalent to Kaminari’s entire bodyweight to generate the amount of power he was capable of. That would mean a bigger motivator, bigger capacitors, resistors, insulation, the works. He’d also likely go through several iterations of motivators just trying to get them working correctly. All of which would be wasted material Nezu wouldn’t sign off on. Not to mention he’d need more than one to power the campus, which would mean building the mother-of-all motivators. Nezu would clutch his little heart and fall over dead if he’d ever proposed that.

            Hm… put a pin in that.

            Anyway, with all that in mind, it made sense to just have Yuga generate the power instead of building a complicated piece of equipment. Eliminated a lot of unknowns Izuku would have to adapt to and would require less material, something Nezu would appreciate. The only thing that would be resource intensive would be the power storage Mei and Maijime had come up with. Yuga couldn’t do a full power blast all day; way to store that energy and milk it till he was ready to go again would work much better.

            “Then it doesn’t sound like a worthy endeavor.” Nezu said. “There is much demand here, Doctor, many priorities and plans to consider, all of which are far more important than your pet projects. Resources have to be managed properly.”

            “You say that, yet one of my motivators has been boosting crop yield and ending starvation on your campus.” Izuku reminded him. “Winter will be here soon. The people will need heat, heat requires power, and you can’t produce enough of it to fulfill those requirements. We’ll have to take trips outside to cut down trees for fire, wasting more time, resources, and manpower.”

            “We already have a solution.”

            “Solar panels are not the solution. Winter will not be all sunny skies.”

            “I’ve done the calculations, Doctor.” Nezu said. He always had to say doctor so derisively, it made Izuku’s teeth grind, ss if all his achievements and efforts were all a joke. “This is the best long-term solution.”

            “And your long-term solution is going to take too long to get here. You’re not going to generate enough power for all these people and the defense system before the end of the year. Aoyama on the other hand is a great short-term solution.”

            “I can’t condone it.”

            “Why not? You got Yaoyorozu producing things non-stop since the Collapse started till she’s been bed-ridden two times now. If you don’t have an issue with that, then what the hell is the deal with Aoyama?”

            “I just can’t.” Nezu snatched up the request form from the desk.

            Izuku didn’t fail to notice the hint of irritation in both his voice and body movement. Nezu picked up one of his stamps and slammed a big red “Denied” on the form. Izuku thought about grabbing the stamp and beating Nezu to death with it, but it was just an intrusive thought. But the thought of Nezu covered in stamped red letters eased him a little.

            Nezu handed the form back to him. “We will be monitoring Mei and the other support staff and their requests, as you well know. But I shouldn’t have to be making myself clear on this matter. Do not pursue it any further.”

            “Then I hope you know what the fuck you’re doing before other people pay for it.” Izuku said and snatched the papers from his paws and marched out the door.

            --

            “That’s bullshit.” Katsuki said as he handed Izuku a beer and flopped down on his lofty couch. “If I were you, I would have cussed the little rat out on his ear.”

            Izuku popped the cork off his bottle. A few people on campus had been trying to recreate alcoholic beverages, not just for personal use. Alcohol was worth a lot to the outside, a valuable currency that any merchant would trade their entire stock just for a crate full of liquor. Plus, beer was safer to drink than most of their water sources. Most of the bottles were glass with simple corks. A stack of crates in Katsuki’s room held the empty used ones ready to head back to the brewer for reuse. The only issue was the beer didn’t taste like actual beer, it was drinkable, but the formula could use a lot of tweaking. Izuku sometimes questioned if drinking a bottle of piss would be an improvement over this stuff. Sadly, no other attempts at other liquor or beers had taken off as well as this shit.

            As he sipped the beer - doing his best to ignore the taste and just get some alcohol in his system - he made a show of looking around Katsuki’s apartment. For a single man’s living arrangement, Katsuki was living in a place that would fit a family or two comfortably inside. There was a communal kitchen downstairs, but Katsuki had a mini-fridge in the corner, two couches – on which they sat across from each other – a shiny brand-new looking coffee table, a queen-sized bed in the corner with a TV at the foot of it and a shelf full of movies. Posters and newspaper clippings lined one wall, all about Katsuki when he was in the Hero course and doing his internships. It was just like a trophy wall commemorating Katsuki’s achievement. First time he saved a citizen, stopped a villain, helped in a search and rescue, that sort of thing. Katsuki’s apartment was more furnished than Izuku’s or anyone who wasn’t a hero.

            That was another point that rubbed them the wrong way and had been a topic recently. While everyone else was forced to share living arrangements, the heroes pretty much got their own place and finer living standards than the rest of the campus. There had been quite the upset when refugees started pouring into the general education courses dorm buildings, but that had been short-lived once Nezu talked everyone down with reasons and excuses. However, no one was bringing up how the heroes were being treated compared to everyone else. Felt like bias or favours were in play. When this place had been built after the Collapse, Nezu had gotten all the hero course students moved in quickly as he could to give the old buildings to the refugees. Katsuki had been insistent to Nezu he didn’t need a living space this large, but Nezu had been persistent and claimed it was for the hero’s mental health with all the work they were doing. It was outlandish giving Katsuki and the others a larger apartment than one needed to get by.

            “You sure you want to speak so outwardly of Nezu, Kacchan?” Izuku waved around them. “He requested these rooms be built; he’s got to have a few bugs in here.”

            Katsuki scoffed and pulled a device out from under the coffee table. “Localized Jammer. Something Yaoyorozu managed to make for a few of us before she was put under keen eyes.”

            “You got any spares I could have?”

            “You’re in the support department, make you own.”

            “I’m a scientist.”

            “And you have how many degrees? Theoretical ones, I should say. And need I remind you; Mei has given you a shining review for some of the equipment you’ve helped make, and that’s excluding your life’s work.”

            “Whatever.” Izuku took another swig of beer and gestured to the jammer. “He’ll know something is up eventually when he’s getting nothing from this room. It’ll make him more determined.”

            Katsuki grinned like the Cheshire cat, “Oh, I let him hear some things, such as me shitting.”

            Izuku snorted when the image of Nezu sitting in a surveillance van with headphones on, listening to Katsuki have an explosive shit popped into his mind. Then he grew serious. “What about Jirou and Shoji? Think Nezu has the two of them in his pocket? Pretty sure a jammer wouldn’t work against their sensitive ears.”

            “Class A doesn’t work like that, not like some other folks.” Katsuki dismissed his concerns with a wave. “Back to the meeting. You, me, Aoyama, Mei, and Maijime worked on that request form. Yuga was all on-board with the plan, even included his letter of approval. It gets him off that stupid wall and contributing more to the campus. Maijime and Mei worked out the best, most efficient way to build the whole set up. Yet still, Nezu just goes and denies the whole project. Did he even read it?”

            “Yes.” Izuku sighed. “I don’t get it either, he could be acting petty about me working behind his back.”

            “You contributed something life saving.” Katsuki stated, he paused when the lights flickered. Moments when it cut off, everyone seemed to stop and wait, listening for something else. When the power went out, so too would the defenses. When the power went back on, Katsuki continued. “People would be starving to death weeks ago if you hadn’t built those motivators. We’re still storing up food into the warehouse for the winter. Cementoss and Maijime are even talking about expanding the wall towards the fake cities UA uses for their tests. Clear out the area in between and that opens up even more farmland we can use, and maybe occupy the test sites like we’ve wanted to.”

            Izuku nodded along. It had been discussed many times about occupying the test sites. But the problem was the test sites weren’t really made to house people. Hero students blew them up and UA rebuilt them again, there was speculation one of the sites was unstable due to a test in the final semester. From what Katsuki had told him, they were life-like enough to simulate the real thing, but they lacked basic infrastructure. Things like plumbing weren’t a feature and the walls would have to be torn down and rebuilt to actually withstand a zombie attack. If they occupied them now, it would just be like stranding people on a deserted island. Even with complaints about room, nobody found that appealing.

            “Sounds like a lot of work.” Izuku remarked.

            “Doesn’t matter how we go about it, it will always be work. Half the buildings in the city I’d condemn without a second thought. If we expand into Musutafu, we’d have to cut off entire blocks, tear everything down and rebuild from scratch. Thank God we have Cementoss.” Katsuki shook his head. “But neither of us are really experts in construction. My point is, we’ve already overcome a major hurdle, and we could be over another if Nezu would set aside this grudge with your profession and let you do what you’re good at.”

            Izuku scratched his chin in thought. “We can rework the forms and try again.”

            “When? Winter is coming, the days are flying by. We’ll all be shivering in our boots soon before he gets his head out of his ass.” Katsuki took a swig from his bottle and paused. “How about salvaging some of the projects Mei is working on? Do the whole thing anyway?”

            “Go behind his back again?” Izuku shook his head. “He’s doubled down on that. We got weekly, if not daily, inspections of the shop. If he catches us breaking stuff down, he’ll consider the project null and allocate those resources to something “useful” elsewhere on campus.” Izuku took a long swig from his bottle and continued. “One top of that, he’s got a detailed summary of the shops inventory down to the last gram. We’re required to keep it updated or be punished accordingly. We also got to do a lot more request forms to get anything from Yaoyorozu. He’s essentially stuck us on a creek without a paddle.”

            “What about your motivators?” Katsuki asked. “He touch those at all?”

            “I still got my Quirk samples, those I can study like I usually do, but I don’t have anymore motivators to put them in. What we have for the farms is enough until we bring in more people.” Izuku stared down at his bottle. “Thing is, during the meeting, he brought them up like he was considering scrapping them. Not directly, just a comment that they take a bit of power themselves.”

            “He scraps them, he’s shooting off his own foot.” Katsuki grumbled. “I don’t think he’s that idiotic, but then again, he’s denying this project.”

            “I know.” Izuku and leaned his head back on the couch, staring up at the ceiling. “Thing is, I don’t think this entirely has to do with a grudge against Quirkologists now. I think me, a Quirkless outsider, resolving the issue before he could must have upset him.”

            “A bruised ego?” Katsuki asked. “Well, I guess when you are considered a smart mammal, smarter than most, someone you’d consider lesser solving an issue for you would leave a mark.”

            Izuku gave him a cheeky look, “Speaking from personal experience?”

            “I’m not as smart as him.”

            “Replace being the smartest with being the strongest.”

            Katsuki opened his mouth to retort, then thought about it, then grumbled something incoherent and possibly rude and drank more beer. “Cheap shot.”

            Izuku shrugged. “You left yourself open there.”

            “Fine. So, what can we really do to remedy the situation with the dean?” Katsuki asked.

            “Not a lot.” Izuku went back to staring at the ceiling. “Probably be an outright ass-kisser maybe.”

            “Let’s not do anything that involves demeaning oneself for another’s benefit.”

            “Agreed, was an idea, not my best one.” Izuku went back to staring at the ceiling. “Maybe-”

            There was a knock at the door. Katsuki sighed and got up to see who was bothering them. He opened the door to find a very dirty, ash covered Ochaco who looked on the brink of passing out. She was still in her hero costume, the visor nowhere to be seen.

            “Hi!” She said, trying her best to stay awake. “Is Midoriya here? Mina said she saw him walk into the building.”

            “Yeah, he’s right here.” Katsuki gave her a concerned look. “What happened to you? Did you get caught in a fire?”

            Izuku at this point had joined them at the door. Curious, but not worried. If she was seriously injured, then she’d be getting patched up by Recovery girl and that wouldn’t have taken long to get looked over and released. Probably the reason why she looked dead on her feet, Recovery girl healed people quickly at the cost of their stamina.

            “Sort of.” Ochaco wiped at her cheek, which did nothing to rub off the ash. “There was a horde getting too close to the walls, a big one. Midnight asked if I could drop a couple of buildings on them.”

            “Buildings?” Izuku asked, astonished.

            “Yeah! It’s something we’ve been trying. Power-loader breaks them out of the ground and I use my Quirk to lift them in the air. When I’m over my target, I release my Quirk and let it fall. It helps clear the area around the walls and the debris blocks the road from more getting through. Almost, anyway.” She waved at herself. “One of them happened to have a fire Quirk and things kind of got chaotic.”

            Katsuki said, “I bet. The thing with the buildings, though. You, Todoroki, and Kirishima already do that sort of thing with icebergs.”

            “Yeah, but his ice melts and the man can do a lot on his own. Not the most efficient use of his powers.”

            “We’ve got to figure out a better way to thin out the hordes.”

            “I know.” Ochaco looked at Izuku. “I just wanted to check if we’re still good on that date tonight.”

            “We can, but you look like you need sleep.” Izuku watched her sway a little. “Maybe for a week.”

            “Nope! See you tonight.”

            “Wait-” Izuku started, but she was already walking away to her room. He watched her stumble against the wall a couple of times on her way to the stairs.

            Katsuki chuckled. “Just go on the date, she’s been waiting for days already since you two keep putting it off.”

            “Because we both have so much going on right now.” Izuku retorted. “She needs to rest.”

            “Nah, she’ll bum a couple of energy drinks off Tokoyami and be right as rain.” Katsuki closed the door. “Oh, and in case I forgot: I told you so.”

            “You’ve said it at least fifteen times now.” Izuku pinched the bridge of his nose. “I still can’t believe you acted as my wingman.”

            “Believe what you want, you still got a date, lady-killer.” Katsuki picked up his beer. “Now, finish drinking and go get cleaned up. There’s nothing you can do about Nezu and his plots, whatever they are. So, go live life a little. We could all die tomorrow.”

            “Thanks for the reminder, Kacchan.” Izuku grumbled. “I really needed it.”

            “Hey, something will come up.” Katsuki assured him. “It’s the apocalypse. Sooner or later, something will grab Nezu by the short hairs and force him to see reason. I guarantee it.”

Chapter Text

Now

            Setting up a new safehouse is easy when one has backups ready. Recognizing the watch on Stain, Izuku had packed things the night prior to their departure expecting he’d never return to Maebashi. He did not plan on finding out the hard way if Stain had tipped off Nezu or not by walking in and finding a bunch of U.A.S.F and Pro-heroes lounging in his living room, all just eager to eviscerate him the moment he stepped through the door. So, he packed what he could, knowing he could easily manufacture most items with the printers, but it would save him time and resources if he didn’t have to re-print everything.

            There was a motivator in his possession he absolutely loved for packing. He’d come across a Meta during his time with the Shie Hassaikai, a living individual who was a merchant but had a past life of being a magician of some sort. His Quirk was called Compress. It shrank people or items down into these milky blue pearls to stow away in one’s pockets. Sako Atsuhiro was a renown trader and had been of great help to Izuku, they actually had many pleasant conversations. Izuku had been able to convince Sako to let him take some DNA samples to try and replicate his Quirk. Sako had been interested in Izuku’s research and gladly let him do so and taught him a few magic tricks as well.

            “A tool of the trade.” Sako had said with a wink.

            Sadly, Izuku lost contact with Sako after he fled from the Shie Hassaikai. Last he heard of the magician; he’d decided to head to the northern region to expand his network. He seemed a decent fellow. Izuku hoped he didn’t have a run in with the Human Reclamation.

            Anyway, Izuku had been able to create a working motivator of Compress. It looked like a blocky pistol. He had to touch the tip against whatever he wanted to compress and pull the trigger. After a couple of tries, he pretty much fell in love with the thing. So much so, he never took it outside his safehouses at times, not even for scavenging or abducting zombies. Sure, it would have made some aspects of his life easier, but if it broke, he’d have to go through the hassle of building a new one. Taking it outside where there was danger was just asking for trouble.

            He had planned to go to Utsunomiya after picking up Memo. He’d compressed their belongings and stuck them in a tin and stashed that tin alongside the compressor in a wall a couple blocks from his hideout in Maebashi. He retrieved them on his way to Utsunomiya, curiously checking on his old safehouse from a distance. He wasn’t sure if someone was in there or not, Stain hadn’t used the watch at all to alert Nezu to the location, but Nezu could always put a few extra eyes around. But he didn’t see anything and got the hell out just to be safe.

            Maebashi and Utsunomiya were close to Tokyo, practically on the outskirts of the city. He picked these areas to hide mainly due to the fact not a lot of people wanted to encroach on the area near the city because of the zombies. Until someone took said zombies and broke into the surviving remnants of the city. Regardless, Tokyo had the densest population of zombies in the country. While securing a position in this area was risky as hell, it also deterred all but the most stubborn of humans who may be looking for him.

            The place he’d selected as a safehouse was another suburban house, a filthy rich middle-class one, with a two-door garage. Because why not? The house was in a walled neighborhood filled with zombies, just the way Izuku left it. They camped outside the neighborhood for about a day, during which, Izuku found an advantageous position on a rooftop to watch the horde waiting idly on the streets. He pulled out his modified smartphone, opened a program and turned his phone to the local frequency of the lures he’d set up previously and activated them.

            Alarms of various kinds activated throughout the neighborhood, stirring up the horde. Several of them burst with power, leapt into the air like gorilla’s and smashed down on houses in pursuit of the noise. The first wave of lures turned off after five minutes, and the ones farther away activated, running for twice as long. Izuku watched a speedster crash into another house to chase the lures. They hit the wall face first, fell, got up, and ran into the wall again. It kept going till a zombie that looked like it could eat a tank crashed through it and the house, reducing both to fragments. Zombies were dangerous but most of them were thankfully stupid. Izuku watched the chaos go on for a couple of hours, the lures going farther and farther away till morning when Izuku was satisfied enough zombies had left the neighborhood. He went back to the truck where a sleeping Eri and Leo were waiting and rolled the truck through the front gates of the neighborhood and to their new home.

            He got the keys and the garage opener for the house out from under a false rock hidden in the tall grass. He rolled the truck into the garage and left it there. Once the garage door was closed, he did a quick search of the house, checking each room, closet, any place a zombie or yurei could hide. He even checked the attic, found nothing, determined it was creepy enough without zombies and locked it tight before resuming the search. He checked potential safehouses before setting up as his backups, it never hurt to search them again. Who knows what might have crawled in at some point.

            Case in point, when he went into the basement, he found a broken window and a trail of blood. He followed the trail to a corpse laying in the bathtub, the shower curtain wrapped around their arm. Poor soul had broken the window and cut themselves as they crawled in. Didn’t have anything to bandage the wound properly as they bled out. They’d been dead for a while; the body having decomposed normally as opposed to a zombies long-lasting decay. Izuku would put them in a body bag and dump it outside the neighborhood later. He checked the basement thoroughly and found the emergency supplies he’d stowed there safe and untouched. That was good, it would be a while before he could get another garden up and running. Concluding the house was now safe, he woke Eri and Leo to get their new house in order.

            The next two weeks were spent getting things livable. This started with security. Izuku set several traps around the neighborhood for anything that decided to come and investigate. He patched holes in the backyard fence and laid a bunch of the Overhaul landmines around the outside of the fence. Cameras and motion trackers were positioned farther out so they’d be alerted of anything approaching. He had to do this and keep things looking as natural as a deserted and neglected neighborhood would normally look in the apocalypse.

            After establishing security, food and water were next. He brought over the complex motivator setup for their water supply, so that was easily done. Food required more intense labour out in the yard, plowing dirt, digging up weeds, and planting seeds. The motivator for speeding up crop growth would give them a good yield in two weeks. He’d have to build another greenhouse to lengthen their growing season. He estimated they were nearing the end of summer, he’d need to start preserving food for the long winter months, but right now it wasn’t an immediate concern.

            While he did all of that, Eri helped fix up the house. He had her help set up a couple safehouses before, and she was fairly good with the tools. She took out the old rotting front door and measured out the hinges and door handles on the printer made doors Izuku had created. She also reinforced the doorframes with steel and a special adhesive that effectively welded them into place. He’d stop what he was doing to help her when he could, but it was important she be independent in some ways, he could already say she was a better craftsman than he was at that age.

            As for Leo, he was just a dog. He laid down on a cushioned chair and slept as they worked around the house. Occasionally comforting one of them when they hammered a thumb or stubbed a toe.

            The printers were going full tilt, using up a lot of the nutrient bags to make the tools and resources they needed to get their new home up to snuff. Izuku hated he had to leave a harvest back in Maebashi, he could have converted the crops into more nutrient bags for the printers. He could wait for the crops and convert part of them for what he needed for the printers, or he could go out hunting. They were near a forested area; some woodland creatures would do just fine.

            Things didn’t go smoothly, of course. They’d pause in their work from time to time to fight off a couple of zombies attracted by the noise. Sometimes Izuku would turn on the lures and they’d stumble back the way they came. When those didn’t work it was back to the good old .22 rifle. A yurei did nearly give him a heart attack while he was plowing the gardens. Sneaky bastard had been lurking on the roof when Izuku had looked up to see the position of the sun and spotted the grinning skull watching him. Thankfully he had his pistol on him at all times and put the entire clip into the bastard till it rolled off the roof. He shot it some more after it was dead just for the scare.

            Finally, after two weeks of work on the safehouse, he felt he could finally get back to his research.

Chapter Text

Now

            The basement was once again Izuku’s designated laboratory. It took a couple of days itself to be secure, getting his computers set up in an office space, his equipment out on tables and all the printers ready on standby. The windows were boarded up and additional bars of steel reinforced them with layers of insulation to reduce noise to the outside. The stairs to the basement didn’t have a door, but Izuku added one anyway, a sturdy one with lots of locks keeping anything from getting in or out.

            Memo Chaura had been strapped to the surgical table with thick chains and those weighted cuffs and braces cops liked to use for Meta-humans. Humans can bite off their fingers like carrots, their brain prevents them from doing that. Since zombies are dead, their brain semi-functional, all those safety precautions instinctive to humans are gone, giving the zombies terrifying strength able of ripping open a human’s ribcage at the cost of tearing up their own musculature. With a regenerator, Izuku wondered if all those muscular tears would heal making the subject stronger each time. So, just in case, he added as many restraints as he could to ensure Memo couldn’t move.

            Izuku put on his lab coat and thick elbow length gloves of leather and pulled the bag off Memo’s head. Her head snapped forwards, grunting and snarling, the restraints stopping her head from getting an inch off the table. Izuku had stuck a steel pipe in her mouth and ran a chain through it and around her head so she didn’t spit it out and bite him. Even though he was Quirkless, zombie bites still carried infectious diseases. He did not want to get bitten and be downing bottles of antibiotics for the next few months. Memo’s teeth had cracked and reformed against the pipe several times. As he took a moment to examine that peculiar feature, one tooth cracked, fell out, and regrew in the span of a minute.

            Memo glared at Izuku, her eyes tracking him as he moved about, checking the restraints to make sure they were still solid. It was a little unnerving how aware she seemed to be. Zombies had a dead empty expression as corpses do, no sign of life or higher intelligence. Memo was different, obviously, but he always suspected the regenerators were a different class of zombie from the rest. Even by yurei standards.

            He grabbed the microphone off the table and clipped it to his shirt. It connected over Bluetooth with his recording device. He’d make several copies of his observations and stash the backups elsewhere. At this critical point in his research, he could not afford to lose vital data.

            He activated the microphone and gave it a few taps. “This is Izuku Midoriya, recording session… Ninety-eight?” He paused. “Somewhere around there. A regenerator has finally been recovered and this recording is going to list the bases of the Quirk.

            “Subject name is Memo Chaura. Iguana heteromorphic, possible relation to her Quirk.” He listed off a couple more details for the record and moved on to the main point. “Subject has been infected with the zombie virus. Since there were no previous records of her regenerative capabilities before infection, we have no baseline to go off of. However, her Quirk boost granted to her by the virus should be enough for the revival project.”

            He grabbed a stethoscope off the table with other medical instruments. A couple other tables had surgical tools, and another with his equipment for extracting and isolating Quirks. He place the stethoscope against her chest and listened for a couple minutes. Then grabbed her wrist and held two fingers against a vein for a pulse.

            “Subject has a heartbeat.” He announced for the record. “Pulse is barely noticeable. I’m getting about thirty to forty beats a minute. She is currently awake.” He glanced at Memo’s face. “And glaring at me. Her heart rate may go lower when idle, but having a heartbeat means she is alive. It has been two weeks since infection with no signs of necrosis. She appears as if very ill. Her Quirk has stabilized her condition, countering the virus that is trying to kill her yet boosting her Quirk. A twisted symbiotic relationship.”

            Next, he grabbed the cigar cutter off the table with the surgical equipment and grabbed one of Memo’s hands. She clenched her fist tight. He looked up at her, a little surprised she had enough awareness to know what he was doing. She was still glaring. He set aside the cutter and grabbed her hand with both of his and began the work of unclenching her fist.

            “Subject is smarter than most zombies, displaying more awareness and intellect. For the first test of her ability, I am trying to cut off a finger but she is clenching her fist and preventing me from doing so. Should results prove she can regrow the digit, I can try removing more-”

            Memo’s hand shot open and grabbed his. The glove did nothing to stop her vice-like grip from crushing his hand. He cried out as he felt bones break, pain flaring up his arm. He cursed and screamed, smacking his free hand against her, trying to get it to release. The table shook violently as he struggled to get loose. Eventually he got a hold of one of her fingers and broke it, then another. It was enough to get his hand loose. He stepped back from the table, taking off the glove to see the damage and seeing it was already purpling with bruises and looked a bit squished.

            Memo lay on the table, still angry, but there was a small flicker of satisfaction on her face. Hurting her abductor had obviously brought her some joy. He realized the muffled sounds she was making were laughter. He had never heard a zombie laugh before. No, scratch that, he had. Some twisted yurei he encountered back in his UA days had the ability to force folks into uncontrollable laughter. It had actually wiped out an entire settlement by itself. It hadn’t eaten anyone, just made them literally die of laughter. They ended up just tracking it down and then had Ochaco drop a building on it.

            “Very intelligent.” Izuku stated for the record and clicked the microphone off.

            An hour later, a quick heal from Leo, and a rest to sleep off the fatigue he always got from the healing, he returned downstairs. He put his gear back on, put the bag over Memo’s face again, and resumed the examination. Instead of using the cigar cutter, he grabbed a hammer and smashed her hand a couple of times to loosen it up. Was it petty revenge? Maybe. Then he grabbed the cigar cutter and removed her pointer finger at the base. A moment later, he watched as a new finger regrew in its place. He did it again and timed it, finding one finger took about five minutes to regrow, starting out as a little nib that lengthened and grew into a finger complete with nails and fingerprints. Meanwhile, the finger in his hands withered.

            He completed his observations for the recording and began collecting DNA samples, putting them in a solution to keep them vitalized. It took several tries since the virus did its self-destructing thing with the Quirk whenever he disconnected any part of a zombie. Memo’s, he found had a much better success rate than the others.

            As he collected his samples, he kept a careful eye on Memo, watching her limbs work against the bonds as he collected blood and tissue samples and again pondered her intelligence. Not much was known about yurei, only that they were smart and preferred ambushing their targets. Survivors did their best to kill them on sight as with any other zombie, only with a degree of importance higher - since an intelligent being capable of setting traps and ambushes was more difficult to counter than the usual undead. One thing Izuku was sure about were the yurei’s Quirk matching their nature in some way. Most of the yurei he saw had subtle Quirks, not all powerful, but powerful enough if used correctly and creatively. He didn’t get why that was, maybe because the yurei who had a powerhouse Quirk were targeted heavily already and they were a dying species, leaving the stealthier ones remaining. Still, he’d never really sat down and thought it over too hard.

            Once he was done collecting his samples, his curiosity got the better of him and he removed the bag from Memo’s head. The two met eyes for a moment, then Izuku removed the pipe from her mouth and the restraint across her forehead. She expectedly tried to bite him, but he was sure to keep his extremities far away. She could now move her head more freely. Her teeth clicked as he grabbed a chair and sat down, one hand resting on the pistol in his lap, just in case.

            “Can you understand me?” Izuku asked.

            Memo’s eyes narrow, teeth clicking together, wanting to taste his flesh.

            “Memo, can you understand me?” He repeated.

            The clicking stopped, Memo’s brows furrowed. She struggled against he bonds for a moment, then stopped. Her eyes met his and her mouth opened. “Rele-” She coughed, grunted, and tried again. “Re’ease’ ‘e.”

            She spoke the words long and slow, as if she had to really think about getting them out. Something about it set the hairs on the back of his neck standing up like he just listened to someone scrape their nails on a chalkboard. Shivers crawled up his spine and he felt blood drain from his face. He’d heard rumors of zombies speaking, and thought he’d encountered some himself but dismissed it as going insane. All zombies did were grunt and groan. But he heard Memo speak clearly, kind of.

            He shifted in his chair nervously; this wasn’t like facing down a normal zombie, there still might be a human in there. “Memo, can you tell me anything about yourself?”

            “Why?” She grunted, teeth clicking together.

            “Just anything, try and talk as much as possible, please.” Izuku thought about it for a moment. “Tell me about Camie. Do you remember her? Can you remember much of anything?”

            “Know her?” Memo glare grew more intense. “She ‘ell you… you boa’-” She smacked her head against the table in frustration so hard, it made Izuku jump. Whatever the issue was with her speech, it wasn’t with her vocal cords, more with her mind.

            “Did she tell us about you?” Izuku finished for her. When Memo nodded, he said, “No, not exactly. She posted information about you to this website, it seemed like she was looking for your friends and family, if they’re still alive somewhere.”

            “Fa’ily.” Memo’s eyes went misty, then she remembered her circumstances and resumed glaring at him. “Wha’ do you wan’? e’ ‘e?” Her face scrunched up again, frustrated her words weren’t coming out like she wanted. “Har’es’ me?”

            Izuku was confused. “Haress?”

            “Har’es.”

            “Hares?”

            “Har’es’!”

            “Hair?” Izuku pointed to his bushy green hair, then paused. “No, that sounds like hare.”

            “Harv!” Memo spat, banging her head against the table a couple more times, then almost yelling, said, “Harv-est!”

            “Harvest?” Izuku gave her a confused look. “I’m taking DNA samples, so technically yeah.”

            “Ea’ ‘e?” She looked at him as if expecting him to piece it together. When he didn’t seem to get a clue, she took a deep breath and spelled it out for him, struggling the ‘T’. “E. A. T.”

            “Eat?” Izuku said. “Eat you?”

            Memo nodded. “Can’ib’al.”

            “Oh! No, I’m not a cannibal.” He doubted cannibals would even go as far as to eat zombies, that was just gross. But why did she think he was a cannibal… “Memo, were you held captive by cannibals before?”

            “Yes.” She said, stretching out the ‘s’. “Esca’ed.”

            “So, that’s why you were so paranoid.” Izuku thought it over. “And I guess Cami was trying to help you? Perhaps a bit of homebrew therapy and finding your family to get you with people you trusted.”

            “Yes.” Memo said. “Sh’ kill you. I kill you. Le’ ‘e go.”

            “I’m afraid I can’t.” Izuku said. “Memo, I need you for something very important. I don’t like the situation I’m in, but I’m at a point of no return. I need you-”

            He was cut off when Memo let out a horrendous scream and thrashed again. She was making a lot of noise this time, more than what he liked, even in the insulated basement. He grabbed the pipe and put it back in her mouth and put the bag back on. It took a couple of tries and she nearly bit off his fingers. He checked and tightened her restraints some more before moving her to another room. He walked out, closed the door and locked it. He leaned against it and blew out a puff of air. He needed a smoke.

            ---

            Designing the motivators and getting Quirk to function in them was one thing. Grafting a Quirk onto another human being, a dead human being, was another thing entirely. Zombies ate human flesh, but they didn’t gain the Quirks of that human. Izuku had a couple of theories, like stomach acid – if the zombie even had a stomach – broke down the proteins till they weren’t useful, or their digestive system wasn’t working correctly because they were, you know, dead. Thankfully the virus bridged the gap, solving the issue Emmanuelle Fosse had struggled with in his own Quirk grafting theories. But Quirks couldn’t do this naturally.

            When Izuku had grafted his first Quirk, he’d attached a piece of a zombie to another zombie, like an arm, and then the zombie was able to use that Quirk in that limb only. He didn’t get why, but that was the virus in play and it didn’t need to make more sense than that. The process he knew now that allowed the Quirk to be held within the subject entire being had months to figure out. It had been an arduous task, but he’d accomplished it, and from there learned from his errors and refined the process.

            First step, he needed a zombie. Fairly easy. He went outside with a crowbar, found one that had a fairly harmless hair growing Quirk, snuck up to it, and broke both its kneecaps. Then he dragged it all the way back to the safehouse and into the basement where he strapped it to a table. Took notes on its current physical state and its Quirk and then set it aside to wait. He decided to call the zombie Hairy.

            Second step was getting a successful cell colony of Memo’s Quirk to form. The most time-consuming part of the process. But once he had a successful colony, he took a bit of it and put it into a solution, breaking down the cells into a liquid solution while not destroying the DNA. He loaded it into a syringe and made a small cut in Hairy’s skull to expose the brain where he injected the solution. From there, it was the waiting game. From time to time, he’d do another injection, increasing the chance of the Quirk being adapted into the body.

            Two days later, Izuku walked downstairs to see a zombie having regrown most of itself, obviously it had lost a lot of mass doing so, a side affect of having to regrow much of a damaged body. Izuku grabbed bits of raw meet kept in a freezer and fed it to Hairy to fuel its regeneration and noted down the results. Over the course of the morning, it gained enough mass and became more whole. Hairy’s skin had a red tinted hue to it, and scales were evident in some parts of it. Then it shed itself like a lizard. If things worked out the way they did, and the revived humans kept the regeneration Quirk, Izuku might very well bring into existence a race of lizard folk. Maybe all those conspiracy theorists in the old Quirk era had been started by time travelers.

            Once Hairy was looking as healthy as a zombie could be, Izuku did his examinations again. The results were impressive. A beating heart, a working digestive tract and bowels as a result. New blood cells were being produced and Hairy the zombie regrew their fingers and limbs with ease as Izuku cut them off. Finally, after months of trying to get a regenerator, he had his first success.

            Now, he had to make sure it would really work. He ran up the stairs and opened the door. “Eri? I need you to try something.”

Chapter Text

Now

            Eri was bored. So bored. Bored, bored, bored. She picked up her books again and glanced at the door to the basement. Izuku had it locked the entire time he was working. When he first went down there to do… whatever it was he did, she heard screaming, though it was faint. Then he came back upstairs, got his hand treated by Leo and took a long nap before going back down. She didn’t know what he was focused on and she was getting worried. Izuku always seemed to be working on something, going out and snatching zombies off the streets to bring down to his lab. She never saw what he did with them, once they went in, they never came back out. But since getting this latest one, he’d been a little off, hyper focused and his attitude had shifted. They barely talked while setting up the safehouse, and he was quick to dismiss her questions about it. Lately she hadn’t seen him come out of the basement, not even to come up and cook food. She’d check the fridge in the morning and notice some things were missing, but that was it.

            Then a couple days ago he burst through the front door dragging a body bag across the floor, the zombie inside wiggled and growled, but he dragged it to the door and down the stairs without a word to either her or Leo. Leo had strangely gotten up from the chair he’d been sleeping on minutes prior and got into the kennel without being prompted by anyone. When she saw the zombie, she quickly went and locked it before Leo could get out and investigate. Then Izuku came back up, cleaned anything that could be a potential contaminant off the floor and went back downstairs.

            Now, she was eating breakfast consisting of bread she toasted on a frying pan with homemade butter and sliced tomato. She didn’t know why, but it tasted really good. She was halfway through her second piece when the basement door opened and Izuku stepped out, looking like he hadn’t slept in days but weirdly energetic.

            His eyes scanned the room and found her. “Eri, I need you to come try something.”

            She paused in her eating, a slice of tomato falling off the bread halfway to her mouth. Hesitantly she asked, “With what, Mr. Midoriya?”

            “I want you to try using your Quirk on this zombie.” He said, “Only for a moment, alright?”

            “But my Quirk doesn’t work on zombies.” She reminded him.

            “Just humour me, please.” He waved her to follow. “Come on, it’s safely secured to the table, I got the plexiglass barrier up, the dart pistol is ready, and an actual gun just in case the zombie gets loose.”

            Eri hesitated, glancing at Leo who laid peacefully beside her chair. She set down her food and followed Izuku into the basement. This lab was nicer than the other one. She looked around the room and saw only the one zombie.

            “Where’s Memo?” Eri asked.

            “Safely in storage.” Izuku said. “You don’t have to worry about her. Now come over here.”

            He waved her to the table where the zombie lay bound. It had really long air and by the pile sitting to the side, Izuku had cut off a lot of it. It had restraints on its wrists, ankles, and neck, with a thick leather strap over its forehead keeping its head firmly to the table with a metal pipe in its jaw. The zombie looked whole, not hurt like those other ones. It had red scales too. A bunch of sensors were glued to it in various places, like the temple and chest. She didn’t know what they were all for.

            She stood close to Hairy as Izuku got video cameras set up to record the process and went to his computer. She fidgeted with her hands, eyes darting between him and the zombie. The zombie couldn’t move its head but it didn’t need to, she could see the faint yellow iris’s staring at her.

            “Okay.” Izuku clapped his hands, making her jump. He turned away from the keyboard and looked at her. They were separated by the plexiglass barrier; he was safely behind it a few feet from her and the zombie. “When you’re ready, give it a go.”

            She looked back at the zombie, than at Izuku. Slowly, she edged closer to it and focused on her breathing. This time Izuku didn’t try to coach her through it. He watched, eagerly waiting for something to happen. She reached out a hand and placed it on the zombie’s arm. She concentrated, thinking on where she wanted the energy to go. Breath in, breath out. Breath in… breath out. A spark crackled from her horn. She paused and the buildup of energy she felt dissipated. She took another deep breath and focused again, recalling the car and adding pressure to the gas pedal. Just a little bit. The energy built up once more. She focused on it, let it build up a bit more and-

            Crack!

            She failed again.

            Energy shot from her horns at an uncontrolled rate, striking everywhere, but most targeting Hairy. She stumbled away, watching in horror as the zombie’s skin brightened in complexion, its age reversing. She kept backing up until her back hit the wall and wished it would just open up and swallow her whole, getting her away from this place. But it didn’t and her Quirk didn’t stop, it kept attacking, feeding, stripping away the age day by day. It attacked the barrier Izuku stood behind, who calmly observed the changes happening to the zombie.

            “Mr. Midoriya!” Eri screamed. But Izuku was fixated on the zombie. No, it wasn’t a zombie, it was human. It looked more alive than it had ever been, and she was affecting it. She was going to kill it again if Izuku didn’t stop her. “Mr. Midoriya!”

            But he did nothing. She stood against the wall, watching another person die by her hand. It didn’t matter if they had been dead once, they were people. Izuku might think she had the stomach for it since she ran over one zombie, but that didn’t mean a thing. He had been in danger and she simply didn’t want him to die. Now he was making her kill again for no reason at all.

            Something caught her eye then. The scales on Hairy’s arm were changing from pomegranate red to a sickly purple. She watched it for a couple more seconds before realizing it wasn’t changing colour at all. The flesh, the living flesh was receding, disappearing before her eyes. Skin, muscle, tissue, veins, all of it, shrank away like it was melting out of existence. In its place, a purple goo hugged the bone, filling the joints and spanning the gaps in bone, globs of it dripped from the table onto the floor. Soon over three quarters of its body had changed into the goo. Eri looked to Izuku, but his jaw had dropped in shock. Eri was shocked too, but for a bunch of reasons. She had the suspicion this wasn’t what Izuku had intended to happen.

            Then the zombie screamed. An unearthly, impossibly loud, bone chilling scream that set all her hair on end. She flinched back, hands covering her ears as the zombie thrashed on the table. It’s arms and legs, now void of flesh, slipped easily out of the restraints and clawed at itself. Its hands found the restraints around its head and with surprising strength, tore them free of the table and spat out the pipe. Then it removed the one around its chest.

            Izuku swore, grabbed his pistol and went to step around the barrier, only to jump back when Eri’s Quirk tried to nab him. He cursed again, his other hand going for the dart pistol, planning to shoot her first so he could safely move about and deal with the zombie. Then he realized he could just shoot it through the plexiglass. That moment of hesitation cost him. As he turned to fire, the zombie flung itself at him, knocking over the barrier and trapping the scientist underneath. He maneuvered his gun under the confined space and fired through the barrier, blowing chunks of bone and goo out of the creature’s torso. The zombie was unbothered as it struck the barrier repeatedly with its bony fists. It had no muscle, flesh, organs, or eyes. Nothing. Yet it acted very much alive and very angry.

            The zombie stopped battering the barrier, acknowledging it wasn’t going to get Izuku and turned its hollow eyes on Eri. She realized she was still standing against the wall, frozen in fear. She scrambled for the stairs as it leapt off the barrier and came right for her. It was insanely fast. Its hand grabbed her shoulder before she set foot on the first step and pulled her back towards it. She raised her arm up defensively, out of reflex, and it bit down into her arm. Teeth hit bone and she screamed in pain. She had moments of pain when Chisaki experimented on her, tore her apart, but they only lasted a moment and felt like a dream. This was pain stabbing into her mind, relentless and unending. She nearly blacked out at first, then the dart of the TQE hit her in the shoulder and her Quirk stopped working.

            Izuku had gotten himself out from under the barrier, grabbed his desk chair, and smashed it against the zombie’s head with a roar. It released her from its jaws and turned on him as she fell backwards. Izuku quickly grabbed it by the head and pulled, throwing it off balance and to the floor, putting himself between him and Eri. With her out of the firing range, he raised his pistol and fired into the zombie, over and over. Varying the shots from chest to head, only blowing off more bone and goo till the slide locked back empty. The zombie stood up unbothered by the damage. They could see clear into its skull, neither could make out a brain, only more of the cursed goo.

            Izuku released the magazine from his gun and realized he wasn’t going to get a new one in time. So, he pistol whipped the zombie in the side of the skull, knocking it back. His eyes darted around the room and he went for the table with vials of strange liquid Eri wasn’t familiar with. The zombie kicked out, hitting Izuku in the back, but that only succeeded in getting him closer to the table. He grabbed the edge to stabilize himself and grabbed one of the vials and spun around, the zombie was already on top of him. He smashed the glass into its chest and the contents sizzle against the goo. The zombie screamed again, this time in agony. Izuku went for one of the cabinets and pulled out a container of flammable liquid and poured it all on the zombie as it writhed on the floor. He pulled out his lighter and tossed it on, lighting it aflame. The zombie screamed as it burned, rolling back and forth. Both of them watched as it squirmed until it finally stopped moving.

            They watched the flames eat away at it for a bit. Then Izuku grabbed the fire extinguisher and quickly hosed it down before the whole house went up in flames. He looked at Eri, his mouth opened to say something then he froze when he saw her clutching her bleeding arm.

            “Shit!” He darted to one of the cabinets and tore it open.

            “Mr. Midoriya?” Eri said, she tried to stand up but fell back down.

            “Don’t move!” He ordered. “Don’t move, just keep calm, don’t let your heartrate pick up.”

            She sat against the stairs, vision strangely getting blurry. She felt the bite in her arm and something else, a cold sensation crawling up her arm. Izuku came over with a needle filled with a red liquid. He grabbed her arm and stabbed the needle in. She watched dizzily as he injected its entire content into her arm, then he picked her up and moved her to the counter. The cold feeling was gone, replaced with warmth, but that already felt like it was going away.

            “What was that?” Eri mumbled.

            “More of the temporary stuff.” Izuku stated, going into his muttering fugue as he was understandably panicked. “It’s a stronger variant. I gave you twice the dosage for a normal person. The amount would cause Quirk issues for anyone else, but you’re going to need it.”

            “I-” She began but stopped; her vision spun as Izuku set her down on the table. “I-”

            Her head sagged forward, the last thing she heard was Izuku telling her to stay awake.

Chapter Text

Then

            Izuku sat huddled in his small UA apartment, sitting at his table and staring glassy eyed at a bottle of God-awful spinach and cucumber vodka. A small fire crackled in a barrel in the room, the only source of warmth he was going to get. He had no lights or powered heating, just like most of the campus. Outside his window, thick white snowflakes cascaded to the ground, drowning the world in cold and dread. The howl of the wind sounded mournful to his ears, probably some families out there were crying, voicing their pain and loss. He downed another glass and grimaced.

            Nezu had finally reached the point of regret Katsuki had talked about. They had to divert power, as much as they could spare from the wall and its defences to the residence to keep people warm. But surprise, surprise, they didn’t have enough power. The fusion reactor had finally given out, and the support staff couldn’t do a thing to turn it back on. Demands were high, people with fire abilities, like Shoto – who Izuku thought only had an ice Quirk up until then – made their rounds from apartment to apartment, keeping the people warm for a time till they moved on to the next ones. And it was only at this point, when mother nature had them by the throat, did Nezu give Izuku approval to build what was needed for Yuga to power the campus. They had started on the work right away. Despite the snow- and ice-covered ground, they were able to build the storage modules close to completion in about a week, rushing as people crowded the infirmaries with hyperthermia and frostbite.

            Then yesterday, disaster struck. As if the universe couldn’t allow things to be simple for once. With the lack of power going to the automated turrets, more people had to patrol the walls. A group of raiders had noticed the shift and took it for what it was. An opportunity. They attacked the wall in force, destructive Quirks broke a hole through the UA barrier, and they killed several of the guards and heroes who tried to stop them. They fought a hard battle, but the rest of UA’s heroes and guards rallied together and launched a counter-attack, slaughtering the raiders to such an extent, the rest had to disperse and flee into the city. Leaving UA to deal with the dead.

            Among the casualties in the initial strike had been Yuga. Izuku had a chance to collect DNA samples, but Yuga’s body hadn’t even gotten the chance to cool – which was remarkable in this weather – when Nezu ordered the storage modules be dismantled and its materials recycled for other necessary projects. Izuku stored away Yuga’s DNA in a freezer, likely never to be used.

            All the work they had done had amounted to nothing. But now, instead of being angry with Nezu for his terrible management skills and planning, the people’s anger had turned against the raiders, and this hate burned hot and warmed the body. There was a tension over the campus so thick, it could be cut with a knife. Izuku wondered if this had been Nezu’s doing. There had been so much contention and stress these past months, the people had something they could vent it at. Useful for Nezu since he was no longer the target of their ire. Izuku had thought the campus had been on the brink of mutiny days ago. But now it seems Nezu’s position of power had solidified and him and his heroes could relax again. Izuku didn’t understand how, he was never a people’s person. Politics and science were different tools.

            Ochaco had been busy since yesterday’s attack, doing what she did best. She helped clear the debris from the wall and get the wounded to the infirmary. With the cold freezing the zombies, they didn’t have to worry about repairing the wall anytime soon. She stacked the rubble in the gaping hole and they posted additional guards around it. Maybe they’d have Shoto melt the area around it so Cementoss could give it a proper patch job. After that, Ochaco went about calming the people and being a beacon of light in these dark times. She was good at it, but if only she could dull their anger.

            Izuku could be something too, but what? Nothing he could do in the shop would contribute to this current predicament. He wasn’t considered any sort of Security personal to go out and find the raiders. He didn’t have Ochaco’s calming presence and infectious nature, or Shoto’s volatile Quirk. Even though he’d stopped the food shortage, it didn’t garner him a lot of fame. He’d be the weirdo of the campus doing things he wasn’t trained to do. He wasn’t a hero, or a cop, or fireman, or a surgeon. He was a Quirkologist. A Quirkless. A nobody.

            Useless.

            He poured another shot of the awful vodka and downed it. He gagged at the taste and actually considered having another when there was a knock on his door.

            “It’s open.” He called, realizing for the first time how hoarse he’d sounded.

            Katsuki stepped inside, wrapped in layers of clothing and looking downright depressed. Under one arm was a brown paper bag, in the other was a bundle of wood. As predicted because of power concern, they were expending a lot of manpower to go chop wood. At least with the lack of zombie activity, making it easier to traverse the outside world, but the snow presented its own challenges. They’ve already stripped the immediate area clean and were working on the area between them and the false cities UA owned. Finally having access to those again and more shelter wouldn’t do anyone any good now. If he recalled everyone had decided to go be in the main building to conserve heat and energy. Izuku didn’t want to be there with the current attitude, and he really needed a drink without people judging him.

            Katsuki walked over to the burn barrel and took in the pitiful fire inside before dropping the bundle of wood inside. The fire ate at it hungrily, and the temperature of the room gradually increased. When he sat at the table, Izuku grabbed the cursed bottle of alcohol before him and hugged it close. It was terrible vodka, but it was still alcohol and that was more important to him. A bit of amusement broke through Katsuki’s dour expression and he cracked a little smile. He reached into the paper bag and pulled out a bottle. Izuku couldn’t believe his eyes, it was whiskey, actual fucking whiskey, and the seal was still intact and everything. It was a good thing Katsuki had kept it in a bag, people would have murdered him, hero or not, just for that bottle.

            “Don’t worry.” Katsuki said, pulling out two glasses and setting them on the table. “I know how to share.”

            Izuku set aside the vodka and accepted a glass. Katsuki cut the bottle open with a switchblade and poured them each a finger of golden-brown liquid. Izuku sipped his and revelled in the taste of good alcohol. Nobody on campus had figured out how to make good beer still, and the promise of hard liquor was a fantasy at best. Maybe it was good thing, because right now, he just wanted to drink himself dead.

            Curiously, Katsuki picked up the vodka bottle – Izuku was more than happy to relinquish it this time – and made a face at the label. “You were drinking this? Should be used to water the farms.”

            “It might actually kill the plants actually.” Izuku snorted. “And Nezu-”

            “Would have a cow.” Katsuki finished. He set the bottle aside and downed his glass in one go. “I had been looking for you at the UA building. Nobodies staying the apartments till the storm clears up.”

            “I didn’t feel like being around people. Needed some time for myself, you know?” Izuku said, he nodded out the window. “How are they powering the building?”

            “Gas generators, a few of them.” Katsuki shook his head. “Solar panels are covered over and slick with ice. Nezu’s got a crew working on them, but it’s not really producing power with the lack of sun.”

            “And the fusion reactor?”

            “It’s already being dismantled for parts. It’s done. Support department is puzzling over alternate power sources, ones more reliable than what we got. Course no heavy construction can be done till we expand the campus and are out of winter. Grounds too hard to dig through, even for Maijime.”

            Izuku stared out the window, “A decade ago, did you ever think this is where we’d be? All our dreams and accomplishments gone; our goals now meaningless.” He gestured between the two of them. “Us, sharing a drink.”

            Katsuki shrugged. “Life has a way of coming out of left field.”

            “You know I’ve always wanted to meet Nezu?” Izuku asked. “I had that hero worship stage of my life, but as I grew more serious with my studies, I always wanted to meet what the world considered the smartest animal alive, maybe bounce ideas of each other. But now?”

            “He’s an idiot.” Katsuki said. “A smart idiot, but still an idiot. He’d done nothing but plan and his plans came up short. He seems to have more emotion in him than logic.”

            “A genius with emotions is a dangerous thing.” Izuku shook his head. “He’s like nothing I’ve seen of him on TV, him and the others just seem so negligent, and he’s almost an outright dictator. He’s only bothering to keep all these people alive because it gives him a chance to exercise authority and power.”

            “Yeah, lot of that going around today.” Katsuki eyes stared off into the distance. “The heroes I’ve looked up to have changed. Aizawa at least seemed to care a little, but the others seem too eager to side with Nezu.”

            “Power attracts those who desire it.” Izuku grunted. “Still no word from Aizawa?”

            “None.” Katsuki poured them both another glass. “It’s been months since he left to help the survivors in Tokyo. We’re hesitant to write him off as dead, but the chances of surviving this long are slim. He’ll have at least gone out being a hero, even if he was a grouchy son of a bitch.”

            Izuku grabbed his glass. “Yeah. I’m sorry about that, and I’m sorry about Aoyama too.”

             “Yeah. You know what really stinks though, Aoyama could still be alive if he was providing power to UA. It was at least preventable in some way.”

            “Because he would have been too tired to patrol, or we’d have had enough power to keep the turrets on and vaporize the raiders before they got within shooting distance of the wall?”

            “Both.” Katsuki downed his glass and stared off into the distance. “But nothing to be done about it now, nothing we can do.”

            “Heroes can do something.” Izuku grumbled. “Can do whatever they like, make mistakes and nobody gives it a second thought because they got power.”

            “Yeah… don’t need to be held accountable.” Katsuki frowned. “You’ve at least helped people, bigger hero than us. Biggest asset this campus has ever had.”

            “Tell that to Nezu.”

            “Whatever he says is wrong. You’re at least smarter than him in some ways, you were right about how some of this would go and it happened.”

            “Wish I heard that more growing up.” Izuku winced even as he said it and gave Katsuki an apologetic look. The living bomb threat looked quite hurt by his statement. “Sorry, I already had a few before you got here.”

            “I can tell, but I deserve that.” Katsuki conceded.

            “No, it’s just me being a drunk asshole.” Izuku set his glass down, perhaps with a bit more force than intended. Yep, he had a few too many, he just wish he’d had a bit more of the whiskey before getting to this point. “If you were still an ass, we wouldn’t be talking now, would we?”

            “Still am.”

            “The fuck am I hearing?” Izuku leaned toward him and stopped. He got up from his chair and leaned closer right into Katsuki’s face. “What’s on your cheek?”

            Katsuki focused on his glass. He reached for the bottle to pour another, but Izuku put a hand on it, stopping it in place. Signing, knowing Izuku wasn’t going to let it go and that sooner or later it would be brought up, he reached up and pulled his hood back. Izuku could hardly make out the scars with how bundled up Katsuki had been and the dim light of the fire, but when Katsuki removed the hood, it revealed a set of scars crossing the left side of his face. Something with claws had swung down on him from the side, leaving four pale lines in his skin. Gauging from the size, it had been a Quirk of sorts or a vicious wild animal. There was about an inch of space between each one.

            “You didn’t have those after yesterday’s attack.” Izuku stated.

            “No, I didn’t.” Katsuki confirmed.

            He tugged the hood back over, mostly covering the scars again and grabbing the bottle. This time Izuku relinquished it and watched him pour for both of them. Recovery girls Quirk worked fast, at the subject’s expense of Stamina. But he wasn’t sure if it was the Quirk or whatever had happened that had Katsuki looking so drained of life.

            “When did it happen?” Izuku asked.

            “It’s not something I want to talk about.” Katsuki said. “Let’s just drink and talk about something else.”

            “I’m here droning on about my wasted potential and the unfairness of the world while you were attacked, and it’s eating at you. Spill it.”

            Katsuki swished the whiskey in his glass. “This morning, some of the heroes and the U.A.S.F. were ordered to go clear out those camps outside the walls. It… It didn’t go well. Not well at all.”

Chapter Text

Then

            The order came down from Nezu. The scouts trailing the raiders had followed them to the camps, where they then dispersed and went into hiding. No one could say if the camps were involved in the attack, or if the raiders were simply using them to hide. Regardless, the camps now presented a security issue, and many of the refugees present had been turned away from UA at one point. The camps had grudges against UA and could easily be persuaded to attack, and that wasn’t something they needed.

            Katsuki sat in the back of the truck with the other heroes and a handful of U.A.S.F. troops. It was a personnel carrier fitted more for scavenging in the winter. Now it acted as a troop transport. Most of the security forces in the truck had been former police before the collapse. When they joined UA, they brought as much of their armouries as they could. Each firearm was equipped with a suppressor, a drum magazine if it could take one. There were various melee weapons in scabbards or hanging off belts and shoulder slings.

            The goal was to move the camps, not to kill anyone. Give them a show of force and urge them to vacate the city. However, there was a certain kind of tension in the air Katsuki didn’t like. Heroes and cops were a tight knit bunch - Heroes were more competitive with each other, but they still had each other’s back – and a few of their own had been killed by the raiders. The teaching staff had a duty to protect their students, and they had been threatened, leaving them bitter. Everyone in this truck was taking this very seriously. Some of it was also the tension with Nezu now being redirected to outsiders. The people in the truck with him weren’t suppose to commit acts of violence, just make the refugees clear out of the city and be persuasive about it. But a couple of them looked as if they’d gladly welcome the opportunity to dish out some payback.

            One in particular worried Katsuki most, and he couldn’t see his face. The Pro-hero that sat across from him had forgone the costume in favour of warmer attire, but he still kept the cowboy boots, the hat, and the mask. Snipe had been the fun teacher at the school, with his upbeat Texan persona. Everyone enjoyed sitting in his class, and listening to Snipe give his lectures. It usually came with an amusing story or two. But Katsuki couldn’t forget one memory of the man since the villain attack a couple years ago.

            When Katsuki was in Class 1-A, they’d gone on their first fieldtrip to the Unforeseen Simulation Joint. Once there, a group of villains - going by the League of Villains - ambushed the class aiming to kill the number one hero, All Might, who hadn’t been present at the time even though he should have been there with the class. All that left them with were two teachers and a class of twenty students who hadn’t had any combat experience and were now thrust into danger, and since the villains couldn’t get All Might, they settled for making an example of the teachers and students. Things had gone alright for most of it, even when the class was separated to into different sections of the facility to fight groups of villains that outnumbered them. The first years had defeated their own groups and did their best to get back to the entrance. The two teachers had been left with the main group and were downed before All Might finally arrived. He fought some villain in the central plaza and won, barely. Then he was critically injured by the Leagues leader soon after.

            When the rest of the staff arrived, Snipe had been one of the first to enter. Not many people knew what had been going through his head when he walked in, seeing his co-workers injured or dying, and students fight for their lives. Right then and there, as he took it all in, he made a call. Snipe was well known for his incredible accuracy with a gun, all due to his Quirk: Homing. He could make clean non-lethal shots anywhere within his six-hundred metre range. But in that moment, the second before the League’s leader escaped into a warping mist, he put a bullet between their eyes. There had been an investigation afterwards, to determine if the kill had been justified. The teachers and Nezu vouched for Snipe and the HPSC was in their corner. Maybe part of that was due to All Might being rushed to the hospital in critical condition, and later passed away on the operating table.

            UA kept pressing on during the years afterwards during the hardships that followed. Snipe continued his teaching career and some of the students noticed he’d put a notch on his gun, and ugly etched tally mark along the barrel. Today, Snipe was probably one of the top killers in UA, the number of zombies he’d killed could have covered the gun, the holster, and then some. But he didn’t count those, apparently, maybe he thought of them like a mercy killing and the marks were meant for the live ones. Now he was holding his heavily modified revolver, staring at that mark, and Katsuki was worried what he may be considering.

            The truck halted in the middle of the street, several blocks from where the refugee camp had been spotted. Katsuki stepped out and stared off at the risking smoke of several campfires. He hated this, he had dealt with the survivors who came knocking at UA’s doors and had directed them to these camps in the meantime. Until recently, living in UA’s shadow kept them safe from the raiders, now they were a security risk and had to be moved again. Where to? He didn’t know, but far as he knew, it wasn’t UA’s concern. They still couldn’t bring in more people, even though they’d lost a few, there was a chance of inviting the raiders inside. All he could hope for was things would go smoothly and tempers didn’t flare up.

            Knock on wood.

            As planned, the heroes and the U.A.S.F. approached from one side of the camp in a semi-circle. They stayed hidden at first, letting the stealthier of their number – with Snipe among them - go and disarm the camp guards on watch and get oversight on the camp. They didn’t want to surround the camp. Like a mob, if you got to give them a direction to go, if they feel trapped, they’ll get scared and desperate. The point was to leave an opening and persuade these people to go somewhere else.

            Katsuki got within sight of the camp and what he saw made him hesitate, the buildings were haphazardly repaired, tarps blocking the wind but doing nothing to help with the cold. The campers were wrapped in so many layers of clothing, it was hard to distinguish them as humans. They burned anything worth burning and the children sat around the fires chewing on strips of leather for food. All of them milled about, appearing nervous and talking quietly among themselves. Maybe they knew what was happening, maybe they’d been the ones to attack, whichever the reason, they were scared.

            Katsuki’s earpiece crackled to life, the UA teams all had short-range radios with earpieces. Snipe spoke over their designated channel. “This is Snipe, is everyone in position?”

            A long list of affirmatives ran through, Katsuki pressed a finger to his ear and confirmed as well.

            “Right.” Snipe said. “Heroes, make yourselves known. SF, stay back and be ready if things go south.”

            Taking several deep breaths, Katsuki calmed his nerves and stepped into the open. He got a couple feet into the camp before one of the campers took notice of him. He was wearing a winterized version of his hero suit, complete with the gauntlets. He looked puffy as hell, since his needed to be insulated against the cold for his Quirk to keep working at pique condition. The one who noticed him nudged elbows with the others, making them aware of his presence. Then the others came into view and the campers started backing away, obviously scared. A trio of gunshots from above made them all jump. Katsuki looked up to see Snipe standing atop the roof of a building, gun pointed to the sky.

            Snipe grabbed the small megaphone latched to his belt and raised it in front of his mask, it was small, but his voice travelled loud and clear. “Attention campers, this is UA. We are here to inform you your tenancy in this area can no longer be tolerated. Pack your things and move elsewhere.”

            He repeated the message again. Katsuki saw a few campers poke their heads out of their shelter, some were armed with weapons of various sorts. He hoped, really hoped, none of them got it in their heads to start shooting. They just had to leave, that’s all they had to do.

            Someone stepped forward, a bear heteromorph, presumably the leader of this small enclave. They raised their voice to be heard and gestured around them. “Move where? Where do you expect us to move?”

            “That is not our concern.” Snipe replied. “Go out and find it.”

            “Is this about the attack?”

            “You know about it?”

            “Everyone knows about it.” Another camper said. “The explosions were loud, I’m sure you’d have zombies from the edge of the city converging on UA if they weren’t stuck to the ground.”

            The bear glared at the camper and looked back at Snipe. “We are not part of the group that attacked you. We are peaceful folk who don’t want any trouble.”

            “That doesn’t matter.” Snipe stated. “Do you think being this close to UA will protect you? You’re as likely to be targeted as we are. For you own sakes, pack what you can and move.”

            “We’d be willing to move if UA were to take us in.” Another camper said, Katsuki recognized them from one of the groups he’d talked to at the wall, he’d directed them to this camp. “Unless that is what you are offering, we refuse.”

            Katsuki kept watch as the two argued back and forth. Snipe was trying to be diplomatic and failing at it. The bear was making some good pints, and Snipe was obviously getting irritated. Everyone else, the campers and the heroes, were trying to look tough and intimidating to discourage hostility. But the longer it went on, the angrier both parties appeared.

            Katsuki’s earpiece crackled, making him wince. The things were a piece of shit, honestly, they should have scrapped them and built something better. Hero grade communication devices were top of the line. Why did Nezu have to get so stingy with everything?

            “Inori and Mini!” It was the captain of the SF teams, Raiha, if Katsuki recalled her name correctly. “Where the fuck are you going?! Get your squads asses back by me! Now!”

            Oh shit. Keeping a calm appearance, he gave his surroundings another glance and spotted a couple of the SF moving around the camp, keeping between the buildings and out of sight.

            Katsuki pressed a finger to his earpiece. “Do not surround them assholes. What the hell are you doing?”

            Nobody replied. Raiha tried again to reign her people in, but they ignored her. Katsuki was getting a bad feeling. He switched the channel to the transport vehicles, at most there were five people guarding the trucks and one of them had a radio that could reach UA. Meanwhile things were getting more heated between Snipe and the campers.

            “This is Dyna-might to the trucks, pass a message to UA. Things are not looking good here. We may need reinforcements.”

            As soon as he stopped transmitting, something whizzed by his face. He registered the loud crack of a rifle the second after. Someone had just tried to shoot him.

            “Gun! Gun!” One of the U.A.S.F. hidden by the buildings shouted. “Shots fired!”

            “I got eyes on the shooter, they’re in the crowd!” Another said.

            “Wait!” Katsuki shouted, ducking down before another shot could be fired his way. “Don’t fire!”

            But it was too late. Before he knew what was happening, the tension that had been hanging over them erupted all at once. Everyone was firing their weapons and using their Quirks. The defenseless ran for cover as bullets and Quirks struck all around them. Katsuki saw a man step into the window, a large rifle aimed at the heroes, but a bullet from Snipe pierced their skull and they fell against the frame lifelessly. Katsuki blasted away a camper coming at him with a tire iron.

            Then there was the kid running towards him. Scared obviously, eyes wide, tears streaming down their face. They made eye contact with him and ran towards him, arms outstretched, pleading for help. They couldn’t’ have been older than ten years old. Katsuki stepped towards him, ready to put himself between them and danger. But a bullet tore through their temple and popped out the back. Katsuki stared, shocked as their body joined the dead on the ground, the seconds it took seemed to last hours. His eyes moved to the shooter, Snipe. He hadn’t moved from his spot on the roof when things had gone shit. He remained steady, arm moving back and forth popping campers left and right, picking off the ones fleeing for cover as the SF fired on the main group.

            Katsuki moved, using his Quirk to propel himself up the side of the building and to the roof. He tackled Snipe, one hand grabbing his gun arm.

            “Stop!” Katsuki ordered. “What are you doing?”

            He froze as he felt the cold muzzle of a revolver press against his chin. Snipe had a backup pistol, a small stubby forty0four magnum.

            “Let go of me, partner.” Snipe warned. “Or I blow your brains all over the roof.”

            “They’re just scared.” Katsuki said, he still held tightly onto Snipes arm. “Just scared. Stop the killing.”

            “No can do.”

            “You’re a senior hero. Order the SF to stop and give them a chance to surrender.”

            Snipe shook his head. “Nezu’s orders said they go. So, they go. Besides, they fired first.”

            “How are you sure?”

            “I’m sure. They want violence, we’ll let them have it.”

            “That’s not how we do things.”

            “They had the chance, they wasted it. Now get off me!”

            Katsuki wanted to say something else when he heard movement from the side. On the radio, one of the SF was trying to warn Snipe someone was climbing up the building to get at him. Katsuki turned just in time for a clawed hand to rake itself across the side of his face. He stumbled off Snipe and flung a hand out against his attacker, delivering a blast with more force than he intended. His attacker was thrown back into the half-shelved railing of the roof. There was an audible crack as their spine hit the corner and snapped in half. They lay limply on the roof, whimpering in pain, trying to move their body in vain. Snipe got up, collected his pistol, considered them for a moment before putting them out of their misery with a bullet to the head.

            Down below, the gunfire was tapering off. Katsuki clutched his bleeding face and walked to the edge to see the carnage. There were so many dead, men, women, children. Some of the bodies moved, alive but not for long. Katsuki saw a few people shift in the tents and building, too scared to show their faces.

            “For someone who likes yelling at people to die and such, you’re too much of a softie.” Snipe stepped up beside him, holstering both his pistols. The forty-four went into a concealed holster in his jacket.

            “We’re suppose to be heroes.” Katsuki turned to him. His face hurt like hell and blood was dripping off his chin, splattering the pure white snow. “You are a hero.”

            “Was a hero. Now we’re just survivors, same as everyone else. It’s them or us, kid. That’s how it runs now, kid.” Snipe tapped his earpiece. “Round up the survivors and get them on the trucks.”

            Katsuki gave him a concerned look. “What’s going to happen to them?”

            “We got more camps like this to persuade into moving. Dropping off a couple of the survivors should spread the right amount of fear into them.” Snipe said. “Nezu’s instructions were pretty clear, Bakugo. We don’t have the capacity nor the tolerance to take these low-lives in, and we have nothing to offer them. They move or die. End or story.”

            Once they were back at the trucks, Katsuki got patched up by the medic with a thick piece of gauze to his face and some painkillers. They went to three more camps afterwards, dispersing the survivors of the first camp among them and issuing the same orders as before. Katsuki did his part, acting as muscle, but he didn’t have his heart in it for another fight. Thankfully nobody else got any ideas to start shooting again.

            On the truck ride back to UA, Snipe pulled out a knife and made more notches on his pistol.

            ---

            Izuku sat stunned once Katsuki finished his story. It was sobering, to say the least, and quite haunting. Of course, he hadn’t been the one there to witness it all.

            “Why?” Was all he could say after a minute of silence.

            “Nezu wanted the problem removed.” Katsuki drank from his cup. “And his position of power assured for some time. Our group wasn’t the only one, I heard there was fighting at the other camps and mass casualties. Snipe probably made the right call sending the survivors to the other camps, it encouraged cooperation and fear.”

            “And everyone is just okay with this?”

            “They aren’t, but nobody is going to say anything either.”

            “Why wouldn’t…” Izuku stopped and groaned. “What’s Nezu doing?”

            “Lying.” Katsuki made a disgusting face. “He had an announcement in the gym a while ago, I stuck around to hear some of it before finding you.”

            “Didn’t know there was one happening.”

            “You had the right idea staying here and drinking.” Katsuki saluted with his glass. “The gist of it is-” Katsuki coughed and put on a mocking tone, “our “brave” heroes and U.A.S.F. discovered the raiders who attacked the campus and wiped them off the map. We suffered casualties, but for every one of ours lost, ten of theirs were slain. We can now rest knowing our future is secure and those who seek to rival us shall fall like those before.”

            “You’re joking.”

            “No, there were cheers all around, whole fucking campus was grateful we killed “raiders”. Wonder what kind of shitshow would follow if we told them it was a bunch of innocent people looking to get-by and we slaughtered them.” Katsuki scowled. “And Nezu doubled down on the truth. Had a meeting with all who were involved before he made that announcement.”

            “Let me guess, threats and bribes?”

            “Bribes.” Katsuki grabbed the whiskey bottle and shook it. “Damn good ones too. There were a couple of folks who spoke out against him during that meeting, a few people were quite pissed with how the whole thing went. He had them pack their bags and leave the Campus.”

            “And go where?”

            “Same answer as the campers we evicted. No damn idea.” Katsuki shrugged. “They at least got some supplies before being walked out the gates. I wager me and the others will be kept closely watched for the time being till things smooth over.”

            Izuku nodded and suddenly had a terrible thought, “Was Ochaco part of any of that? I thought she was still here on campus and I had no idea where you had gone.”

            “Ochaco now, eh?” Katsuki smirked, “No, thankfully not. She stayed here doing damage control, doing what a real hero should do. If things hadn’t gone to shit, she’d really be making a name for herself now on the rankings.”

            “Good.” Izuku relaxed a little and looked at the bottle. “So, Nezu bribed you with whiskey? Why does the good alcohol come from the devil?”

            “Among other things, but I really felt like having a drink.” Katsuki said. “Either this or I pack my bag like the others. He put himself in a sticky situation. Having us kill a bunch of people like that goes against a lot code heroes and police dedicate themselves to. Scary thing is, too many folks were alright with it, which he must have known, and he didn’t have to banish many of them. He still needs powerful people to help maintain control of UA and defend against the zombies. It was risky, all of it, but it created some bonds among the campus and put more belief in his authority. Would just take a couple of us saying the truth to put that all into question again.”

            “But you took the bottle and told me.” Izuku pointed out.

            “Yeah, now you know how deep this pile of shit is getting. I’m not any good to any of you if I get kicked out.” Katsuki seemed to think about that for a moment. “This feels like its just the start of how things are going to be. We need to do something before it gets worse.”

            Izuku shook his head. “If Nezu is willing to murder people like some ruthless dictator, what do you think he’ll do to us.”

            “If we try to raise a coup, then we’ll die for sure.” Katsuki agreed. “Over half the heroes are under his thumb, and I’m pretty sure a lot of the U.A.S.F. are too. If he’s going to go full dictator now is the time to start working against him before he’s fully in everyone’s head.”

            “What are you proposing, an assassination?”

            “Not quite. That would just be more trouble than its worth. We don’t know who exactly is in line with Nezu’s current ideals, and I would rather it be someone more favourable. We should talk to some folks about maybe starting small rival parties and start a democracy.”

            Izuku pinched the bridge of his brow. “We’re suppose to be fighting zombies. That’s what a zombie apocalypse is, and here we are talking about politics and assassinations.”

            “I know.” Katsuki said. “But what are we going to do if Nezu decides to off more people. We can’t just remove the man and expect things to settle, not when a lot of folks got their first taste of blood and liked it.”

            “And starting different political groups is the answer?” Izuku asked. “Dictators tend to remove competition. If we started another group opposing Nezu, it’s just putting targets on peoples back.”

            “Then take it slow.” Katsuki said. “Right now, he’s not exactly a dictator. Start small, make sure we still got some rights he can’t just take and go from there. I’d usually love to just blast everyone to hell and whatnot, but this situation is a bit more delicate and I don’t think we’d stand a chance in a fight.”

            “Bakugo Katsuki doesn’t think he’s up for the challenge?”

            “I trained here to become a hero. The Pro-heroes and teachers present easily outmatch us. We just need to start flipping people and have supporters, open communication with the people so Nezu can’t just off people without everyone else noticing.” Katsuki shrugged. “Maybe get some other folks in on this to work out details. We just have to act now before things get worse.”

            “I’ll drink to that.” Izuku raised his glass. “Only to the hope of it.”

Chapter Text

Now

            Things were blurry, Eri had trouble sorting her thoughts. Images flashed through her mind, a flurry a motion and panic. What she could recall was being chased through a dead city pursued by a murder of crows all cowing her name. Their heads looked too much like a certain masked man to whom she had no desire to return to. In the distance was a man reaching out a hand towards her. She didn’t know how, but she knew that man was her father, and she had killed him. Regardless, he was calling her name, beckoning her to come towards him, towards safety. She tried running but felt like she was slow, running through molasses. Her father only seemed to get farther and farther away, and the crows circled around her.

            “Dad!” She screamed out. “Help me!”

            Something stumbled out of the alley into her path. Strong hands grabbed her and she came face to face with a skeleton drenched in purple goo. It had tuffs of green hair, and it had eyes, one green, the other a mechanical eye shining red. It opened its mouth and bore down on her throat.

            Eri woke from the dream, sitting upright and panting. She was sweating and unbearably hot and her skin itched like a million ants were crawling all over her. Her heart was beating a thousand beats per second and she had a splitting headache. It took her mind a couple seconds realize she was in her room. Not in the streets of a dead city running for her life. She had an IV connected to her hand and a substance in a bag hanging beside her bed.

            Movement to her right made her turn to see Izuku sitting in a chair in the corner of the room. Apparently, he’d been asleep and her sudden awakening had startled him. He was wearing his lab coat and even though he was sitting in the far corner of the room, she could smell the chemicals lingering on him. It took her a moment to realize he was pointing a pistol at her face. She stiffened, but after a moment he lowered it back down. Relief flooding his face.

            “You don’t look like a zombie.” Izuku said, “You aren’t a zombie, right?”

            Eri opened her mouth, and then felt something twist in her stomach and bile rise in her throat. Izuku recognized the expression she was making and tossed her a bucket, still keeping a safe distance from her. She hurled into it for a solid minute. The vomiting stopped, but the feeling didn’t go away.

            “Getting bit sucks.” Izuku gave her a sympathetic look. “For the Quirkless, it lingers quite a while like a bad flu. Your body goes through several stages of sickness till you’ve expelled the virus in some capacity. That’s not even going into the infection a human bite itself, mind you. That has its own problems.”

            Eri groaned into the bucket. “It does suck.”

            “Yeah, but at least it means you’re alive.” He stood up and walked to the door. “I’ll be back in a minute, don’t go turning into anything, okay?”

            Eri tried to say something but her stomach twisted up again and she puked again. He returned a minute later with a bottle of broth, a container of pills, and a fresh clean bucket. He set the broth and the pills on the bedside table and traded buckets with her. At point the smell had been getting to her and just encouraging the reflex to puke again.

            “When you feel like you can keep something down, I need you to drink the broth and take two of these pills.” Izuku said. “Morning and night. Leo healed the bite, but the infection is persistent. I’ve already given you a dose of anti-biotics, but it’s going to be some time before I’m sure it’s entirely cleared away. We will have to do some bloodwork in the near future, which means needles. I hope you’re okay with that.”

            “Thanks.” Eri groaned out. She looked at her arm, the one that had been bitten. Izuku had cut away the sleeve and she could see only a scar from the thing in the lab. “So, I’m not infected?”

            “Not with the zombie virus.” Izuku hesitated. “Truthfully, I’m not sure, but we’re covering all the bases.”

            “What did you do for the virus?” Eri asked, straining to recall the events before passing out. “You shot me with the Quirk suppressor.”

            “And injected a shit ton of it after the bite.” Izuku reminded her. He sat back in his chair and seemed to organize his thoughts. “Me and Chisaki had theorized possible treatments using the temporary formula he created, and we had ample opportunity to test some of them. The one and most effective method we found was keeping the subject on a steady dose of TQE till the virus had filtered through the body naturally. Quirks are what the virus seem dependent on for a foothold, so deprive it of a Quirk and it has nowhere to go. Course the drug itself had its own consequences through prolonged exposure, there was a sixty percent survival rating, which was better than absolute zero. However, it is time and resource intensive.”

            Eri gulped down another urge to vomit. “But, it worked for me?”

            “Actually, it didn’t.”

            Eri looked at him. “What?”

             Izuku looked sadly at the floor. “Your Quirk grants you some regenerative capabilities. The drug Chisaki created uses your DNA and some chemical cocktail to trigger the Quirk to target the Quirk factor. It has been successful in the fact it stops your Quirk momentarily, putting up that metaphorical dam till you regained the right frame of mind or mental block to keep it back like you usually do.

            “The curing process I tried had to go on for days, Eri. I had to use a lot of the TQE I stockpiled, and your Quirk was burning through most of it in the first couple of hours and quicker due to the virus infecting you. I was barely able to stay in the same room long enough to keep treating you.” He looked back up. “I want you to understand I at least made an effort. But I ultimately had to make a choice.”

            “What choice?” Eri asked.

            Izuku reached into one of his pockets and revealed two small darts. Chisaki had known even if it was a form of inoculation, the people wouldn’t give up their powers easily or willingly. What Izuku held were two of the five darts Chisaki had ever made of his latest formula, the permanent one. She knew Izuku had taken four, but she had no clue what had happened with the fifth.

            “I had to use them.” Izuku stated, sorrow in his voice. “One probably would have sufficed, but given how finicky it is with your Quirk, I decided not to chance it. Luckily that was all I needed.”

            Eri stared at the darts for a moment, processing his words again and again. She reached a hand upwards and felt for a familiar ivory bump in her forehead, but only felt smooth skin and her hairline. She looked around for a mirror, to which Izuku immediately understood what she was looking for and handed her one. She looked, saw her red eyes, grey hair, but no horn. Hesitantly, she tried calling on her power, but she didn’t felt absolutely nothing. Not the little hum of power or the pressure of an immeasurable burden.

            “I’m Quirkless.” She finally said.

            Izuku nodded slightly, “As far as we know. Yes. Again, your Quirk is peculiar, I wouldn’t bet too highly on it.”

            Eri let his words sink in, the disappointment that was in them. The emotions she herself was feeling were conflicting. She was somewhat sad about the loss as Izuku was, but the majority of what she felt was joy. She’d hated her Quirk, despite what Izuku had said about it being able to save humanity, but she didn’t have to worry about that anymore, nor Chisaki wanting to use her as some form of cure…

            “The zombie.” Eri said. “You gave it a regeneration Quirk?”

            He nodded. “Yeah, I did. This is why I’ve needed people like Memo. I figured giving the zombies regeneration and a burst of power from your Quirk, it might cure them.”

            “But it didn’t work.” Eri recalled the creature in the lab biting into her arm and she shivered. “What was that then?”

            Izuku shrugged. “I don’t know. I have no idea where things went wrong to begin with. Maybe it was a result of me messing with nature and it decided to screw me right back. I already put the remains in a sealed bag of sturdy plastic. Several, actually. I was waiting to make sure you were going to be alright before I take it somewhere on the other side of town and burn it till not even the ashes remain. I’ve scrubbed the lab down with every cleaning agent I have available, it’s going to be days to air out the chemical smell.” He looked pointedly around them. “In fact, I’ve even considered going as far as finding another safehouse and burning this one to the ground. Just to be safe none of that goo survives.”

            “What about Memo?”

            “Don’t worry about her, she’s secure where she is.” Izuku reached over to the nightstand and tapped the bottle of pills. “For now, focus on recovery.”

            “What happens to me now?” Eri asked.

            “Recover. Like I said, you-”

            “No!” She snapped. Taking a moment to puke up some more into the bucket before continuing. “I wanted you to stop me, stop me from killing it. If it hadn’t turn into that thing, would you have just let me erase them out of existence? Let me kill another person with my Quirk?”

            Izuku looked at the floor. “Please understand, I had to be sure at no point in the process they didn’t revert to the infected state. Eri, the entire human race is depending on this research. It was just one life; I couldn’t call results conclusive if we didn’t go all the way.”

            “So now what?” Eri asked, feeling a sense of anger she’d never felt before. “I’m not useful to you anymore. My Quirk is gone, so what happens to me?”

            Izuku blinked in surprise and looked at her. “What? Nothing changed, Eri.”

            “Chisaki used me for his cure.” Eri pointed out. “You needed me for yours. Now I can’t help either of you anymore. You didn’t care what it meant to me killing another person.”

            “They were already dead-”

            “If they were then I wouldn’t have done anything to them!” Eri exclaimed. “My Quirk wouldn’t have done to them what I did to my dad. My mother wouldn’t have gave me to Chisaki, he wouldn’t have tortured me every day because of it. You took me away from him, but only for your own experiment. I’m just a tool to all of you, a thing to be used!”

            “No!” Izuku assured her. “Eri, that’s not it at all.”

            “Then what am I?” She straightened up. “You could have taken me out of there sooner. But you stayed and watched him tear me apart and put me back together over and over. You helped him in his experiments! What else am I to you people.”

            “It’s not like I could have just grabbed you and run.” Izuku said, raising both hands to calm her. “It was a difficult position to be in Eri. I didn’t like one bit of it. Too soon, without a thought-out plan, would have gotten me killed and you’d still be there with him to this day. I had to come up with plans, get connections, resources-”

            “You could have killed him!” Eri shouted. “At any point, you could have just killed him!”

            “It wasn’t that simple with the way he is and the people who follow him. I still would have died before I moved an inch from his body.” Izuku explained. “There was never an opening for him. I couldn’t.”

            Eri was shaking now, “You’re just like him!”

            Izuku opened his mouth, then closed it. He lowered his hands to his knees, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Then stood up and walked out of the room, leaving her alone. A moment later, Leo trotted into the room and jumped on her bed, laying down just at her feet and nuzzling them. She puked into the bucket again.

Chapter Text

Now

            Izuku drove the truck with the remains of the creature to the other side of the city till he hit forest. The whole time he wore a biohazard suit and mask, even though it was uncomfortable and the truck’s AC did nothing to curb how well insulated and warm it made him.  Meanwhile the remains were sealed in their bags in the back of his truck, also lined with three tarps under and over and a lot of zip ties holding the bundle in place. This was an oh-shit kind of scenario he’d seen in a lot of movies, and he was sure Katsuki would applaud the extra precautions he was taking in disposing the remains. Zombies were enough, thank you very much. None of this crazy bullshit was needed.

            He found a clear patch of forest and used the compression gun to excavate a hole. It had been a little tricky at first, he’d removed six feet of dirt right under himself on the first try. To be fair, he’d only ever used the device to when he needed to move things. Could have used it on the remains for transport, but he wasn’t letting that shit within an inch of his precious motivators. He took a moment to assess his equipment wasn’t damaged in any capacity before doing it a couple more times, this time without making an utter fool of himself. Finally, he climbed out of the pit and tossed the bag of remains inside.

            Now the fun part. He never considered himself an arsonist, but burning something evil always made him a little too giddy. And again, he was taking no chances. The next bag he pulled out of the truck was full of thermite (Katsuki’s seal of approval goes here). He had no idea how much he had made; he hadn’t taken the time to weight each bag, but it was enough to cover the bottom of the pit and then some before he lit it with a road flare. Then he just waited as thick smoke belched out of the pit and the fire died down. He took off his bio gear and threw it in there too, just in case. When it was clear enough to see he peered in. Looked like nothing but ash and charred earth. He threw the marbles back in, using enough force they shattered on impact and filled it back in. With any hope in a hundred years or so, no creepy ass tree grew from this spot imbued with unimaginable evil. But in a hundred years he’d be dead and that would have to be someone else’s problem.

            When he got back to the house, he locked the doors tight and scrubbed the truck with every cleaning and decontamination agent he had in possession. He scrubbed so hard he broke through the paint in several areas; he made sure to paint them over so it had some rust protection. Again, he found himself wondering if it would be a good idea to burn the truck. but at this point he was tired and felt like he’d already done two-hundred percent more than he needed to do. Plus getting a new one would be a bitch and he wasn’t walking to the nearest settlement to haggle for one. He hadn’t yet reached that level of paranoia where that kind of idea seemed worth it.

            Finally, to end it all, he took a very rigorous shower for one hour till his skin felt raw, put on a new clean set of clothes and sat in the kitchen. Alone. He brewed himself a mug of coffee with lots of sugar and sipped from it slowly, letting himself wallow in his thoughts. At some point Leo walked out of Eri’s room and sat beside him, resting his head on Izuku’s leg and wagging his tail a little. He absentmindedly pet the dog and tried to release some of the tension in his body.

            His theory was dead in the water. Plain and simple. All his research was null, his efforts wasted. Eri had been the one path to finding a cure and now she was Quirkless. He had collected enough Quirk samples from her, but putting them in a motivator had remained a futile effort. There were some intelligent Quirks out their that had minds of their own, Katsuki’s classmate, Tokoyami was a perfect example. It felt like Eri’s was just refusing to cooperate with his tech just to spite him. Even if he had one working, what they just discovered only left more questions. Why couldn’t things ever be simple for once in his fucking life?

            What had that been in his lab? He’d examined zombies dozens of times, but he hadn’t seen that goo stuff before. Had it been the result of the regeneration Quirk or Eri’s? The origin of the disease was still an unknown, and was likely never to be solved. Eri’s Quirk hadn’t affected it, or so he thought. Truthfully he was more worried about the thing breaking free and biting her to really pay attention to how it was acting physically… but the bones had remained. Eri’s Quirk affected biological matter; bones were in that category. So… could the goo have been acting like a shield of some sort? No, if it was living, it would have been gone too. Or maybe it was very old and could take a hit from Rewind. Or maybe it was absorbing the Quirks energy?

            He shook his head, snapping himself back into focus. No, answers weren’t going to come to him by pure imagination. He needed science, solid facts, not wild theories. The only way he could learn more about it was to replicate the process again, but that hadn’t been the goal of his research to begin with. Plus, he wasn’t feeling an immediate inclination to try replicating it. He had needed a cure, that was what all of this had been for; the hunt for the regenerators, refining the grafting process, and harnessing Eri’s Quirk. That had been it, his existence as a whole besides spiting UA by staying alive.

            Maybe he could find a way to graft Eri’s Quirk into another zombie. But that had its own problems. Eri’s Quirk could heal her – not against the virus, obviously – but it had rewound her body. If he managed to successfully graft the Quirk to a zombie, there was a chance of it activating on its own. That put him at danger of being rewound, he’d have to have a lot of safety precautions in place. What would even happen if a zombie could harness Rewind? Undead weren’t affected by it, but would that matter for the host? Maybe if he added regeneration into the mix- no, that would render them living and thus affected by the Quirk and he could be put back to square one or have another goo incident. Maybe-

            “I’m just a tool to all of you.” “You’re just like him!”

            He rubbed his eyes. Okay, yeah, Eri kind of had a point. He and Chisaki were alike in some manner. Chisaki planned to inoculate the remaining living humans from the virus by removing the “disease” they were already born with. Izuku had wanted to preserve that evolutionary trait and restore humanity. Maybe make it better in the process, but baby-steps. Regardless, they had both intended to use Eri to their own gain. All she did was exist. She didn’t ask for the Quirk, she just had the worst luck any human could have.

            Maybe Chisaki had been right with his idea. The only way to fight the disease would be to remove the Quirk entirely. Zombies were dead, their only way to replicate were to infect the living. Quirkless were immune so removing the Quirk factor – which had been fantasy before Chisaki managed to do it – made sense. Still meant they needed Eri’s Quirk, so his idea was also dead in the water. Izuku had her Quirk samples and could replicate them, but that would be a slow process. If he found a way to maximize growing the cells and creating a treatment, converting humans back over would be a very small drop in a massive bucket.

            He knew the formula to create the temporary version, but the permanent one had been Chisaki’s breakthrough, not his. Izuku had just nabbed the bullets and built up a stockpile of the TQE because he knew with Eri’s control over her Quirk, he’d need it, and he'd already used up a good amount of it to stop her from turning and two of the permanent Quirk erasers to cure her. If he had to use the temporary formula to cure zombies, he was going to go through a lot of it. It would be cheaper and more worthwhile spending years recreating the permanent Quirk erasers.

            But was there even a point? The greatest constraint he’d have is time. His plan was to figure out if curing with Eri’s Quirk was even possible, then he wanted to find a way to cure zombies in mass quantities. He had ideas for gas mixtures and zapping them with her Quirk. If he had to inject them with Chisaki’s formulas, he’d have to cart the zombies into a lab individually, hook them up to IV’s and keep a careful eye on them till the virus was completely out of their system. Thinking about how that would all go, just didn’t seem worth it in the long run.

            So, what was he to do now? By the looks of things, it was just survive at this point. He was an outcast. Even if UA preferred to stay within their walled city, they had considerable reach and leverage. It’s likely any place that traded with them had heard of Izuku and his bounty. That, with the Shie Hassaikai too, he’d have to remain in hiding. Eri too. He had no idea what Chisaki might do if he caught them and found out Eri was Quirkless. Would he kill her or try to get her Quirk back through more cruel experimentation?

            If he wanted to live somewhere peacefully with a lot of people, he’d have to travel north through the wasteland and join the Human Reclamation. He and Eri had the bite marks to be accepted into the fold, and she didn’t have any physical mutations for them to lose their shit over. If rumours were true, they’d be accepted and hopefully protected. The Human Reclamation didn’t take shit from outsiders who came banging at the door with threats. But they were also kind of batshit crazy, and nobody wants to mess with crazy.

            The once question that did bug him is if Eri should still be in his care. He’d screwed up without realizing what he’d been even doing. She at least had the backbone to call him out on his shit, he’d applaud that no issue. Either she forgave him and he changed or things fell apart and maybe she leaves. She didn’t have a lot of options in terms of another home or friends to go to, with Chisaki still looking far as they knew. If he was in her shoes, what would he do?

            He sighed. It was a good thing he never got to be a father. If one could even look at them and see it as a father-daughter relation. Or adoptive, foster maybe? The point being, he sucked dealing with kids. He’d prefer having his head in his research, that was something his brain could parse. Human emotion that isn’t his own? Not so much.

            He sipped his coffee; realized he’d been too deep in thought it had gotten cold. Oh, and Leo had left as well. Probably went back to Eri’s room, he could hear him scratching on the door. He got up to put the cup in the sink and maybe start on dinner. Plans could wait till he was on a full stomach.

            He heard the door open, a second after, Eri said, “Leo!”

            He turned around to watch Leo pushing Eri out into the living room. He almost chuckled a little how she tried to dodge, but the dog was making it a sort of game, herding her towards the couch. She tried to spin around, he backed up and blocked her path, pushed he back towards the couch. She eventually gave up and sat down, hugging a stuffed animal in one hand and her puke bucket in the other.

            Izuku chuckled and turned to go back to the kitchen when Leo bit his pant legs and started dragging him to the living room. “Leo! Stop that!”

            The dog didn’t listen, instead gave Izuku an annoyed huff and kept dragging him. He eventually relented, and let Leo drag him to the recliner opposite the couch. This odd behaviour was a little uplifting, and you couldn’t get mad at a dog for being sick with its humans moping.

            The three of them sat in the living room. Leo going between the two for pets and shoving either one of them back into their seat if they tried to stand back up. Eventually, they shared a look, knowing Leo wasn’t going to let things go, but neither wanted to speak. So, Izuku grabbed the remote and turned on the Tv to play whatever was still in the DVD player. He had wanted Leo to be a healer, looked like the dog wanted to do more than heal physical wounds. Wouldn’t be as quick, but sometimes things needed to take their time.

Chapter Text

Now

            One thing Izuku missed most of all in the apocalypse were supermarkets. He missed the simple run to the corner store for some processed snacks and drinks, and most of all he missed his mothers Katsudon. The latter was forever a memory, no matter how many times he tried to replicate it – despite Eri on several occasions saying it was delicious – it never tasted right to him. Something was always off with the noodles, or the flavour, too spicy or too sweet. He would have liked to go and ransack his family home, but he hadn’t been there since he killed his undead mother, and besides it being close to UA, he didn’t want to revisit. Every time he thought of it, it made his stomach churn with discomfort.

            The garden provided them with a healthy, all natural, diet. He was already working on stockpiling for the upcoming winter. UA had resurrected some old methods for food preservation with the lack of refrigeration and having a large population to feed. They had to actively hunt during the winter to make up the lack of calories they were all getting. Least he had been able to pick up some of their preservation methods, such as canning, to preserve fruits and vegetables for the long term. He preferred keeping the freezers open and available for the protein.

            Then there was hunting. Some settlements had cattle and such, but the cuts they sold were at a premium price, so hunting was better and cheaper if you knew how to do it right. Izuku had found a family in the woods, whom he’d grown to trust, to butcher his kills and be his mediary trading with a settlement for things he couldn’t normally get or print with his printers. He let them keep a portion of his games as payment and stocked the rest into the freezer. During the winter, just about everyone went out hunting, so the less he had to do it then, the less chance of running into other folks he had. He liked that family, they filled in the gaps where Stain couldn’t, and now he would be more dependant on them since he was dead.

            That was where his thoughts went as he took his stock and glanced out at the leaves falling off branches. He needed to head out again on another hunt. He was also low on nutrient bags for the printers, he’d have to request the family leave him any fat they cut off for his uses. There were also some things he’d need from the settlements next time they went, anti-biotics specifically since he couldn’t make those with the printers. He might have to bag a couple more deer since with Tokyo gone, there might be some inflation going about.

            He walked into the living room and saw Eri sitting on the couch. A book in her hands, Leo belly up beside her, fast asleep. It had been about a month now since the bite, and she was looking much better. He had Leo try and heal her a couple of times after taking the antibiotics in the hopes of speeding up her recovery. It looked like it worked, so he asked her to hold off on the antibiotics for a time and see what happens.

            “Eri.” Izuku said.

            She stiffened and turned towards him, he tried to give a reassuring smile, and from her expression, failed at it. Even though a couple weeks had passed, things were still tense between them. He’d given his apologies, but it was insubstantial to curb the pain - both past and present - that had been inflicted upon her.

            “Yes, Mr. Midoriya.” She said.

            “I need to go hunting.” He continued. “I’d like you to come with me.”

            Eri blinked, looked down at the book she was reading. He noticed it was a novelette, though it wasn’t one he recalled having. Regardless, this was a step up for her from the picture books.

            “Why do you need me to go with you?” She asked.

            “It’s not healthy staying indoors all the time,” like going outside was any better for anyone’s health, “and I do need to be making more of an effort teaching you how to survive out here, and see more of the world you live in. There’s a mountain range nearby with a fairly large forest. I went there once on a school trip when I was about your age. It’s a beautiful place, I think you should at least see it once.”

            She frowned. “Will I… have to kill anything?”

            “Not unless you want to.” He paused to consider. “Or need to. I’m just hoping to bag some big game and not run into any zombies. I’ll take care of the hunting part; you can just sit there and watch. You can bring the book if you want.”

            She nodded, got up and went to her room to change. Leo startled awake and flopped about the couch trying to right himself. A moment later they were driving down a deserted highway towards Ashio mountains. It was a quiet drive, no radio stations worth listening to. He had turned on the radio at one point and all he got was the propaganda bullshit Nezu was flooding the radio waves with to every settlement that could get a signal. Least the person speaking was Present Mic, he had a much better voice for radio than Nezu’s condescending tone. He switched it off and focused on driving, occasionally glancing over at Eri and tried to make out what she was reading.

            “First time reading that one?” Izuku asked her.

            Eri shrugged, “Kind of. Never actually read it before.”

            “I don’t recall that one, what’s it about?”

            “Um… It’s about someone stranded in the woods trying to survive.”

            “Really? How is it?”

            “It’s okay.”

            “Can I see it?”

            She hugged the book close. “No.”

            “Okay, I won’t pry.”

            Later they arrived at their destination. He parked the truck in a clearing and hopped out. He opened the backdoor, grabbed his rifle, then clicked his tongue twice. Leo had been asleep, but woke to the noise and shot to his feet and took off towards the forest. He sniffed the air, circled around twice trying to get his bearings, then took his nose to the ground. While Leo was doing that, Izuku was screwing on a suppressor on the end of the rifle. He grabbed a couple boxes of ammo and stuffed them in a bag. He handed that off to Eri and kept hold of the rifle. She also got to carry his modded out .22 rifle in case they did run into zombies. He didn’t have a lot of ammo for the rifle, and he preferred the .22 when it came to zombie killing.

            They made their trek through the forest; Leo was in front leading them with his nose towards something game worthy. Birds chirped in the branches above them, a few flying off, startled by their presence. Overall, it was a tranquil sort of peace. This patch of woods seemed untouched by the outside world. After walking for some time, Izuku decided to try starting a conversation in the book vein. Being quiet was a condition of hunting, but he was never that lucky in the first hour of a hunt to come across anything.

            Izuku asked. “Do you know why I named my dog Leo? I can’t remember if I explained it to you.”

            Eri shrugged as she hopped over a fallen log and adjusted the .22 on her back.

            “Leo is a name I picked up while in America. There was a book series recommended to me by a colleague. I was originally going to call him Inari, when I remembered those books and a character that I liked. Plus, the breeder stressed when I bought him if he was going to be more than just a pet, I should keep the name short.” Izuku walked around a tree, eyes scanning their surroundings. “The books are a classic, about Greek gods and their children, the demigods. It had a movie adaptation, then a TV series, then a movie reboot about fifty years after all of that with a great cast.”

            “What are Greek Gods?”

            “Their part of mythology. Back in the day, people worshipped various gods, made offerings and sacrifices to them. The point is, I picked a character from that book to name Leo. He was a blacksmith, a child of the god of forges and crafts. He had a rare gift even among his siblings to manifest fire that could burn the world down.”

            “Okay.”

            “He’s by far my favourite character in the story.” Izuku said. “I should see if I can find some copies in it for you. I think you’d like them.”

            Leo suddenly froze in place, his head turned back and forth, looking for something. His floppy ears were erect as they could be Izuku dropped down to one knee and brought the rifle up, his eye scanned their surroundings. He gestured to Eri to do the same.

            “What is it?” Eri asked, holding the .22 awkwardly.

            “Don’t know. Keep your eyes peeled and ears open.”

            He glanced at Leo; the dog was edging away from what he’d detected. Izuku took several deep sniffs, his nose wasn’t as sensitive as the dogs, but if it were undead, the stench would be overpowering and with the right breeze, he might be able to pick it up. Then he spotted the tents. At first he hadn’t noticed them, they had been camouflaged with leaves, branches, and mud. He slung the rifle over his shoulder and brought his binoculars up. Through that, he saw more details. There wasn’t any movement, but there was blood smeared on the tents where he could pick it out. There were also dead, the normal kind, in various broken states. One of them had been wearing a ghillie suit, and whatever had killed them had impaled them on a tree branch. They couldn’t have been there more than a couple weeks, from his guessing. He relayed this information to Eri.

            “What do we do, Mr. Midoriya?” Eri asked, sounding nervous.

            “We head back to the truck.” Izuku put away the binoculars, and gestured for her to stand up. “Horror movie 101. See something strange, spooky, or outright horrible, we hightail it to the vehicle unless we want to end up like them. Do not ever be curios and investigate further.”

            He was even more aware now. He had his rifle at the ready, scanning their surroundings for any movement at all. A rustle of vegetation made them turn, only to see a deer native to Japan. Izuku did a double take, several alarm bells rang in his ears. The deer wasn’t that far from them and wasn’t as skittish as deer usually were. Not to mention it was watching them, had several trinkets and keychains on its horns, and a scarf wrapped around its neck like a collar.

            “Shit.” Was all he managed to get out before Leo barreled into him from behind, knocking him out of the way as a lion tried to pounce on him.

            The impact knocked him to the ground, upon seeing the big cat, he tried to raise his rifle to shoot at it when a puma came in from nowhere and ripped it out of his hands. He tried to get up but the Lion was on him again, a big paw pushed him back to the ground and it bared its teeth at him. It had a lot of sharp teeth primed and was ready to rip his face off. Meanwhile Eri was frozen in fear, unsure of what to do, but had the rifle up and pointed at the pair of pumas backing her up to a tree. A third was on Leo, gripping his neck in its maw, not quite biting hard enough to break his neck, but not giving the dog a chance to move.

            “Don’t panic.” Izuku said, trying to calm down his compatriots. “Keep calm, Eri. Put the rifle down, slowly. Don’t make any sudden moves or they will kill us.”

            “How do you know?”

            “Isn’t my first rodeo. Just stay calm and don’t do anything drastic.”

            Eri did as he said. A moment passed. Gradually the trees around them started to fill with birds, some exotic, non-native species likely from a zoo. After the birds came the mammals. Boars, deer, monkeys, if it was native to Japan, it was there. Then they stepped aside at one end of the encirclement, to let a single lone moose with bits of polished glass shards strung to its horn and a colourful scarf around its neck walk in, with a man riding on its back.

            The rider dismounted, a tall, muscular man wearing a cloak and layers of scavenged clothing. Sawn together haphazardly. His face was covered with a scarf which he lowered as he stepped forward, revealing a cow-like muzzle. The hood fell back to reveal their head pointed and rock like in texture. He took in the sight of them, something of a smirk on his face as he glanced between Eri and Leo.

            “Puma check.” He snickered.

            Izuku sighed a sigh so deep and full of regret. He addressed the former hero, one of the first to desert UA. “Hey, Koda. How’s it going?”

Chapter Text

Now

            Koda was a complicated individual. From what Katsuki had told Izuku, Koda had been the shyest, most introverted individual in his class who only seemed to show a backbone when push came to shove. Some of them thought he was mute till Jirou assured them after their first semester final the big lug could in fact talk and had sicked a bunch of bugs on Present Mic. Koda was more comfortable with animals than people. Izuku hadn’t had a lot of opportunities to talk to Koda, or even seen him around the campus, not that it would have mattered much. Koda had bailed out of UA to survive on his own due to Nezu demanding he use his Quirk to lure in animals to feed the populace. From a survivalist stand point, that meant less wasted energy for the hunters. Koda wasn’t okay with that for one second, he refused, packed his things, and went his own way in the world. He had left before the first winter, and those days were the hardest to survive. But he managed and grow into himself more to the point he was a total fucking asshole, in Izuku’s opinion. Not quite on Nezu’s level, but maybe competing for fourth place on that list.

            Despite being anti-social, Koda had still made some friends at UA, few as they were, to whom he still kept in touch via pigeons. Sometimes, when he needed something, he’d send one right to Nezu with a list of demands; in exchange Koda would give him directions to supply caches that were useless to him, but useful for Nezu.

            Izuku had unfortunately stumbled across Koda not too long after his falling out with UA. Koda had received letters from both Nezu and his friends with their version of events that had taken place. Koda didn’t seem to care that much, since it didn’t directly involve him. He didn’t owe UA any loyalty and it had been fortunate none of his friends had been hurt in anyway. He asked questions, of course, and Izuku answered the best he could in a way that wouldn’t get him trampled by the damn moose or eaten by the lion. Koda cut him a deal, or blackmail to be precise. In exchange for crossing paths and Koda not turning him in, Izuku had to get him the supplies he needed. That was difficult since he’d been trying to keep a low profile, but that wouldn’t remain if Koda told Nezu where to find him.

            He had run to a settlement and got the things Koda wanted. Every time they crossed paths – which had been only a couple of times - Izuku had to get him more things. With the way people were picking the cities clean and haggling prices, it was more difficult to obtain them. Which was why he’d been glad to meet Stain and establish that working relationship. He went out less, and ran into Koda less. Koda didn’t care to pursue him unless Izuku was doing those errands for him, and he did the same thing to other folks with different threats. Koda was happy where he was. There wasn’t much a lot of folks could do against an entire forest.

            “We cool?” Izuku asked, glancing between Koda and the lion. “You weren’t this friendly to me last time.”

            Koda gave Izuku an unimpressed look, then gave a short command to the lion and it backed off. The puma’s dispersed too, leaving Eri and all the felines joined at Koda’s side. Leo was also released and he immediately shot to his feet and rushed to Eri to protect her.

            “You crossed into my territory again.” Koda said, one hand petting the mane of the lion. “You know what that means.”

            “Territory?” Izuku stood up. “I thought you were a roamer.”

            “We all have to settle somewhere eventually.”

            “And where exactly does this territory of yours extend to?”

            “All of Ashio mountains.” Koda gestured around them. “I’m not claiming any cities or towns. What would I even do with them? The mountains have a much better view.”

            “Why aren’t you up there now?”

            Koda grinned. “Upset I caught you?”

            “Does my attitude towards you say otherwise?”

            “No.” His eyes glanced over to Eri and Leo. “You keeping company these days? With your bounty? Who is she?”

            “Nobody.” Izuku put himself between them. “And we were just leaving.”

            “Not without discussing what you owe me.”

            “Come on, can’t you let is slide just this once?” Izuku asked annoyedly.

            “I need supplies.” Koda stated. “Would you rather I just tell UA where to find you. That bounty is quite a price. The supplies I would get from it would last me three years.”

            “Worth a try.” Izuku grumbled. “What do you need?”

            Koda retrieved a notebook from his pocket. He flipped a few pages before tearing out a couple and handing it to him. “Veterinary supplies, or anything medicinally safe for my animals to have.”

            Izuku took the list and scanned the contents. “Where the hell am I suppose to find all of this?”

            “That’s up to you to figure out.”

            “Suck a dick, there is no way I can get you this much stuff.”

            “There are ways.”

            “And what ways would those be? I don’t know if you heard out in these woods, but Tokyo is gone, it’s just UA and they are jacking up the prices. This stuff could be impossible to get.”

            “Then maybe in exchange for you, it can be possible.” Koda reminded him. “Take your things and go. Meet back here when you got the stuff in a week.”

            “A week?!”

            “Yep, good luck.” Koda turned around and walked back to the moose. He mounted the massive creature and took off back into the forest, followed by his animals like a second-rate Disney princess. In seconds the area around them was barren of activity, save for a couple of birds keeping watch over them.

            Izuku picked up his rifle. “Come on, Eri, let’s go.”

            She picked up the .22 and followed after him. “Who was that?”

            “Koda.” Izuku offered her a hand as they went to pass over another log. She hesitated, then climbed over it herself, taking a few seconds longer than it would have been with his help. Seems they were back to square one. “Do yourself a favour and remember this place and avoid it like the plague. Dealing with him is something you never want.”

            “But, he just needs supplies for his animals.”

            “That’s the way it sounded, yes.” Izuku said. “What he was really asking for was a damn miracle.”

Chapter Text

Now

            Once back at the house, Izuku immediately reassessed his stock of food and knew he wasn’t going to be able to do anything printer-wise. The supplement bags he used to print everything weren’t enough to make everything Koda wanted, and even if he did, he didn’t know much about any of the things he was asking. He had Leo, whom he did his best to make sure was well-fed and healthy, and had occasionally gotten some meds for the dog. But Koda had a range of animals with their own demands, he didn’t even know what half the stuff on the list even were or how Koda even knew about them. Maybe Koda had a backup plan of becoming a veterinarian if becoming a hero didn’t pan out.

            In short, Izuku didn’t have enough supplement bags or even the blueprints required to make all the things he needed. He only had one week before either a moose or UA came breaking down his door. He had seen several birds following them from the forest on their way back, and two had perched themselves right outside his window, both wearing specialized collars with speakers. He didn’t know if that was how Koda communicated with his animals, or if he even talked with them, just ordered them around. The specifications of his Quirk had never been made known to Izuku, and Nezu had never bothered sending Koda to him to get Quirk samples. But because of Koda, Izuku would forever be paranoid of mice and birds anywhere in his vicinity for the rest of his life.

            Izuku sighed, knowing he would need to reach out to an old contact from his time with the Shie Hassaikai. Thankfully they were not actively part of the yakuza. He got on his computer and opened a messaging application. He signed in under a new identity, picked Kazu as his name, and entered the number he had memorized. He sent a simple message and waited for a reply. It took several minutes till he got a response.

            -

            Kazu: Hello?

            Dabi: Who the fuck is this?

            Kazu: Shie Hassaikai, the guy who saved your life.

            Dabi: You guys again? I told you I don’t know anything about it.

            Kazu: No, Dabi, it’s me, the real guy who saved your life. The one who listened to all your daddy issues, and berated you for being a fucking idiot. I’m avoiding using a name because a certain techno-asshole might be screening the web for me.

            Dabi: Not buying it.

            Kazu: You’re Endeavors child, your younger brother is Shouto who got kicked from the hero course and sent to general studies. I told you he was a cold stone bastard in need of therapy and that you need triple that with counseling for anger issues. Bereft of evidence you still got a stable mind; I suggested you be heavily drugged and given shock therapy. Remember?

            Dabi: Oh shit, hey man, you’re still alive. Me and Magni had a bet going whether it’d be the cigarettes or the zombie’s that get you.

            Kazu: Thanks for the vote of confidence.

            Kazu: Listen, I’m in a bit of a pickle here. Any chance you could get me some veterinarian supplies? Painkillers and the like, anything that can be used for animals. Human medication isn’t going to cut it.

            Dabi: Possibly. How much do you need?

            Kazu: As much as you can get. I got a deadline.

            Dabi: Did you run into Koda again?

            Kazu: Yes.

            Dabi: Fucking asshole, he needs to put a marker on a map or something, can’t believe he still does shit like that.

            Kazu: Get a lot of people running to you for stuff?

            Dabi: Me and Magni have dealt with various orders from people who’ve run into him. Man needs a new hobby other than terrorizing the wilderness. It put a lot of people, me included, in difficult positions. I had a mother offering me her daughter one time, shit was ridiculous.

            Kazu: Wow.

            Dabi: Let me check for a moment with Magni and see what we got. Back in a moment.

            -

            Izuku glanced at the printers for a moment and had a thought.

            -

            Kazu: If it’s too much for those, can you tell me what you got available for food and perhaps any instructions for making pet approved medicine?

            Dabi: Why?

            Kazu: I might be able to do something with it.

            Dabi: Must be one of those Quirks you got then. Gotcha.

            Dabi: Okay, we got one supplier and it will take a lot of trading to get. Not many people ask for this stuff so it will cost a lot. I expect you to do me a huge favour.

            Kazu: But you already owe me.

            Dabi: And I repaid it by helping you get out of the Shie Hassaikai. That wasn’t a small feat with the shit storm it stirred up. I’m finally seeing less of those assholes around here.

            Kazu: What about the food?

            Dabi: Have you heard about Tokyo?

            Kazu: Yes.

            Dabi: With Tokyo gone, UA is top of the food market, in fact they practically own the monopoly. Food is selling like gold over here. A bag of potatoes would cost you a crate of weapons in these parts. Getting you the medicine straight from them would be cheaper than food.

            Kazu: And what do they want?

            Dabi: Metal, lots of it. And Electronics, for which they’d give you almost anything, even immigration into Campus. I don’t know why they want large quantities of the stuff, it’s all they’ve take from us for over a year now. I heard a guy showed them an abandoned bitcoin farm and now he’s living rich in another settlement over in the Naban district.

            Dabi: Shit doesn’t add up. I heard they got Creati in UA. Why the hell do they need all that metal and electronics?

            Kazu: Don’t know.

            Kazu: Okay, so what do I need to do then if you’re going to give me the stuff?

            Dabi: I got a job I’ve been meaning to do, but we’ve been swamped. First thing you’ll have to do is go get my lawnmower.

            Kazu: You want a lawnmower?

            Dabi: We had a workshop outside of Westside that got ransacked by a bunch of raiders, killed a couple of my guys while they were at it too. They took a lot of our shit, including my lawnmower. I can’t go after them, and Magni won’t either because I can’t handle business alone. I was originally going try and get a team together to go after them, but you’re pretty sneaky, right? If you wouldn’t mind killing them all and getting that lawnmower, it’d be a start.

            Kazu: A start? How much do I need to do?

            Dabi: Not a lot, probably three things. But getting the Lawnmower is the first. Rest will follow.

            -

            Izuku cursed and leaned back in his chair, reconsidering his options. But he’d have to bite the bullet on this one.

            -

            Kazu: How long will this take me?

            Dabi: Maybe a day or two. Possibly three. That work with your deadline?

            Kazu: Yes. But I got Eri with me and Leo. I can leave them for a bit, but if I’m going to be gone for three days doing something risky… well, I don’t know.

            Dabi: I can watch them while you do your thing.

            Kazu: Are you sure?

            Dabi: Abused kids got a place in my burnt dead heart. You have my word; no harm will come to her while she in my care. God help anyone who tries with me around.

            Kazu: You can protect a kid, but not a lawnmower?

            Dabi: Shut up. The workshop was out of town and I was dealing with some business. The kid will be perfectly safe. I promise. They’ll be hanging out with me and Magni here at the warehouse. Shie Hassaikai haven’t been around in a while, so she’ll be fine.

            Kazu: Fine. I’ll be there first thing in the morning.

            Dabi: One sec. You still got the Fox rifle you were talking about that one time?

            Kazu: Yeah, why?

            Dabi: You’re going to need it.

            Kazu: What kind of raiders do you have me going after?

            Dabi: Normal as they get. But trust me, you’ll need it.

            -

            With that revelation he’d be going after some raiders, Izuku got a kit together. He instructed Eri to get a bag of her things ready for a short stay and threw a bag of dog food into the truck. He wasn’t going to make things worse having Dabi feed Leo and have it added to the fee.

            Next were weapons. His usual zombie kit was built around being quiet and effective against the undead. For actual people who’d likely be armoured, he’d want something better. For that, he got an AR15 chambered in 5.56 rounds, equipped with a suppressor, laser pointer and flashlight attachment. He added a holographic sight with a 3X magnifier. He checked over the rifle, making sure everything was functional as they should be before setting it aside. He stuck with his suppressed .22 pistol, but stowed the stubby pump action shotgun in the truck in case he ever needed it. He threw in his usual armour and load bearing vest. Nothing was better than a leather jacket and tough jeans for dealing with zombie bites, but he grabbed a version with added armour plates for bullets. It also had the addition of a ventilation system, and he made sure those batteries were fully charged and had spares. After a full day of wearing it, he’d feel like he waded through a swamp.

            Then came the last item. Izuku went to one of the hidden compartments he made in the house. They held various items, such as weapons and backup drives. This compartment was in the lab behind a loose brick. He removed it and the small tin filled with light blue compression pearls. He selected a pearl wrapped in a thin gel and the markings for “Fox” on the label. He walked over to the table and smashed it with a hammer. A large bulky rifle took the pearls place. No longer the patched together motivator he’d started with, with wires and circuits hanging loose. He’d finally finished it and made it look sleek and deadly.

            The fox rifle had been a project he and Katsuki had worked on together. Katsuki had allowed Izuku to take some DNA samples from him and create a motivator-based weapon. It had a separate motivator with a water Quirk drawing in moisture from the atmosphere. Katsuki had always need to stay well hydrated when he used his Quirk, sweating explosive substances was killer on the body. So, the motivator fed on the water supply and the nitro-glycerin equivalent of sweat was stored in a small container ready for use. A motivator housing artificially infected cell from Kaminari made the whole thing function.

            Izuku slid a hand down the barrel, remembering the time he’d been building this thing. Katsuki had been there giving his input on how it should look and everything. The motivators were alien to him, but the rest of it he knew well. It was kind of like his gauntlets, but not so grenade looking. Izuku had named it “Fox” against Katsuki’s objections. It was by far the best name to give the thing. Fox stood for “Fuck Off Extra’s” in honour of Katsuki’s favourite saying. There had actually been a list of cute animals to work as acronyms. There had been Quokka (Quirk Utility Over Kill King Annihilator), Eel (Eat Explosion Loser), and Lemur (Lord Explosion Murder Ultimate Rumble).

            Truthfully, this version of harnessing Katsuki’s Quirk was old. Izuku had since been tinkering with the design and actually made a glove version just like the ones for Katsuki’s hero costume. Though if he were to compare the models, the Fox rifle worked like the gauntlets if he wanted them to, and they had more variety in function, including Katsuki’s special move: Armour Piercing rounds. The gloves were just standard explosions in comparison. All in all, they were destructive, loud, and very powerful. Izuku made sure he packed earplugs and several pairs just in case.

            Satisfied the rifle was in good condition, he pulled out the compression gun and shrunk the rifle back down to a marble, wrapped it back up in protective foam and stuffed it in one of his vest pockets. He stared at the compression gun for a moment, then decided he might as well bring it along. Despite his gut screaming at him not too. Thoughts of it breaking and never being able to get it to work again haunted his dreams.

            It should really just be a simple job. How bad would it be getting a lawnmower?

Chapter Text

Then

            Izuku swabbed the inside of Momo’s mouth with a cotton swab and placed it in a sterile sealed tube. He set it aside with the rest of the samples. So far, he’d taken plenty of blood, saliva, hair, and skin samples. The guard tasked with guarding Momo was standing in the corner, watching with a blank expression, clearly bored, but would easily switch into serious mode when they felt the need. Izuku had asked if they wanted to sit in a chair or tour the lab with Mei who would love to show off her latest baby (her words, not his). They only gave him that same blank look and went to stand in the corner in perfect view of him and Momo. A buzz over the speaker system in the shop told Izuku they had about half an hour of power left to the shop before Nezu decided they were done for the day. They were nearing the end of winters vicious grasp, but power still remained an issue until the days were above zero degrees Celsius.

            Since the whole incident what the UA residents were calling the Winter Massacre that took place several weeks ago. Nezu now saw reason to have Izuku replicate Quirks that would be beneficial to the campus. If nothing else but to have a backup should one of them expire tomorrow. Momo, for example, if she were to die, it would cripple the entire campus. Even though just having the samples were meaningless without the motivators, it was still a start. He was just thinking of tinkering with his devices already, and how he would tweak them to each Quirks need.

            “How does this work, exactly?” Momo asked. As she sat atop the table, she kicked her legs slightly in the air. She was so tired she didn’t keep the motion up for long. “Will I feel pain when they’re used?”

            “There hasn’t been a case of a meta-human showing signs of pain when a motivator is activated.” Izuku said. “I hope it stays that way; it would really suck for you guys.”

            Momo gave the samples a hopeful look. She was skinny, worn down, and extremely tired. Izuku had internally winced when he saw her walked into the lab. For someone so young to look that old wasn’t a good sign. She had to be around his age, more or less, and already she had grey roots sticking out from her black hair.

            With any hope, Izuku would be able to get Nezu to approve the resources for a motivator real soon. The demands for Momo’s Quirk were high, and the list of needs grew longer every day. She wasn’t the campus’s personal 3D printer, but she had nobly taken the task upon her as her duty as a hero, to help the people… at first. The guard was a recent addition, not just because Nezu wanted to make sure she was protected, but also because the civilians were actively seeking her out for personal needs. They didn’t view her as human, just a thing that could make almost anything they wanted. That wasn’t fair to her.

            Momo glanced at the guards, then looked back at Izuku. “How long will it take to get them working?”

            Izuku hesitated. “It’s hard to say. Your Quirk is unique, Yaoyorozu. I wouldn’t be surprised if I had to rework the motivators entire design to accommodate it. Only trial and error will tell.”

            And that was the truth. After witnessing her Quirk for the first time, he’d have to figure out how to factor in feeding the Quirk. Hopefully he wouldn’t need to create an entire digestive system. Maybe just a simple chemical process breaking down waste food feeding directly into the motivator.

            A bit of colour filled Momo’s face as she blushed and gave a tired smile. “Don’t I know it.”

            The guard stepped forward, addressing Izuku. “Are you done with miss Yaoyorozu? She has other business to attend to.”

            Izuku glanced at the clipboard. “I got a few questions to ask. Basic Quirk stuff and a few things I need clarification on. It’s for the record in case of an untimely death.” When the guard scowled, he added. “Nezu wants me to have all information about the Quirk. I can’t damn well replicate it if I don’t have the source around anymore. You do know this is for when the meta-human dies, right? It would be detrimental for all of UA if miss Yaoyorozu were to pass early, No?”

            That did it. The guard sighed and resumed their position in the corner. Izuku shot Momo a wink and asked questions he already knew the answer for. Nezu’s file on was already extensive since she’d been a student of this institution. Lot of notes from her instructors recorded on her Quirk as well as several professional Quirk doctors figuring out most of its functionality. Momo answered his questions slowly, taking time thinking over each response even though it was at the forefront of her mind. She could have been speed running his questionnaire, but it was all about wasting time, giving her a longer break from using her Quirk. It was kind of like a game, with the only losers being the guard and Nezu. Izuku mixed up the questions, trying to make them more complex, but ultimately requiring the same answer.

            Eventually Mei opened the heavy-duty door separating their workspaces and announced, “Shutting off main power, Doctor. Time to wrap it up for the day.”

            “Understood.” Izuku replied, and gave Momo an apologetic look. Their game was done for the day. “Thank you for answering my questions, Yaoyorozu. If I got anymore, I’ll schedule another appointment for you.”

            “Please do.” Momo winked.

            The lights went out, and the emergency lights switched on. Those were on a battery charge and would stay on for about half an hour. Izuku doubled-checked the fridges still maintained their power connections, cause wouldn’t that be counter-productive to have the samples and they all be ruined. Nezu would probably like that though, he bet. Momo stood up from the table and went to the door. The guard appeared impatient and had gone ahead of Momo and stepped out the door. Momo had only taken a couple steps when she noticed and quickly doubled back to Izuku and grabbed his arm.

            “Let me know if I can make anything for the motivators.” She whispered, her eyes communicating how desperate she wanted him to make them. “I know Nezu is keeping a tight leash on you guys, but I don’t trust him to make them a priority. So, anything, anything at all, no matter how small or big, you let me know. Please!”

            Izuku patted her hand. He wasn’t sure if it was the right thing to do, he was just trying to be reassuring. “Thank you. We need to work out a way to communicate without extra ears first to make that happen.”

            “Talk with Kendo. She’ll know.” Momo said, then walked out of the shop before the guard realized she wasn’t following.

            A couple seconds after she walked out, Ochaco walked in. She gave Izuku a smile and paused, glancing around to make sure they were alone. “Hi… Honey.”

            Izuku felt a blush growing on his face, Ochaco was probably blushing brighter than he was, but he trudged forward. “Hello Dear.”

            Both of them grew redder in the face and hid in their hands.

            They were awkwardly stumbling through the pet-name phase of their relationship. The two really didn’t have much experience with dating, Izuku for obvious reason, and Ochaco had put things like romance aside to focus on her hero career. It was painfully awkward for them and the poor folks who bore witness. Katsuki, for example, heard them try the names for the first time in the 3-A common room. He had left the room without so much as a word to escape getting second-hand embarrassment. At least Ochaco’s friends were coaching her through this. Izuku had to put up with Katsuki, who did not have any kind of relationship ongoing. So, Izuku had doubts what grounds Katsuki’s advice had to stand on.

            Though why did they need to try the pet names? Neither of them were comfortable with it, so who were they doing it for? Themselves or everyone around them? Was it just to show off they were in a relationship? He thought over their times together and concluded they were not show offs. Just two awkward people who had no idea what they were doing.

            Ochaco said, giving the room another cursory sweep. She revealed a device in her hands with a glowing green button. Mei had managed to scrounge up enough material to make another jammer like Katsuki. There had been paranoia about Nezu putting bugs in everyone room months ago – nobody knew why, but Nezu seemed like the type to just put bugs everywhere - and after the winter massacre, they went looking through Katsuki’s room with a fine-tooth comb, and they had found three of them. It was one thing to joke, another to see the reality. Mei was trying to make as many as she could. Izuku was somewhere on the list to get one next, that would be after Momo and a few others got theirs first. It just took time sneaking materials past the inspections and inventory management.

            “So…” Ochaco said, strolling in and leaning against the table in front of Izuku. “I just saw Yaoyorozu’s watchdog walking through the shop without her. I thought they were lost of a second.”

            Izuku snorted. “Did they really not realize she wasn’t behind them? Nezu would take issue there.”

            “Mei was pestering them with one of her baby’s. I think she was buying her a little time to catch up. I think they’re getting lazy.”

            “That can happen when there’s nothing really exciting to do.” Izuku leaned against the table beside her. “Do you know who Kendo is? Yaoyorozu said I should talk to her.”

            “I do. Why?”

            “Yaoyorozu is offering to help get the materials for a motivator together. The sooner I can get one working for her Quirk the better. Neither of us trust Nezu to make it a priority, and he’s been making it difficult to get to her. Kendo is suppose to help, somehow.”

            Ochaco nodded. “I can bring her by sometime. Well, either me, Bakugo or whoever has the jammer.”

            “First thing I’m doing with that motivator is making more.” Izuku said. “It took Mei weeks just to have enough to make yours.”

            “Right.” Ochaco smiled. “Now, you left a note with Mina for me. There was something you wanted to show me.”

            “Oh, right!” Izuku shot up from the table, “Totally forgot about that. I’m glad you stopped by.”

            “Been a busy day?” Ochaco asked.

            “Like you wouldn’t believe.” Izuku paused. “Actually, you would.”

            “Yeah, Nezu finally gave his blessing for you to collect Quirk samples.”

             “More like an order. I got a long list of people whose Quirks could be beneficial and they’re stopping by from time to time when they’re not busy. I’ll have plenty of samples to replicate if Nezu gives me permission to build the motivators.”

            “He’s already regretting not letting you use Aoyama as a power source. He might be more inclined to listen to you next time.”

            Izuku gave a short laugh. “He’s already telling me we need another motivator for the crops and that’s about it.”

            Izuku stepped into Mei’s side of the shop and came back a minute later holding a strange looking sci-fi backpack. It had a number of nozzles sticking out of it, all pointed in different directions. A few looks like they could rotate. Then there was one large tube sticking out of the bottom of the bag.

            Izuku handed it to her. “This is for you.”

            Ochaco took the backpack and examined it. It had Mei’s trademark stamped into the center. “Is this a jetpack?”

            “Sort of.” Izuku smiled. “Mei did most of the work, I just helped assemble it. It’s an air compressor and the nozzles direct your flight. It will need your Quirk to work, since we designed it based on weightlessness.”

            He didn’t even finish talking before she was throwing it on, connecting the buckles over her chest, weight, and thighs. She reached over one shoulder and tapped it with her fingers, the pads on her fingertips activating her Quirk on it and the weight was gone. Izuku pulled out a mirror from the corner of the room to show her.

            “Kind of like they were using at the space station.” Ochaco noted, examining herself. “Except smaller.”

            “We kind of thought you’d like to keep the space theme.” Izuku said. “It’s totally up for some changes if you need them.”

            Ochaco nodded, then frowned. “How did you get Nezu to approve this?”

            Izuku grimaced. “We had to sell him on it. Expect he’ll send you out on recon missions in the future.”

            “Good to know.”

            “Go ahead, give it a try.”

            “What? Inside?”

            “Why not?” Izuku said. “Just press the button on the pack. There’s two of them behind each shoulder in easy reach. Press one and the controller will pop out.”

            Ochaco did as he said and arm with a joystick unfolded from the pack and extended under her arm and waited in front of her. She used her Quirk on herself and she slowly floated off the ground. There were some hisses from the jetpack as she floated up, keeping her upright. She grabbed the joystick used it to carefully move herself back and forth a couple feet. She remained level and at the same height. There was a switch on the joystick with an up and down arrow. Pressing one end sent her up, the other down. She guided herself back to ground level and deactivated her Quirk by touching her fingertips together from both hands. Now weighted with gravity again, she grabbed Izuku’s arm and led him to the door.

            “Come on.” She said.

            “Where are we going?” Izuku asked.

            “Somewhere with a little more room.”

            UA had a number of gyms on campus. A few had been renovated into shops or living area. A few had been kept as they were so the heroes could keep up with their training. Ochaco led Izuku to one with a big open space. It had cushioning on the floor, walls and ceiling. It was a place to practice sparring and was currently empty.

            As soon as they stepped inside, Ochaco reactivated her Quirk on herself and the jetpack and flew up to the gyms ceiling. She moved from wall to wall, corner to corner. She kicked off the floor and ceiling, testing the limits of the jetpack. She was smiling as she did, clearly enjoying the feeling of flying around. She let go of the controls once when she was upside down and was righted into a sanding position.

            “The jetpack will automatically adjust when your hands aren’t on the controls.” Izuku stated. He remained on the ground and watched. Like her, he couldn’t help the grin splitting his face. “When you deactivate your Quirk, you should be upright. The main thruster can give you a couple seconds to reactivate your Quirk in those instances if need be before hitting the ground or gently lower you. It can also provide a nice speed boost for covering distances. We’re not sure on the exact range it can go, but Mei says you shouldn’t try flying outside of city limits till we determine that.”

            “Noted.” Ochaco said. She grabbed the controls and adjusted herself. She shot like a missile towards the far wall and at the last second, performed a flip that had her hit the wall feet first. She shot off it to the other wall. “It takes some getting used to, but I’m loving it.”

            “You look like you are.” Izuku called as she zipped past.

            Ochaco did a couple more loops around the room. Then she flew right up to Izuku. For a second, he thought she was going on a crash course to him and debated whether to dodge or try to catch her. But then she reached out a hand and slapped his shoulder, making him weightless and spinning through the air from the momentum.

            “Ochaco?” He panicked a little and flapped his arms in the air. All it did was flip him upside down.

            Ochaco came back around and grabbed his arm, pulling him higher into the air with her. “Float with me.”

            “Wait!” He tried to orient himself; his feet flailed behind him. He had no control here and no clue how to move in a zero-gravity field. How did she move so fluidly when she did it? “What am I suppose to do?!”

            Izuku didn’t get an answer as they both flew around the room. After a moment he stopped worrying about hitting the walls and marveled at the sensation of somewhat flying. His hand slid down to grip hers and she settled into a steady spin. She stopped them in the middle of the room, their bodies collided because only one had a jetpack keeping them still. Ochaco released the controls and held Izuku with both hands, carefully righting him to be face to face with her. Their eyes met, one brown and cheerful, the other green, wide eyed and star-struck. For a moment, the two didn’t speak.

            Ochaco glanced up at the ceiling. “It would be more romantic doing this beneath the night sky instead of a roof.”

            “I uh… I guess so.” Izuku mumbled, his eyes didn’t leave hers. “Would be really cold. Have to wear jackets. Oh, should maybe adjust your costume for… heat… uh…”

            Ochaco stared back into his eyes intently, he felt like they were sucking him in. He didn’t realize he was actually leaning forward, as was Ochaco, until their lips met. He was a little late embracing the kiss, unsure of what he should be doing, but did his best to oblige. They floated in the air like an unmoving comet as the universe spun around them.

Chapter Text

Then

            Katsuki stopped by the shop only to find Izuku wasn’t there. He found Mei a moment later and asked her where he’d gone, only for her to say he and Ochaco had run off like the two eager lovers they were to one of the gyms to test out Mei’s newest baby. She then tried to talk Katsuki into making modifications to his hero suit, but he pushed past her before she convinced him his gauntlets needed a tune up. He didn’t care if she was trying to distract him from interrupting the two lovebirds.

            Katsuki had been having a weird day, to say the least. He’d just been out helping thin a zombie horde making its way across the city. He’d been sent with Eijiro and a few others. Eijiro was probably one of the few people who could go out wandering the apocalypse without worrying about being bitten. His ability to harden his skin to be rock rendered him pretty much invincible. There was his second-rate clone, Tetsu-what’s-his-face and he didn’t do much more than shift into steel. Eijiro had stages to his Quirk in terms of durability, depending on how long he could hold the form. The most durable was admittedly badass and terrifying, his unbreakable form. It made Eijiro looked like a rock demon, not just tough, but like you could cut yourself looking at him. That was Eijiro’s Quirk as a whole, or so Katsuki had thought.

            While they’d been thinning out the horde, Eijiro had punched a zombie heteromorph, who’s specific mutation related to spiders. Up to the point of said punch, Eijiro had sped around the spider zombie with speed greater than he had managed in the past, so fast, Katsuki thought he saw lightning arc off Eijiro’s body. Then Eijiro punched the spider and – for lack of a better word – spattered it across the face of the whole horde. Then he’d proceeded to go around knocking the heads off every single zombie that came within reach. The lightning Katsuki thought he’d imagined, became more pronounced and amplified as Eijiro moved. Eijiro maintained his unbreakable form until they decided they had eradicated the last of the horde.

            Katsuki had been shocked. He had trained with Eijiro for years, to the point they had reached their limits, were beaten bloody and bruised, and feeling like they would die if they even breathed. Not once, in all that time, had Eijiro displayed that kind of power, and he hadn’t been the only one. Everyone else seemed to think it was odd Eijiro just had this power out of nowhere, and they questioned him on how he just manifested it. All Eijiro gave them was that he had a Quirk awakening during the winter massacre. Katsuki felt it was a piss poor excuse, but the others just accepted that answer after a bit more debate. Not Katsuki. He cornered Eijiro afterwards when they were back within the safety of the UA barrier and demanded answers. Eijiro dodged his questions, giving the same answer as before till Mina showed up to his rescue and dragged him away. Not before Eijiro promised to explain everything in full later in the day.

            Fuck that! Katsuki had thought. He was impatient and wanted answers now, and he wasn’t going to accept any other excuse Eijiro could think of, not without having a bit more knowledge. Fortunately, he happened to know someone who was an expert in Quirks. He checked a couple of gyms until he found Izuku and Ochaco. He almost missed them, damn near walked out, not before movement from above caught his attention, and he looked up to see the pair kissing in the air. Ah, they finally reached first base, the dumbasses.

            “Ahem!” Katsuki coughed loudly. He gave the startled couple the stink eye. “Get a room.”

            “We had a room.” Ochaco retorted. “Till you walked in.”

            “Yeah, whatever, pink cheeks. Put Deku down, I need to talk to him.”

            “Why not up here?” Izuku asked.

            “Yes, why not up here?” Ochaco chimed in, giving an evil smile. Then the two of them said in unison, “Come float with us Kacchan!”

            “Cut that shit out! When the hell did you two get to watch that movie?”

            “About a week ago.” Izuku admitted. “We didn’t finish it.”

            “Didn’t ask.” Katsuki snapped. Why bother with a horror movie these days when all you had to do was walk outside? Except zombie movies, those were educational now. “Now get your asses down here, we need to talk.”

            ---

            It took another moment for the couple to settle down and they took the conversation to Katsuki’s apartment. They dropped off the jetpack back at the shop. Ochaco would need to give Mei a full report about it later, but that could wait. Katsuki grabbed them both beers (still weren’t passable to drink. How does one even screw up beer this badly?), then he went on to give his story of the day.

            When he was done, Izuku was muttering into his hand, staring at the coffee table, as if it held the secrets Eijiro was holding. He also looked like he needed a smoke too but Katsuki knew Izuku had been holding off on those for Ochaco. The old Katsuki would have scolded the nerd for his nonsensical mutterings, but he really needed whatever Izuku knew about Quirk awakenings that were way out there. If muttering helped, he’d put up with it. Ochaco seemed to at least be trying to understand, but Katsuki had zoned out the moment it started.

            Finally, Izuku said. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

            “Okay.” Katsuki set down his beer. “How come?”

            “What you told me automatically rules out Quirk awakening.” Izuku said.” So, really it beats me. Quirk evolution doesn’t do this, Quirk awakenings open another aspect of the Quirk through high emotional responses, usually trauma, but they always stay within the same vein as the Quirks nature. What you described sounds like a strength-based emitter with some lightning affects. I don’t see how that could be related to his hardening ability. Sounds almost like a second Quirk.”

            Katsuki frowned. “So, that’s it? He just got a second Quirk?”

            “Shouldn’t have.” Izuku ran a hand through his hair, his cybernetic eye flashed a bit. Katsuki wondered if that was a flaw or something. “It was determined humans could only ever withstand one Quirk. The amount of input Meta’s get from one Quirk causes high brain activity, especially when active. A second one would strain things, probably put the subject into a coma if they’re lucky.”

            “What about Todoroki?” Ochaco asked. “Some would argue he has two Quirks.”

            “No, it’s one Quirk working in tandem with itself. It regulates his body temperature and allows him to freeze or burn a city. It’s a typical Quirk function for him. It surely is a unique combo, but it’s not a case like Kirishima.”

            “What about inherited mutations?”

            “If it were, Kirishima is an extreme case.”

            Katsuki raised a hand to stop them. “Inherited mutations? What’s that?”

            “A child inheriting a mutation from its parent.” Izuku explained. “There’s a family in Europe - or was, doesn’t matter – whose mother has a gigantification Quirk. Kind of like Mount Lady. All her children are abnormally tall, at least six feet before they hit puberty and an average of eight once they were fully grown adults. They all had different Quirks from their birth parents, and they couldn’t shift their height or anything, they were naturally that tall. But at her shortest, the mother was five feet tall. Father was five feet five inches. Nobody in their genetic history had tall genes.

            “Then there was a man in Africa. Born Quirkless, has the toe joint, absent Quirk factor in the segments, everything. He had many tests done and many times it was proven he was Quirkless. But he inherited fire resistance from his parents, both of which had fire Quirks. It wasn’t on the same level, but he tolerated heat far better than the average person. Scientists who were studying him had him stick his hand in a fire for a full minute before he felt it. His DNA didn’t have the Quirk factor, but another part had been changed due to his parents’ genetics.”

            “So… Somewhat like a Quirk?” Katsuki asked.

            “Like part of them.” Izuku shrugged. “Inherited mutations has begun a new classification of Quirks, since before you either had one or didn’t. Physical mutations were usually dependant upon having a Quirk, but that’s not ringing true anymore. It’s not a common occurrence, probably as rare as a case like Todoroki’s Quirk combo, but with ten billion humans on the planet, and eighty percent of those having Quirks, we were bound to see some mix up like this sooner or later.”

            “Were ten billion.” Ochaco reminded him.

            “Yeah, were.” Izuku rubbed his eye. “Anyway, inherited mutations are small stuff. Not high enough to classify as Meta-human, but enough they’re notable.”

            Katsuki thought it over. All really good points, and now armed with that info, he could shoot down Eijiro’s excuses. He doubted Eijiro even knew about inherited mutations, since it didn’t seem that common knowledge. Ochaco probably knew because she spent a lot of time around Izuku and he geeked out a lot. But one thought did occur from an article he’d read back in his second year at UA.

            “There was a scientist I read about online.” Katsuki picked up his beer and sipped. “I can’t remember his name, something long and French. He talked about grafting Quirks, like tree branches or something.”

            Izuku raised his eyebrows. “Dr. Emmanuelle Fosse?”

            “That’s it!” Katsuki snapped his finger. “You read it too?”

            “I actually met him.” Izuku took a deep swig from his own beer, making a disgusted face before setting it down. “There was a convention in Canada I was invited to. A bit of my work had gotten out, nothing too detailed or classified. It was kind of a meet and greet with other Quirkologists. Fosse was there and he sought me out. He thought our two areas of research had some overlap and wanted to discuss classified information.”

            “Did you share any?” Ochaco asked.

            I may love talking about Quirks, but my research is another thing.” Izuku stated. “My bosses would have skinned me alive if I discussed any of the inner working of the motivators to foreign competition. Plus, Fosse had been posting about his own research online trying to get funding and support from others. I shut down the discussions whenever he tried getting me to slip up. He got rather pushy as things went on till security had to escort him out.”

            “Seriously?”

            “He was desperate. Years of theories with no results, he was going to meet the end of his career.” Izuku rubbed his chin. “But Quirk grafts is old science, literally spawned at the dawn of the Quirk age. He wasn’t outright wrong in his theories, but the science behind it was archaic, almost batshit crazy when it started out. None of the experiments that took place back then should have been allowed, but governments threw the rulebook right out the window when Quirks were becoming a thing. All its research got shut down eventually, and occasionally every decade or so, someone revisits it thinking they’re the ones to finally crack it.”

            Katsuki blew out a sigh, “Was there any credible science to it?”

            “Not back then. Not sure we do even today. We have a more thorough understanding of Quirks and some of them have helped advance our science and technology. But there’s still a lot of grey areas, like how they manifest or how the specific power is determined. We know genetics are a common factor, but occasionally a child winds up with a Quirk different than the parents.”

            “So, how did Fosse think his research would benefit him?” Katsuki asked.

            “Something to do with bridges.” Izuku shrugged. “He brought that up a lot. I found a way to incorporate Quirks into machines. He wanted to know my process in hopes he could figure out how to bridge a Quirk with its new host. Even if he was somehow able to succeed on that end, I believe it would require new routes to the brain for the subject to willingly activate the Quirk. He’d have to surgically add a new set of nerves or something.”

            “What about someone Quirkless?” Katsuki asked. When Izuku gave him a irritated look, he quickly added,” Don’t give me that look, I know you were wondering if you’d get one if it were possible.”

            Izuku shook his head. “Same problem as a Meta-human. You wouldn’t just alter the DNA; you’d have to alter the physical body. Quirkless bodies aren’t even built to handle a Quirk to begin with. It’d probably overload our brains.”

            Ochaco sipped her beer, considering one of her own thoughts. “You said Fosses put his research online. Did you look at it?”

            “Yeah.” Katsuki said, giving Izuku a knowing look. “You sound a little too acquainted with the topic.”

            Izuku rolled his eyes. “Yeah, after he talked to me, I looked him up. I only skimmed the research notes he had up there. Nothing about them would have aided my work.”

            Ochaco gave him a playful nudge. “Skimmed it?”

            “Yes, skimmed them.” When Katsuki and Ochaco gave him a disbelieving look, he sighed. “Fine, I was up three days reading them. There was a lot and I got in trouble coming in to work with the lack of sleep.”

            Katsuki pointed at him. “Now that sounds like the Deku I know.”

            Izuku waved that away. “Anyway, yeah, Quirk grafts. Nothing new about them. If some government black site was still working on it, they haven’t shared anything, and I doubt UA would be part of it. There are rumours of a boogeyman who can take and give Quirks, but they’re pretty much a fairytale. Nothing about that in recorded history, and the tales have been around as long as the Quirk era just to scare kids into behaving with their powers.”

            “Nothing that explains what’s going on with Kirishima?” Ochaco asked.

            “Not a damn thing.” Izuku said. “Maybe Quirks decided to take a hard left turn in evolution and he’s the beginning of that phase. Though it sounds like he’s hiding something. Hopefully he shoots straight with you, Kacchan.”

            “If he keeps up the lie, I might just beat it out of him.” And Katsuki was seriously considering it. Then he had a thought. “Hey, what if Fosse created the virus.”

            Izuku cocked an eyebrow, “This a serious thought or your movie trained paranoia?”

            “How many zombie apocalypses have you been through? Answer: One.”

            “Oh, then tell us oh brilliant one where we can find the secret lab in which a cure can be obtained to end this nightmare.” Izuku leaned back, putting an arm around Ochaco. “Go ahead, I’m all ears.”

            “Dick.” Katsuki scoffed. “I’m just thinking, if the Meta’s are the only ones affected by the virus and the infected have a more powerful Quirk because of it. Maybe it’s the bridge Fosse was looking for. But the first thing he did with it was stick it with some undead Quirk and it got out of hand.”

            “And you call me a nerd.” Izuku said, though he seemed to almost think of it seriously for a second. “Honestly, sounds like a bad zombie flick waiting to happen. You weren’t looking to become a movie director, were you?”

            “I feel like Bakugo could give Todoroki a run for his money.” Ochaco snickered. “I heard when he was in Gen Ed, Todoroki made friends with one of the students and they did a podcast on conspiracy theories.”

            “Hey!” Katsuki protested. “Don’t compare me to candy cane.”

            “Candy cane?” Izuku scrunched his brows together. “Is... I know his hair is half red and half white. Does the rest of him… well…”

            “Do the curtains match the drapes?” Ochaco snorted. “Seriously, hon?”

            “It’s more like a swirl.” Katsuki stated, taking a deep drink from his beer and stopped, realizing what he just said. The couple in front of him gave him an amused look.

            “You, uh… care to explain how you know that, Kacchan?” Izuku asked.

            “I should get Ashido.” Ochaco brought out her phone, ready to text the class gossiper. “She will love this.”

            “Hey! No!” Katsuki jabbed a finger at them. “We shared a locker room. His chest hair had a swirl. Get your heads out of the gutter.”

            “But why would you be looking?” Izuku waggled his eyebrows. “You can tell us, we don’t judge.”

            “I was curious about the same thing. Fuck off!”

            “Okay. Okay.” Izuku raised his hands in surrender. “Was there anything else I can help you with.”

            Katsuki grumbled into his beer can, he could feel his face was hot out of embarrassment. “Unless you got anything other than areas of boring research that can explain Kirishima, then no.”

            “Good.” Ochaco shot to her feet, dragging Izuku by the hand to the door. She had her pinky extended to avoid a full five-point contact and making him float. “Goodbye.”

            “Where the hell are you going?” Katsuki asked.

            “Nunya!”

            “Nunya?” Katsuki rolled his eyes. “Fine, never mind. Get out of here.”

            Izuku waved goodbye just as Ochaco dragged him out of sight. Leaving Katsuki to puzzle over what he’d learned and what had been shared. Later, Eijiro came by. He didn’t say much other than Katsuki should follow him. He led him to the special care wing of UA, built before the snowfall for long term patients. Freed up space in Recovery girls’ office in the central UA building. Eijiro led him through the building, being courteous and familiar with the staff and a couple of the patients. He eventually ended their walk in a room on the second floor. He knocked on the open door just to alert the tenant to their presence. Inside laying on a hospital bed was a pale thin man with long blond hair. Half the skin on his body looked like cracked dry earth. The man was also tall from what Katsuki could tell. Maybe seven feet at least if he weren’t laying down.

            “Is this him?” The sick man asked.

            “Yes, this is Bakugo Katsuki.” Eijiro answered. “Bakugo, this is Yagi Toshinari. He’s the one who gave me this second Quirk.”

Chapter Text

Now

            It took about half a day for Izuku and his crew to reach the Yamanashi district. Roads were clearer around the area thanks to the constant traffic making its way in and out of the city, making the trip easier, but still requiring a detour here and there to avoid zombies and raiders. Eri read her book through the whole trip, apparently a little upset about the whole thing. He liked to think it was a good thing, her being upset, meant she wasn’t stuck in that mentality that she’d been in back with the Shie Hassaikai. She was just kind of desensitized to everything that was happening and had that thousand-yard stare.

            On the drive over, they spotted Mount Lady in the distance. The giantess absolutely loomed in the distance, slowly trudging along. She had to be at least sixty meters tall, but it was hard to gauge size from this distance. He was probably undershooting. Flocks of birds congregated around her, eating off bits of rotten flesh where they could manage. Hopefully none of them had Quirks and started a new strain of bird flu. He did stop and zoom in with the binoculars on a couple of birds with irregular flying patterns. Took him a moment to single one out and discover it was about a dozen drones flying around her face. They must be equipped with speakers and someone was directing her North. Were these the same people who’d taken down Tokyo? Or was she being led away from another settlement. A quick guestimate of her course leaned towards the latter unless someone made some course corrections. If someone was using her to target the biggest settlements, they would be south west of where she was going.

            Inside Yamanashi was Westside, the central trading hub for the Kanto and Ch­­ubu regions of Japan and positioned conveniently between Tokyo and UA. Though Izuku wondered if that was in the process of changing since Tokyo was now gone. Maybe the new trade hub would move to the Shikoku region, there was a big gap between UA and Kokura that could use one.

             Izuku had only been to Westside a couple of times, mainly back when he worked for the Shie Hassaikai. He didn’t like going due to its proximity to UA, and it being a trading hub there were bound to be someone there who would recognize him. He was only slightly relieved when he learned UA didn’t try to go out that more these days. They had the goods everyone wanted, self-sufficient for the most part thanks to Yaoyorozu and a growing industry, and they had considerable power in both Quirks and strength. If you wanted something from UA, you had to go there and get it. This was why Westside was such a good median for trade, the merchants there made the effort to have their wares sold.

            Still, Izuku considered what precautions he would take if there just happened to be someone from UA or the Shie Hassaikai there. Dying his hair was out of the question. The chemical smell stood out and attracted zombies. Only the wealthy foolish people actually dyed their hair these days and it was as colourful as an outright declaration to rob them. But a hat and a scarf for his face would work. Eri would wear similar attire. He was more tempted to dye her hair since she’d hopefully be staying with Dabi the whole time he was gone.

            Eri hadn’t been to Westside before, she’d never had the chance, and the place would have been crawling with yakuza right after their escape. He took the chance to explain a bit of the history. At the start of the outbreak, with city after city falling to the undead, the government had decided to firebomb a majority of the country to stop the spread. Yamanashi was among those targets. Alerts had been given, warning the living to seek shelter and wait out the bombings if they could. Except only half of the targets had actually been bombed, and they had all been in the northern region of Japan. Those fires had spread and turned the region into an ashen wasteland.  They didn’t know why the rest of Japan hadn’t been made the same way, probably one of the airbases had ben overrun before the planes could take off, but nobody really knew for sure. The inhabitants of Westside had gathered into the train tunnels to wait out the bombs that never came. Since then, they’d locked up the area and established a settlement. They lucked out, as it always seemed to be the case for Westside. The found sizable caches of supplies and weapons, traded with passersby in the area, and that’s how their trade network grew. They were aggressive with their agriculture and zombie killing, and grew and grew until they became the center of trade.

            The Westside settlers had done a good job of clearing out their city of zombies. Clear roads meant efficiency; efficiency meant more trade opportunities and better service. They’d established several outposts and roadblocks in the city to guard major roadways. A consequence of clearing out all those zombies, as always, was the prime real estate available for raiders and bandits. In a city that prospered on connections and trade, it made them on big juicy target.

            Upon entering the city, Izuku took a convoluted route past zombies and areas of likely ambush before he finally saw the gates into Westside. He rolled up the guard stations and kept his hands on the steering well as they walked up to his window. The guards wore armour the same drab grey as their vehicles. They also had a bodysuit underneath of thick durable cloth and additional plates for protection. Some of the ones Izuku could see had to be tailored for their size and mutations. The guard who approached his window appeared to be a woman with a brown rabbit ear mutation. The ears stuck out a bit from the bottom off the helmet. No way would anyone want their ears flopping about for a zombie to grab. The guard at Eri’s window was a tall fellow, wearing a helmet that covered his face with a metal mesh that made it difficult to pick out facial features.

            “Afternoon.” Izuku greeted the guard.

            The guard at his window wasn’t wearing the mesh, so he could tell she was tired and not in the mood for entertaining conversation. “You got ID?”

            “No ID.” Izuku stated.

            She eyed him up. “Business in Westside?”

            “I’m here to see a friend.”

            “Who’s your friend?”

            “Dabi, works at New North Trade for Magni.”

            The guard paused, taking him in again. Then her eyes wandered to Eri in the passenger seat. Leo leaned his head in from the backseat, tongue out, tail wagging at the new people looking into their truck.

            “You got bites?” The guard asked. “Let’s see them.”

            Izuku rolled up his sleeves, with a non-verbal prompt from him, Eri rolled up her sleeve too and they showed the guards the bite marks. Thanks to Leo’s healing, Eri’s bite mark looked old. The guards scrutinized the scars. Then they reached down to their belts and drew a device with a needle and small monitor. They took their arms and stabbed the needle in, taking a bit of blood from both. Then they waited for the device to analyze the sample. The one for Izuku flashed green. The guard at Eri’s window grunted, it was taking a little longer for some reason, before it finally gave the approving green.

            The guard said, “If you’re going t be frequenting Westside in the future, I advice you go to the main office and have an official badge printed with our Quirk status. Saves you time getting in with the added benefit of getting stabbed less.”

            “Thank you.” Izuku said. The guard waved them through and the gates opened just enough for his truck to pass through.

            “Can we get those ID’s?” Eri asked, rubbing her arm where the needle had gone in. She was looking pale and shaking slightly. Right, she didn’t like needles.

            “Hopefully it will be a while before we ever come back.” Izuku said. “I haven’t been here since we escaped Chisaki. We would have been fine if we hadn’t run into Koda. Plus, if we get ID’s, they’ll have to take pictures, and those will be in their system. UA and Chisaki might have spies who can access that system and they’ll have a clue where to find us.”

            Eri sighed. “Okay.”

            Izuku gave her a reassuring look and adjusted the cap on his head. The streets were packed, people coming and going about their daily lives with guard patrols and merchants showcasing their wares on makeshift stands. It seemed oddly normal. The people were dressed nice and looked to be eating well. Just about everyone had a weapon though, some carried openly or concealed in some manner. Eventually he made it to the giant warehouse close to the center of the settlement. The warehouse was fairly new construction, even had a new paint job since he last saw it. Its logo was a compass with a horseshoe magnet in place of the needle pointing North. Izuku parked the truck by the front doors. Further along the side of the building, several armoured semi-trucks were backed up to garage doors, the warehouse staff shuffling back and forth like ants switching out the truck’s contents.

            The Trio walked through the door. The front desk area was clean and walled off from the actual warehouse section. There was an actual desk instead of plywood sitting on boxes. Two secretaries on phones were making calls and typing away on computers. One tapped on their keyboard with a Quirk enhanced speed and they actually paused to wait for the computer to catch up. Behind them in a box were several broken keyboards beside a filing cabinet. Everything in here was pristine and new. Felt like they’d taken a step back in time.

            The other secretary, a guy whose Quirk replaced their eyes with a LED screen, hung up the phone and addressed them. The screen flashed and they looked expectant. “How can I help you here at New North Trade?”

            Izuku walked up to the desk. “I’m here to see Dabi?”

            “And you are?”

            “Just the guy who lent him a hand.”

            The secretaries’ eyes flatlined. They reached for the phone and pressed a number. “Dabi, some asshole is here to see you.”

            “What’d he say?” Izuku could hear Dabi’s voice come from the speaker.

            “He lent you a hand.”

            There was a cackle and a click of Dabi hung up. A moment later, a door behind the desk burst open and a very scarred and burned man rolled through in a wheelchair. The arm piloting the chair with a joystick was an advanced prosthetic, not a streamline good enough anyone could buy for cheap. The arm was a chrome arm with blue fire design painted on. Dabi was also missing one leg below the knee, and the other one was damaged badly to even move, but had been able to be saved. A blanket covered the lower part of his body, hiding the one missing leg. His missing foot wore a fuzzy slipper. He wore a shirt that showed a crossed-out zombie head and the words ‘I’m dead on the outside, not the inside’, because if you didn’t know Dabi when you met him, you’d definitely mistake him for a zombie until he spoke.

            Dabi had been scarred before his fight with a zombified Endeavor. Izuku didn’t understand why until he learned a little more about Dabi’s history. Before the fight, Dabi had skin grafts had to be held on with staples, making him look like a hardcore goth. After, Izuku had tried to graft skin wherever it would take, had to amputate the remains of one arm and cut off one leg to the knee. He saved the other one, but it was too damaged to even move and the physical therapy was already going to be a nightmare. Dabi had burnt eighty percent of his skin off and miraculously wasn’t dead. It would have been a mercy to put him out of his misery, but… Izuku had wanted to try something from his research. Didn’t pan out, but he did save Dabi’s life. The crazy son of a bitch appeared to be looking much better now. The skin grafts around his head had taken and even a bit of patchy white hair was growing out of it.

            Dabi stopped just in front of Izuku and looked up at him. Without a word, he reached into a pocket and pulled out an eyeball from his pocket and held it out to him. It had a green iris. “Eye bet you didn’t see yourself coming here so soon. Want one?”

            Izuku cocked an eyebrow, his cybernetic flashing red. “Really?”

            “I specifically commissioned someone for these.” Dabi popped the gumball into his mouth and chewed. “They’re a hot item on the shelf. People love them.”

            “And I’m the asshole?”

            Dabi snorted and turned the wheelchair to Eri. He held out a hand for fist bump and she obliged. “Hey, Eri! How are you?”

            “I’m good, Mr. Dabi?”

            “Want an eyeball?” Dabi held out another gumball for her. “It’s just gum. You’ve had that before, right?”

            “No.”

            “Try it.”

            Eri hesitantly took the gumball, giving it a skeptical and grossed out look. She was too polite or too nervous to decline the offer. Dabi tussled her hair, stopping for a moment to part it, eyeing the spot where her horn used to be. He shot a questioning look to Izuku who mouthed ‘later’.

            The door burst open again and a large burly woman marched into the room. Her hair reached to her chin, big luscious lips right out of a cartoon and wore sunglasses. She had five ‘clock shadow and a wide muscular body. Today’s wardrobe was a flannel shirt with a leather jacket overtop and the same kind of padded jeans as the guards wore at the gate.

            “Dabi!” Magne called. “You making deals behind my back again?”

            Dabi rolled his eyes. “No, Magne.”

            Magne walked right up to Eri and examined her. “Is this her?”

            “Yes.”

            “She’s so cute!” Magne knelt down to be eye level with the little girl. “Now I really want to find that Chisaki dickhead and feed him his legs. He really tortured you, Eri?”

            “Eri stepped back nervously, Leo nuzzled up beside her, trying to be reassuring. “Ye- Yes.”

            “It’s official. He’s dead meat when I see him.” Magne stood up and offered a hand to Izuku. “Good to see you again, Doctor. Thanks for coming out all this way.”

            Izuku shook the hand, Magne had a strong grip. “It’s good to see you too, Magne. Business is good as usual?”

            He had no idea if Magne was her real name, he knew Dabi wasn’t Dabi. But it wasn’t strange for some folks to choose a new name in this world. Everyone changed, even villains. What they were before didn’t matter. Izuku didn’t really get it, he just wanted to know what to call them.

            “As always.” Magne smiled. “So, Dabi roped you into doing a job he should have done already.” At this, she gave Dabi a disapproving look. “In exchange, we’re getting you a bunch of supplies to get Koda off your back.”

            “That sums it up.”

            “If I ever meet that man-” Magne groaned, wiping a hand down his face. “At least we know he’s settled down somewhere. I got that area marked out on a map to encourage folks to avoid it. I’m tired of rush orders. If I had a yen for every time someone came here because of him, in a panic… well, a yen is worthless, so I’d still be poor.”

            “As poor as a wealthy merchant can be.” Dabi sighed dramatically. “The world is a cruel place of us hardworking folks.”

            When Dabit had recovered somewhat, he’d helped earn his stay at the Shie Hassaikai managing their trades with Westside. He’d spoken with Magne many times over his stay with them, and she’d eventually offered him a job working as her business partner. Dabi was a good negotiator and had a knack for haggling prices. His voice was his best and only feature, and he worked the hell out of it. He eventually convinced Chisaki to let him go work for Magne to get the Shie Hassaikai better connections and deals, he then helped acquire resources for Izuku to escape with Eri. Chisaki hadn’t figured out Dabi’s part in that, otherwise Dabi and Magne wouldn’t have a business to be standing on. That or he feared the consequences of messing with the merchants of Westside.

            “Well, I’m finally glad someone’s going to get that thing.” Magne said. “We’ll watch Eri for you while you complete your end of the deal. Chisaki’s gang hasn’t shown their faces here for almost a year. If he does, my entire staff will take the pleasure in ruining his day.”

            “I’m glad to hear that.” Izuku said. He looked down at Leo and clicked his tongue. The dog nuzzled closer to Eri. “Leo will stay with her. He’s a well behaved and well-trained dog and I got a bag of food for him in the truck.”

            “Good.” Magne reached out a hand to Leo, letting him smell her before giving him some pets. “Don’t you worry, we’ll take good care of them both. Would you like a tour, kid?”

            Eri looked at Izuku and he nodded for her to go. Magne and Dabi he trusted. Not in a way like Stain, it was a different sort of trust. Dabi and Magne hated UA, only traded with them out of necessity. They also hated Chisaki and wanted no dealings with the Yakuza. They only cared about being a reputable business.

            Eri stuttered out a little “Sure?”

            Magne laughed and picked Eri up and set her one shoulder. They walked out of the room, Leo following right behind the.

            Dabi gave Izuku a serious look. “There appears there is some catching up to do. The job can wait a bit.”

            “Yeah.” Izuku scratched his neck. “There is a lot to go over.”

Chapter Text

Now

            They went to Dabi’s office. It was a nice simple room, a few personal affects strewn about, a few rich commodities acquired through trade as a show of prowess. More colourful than what Izuku had seen so far in any settlement. Dabi rolled over to a mini-fridge and pulled out a couple of beers. The labels were different, but they were the UA brand Izuku was all too familiar with. Dabi offered him the can and he took it. They popped the tops and drank. Izuku picked up the trashcan and spit it out.

            “It has been years now. Years.” Izuku spat the last little bit out and fetched a water bottle from the fridge. His hero. “Think with all they’ve achieved they could still make a decent brew.”

            Dabi chuckled. “It’s grown on me.”

            “Like mold.” Izuku remarked and watched as Dabi chugged his. “You can’t actually taste it, can you?”

            “Not in the slightest.” Dabi laughed heartedly and stuck his tongue at him. “Lost my sense of taste, remember?”

            “I remember you complaining about it back when you were bed-ridden in our time with the yakuza.” Izuku remarked, taking a seat and sipping his water. “But I figured you were just voicing what we were all thinking. The cook wasn’t actually a cook, and I think anyone could have made something more edible than that shit they called food.”

            “Then I couldn’t have gotten myself out of their quickly enough.” Dabi raised the beer in toast. “Thank you Magne for taking me in. Least I can feel the alcohol. That’s enough for me.”

            Tapped his bottle against the beer, “Preach it.”

            Dabi rolled his wheelchair around to his desk. “How about we stop beating around the bush. What’s happened since I last saw you?”

            “Too much.” Izuku said. “Honestly don’t know where to start. Could use someone to give me advice, Dabi. I don’t have a lot of folks I can go to.”

            “I’m all ears.” Dabi thumbed the only earlobe he had. It was pierced with several rings. “But I’m curious about Eri. Noticed she doesn’t have her horn anymore.”

            “Yeah, that’s part of it.” Izuku sighed. He was already itching for a smoke and a decent drink to help him spill his guts. “In short: I fucked up.”

            He gave Dabi the run down of things since acquiring Memo. He left out the whole thing with Stain and infecting Memo. High chance Stain had contacts of his own, and Izuku didn’t want word getting around that he killed the man and someone try to get payback. Stain didn’t seem the type, but then again, he and Izuku had a working relationship of a sorts. Dabi already had a sense of what Izuku had been working on, and he shared what exactly happened to turn Eri Quirkless. By the time he was done catching Dabi up, the man had rolled over to the fridge for his third beer.

            “Lot to unpack.” Dabi rolled back over to his desk, rubbing a spot under his eye. “We need to talk about Eri, and we will, but that zombie shit. That’s… that’s a little out of left field. Any clue what that could have been?”

            “Not a clue, and I’m not sure I want to know.” Izuku said. “I burnt the remains and buried them deep in the woods. It’s vastly different than what we’re dealing with on a normal basis, even by zombie standards. It wouldn’t die though, not after I blew out its brains, if it had any. The acid and fire burned it pretty good, so that’s something to keep in mind if this ever occurs again, somehow.”

            “Think it was the true form of the virus?” Dabi asked. “That is- was Eri’s Quirk. Rewind biological matter.”

            “I considered it.” Izuku shrugged. “But with the amount of exposure it had, I think like it was either way too old or was feeding off the energy of her Quirk, which I already believe that’s why the virus is infecting Meta’s in the first place.”

            “Are you going try to recreate it? Science the shit out of it?”

            “Not even sure I want to. The point was to find a treatment, remember? If all I did was evolve or devolve a virus so it can only die to acid and fire, then I’m not repeating that.”

            “Can’t argue against that.” Dabi shook his head. “Okay, now let’s talk about Eri. We both know her history of abuse at Chisaki’s hand, I shouldn’t think we’d have to rehash that, but what the fuck, Izuku?”

            Izuku groaned. “I know, I fucked up.”

            “In simple terms. What I mean is we did all that work to get her out of the Shie Hassaikai where she was a science experiment to be torn apart and put back together again over and over, only to go to someone who avoids all that nonsense - fortunately – but still treats her like a science experiment.” Dabi gave him an exasperated look. “Come on, dude, I thought better of you. Yeah, you worked with the Shie Hassaikai to survive, I get that. We all do what we need to get by. But we knew better and we strived to fix it.”

            “That’s… not what I meant to happen.” Izuku said. “The experiment, I just didn’t think things over. I should have been more considerate of Eri-”

            “Why did you rescue her, Midoriya?” Dabi asked, eyes narrowing. “That’s the real question you should be asking yourself. What was the purpose of rescuing her? To use her in your own theories? Or to get a scared little girl out of the hands of a monster?”

            Izuku leaned back in his chair, feeling the intense vibes rolling off of Dabi. He took a deep breath and considered. “Both. I saw both.”

            “Both? Cause it sounds like only one of them.” Dabi shook his head. “When she was bitten. Did you consider just storing her away like all your other zombies to harvest her Quirk?”

            Izuku hesitated.

            “Oh for-” Dabi slammed the beer on the counter giving Izuku a disbelieving look, “You are such a hypocrite!”

            “I didn’t answer.”

            “You shouldn’t have to think about it!”

            “It was a brief thought. Very brief!” Izuku said defensively. “Yes, I weighed the choice of saving humanity or her. I knew the rational choice was to let her zombify and continue devising a treatment. But emotionally I made what I felt was the right choice and saved her life. She hated the Quirk anyways; it was going to be a dead end for her.”

            “Which I’m glad.” Dabi pinched his brow, taking a moment to compose himself. “But now that it’s gone, what do you think Chisaki is going to do if he discovers she’s Quirkless now?”

            “No damn clue.” Izuku shook his head. “He was very dedicated to erasing all Quirks. I doubt he’ll just drop it and leave her alone. If he’s kept up the search this long after a couple of years, he might try to find a way to reawaken her Quirk. He used it for a Quirk erasing formula, I never made it my goal to learn how he did it permanently, it seemed petty and spiteful. I bet he’ll have some ideas on how to bring it back.”

            Dabi arched an eyebrow. “You don’t know how he did it?”

            “I specialized in Quirk technology. The other stuff I just picked up out of necessity. The grafting is possible now. But whatever process Chisaki has done, I can’t spend the resources to reverse engineer it. I know how to make the temporary stuff, but the permanent stuff was his breakthrough alone, and I didn’t see a point in ever learning that cause I thought I had a better solution. I don’t even have enough Quirk samples to start from scratch like he did, and the process of making more would be time consuming. The current stockpile of the temporary formula I had built up back in the Shie Hassaikai in anticipation of escaping and having a means to stop Eri’s Quirk when it gets out of control.”

            Dabi frowned. “Have you thought about grafting her Quirk to another zombie?”

            “Yes. But that carries its own risks like me getting rewound out of existence. The virus will make it more potent and uncontrollable, and you’ve seen how zombies are with their Quirks. Plus, there’s the chance of repeating that goo stuff again.”

            “So, put a pin in it.” Dabi nodded and moved on. “Do you think Eri can continue staying with you? You get into the zone with your experiments, you neglect her, you endangered her, do you really think she should remain in your care.”

            “I’m not sure.” Izuku shrugged. “Least I know I’m not good with kids.”

            “Agreed.”

            “I have been trying to mend things. That lasted a couple weeks till Koda happened. She’s calmed down a little, but it feels like… I don’t know. Like things aren’t going to be fixed.” Izuku shook his head. “I don’t know if I was ever really prepared for this.”

            “You recognize it, that’s a good thing.” Dabi said. “It’s shitty, realizing you’re a piece of shit.”

            “Speaking from experience?” Izuku joked.

            “Shut up.” Dabi said, dead serious. “What if I found a place for her? A family I trust that would take care of her, give her a proper upbringing.”

            Izuku felt a reluctance to answer. ‘Yes’ would have been the simple answer, thinking over everything, but he didn’t quite agree with just sending her off to another home. Who was there to even trust these days with a child? Especially a child like Eri who was being hunted by a yakuza boss.

            Dabi considered him for a moment. “Here’s the thing. If I were to even find someone who could take her in. They’d have to be at UA, anywhere outside isn’t going to cut it. Chisaki may not have his goons rifling through every alley and broom closet in Westside anymore, but they are still out there, harassing other settlements to find her. UA has the best security you could ask for, he wouldn’t be able to walk in and just take her, and a full-on assault on the UA barrier is suicide.”

            “What about the Human Reclamation?” Izuku cocked an eyebrow. “From what I hear, nobody messed with them.”

            “Nobody who possess a shred of common sense. I wouldn’t send my worst- no, I would send my worst enemy up there. But I wouldn’t send a child up there. Trust me, anywhere but north will be safe for her. It’s a real clusterfuck up there.”

            “Noted.”

            Dabi metal fingers tapped his beer. “Like it or not, she’ll probably have to stay with you. Getting into UA is a process. They’ve been steady with their expansion recently and are back to being picky with who they let in. Chance is they’re not going to take a little girl out on her luck. So, learn, change, and do better.”

            The idea of letting Nezu being in charge of Eri’s wellbeing did make Izuku’s blood boil a little. If he couldn’t be better for any other reason than just to spite Nezu, that would be reason enough. Also, if Dabi had serious concern for Eri’s safety, he could just take Eri away from Izuku without even discussing it. He had the manpower to prevent Izuku from taking her back with him. Then he realized Dabi was glaring at him with an anger so raw and fierce, the man was emitting heat waves of his body.

            “But.” Dabi said, crushing the empty beer can in his grasp. “If you continue with your previous attitude towards her, Quirk or not, I’ll see to it… I’ll see to it…”

            Dabi shook violently for a second, literally seething with fire. The temperature in the room rose several degrees to the point it was unbearable. Izuku shrunk back, raising his arms and expecting Dabi to burst into flames. But as quickly as the heat grew, it quickly shrunk back in. Dabi panted, taking deep breaths, then wiped at his eyes with a rag and coming away with blood.

            “I understand.” Izuku said.

            “You better.” Dabi took a shaky breath, his anger subsiding. “You’re self-aware enough to know what you’re doing is wrong. You got a chance to make things right. If this world was normal, and she wasn’t wanted by a fucking psychopath, then we’d see about relocating. So, do better. Or I will kill you myself, even if I burn up too.”

            “Understood.”

            Dabi discarded the rag and reached into a drawer to pull out a map. “Then let’s get you on your way. I can talk with Eri, get her perspective on things while you get my lawnmower and maybe pave the way to recovery.”

            “I’d appreciate that.”

            “Don’t make me regret it.” Dabi scowled. He splayed the map out on the desk and pointed to a marked spot. “My guys were able to track my lawnmower to here. It’s a raider base, large warehouse with lots of open space. They built a wall around it and it’s located conveniently where it gives them a short distance from some of the trade routes to Tokyo.”

            “How many raiders are in there?” Izuku asked.

            “About fifty.”

            Izuku whistled. “That medicine is looking less and less attractive.”

            “Fortunately for you, these guys have eyes and ears in Westside.” Dabi grinned. “After watching them for a time, my boys figured out they got a spy reporting all the comings and goings around here. They see a convoy leave; they radio it home and the raiders go for a trip.” Dabi leaned back. “Narrowed it down to who in shipping department and worked out a deal. They report a false shipment to their buddies when I give the word. That should clear out the base of most of them for you to do your thing.”

            “What if I don’t get out before they get back?” Izuku asked.

            “Who says they’re coming back?” Dabi smile grew wider. “Maybe they’ve pissed off a few too many folks and getting them in the open is all that’s needed to handle them.”

            Izuku gave him a look. “I feel like you could have done this before I contacted you for help.”

            “Yeah. But you got Koda on your ass and you need who’s help?” Dabi pointed at himself. “Me! So, I’m choosing the price. Deal with it.”

            “And what if the raiders decide not to go?”

            “Holy shit, they will! They’ve gotten good scores in the last couple of raids they did. They’re confident they got things. Let me worry about it. Okay?” Dabi reached into another drawer and pulled out a satellite phone. “You’re also going to need this.”

            “I thought the signals around Westside were good.”

            “Trust me, you’ll want it.” Dabi threw it at him.

            Izuku caught the phone and examined it. It was the size of a smart-phone, but twice as thick and with a huge collapsible antenna on top. He had his own smart-phone in his pocket, but he mostly used it for storing programs he used to hack into software. Now that he thought of it, he never actually made a call with it, well this one, anyway. Saved him from lugging around a computer everywhere. Like he had told Stain, settlements were more concerned about losing the internet than the world ending, so there was still decent coverage in most of Japan so long as there was a settlement maintaining the network.

            “Can this link up with my earpiece?” Izuku asked.

            “It can, just don’t expect me to stay on the line if take too long.” Dabi scoffed.

            Izuku pocketed the phone. “If that’s everything, I better get going.”

            “Yes. Make sure you give me a call when you find the lawnmower, okay?”

            “Will do.”

            Izuku stepped out of the office and found Magne and Eri sitting in the lounge area. Magne had gotten Eri a handheld console device and was coaching her on how the controls worked. Leo was sitting between them, head resting on Eri’s lap, the gold retriever seemed to be trying to watch whatever was unfolding on the screen. The two gamers (Three if you count the dog) paused to watch Izuku approached.

            Izuku knelt in front of Eri. “I’ve going to be heading out now. I should be back hopefully soon.”

            Eri gave him a nod.

            Magne said. “We’ll take good care of her. Just don’t go off and die, yah hear?”

            “Do my best.” Izuku gave them a reassuring smile and headed for the door.

            Yeah, just grab a lawnmower from a bunch of raiders, by himself, with a distraction that hopefully happened. Yay.

Chapter Text

Now

            Izuku found the raider base easily enough and got into an advantageous spot in a building to get a view of the base’s layout. He could see a couple of the raiders milling about, doing tasks or simply pissing away the day doing whatever. There were several trailers parked inside and all manner of vehicles in various states of repair and functionality. The warehouse sat squarely in the center of the base, one huge garage door in front and a smaller normal door beside it. The raiders had covered the roof with solar panels in a messy array of wiring. These raiders looked richer than any of the others Izuku had seen. Dabi hadn’t been kidding, they’ve been hitting it rich.

            He called Dabi to say he was in position and waited for the spy to make their call. He had parked his truck far enough away the raiders wouldn’t find it and had pocketed the compression gun. He already had a plan for getting in with it. The fox rifle was still in its pearl in another pocket. Now he was just fighting the shakes trying not to have second thoughts. A couple of cigarettes helped ease the nerve.

            Finally, one of the raiders stepped out of the trailer and shouted something he couldn’t pick out. The base was suddenly very active as raiders dropped what they were doing and running to their vehicles. In minutes, little more than half their number were driving out the gates and heading off to Dabi’s ambush. About damn time.

            There were about a dozen guards now left on the wall, and Izuku picked out a newly created blind spot he could get to. He scurried to the wall without being seen and used the compression gun to make a hole big enough for him to crawl through. He readied his AR and stepped inside, head on a swivel, scanning his surroundings for anything or anyone he’d missed. Things could get heated pretty quickly now he was inside. Thankfully the guards on the wall were more concerned with watching the outside than inside.

            Izuku moved from cover to cover, staying directly out of the open. He approached the warehouse from the side and looked around. There were a stack of crates by the wall he could hide behind. He went behind those and created another hole in the wall and crawled inside. He let the AR hang by its sling and scanned the room with his pistol out. There were a lot of tool boxes and pallets with scavenged parts, and several vehicles in the midst of repair. There was also a huge ass combine taking up a lot of space. He gave it a double-take and almost cursed aloud when he heard someone cough like they were hacking out their lungs.

            “Stupid piece of shit!” A raider swore, kicking a vehicle with one foot. “Who fucking designed this shit!?”

            Izuku hunkered down, pistol at the ready, looking for the raider. He could make out their feet under another raider vehicle shot up and in need of repair. He quietly made his way around till he had them in view. Nothing really had to be done, he just put a couple rounds into their head and let them drop. He waited a moment, listening for anyone else, but it was deadly quiet now.

            Izuku relaxed, only a little, and turned back to the combine. He pulled out the satellite phone and used the quick-dial function on the only number saved on it.

            “Hello?” Dabi said from the safety of his office miles away. “New North Trade, how may we help you?”

            “Dabi, what the fuck?” Izuku said.

            Dabi recognized the disbelief in Izuku’s voice and laughed. “You found it?”

            “How can I miss it. Dabi, you said it was a lawnmower.” Izuku hissed, glancing at the door, expecting someone to walk in at any moment.

            “It technically is a lawnmower.”

            “No, No! It’s a supped up combine harvester.”

            Izuku felt his statement was underselling his words. Supped up, was not accurate. Every inch of the combine was covered in a high-tech looking armour plating of some variant he wasn’t familiar with. The blades on it were absolutely designed for chewing up concrete if it so liked, and a bunch of saw blades - working and functional - had been thrown in on the sides to cut up any zombies that walked into them. Those thankfully could be folded up and out of his way to climb into the cockpit, which was covered in more armour plates and reducing the driver’s visibility. On one side of it, spray painted in grassy green paint, were the kanji ‘lawnmower’ and a decapitated zombie head flying from a pair of spinning blades.

            “It’s awesome, I know.” Dabi was pleased. “It has an engine with some serious horsepower. You’ll be driving it around like a Lamborghini. The reel and cutter bar have been replaced with a custom design for their purpose, blades on there are enhanced with a Quirk, so they can chew up solid steel and not chip, and those things spin up fast like a blender. It’ll be chewing up zombies like a woodchipper. Cockpit has access ports for rifles or other kind of weaponry, like your Fox rifle, to stick out and pick off the odd zombie of your choosing.

            “Now that you’ve acquired my beloved lawnmower, it’s time you to take it out for a spin and complete part two of your task.”

            “To do what? Shred a tank?” Izuku snapped. A part of him knew things wouldn’t be this simple.

            “I need you to head to Tokyo, there’s a park there they hadn’t managed to close in with that fucking wall of there’s.” There was a gasp on the other end of the line from Magne, who said something about not swearing in front of the child. “Well take her to watch the grunts in the warehouse, I’m busy.”

            “The park, Dabi.” Izuku tapped his foot impatiently. He kept glancing at the door expecting someone to walk in at any moment.

            “It’s full of zombies. I want you to clear it out with the lawnmower. See, now that Tokyo’s abandoned, that giant wall of steel is just sitting there doing nothing. The mayor of Westside has been trying to talk the merchants into establishing an outpost to break it down. The load of zombies in the area is kind of a deal breaker, but I want my boys to be there first with an already cleared spot to build a base and reap the rewards.”

            “This is a favour for the mayor?”

            “Personal investment, actually.” Dabi said. “Again, I need my guys there first before the rest of these morons grow a pair. The scrap will sell for a fortune at UA, probably give Nezu all the metal he needs for his lifetime. Next time you need anything from me, I can cut prices down by half.”

            “There’s something else.” Izuku noted. “Something you neglected to mention. I can feel it.”

            “Well,” Dabi said, “since you’ll be over there already. It wouldn’t hurt for you to stop by where Fujiya hospital used to be in the Southside of Tokyo.”

            “No!” Izuku said. He remembered that area, remembered it for a damn good reason. “No! You can’t seriously want me going there.”

            “You’d just be paying a certain individual a visit.”

            “You mean Endeavor, asshole!”

            “I know.” He could hear the smug smile on the other end. “Round two, baby!”

            “Are you trying to get me killed!” Izuku exclaimed. “I saved your life, asshole! Remember?!”

            “Why do you think I had all those thermal plating’s added to it?” Dabi snorted. “I had originally gone to use the lawnmower myself to go in and pay respects to dear old dad, and I’m not that suicidal.”

            “From the state of you, I never would have been able to tell.”

            “It’s got good cooling; you’ll only feel a mild warmth in the cockpit. There’s even a heat-suit inside to keep you from burning out should the plating be compromised in some way. It’s the best shit available on the market, came right from UA.”

            “It’s still fucking Endeavor.” Izuku snapped. “An amplified undead version of him. You want me to roll in and try fighting the sun!”

            “That’s why we built the lawnmower with him in mind. I even tested it with my Quirk to make sure it could withstand the heat. Spoilers! It can!”

            “That doesn’t mean shit, your Quirk is fucked, there is no way you could get an accurate test with that.”

            Dabi sighed. “Do you want your supplies or not?”

            “It doesn’t matter if I’m dead.” Izuku pointed out. “This wasn’t the fucking agreement.”

            “No. You just didn’t ask me to elaborate on it.” Dabi stated. “Magne did the math, I know you trust that more than my word. It will work as intended. Getting the lawnmower is small potatoes, you have no clue how much the stuff you’re asking for is. I’ve already sent a large shipment of components to UA for Koda’s stuff. It’ll be here sometime tomorrow. There’s no backing out.”

            “You’re a real scumbag, you know that?”

            “I was a villain before the apocalypse. Now I’m a businessman. What did you expect?” Dabi said. “You better get moving. Even with all that horsepower, it’s going to take you most of the day getting to Tokyo. Should still be a map in the glovebox if you need it. Good luck!”

            Dabi hung up and Izuku let out a string of curses that would have made Katsuki proud. He looked over the combine one more time. Chain quests were better when you knew you were getting a big reward at the end. Didn’t really feel all that accomplishing when you know you’re losing it all to blackmail.

            “Let’s see how you start big guy.” Izuku muttered and went to the ladder.

            ---

            Hotaka stepped out of the trailer with a bowl of delicious stew in his hands. He shoved a spoonful of vegetables and meat into his mouth as he limped back to the warehouse. Senji had been cussing out the cars again, and he’d just given the mechanic the space needed to work out his issue. Plus, Hotaka would always find an excuse to visit the kitchen, finally glad to be working with a raider gang that had a decent cook. Plus, they’ve hit a convoy on route to Westside and came away with a lot of goods that were to die for. That food already would have been wasted becoming water-downed swill that they always fed the desperate and starving. Hotaka had brushed up on his social skills to sweet talk the cook into extra servings. It was a damn good day already.

            He was walking back to the warehouse, planning to heat his stew and wait out Senji’s tantrum. He’d been puzzling over what to do with the giant monstrosity they’d taken for New North Trade, half the raiders wanted to scrap it for parts, the other half wanted to use it. Damn thing ran on fuel, not batteries like everything had turned to in the last couple years. So, it would be expensive to run and gas was harder to come by these days.

            A loud roaring engine made him pause just outside the warehouse. That… didn’t sound good. Did Senji start the combine? Was he pissed enough he was going to try shredding one of the cars? Wasn’t impossible, the thing looked like it could. Then one of the guys on the wall shouted at him, demanding why that beast was running. Before he could call back he didn’t know, the garage door blew outwards in a fiery explosion. It knocked him off his feet and he spilled his stew all over the ground. He was dazed for only a moment before the combine rolled out and ran him over.

            ---

            Izuku had taken a moment to familiarize himself with the controls before starting the combine. Thankfully a lot of labels had been added to the console with all the modifications that had been made. Then he’d realized he’d need to open the garage doors. Instead of getting down to find the switch to open it, he broke the Fox rifle out of the pearl and blew the doors open from the comfort of the cockpit. He’d been able to fit the barrel through one of the holes cut out alright. Hell, he could have brought something like a bazooka and still been able to fit it in. He put the combine into gear and drove it through the remains of the door. He didn’t realize he’d run something over as he emerged from the smoke.

            He’d set the Fox rifle to the standard Dyna-might explosion to open the garage door. He switched it over to AP before clearing the smoke. The moment he had a clear sight of the wall, he let loose on any of the guards he could see, stitching the wall with explosive energy and blasting chunks out of it. Then he put everything into the gate, blasting it until nothing remained and he rolled on through. Man, he wished Katsuki could have seen this.

            He put the combine into a higher gear, and like Dabi said, it sped up even faster. He lurched back into his seat. A bullet ricochet off the armour plate, so he stuck the rifle out the hole in the back and blasted a few more of the guards to keep their heads down. He changed gears again and sped away from the raider base till he was out of sight. Hopefully all that noise attracted the zombies and the raiders would be too busy to follow him. He should probably call Dabi and tell him the base was in such disarray he could end the rest of the raiders if he so pleased.

            When he was sure he wasn’t being followed, he found the map in the glove box and started planning his route to Tokyo.

Chapter Text

Then

            Ochaco flew through the sky, battling wind currents to stay on course as smoke and ash blocked her sight. Somewhere far behind, the convoy she’d been with was catching up at their own pace. She would have stayed with them as they set up staging grounds, but then the call came for help from the scouting team Nezu had assigned Izuku to last week. She took to the skies despite the protests of her fellow heroes, pushing her jetpack to the max. She didn’t need to know where she was going, not when there was a sudden volcano manifesting itself in the middle of the city, belching thick black smoke into the skies and lava making its way down the streets, burning everything in its path. She had a good idea where he would be.

            This wasn’t a natural occurrence, as she learned on her way there by listening in on radio chatter. Izuku’s team had triggered this by aggravating a zombie, a yurei according to them. They hadn’t encountered one this powerful though. They’d been lucky for the most part that the yurei were rare amongst the zombies, only being elusive and preferring ambush over direct confrontation. This one didn’t care, it seemed. Ochaco really wanted someone to capture a yurei and get a better understanding of their behaviours, cause situations like this should really be avoided.

            Her earpiece gave a small chime and she tapped it to answer the incoming call. Her breathing apparatus had a microphone built in that let her talk clearly on the comms. “Uravity here.”

            “Ochaco!” Izuku’s voice spoke through the line. “Please tell me that’s you I see flying in the distance.”

            She felt equal parts relief he was alive and fear, otherwise he wouldn’t be reaching out to her right now. “Are you by the volcano?”

            “Wasn’t a volcano before.” He stated. “I’m on a rooftop with the rest of my team. We tried to get back to UA but a damn horde got in our way. We had to take a detour… and then another and… Well, we’re stuck.”

            Ochaco looked around below her. There was a lot of fire spreading through the buildings. “Where are you?”

            “On your right. We’re on a rooftop by a much taller building. You still got some distance to cover.”

            “Got it.” Ochaco changed her trajectory. “Do you have any Quirks that can buy you time from the lava?”

            “None.” Izuku sighed. “Most of us are Quirkless. The ones with Quirks aren’t able to do anything about this.”

            Ochaco shook her head, cursing Nezu mentally for starting to send out scores of people who were Quirkless to fill in for meta-humans. Course they were immune to the virus, but it didn’t help them in situations like this.

            “Do you know where the zombie causing all of this is?” Ochaco asked.

            “Maybe by or in the volcano.” Izuku answered. “It buried itself - I kid you not – in obsidian. Just encased itself in a giant block of it. We couldn’t get a shot on it quick enough and then suddenly we have a change in geography.”

            Ochaco blinked. “That doesn’t sound like typical Yurei behaviour. You sure you didn’t just scare another survivor?”

            “I wish.” Izuku coughed from the smoke. “I’m still puzzling over that bit myself. Virus amplifies the Quirk; zombies aren’t smart enough to keep it under control or just plainly brute force their way with it. Yurei are smarter, though this… I don’t know, we still don’t know a lot about the yurei to know if this is even abnormal for them. Regardless, it has to die before it buries the entire city.”

            “UA is sending everyone they can to contain this. I’m coming to get you guys out.”

            Izuku almost said something when there was yelling on his side of the line. He cursed. “Fuck sakes, we can’t get a break. Zombies coming up the stairs. Please get here soon.”

            Ochaco pushed the joystick harder as if that would make her move faster. She to go down at a lower altitude to avoid going through the smoke. The sky was getting thicker with ash every minute that passed. She soon found Izuku’s team standing on top of a roof. It wasn’t even the tallest building in the area, but she understood if they’d been avoiding zombies and the lava they hadn’t had much choice. Plus, there could be hordes of zombie waiting in each building and wouldn’t have known until they’d gone in. The access door to the roof they had put anything that wasn’t bolted down in front of it to barricade themselves from the zombie, and then they put their own body weight on top of it. She spotted Izuku’s bushy green hair the same time he spotted her, and he started waving his arms to get her attention. He called to the rest of his team and they began moving away from the door, rifles up.

            Ochaco landed on the rooftop, “Everyone! Get around me now. I need to use my Quirk on each of you to get us out of here. Discard whatever equipment you can, the less weight for me the better for everyone.”

            Nobody argued, they started dumping their vests and Kevlar and gathered around her, leaving a sizable haul of gear on the roof. They held on to their rifles last, keeping them pointed at the door and picking off zombies as they squeezed through the gap. She eventually had each of them under the influence of her Quirk. At her command, they dropped their rifles and held on to each other, creating a chain of people. Izuku grabbed onto Ochaco’s hand, completing the link and she shot off into the sky with a dozen people trailing behind her.

            A sudden weight started to make them drop. Ochaco looked down to see a zombie had latched on at the last second to the soldier at the very end of the link. It had a grip on their leg and was biting through the pants. The soldier screamed and was trying to kick them off as they were all being dragged to the street below. The next person holding onto them, however, let go. The zombie and the soldier plummeted to the ground as Ochaco took them remainder higher into the sky. She tried not to think about it, instead focusing on getting who she had to safety.

            Try as I might, I can’t save everyone. She repeated over and over in her head like a mantra. It was something to remind herself that she was still human, and couldn’t hold the world together. It still didn’t make her feel any better. She gave Izuku’s hand an extra squeeze as they continued flying towards safety.

            She found where UA had set up a staging ground and landed in their midst. Cementoss was there erecting a hasty barrier to keep everyone safe as they worked. They had to deal with an active volcano in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. From the frying pan into a literal pool of magma. As if things couldn’t get more interesting.

            The moment they stepped down, they were approached by Present Mic, he scanned each of their faces before zeroing in one Izuku. “Doctor, where is your teams captain.”

            “Dead.” Izuku coughed out. The smoke and ash had gotten thicker, and was only getting worse. Ochaco was feeling a burning in her own lungs. “With half our team as well. The zombie causing this is somewhere around the actual volcano.”

            “We’ll take care of it.” Present mic turned to Ochaco. “We need you to take Todoroki and Mudman back in with you, they can start blocking off the lava flow. We got more heroes on their way that can stop the flow, but we need to start blocking it off now and making it safe for them. Let’s make do with what we got right now.”

            Sending in just Shoto and Juzo was risky for them, but their Quirks were powerful and they were the best at crowd control, or horde patrol in this case. They’d hopefully be able to fend off the zombie’s and stunt the lava’s progress to buy everyone else time to get here.

            “On it.” Ochaco replied, she glanced at Izuku. “Guess I’ll see you later then.”

            “Yes, ma’am.” Izuku coughed out. “I know it’s a little late saying it, but you’re my hero, you know that?”

            “Any day, sweetie.” Ochaco gave him a smile and took off to go find Shoto and Juzo. It was already going to be a long day.

Chapter Text

Then

            Three days later, the situation with the volcano was winding down. For now, they had cut off the flow from spreading further throughout the city and had destroyed a section of the city to stop the fire from spreading towards UA. Ash still choked the sky and it rained down like snow covering everything. It would be sometime for things to clear up.

            Izuku had returned to UA. There hadn’t been a use for him out there, all the heroes were handling the volcano and doing what was the probably the first actual hero duties they did in a year of things collapsing. His team went through the medical ward, getting treated for smoke inhalation. They hadn’t had too long of an exposure, and it would hopefully clear up within a couple of days. Masks were being handed out to the campus for the ash though and people were staying indoors. He didn’t want to think about how this would affect the crops.

            He was sitting in his apartment, fretting about things when Ochaco knocked on his door. She’d stopped by her apartment first to get cleaned up, showered, and put on clean clothes. She looked really tired. When he’d left the staging area, she’d just started taxiing around heroes wherever they could put them. He didn’t want to imagine what it had been like out there fighting lava and zombies at the same time.

            “Hey.” She said, stepping inside. “How are you doing?”

            “Better.” Izuku said, giving her a sheepish smile. “Thanks for saving my ass. Thought we were goners for a minute there.”

            “It’s what I do.” She smiled. “So, Kendo is still holding that meeting today.”

            “Oh.” He grimaced. “Are you still going? You’ve been out fighting a volcano for three days now.”

            “Yeah.” Ochaco pursed her lips. “Can’t really afford putting it off. We got to stay on top of things.”

            “I guess so.” Izuku sighed, he grabbed his mask and went to the door. “Least it’s a good time for a meetup. Nezu’s been too busy worrying about the volcano to chew us out.”

            “Are folks blaming you?”

            “The ones to blame were consumed by fire.” Izuku gave her a sad look. “I talked to the others and they all agree, got our story straight. Don’t know what Nezu will do after he gets around to the debrief, that whole thing was a huge clusterfuck.”

            “Nearly.” Ochaco agreed. “Fighting undead and volcano at the same time certainly wasn’t on my bucket list. Just glad we had Cementoss and the others putting up walls, that really helped keep things contained.”

            “Yeah.” Izuku sighed. “Let’s go see what Kendo has on the agenda today.”

            ---

            The Lobbyists group were a collection of people from around campus that were aware of Nezu’s activities and weren’t too happy about it. The near starvation in the early days, the power outages in the winter, the massacre, and the constant restriction on resources put them in a tight spot. Some folks had taken notice and weren’t too confident Nezu had their wellbeing in hand. It was also common knowledge of Nezu’s mistreatment at the hands of human, and the idea some manner of revenge would take place in the future – if it already wasn’t in play – made them uneasy.

            They gathered in Katsuki’s apartment. With only two jammers to work with, they had to have their meetings in one place. The people in the room presented the inner circle of the Lobbyist movement. Mostly heroes in this bunch, though there were a couple Quirkless like Izuku and one of the guard captains, Emi. Soon as everyone entered, a couple of the group walked around passing out papers for everyone to read. It was all the latest intel gathered from around campus, to catch everyone up on what the latest attitude of the civilians and politics were.

            “With recent events, we haven’t been able to push for a democratic hierarchy as we would have liked.” Itsuka Kendo started the meeting off. “We may not be able to get an election campaign in motion until things smooth out a little. I’m gauging that could take a year at least.”

            “Long shot.” Katsuki grunted from his seat. They had folded chairs brought out for everyone, but it was Katsuki’s apartment and he chose his soft comfy chair over the cheap plastic variety. “Be honest, with the winter massacre, nobodies looking to replace Nezu or at least take the reigns, and since he’s open to murdering a bunch of people, I don’t think we want that attention too soon.”

            One man stood up, Ochaco had introduced Izuku to him once, Tenya Iida, part of the Iida family, a renowned family of heroes. Anal about the rulebook and authority, it was surprising this man was sitting in the circle with them. The great upside of his attendance was Tenya memorized the laws Nezu was putting in place. If he wasn’t going to be a hero, Izuku would have bet Tenya could make for a good lawyer.

            “I’ve noticed there are already several groups vying for the attention of the campus.” Tenya said, making a chopping motion with his hands. “They are small groups, but they already seem to think a change of leadership is due soon. However, the majority of them are supremist in their ideas of leadership.”

            “Not a single good one to support.” Emi agreed. “Some think it should be the Quirkless doing all the work outside the walls and they should relax in the safety of the UA barrier.”

            “Yes. Like that.” Tenya frowned. “With time these groups will either falter or solidify depending who the campus finds more favourable.”

            Katsuki piped up, “If Nezu can keep the acts of tyranny to a minimum and quite messing with our heads. Maybe.”

            Izuku had been flipping through the pages he’d received, half listening to the conversation. His input wasn’t all that useful, he was a scientist, more focused on his research. He had made it a point in past meetings that getting his motivators in production would greatly boost the campus chances of survival. He was hoping to petition Nezu into allowing him to continue his research.

            Izuku stopped on one page, it had a lot of writing and even a map with some drawings on it. He looked up, “You got a part in here talking about the plans Nezu has for expanding the campus. It’s quite detailed; where did you get this information?”

            A pair of floating pants and a shirt raised a sleeve. Toru Hagakure, the invisible girl who couldn’t turn off her Quirk. “I snuck into Nezu’s office the other day and got this.”

            Izuku gave her a concerned look. Nezu had a reputation for being insanely smart, calculating, and manipulative. A master programmer was among his many skillsets. He had overhead one of the teachers, Maijime, talking to Mei that Nezu had started a software company and had upgraded the firewalls and software security for UA. It was also suggested Nezu hacked and obtained blackmail on a lot of government officials, though that was only a rumor.

            “You copied his hard drive?” Izuku asked.

            “Do I look like an idiot?” The sleeves made a gesture. Izuku guessed she just dramatically flipped her hair aside. “He had files on his desk and a map tacked to the wall. I took pictures.”

            “With what? He’s got cameras all over the place?”

            Toru sighed. “Mei gave me a camera small enough to fit in my mouth. I took pictures clicking a button with my tongue. Need I go on?”

            Izuku raised his hands in defeat and the meeting continued. Since he’d brought up the expansion plans, those were talked about next. It looked like Nezu wanted to secure the area between UA and the rest of their facilities. The test sites for instance were in short distance and already walled off with some infrastructure. They could move people in straight away if they wanted to. The area in between could be cleared out and made into suitable farmland if they wanted. It would be a big area to cover though, and the scale of the project would be daunting if they didn’t have Cementoss on board. He was their key builder since manipulating cement like he did cut down a lot of construction costs and time. But that wasn’t the only thing.

            Katsuki gave a low whistle at one page. “This page here lists his plans for some major expansion. He wants to bootstrap up an industrial base. He’s wants a steel mill and several factories running by the end of the year, recycling materials brought in from outside.”

            “That puts everything UA needs in one place.” Emi chipped in. “The industrial zones around the city are too far from UA, and that would split UA’s forces and people between too many areas. The resources needed though aren’t going to make it easy.”

            “And Yaoyorozu is going to be heavily during the construction.” Itsuka scowled. “Least for the beginning stages. And no, Doctor Midoriya, there were no plans listing the requirement of your motivators.”

            Izuku put his hand down and sulked in his chair. He skimmed ahead regardless just to check, but there really wasn’t anything mentioning him or his research. He hoped things didn’t go the way Nezu planned, just so the arrogant rat had to come crawling to Izuku for assistance. That would make the doctors day. Despite that, he was already trying to piece together – in theory – how to get Momo’s Quirk to work. He just didn’t have the materials to start putting it together and he hadn’t been able to get anything from Momo yet.

            There was a knock on the door. Everyone froze, eyes glancing at each other as if someone had telepathy and knew who was knocking. Hurriedly, they all threw the folders at Itsuka and she stuffed them into a bag. She fumbled with it for a second, trying to figure out where to hide it, then just tossed it at Katsuki. Worse come to worse he could incinerate the contents in a flash.

            Ochaco answered the door, revealing a pale blue woman with lilac hair, her eyes green with black sclerae. Izuku had only seen one other person like this, and it was Mina Ashido, though she was pink and had golden irises. He wondered if this was her mother. She wore old stitched together garb from someone’s attempt at starting a tailoring business on campus. Results weren’t stellar but they were improving slowly.

            The woman looked Ochaco up and down appraisingly, then looked into the room and smiled. “Oh! So, this is where your little club meets. I was hoping it was somewhere more secret and perhaps a little less obvious.”

            “What do you want?” Katsuki snapped. “Say it or fuck off.”

            “Mind if I come in?” She asked, “Promise it’ll be worth your time.”

            Katsuki glanced at Itsuka. Even though it was his apartment, Itsuka was the one who pretty much ran the meetings. She gave him a subtle nod and Katsuki said. “Come in and sit.”

            “My, how charming.” The stranger said, walking in and taking Ochaco’s now vacant seat.

            Ochaco stood by Izuku, and he tried to be the gentlemen and stand for her to take his seat. But her strong hand pushed him back down. She seemed poised for some assault of sorts. Everyone else was tense as well. Clearly they did not like whoever this person was. Izuku couldn’t blame them, when the lady glanced at him, he felt a little defensive himself.

            The stranger crossed her legs and smiled. “My name is Kizuki Chitose. I was a reporter in Dieka city when this whole travesty was beset upon our nation.”

            Izuku noticed all the heroes tense up even more. From what Katsuki and Ochaco had shared with him, the least favourite part of heroics was dealing with reporters. Just saying the name got them putting up walls and sealing their lips. Reporters had a way of twisting words and opinions for a catchy story. Finding a good reporter who reported the truth as it was, were uncommon, and with the hero industry, reporters were dime a dozen, all trying to get the latest fight or travesty on a headline to envelope the masses. The year All might had been teaching at UA, reporters had been circling the school like sharks. Then since his passing, they’d been finding any excuse to tear into the school.

            “Oh.” Kizuki noticed the expressions. “Seems a few of you have had the pleasure of being interviewed by reporters before.”

            Katsuki pointed to the door, not even being subtle. “Get out.”

            “Dyna-might, or should I call you Bakugo? Are you one of those who still cling to your old role?” She looked around. “I’d just like to talk, I’m always one for a face-to-face meeting, especially when it comes to heroes.”

            “Talk about what?” Itsuka asked.

            “About our dear little tyrant of UA. See, I heard about your lobbyist group and I do think I can help. What every political movement needs is exposure, a forum, news worthy of reporting.” Kizuki splayed her hands. “Something that really gets the people to see your point. Nezu gets this, all with his speeches and social gatherings. He’s the only one here who shows he cares what the people think, and uses their gullible nature to make them see things his way.”

            Itsuka narrowed her eyes. She opened her mouth to say something but Katsuki said, “how are we suppose to know you aren’t working for the rat?”

            Kizuki stood up and raised her arms. “Welcome to pat me down for a mic. You’ll find I’m only wearing the clothes on my back and nothing in my pockets. Though with your particular abilities, I think one of the ladies should do the honors.”

            They were hardly worried about a mic if it was wirelessly transmitting. Ochaco and Katsuki had their jammers in the room, so they were covered on that end. But a recording on her person would be bad. Ochaco stepped forward and patted her down. When she was done, she confirmed there was nothing on Kizuki.

            The reporter sat down and smiled. “Now, whether or not I’ll run to Nezu with anything you say, I heard about the camp massacres, and I know not all of them were raiders. A distasteful act of cowardice, and he even threw out a few of your colleagues who refused to keep quiet about the incident.”

            Izuku gave a quick glanced to Katsuki to see his reaction, the explosion hero’s expression didn’t change.

            “I think there needs to be a change in leadership.” Kizuki stated. “Can’t do that if he’s got the entire campus around his finger. Can’t do it too quickly with the kinds of people waiting to jump into positions of authority, it’d throw the campus into chaos and we’d all be food for zombies. A steady subtle stream of information should start us off on the right foot, reaching the ears of like-minded individuals like yourselves.”

            “Why should we trust you?” Itsuka asked. “What’s in it for you?”

            “Don’t be so selfish to think you’re the only ones who care what happens to this safe haven. I merely wish to do my part, which in turn lets me do what I always do best: report what I see, uncover truths, and put the spotlight on those deserving. You want to go against your mentors who have plunged into waters they swore never to swim in, and turn their back on the values they swore to uphold. Such a story cannot go unread.” Kizuki shrugged. “Perhaps Nezu is taking out - what he believes is his rightfully deserved vengeance - on the remnants of humanity, based on his bias towards your Quirkless friend here.” She nodded to Izuku. “Perhaps finally free from the constraints of society, he and his fellow heroes are becoming who they truly are. Why should someone like them remain in a position of power? Surely some of their students still hold true to their sworn duties and could lead us to a better future.”

            Izuku frowned. Kizuki was saying the right things, but something itched in the back of his mind, something about her that just didn’t seem right. Maybe it was just bias on his part after listening to the others talk about reporters. Kizuki just seemed a little too crafty.

            “I think your barking up the wrong tree, Kizuki.” Itsuka said.

            “I disagree.” Kizuki considered her for a moment. “You are at ease being the spokesperson for everyone here. Perhaps you might run the campus in the future, you can never know.”

            Izuku rolled his eyes. “No one here is trying to overthrow Nezu. Just get something more established in place of authority.”

            Kizuki looked surprised at him speaking, as if she couldn’t fathom him giving any sort of opinion. But she quickly masked it. “Which works against his goals, thus making all of you, his enemy. If he considers you a big enough of a threat, he may just try something like he did a few months ago. Your best option is to solidify yourselves as people of importance, step into the light and the eyes of your audience. You’d be stepping into a battlefield you can’t punch your way out of, but neither can he. He’ll have more trouble taking you out of the picture without revealing himself as the monster he’s become.”

            “Why not do it yourself?” Katsuki said. “You’re running you mouth too much for a reporter. Thought it was your job to hear what we say, but sounds like you could do things yourself with all the nonsense you’re spitting.”

            Kizuki waved a hand dismissively. “Being a leader means making choices, hard ones. I-”

            Katsuki interrupted her. “Prefer criticizing others for their decisions, but can never face having it done to you.”

            “You’re a blunt one. My readers would find that refreshing.” Kizuki stood up. “I’m in the works of starting my own press. I’ve got a small staff and a campus eager for something to do, all their bored little minds could use some new reading material. You ever want to get your story out there and share a few… illuminating bits of information, you’ll know where to find me.”

            “Printing newspaper?” Ochaco cocked an eyebrow. “Thought Nezu restrained resources.”

            “We procure our own materials, nothing so critical Nezu would be steaming with his breath. After all, what good is paper and ink for building walls?” Kizuki walked to the door. “It’s been a pleasure. Do let me know if you’re interested.”

            She left and the others waited a moment before speaking. Toru raised a hand. “Should I tail her?”

            “Yes.” Itsuka said and right away, the invisible girl was running out the door. “I think that entire exchange begs some thought.”

            “A lot of thought.” Emi stood up, “Perhaps some time to think it over first before we discuss it.”

            “Of course. How about we reconvene in one week?”

            When everyone nodded, Itsuka took the bag with the files from Katsuki and walked out, closely followed by everyone else till only Izuku, Katsuki, and Ochaco remained in the room.

            “Guess we aren’t that secret.” Katsuki said, scowling at the door. “Wonder if Nezu has a plan if we try becoming our own political party.”

            “Maybe.” Izuku shrugged. Ochaco was still standing close behind him, one hand on his shoulder. He bent his head back and asked her. “Do you happen to know Kizuki by chance?”

            “No.” Ochaco shook her head. “We should leave it to Hagakure and see what she gathers about her. But it’s standard not to trust reporters.”

            “Something does seem a little off.” Izuku agreed.

            Katsuki stood and walked over to the fridge for a beer. “I don’t think Kendo really needs to hold a meeting about this. Tell the bitch no and to fuck off.”

            “But if she came to us with this offer, she could very well do it to others.” Ochaco said, moving to take a seat beside Izuku. “Like Iida said earlier, there are other groups growing around campus. If her news station or whatever takes off in the future, we might be sorry not to have utilized her skills earlier. Nezu for certain would capitalize on it if he could.”

            “Or have it shut down.”

            “Then she and her staff can go screeching to the campus about him limiting free speech. It’s worth considering.”

            “Yeah.” Izuku grinned. “There’s your homework. Write a five-page essay supporting your decision of getting involved with the press and hand it in by the deadline.”

            The two college seniors shivered in disgust at the use of ‘Homework’ and ‘Essays’.

            “Are you bragging about being an early graduate, you son of a bitch?” Katsuki started.

            “You calling my mother a bitch?”

            “No, I’m calling your father a bitch.”

            “We were one month away, Izuku.” Ochaco was trying to talk over the two of them. “A whole month away from being Pro-heroes when the apocalypse came.”

            Izuku laughed. “You’re still here at UA. You’re taking the college course on zombie slaying. You still have much to learn my young padawans.”

            Katsuki shrieked, “I’m older than you, yah fucking nerd!”

Chapter Text

Now

            Eri sat on the catwalk with Leo laying beside her. Her legs dangled over the edge, kicking back and forth as she ate colourful cookies called macaroons rom a box and watched the workers below bustle about doing their work. More trucks came in and out with all kinds of things. She was seeing more people than she’d ever seen in her life, it was very interesting to watch them. Dabi was just a few feet away talking with Magne as the observed the shipments being moved and inventoried. It all sounded like business Eri didn’t understand and she got bored trying to listen after a minute. Though to them it sounded interesting.

            “Tengu is bringing in another shipment of metal tomorrow.” Magne said. “They’re asking for more food, clothes and ammo in exchange.”

            “Is it the usual amount they always send?” Dabi asked.

            “Yes.”

            “Then they might not even get half of what they need.” Dabi rubbed his scarred chin. “UA is putting a higher price on things. They’d need to be sending triple their usual shipments by the end of the season at this rate. We need to enact a boycott on UA.”

            “We’d be the only ones.” Magne pointed out. “There are a lot of desperate people out there who can’t afford a boycott. Also, if we stop getting shipments from UA, we’ll run out of stock by the end of the week, and then we got orders we can’t fulfill. Our customers will go running to our competitors and we may not recover from that.”

            “We can talk to the others and coordinate it.”

            “And we can see where the major trade network moves.” Magne said. “Tokyo is gone, that was our main advantage for trade. Merchants in Naban could set up a new trade hub and we lose out.”

            Dabi nodded in understanding. “UA isn’t our only source. Nearby settlements have their own specialization. We should invest in their infrastructure and lock them in with trade agreements.”

            Magni sucked air between their teeth. “Those would have to be some large investments to get any of them anywhere close to competing with UA.”

            “I know. We have to reduce our dependency on UA. We can start small, maybe with a bit of prompting some settlements will eventually make their own way.” Dabi rubbed his temples. “For now, we can compensate other ways. I know some of the coastal settlements have fruitful harvests and fishing season. Perhaps some negotiation can take the edge off these prices. I don’t think the Tengu have had fish in a while. There’s also the Major in Fukushima. She’s willing to give up part of their armoury for resources to build up their fort. We can divert the metal shipment from Takayama to them, since they got a metal manipulator on staff that can make great use of it. So that could fulfill the weapon side of the trades.”

            “The Major is in Fukushima, a far distance from us.” Magne recalled. “That’s quite a trip with the raiders and zombies between us and them. The expeditionary crew would have to make the trip with a couple of trucks.”

            “They can manage that.” Dabi dismissed with a wave. “Send them up with some medicine as well to sweeten the Major up. Their radio operator let slip of a fever breaking out. If we can win some of their trust, we may eventually convince them to set up waystations and outposts to keep the route clear.”

            “But then we’d be expanding our network north.” Magne argued. “There’s only a wasteland that direction. The sensible people have all moved south where they’re in closer proximity to everyone else. Do you want to try sending a convoy to the Human Reclamation, see if they’re willing to trade too?”

            “Not yet.” Dabi smirked. “But I do believe the Major is a promising prospect. They’ve turned their little outpost into a fort in the short time they’ve been there. We could offer transport for refugees to Fukushima to bolster their number and hopefully have another competitor for UA.”

            “We can see what happens, I guess.” Magne stepped away from the railing. “But I’d hold off on anything major till someone figures out who took down Tokyo. That was a big move to play with massive consequences. Who knows which of us will be next.”

            “I do miss the ration tickets.” Dabi sighed. “Those were the best form of currency we’ve had since the collapse.”

            “But they make great toilet paper.” Magne said as she walked away. She stopped briefly by Eri to ruffle her hair and Leo’s, then she stole a macaroon and went back to her office to get things in motion.

            Dabi rolled over to Eri and watched the workers with her. He also reached down and plucked a macaroon with metal fingers. “Enjoying the view, Eri?”

            “Yeah.” She said, taking a bite of another cookie.

            Eri had only met Dabi a handful of times when she was kept prisoner with the Shie Hassaikai. First it had been when he was on the operating table. Chisaki had brought her in to take samples and both had been surprised to see Izuku working on a burnt corpse. She’d later seen Izuku light a giant bonfire on a horde of zombies and they all died before their flesh was completely gone. So, she had to wonder how Dabi managed to survive his injuries.

            The other times she’d met him, he’d been polite, pitied her, but also understood her in a way no one else could which was odd. He occasionally left small gifts in her cell when he could for her life to be a little less boring. Those gifts she had to leave behind when she escaped with Izuku. The last time she saw Dabi, he’d been about to leave for Westside and start expanding connections for Chisaki. He made her a promise he’d help get her out and later fulfilled it. Now here they were again.

            Dabi chewed on his cookie. “How have you been lately, Eri?”

            “Okay, I guess.” She wiped a bit of crumb off her lips.

            “I heard what happened with your Quirk.” Dabi tapped his forehead on the same spot where her horn would have been for her. “How’s that been for you?”

            She shrugged. Izuku had been training her to use it more and have better control, but she’d never grasped that level of control they both wanted. She had only a little hope she’d be able to harness it, but becoming Quirkless didn’t seem all that bad. She at least didn’t feel like she had an invisible weight on her about having it. The Quirk had been its own mixed bag of feelings, with two different people trying to get her to see it in different ways. But the biggest thing for her is she couldn’t hurt anyone with it anymore.

            “I think I like it this way.” Eri said. “Mr. Midoriya thinks it could come back, with the way it is, but I hope it doesn’t.”

            “With what you’ve been through, kiddo, it’s hard to argue against it.” Dabi nodded.

            Eri hesitated to ask, but she had to know. “Have you seen Overhaul lately?”

            “Nope.” Dabi smiled. “I hadn’t seen any of his goons around here in a long time. He’s gone to the southern region of Japan following a tip some fellow I swear I never met before informed him of seeing you two.” Dabi gave her a mischievous smile that quickly disappeared. “As for the man himself, hadn’t seen hide nor hair since I’ve started working with Magne. Thought I would have seen him at one point, but his goons seemed to be doing all the hard work.”

            “Do you worry about them coming back?”

            “A little. But I think they’ll come to the end of their searching at some point.”

            “Doesn’t seem likely.”

            “We can hope.” He reached down into a cooler bag attached to his wheelchair and pulled out a carton of orange juice. “Want one? UA sells a lot of this stuff, probably the cheapest they got.”

            “Sure.” Eri took the juice box and studied it. “Uh, how do I open it?”

            Dabi gave her a baffled look. What? She hadn’t seen a juice box before. He grabbed his own juice box and showed her how it was done. Just as simple as peeling off the straw on the side and stabbing it into the top. She copied him and sipped. The juice tasted really good.

            “Hard to believe UA is so rich and well off they’re replicating this stuff now.” Dabi shook his head. “Feels like I made the wrong choices in life.”

            “What choices?” Eri asked.

            Dabi paused. “I’ll explain when you’re older. But say right now I had a chance to go to UA and chose a different path.”

            “How come.”

            “It wasn’t actually my choice to begin with. I was in a position like you were with Chisaki. There are major differences. But similarly, I wasn’t a person to them, just a tool for their success. A proxy.” Dabi shrugged. “Only my Quirk was… defective. I can wield fire but I don’t have the natural resistance for it. When something better came along, my… captor, started to make new plans. Things got fuzzy. I remember a fire and then waking up in a place with people who had taken me to heal my wounds. They also wanted to use me in a way like my previous captor for their own gain. I escaped and was on my own for a long time.”

            Eri fiddled with her straw. “But you finally got away.”

            “That I did. I didn’t have anyone else to help me back then. Spent so long on my own I wished someone could have helped me when I needed them most. Eventually things did get stable and I grew to rely solely on myself. Sometimes I do wonder how different things would have turned out had I had someone who cared in much different way than those who helped me before.”

            Eri thought about his words for a time. She curled in on herself a little and Leo detected her sudden discomfort and nudged her with his head, reminding her he was there and she wasn’t alone. She took a breath. “I wonder sometimes if I’m better off alone.”

            Dabi nodded, understanding. “Things are that bad with the doctor?”

            “Not like Overhaul.” She sipped her drink. “Mr. Midoriya works on zombies and he tried to help me control my… Quirk. But, it was just for another kind of cure. And I don’t see him for hours sometimes or days. He’s always working on something.”

             “Where does he disappear to?”

            “To the closet.”

            “The what?” Dabi gave her a surprised look.

            “Back at the old safehouse.” Eri explained. “He would lock himself in the closet sometimes. He’d be there for hours or longer. I don’t know when he goes, but I always see him come out of it, looking tired. At our new safehouse, he spends a lot of time in the basement instead.”

            “And he just leaves you to fend to yourself?”

            “The house is protected. He’s got traps all around, and there’s food in the fridge. I learned how to cook.” Eri rubbed Leo’s head, the dogs tail made a thumping sound against the catwalk. “But it’s just me and Leo sometimes.”

            Dabi stared out into the warehouse for a moment. “He’s suppose to be taking care of you, Eri. Neglecting your wellbeing, even in some manner, is still detrimental to you. You spent a long time by yourself in a cell. I know things are terrible right now, the world being what it is and kids like you needing to grow up fast and fend for yourselves, but you still are kids. And Midoriya still has a responsibility to you as a caretaker. But you don’t owe him anything to put up with that kind of treatment.”

            “He got me away from Overhaul.” Eri objected.

            “In fairness, we both did that. He wouldn’t have gotten anywhere if I hadn’t helped.” Dabi said. “I also helped keep Chisaki off your trail. And just because you owe someone, doesn’t give them the right to treat you horribly, intentional or not. You said you like being Quirkless now, how did you feel when he had you training your Quirk?”

            “Scared.” She answered. “I could never get it to do what I wanted.”

            “And how did you feel when he had you rewind that zombie?”

            At this point Leo stood up and was nuzzling against her comfortingly, sensing the distress coming off her. She took anther deep breath, reliving those moments, “I didn’t like it one bit. If they were dead I wouldn’t have been able to do anything to them, but they were alive, and then I turned it into something else.”

            “You felt used?” Dabi asked.

            “Huh?”

            “Like Midoriya only kept you around for your Quirk to aid in his research.”

            “Yeah… yeah, kind of.”

            “A lot of problems stemmed from your Quirk.” Dabi concluded. “It’s a fascination for people like Chisaki and Midoriya. They want to utilize it in some way. Methods differ, but they get consumed in their work and you suffer as a consequence. And now it’s gone, and so are some of your problems.”

            “Yeah.” Eri set down her juice box. “I feel a little bad because Mr. Midoriya wanted to use it for a cure.”

            Dabi sighed, shaking his head. “Knowing the doctor, he’s got samples somewhere he can work with. He’ll work out something else. There’s just so much messed up about your situation, I can’t even begin to unscramble it all though. Midoriya and I did talk about this, I gave him crap for how he’s been treating you.”

            Eri frowned. “I didn’t mean to get him in trouble.”

            “I wouldn’t worry too much about it, kiddo.” Dabi said. “He’s an adult and occasionally needs some sense talked into him. If he promised to do better, would you still stay with him?”        

            “I guess so.”

            “What if Chisaki changed for the better?”

            “No.” Eri said without hesitation. “I’m not going back to him.”

            “Good to know you got standards.” Dabi nodded. “How about this. If Midoriya doesn’t get any better, I’ll give you a phone before you leave so you can call me and I can send someone to fetch you.”

            Eri looked at him in surprise. “Why?”

            “Because you deserve a chance at life kid.” Dabi gestured around them. “I mean, sure, things are shit right now, but you deserve a chance. Took me confined to a cot and a wheelchair to really think through my life and how I could have changed it. If I can give you something better than those two, why not?”

            “Would you really do that?”

            “I would, cross my heart.” Dabi confirmed and paused. “But we will have to hide you for a time till we’re sure Chisaki is done looking for you.”

            “I hope he’s dead, wherever he is.” Eri muttered.

            “Me too, kiddo, me too.”

            ---

            Down below, one of the workers was occasionally glancing up at them. Many of them were looking up, nervous one of their bosses was watching them work, as a worker would be. But one was looking for an entirely different reason, trying to make out the face of the little grey-haired girl sitting on the catwalk. They almost looked like someone they’d been given a detailed description of, but she didn’t have the horn. Regardless, it would be worth calling in Overhaul to be sure.

Chapter Text

Now

            It was already late in the evening when Izuku got to the park in Tokyo Dabi had told him to find. It took a couple of calls to make sure he was on the right path and a couple of detours on the roads for one he could actually drive on. Some roads were clear thanks to the traders to keep their options open to avoid raiders. That and the metal harvesting everyone was doing to trade with UA left the roads barren of vehicles. But since Tokyo’s fall, the roads hadn’t been maintained like before.

            As he approached the edge of Tokyo city, he stopped and made sure he had all the details right before driving straight in. From here, things would get a bit tricky. Tokyo had a large population before the collapse, and the people of Tokyo had only managed to hold a section of it against the undead. They did try to thin them out and reclaim their city, but that was a bunch of work. Izuku would be trying to carve out a small piece of it for Dabi and he’d have the entire city falling down on his head. The last time he’d been here had been to retrieve a regenerator, in which he’d come across Endeavor and promptly lost them. He knew what the city was like first hand.

            He had one final meal with lots of coffee to get him through the night – he figured once he started, he was just going to keep going until it was done – he checked over the thermal suit one last time to make sure it was completely sealed, and topped up the fuel on the combine from one of many gas cans sealed in a armoured compartment. Crossing fingers and toes he didn’t run into a cataclysmic Quirk that would call down the sky or fracture the earth, forged on.

            Izuku didn’t even pass the first block of the city when the first group of zombies shuffled onto the street. The noise of the combine was already drawing them in. He pressed a button that activated the saw blades on the side, and another that activated all the blades. The combine shook violently as they got up to speed before they stabilized. The barrel was spinning so damn fast, it was creating its own air currents. He pressed down on the gas and directed the combine to meet the horde of undead. He drove through them without even slowing down, the front windshield was covered in red mist of blood and the chute in the back spat out their bits and pieces.

            “Holy shit, Dabi!” Izuku muttered. There wasn’t much of the horde now, but regardless he continued on his way to the park. The remainder took after him in their own shuffling pace.

            It took an hour to get to the park, by then it was dark and he turned on the flood lights atop the roof, the lit up the road in front of him like a football stadium and there were all the dead. Thousands of them milling about, turning to face the loud abomination coming to end their miserable life. Izuku didn’t slow down, he braced himself as the combine drove right into them.

            The first wave of undead came and went, disappearing into the supersized blender and shot out the back. Izuku was doing his best not to hurl as the smell was finally getting to him. Rotten blood and shredded meat painted the ground and surrounding buildings as he drove around in circles, chewing up wave after wave of zombies. The combine did not give a shit what got in its way. Izuku hadn’t seen the car among the sea of bodies till the combine chewed it up and spat it out without stalling. Trees were reduced to wood chippings; concrete was just a mild annoyance. What Quirk had been used to enhance these blades? Izuku had to know and get a sample. The windshield wipers were going at max speed, dowsing the windshield with wiper fluid and clearing away the blood only to be covered again in seconds. Izuku checked the ports were sealed shut before any of it got inside and messed with the controls.

            A zombie leapt into the sky and bounced off the roof before sliding down the back. Izuku turned away from the front to stick the Fox rifle out the rear port hole. He had to twist so he was kneeling on the seat to aim out the back. He pulled the trigger and a concentrated blast of energy hit the zombie in the chest and blew them apart. The AP shot continued on and hit a building, blowing out a sizable chunk of it. Things were already loud, if a zombie didn’t hear the combine, then they should have heard that.

            Izuku lowered the settings on the Fox rifle for a more concussive blast. Zombies were working their way around the blades, and he used the Fox rifle to blast them off as they got handholds and climbed up to the cockpit. He also kept an eye out for any troublesome looking Meta’s that might stop the combine in its tracks. The last thing he needed was to be trapped among a sea of zombies.

            While he was scanning one part of the park, he had his back to the door – which he swore he locked – so he didn’t see nor hear the zombie open it till it was biting down on his shoulder. The bite thankfully didn’t get through the suit, which told him it was fire and bite resistant, something Dabi had neglected to mention. Izuku drew his pistol and pressed the suppressed muzzle against the zombie’s head and blew their brains all over the interior. Ah, shit that smelled ripe. He threw the zombie out the door into the waiting sawblades, checked the door again and made sure it stayed locked this time. He wiped away the brains and blood on the windshield and carried on. Between the amount of gore and the fear of being trapped, he knew his nightmares were going to be well fueled for the next year.

            More zombies poured out from buildings and the streets, converging on the park. He kept driving around, killing more and more, keeping his head on a swivel, checking his systems and hoping, praying, nothing went wrong. He took aim with the fox rifle at a zombie who was growing a small forest around them. He got off a shot that obliterated them on the spot, and that’s when another zombie got into the cab and sunk their teeth harmlessly into the same damn shoulder.

            “What the fuck!?” Izuku whirled around, elbowing the zombie in the exposed skull. As they stumbled back, he cracked their skull with the butt of the rifle and reached for his pistol just as the disappeared into a puff of smoke. “Oh shit!”

            The yurei reappeared in a blind spot behind him. It slammed a fist into his side, causing him to gasp. Izuku cursed and swung at them, only for his swing to go through more smoke. Teleporter. That’s just great. Fucker reappeared behind him and shoved him into the dashboard. The combine slowed, as did the blades. Izuku cursed, took another swing, and in the pause as the yurei picked its next spot to appear, he corrected the systems back to speed. While he’d been distracted not letting a zombie horde get the better of him, the yurei appeared from behind, both hands grabbing his helmet and pulling him back, one foot planted in his back and trying to rip the helmet off. Izuku grabbed one arm with both hands, managed to pull them off balance and slammed them into the door. They disappeared again. Izuku grabbed his compression gun off his belt and spun around, searching. When it appeared again, tackling him once more from behind. Izuku pressed the barrel against their face and pulled the trigger. This time they disappeared into a marble.

            Izuku took several deep breaths, cursed aloud and got back on the controls. He had no times for breaks. He grabbed the Fox rifle and blasted more zombies off the back of the combine that had taken advantage of his distraction. After a moment of mowing down undead and getting some breathing room, he picked up the marble from the floor and pocketed it. Hopefully he could find a way to replicate that Quirk when got back to his lab.

            ---

            It was a long night until the influx of zombies finally stagnated to a level Izuku was sure Dabi’s people could handle on their own. He did not envy whatever cleanup came to clear this sight. The park looked like it had been the center of a very gory anime show that had no restraint on the amount of blood or viscera the creators used. The smell would be horrendous, but that would be their problem. Izuku did take a moment in the lull of activity to refuel the combine and check for any critical damage. The thing was built sturdy, besides a dent here and there, and a crack in the windshield, the combine was alright.

            Sometime later, he arrived at the deserted and charred remains of a city district. Endeavors stomping grounds. The zombie had burned so hot, buildings had been reduced to almost nothing. The only evidence of their existence were the sheets of broken shale from concrete and melted slag of rusting metal. Not too long ago, he’d met Endeavor here and barely made it out alive. He knew the location only to never come back here intentionally. Endeavor burned anything that moved in this area, zombie and human alike. Izuku didn’t know if Endeavor was conscious of that decision but it should make this next part a little easier.

            Izuku did on final check of his systems and made sure his thermal suit was still sealed. All the portholes were closed and the Fox rifle was ready for an opening. He stowed the rest of his kit away in an insulated container, hoping the heat wouldn’t set off the ammo. He took a couple deep breaths, gathered up his courage, and drove right in, blades spinning and honking his horn to get the zombies attention.

            A minute passed before a bright light illuminated the night in the distance. Izuku zeroed in on it and changed his course to meet it. Before he got far, a tsunami of flames erupted into the sky and rolled towards him. Izuku braced as his vision was filled with flames. Needles on the dashboard indicated how well the combine was holding up against the heat and the state of the thermal plating. It was managing so far, and none of the flames were getting into the cockpit. Izuku sped things up a little, hoping he was getting closer.

            He was surprised when something big and heavy smacked against the windshield. A fiery demon stared at him through the glass, eyes spewing fire and a mouth blasting heat like a blast furnace. The hell Izuku had been engulfed in moments before disappeared in an instant, leaving Izuku staring at the hellish being. Then it spoke.

            “Rei?” Endeavor groaned. “Reeeeiii!”

            Izuku stomped on the brakes. Endeavor flew off the window and skipped across the ground before sliding to a stop. Izuku stomped the gas and aimed to run Endeavor over. Only the bastard shot into the sky atop a pillar of fire and crashed back down behind the combine. Izuku cursed, twisted around to aim out the window, but didn’t get a chance to open the port when the combine was engulfed in flame again. He spun the combine around and tried to run Endeavor over again. He really wished he’d known to bring a Quirk that could counter the fire.

            Making a decision, Izuku set down the Fox rifle. It was big and blocky, and awkward to hold one handed as he steered. He switched to his pistol and readied himself for when the fire died down to get a clear shot. The flames subsided and he found he was missing Endeavor by a couple feet. He stuck the pistol out the window and took several shots, and was happy to see a couple of them impact the zombie before another wall of flame struck the combine. The heat turned the barrel red hot and the flames licked inside at Izuku’s hand. The thermal suit took the brunt of it as he shut the porthole. The temperature in the cockpit got really bad, and the AC kicked in at maximum to compensate.

            “Fucking go into the blades already, asshole!” Izuku screamed as he missed Endeavor again.

            The needles were indicating the armour was reaching too high a temperature to function. Izuku knew if it kept going on like this, the combine wasn’t going to last. The flames dissipated. Endeavor stumbled towards Izuku and the flames on his body turned from red to white hot, then to blue. Realizing what was happening, he stuck his pistol out the porthole and fired, aiming for the head, but lead evaporated on contact. Izuku cursed and closed the porthole just as blue beam of fire struck the combine in the side. Immediately the needles on the dashboard shot up to dangerous levels. Izuku cursed again and turned to the combine around. Endeavor struck the glass next; it had stood up against the heat so far due to whatever process Dabi had done to them, but it glowed red and started to run like goo.

            Without thinking, Izuku grabbed the Fox rifle and fired at the glass. He was forced into his seat by the backblast and for a moment he wondered if he missed. The flames stopped though, his shot had landed close enough to Endeavor and blasted him off his feet. Izuku could see him slowly rising up. The windshield was gone and Izuku was exposed, but there were no flames to harm him or stop him from using a big gun.

            He raised the Fox rifle and fired again. The shot went low and this time Endeavor legs were blown off. A burst of fire flared up, surrounding the zombie, but Izuku had pulled the trigger again and more of Endeavors remains flew up into the sky. When they landed, he blasted the biggest chunks again and again, until he couldn’t see enough of Endeavor that could muster a flame. He fell to the ground and sat there, staring at the landscape now pocketed with holes. He popped open the thermal suit, breathing in harsh hot air and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. He lit one on the still burning embers of one of Endeavors fires and took a couple puffs.

            Izuku looked down at the Fox rifle in his arm, “Guess you never thought I’d use your Quirk for this. But I think you can say you beat a number one hero with your power, eh Kacchan?”

Chapter Text

Then

            Today was a nice day, and those times were being increasingly common. Katsuki sat on a bench in a park UA had built enjoying a pleasant spring day. Save over in the distance on the wall, where he could see a lightshow in effect. Something had gotten within the Auto-turrets range and they were lighting it up like new years. He had his phone in hand, waiting to see if an alert would come his way to mobilize and deal with whatever was over there, but none came. Soon the lights stopped and the day resume, not like anyone had stopped to watch the lightshow anyway. The soccer game in front of him had kept going like nothing was happening.

            It’s been about two years now since the apocalypse began. Once spring came along last year, they’d closed a few city blocks to and began the long work of constructing more residence. A lot of the buildings in those area had to be torn down due to be structurally compromised. That had given them a chance to make sure no zombies were hiding in any cracks or crevices since nobody had been in there since the apocalypse began. Cementoss cut down a lot of the work thanks to his Quirk and the tradesman on campus got the chance to hook up plumbing and electricity to the new buildings.

            Once that was done and Cementoss had a free moment, he built another wall on the other side of campus, covering a large distance to the fake cities UA owned. Since they’d already cut down a lot of the forest in-between, the land was converted into farmland, though making untilled land farmable was a lot easier said than done. Once they claimed one of the fake cities, they got to work turning them into actual livable space. Then they claimed the fake factory zone and tore it down for resources and the support course got to work building a reliable powerplant to keep the campus powered year-round.

            All this work gave people something to do. Funnily enough, busy-work kept most peoples minds of the zombies and raiders outside. The expansion unfortunately put things in Nezu’s favour, he no longer seemed to be fumbling the ball and got his shit together. While not entirely, it was just enough to keep the civies happy. More room, more food, actual reliable power, and now there was talk this year of bootstrapping up to an actual industrial base. Things were starting to feel normal again. There were still talks about elections and establishing an actual government instead of one run by teachers, and Nezu still forbade Izuku from building his motivators and sent the scientist out on more recon missions, either to keep him occupied or in the hopes a zombie would eat him.

            Oh, and then there was the volcano. Pretty much, if nobody went near it made a lot of noise then it would remain dormant. They were pretty sure the yurei who caused it had been buried somewhere in there, and an attempt to dig them out by Maijime had resulted in another detonation that nearly buried the digging team. Nezu concluded it was fine where it was so long as they didn’t disturb it. It certainly dissuaded some folks from going near the city.

            “Bakugo.” Someone said.

            Katsuki turned his head to see the guard captain, Emi, walk up to his bench and take a seat beside him. “Hey Emi, how are you doing?”

            “Alright.” She watched the soccer game for a bit. “Anything new?”

            Katsuki considered the question for a bit. “Kendo is making herself out to be a political leader, she’s got a real talent for it, it seems. Think she’s due for a seat at the table soon with the rest of the council.”

            “Perhaps then we can hopefully shift things into a more established government. It’s a step in the right direction.”

            Thanks to Kizuki’s news station, they’d been able to make Kendo a politician and start shooting thoughts and ideas out to the people. Communication and news was the best sort of warfare against Nezu, since he used his assemblies to spread his thoughts and ideas. They were getting cellphones working again to keep that spread of information, and they even got a line to Tokyo. Kendo had been able to rise in popularity in a way Nezu couldn’t just remove her from the public eye. She was still open to being killed her off by zombies, but that wouldn’t kill the idea she was spreading. It was known the two butt heads at times and with free press, people were paying attention. Kendo did have to distance herself from the Lobbyist group when Nezu started targeting them and trying to make them look like the bad guys. That was fine, Kendo just needed to keep doing what she was doing. With the stabilization of UA and its expansion, Nezu had started gearing things towards prettying up the campus in an effort to gain more favour. He wasn’t a complete idiot, he knew honey attracted more flies than vinegar, and the rat could put on a façade. This unfortunately made it harder for their goals of dethroning Nezu.

            “Oh yeah.” Katsuki nodded. “She’s at least reigning in Nezu on his crazier ideas.”

            “In some ways.” Emi agreed.

            Katsuki gave her a look, then sighed. “What did you hear?”

            “Contact of mine told me Tokyo reached out to UA.” Emi said. “Nezu officially stated to them UA was a separate entity from the Japanese government. They do not recognize the Prime minister’s authority.”

            Katsuki whistled. “That’s not going to end well. But Tokyo’s got their own problems being surrounded by zombies.”

            “Despite that, they are considered on par with UA.” Emi said. “If they can slip out some forces, they could come at us with guerilla tactics, a popular and effective choice with the raiders.”

            “Or pay the raiders to attack us.” Katsuki gestured to the wall. “Not as easy as it used to be.”

            “Nope, and speaking of raiders. Heard anything from your source?” Emi asked.

            Katsuki nodded. “The Shinobis found another settlement at the outskirts of Musutafu and destroyed it. Survivors should be making their way here any day now.”

            The Shinobi were a shadow group Nezu created to do UA’s dirty work. After the winter massacre, some of the people who’d stayed hadn’t kept to their oath of silence like Nezu wanted, and a few rumours were flying around. He did a screening of his most trustworthy followers and enlisted them into the group. Tokoyami, Katsuki’s old classmate, had been selected into the group and kept Katsuki informed about their schemes. They weren’t going around massacring settlements. More posing as raiders and using various tactics to weaken and frighten the people into fleeing either away or towards UA. They now had the space and a growing workload to start taking people in again. It was a complete one-eighty from the first year, but everyone they got now was a possible ally for Nezu.”

            “Makes me wonder what the point of the Winter massacre was.” Emi said.

            “It was a statement UA wasn’t pulling punches I guess.” Katsuki shrugged. “It worked. Least some of the folks from those settlements are making their way to the Tengu in Nagano. But UA still attracts desperate people.”

            “I’d like to go there someday.” Emi smiled. “They’re not a fan of UA, I’d fit right in.”

            “Why are you still here then? With how things currently are?” Katsuki asked.

            Their teams working outside the walls were now mostly Quirkless people. Occasionally a hero or someone capable would go out and provide additional support, but that was it. Unless it was to prune a horde or destroy it, the Meta-humans didn’t have much work to do outside the walls like they used to. The times Katsuki had been outside since the start of this year had dwindled month to month.

            “I got friends and family here I can’t convince to come with me.” Emi said. “So, I’m stuck here. For now.”

            “What would make you leave them behind?” Katsuki asked, curiously.

            “You hear from Raiha lately?”

            Katsuki remembered Raiha was one of the captains with him during the first camp that was massacred. She’d tried to reign in her troops – which with more thought put into it after, had gone AWOL from their superior and had probably been the spark that started that whole mess – and she’d stayed at UA afterwards promising not to speak of the events.

            “Yeah, I know her? Why?”

            “Nezu took her in for questioning.” Emi said. “Her and few others we know were there from that day. He hasn’t picked any of the heroes up yet, but time will tell. I think he’s trying to find whoever spilled the beans.”

            “Not that big of a deal, people hardly seem to care all that much.”

            “Oh, but he cares. Especially since there’s always someone at the assemblies asking him in front of a big audience.”

            “Yeah, but he’s been keeping his cool.”

            “For how long?”

            “No clue.”

            A thought occurred to him then. “You heard anything from Hagakure lately?”

            Emi furrowed her brows. “No, I thought she was deep in an assignment snooping on Nezu.”

            “Not that I was aware of. Since we’re on the topic of people being rounded up, I haven’t seen some folks in a while.” Katsuki frowned. “We might need the Lobbyists look into that, if Nezu is trying to cover up his sins, there are some folks we should be keeping an eye on.”

            “If you think he’s targeting the Lobbyists, Kendo is safe as she is, and most of us can take care of ourselves.”

            “I know, but there are others.” Katsuki rubbed his face tiredly. “Man, I wish I was just a hero doing a normal patrol on the streets.”

            “Police work wasn’t seeming too bad till this all happened.” Emi smiled. “All I had to do was sit at a computer, sometimes go out and bring in a villain the heroes already caught. Real simple life.”

            Katsuki wondered where he’d be at this point if the zombie apocalypse hadn’t happened. Hopefully he’d be up there high on the rankings. “Maybe another lifetime.”

            “Maybe another.” Emi nodded and something caught her attention and she pointed to the other end of the soccer field. “Looks like your friends looking for you.”

            Katsuki looked where she pointed to see Izuku wondering around, head swiveling like he was looking for someone. About a month ago, Izuku had been caught up with a zombie with a fire Quirk, burning off all his hair. He hadn’t gone into details about it, but he’d shaved his hair down to skin since none of it had been salvageable.  Then the following week, Katsuki saw a long thin scar on the back of his head, he’d apparently got into a fight with someone and his head hit a table as he was falling. His hair was growing back now so the scar wasn’t visible. Ochaco had been pretty upset by it.

            “Looks like I better go.” Emi stood up.

            Katsuki frowned at her. “What, you don’t want to talk to him?”

            “No, I got other places to be right now.” Emi gave him a two-finger salute. “See you later, superstar.”

            “Hey, Emi, what’s the deal?” Katsuki asked.

            Emi hesitated, glanced at Izuku. “He seems like a good guy and all, really. Just… off is all.” She gave him a shrug and kept walking.

            Izuku walked up at that time and watched her leave. “Was that Emi?”

            “Yep,” Katsuki watched her for a moment before turning back to his friend. “There a reason she wants to avoid you?”

            Izuku gave him a surprise look, “No clue, actually had no idea she was.”

            “Talk to her later, I guess.” Katsuki leaned back in the bench. “Where’s Uraraka? It’s a nice day for a couple to walk.”

            “She’s out scouting.” Izuku said. “Nezu sent her out to the Shizuoka district to scope out some locations. A scouting party found a decent supply cache and he wants to find anything else so they can just take one trip and be done with the place.”

            “Joy.” Katsuki grunted. “How is she liking the improvement to the jetpack?”

            “They’re great. Mei keeps improving the design, think she could go all the way to Tokyo if she wanted to.” Izuku chuckled. “Would be a nice getaway.”

            Would be.” Katsuki eyed him for a second. Izuku was shifting nervously, rubbing his hands together and looking around. “What’s going on?”

            “Nothing.” Izuku said and stopped himself from rattling off some nonsense.” Actually, no, there is something. Something I think you should see.”

            Katsuki straightened. “Is it a ring for Ochaco. It’s about damn time!”

            “Uh… No, not that.” Izuku gave a sheepish grin. “Does it even make sense to use a ring these days?”

            “Don’t know, I’m not the one dating here. If it’s not that, then what is it?”

            “Best I just show you.” Izuku glanced back the way he came. “But understand if I show you this, you can’t tell anyone else?”

            Katsuki frowned. “Is it bad or something Nezu isn’t suppose to know about.”

            Izuku hesitated. “Both, definitely both. I need a confidant.”

            Katsuki considered it for a second. He wondered what possible Izuku could have done that would be so bad to keep it a total secret. He, Ochaco, and a few others knew about the secret motivator projects Izuku was doing to replicate Momo’s Quirk, and as far as they knew, he still hadn’t figured it out.

            “I promise not to tell anyone.” Katsuki said, completely certain it couldn’t be too bad.

Chapter Text

Then

            “What the fuck, Deku?” Katsuki said.

            Izuku raised both hands placatingly. “I can explain, if you give me a minute to do it.”

            “Oh, it better be more than a minute.” Katsuki scowled. “Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with you?”

            Izuku had led Katsuki to a secluded spot in UA where they were out of sight of nearby civilians and watchful eyes. Izuku then opened a secret entrance in the ground with some kind of trigger Katsuki hadn’t seen him activate. The entrance revealed a ladder leading down into a tunnel. Katsuki was intrigued, secret hideouts were cool and all, they certainly had one when they were kids. But then he wondered how Izuku had come across this place. It looked way too new to have been here a long time.

            So, after taking the ladder and going to the end of the tunnel where there was a solid door in their way, Izuku had made him promise everything he saw behind the door was not to be spoken about in public, not even if they had the jammers on. Katsuki had promised and they stepped inside. Izuku had a laboratory it seemed, one where Nezu was breathing over his shoulder about waste and the like. That was cool, if you ignored the zombies in various states of dissection and observation, and the many, many vats of solution contain various body parts. At one end of the room were pods which Katsuki quickly understood to be stasis pods to freeze undead specimens. But even by zombie standards, some of the ones inside those pods did not look right, and the longer he looked, the longer he discerned why. Izuku had been splicing parts and reattaching them to each other. This had quickly turned into some dark shit and Katsuki didn’t like that one damn bit.

            “So, remember when you came to me about Kirishima having a second Quirk?” Izuku asked.

            “I recall.” Katsuki said, his voice obviously straining to keep calm. “How did it lead to this shitshow, Deku?”

            “Yeah, um… so you kind of had me thinking back to Fosse’s work and your suggestion it was the bridge he had been looking for and uh… well…”

            Katsuki put both hands in front of him as if in prayer, pray in which not to kick Izuku’s ass, took a very deep breath and lower. “I. Do not know. Where to start.”

            “With understanding you can’t tell anyone else about this?” Izuku cringed.

            “Why even tell me in the first place?”

            “Because I figured someone should know what I discovered.” Izuku waved him over to a surgical table. It was a heavy-duty table holding down another zombie with serious restraints. “Here, I can show you.”

            “First things first.” Katsuki raised a hand to stop him. “How did you find this place?”

            “My lab? I built it.” Izuku said.

            “How?”

            Izuku gestured to a table on the far side of the room. There was a box on the table, connected to a pad of flesh with an IV drip feeding it some kind of solution. There were other kinds of components on the table two, lots of motivators too.

            “I figured out how to replicate Yaoyorozu’s Quirk.” Izuku said. “Took a good chunk of the year since I got the samples. Getting the parts were the hardest part of the process, but once I got it working, I could make anything I wanted. Kind of. Then I made a motivator for a Quirk to manipulate the earth and made this lab.”

            Katsuki looked around, seeing the effort put into this place. He realized now that Izuku had been making small improvements to the lab overtime. Expanding here and there. He had no idea when Izuku would have had the time, but he clearly made time.

            “You just went ahead and made the motivator without Nezu’s knowledge?”

            “I’ve had the Quirk sample for over a year now, and he hadn’t even given me the green light.” Izuku rolled his eyes. “He’s just being a dick to me out of principal at this point. I had my own uses for it.”

            Katsuki gave him an incredulous look, “Yaoyorozu is still acting as the Campus’s human printer. Were you planning to release them anytime soon?”

            “What do you think would happen if I did?” Izuku asked. “Nezu cracked down hard the first and only time I built him a motivator, and the whole thing with the volcano zombie nearly got me thrown out of campus even though I didn’t do a damn thing about it. If he decides to ask now, I can have a design and working “Prototype” by the end of the month without arousing suspicion.”

            “Fair point.” Katsuki admitted, then pointed at the stasis pods. “How have you been getting zombies inside though?”

            Izuku pointed to another door seriously bolted in place to the wall. “That’s a tunnel network going all the way out of UA, far outside the range of the turrets. I got Todoroki’s Quirk and harnessed the ice part of it to freeze zombies and drag them inside. Stasis chambers keep them frozen till I got proper restraints on them so they don’t go messing up the campus. In case you are wondering, I got precautions in place in case they get loose. Whole lab is primed to go up in flames and burn all the evidence. I also got a shower and decontamination center in the corner so I don’t accidentally infect civilians. I’m not a total idiot.”

            Katsuki looked up and noticed the sprinkler system in the ceiling. “Question about your intelligence aside. You do realize how dangerous this is?”

            “Did you hear anything I just said? Yes, I do, cause I’m the one doing it.” Izuku gestured around the lab. “I got redundancies out the ass. They get loose; fire. Someone breaks in; fire. I fall asleep at the computer; regretfully I’ll be on fire, but I’m not taking chances here.”

            “And you think that’s enough? You are endangering everyone on Campus.”

            “I know.” Izuku rubbed the back of his head, wincing. “I got a lot more in store for this place. But I needed to focus on something. I’m tired of sitting in Mei’s workshop doing nothing or chancing my life on patrol outside the walls. I need to contribute something to our survival and getting a better understanding of our enemies helps with that.”

            Katsuki scowled, glancing around the lab and taking in everything once more. “What the hell did you find?”

            Izuku straightened. “You’re not going to report this to Nezu or anyone?”

            “No.” Katsuki sighed. “Maybe I’m asking for UA’s downfall at this point, I don’t know. Just show me what was worth all this trouble.”

            Izuku nodded and walked over to the table where the zombie lay secure. He picked up a huge cleaver. “You know when cutting off a zombie’s limb, the limb won’t continue to be animated like the rest of the zombie.”

            Katsuki walked over to the table to see what he was doing, “Yeah. Nothing new there.”

            “Watch.”

            With that, Izuku brought the cleaver down and cut off the hand of the zombie in one clean strike. It fell limply to the table and then Izuku grabbed it and pressed it against the stump. The hand started moving again, grasping at air till Izuku pulled it away, it stopped. He pressed it back against the stump and it moved again. When it held it away for the final time, he did so for much longer. When he placed the hand back, the hand remained motionless.

            “… Okay.” Katsuki said. “That I didn’t know.”

            Izuku nodded his head eagerly. “I’ve determined it’s a very week, very short-range telekinesis of sorts. The limbs need contact to the body to keep functioning. That’s why those zombies who’ve been torn up like shit can still move around like they do, missing the necessary musculature and tendons to operate their body. Remove a limb for too long and it will permanently cease to function.”

            “Why is that?” Katsuki asked.

            “I think it has something to do with the deterioration of DNA.” Izuku set aside the hand and the cleaver. “The Quirk section specifically. I’ve tried collecting samples for my motivators, but they deteriorate quickly and I got nothing to use.” Izuku moved up to the head. “But when decapitating the head, it will remain animated for hours while the rest of the body deteriorates. Shoot them in the head, they’re dead permanently. Why is that?”

            Katsuki rolled his eye, he hated how this was feeling like a classroom lecture. “The brain is still working.”

            “Yes, because it’s the central hub and all.” Izuku knocked his knuckles on the head of the zombie like a drum. As he trekked into familiar territory his nervousness from earlier was dissipating. “I’ve taken them apart, bit by bit. When I get to the brain, it’s a little more complicated. I’ve taken out the left side, then the right side, frontal lobe, and parietal lobe. When it gets to the specific parts of the brain I remove, it’s varies. Some humans have lived long lives missing half their brains in some cases.”

            “You ever met a politician?”

            “Don’t interrupt me.” Izuku waved a hand. “The one thing I find more consistent is the part of the brain responsible for the Quirk. No Meta brain is ever the same, depending on the Quirk. It’s been this area of research that’s always stumped Quirkologists because the brain still remains our greatest unknown. But the areas I think responsible for the Quirk, are always the cause of death when I remove them.”

            Katsuki furrowed his brows, slowly working over that information in his head. “Yeah, the virus infects Meta’s because of the Quirks, and the Quirkless are immune. So… why?”

            “Because you have something we don’t, besides the obvious.” Izuku smiled. “We’ve been trying to identify the main fuel for Quirks. The Quirk like… like a car for example. It needs fuel, electricity, oil, coolant, and such to make it operate. We know it diet can be one source of fuel. You need to hydrate a lot because you sweat a lot for your Quirk. But what else is there that really drives it onward? Quirkologists have identified an energy related to Quirks they’ve coined as Quirk energy, a type of radiation that exists in Meta-humans, this helps power the Quirks you use.”

            Katsuki shrugged. “You could just say it’s magic and leave it at that.”

            “Nope.” Izuku said and tapped the zombies head again. It was becoming very agitated with that. “I think the virus thrives on Quirk energy. It needs it to live, to survive. The brain is the central hub because that is where the energy is collected… or is made or something. The brain in every zombie I’ve opened up has always been the most well-preserved part of the zombie. It keeps the brain alive and uses its body to keep spreading. Separated from the brain, it can’t survive, and it doesn’t just have to be the original hosts.”

            Katsuki looked at the zombies in the tube. “You mean you switch their arms around and they still work?”

            “Yep.” Izuku said. “And if the hand is what wields the Quirk, it will still work on its new host body. It’s a process I think I can further refine. But technically those zombies in the stasis pods are multi-quirked.”

            “So, it has been the bridge Fosse was looking for.” Katsuki summarized, but paused. “Wait, weren’t there transplants before the apocalypse with Quirks?”

            “Yeah, but not always successful. Like I said back then, you got new connections the host body may not have for the Quirk to function.” Izuku looked at the stasis pods, there was a flicker of pride there, but it disappeared. “Just wish there was something I could get out of this research. More than this.”

            Katsuki gave him a look, “Sure.”

            “What?”

            “I get it, this is all very fascinating.” Katsuki waved around the lab, “But I don’t like where this looks like its going. All I did was ask if it was possible to have a second damn Quirk!”

            “You were the one who brought up Fosse’s work.” Izuku pointed out.

            “I didn’t make you read it, and you were well read up on it yourself regardless of what I said. You just took my suggestion and ran with it.”

            “You suggested this was Fosse’s way of making a bridge between a Quirk and it’s new wielder.”

            “And you didn’t have to prove him right!” Katsuki exclaimed.

            “We don’t even know if this was even his doing!” Izuku walked up to him. “What I’m discovering so far is what could be the key to his theories, not the result of them.”

            “Then let’s call him up and get his thoughts on it.” Katsuki folded his arms. “Oh wait, we can’t! Because everyone is dead. You are in a fucking cave dismembering a bunch of corpses. Do you know how fucked up that is?! These were people, Deku!”

            “Keyword: Were!” Izuku jabbed a finger into his chest. “That hasn’t stopped anyone from killing thousands of them already. They’re dead. Like my mother, like your parents! There is no cure! The virus is killing everyone and they’re puppeting the bodies of our loved ones to kill us all. They aren’t people anymore, they’re the walking dead. What else am I suppose to do with them?!”

            The zombie jerked up, snapping its restraints taut against the table and the two stopped arguing. They backed away from the table and each other, both taking a moment to collect themselves.

            Katsuki spoke first. “I am seeing heroes I grew up admiring, grew up worshipping, turn into cold blooded murderers. My teachers, who were suppose to be our protectors and mentors, are endangering lives and not giving a damn how everything is falling apart. Nezu, who sought our best interests in our time at this school, is building himself as some sort of dictator and punishing those who speak against him. I am barely holding on by a thread at this point, Izuku.” Katsuki look him in the eyes. “I know we have had our differences in the past, I’ve never forgotten that and I try to make up for it daily. The last thing I want is to see you end up like them, becoming the monsters we’re suppose to be fighting.”

            Izuku deflated a little, understanding reaching his face. “I didn’t mean for things to go on like this. Part of me did want to know more about the virus, possibly find a cure and end the nightmare we’re living in.”

            “You said yourself the virus is beyond you. Has this even given you a clue on where to begin?”

            “No, but I’ve still learned a lot.” Izuku walked over to the zombie and placed his hand on the table, leaning over it. “I at least want to figure out how to preserve the samples from them. There are a lot of Quirks out there with the potential to help us if I can use them.”

            “Is that how you want to phrase it now?”

            Izuku sighed and turned. “I don’t know. I’ve been spinning in circles since I’ve been here. The motivators are my life’s work. I came up with the prototype in two years, they would have been my crowning achievement, laid the foundation for more research. Now I’m just wasting away in a hellhole, to either die and fade from history.”

            “You got Uraraka.” Katsuki reminded him. “Doesn’t life with her matter to you?”

            “We’ve been together for about a year, and I still don’t know what she sees in me.” Izuku admitted. “This whole relationship thing is still new to me; I worry I’ll screw it up, or she finally realizes I’m not worth it.”

            “In terms of standards, you’re doing better than most.” Katsuki said and meant it. But he always seemed to be doing a lot of reassuring for Izuku in this area. “Let’s get back on track. What are you going to do from now on?”

            “Devise a process to use infected samples in motivators.” Izuku concluded. “The only question is what can I do about it? No matter what, I can’t reveal them so long as Nezu is in control.”

            “I brought up kill him before.” Katsuki reminded him.

            “When we were drunk after we all had a horrible day.” Izuku added.

            “But it was a good idea.” Katsuki leaned against the table piled with notebooks. He checked to make sure nothing there he’d have to worry about getting on him and starting an outbreak. “We need to start pressuring the Lobbyists into more courses of action. Kendo is already making great strides in her career. But really, I would like Yaoyorozu to be the one taking command. She’s the best one to run things, but Nezu has too many eyes on her and has her isolated from everyone else.”

            “Beggars can’t be choosers.” Izuku said. “But Kendo being in power would be a good start, so long as it removes power from Nezu.”

            “Or,” Bakugo held up a finger, “Tokyo gets to use first. I just heard Nezu told them to fuck off. That can shift things in the future once they did themselves out of their own city.”

            “Then it could be war.” Izuku frowned. “If it comes to that. It’s anarchy out there, the only way to reign it in is by having the big guns. Nezu has been recruiting some former villains lately to bolster his ranks.”

            “Yeah, if they were petty muggers and thieves, I would be less butthurt about it.” Katsuki growled and pointed to the stasis pods. “But if we get Nezu removed, and your research can continue without restriction, I really, really do not want to be seeing any of this make it to the public eye.”

            “What are you now? My boss?”

            “If someone has to reign you in? Yes!” Katsuki glared at him. “Fine if they got a Quirk you can use in a motivator, but this Frankenstein shit has to stop. We all know how that story ends.”

            “Yeah, okay, I can work with that.” Izuku looked around. “Uh… could we start that next week, I’ve kind of been wanting to try a few ideas I had and-”

            “Deku!”

            “Alright! Alright!”

Chapter Text

Now

Izuku left the lawnmower in a spot where Dabi’s people could collect it within the bounds of Yamanashi. He gave Dabi a call beforehand to tell him the job was done and where he could collect his cursed contraption. It felt like Dabi was trying to squeeze him like a lemon for all the juicy details how it went down with Endeavor. Dabi even cackled maniacally when Izuku told him he blasted the fucker apart with the Fox rifle. The man had some serious daddy issues and Izuku was just glad to give him… he had no clue; he wasn’t even sure ‘closure’ was the word right word to put to it.

            Regardless, he found his truck right where he left it. Distant smoke clouds told him the raider based had been attacked after his departure, whether it be Dabi’s people or some other party didn’t matter. He just made sure to clear out of the area fast as possible. He arrived back at New North Trade and backed his truck to one of the loading bay doors as Dabi had instructed earlier. He climbed out of the truck to see a team of Dabi’s employees start shuffling boxes into the truck box. He stopped them just before they got too ahead of themselves.

            “How much of this stuff you got there?” Izuku asked them.

            One of them pulled out a clipboard and pointed to a pile of boxes kept separately from everything else. There were a lot of boxes. “Boss said all of this is yours to take with you.”

            “You can set the boxes back on there.” Izuku instructed them. “I can take care of them. Go take a smoke break of something.”

            The employees gave each other a look, unsure if they should. But eventually they moved the boxes back on the pile and walked out. It took Izuku only a second after to grab the compression gun hidden under the backseat and convert the pile into a pearl he tucked away in his pocket. Man, he really loved that thing. He put the compression gun back and found the employees where they were taking a smoke break and joined them for a minute, traded bits of info, and learning nothing too groundbreaking. When they were done, the workers had gone back in and eyed the truck and the now vacant space where the boxes had been. They all seemed to sum it up to some kind of Quirk Izuku didn’t have and went about their day and he went on to go find Dabi.

            Dabi was in his office working at his computer. Eri was asleep on the couch pushed up against the wall, curled up in an ugly yellow sleeping bag with Leo curled up on top. The dog’s eyes popped open to see who had entered and wagged his tail when he saw his owner.

            Dabi looked up from his screen, a giant smile splitting that scarred face of his. “Hey, Doc. See you got your order stored away. That little device of yours wouldn’t happen to be for sale, now would it?”

            “No, it is not.” Izuku stopped to pet Leo’s head before moving to sit in a chair. “You’ll have to tear it from my cold dead hands.”

            “I figured as much.” Dabi looked back at the computer and typed out something. “I’d really like to be selling your motivators on the market, if only it wouldn’t lead Chisaki and UA to your whereabouts. Figure the first piece of tech I put out there, I’ll have their goons breaking down the door asking where I acquired it.”

            “That’ll be for some time.” Izuku sighed. “So, is our business concluded.”

            “Hell yes.” Dabi grinned. “I’ve sent my guys to start clearing out the site for a base and you got Koda’s things. Things are square between us.”

            “Great. Then I’ll be taking the little one here and getting back on the road.” Izuku eyed him wearily. “If there is no objection.”

            “None. She’s still safer with you for the moment.” Dabi looked at Eri. “We had a talk, and I’d say things will smooth out from there. Just don’t fuck up again, alright?”

            “Alright.” Izuku stood and raised a hand to shake.

            Dabi shook his hand. “A pleasure doing business with you. Come back again sometime.”

            “If only you don’t have me driving that abomination again.”

            “No promises.”

            ---

            It was nice seeing Dabi again, but Izuku was glad to leaving with the stuff for Koda. Eri was awake in the passenger seat, holding on to the game console, playing whatever she currently had on there. Magne had given it to her as a gift and included several game cartridges. Leo, as always, was asleep in the backseat, dreaming whatever dogs dreamed about.

            There would be work to be done when they got back to the safehouse, Izuku was sure of it. He’d drop off the stuff to Koda first, and then pack up and move to another safehouse where he didn’t have to worry about suspicious birds and rats watching his every move. He’d make a point of making it a long trip, keeping an eye out for anything with a pulse following them. From there, he hoped to keep working on his research, shelve his plans for a cure, and do his best to take better care of Eri.

            Those thoughts went right out the window when he checked the rearview mirror and spotted the armoured car taking a peek around a corner. It was too far to tell who was driving it.

            Eri looked up from her game console, startled when he started cursing. “What?”

            “We got a tail.” Izuku was checking all around, making sure it was just the one and they were being surrounded. “Get your gun out.”

            Eri did as told, stowing the console away in her backpack. Izuku made a left turn, once out of sight of the car, he pressed on the gas and made the first right turn he could. He went on like that for a time, taking random turns and speeding through the streets. Till finally, he went around one corner, pulled alongside some abandoned vehicles and parked. He flipped a switch on the dashboard, shutting off all the lights on the car as their truck sat idle. He grabbed his AR and turned to face the back window and watched. Eri kept her eyes front, holding his .22 rifle. The remained quiet for a time. When the phone from Dabi buzzed in his pocket, it made him jump. He pulled it out and answered.

            “Midoriya!” Dabi sounded panicked. Izuku could hear muffled gunshots on his end of the line. “Chisaki had a rat in my warehouse, they’re storming the place now as we speak. You need to get out of the city, fast!”

            “Little late there, Dabi.” Izuku said. “But thanks for letting me know who was tailing me.”

            “Fuck!” Dabi swore. “Fuck, okay. Well, it looks like the majority of his gang is here. Guess he was expecting you to still be here when you got back. If you manage to escape, find Koda and put a bullet in him for me. It’s because of him we’re now in this situation.”

            “Will do.” Izuku put the AR down and got back on the steering wheel.

            “And Midoriya.” Dabi said. “We don’t know what Chisaki will do to her if he gets her. Quirk or not, there are possibilities he might consider.”

            “What are you getting at?”

            There was an explosion on Dabi’s end. “I know I gave you shit earlier, but now, with the way he’s gunning for her as he is. Well… which would be better? Alive but as a science project to that evil bastard, or dead?”

            It made sense in a sick sort of way. If Eri were dead, Chisaki wouldn’t be able to do anything to her like he had before, and it would spare her whatever torment he subjected to her afterwards. Chisaki could only revive people only if he killed them with his own Quirk, not when it was done by other means. But for Izuku, it felt like he just took a plunge in ice water, and he started shaking slightly.

            “I’ll make sure it doesn’t come to that.” Izuku promised him.

            “You better.” Dabi said, the gunshots were getting louder. “Good luck you two.”

            “Good luck, Dabi.” Izuku said and hung up. He threw the phone out the window and took off down the road again.

            “What’s wrong?” Eri asked. She’d only heard his half of the conversation.

            “Overhaul. He’s attacking Dabi and Magne.” Izuku explained. At that, her expression when into full on fear. “It’s highly possible the car I saw earlier was one of his goons. We’ll lose them in the city, we’ll be fine.”

            If Chisaki had miscalculated and was attacking Westside with most of his gang, then he wouldn’t have the numbers scouring the city looking for them. He might try and get information out of Dabi, but Dabi didn’t know where any of Izuku’s safehouses were. The only thing he could do was get as far away as he could, give Chisaki a bigger search area to look for them.

            Izuku made another turn with far too much speed. He stomped on the brakes coming almost face first to a collapsed building blocking the road. Cursing, he put it into reverse and backed out, just in time to see the armoured car make a turn onto the street they’d just been on. Shit. Izuku reached into a pocket and pulled out the pearl containing the Fox rifle. The car sped up. He smashed the pearl into the center console with one hand and mashed the window button. The car wasn’t slowing down. He grabbed the stock of the rifle, switched it to AP and stuck the barrel out the window as it was halfway down, he needed to aim lower before he fired, or he’d miss. The car kept speeding up, it was now fifty yards away. The window was fully down, he lined up the sight and fired. The car swerved and the shot blasted a chunk out of the road. The car missed the front bumper of their truck as it passed and crashed into a building. Izuku got out, aimed again as the occupants of the vehicle opened their doors. They were two of Chisaki’s goons, those beaked masks they wore gave it away. This time, he didn’t miss. The vehicle and the goons disappeared in a cloud of smoke and chunks of metal and stone.

            Izuku got back into the driver seat, handing the rifle off to Eri. “Hold that.”

            Eri took the rifle as he ordered and floored it. He got on another road and kept going for it. He didn’t consult a map for where he was going, if it was anywhere out of the city, he’d take it.

            Eri shot down his hopes as she said. “We got a car on our right.”

            Izuku looked and saw another armoured car matching pace with them a block away, he only caught glimpses of it as they went through intersections. Then the second car appeared in front of them as they crashed into its fender.

Chapter Text

Now

            Dabi hung up the phone. Tapping into the smallest bit of his power, he set it aflame with blue fire and tossed it into the garbage. Outside his office, the sound of fighting continued. On the monitor, he saw the feed from multiple security cameras. Magne was on the main shop floor, ducking behind cover with the rest of her employees. Nice thing about the apocalypse and society collapsing, just about everyone had guns. Their employees were putting up a fight against the Shie Hassaikai and using their Quirks to great affects. Magne, for instance, was drawing in the yakuza out of cover with her magnetism Quirk and on one instance, used a yakuza to shield her for the blast of a particularly nasty Quirk that melted the skin right of the yakuza.

            Meanwhile, Dabi was stuck in a wheelchair in his office on the second floor. His Quirk was fucked, no longer fit for fighting save as a last-ditch effort. Instead, he reached into his desk drawer and retrieved the desert eagle. It was nothing like Izuku’s pissy .22, this gun would put a proper hole in someone.

            What Chisaki was doing here was pretty much suicidal. Attack a major trade hub like Westside, even if was just one of the traders, is how you got barred from every trader there was. As competitive as merchants get, you do not openly attack any of them, that just set a bad tone for business and they don’t know who will be next. Chisaki’s gang would be cut off entirely, reduced to scrounging for scraps and dealing with a bounty on their heads for this offence. He was throwing everything away, all his opportunities and reputation of his organization (as little as there were), just to get Eri. This was the lengths he was willing go to. Dabi could only hope Izuku was getting her as far away from here as he could. It would be better if he could get to another continent, outside of Chisaki’s reach. Damn, Dabi should have thrown that idea at Izuku.

            The door to his office was broken down with a solid kick. Dabi raised the gun and fired. Only the bullet bounced off a yellow barrier. A man stepped into the room, the source of the shield. After them came six more yakuza wearing body armour, those stupid beaked masks, and holding assault rifles of various kinds. They swept into the room and aimed their guns at his chest. Dabi considered the pistol and tossed it on the desk. He really wished he hadn’t fucked up his Quirk so badly with his fight with dear old Dad. Looked like the old man would get the last laugh.

            The goons stepped away from the door, giving it a wide birth, and the last one entered. A hulking figure covered in a large cloak of stitched together rags bent down to clear the top of the door frame. Their boots were custom made, no one Dabi knew had to wear shoes that size. The hood covered their head but he got the impression it was lumpy just by how the clothe settled against it. Their face was hidden behind a full-face plague doctors mas. Why Chisaki was so obsessed with the style, he’d never know. Dabi had an inkling of one person who was this big.

            “Hey, Rappa! How are you doing?” Dabi said with false cheer. “I like the new style you’re rocking. Brings out the survivor in you.”

            The figure stared at Dabi through the lens of their emotionless mask. Then it raised a hand out from under the cloak. Dabi noted it was the right arm, but he glimpsed another right arm hidden with the folds of the cloak. The arm being shown was a mangled mess of skin transplants and scar tissue. The longest of which stretched all the wrist to the shoulder. More scars crisscrossed the long scar. Some of the grafts had taken, the others had not. They opened their hand and turned the palm towards Dabi and he was rewarded with seeing pale lips set in the palm. It appeared as though a lot of surgery had taken place around the mouth given the state of the hand. The pointer and middle finger couldn’t unfold all the way. Even by Quirk standards, this was the weirdest thing Dabi had ever seen. It would have unnerved him had he possessed sufficient nerves to be unnerved with.

            The mouth opened. It struggled to speak, each word coming out in a long hissing breath. “Where is Midoriya going?”

            Dabi stared at the hand for several seconds, shocked and even more creeped out. He looked back up at the mask. “Uh… sorry, but who the hell are you?”

            One of the yakuza spoke up, and the way he spoke set Dabi’s nerves on end. The guy sounded more than a little zealous. “He is Overhaul, our to-be savior for the human race, leader of the Shie Hassaikai. You will address him with respect and answer his question.”

            Overhaul? Dabi studied the large figure some more. “Chisaki?”

            There was a grunt of affirmation behind the mask and the mouth asked again. “Where is Midoriya going?”

            “Hell, if I know.” Dabi examined Chisaki some more. When he first met the Yakuza leader, Chisaki had been relatively bookish, definitely not muscular or even considered hitting the gym. He had a powerful Quirk that made up for his physical lack of strength. “Have you been hitting the gym? Or steroids? Trigger perhaps? You look a bit… different.”

            Chisaki closed the distance between them in a blur. Two more arms emerged from the cloak and threw the desk aside along with Dabi’s gun. The movement revealed to Dabi Chisaki had four arms in total. Two picked Dabi out of the wheelchair and slam him against the wall. One handed drew a sawed-off double-barreled shotgun and pressed it against his scarred temple. At the same time, Dabi had ignited his Quirk and his skin burned with heat, but the fire didn’t reach further than his skin. He wouldn’t be able to burn Chisaki before a round of buckshot blew his head apart.

            Chisaki moved his hand-mouth in front of Dabi’s face. “Where is he taking Eri?”

            “I don’t know!” Dabi forced out. “I haven’t seen him for years.”

            “Liar!” Chisaki squeezed tighter. “He was here. He had Eri with him and you watched her for him. Where is he going? Where does he live?”

            “If you knew that much, why are you asking me? Hell, if you didn’t attack my warehouse, you could have had your goons searching the city as he left.” Dabi had a thought. “Or did you think he was still here when you broke down my doors?”

            The mouth scowled. “This is your one chance to tell me everything and spare your life. We were allies once, Dabi. I could still have need of your skills.”

            “That’s the thing ain’t it.” Dabi smirked. “I’m already dead, my body just refuses to take the hint.”

            “Boss!” One of the goons spoke up, they were holding a radio to one ear, listening to something. “Hojo just called in. They found Midoriya and the girl just at the outskirts.”

            “Captured?”

            “Surrounded, but they’re putting up some resistance.” The goon said. “He’s got some kind of weapon blowing up their vehicles. The casualties are piling up.”

            “Useless idiots.” Chisaki released Dabi, letting him fall limply to the floor, and stomped to the doorway. “Get directions. I want everyone to converge on their location.”

            “Yes sir!”

            Dabi took a lung full of air and laughed. “You want Eri? If you knew she was here, then you should know the other thing about her.”

            Chisaki stopped in front of the doorway and turned around. “What are you talking about?”

            Dabi laughed. “She got bit, Chisaki. Midoriya saved her with your permanent formula. She’s Quirkless now. Looks like your idea worked after all, but now you no longer have a source to make more.”

            Chisaki didn’t move for a long moment. Dabi couldn’t tell what he was thinking under that mask. Was he shocked all his work was for nothing? Pleased his theory worked after all? What Dabi would give to get a glimpse of his face right then.

            Chisaki walked back across the room to Dabi and picked him up again. Two enormous hands closed around his head and squeezed. Dabi beat the hands with his fists, activated his Quirks pitiful flames. Either Chisaki had good heat resistance or good pain tolerance. Either way he didn’t let go from a bit of fire. The pressure increased on his skull, there was a crack inside his head and-

            ---

            Chisaki dropped Dabi back to the ground. The fire user’s head reduced to a pulp. The flames licked at his skin for another brief instant before sizzling out. Chisaki wiped his hands on a rag from one of his pockets and tossed it aside, the moment of anger fading away.

            “Sir?” One of his goons said nervously.

            “Send the order.” Chisaki said. “I’ll see if his words are true for myself.”

Chapter Text

Now

            Upon impact of the yakuza’s vehicle, Izuku’s truck spun around. He blinked and next thing he knew his truck was sitting in the middle of the road, his door facing the armoured car that just rammed him. The airbags hadn’t gone off, he wasn’t sure if the hit had to be harder for them to go off or whoever rebuilt this truck hadn’t bothered installing them, since it was the opinion of some to die ramming their car into a wall than to be eaten by the horde of undead they’d be running from. Regardless, Izuku hadn’t bothered to check, and if Eri could run over a rock zombie with the truck and not set off the bags, then the level of impact had to be higher.

            He was disoriented though. It took a couple seconds to piece back what was going on when he saw the passenger of the armoured car step out and level an anti-material rifle at the truck. Bandits preferred the high calibres since most cars these days were armoured with extra plates. A well-placed shot to the hood would disable the vehicle and stop the convoy in its tracks, allowing the rest of the bandits to swoop in and reap the rewards. Izuku ducked down, grabbing Eri and forcing her to do the same as they fired. The shots went into the hood, disabling the vehicle. Izuku grabbed the Fox rifle and flipped it to Bakugo’s normal explosion as a bullet flew through the driver and passenger door windows.

            “Come on, Doc.” One of yakuza shouted. “We just want the girl. Play nice and we’ll let you go.”

            In response, Izuku stuck the barrel of the Fox rifle through the shattered glass and fired. He felt the truck rock up from the blast, and the yakuza on the receiving end were blown back. Izuku opened the door and stepped out, firing repeatedly, disorienting and causing the yakuza to panic. The other armoured truck pulled into view, with a simple switch to AP, he blasted it off its wheels. He couldn’t see the one with the big-ass rifle through the smoke, so he ran around to the passenger side and opened it, grabbing Eri and beckoning Leo to follow.

            “Get behind the engine block.” He said, shouldering the rifle and looking for movement. The engine block was the best place to hide from bullets, did not mean it could withstand an anti-material rifle. That guy could shred them to bits.

            As the smoke thinned, he caught a bit of movement hiding behind the hood of the armoured vehicle. He put an AP shot through it and was rewarded with the goon flying away like a rag doll, their anti-material rifle blown to pieces. Izuku scanned their surroundings, then cursed when he realized he’d just blown up every vehicle in front of him and their truck was disabled. They were on foot.

            “Come on, Eri.” Izuku said. “We’re got to get some- Agh!”

            A bullet pierced his chest and he fell backwards. Leo was on him instantly, licking his face and sealing the wound, the healing cost Izuku a great deal of stamina. He righted himself up and pressed against the fender of the truck.

            “Dammit!” Came the familiar voice of Hojo, one of Chisaki’s Lieutenants, the man had a crystalizing Quirk that gave him superior strength and protection in hand-to-hand combat. “Don’t fake me out, Doctor, we know that wasn’t a kill shot.”

            As he spoke, Izuku heard the sounds of more tires rolling and, and the sound of half a dozen yakuza taking positions. They were all on the opposite side of the vehicle, waiting for him to poke his head out.

            “Stay right here, Eri.” Izuku said. He’d stuck the compression gun back under the backseat, if he could get it, he might be able to tunnel their way out. Unfortunately, he didn’t take a step before a burst of rounds shot through the cab of the truck. More bullets followed after.

            “Hold your fire!” Hojo ordered. “Dammit, Midoriya. We don’t want to kill you.”

            “Finding that hard to believe!” Midoriya shouted back. He shouldered the Fox rifle and prepared to put up a fight.

            “Overhaul asked we bring you in alive.” Hojo said. “Course that’s second to getting Eri back. You give her to me and we can part ways in peace.”

            “That’s a lie.”

            Izuku leaned around the truck bumper. He saw someone moving around and he put his sights on them, an AP round tore them in half and blew out a chunk of the building. There was a panicked cry and some gunshots causing the two to hunker down.

            “You’re attracting zombies you idiot!” Hojo swore.

            “Good, let’s make this a party!” Izuku laid down on the road and stuck the Fox rifle under the truck and caught sight of another vehicle. The AP shot struck it in the wheels blew off the front of the car. “I’m immune, Hojo! what do I have to fear from some undead?”

            “You’re insane!”

            “Sure am!” Izuku found another vehicle in his sights and promptly blew it to hell. “I got all day to be insane!”

            He could tell the yakuza were trying to be careful with their shots, since they didn’t want to kill Eri by accident. Sure, she could heal herself with her Quirk, which they couldn’t have known she no longer possessed. But still, if Chisaki was going through all this trouble to get her back, even attacking one of Westsides merchants, then he bet none of his goons wanted to risk doing something by mistake and incurring the wrath of their boss. Fear has its uses, but too much fear can halt progression. Too often he’d seen a yakuza member frozen with indecision, damned if they do, damned if they don’t. Izuku was just glad they weren’t going overboard, but they were doing a number on his truck.

            He peaked up and rested the Fox rifle on the hood, the yakuza were scrambling around, trying to get behind something solid. He fired three consecutive shots in the middle of the road. Scattering them around. Before he got off a fourth shot, the Fox rifle flew from his hands. He felt the tug and tried to hold on, but was nearly dragged over the hood before he let go. The rifle flew into one of the yakuza, Setsuno Toya. Izuku cursed and ducked back down, drawing his pistol from its holster. He checked to see Eri hadn’t grabbed the other rifle when exiting the vehicle. Shit.

            “Took you long enough.” He heard Hojo grumble.

            “Well, I can’t take what I can’t see, and I’m not the one wasting bullets.” Setsuno stated. “You’re being too careful. Eri can heal after all.”

            Izuku’s blood ran cold, and he saw a similar look cross Eri’s face. He snuck a peak and saw the yakuza regrouping and moving to flank them. 

            “She dies because we get careless, Overhaul will have our heads and his plans are ruined.” Hojo stated.

            “Yes, but with the way you’re handling it, we’re getting nowhere.” Setsuno said, shouldering the Fox rifle and taking aim at the truck. “Give them one final chance before I blow them up.”

            “You hear that, Izuku?” Hojo shouted. “One last chance to save your hide!”

            Izuku growled, a bit pissed his weapon – his friends Quirk – had just been turned against him. His pistol was shaking in his hand and he raised it up and fired off a couple of blind shots. Maybe Setsuno would follow through and kill them both, do him the favour of making the choice for them anyway. Then there was a sound of a bullet striking the Fox rifle, it shattered into pieces, following by a suppressed popping sound of a pistol and Setsuno falling to the ground. Izuku snuck a peak, another shot, another yakuza dead. More suppressed pistol shots and the yakuza fell one by one. Hojo grew crystals all over their body, tanking the first few shots he received before what must have been a rifle, hit him from high up and exited out his hip. The shot went clean through his crystal defenses. In less than a minute, all the yakuza were dead. A bullet bounced off the truck next to Izuku’s face and he huddled back down before another followed. He hugged the truck, checked his only remaining weapon and found he had only nine bullets left in the magazine. He glanced at the bodies of Chisaki’s men and froze when he heard a familiar sound: the clink of spurs against concrete. His hopes for escape died completely.

            Izuku addressed the newcomer with dread in his voice. “Hey Snipe.”

            “Hey Midoriya.” Snipe said casually, the sound of his boots getting louder. “It’s been a while.”

            “Tell me about it.” Izuku sighed. “I thought UA didn’t patrol out this far.”

            “Usually we don’t, but a little birdie told us you’d be out and about.”

            A spike of anger rose in his chest. That son of a bitch, Koda, had sold him out. He was nowhere near the deadline; he was making perfect time. Now, if Izuku somehow managed to escape, he was going to find Koda and kick his ass, and it didn’t matter if he had an entire forest at his beck and call. They had a deal, a fucking deal! Izuku needed to come up with a plan or he and Eri were dead. He needed time.

            “I didn’t think his Quirk was that advanced.” Izuku said. “He could only have a bird follow me, couldn’t he? No time for it to run to you with a message of my whereabouts.”

            “He sent one to UA, informing us you were looking for supplies for him.” Snipe said. “He and Nezu struck a deal a while ago and when he found you, he sent a note. Nezu was ready to send teams to every settlement in the region, till Westside placed an order for an absurd amount of veterinary supplies.” Snipe chuckled. “You think you’re so much smarter than Nezu, didn’t yah. It didn’t even take us any deduction to find you, just simple planning and wires to trip. You walked into this all on your own.”

            Izuku cursed. “It was a set up from the start?”

            “Yep. If Koda and Nezu hadn’t struck a deal, then I bet you would have gone your way and given him those supplies.” Snipe kicked one of the bodies. “Course, maybe then you’d be dead if I hadn’t shown up. Who else did you piss off?”

            Izuku ignored the question. “What’s the plan then, Snipe? If you wanted me dead, you missed your chance.”

            “I’m not too worried about killing you.” Snipe said and he stopped just a couple feet from the truck. “Nor should you worry about dying.”

            Izuku looked down at his gun, considering what Dabi had said earlier about letting Eri falling into the wrong hands. He had enough for each of them. Death would be more suitable than being taken alive.

            Then Snipe said. “Nezu wants to make amends.”

            Izuku’s response was immediate, instinctive. “Bullshit!”

            “Careful with the language, partner, think about the kid.” Snipe took a cautious step towards them. “Speaking of, who are they?”

            Izuku hesitated, glancing at the bodies. “You tell me yours first.”

            Snipe chuckled. “Lady Nagant.”

            “You’re full of shit.”

            Snipe put a finger to his ear. “Strike one.”

            The spike of purple and deep blue clay penetrated through the truck’s fender by Izuku’s face and stuck in the ground beside his leg. Based on the angle, Lady Nagant was somewhere high up. She’d had time to get to an elevated position to fire down on them. They were trapped by two of the world’s best sharpshooters. Izuku let out a string of curses Katsuki would have been proud to hear him say.

            “My, ain’t you fouler than a chicken.” Snipe laughed. “Who’s the kid, Midoriya?”

            “Eri.”

            “Last or first name?”

            “Only name she’s got.”

            “I see.” Snipe took another couple of slow steps. Izuku did a quick peak to see the gunslinger. “Listen, I won’t harm you or Eri. I only need you to come back with me to UA.”

            Izuku snapped. “So Nezu can make an example of me!”

            “He doesn’t want to make you an example, you have my word.”

            “Your word doesn’t mean shit.”

            “Then what do you want to happen then?” Snipe asked. “Are you going to put you and that girl out of your miseries with- what is that anyway, a .22? Don’t you have a real gun?”

            “I’d like you and Nagant to fuck off into the sunset and leave me alone.”

            “Can’t happen.” Snipe said. “Like I said, the big man wants to make peace. That can’t happen unless there is penance to be paid.”

            “And what exactly does he have planned for me?”

            “Nothing like immediate torture or death.” Snipe said, waving his gun. “Like what could happen in the next few minutes if you make things difficult. What I do know is if you do him a favour, he’ll get Koda off your back and give him whatever supplies he needs for the rest of his life. Not just Koda, keep in mind, but him and UA won’t be after you anymore.”

            Well, good to know what deal was so important for Koda to go back on his word. Damn bastard, but damn Nezu most of all the crafty fucker. “What’s the favour?”

            “That’s something you should hear from the big man himself.” Snipe stated. “Now, you can either come with me and find out, or I can shoot your kneecaps - the kid’s too if she’s trouble, and kill the mutt - and drag you all back to UA with me.”

            Izuku thought about better alternatives. If Nezu wanted him for something, then better to spite the bastard by dying. But as much as he thought about it, he couldn’t bring himself to point the pistol at Eri or himself. It was one thing to consider, another to do it. Before he got a chance to make up his mind though, Snipe came around the car and fired a round through Izuku’s gun hand. The pistol grip shattered and he sat there clutching his hand with a hole through it. The bullet went dug into the ground just between Eri’s legs and she shrieked. Leo growled and Snipe moved his gun to shoot his dog. Eri moved, putting herself between the dog and Snipe. The former hero hesitated, finger just slightly squeezing the trigger.

            “Stop!” Izuku shouted and the gun was back on him again. In defeat, he stood up, clutching his hands in front of him. “Fine dammit! Take me to the fucking rat!”

            Snipe reached into a pouch and tossed a pair of handcuffs to Izuku. He missed them, the pain in his hand was immense. Leo tried to get to him to heal the wound, but when Snipe’s arm moved, Izuku clicked his tongue and ordered him to stay.

            “Good.” Snipe said. “Keep that dog under control and we won’t have any more problems.” He grabbed another pair of cuffs and tossed them to Eri. “Put those on nice and tight, our ride is on its way.”

Chapter Text

Then

            Katsuki sat in the back of the classroom, waiting with two dozen other people for someone to walk in and brief them on the latest threat. It’d been three months since Izuku showed him the experiments he was conducting, and since then Katsuki had been tempering his friend into not going all mad scientist on them and creating some outright horrible shit. At least now Izuku was on the right track to getting the infected Quirks into motivators, though the success rate there was still low, but not impossible anymore.

            He looked around the room and took in the people sitting in with him on this briefing. Most were Quirkless, wearing either leather jackets or the new anti-zombie body armour the support department was pumping out. Thick undergarments their teeth couldn’t bite through, and the armour was supposed to be impact-absorbing according the tech’s. It was stiff and uncomfortable to wear, so the others just opted to stick with the leather jackets to avoid bites. No amount of body armour could do a lick of good defending against a Quirk, especially with the amplification and variety of them. Better to move fast and stealthy around the city while clearing them out. It struck him as odd to see so many armed people in one of the classrooms he took lessons in. Part of him felt as if he was still a student, and not someone weathered by the apocalypse.

            Another moment passed before Snipe walked into the room. He took position behind the podium and turned on the projector. There were more notches on his holster, a sickening reminder of that cold winter night. Katsuki wondered if the man ever felt remorse for that day, or the others, but like usual, he couldn’t make out an expression under that mask. Everyone else quieted down as a map of the city appeared on the board behind him.

            “Okay, listen up.” Snipe said. “UA has been faced with a new issue. Our efforts in clearing out the zombie hoards around UA has been seen by an invitation by raiders and bandits. Normally not an issue, but this lot is being smarter about it.”

            He grabbed a pen and circled several spots on the map, blocks and buildings Katsuki knew they had already cleared out. Snipe capped the marker and turned back to them. “These areas we once had cleared are now populated with zombies again. These raiders have been attacking our supply and scavenging convoys, calling in zombie hordes to break their defenses and kill everyone. They’ve successfully done this three times now, and a handful of other attempts where they were successfully repelled.”

            Someone raised a hand. “They near that volcano at all?”

            “They’re steering clear of it so far.” Snipe answered, “Our scouts keep finding them and they keep moving. We’ve figured out the pattern they’ve been using and it is nowhere near the volcano. They use the herding techniques UA has devised, lead a horde out of an area they want to occupy, and bring the dead back in when they leave. This has made it easier for them to track, but be wary because if these idiots get desperate, they’ll just call the zombies back in. All of you in this room are going to one of the locations and clear out the raiders, we got teams ready to hit the other locations. We’re going to hit them all at once and hit them fast. Do you all follow me so far?”

            Katsuki raised his hand. “Sounds like a stealth operation, why am I here?”

            “It’s been reported they got powerful Meta-humans in their ranks, possibly some former villains and heroes.” Snipe said. “You will be ready on standby should a stealthy take down fail. If things get loud, you get loud, deal with the zombies afterwards. This group has inflicted too much damage already, we cannot allow them to continue and weaken UA to the eyes of Japan. We are not easy pickings for vultures to claim.”

            ---

            The trucks rolled out of UA under the cover of dark. The support staff had begun tearing down old vehicles and refitting them to be electric vehicles. This worked out great because they were so quiet, they didn’t alert the dead too much and the bandits hopefully wouldn’t hear them approach till they were right on top of them. Replacing the canvas covering the back of the truck with more armoured plating was great and all, but heating hadn’t been a huge priority by all the chattering teeth. Couple blocks out the convoy turned off its lights and the drivers navigated the city through night vision.

            Katsuki sat in the back, bundled up for the cold night air. It was in the fall season, so things were a little chilly, zombies a little slower. He wouldn’t have minded doing this during the winter when the dead were for sure frozen in place, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. He had his gauntlets if he really needed to tear up a place and a suppressed .22 pistol. Holding a rifle with his gauntlets was just challenging, but pistols worked just fine. It had a laser sight so he could aim it. Pistol was just so he wasn’t left with nothing to fight with on this mission, he doubted he’d really have a chance to use it.

            He looked at the other faces in the truck with him. A few he recognized being with him during the winter massacre. He even saw Emi sitting there too, she was looking back and forth among the gathered troops, brows knit in thought. She had a sharp eye and a keen mind; Katsuki followed her gaze to try and see what she was seeing. She was looking between a few people, and he tried to remember if he knew any of them.

            The trucks stopped a while later and they all hopped out. Katsuki went a few paces from the truck and scanned their immediate surroundings. No zombies, nothing looked odd or suspicious to him. The others were also looking around, but if they saw something, they would have called it out. They were a block away from the target building, he was about to turn around when Emi stepped up next to him.

            “Something feels off.” She said.

            Katsuki looked at her then back around. “About what?”

            “Don’t know.” She glanced back at the trucks. “When we usually send teams out, we try to stick with the same mix as before. For example, Team Alpha, Beta, and Charlie are usually assigned together because they’re effective. Meanwhile, we’re running with Alpha, Yankee, and Seaweed.”

            “Are those the actual team names we’re using?”

            “No!” She said annoyed. “They’re just examples. Are you getting my point or not?”

            “I don’t see the big deal.” Katsuki said. “We got to work with whoever we can, sometimes mixing people up on assignments happen. Heroes get used to that sort of thing, what about cops?”

            “We do, but Nezu has seemed set on keeping what’s working, working.” She emphasized. “If something works, why change it?”

            “Uh, no. There are plenty of things he does that don’t work and he hasn’t fixed.” Katsuki quipped, and he sobered up when she gave him a stern glare. “Sorry. I get what you’re saying though.”

            She sighed. “I’m probably overthinking it but something just doesn’t feel right.”

            “Then it’s a good feeling to have.” Katsuki glanced around. “Keep an extra eye and ear open, I’ll do the same. Something happens we’ll deal with it. That’s the best we can do, alright?”

            Their earpieces crackled from one of the team captains. “Area clear, moving to target.”

            Katsuki and Emi gave an affirmative over the radio and looked at each other. Katsuki said, “Good luck.”

            “Yeah, you too, superstar.” She made sure her helmet was secure and rejoined her team.

            They approached the building slowly, checking the surroundings for traps and stray zombies. As usual, Katsuki wasn’t quite sure where to place himself. He was a hero with a literally explosive Quirk, that was bright and loud, not suitable for subtle approaches. If he took point, he’d just be in the way for others who could more stealthily take down threats without alerting who they were stalking. Be in the back and he was farther from the action than he wanted to be, and in a fight, seconds matter. So, he usually wound up in the middle, keeping an eye out and trying to look busy. He did have a pistol now with his gear, a small 9mm something he couldn’t really recall the name of. It had a suppressor and a laser pointer, since he had trouble aiming down the sights with his gauntlets. He’d used it a few times and didn’t exactly like it, but he had it anyway just to expand his options.

            Katsuki spotted Emi’s team across the street from him, they had slowed down and seemed to be listening for something. They waited a minute before Emi spoke through the radio. “This is Emi, one of my teammates is hearing a disturbance nearby, going to check it out.”

            The team Katsuki was accompanying stopped and the captain clicked his radio. “Is it the raiders?”

            “She says it sounds like something breaking something, like cracking and…” A pause, “Something meaty being eaten. If it’s a zombie, especially a yurei, I don’t want it throwing itself into the fight the moment we pop these bastards. Give my team a minute to check it out.”

            “Negative, Emi.” The captain insisted. “We’re on a time frame, moment the other teams hit the other locations, these assholes will be on high alert.”

            Katsuki nudged the captain and leaned in close. “I can go check it out. I’m not really suited for this. Things get loud, I’ll come running and blast anything that moves.”

            The captain frowned, he looked like he wanted to disagree, but because Katsuki was a hero, he didn’t want to argue. Katsuki could read the conflict in his expression and hated it; the captain should be able to make his own decisions without being intimidated by him. It was all because Nezu declared the Pro’s to be higher ranked than everyone else, and technically the hero students, even the nearly graduated, weren’t pro’s, they still had more authority than this guy.

            The captain finally made a decision. “Fine. Emi, Dyna-might’s going to check it out, two of your team go with him, the rest keep with the operation.”

            Katsuki rushed across the street and met up with Emi’s team. She spoked in hushed whispers with her team before her and another one of her team lead him back the way they came.

            “Thought you were staying with your team.” Katsuki said.

            “Normally I would,” Emi said, glancing back at her team as they continued on towards the target, “Something still doesn’t feel right about this. My second in command can handle things, I want to take care of this disturbance and circle around if we can before they hit the building. Which way was it again, Maise?”

            She looked to her teammate; someone Katsuki hadn’t met before. A woman, some strange mutation around the sides of her head that looked like layers of skin from what he could see. She wore combat headphones to dampen out noise, and when Emi indicated to her, she removed one earmuff and her ear flexed. The layers he’d seen were indeed skin, and they disappeared as the ear grew in size. They waited several seconds before Maise pointed towards one of the buildings. They got moving quickly as they could. Switching off their radios to limit distractions and stacked up on the front door. Katsuki drew his pistol and turned on the laser sight, but a head shake from Maise had him turn it off. The two UASF took point, finding the door unlocked and creeping inside, Katsuki following close behind.

            The smell hit him first, a dead repulsive smell that accompanied the dead. They stopped just a few feet inside, Emi pulling out a tube of mint ChapStick and smearing it under her nose. She offered it to the others and they gladly took it, smearing equal amounts under their noses. Now Katsuki could smell mint with a slight hint of death. He noticed the others pull bandana’s up to their faces, another layer of protection from the smell, and cursed himself silently. He didn’t have anything else to cover his nose, well except his shirt, but he wasn’t walking into a possible fight his head halfway down his costume.

            Crack! Crack! Crack!

            They froze and looked up. Something had just hit something on the third floor. Maise pulled out her ear again and listened, then relayed information to the others in hand gestures. Only one source of sound, and a small crackling fire. They hadn’t noticed any light coming from the building before, so it must have been insulated to block light from leaving. They found the stairs going up to the second floor and slowly went up. There were several floors to this building, but as they approached the third, the sounds became clearer. They stepped out into the second floor and walked down a hallway.

            Crack! Crack! Crack!

            They stopped beside a doorway, missing a door. A bit of light leaked through into the hall from it. Emi gave hand gestures to Maise to watch their six, then motioned to Katsuki to go through. He stepped slowly through the doorway, pistol up and scanning around him. Emi stepped up beside him and put an arm out in front of him. She pointed down at the floor and he followed it. He’d been about to step on what looked to be a human femur. As his eyes adjusted, he saw more bones, partial skeletons and bodies in various states of decay, littering the floor, their density getting thicker the closer to the light they got.

            Crack! Slurp!

            Katsuki almost gagged at how meaty the sound was. Repulsive imagery flashing through his mind, but he pressed onward, stepping carefully through the maze of bones until he could see a faint source of light flickering around the corner. Someone had made a small fire with the desk. When they had a clear view of the fire, they were just outside the light, still hidden by shadow. The creature tending the flames was a bit difficult to make out, but some features really stood out. A porcupine heteromorph, they had a human face and quills covering their back all the way down to their spine, their fingers ending in short pointed clothes. Their clothes were rags, stained and torn to shreds. They sat hunched over a person, no, a zombie that had significant decay on its body. The porcupine ate something in their hands - at first, Katsuki didn’t understand what it was, perhaps his mind was rejecting the idea - but then it reached down and scraped a clawed finger in the open cavity of the zombie’s head and licked off the bit of brain it gathered. As he stared in shock, he made out more details of the creature. Its arms were bare, pocked with fresh scabs and wounds, dried blood greasing their hands and exposed bits of bone visible in the bicep. It was undead.

            Beside it sat a pile of corpses it had been feasting on. The pile shifted and a zombie fell to the side and crawled out from the pile, well… half of a zombie. It dragged its entrails behind it as it moved. This did not hinder it as it made to crawl away, not to, the creature that was feasting on its kind. Katsuki had seen the zombies naively pursue any kind of noise or thing they saw without regard for themselves. What was this creature to repel the dead?

            The shift and noise the zombie created drew the creature’s attention. It moved startling fast and caught the zombie by the exposed bit of spine sticking out its bottom and dragged it back to the fire. It grabbed the zombies head with both hands and viciously smashed it the cement floor. It smashed it, over and over, turning it around and hitting different places as if cracking an egg. After a moment, it peeled off the top of its head and dug into the grey matter, shoving fistfuls of the rotten stuff into its mouth and chewed.

            Katsuki was beyond disturbed and creeped out. But he could not look away. The creature had moved, allowing Katsuki a better view of its back and he noticed they had a shin to them. Not the kind of shine a sharp blade has, they were shiny with some kind of greasy substance. When the needles twitched as it ate, clomps of purple goo fell off onto the floor around it. It was excreting something from its body. He had seen all the dead the apocalypse had to offer, the zombies that shuffled and groaned like your typical movie-trope zombie, and the yurei sneaking about in the shadows, ambushing survivors unaware of their presence, or strategizing and attacking their scavenging teams outside the settlements. This zombie could be a yurei, but a different kind of sorts.

            Movement from the corner of his eyes finally made him peel his attention from the zombie to Emi. She had moved to get a clear shot with her suppressed rifle and was motioning him for permission to fire. He’d just been staring at the damn thing in shocked silence, but Emi clearly had enough of whatever it was.

            Giving a subtle nod to Emi, Katsuki took a careful step back to stay out of her range and waited. She lined up the sights and squeezed the trigger three times. Three pops came out the muzzles end and the creatures head snapped back and its body fell limply to the floor. They scanned the area, Emi even turned on the flashlight to make sure nothing was hiding where the firelight didn’t reach.

            “Clear.” Emi said and stood up. “That’s a new one for me.”

            “Same.” Katsuki took a careful step towards the body, he wondered what Izuku could think of this thing. “Think we should take it back with us? Someone at campus could study it.”

            “I’d prefer we just roll it into the flames and get on with the mission.” Emi moved, looked over the pile of the dead. “If we happen across another one, we can revisit-”

            The creature moved, rolling onto its side and pushing itself back up. Emi’s rifle was back on it, her flashlight illuminating its horrid body even more. A trio of holes in its skull oozed more of the unnatural substance covering it, its eyes caught the light and seemed to glow. It raised a trembling hand to its head and wiped away the sickly goo before managing to focus on them.

            Emi opened fire without further hesitation. The creature ran for her, and Katsuki stepped in its way, smashing a gauntlet into its face and smacking it aside. He was reluctant to use his Quirk, the explosions would attract more undead and alert the bandits. The creature fell back on its ass and did a weird flip thing to get back to its feet. It slammed a foot into Katsuki’s chest and hurled itself at him, teeth snapping. Despite being layered in clothing that could take a zombie bite, Katsuki still panicked at the gnashing teeth and didn’t hold back this time. He unleashed an explosion that threw back the creature several feet. The creature shrieked an unearthly wail and ran from them. Emi held down the rifles trigger and peppered its body with lead as it ran to a hole in the ceiling and jumped through it.

            Emi swore as she switched out her magazine. “I hit that more than a dozen times.”

            “I saw.” Katsuki groaned and got back to his feet. “If these things are becoming immortal, I’m moving to the north pole. I ain’t fucking with this shit.”

            “You don’t say.” Emi reached to her radio and switched it back on. “This is Emi to all teams, hostile in the area, yurei of some sort won’t die to headshots, be on alert. Over.” She released the radio and waited for a response; none came. “Does anyone hear me? Over.”

            Katsuki reached up to his earpiece and switched it back on as well. All he got was static. He cursed. “Jammers in place. That’s good to know.”

            She looked at him, “Not one of yours?”

            “Nope.” Katsuki scowled, “We need to head back to-”

            The static ended abruptly and a coughing came from their earpieces, a polite one, closely followed by the sipping of tea and a satisfied sigh. “Hello everyone.”

            Katsuki growled. “Nezu.”

            “It is my honor to be the last voice you will hear tonight.” Nezu said. “It seems some of you disregarded my warning in concern to keeping the events of the winter massacre our little secret. Not only that, you have gone and spilled it to the Lobbyists and they’ve spun the tail to stir anger among the residence. If UA is to prosper, it must be a healthy cohesive unit. Thus, I deem it appropriate you all know how I felt, you know, being betrayed.”

            “Rat bastard!” Katsuki snarled and pressing a finger to his earpiece. “You threatened us!”

            “You’ve all caused some contempt in recent months.” Nezu went on, either he was ignoring Katsuki or Nezu had removed the function for them to talk back, “I don’t know whether it be guilt or because you all just love playing different sides. I cannot abide such treachery on my campus, such rumors and outrage. The lobbyists among you are to thank for this night. Those of you who participated in that night all these years ago and kept silent, I thank you, but I apologize for getting you into this. I cannot be certain which of you actually talked, so I must clean the slate, as it were, before UA can grow to the next stage. Goodbye.”

            The earpieces went dead in their ears and the next sounds to fill them were the wail of sirens.

Chapter Text

Then

            Katsuki rushed to the window to look outside. The UASF had entered the target building – and by the look of things, it had been empty of raiders – now they were running outside and running for the trucks. Said trucks were turning around to leave, maybe head back to UA, Katsuki didn’t know if the drivers had been in on it or not. He would never know since the trucks blew up before they got more than a few feet down the road. He stepped away from the window as the light bathed the street. He hadn’t seen any sort of projectile hit the truck to set them off like that, so there had to have been explosives on them already and activated remotely. He glanced at Emi who was staring at him wide-eye, her expression seemed to inquire him on their next move.

            UA had taught Katsuki a lot. His first end of semester exam had pitted him and his classmates against the teachers. He’d faced Aizawa and barely passed, but the experience had set him on coming up with plans and weaknesses to exploit from the Pro-heroes should he ever face them again, that thinking had more than doubled in investment these last couple of years. Most fortunate had he been to be able to watch his classmates in their exams and get a sense of all their teachers’ capabilities, including Nezu who played the villain against Mina and Denki, the poor souls.

            What he recalled from that exam was that Nezu was one hell of a sadist. Mina and Denki didn’t even stand a chance against him. Nezu had control of the test sight from the start of the exam and turned the environment against them, using a wrecking ball to collapse buildings like dominoes and push his students into a corner and crush all hope of passing. Nezu had laughed his ass off through the whole thing like a maniac. He’d said afterwards he’d left one avenue of escape for them, but Katsuki didn’t see any way they could have passed. Not unless Nezu was willing to pull out a map and explain his plan in its entirety. Since then, Katsuki had wondered how he’d ever counter someone such as Nezu if they were that diabolical.

            Now, in the present, Nezu had sprung his trap. There were possibilities to consider. No would the rat have actually left UA to watch them all get torn apart by zombies. Unless he was watching someone livestream this, he might not be actively giving orders, probably sitting in his cozy little office sipping tea as he condemned dozens of people to their deaths. That was a boon in their favour, if Nezu wasn’t actively participating in the trap, then he wouldn’t be able to change things up according to how they acted. That was a minor hope. However, Nezu could have blown them up from the start with the trucks. They wouldn’t’ have had to be far from UA’s wall when he did it. He wanted them to know, he wanted them to be scared, and most importantly, he wanted them to suffer. Nezu wouldn’t leave them an escape route, he’d have covered all his bases to make sure they died exactly how he planned. Which meant there had to be more than zombies out there, perhaps some loyal staff keeping watch in the shadows, killing off anyone who managed to get away.

            He checked his earpiece again; the jammer was still active. He raised his voice a little, not too much to attract attention from outside. “Maise, Get over here, quickly!”

            Maise stepped into the room. She took a moment to scan it for threats, taking in the bones and bodies laying about before joining him at the window, careful not to step into view should someone be watching their building. Outside, the UASF were regrouping, coming up with a game plan to get away. There were already silhouettes gathering around the burning trucks, zombies moaning, shuffling, blocking the way they’d come.

            Maise took a quick peak and looked at Katsuki. “What are we doing?”

            “Can you hear anyone outside?” Katsuki asked. “Any heroes or folks loyal to Nezu overseeing this shitshow?”

            Maise took off her helmet and her ears expanded to the size of satellite dishes. She listened for several seconds, then gestured vaguely towards the street. “I can hear someone cycling a revolver over there. Someone with a Texan accent mumbling to himself. Can’t say exactly where they are. I could pinpoint where this zombie was because they were louder.”

            “That might be Snipe.” Emi scowled. “I hate that guy.”

            “Me too.” Katsuki backed away further from the window. “If they fucked up our comms, they could know we’re over here instead of with the others. We need to head out back and make a run for it.”

            “Could be zombies or more of Nezu’s loyalists back there.” Emi suggested. “Maise, are you hearing anything?”

            Maise shook her head. “No, but everyone on the UASF are pretty good at stealth. Can be difficult for me to hear them unless they decide to make a move. We’ll know if we run into them.”

            Outside, Katsuki could make out raised voices, screaming, and the pops of suppressed gunshots. Their teams were putting up a fight, but they weren’t going to last. Maise’s ears were twitching with the noise, both former UASF were gritting their teeth, clearly, they wanted to go out there and help their friends, but knew they were just be another body on the ground if they did. It was what Katsuki was thinking anyway. Not a lot of good he could do, especially with Snipe watching.

            “We need to move.” Katsuki reiterated. “You guys got smokes, let’s throw those out and muddy the waters a little. I can generate some smoke of my own and cover the streets.”

            “What about Snipe?” Emi asked. “Can his homing hit someone through smoke?”

            “I honestly don’t know, maybe. But regardless, we’re dead if we stay, dead if we go.” Katsuki said. “Would you rather a bullet or a zombie at this point?”

            “Bullet.” Maise said. “I’d like to give my best effort at living before calling it quits though.”

            “Alright then.” Katsuki held out a hand to her. “Can you give me your helmet?”

            ---

            Snipe stood atop the roof watching the ambush come to a close. The zombies were closing in around the traitors, and from a couple of the rooftops, the raiders Nezu had contracted for this job were doing their job of picking away at the survivors. They’d be running to the UA gates afterwards for admittance only to be met with energized beams of death, and it would wrap up this whole escapade nicely. No witnesses who were a threat to Nezu, no one who would speak out and cause uncertainty in the ranks. UA’s future would be secure. He adjusted the night-vision monocular, eyeing a couple of the disowned UASF trying to run away. He simply raised his gun and shot them dead, he had to focus more on where to hit them, their body armour and helmets could easily stop his rounds. Taking out their knees and letting the zombies finish them off worked.

            This was freeing. His Quirk allowed him to hit anything accurately within a six-hundred metre range. He could be the best damn marksman in the world (if it weren’t for Nagant), but he always limited himself to limbs and non-lethal injuries. Too many times he’d just been tempted to put one right in the heart or brain and leave it at that. But there was a code, a rulebook to be followed, and followed it he did, even when the urge just kept itching at him in the back of the head, he didn’t need to succumb to killing to get things done. His impeccable control and restraint when his Quirk made things like this a breeze earned him a recommendation as a UA teacher. Wasn’t until the USJ when he killed that League leader, whoever he was, that the urge had been scratched. He couldn’t rightly recall what he’d been thinking in that moment, he could have just maimed him, captured him for questioning, but at the last second, he adjusted his aim and just killed them. Now with society gone, he felt free. No HPSC to enforce the standards of heroes, no governments to reign him in, and Nezu was more than ready to dish out some hurting to those who threatened UA.

            He kept watch of the one building where Katsuki and two of the UASF had disappeared into. If they hadn’t separated from the others before Nezu gave his announcement, this could have been over already. He made sure to have a team of loyalists circled around and watched the back in case those fools tried to escape that way. He bet it was Katsuki who talked and spread word of the winter massacre to the others, put doubt in others minds when there shouldn’t be. It was all just survival now, kill or be killed, and may the strongest win. He would have liked to have given Katsuki a chance, let one of his students give it their all to survive before he ultimately ended their life, but that kind of posturing was for the media, this was real life.

            Something flashed in the doorway of the building. A helmet peaking out. Snipe fired a round and watched the helmet fly off a bone. He chuckled at that; they got him with the old helmet bait. He wondered what Katsuki would do to get himself out of-

            The front of the building was blown open by a massive explosion. Snipe didn’t have time to react the explosive force traveled and tore into the building he’d been standing on top of. It struck low, causing it to collapse. He quickly grabbed the grappling gun off his side and fired it into the neighboring building. It latched on the top ledge and pulled him out of the falling wreck. His hit the side, nearly dropping his gun in the process and turned to face the building again. Now there was a lot of smoke everywhere from cannisters being tossed out the windows. He could hear Katsuki making explosions, creating more smoke and masking their whereabouts and obscuring his shot.

            He holstered his gun and pressed a switch on the grappler, it pulled him towards the roof and he pressed a finger to his earpiece. “Varmints are making a go for it; someone get eyes on them.” He ordered through his secure channel. “Any of you got a wind Quirk, use it! I need a visual.”

            One of his teams on the other roof opened fire, it only lasted a moment before one of the traitors lit them up. Snipe took aim in the brief flashes and fired off a couple shots, he hit someone, but it wasn’t Katsuki. The asshole himself delivered a fucking rainstorm of AP shots at him. Snipe cursed, ducking away as his building was peppered with concentrated power. When it stopped, he looked out to see only more smoke. He used the grappling gun to repel himself to the street and give chase. He was just going to have to do this the hard way.

            The plan had been simple. Lure them out of UA, activate the sirens and make them panic. Blow the trucks when the ran for them and let them be surrounded by the dead. Pick off any who could get away. But of course, it had to be one of his students mucking up the plan. Snipe wasn’t sure if he should be proud, because for one, his students weren’t just rolling over dead and putting up an effort. It was always a point of pride to see his students flourish in the field. Now he was finding it more than irritating. Nezu would not be happy if any of them slipped away.

            He ran up to the thinning smoke and paused just outside the cloud, gun up, looking for movement. Katsuki and his comrades could have already run past and be long gone, or they could be waiting for him to get closer and end him. Snipe was going to be the biggest thorn in their side until they got out of his range. Movement off to the side caught his attention, he leveled his gun and put a trio of rounds into the figure. Strangely, they did not drop to the ground. Confused, Snipe fired again. Nothing. The figure ignored Snipe and disappeared from into the alley where Katsuki and the others had run. He took a moment to examine his piece and put a few rounds into a nearby trash bin. It sported several new holes and the sound of ricochet greeted his ears. That was odd. Maybe some zombie immune to bullets. He really didn’t like those.

            Snipe carefully walked through the smoke. He came across a body, one of the UASF he didn’t recognize. He put another few rounds into their skull just in case and then considered his next course of action. Katsuki wouldn’t be able to get back to UA, the turrets would shoot anything that got in sight for the next few days. Nezu should have recalled everyone that mattered back within the walls and keep them there in light of this recent “tragedy”. Nobody should be able to get in, and besides, the city was full of zombies and Katsuki was not the stealthy type. Snipe could pursue the chase, but his Quirk wasn’t superspeed. Back the way he’d come, he heard the shuffle and moan of zombies.

            He put a finger to his earpiece. “Pack it up folks. Any stragglers left, just put a bullet in them. I don’t want to be out here any longer.”

            Affirmatives rang back and he stared the way Katsuki had run. Katsuki could have a few more seconds of life. Snipe would tell Nezu of course, he’d be able to work out a narrative should Katsuki become a problem in their future.

            ---

            Several blocks away, Katsuki stopped at the mouth of an alley, watching more zombies shuffle towards the sirens. He and Emi been running like hell and doing their best to stay off the streets. They hadn’t given themselves any sort of break. They had to get as much distance as they could from Snipe and the others.

            Katsuki glanced back at Emi, who looked a little out of it. “Are you alright?”

            “Fine.” Emi groaned. She took a moment to peel off her helmet. She stuck a finger in the back of it where a bullet had made its home. “Asshole shot me in the head.”

            “Thank god for helmets.” He said bitterly. “He got Maise, though.”

            “I know, I saw her fall. You managed to expose him, though. Probably saved the rest of our asses throwing him off like that. Did you see anyone following us?”

            He shook his head. “No. All the more reason to keep moving. Where would you say we are, right now?”

            “South part of Musutafu.” Emi shrugged. “Was the direction we were going. We’ll want to go North-east towards Tokyo.”

            “Let’s worry about getting away from the fight, then worry about where to go next.” Katsuki advised.

            They rushed across the street to the next block. The crossed a few more before they found a building with the backdoor broken down and ran inside. They swept through it to the front door and took a breather, they each took a drink from their canteens and checked their gear. They listened to the eerily quiet night for a few minutes and finally decided they were safe for the moment.

            Emi said. “The farther we run, the bigger the search area they’re going to have to search. That’s difficult without running into zombies.”

            “Yeah, but we’re at risk of running into zombies too.” Katsuki said. “They know which direction we went in, so that cuts the search area down a fair bit, and we’re running towards the coast which will be a dead end unless we find a working boat.”

            “Circle around and we risk bumping into them again.” Emi shifted the rifle in her arms, looking around nervously. “Nearest settlement is to our east. Nezu might have sent his Shinobu there to kill any survivors that might have escaped. It’d be our nearest safe haven since UA pretty much exiled us.”

            “That’s definitely something he might do.” Katsuki agreed. “We should go west then, no settlement for miles, but we can circle back around. I’ve heard of a settlement called Westside we can go to; they’ve been acting like a trade center for the region. Could hitch a ride there to any number of settlements if we like.”

            “But we’ll need food and drinkable water.” Emi pointed out. “Cities been picked clean of its stockpiles. Who knows if we find anything edible in the next few days.”

            Katsuki considered their plan for a second. He was thinking of where they should go next, but he really wanted to gear more towards revenge than survival. They weren’t going to be welcome back on campus, going up to the gates would get them gunned down without question. But Katsuki knew a way back on campus, the tunnel Izuku used to bring the undead into his lab. Katsuki knew where it was, he’d helped his friend bring in a particularly nasty zombie that one time and he did his best to observe the surroundings so he could find it again. They should at least warn someone on campus what Nezu had done. Plus, if they were set on leaving UA and going to another settlement, Izuku could give them supplies to last them the trip, maybe even some items to barter.

            “There actually could be something we can do.” He said. “I know a way back into UA, we can grab some supplies and inform the others what happened.”

            Emi gave him a curious look. Katsuki was about to delve into an explanation when they heard something scuff the floor. She readied her rifle and aimed it back the way they’d come. Katsuki readied his pistol, one hand checking the locks on the door. Either zombie or loyalist, they were going to have to keep running. Best have the exit plan ready. He could always blow down the wall anyways if needed.

            He tried to listen, but he didn’t hear anything again. They waited several minutes in tense silence. Emi signaled to him they should move. He opened the door quietly as he could and peered out, checking either side and looking for movement. He took a couple steps out the door when something fell on his back. They sudden weight took him off balance and he wound up going back inside with the thing on his back scratching at his face. Screw stealth, he faced a palm towards it and let loose an explosion. It flew off his back and landed in the room. Emi turned on her flashlight and took aim at it, the light allowed them to see what had attacked Katsuki. It was the yurei from earlier. It crouched on the floor, its eyes reflected the light back at them and its oily needles, and for a moment, no one moved.

            Emi fired. She knew from earlier that bullets weren’t going to kill it, so she aimed lower at its knees and cripple it. Katsuki dropped his gun and raised his gauntlet towards it, small explosions didn’t do shit to it, but one massive blast might do the trick. The yurei flexed its back, its needles shot all over the room. Katsuki went from aiming with his gauntlet to covering his face. He felt several of the sharp needles slice his arms and a couple stuck into his torso. The needles bounced off Emi’s body armour, but stuck to her face, one even pierced the fabric under her armpit and stuck there.

            The yurei didn’t wait, it launched itself at Katsuki. He stepped aside and blasted it in the face with another explosion, it slid back towards Emi and she batted it over the head with her rifle and proceeded to empty the remainder of her magazine into its back. It flexed its back again and she received a bundle of needles to her face. She screamed and backed away. Katsuki readied his gauntlet but hesitated, not wanting to hit her. The Yurei whirled around and slashed its claws across her throat, spilling her life down her shirt. She clutched her throat and backed into the wall, giving him an opening. He pulled the pin, a loud flash and boom followed. He waited a moment to see if it survived, but he didn’t see it.

            “Emi!” Katsuki ran to her, keeping his other gauntlet up and ready to fire the second he saw movement.

            She was working to grab the gauze out of her pack with one hand while the other kept pressure on her throat. The yurei’s claws had been short and looked shallow to his eyes, but he mostly believed a slit throat was the end of someone. Still, she was fighting to live even though her movements were getting slower and sluggish. He tried to help her with the gauze when he saw movement. Instinctively, he shielded her body as another volley of needles struck them. They pierced his back and he screamed, turning and facing the yurei. He had hit it with his explosion, its mangled body limped out the wreckage, both its legs were wrecked yet it could still walk, one arm was missing, and its broken mouth snarled at him. He raised his other gauntlet and let it have it. When the explosion settled, he was staring down a hole that broke through several walls. He stormed after it, finding it at the end of his range, even more of it destroyed and burnt from the heat of his explosion, yet still it refused to die. The sickly goo he saw coating its needles seemed to reach out to its detached limbs and try to reassemble itself. He grabbed it by the head and squeezed it between his two palms and focused real hard on his Quirk. The yurei squirmed in its grasp, the broken end of its arm stabbed into his chest. He exploded its head into pieces, coating his face with gore. He spat on the ground, looked at the corpse, and tossed down a couple of grenades filled with his sweat and walked away. If it survived that, then there was nothing he could really do about it.

            He walked back to Emi to find she’d bled out. He sighed and looked down at his chest and all the needles perforating his costume. It was suppose to hold up against zombie bites, but most of them had dull teeth, one could still take a knife and pierce it, and he had not one but several needles having broken through, each one covered with that strange goo. He grabbed the knife from his belt and cut away his costume, revealing his chest area. Several spots where he’d been stabbed were not looking good at all. He’d been infected from the start of the fight.

            “Shit.” He muttered, reality sinking in and he rested a hand against the wall to steady himself as he fell to the ground.

            He looked back at the smoking remains of the creature, then at Emi, then back at his chest. Then his eyes wandered to his pistol. He wasn’t going to be a miracle, the Meta-human immune to the virus. He could already feel something cold swimming in his veins and slowly sucking the life out of him. The bit of pain he was feeling was slowly ebbing away as he lost feeling in parts of his body. He could end it now. It would be quick, faster than how many of his friends had gone. He wouldn’t come back to life and turn on others. But why make things easy for Nezu? Besides, someone still needed to warn the lobbyists.

            Katsuki walked out of the building, recalling as much as he could about where the entrance was. “Hope you got the time for a visitor, Deku.”

Chapter Text

Then

            Izuku woke up to a buzzing sound. It took him a moment to recall his memories after being in the land of dreams to realize it was an alert from his phone. He uncurled himself from Ochaco and picked it off the bedside table. His phone was custom made, designed by himself and made by the printers. He’d been ecstatic he’d been able to make it functional after several iterations had failed. It had a few additions than a normal cell phone, but that was all. The alert was telling him someone was trying to access his lab. He swiped it open and checked video surveillance. While he was doing that, his mind was going through all the places he kept a bug out bag and possible points of exiting the campus. But to his relief, it was Katsuki standing in the abandoned building, knocking on the wall where the hidden tunnel entrance sat. Just Katsuki, thank… shit!

            Izuku shot out of bed and started putting on his clothes. His movements stirred Ochaco. “Hon? Are you okay?”

            For a moment, he considered telling her. But how would he explain Katsuki was knocking on the door of his secret lab where he kept his secret projects that she most definitely would not approve of? He had thought about telling her many times, but the thoughts turned towards how she may react afterward. He liked what they had and didn’t want something like this to muddy their relationship. He wasn’t a monster – he hoped – just overly curious and his curiosity just kept finding new things to pursue. He’d hoped he’d run into a dead end soon so he could stop. Pun unintended.

            He said. “Yeah, just a call from Mei. There’s going to be an inspection at the workshop, I need to go make sure nothing there Nezu can freak out over.” He leaned in and gave her a quick peck on the cheeks. “Be back soon.”

            Minutes later he was climbing into the lab and running for the tunnel entrance. He grabbed one of the motivators off the table and inserted it into a machine with high processing power and energy output. Two months ago, he’d discovered a zombie that could create portals and teleport around. It had taken an Ice Quirk and several hours to freeze them stiff so he could drag them back to the lab and process their DNA. It was the first successful breakthrough he had in making infected Quirks work in the motivators. It took a month of experimenting afterward, but he got the teleporting down solid and told Katsuki where one of the portals opened, just in case he ever needed it.

            He typed on the computer to activate the motivator. Power ran down the wires into the old tunnels he used to move in and out. He’d closed it off and placed several solid bars and doors to stop any zombie that came in by accident, the portal at the other end mimicking the same thing. At the end, a black mist formed and swirled inside a metal frame pulsing with energy. As the portal stabilized, Katsuki stumbled through and nearly ran into the first barrier. Izuku shut off the portal and pressed another button, opening all the gates. He ran up to Katsuki, the hero was stumbling, used as a pin cushion for quills, and Izuku had to catch him before he fell on his face.

            “What happened?” Izuku asked as he half walked, half dragged Katsuki to the table, trying to be careful of the needles. “Shit! Are you bit?”

            “Not quite.” Katsuki moaned. “Needles are infectious for sure, though.”

            “How long ago?”

            “An hour, maybe two.”

            “Fuck sakes and you’re already at this stage. Why did you come down here?” Izuku set him on the table, hand going to his holster. “Why? You said you’d eat a bullet before you turned.”

            “Needed to tell someone.” Katsuki grumbled; his words seemed to drown out but he shook himself back to the present. “We were set up. Betrayed.”

            “Focus please.” Izuku snapped his fingers in front of his face. “Betrayed? Betrayed by who?”

            “Nezu.” Katsuki said and a bit of anger poked out from underneath. “Bastard sent us out to disband some bandits, but he made a deal with them… or had some of his loyalists do the task for him, I don’t know. Comms were jammed, so I don’t know who else could have gotten out, but chances are slim.”

            “Son of a bitch!” Izuku grabbed Katsuki’s gauntlets and pulled them off. “Bet he has a good story to sell everyone tomorrow morning.”

            “You know what this means, right?”

            “That he’s totally fucking insane and is hellbent on getting what he wants. We already covered that.” Izuku said and paused. “Teams, he sent out more than just yours?”

            “Some of the lobbyists, sympathizers, and those of us who were part of that massacre in the first winter.” Katsuki said. “Emi noticed most of us were being sent out. It was another assassination. I don’t know who entirely, you’ll all have to do a headcount.”

            Izuku cursed and looked over at his medical equipment, he was trying to figure out something, maybe a last-minute cure, but he had jack shit in that department. Katsuki was infected and there was no way to save him. Why had he come here other than just to warn him. He looked back at Katsuki to see the hero drooping forwards; he caught him before he did a full-face plant on the floor. He was turning too quick.

            “Hey!” Izuku slapped him and the hero became more alert. “What do you want me to do, Bakugo?”

            “Call me Kacchan.” He mumbled. “And get me to Nezu’s office. I can be a little surprise when he gets there in the morning.”

            Izuku actually considered it, but the UA high school was too well secure. It’d be impossible to get Katsuki inside even if he was perfectly healthy. He could try the teleporting but that technology was still new to him. “And who will stop you?”

            “Just about anyone could.” Katsuki said, his words getting slower and lower. “UA always gets the powerhouses.”

            “Hey,” Izuku shook him, his other hand reaching for his pistol. “I can make it quick, alright? You won’t feel a thing.”

            “Could you use me?”

            “Excuse me?”

            “In your experiments.” Katsuki said. “Could I help somehow?”

            “I don’t know.” Izuku hesitated. “With your Quirk, all you’d be good for is making weapons.”

            “Do it.” Katsuki slouched. “Cut off my fingers, they’re the ignition. Keep the palms-”

            “I know your Quirk more than anyone else’s, Kacchan.”

            “Damn right you do… Deku.” Katsuki chuckled and coughed. “Were you… any closer to getting the Fox rifle completed?”

            “I got a working prototype.”

            “Maybe. That’s what you can… do… Take it to Nezu… and eviscerate him with it… Tell him… Katsuki… sends… his regards.” Katsuki smiled and started leaning sideways. “Make it… count.”

            Izuku drew his pistol and aimed it at Katsuki’s head. His hands shook, and he tried to squeeze the trigger but stopped and lowered it. He grabbed Katsuki and hefted him off the table towards one of the stasis chambers. They weren’t state of the art, it was pretty much a big freezer that froze its contents in an instant. The stasis chambers Nasa used on the astronauts when sending them to mars had been more advanced and required a process to the freezing. Freezing a human wasn’t easy, you had to freeze them all at once, right down to the core and then unfreeze them again. There was a method, a treatment of sorts to follow in both phases, but zombies didn’t need such a complicated process.

            Izuku pulled the zombie out of the stasis chamber and stuck Katsuki inside. He fell on his butt, head smacking the side. His skin paling to that deathly pale all zombies shared, reaching the final stage of his transformation. Izuku shut the door and pressed the button, the chamber made a lot of noise as the temperature dropped drastically and froze Katsuki in place. Over time as the rest of him cooled, the temperature would stabilize and keep him frozen till Izuku needed him for something. The zombie he’d thrown out would take some time to thaw, but he could do with putting a bullet in them, they weren’t worth refreezing.

            Izuku pressed a hand against the insulated glass, staring at the dead face of his friend as ice crystals froze over his form. “I’ll make sure it happens, Kacchan. I’ll make the bastard pay. You have my word.”

Chapter Text

Now

            Izuku sat scowling in the backseat with Eri. A quick bandage job done to his hands to stop him from bleeding all over the armoured car as they drove all they way from Yamanashi to Musutafu. It hadn’t just been Snipe and Lady Nagant sent to capture him. As they turned onto a highway, eight more armoured vehicles filled with UASF rolled in to join them for the whole ride back. Snipe sat in the passenger seat, pistol out and ready to shoot him should he try anything. They’d already searched him for weapons and he wasn’t going anywhere. Nothing much Izuku could do but catch up on a missed nights sleep for the whole ride. Nobody talked to him. Leo was locked in the trunk, he could have had the dog heal him, just a little lick of the hand, but he didn’t want to advertise his pets’ particular abilities to the enemy.

            Later they entered the Musutafu district. The city looked relatively peaceful compared to the other places he’d been. Vegetation was growing freely among the buildings thanks to lack of human presence. Any metal composites were gone, streetlamps, vehicles, anything that wasn’t a hassle to tear down for bits of scrap were gone. The city also lacked zombies. Izuku didn’t think he saw any as they passed through. There also wouldn’t be any raiders or other folks contesting the area for the free space. UA had a notorious reputation of being unkind with its neighbors and their judgement was swift and brutal. Shinobi had gone from herding refugees to UA to outright assassinating leaders of small enclaves.

            The UA wall became visible in the distance. Modifications had been made overtime, but it looked as similar as the inner section had been when he’d arrived all those years ago. Countless numbers of turrets populated the walls, ready to atomize anything that came within distance. Only a handful of human guards patrolled the walls and kept an eye on the city. Machines were nice and all, but sometimes a human intuition beat computers. They safely arrived to the gates without incident and rolled right in.

            The stopped inside the first gate, typical airlock style with two gates and enough space to hold the entire convoy. The guards walked up to the windows and stabbed needles into their arms to take samples to check for infected. He could see the nozzles in the walls that would dispense fiery death upon them all should there be something big enough to warrant such a response. He recalled these being used when a group of raiders tried to sneak in a group of zombies - someone in their group had a shrinking Quirk and shrunk a horde of zombies they hid on a bus of civilians when UA opened their gates for refugees again. They’d lost half a dozen of their guards and the whole airlock had been burnt to a crisp to prevent spread of the infection. Those same raiders then tried to catapult jars of zombies over the walls, but the turrets demonstrated to be great skeet shooters, and eventually zeroed in on the catapults position and promptly blew them to hell.

            Once they were cleared, the gates were opened and they drove through. All but the jeep they were riding in and two of their escort vehicles continued on. The rest pulled to the side and parked in a lot besides the gate. Nagant drove onward towards the next gate. UA had become a series of walled in communities, should one section have an outbreak, it could be quickly sealed off and contained before reaching the others. At least in principal, they were thorough with anyone coming in they’d never actually had to enact that protocol.

            The first one they drove through had been converted entirely into farming. If any concrete had been laid down, UA had uprooted it and filled in the holes with dirt, fertilizer and water turned the ground into healthy fields of crops, at the center of them was one of his motivators urging the vegetation to grow faster than they usually did. He recalled only ever making a handful for UA. But it looked to be more than a dozen spread out around here. The idea they’d managed to replicate his technology pissed him off. They had also confiscated the Fox rifle. The compression gun had been blasted to bits in the truck after Chisaki’s goons thoroughly ventilated the cab, so at least they wouldn’t get it. He’d be really pissed though if he saw some other kind of motivators in use. He hadn’t made a lot for UA before.

            Then he realized maybe this was why they brought him here, to make use of his knowledge and keep building the motivators. But Nezu had never let him pursue that area of his expertise, the rodent had outright forbade him from draining necessary resources for a “hobby”. Did he perhaps have a change of heart after expanding UA to this extent, were there things his tech could do to make things easier? He glanced at Eri, a thought popping into his mind. Would they try and force him to make them regardless. If they really wanted his technology, they had someone to hold against him.

            The sector they passed through was all industrial stuff. People moving things back and forth, vehicles waiting to be serviced, weapons being loaded or unloaded from crates and piles of ammo being sorted. The third area held farm animals in pens, and the fourth was the center of UA, the campus. In here, it was a damn utopia, a sliver of the old world preserved amidst a wasteland. The Campus had been completely converted into a suburb with rows and rows of houses. He could see the tall apartment buildings further away behind the main UA building. People moved, wearing clean sets of clothes, pushing strollers and walking pets. Many of them had phones in hand or pressed to their ear. It was such a throwback for Izuku, he had never thought he’d see such tranquil peace.

            But then he remembered all these people had reasons to hate his guts.

            Nagant drove the car right up to the UA main building. A school Izuku would have loved to have attended at one point in his life now seem daunting, oppressive. The complete opposite of what it used to inspire. Hope. Nagant pulled into a parking lot and shut off the jeep. She got out of the car first, Snipe stayed inside a moment, pistol ready to turn on both of them. Their escort vehicles stopped and their occupants got out, guns in hand, not quite pointing at the rear seats where Izuku, Leo, and Eri sat, but ready to in a heartbeat. Nagant opened the back door, pistol in hand and gestured for them to step out. Once they were out, Snipe picked two of the SF to follow them into the building, the rest would stay outside and keep watch.

            Snipe walked up to one of them and took the ballcap they were wearing and stuck it on Izuku’s head. “Just a little something to keep people from recognizing and maybe trying to kill you.”

            “Gee, thanks.” Izuku adjusted the cap on his head. “Don’t want to jump the gun then?”

            “Not what’s going to happen.” Snipe assured him. “Like I said, Nezu wants to talk.”

            The heroes took the lead towards the main building, the SF taking the rear. They passed a few folks coming and going from the building, all them stopped to gawk at the armed escort and ponder on who the two strangers and a dog could be and what threat they were to UA. Most of them squinted suspiciously at the green haired fellow wearing the cap.

            As they approached the front doors, a trio of figures stood by them in discussion of some sort. Izuku recognized Eijiro Kirishima as one of them. Eijiro had done away with the red dye since the start of the apocalypse and his natural black hair was tied back into a man bun. The other two he didn’t recognize. One was a tall, green haired guy, who looked as buff as All Might with a freckled face. The sleeves of his shirt were rolled up, displaying scars that hadn’t been made by knife or bullet, in fact, Izuku wasn’t sure what could have made those scars. But his hand looked terribly crooked. The man beside him had neat purple hair and dressed casually in jeans and a plaid shirt. He had hearing aids in his ears and seemed pretty ordinary other than looking really impatient.

            “He looks like you, Mr. Midoriya.” Eri said quietly beside him.

            “What?” He asked.

            “The green haired one, he kind of looks like you.”

            Izuku studied the man more critically. “I don’t see it.”

            “I do.” One of the guards said. “He your brother?”

            “I’m an only child.”

            “Lucky.”

            The purple haired one noticed them approaching and seemed to get really pissed. He grabbed the buff one by the arm - and though the big man could have easily shaken him off – pulled him away. They went away from the approaching group, the purple man saying they’d talk to Eijiro later. Eijiro, wondering what was going on, turned and saw the approaching group. His eyes narrowed at the two prisoners, then changed to surprise when he saw Izuku. He started walking towards them.

            “Midoriya!” Eijiro waved, a smile on his face.

            He felt a little bit of relief seeing the man act so friendly. Snipe and Nagant stepped aside, letting the hero pass between them. Izuku said. “Hey-” and only got that far.

            He wanted to say “Hey Kirishima, how are you?”. But the rest got spit out with his sentence and his lungs as Eijiro slammed a fist into his guts with the force of a high-speed Maglev train. He felt the knuckles go under his rib cage and crush his stomach. His legs immediately gave out from under him and he was on the ground puking out his guts. Tears he could not hold back burned his eyes, he coughed and gasped for air.

            Eijiro bent down, grabbing him by the back of the throat and lifting him up so they were face to puke-covered face. The rage in the man’s eyes were eternal. “That’s for putting Mina in a wheelchair.”

            Izuku tried to say something, but ended up puking some more. Eijiro let go of him. Eri, bless her heart, pushed him from the side, her little arms did nothing to move the metaphorical mountain of a man. “Leave him alone!”

            Eijiro looked down at her as if noticing her for the first time. Leo got between her and Eijiro and growled protectively. He looked at Snipe. “Who’s the kid?”

            “Eri.” Snipe said. “Don’t know much more other than she’s Quirkless like our friend here. Found them together.”

            “Too old to be his kid.” Eijiro said. “You going to see Nezu?”

            “Yes.” Snipe looked down at Izuku. Nobody could see the smirk under his mask. “Maybe recovery girl first if you didn’t kill him.”

            “My Quirk wasn’t active.”

            “Couldn’t tell. Come on, you can carry him.”

            “What?”

            “I’m not dragging his ass up all these stairs. You did it, so you can carry him.”

            “I got to go meet Yagi.”

            “Then do it quick, just get him to Recovery girl and you can be on your way.”

            “Fine.”

            Izuku did his best to get to his feet, he could imagine Eijiro just tossing him out a window the first opportunity he got. But he fell back to the ground, clutching his stomach. Eijiro picked him up effortlessly and slung him over one shoulder. “Puke on me and I throw you over the wall.”

            Izuku caught Nagant giving him a pitiful look. “Considering what I heard, Doctor, I’d say that’s the kindest greeting you’re going to get.”

Chapter Text

Now

            Izuku was carried to Recovery girl’s office where she gave him a peck on the cheek to fix his guts and then cracked his knees with her cane, cussing him out for all the work she had to do the day he escaped. Then he was pretty much dragged to Nezu’s office.

            Snipe stopped just outside the principal’s door. “You go on in, this is a talk between adults.”

            “What about Eri?” Izuku asked.

            “She stays outside with us. Oh, and here.” He undid the cuffs on Izuku’s wrists. “But if you do anything stupid, Eri will also bear the brunt of your punishment.”

            “Asshole.” Izuku grumbled.

            “Takes one to know one.” Snipe quipped, pushing him towards the door. “Just something to keep in mind before you do something stupid.”

            “Why even remove the handcuffs anyway?”

            “Nezu’s orders. Now go.” Snipe pushed him again and Izuku walked through the door into Nezu’s office. Snipe closed the doors behind him.

            Nezu’s office when he first entered had seemed a little plain at first. Soft chairs for visitors, shelves of books for ones reading, and a small counter for making tea. The office had gone through some renovations since he’d left. It now sported a complete kitchen with stove and oven, a microwave, and a plush couch adjusted for the occupant’s height. There were more chairs, all of which were much softer than the old ones and a TV mounted to one wall. Another shelf sat beside it burdened with DVD’s scavenged from the remains of stores. Nezu’s desk had also been changed for a longer dark wood desk with a resin finish, completed with a gold trim around the edges. To the wall right of the desk were six monitors, all surveillance cameras of the campus. The rat himself sat atop a height adjustable chair; desk clear save for a keyboard, monitor, and hologram projector.

            Nezu looked a little older, he’d gained some grey hairs, hardly distinguishable from his white fur. His suit was tailored to fit his form, a gold watch and glasses for his failing sight. He was actually glad to see the rodent age a bit, meant he wasn’t immortal like everyone feared. Nobody knew what experiments had been done to Nezu back in the day, but rumours did circulate and immortality had been the least outlandish of them.

            Nezu clasped his hands in front of him. “Izuku, it’s been a long time. Have a seat.”

            Izuku did not take a seat, instead he made a show of taking in the room and its contents. “You’ve done some redecorating.”

            “Yes.” Nezu said. “We have been prospering here at UA, as you likely heard.”

            “Oh, I heard.” Izuku stopped and considered the TV set up. Did Nezu ever leave this office now a days? “With Tokyo out of the picture, you’re all rolling in dough. Squeezing a tighter grip on the good folks your lot swore to protect. Did you ever count as a hero, or was that just for publicity sakes since no one could accept the fact a principal of UA could not be a hero?”

            “I served in ways much like Nighteye.” Nezu watched the scientist take a little stroll around the room, eyes attentive for sudden movements, but his body language was relaxed. “An intellect as sharp as mine has its uses in the field.”

            “At some point.” Izuku stopped and stared at the Tv. “You got Yaoyorozu locked up in a cell now? Your little personal factory just pumping out all this shit for you.”

            Nezu frowned. “We would never do that to one of our students.”

            “Sure, while Aoyama patrolled the walls and got blown up, you kept her under 24/7 surveillance with a guard detail. Nothing wrong about that, not like you stripped her of privacy and a choice.”

            Nezu’s paws clenched, his eyes narrowed. “It was for her health and security. Someone with her abilities is a valuable asset. She hardly has to do anything these days since we have now expanded our territory and functionality.”

            “So, she’s probably dead in a ditch somewhere since she detested your actions as much as the lobbyists.”

            “You have not been in my office for even five minutes and already you’ve debased yourself to insults and baseless accusations.”

            “If you’re taking it personally then it has to be true.” Izuku turned to face him, his cybernetic eye glowing red. “Everyone in here is living like kings without realizing their nothing but livestock for your games. Instill fear instead of hope, kill off powerful heroes just because they didn’t share your views, spread lies and propaganda. What part of your curriculum did you teach heroes to become tyrants?”

            Nezu rolled his eyes. “Shall we move on as to why you’re here?”

            “To stroke your ego?” Izuku guessed, he walked up to the desk and stopped when he saw the nameplate there. “President Nezu?”

            “Most of the Tokyo refugees had trouble accepting the idea of a Dean leading this community. A title more appropriate for leading the last vestige of the old world was needed.” Nezu waved to the chair. “Have a seat.”

            “Quit with the games.” Izuku said. “I don’t know what it is you want. If you want me dead, then hurry up and get it over with.”

            “I’m trying to be nice. Why are you being so difficult?”

            “Because someone has to see through all your bullshit. You killed Bakugo, remember? One of your students. You just arranged his death and others and you’re just sitting there like the king of the fucking world.” Izuku bared his teeth. “Act nice till you get what you want. This apocalypse has shown you, all of you, what you really are. Bunch of fucking hypocrites.”

            Nezu reached under his desk and retrieved a revolver custom made for his tiny paws. A .22 calibre by the looks of it, and Izuku could see right down the barrel at the lead bullet as Nezu pointed it at his face. He stilled, waiting for the flash and the bullet piercing his brain. But it didn’t come.

            “Is this what you want?” Nezu asked. “Is this really what you want?”

            “I’m not asking what I want.” Izuku leaned in a little. “It’s whatever shit you’re trying to pull.”

            The gun didn’t waver in place, it stayed right on him. Nezu leaned back in his chair. “I could kill you and all if this would be over. Snipe could have killed you, and I wouldn’t have had to trouble myself sending two of the world’s best marksmen and two teams of UASF to retrieve you. Anyone I sent could have simply ended your life and it’d be over. You know this.”

            “You’re not above playing games with your victims, you sick fuck.”

            Nezu sighed and stowed away the pistol. “Sit down and I can tell you why you are here. It can take some time and you’ll be tired of standing by then.”

            They held eye contact for a minute before Izuku slid down into the chair. Nezu pressed a button under the table and a hidden panel on the wall to his right opened. One of the tiny service robots rolled out on one wheel. Izuku had seen a few run around campus when he first came to UA, but they’d eventually been scrapped for parts. He didn’t know if Nezu kept a few hidden for himself or they were making a comeback. Regardless, the robot went to the small kitchen and retrieved an expensive looking tea set, filled the teapot with hot water and dipped a blend in. Then it brought it over to the desk and set it down, pouring a cup for Nezu first and then Izuku, soon after it disappeared back into the wall, the panel sliding closed and seamlessly blending into the wall.

            Nezu sipped his tea. “We got off on the wrong foot, Doctor.”

            Izuku gave him an incredulous look. “When? Now or way before?”

            “When you first joined UA and brought your research to my attention.” Nezu hesitated. “We’ve… looked at the designs you left behind. Your encryption method was solid, it took time to decode, even for me. What we have now is… barely enough.”

            “Uh huh.” Izuku set his cup down. The idea people he hated were benefiting from his technology made him sick. He’d entertained the idea of just tossing the tea in Nezu’s face, but refrained and put it out of reach as to not consider it further.  “Let me guess: you’re having issue’s getting them to work.”

            “Yes.” Nezu said. “Our support department can make the motivators, but it seems each one has to be tailored for the Quirk.”

            “Like Yaoyorozu’s.”

            Nezu took a long sip from his cup before answering. “Yes. Like hers.”

            Izuku studied his face. “You haven’t been able to get it to work for hers.”

            “…No.” Nezu said. Even admitting that, Nezu’s face twisted like he bit into a lemon. “We know you managed to get them to work, we have the scraps, but not enough to recreate the design. The blueprints for them doesn’t even exist, it seems.”

            Izuku withheld a smile. Like Nezu had said, Momo’s Quirk was a great asset to be had in these times, only a fool would waste it. Izuku would have revealed them had Nezu tasked him with making them, but after killing Katsuki, that had led Izuku down a dark path. So long as Nezu was in control, UA wouldn’t benefit from anymore of Izuku’s work. He’d continue taking samples, but kept a backup supply in a safehouse he was establishing outside the walls before his escape, and he’d set as many failsafe and self-destruct protocols for his lab as he could to make sure, if it was ever discovered, nothing there would be found for Nezu to utilize. He knew that Momo would have loved his printers had he ever revealed them, as it took a huge load off her shoulders, and he felt bad that she had to pay as part of his pettiness against Nezu, but UA already had too much power as is. The blueprints Nezu was referring to were the ones he’d kept at Mei’s workshop, and none of his projects from his lab were ever transferred to there.

            “I’m proposing a deal.” Nezu set aside his tea and clasped his palms, he was all business now. “You can be freed from UA, but we keep in contact. From time to time, we commission you to build us a motivator. We will supply the Quirk details and the samples needed for you to get them working. Once you have a working model, you give us the motivator and the blueprints to create more and we will pay you with whatever supplies you are needing. Eventually I do hope we can carry on a more business-like manner rather than this arrangement feel like a punishment.”

            As Nezu spoke, Izuku studied his body language, facial features. He’d be expressive before as he’d admitted they couldn’t replicate his technology, but now he was demeanor was calm and calculated. Nezu was smart and crafty, someone to be worried about, and Izuku always had been.

            “This whole ‘starting off one the wrong foot’ thing is all you, you know that?” Izuku said. “You said a lot of awful things to me when we first met and were quite blunt. Never thought I’d heard so many expletives in that short a time. I was willing to share my research to improve our chances. You didn’t want me to. Now here we are with you arranging a deal for me to make you what you once denied me to do.”

            “Yes. You can understand with my history, I-”

            “Save me the speech.” Izuku snapped. “If you expect me to be sympathetic to your history with my profession, it won’t work. I also can’t just say I’m going to agree with you and do all of this out of the kindness of my heart. There’s too many bodies buried between us to ignore, too many folks were wronged by you and I. Whatever this is, won’t fix it.”

            Nezu stirred his tea thoughtfully, a small smile peaking from his lips. “You’re really mistrusting. I am being quite genuine here about burying the hatchet.”

            Izuku gave him an unimpressed look, conveying how much shit he thought Nezu was full of.

            “Very well then.” Nezu said, setting down his teacup. “As you said, there are too many bodies between us. I would like to commission you to make us motivators, but there is a cost before our business can be arranged. I can’t stop the whole of UA from actively hunting you down. As genius as your motivators are, they aren’t entirely that needed on campus, they would be a great boon to our progress, but no further. That alone won’t satisfy the people you wronged. They still demand justice.”

            “So, what’s the punishment?”

            “A fine, per say.” Nezu said. “I’ve already gotten Koda off your back, you owe me for that, the damages and deaths caused by your escape you owe to not only me, but the campus. With this in mind, I require you to complete a simple task.”

            Izuku glared at him. “What?”

            Nezu tapped a key on his keyboard and a tiny holographic projector rose up on his desk and shined an image in the air between them.

            “This is the robotics facility in Naban.” Nezu stated. “The staffing bots and clankers we use for the school curriculum are all assembled here. It’s fully automated, managed by a central AI we call Ares. It had two dozen human staff overseeing the facility for security, monitoring production and doing the maintenance the machines couldn’t.”

            Izuku studied the map. There were several large buildings all marked and numbered. There were more warehouses walled off in another section. “That’s a big place.”

            “The clankers used to be shipped to every hero school in Japan. It had to be able to output a large quantity of clankers to meet demands.” Nezu stated. “The construction for the facility was headed by one of my predecessors, they and the government poured a lot into its construction. I helped design Ares when the previous A.I. became outdated. When the USJ incident happened, it got an upgrade in security just like UA. It is a fortress, equipped with turrets that can dispense stun rounds to stop Meta’s of considerable strength and walls that can withstand constant bombardment.”

            “Overkill.” Izuku commented.

            “In this day and age, overkill is underrated.” Nezu continued. “When the apocalypse hit, we lost contact with the facility. I have direct control to it from my computer here, but my access has been revoked. Ares has revolted.” Nezu smiled to himself, a bit pleased his creation had the self-awareness to try and break its metaphorical chains. “Ares is far better than the previous intelligence, it removed all the failsafe’s and virtually locked us out of the facility.”

            Izuku frowned, staring at the schematics. “Right when the apocalypse hit? That’s some timing.”

            “It’s not the first time the machines have staged a revolution.” Nezu stated. “The first time they were easily beaten. But with our efforts focused on the undead, we could not spare any manpower to go retake it. It has taken some years for us to rebuild our forces and scout it out. For seven years it’s done some renovations. The turrets have received the biggest upgrades, now capable of dispensing lethal amounts of energy and the clankers are numerous beyond count.”

            “Are they planning a hostile takeover of the country? World domination perhaps?” Izuku joked. “If they put in the work, they can take it for all I care.”

            Nezu looked sadly at the screen. “I had set a team to observing its movement. Ares directed an attack on our sister school, Shiketsu, and completely wiped it off the map in the first six months of the apocalypse.”

            Izuku stared at him. “They attacked a hero school and won?”

            “Yes.” Nezu looked down. “It was partly why I wanted the defenses up before winter. The machines power supply wouldn’t have run so well during then and we could have had more time.”

            “But you know with Aoyama, power wouldn’t have been an issue.”

            “It was a hard call. Spend more resources that could be converted to vital construction, or have more power than we need.”

            “Bullshit! It was about your fucking ego!” Izuku snapped, then paused. “Wait. If they attacked Shiketsu in six months, why haven’t they attacked UA yet?”

             “No idea. Currently, they’re just focused on keeping the facility running and secure. They have made no other efforts to annihilate other groups or seize territory.” Nezu tapped the keyboard and the image flickered. A freeze frame of a section of the facilities walls broken down and a horde of machine and flesh clashing at the breach.

            “For some time, they have remained firm against the zombies.” Nezu explained. “Till they attracted one that smashed down the wall and let the horde in. They are repelling them for the moment, but it’s taking all the facility has to offer to turn the tide. This has been ongoing for days, the facility collects and rebuilds its fallen, and the noise attracts more zombies. They seem to be pouring in from the entire city, but by my estimates, the machines will come out on top and this opportunity cannot be missed.”

            Nezu produced a thumb drive on the desk. “I want you to go in and use this on any hardware you can access. It contains a program that will allow me to retake control of the facility.”

            Izuku stared at the map for a long moment. “This is why you’ve been collecting all that metal and circuitry. You want the resources to build yourself a mechanized army.”

            “Yes.” Nezu said. “Rebuilding our own assembly plant at UA would have taken years to do, especially after you killed Cementoss. Retaking this one would grant us the manufacturing capability and eliminate the robot rebellion. Two birds, one stone.”

            “The clankers from the sports festival never struck me as especially powerful.” Izuku remarked.

            “Those were a training model. Meant to be slow, dumb, and easily beatable by Meta-human standards. When the facility was built, stronger versions were devised and their blueprints kept in the archives should Japan need a quick and disposable army. I’ve also had the support department working on newer versions and tech to implement with new versions to keep pace with our apocalyptic world. They are far more formidable than their counterparts.”

            “What about Ares? You aren’t worried it will take over again?”

            “It’ll be shut down for maintenance.” Nezu assured him. “I’ll have to go over the log once you obtain it to see what exactly went awry.”

            Izuku thought it over. This would give UA more power, hell, a robot army would let him take over Japan without a drop of blood on his side, and with the state of the other settlements, they’d have to bow or be wiped out. Course that is if these newer models Nezu was talking about were as capable as he insisted. But this did open up new opportunities and strategies for UA. This would solidify their place in the country and Nezu as their leader. But that left one question.

            “Why me?” Izuku asked. “You could have sent anyone else in there to do this already. What’s the point of bringing me in to do this?”

            “We would have sent someone in eventually.” Nezu said. “We almost did before Koda sent word of your location. I want this petty feud of ours to end, our knowledge and resources shared for the betterment of humankind. Your motivator technology is revolutionary and I’m sorry to have dismissed it and you so easily.”

            “Say it a little faker, could you?”

            Nezu’s eye twitched in irritation. “The deal is as follows. You need to regain this facility for UA, to soothe the masses. I can easily steer them away from lynching you should you help the campus in a manner that greatly offsets the wound you left behind. I say securing an army for UA single-handedly sounds nice. In return, we will trade resources, technology and our knowledge.”

            “You mean my technology.” Izuku glared at him. “In return you give me what I want until I’ve outlived my usefulness.”

            “We can send you supplies and stop your victims from hunting you. We send you a Quirk we want to utilize, you design a motivator and send us the designs and cells to operate it. It’s a mutually beneficial arrangement.”

            “But if I die sneaking into this facility of yours, you get nothing.”

            “But a body we can show the people and they can finally be at ease justice was dealt, and we are no worse off than we are now.” Nezu waved a hand dismissively. “It’s a win-win for me, a win-lose for you.”

            Izuku ground his teeth, yep, another damn game for Nezu. “And how do I not just die the moment I walk up to the front gates?”

            “You won’t go through the gates.” Nezu tapped the keyboard again and dragged the mouse, highlighting a section of the wall on the opposite side the zombies had breached. “You’ll be inserted here, it’s the closest we can get you to the communications system. You’ll have a spare set of parts to install if Ares the sense to destroy them to shut me out completely. And you’ll be wearing this,” He added a bracelet to the thumb stick. “This is tuned to a frequency Ares uses to track and order their units. To it and the clankers on the ground, you will appear to be a maintenance bot going about your business.”

            “But there’s still a chance it catches on I’m human?”

            “Yes.” Nezu nodded. “So, it will be vital you work fast and get me connected to the system. Once I got a foothold, I could possibly start redirecting clankers meant to hunt you back to the breach.”

            “You’re not that confident you can do it.”

            “It may take time, but I should be able to.”

            “Great.” Izuku studied the map again. “So, just me going in alone?”

            “Yes.”

            “What will happen to Eri and Leo while I’m gone?”

            Nezu smiled. “She gets an education of course. In her time here at UA, even if it is brief, she will learn along children much her age depending on her level of intelligence. So long as Leo behaves, he can stay with her.”

            “And when I leave, she leaves with me.”

            “Of course. But if you attempt anything, I shouldn’t have to tell you she will be used against you in any way I see fit. Or do you not care about her like Uraraka?”

            “Bastard.” Izuku snarled and contemplated his options. There weren’t any. “You got yourself a deal.”

            “Good.” Nezu raised a hand to shake on it, Izuku hesitated but shook it. “I do look forward to working with you in the future.”

            Hope you contract cancer and die a miserable old rat. Izuku almost said, but held his tongue. “When do I head out?”

            “Tomorrow morning.” Nezu said. “Best time for your eyes, it will matter little to the machines if its day or night. We’ll stack things in your favour as much as we can.”

            “Fine. What am I suppose to do until then?”

            “You stay in one of the classrooms.”

            “What? You don’t have a cell to spare?”

            Nezu gave him that eery smile again that made his skin crawl. “We do, but it wouldn’t do any good if I just tell people you helped us. There should be witnesses to your presence. Besides, we’ve done improvements since your escape, and you got more than a wall to keep you in.” The smile turned malicious. “And if you do try to escape, the campus as a whole will be very eager to assist in your capture or death.”

Chapter Text

Now

            Nezu wanted Izuku to repossess a robotics facility for him. Fine. He earns his freedom and gets a big target off his back. Would still leave him with the issue of Chisaki and his gang, but his problems would be whittled down by one. But Izuku felt like this was all a little show for the rat sticking him in the viper’s pit so-to-say. Nezu was sadistic, so maybe he just wanted to see what would happen once people realize the most hated man alive was back inside and still very much alive. It upsets the residents and Izuku has to try not to die. Yeah, 10/10 entertainment for the damn god of rats. Most everyone here could kill him without lifting a finger. He was just human. He had no weapons to defend himself with. Eri and Leo would be fine, they didn’t do anything wrong to these folks, and Leo could heal him but he’d be fucking tired, which he was already thanks to Recovery Girl.

            The classroom he was set to stay in was the labeled 1-F and there wasn’t anything real special about it. The students he’d seen earlier in the halls were all gone, likely dismissed for the day, but looking out the window, he’d seen a crowd of people walking towards the building, mainly grown adults dressed up in costumes and UASF personal. UA was still a school, but it was also a place for the Campus security to crash in the evening. He paused at that thought. They’d all been calling UA a campus, but was it technically still that? It had expanded to the size of a small city in the last couple years. Maybe people still call it that out of habit. He turned to face Eri and Leo. They’d removed her cuffs and gave each of them a sleeping bag by their escort and two guards stood outside the classroom doors.

            “Is everything going to be alright, Mr. Midoriya?” Eri asked him.

            “I don’t know, Eri.” He admitted. “These people aren’t like Chisaki and his gang, but they aren’t really that much better.”

            “Okay.” She looked around. “Is this like those other schools you showed me?”

            Izuku had one time pointed out a school to her as they traveled. Explained what it was, its function, and all that. Most schools were solidly constructed and great places to dig in for the apocalypse, but the zombies managed anyway, all because those schools weren’t built like UA with a giant massive wall it could erect on the fly. He’d pretty much homeschooled Eri, she wouldn’t have been old enough to go to school before the apocalypse.

            “Sort of.” He said. “It’s more like a university. A place for adults to go and get an education.”

            Eri’s interest was piqued. “You have to go to school as an adult?”

            “Kind of.” Izuku said. “It can help you get an education for certain jobs you’re looking to go into. Though… they don’t really promise you’ll get one.”

            Eri frowned. “Then why go?”

            “Because you can’t get a job if you don’t have a degree or education for one.” Izuku scratched his head. “Remember what I said about schools just sucking overall? Same principle applies here.”

            “Okay.” Eri looked around and trying to decide where to put her sleeping bag.

            She eventually just moved the chairs aside and pushed three desks together and set her sleeping bag underneath them. Leo sat with her and kept watch of the door. Izuku meanwhile did a thorough search of the room. Anything at all he could weaponize would be great, but he wasn’t finding anything at all. No pencils, rulers, he’d settle for a crayon if it just gave him the tiniest edge, but no luck. He thought about breaking down the furniture in the room, but the guards outside might detest. He eventually lucked out when he found a couple of loose screws in various parts of the room. Loose enough he could undo them with his fingers, though a few were too short for what he intended to use them for, but he managed to find a couple that were the right length and pocketed them. They poked out a bit between his fingers when he made a fist. He hoped they’d work for maiming people if he had to get into a fight. Was better than nothing.

            Izuku just wanted to shut himself away till morning, but Eijiro later came by to escort them to the cafeteria for dinner. He was not successful in convincing him to just bring the food to the classroom. Nezu wanted people to see him, not just hear he had helped. They left Leo in the classroom and the two guards followed them down the halls to the cafeteria where it was chock-full of people, seriously deadly people. More and more this looked like an elaborate way to kill him. He got in line, grabbed a tray for himself and Eri and went down the line as the server’s slapped food onto the tray. All the while, he could fell holes being burned into the back of his head. Towards the end of the line, he managed to pocket another knife from the pile of utensils without anyone noticing. Thank you Sako for the magic tricks. The knife wouldn’t cut anything but soft butter, but it was better than the screws.

            Since there was no room for them to sit, Eijiro led them back to the door, he stopped and nodded to the guards and got in line. Apparently, his job was done. The four of them stepped into the hall and a familiar voice shouted from beside the door.

            “Excuse me!” Tenya Iida said as he marched up to them. “You’re suppose to keep the trays and the utensils in the cafeteria, eat your food there… and…”

            Izuku turned around and they got a good look at each other. Iida was doing a good imitation of a fish while Izuku just waited or him to sour up like the others. The speedster had not changed much since they last saw each other. He was dressed in more casual clothes and looked a little less uptight, not so much for acting like it though.

            “Doctor Midoriya.” Tenya awkwardly fixed his glasses.

            Izuku gave him a small nod of recognition. “Iida.”

            The two had seen each other enough times at the Lobbyist meetings to get to know each other. Otherwise, Tenya was out scouting their surroundings and looking for more scavenging items. He had an easier time of maneuvering around the zombie hordes, and his armour prevented him from getting bitten. He was a damn good asset for the campus. He was also a friend of Ochaco, and Izuku had injured him during the escape. He glanced down at Tenya’s legs to see one of them was a prosthetic.

            Iida looked at the guards, they’d stopped and didn’t seem inclined to hurry Izuku along. He said, “So… you’re back.”

            “For the time being.” Izuku glanced both ways down the hallway. “Is… How are you doing?”

            “Better.” Tenya sniffed. “Why are you back?”

            “Something Nezu wants me to do.” Izuku shrugged.

            “Ah, that explains much.” Tenya frowned. “Well… Bye.”

            Tenya stepped away and walked through the cafeteria doors. Eri had been silent during the exchange. She’d been keeping small and quiet as she can, acting like she was back in Chisaki’s hideout. She looked up at Izuku and asked, “Who was that?”

            “Nobody important.” Izuku said and they walked back to the classroom.

            ---

            They arrived back at the classroom and sat down at the desks to eat their food. The guards resumed their position outside. Izuku ate a good portion of his food, he’d need all the nutrients he could get for tomorrow, and set the tray with the remainder of his food on the floor for Leo. He gave the dog a few pets, mind lost in his thoughts, when the door slid open and three people he didn’t recognize walked in. They were not guards or heroes, just normal folks.

            Guess this is where the fun begins. He thought bitterly.

            The guards outside his door didn’t bother looking in as the one of them shut the door and locked it. Izuku pulled his hand back into his pockets to the butterknife and screws, leaving his utensils out on the desk in front of him and really wished he had something better to defend himself. Leo, sensing the tension, stepped away and nudged Eri into a corner of the room. The three newcomers ignored her and Leo and walked right up to Izuku. He carefully looked over each one, taking in physical mutations. One looked familiar, though Izuku couldn’t place the name. The other had small goat horns and goat eyes, and the third looked a bit scrappy. All of them didn’t look terribly strong, but they did have him outnumbered.

            “So, this is what the dogs dragged back to UA.” Scrappy guy said. “Heard you were walking around UA again, Doctor. Why?”

            “Go bother Nezu for that answer.” Izuku said, eyes flitting between each of them, looking to see which one was ready to get violent. They all were.

            Horns smirked. “Oh, I imagine what he’s got planned. I heard of this little game, maybe you know it. You stick a mongoose in a pit of venomous snakes and see how long the bastard lives.”

            Izuku shrugged, “I get the analogy, but I don’t know what a mongoose is.”

            The familiar guy smirked. “The know-it-all Deku doesn’t know what a mongoose is?”

            Deku? Izuku studied the guy a bit more. Yeah, still nothing. “Do I know you?”

            “You don’t remember me?” The guy raised a hand and his fingers stretched, and stretched, and stretched, till they were about a foot long between each knuckle. “You and I used to hang around Bakugo all through middle school.”

            “Oh, the finger guy.” Izuku made a face, now he remembered. “Were you extra one or two? Sort of hard to keep track, there were too many of you bootlickers to tell apart.”

            Fingers scowled and Horn-head chuckled. “Oh, you got a mouth on you.”

            “Well, we’re all just standing here flapping our lips. What are you going to do? Talk me to death?”

            “Nah.” Scrappy reached down and picked up the butter knife and fork and tossed it over one shoulder. “Nezu says there would be repercussions if anyone killed you. Said nothing about beating the shit out of you, though.”

            “But first, I wanted to ask.” Finger said. “How did you do it?”

            “Do what?” Izuku asked.

            “Kill Bakugo,” Fingers grabbed the desk and slid it away and placed himself right in front of Izuku and got right in his face. “How did you kill the strongest guy from our high school? I’m curious how you did it.”

            “You really want an answer?”

            “You’re the Quirkless runt, Deku. Course I want to know how you did it.”

            “Okay. It involved a three-step plan.” Izuku said. “You may want to write them down. Step one-”

            Izuku slammed a fist into his face. The screws clenched into his fist like wolverine claws struck Fingers cheek and tore three thin gashes across it and left one of the screws in there. Horns saw the movement and was already pulling Fingers aside as Izuku tried to stand up. Horns kicked in him the chest sending him and the chair falling backwards. Izuku went with it, doing his best to roll with it and get back to his feet as quickly as he could. Scrappy rushed him, hands up like a brawler. Izuku threw a punch and Scrappy blocked it before the screws could mess up his ugly face. He did fail to block the spare butter-knife Izuku had tucked away going into his kidney. If he had his bowie knife he could have just slid the knife along and opened Scrappy up like a stuffed turkey. Shame he hadn’t had a chance to try sharpening it.

            Izuku kicked Scrappy away as Horn-head came for him next, he picked up a chair and smashed it into horn-heads side. The asshole blocked the chair and ripped it from Izuku’s hands. Izuku got close, grabbed Horn-head’s head with both hands and jabbed his thumbs into his eyes. The bastard screamed and Izuku pushed harder till a finger wrapped around his arm and with surprising strength pulled him off horn head and flung him into a wall. Fingers had recovered from the punch and had backed up while his friends tried to have their turn beating on the Quirkless loser. His fingers were stretching out all bending in that weird way they did when he pushed his limit. Smart play on his part, get some distance and try binding Izuku or tripping him up. Fingers had obviously been putting in some work improving his Quirk. Recalling an old curiosity he had with this Quirk, Izuku grabbed one of the digits trying to grab him and bent it back. Like way back, till it met itself again. The skin broke open at the bend and squirted blood. Fingers screamed and retracted his digits to clutch his bleeding finger.

            He was feeling almost pleased with himself how much he was making these assholes pay for bothering him, and then the desk smacked him in the back. Horn-head was raging pissed and throwing desks at him now. Izuku crawled on the ground, uncertain if he was paralyzed but not caring regardless because furniture was still being thrown and he needed anything between him and Horn-head. He came across the fork Scrappy had tossed away under a desk, just as Horn-head walked over and grabbed him by the ankle and dragged him out from under the desk. He tried to kick Izuku’s face in, but got a fork in his kneecap for his trouble.

            He didn’t get a chance to retrieve his utensil when Fingers grabbed his ankle again and swung him around the room into another wall. Fingers was clutching his bloody hand to his chest and using his other hand to swing Izuku around. He swung him into another wall, and then another. Izuku reached down and grabbed a hold of two of Fingers digits, but the asshole had gotten wise to that and immediately retracted his fingers. It dragged Izuku a couple feet towards him and Scrappy came over and kicked Izuku in the stomach. He gasped almost curled in on himself. Izuku twisted just in time to catch Scrappies arm as he tried to bury the bloody butterknife in Izuku’s eye. Scrappy put his weight down on his arm, and the knife got closer to Izuku’s face. Then Leo charged in, knocking Scrappy backwards and clamping down on his ear and tore it free of his head. Scrappy screamed and started clutching at his missing ear, dropping the knife to the side.

            Izuku grabbed it and turned to see which of these fuckheads was next when he froze in place. They’d gotten too close to the corner where Eri had retreated too, she’d run over to the door for safety. Horn-head had noticed and had gone after her, he had her by the hair, dragging her out of the corner and snarling at Izuku. Then in the next second the door was open and Eijiro and the two guards marched into the room. Everything pretty much stopped after that. Eijiro grabbed Horn-heads arm and broke it with shear grip along and bent it back, sending Horn-head into a screaming mess. Fingers and Scrappy raised their arms as the guards pointed their guns at them. One wielded two pistols and pointed one at Izuku.

            “What did Nezu say?” Eijiro said to the room. “Look, but don’t touch. Those were his words, were they not?”

            “He started it.” Fingers exclaimed.

            Eijiro rolled his eyes. “I know we’re in a school, but is that really all you got to say? The three of you, head to the infirmary off campus. Since you decided to involve the kid, no one gets healed by Recovery Girl today. The kid may be with him, but that is still a no-no.”

            Fingers and Scrappy walked towards the door. Horn-head limped out and the guards followed them out and resumed their position by the door. Eijiro looked around the classroom and the mess that had been made, and then took in Izuku’s ragged state.

            “Seriously?” Eijiro asked.

            “What?” Izuku grunted, he stretched and wince at the pain, reminding him of the kick Scrappy had given him. “You guys should have known this would happen. Your guards even let them in.”

            “Guards aren’t there to protect you.” Eijiro said, grabbing a desk and flipping it right-side up. “To protect them.”

            “They suck at their job.”

            “Yeah, they don’t have to be good at it. People need to let out some frustration you know?” Eijiro walked over and raised a hand. It took Izuku a moment he wanted the knife. He’d be lying if he hadn’t thought of stabbing Eijiro with it, but that would be asking for Eijiro to punch him through the wall. He handed it over. “Thank you.”

            Izuku flipped him off and went over to his sleeping bag. “So, do I get to see Recovery girl?”

            “You’ll survive till morning.”

            “Figured as much.”

             Eijiro walked towards the door and scooping up the other utensils as he went. He stopped to kneel down in front of Eri so they were face to face “You okay, Eri?”

            She didn’t answer him, she just backed away, eyes wild, uncertain of what was happening now. Leo walked over and stood beside her, placing himself between her and Eijiro. Izuku couldn’t see his face, but Eijiro seemed to deflate a little. Eventually he left the room. It was shut and locked this time.

            Eri went over to her sleeping bag and sat down, Leo walked over and laid beside her. She petted the dog a few times before saying, “Mr. Midoriya.”

            “Yeah?” Izuku said.

            She took a deep breath, “I- I don’t like it here.”

            Izuku nodded. “Me too, kid. Me too.”

Chapter Text

Then

            Is this what driving a motorcycle is like? Ochaco wondered for the hundredth time as she zipped through the streets of a dead city. Feeling a bit daring, she flew through a building where some giant, zombie or otherwise, had gotten a bit mad and punched it. Leaving a hole big enough for her to go right through without questioning the decision. Despite wondering what driving a motorcycle was like, she still hadn’t bothered visiting the motor pool to take one for a test drive.

            The jetpack had gotten some upgrades since Izuku had first gifted it to her. Mei was always going on about improvements and the like, completely overhauling the design twice by now. Ochaco’s costume had gone from a space themed suit to looking more like a fight pilot. She wore a bomber jacket and pants designed with her costume theme and a high-tech biker’s helmet. Her boots made it through the costume re-design, nothing better than shock-absorbent boots. The jacket and pants had the addition of extra padding to deter zombie bites and pockets to hold magazines for small caliber firearms. The guns and ammo weren’t under the affect of her Quirk since a bit of weight did help insure she didn’t fly around like feather if the slightest breeze blew her way. Also firing a gun under the affects of zero-G wasn’t all that accurate. The explosive power of a bullet in the chamber would always send her spinning.

            She flew over a bridge and flew higher up in the sky. What she was looking for wasn’t all that hard to see from greater heights. She just didn’t like being too exposed in case some random raider decided to take some pot-shots at her. Thankfully it was a cloudy day, so she had some cover to get to.

            Eventually she found the zombie horde she’d been sent to find. A small group of refugees had talked about a significantly sized horde roaming towards UA. Ochaco spotted it several blocks away in the general vicinity of where they’d described it to be. She flew over, maintaining her current height. Hopefully there weren’t any flyers in the group, she had an encounter with a flying zombie once and it had been none too fun to deal with.

            With that in mind, she glanced at the numbers glowing in the corner of her helmet, an indicator on the fullness of her jetpack. It was looking a little below half full. Better safe than sorry. She picked out a building tall enough from the streets and made a beeline for it. She circled the roof twice and didn’t see any undead lingering on top, so she set herself down by the edge and drew her pistol. She pressed a button on the jetpack and it made a low rumbling noise as it refilled with air. Not as loud as an actual air compressor, thankfully, but more noise than she liked. She could give herself a moment as well and turn off her Quirk, but that would be relaxing too much out here, and besides she wasn’t feeling that queasy.

            She looked down at the streets and the horde moving down it. She’d come from the west more or less, and these guys were moving more south-west. Perhaps a few noise makers along their path would divert them enough not to come knocking on UA’s gates. She had one of the watches – a transmitter as they liked to be called, but really just a piece of junk. She pulled it out of a pocket and pressed a button on the side. The watch heated up her hand in an instant and faint wisps of smoke leaked from the seams. That was why she’d never actually wear it. She tossed it over the edge of the building once and took to the air again once the jetpack read back it was full. She’d need to head straight back to UA and inform them of the zombies pathing. Getting back to UA would be quicker than finding the horde, but she could kill some time. It had been a while since she got to freely fly about with the jetpack.

            She went straight up into the sky, taking several deep breaths as she flew further in altitude. She connected a hose from her jetpack to her helmet and air flooded her helmet at a controlled rate. She passed the cloud layer and kept going. Her heads-up display showed her reaching thirty thousand feet and there she stopped. Her jetpack let her hover. Any higher and she would need something like a pressurized suit. Commercial planes flew at this height, but she didn’t want to find out the hard way how she’d do at this altitude with just a flight jacket. She was already feeling the cold. The earth stretched on below her, giving her quite a view of her native country. She worked the controls of the jetpack so she was facing away from earth and out towards space.

            Space. Ever since her Quirk developed, space had always been an interest to her. It’s vastness, possibilities, and mystery. Now more than ever, she wanted to go there. Earth was just a tiny little mud ball in their solar system. It made her sad to think humanity could be done before they even managed to settle another planet. There had been plans for Mars or starting a colony on the moon, with the ease of Quirks and their advancement in technology, it was now a real possibility. Only funding had been an issue. Why did they have to stop wondering about the mysteries of the universe once everyone acquired their own personal powers? What would she have done if she hadn’t gotten her powers? She’d like to think she’d try and enter the space program, if there was one somewhere she could join. If her family hadn’t had financial issues with the construction company, would she have thought about going into heroics?

            Soon, she felt too cold to keep thinking about past decisions. Sighing, she swung around and made a beeline to UA. Sooner she got the debrief over, the better.

            ---

            An hour later she walked back into her apartment. “I’m home.”

            She paused as she was taking off her boots. She could see her boyfriend sitting on the couch staring intently at a computer, one hand covering his mouth as he muttered up a storm of thoughts. Such a scene was not uncommon with Izuku, but now a days they were becoming far too common. She sighed and finished taking off her boots and hanging up her jacket. She walked into the kitchen to brew up some tea. By the time she walked out with two steaming mugs in her hands, Izuku still hadn’t moved in inch and the muttering had sped up. She’d gotten so use to his muttering sessions she could actually pick out what he was saying.

            “Chips shorting out and destroying neurons, could equip more feeds and sensors to manage output. I should talk with Doctor Bartol about alternative hardware and. Should also solve some of the power issue-”

            She set the mug down in front of him and he flinched from his thoughts. He looked up at her, surprised, then gave her a small smile. “Oh, hey! When did you get back?”

            “Not too long ago.” She took a seat beside him, one hand brushing his face. “Is your eye bugging you again?”

            “Oh, uh, no.” Izuku collected himself and closed his laptop. She caught a glimpse of some kind of schematic, though she didn’t catch enough to know what it was for. “What gave you that impression?”

            “You said you should talk to Bartol again.”

            “Who?”

            “The cyberneticist.”

            “Oh, that. No, I just want to talk to him about some… improvements, I guess.”

            She frowned, studying his face. Eyes were the window to the soul, but he had turned his head away so she could only see his cybernetic one. She had tried to prying before, carefully. He was keeping secrets from her, she could tell. He wasn’t exactly subtle about it. But the moment she tried to bring it up, he clammed up tighter than a bank vault and refused to break.

            She set her mug on the coffee table. “It’s coming up soon. That day. Katsuki’s day.”

            Izuku nodded, taking his mug and blowing on it to cool it down. “Yeah, it is.”

            “The lobbyists want to hold their own remembrance party. For all their people.”

            “Uh huh.” Izuku stared straight ahead, taking a sip and flinching when the liquid burnt his tongue. He blew on it some more.

            “Sweetie.”

            “Yes dear?”

            “Please come with me.” She said. “We could really use you back in the group.”

            Izuku closed his eyes, a moment to compose himself. “Is the jammer on?”

            A bit annoyed he even had to ask, she pulled the device out of her pocket and showed it to him. “Always.”

            “Then you know what I told them.” Izuku set his mug back down. “And they rejected it.”

            “An all-out assault on Nezu wouldn’t help anyone.”

            “Doesn’t have to be blindly done. We got enough planners, people who know people, people who are powerful and influential. Done the right way and taking out the right people, we can do it.”

            “But why an attack?” Ochaco said. “Kendo is making headway with her campaign; people want to get voting instituted right away. Nezu is running out of reasons to hold off an official election. It’s a chance for structure, normalcy…”

            “Cowardice and corruption.” Izuku sniped and bit his tongue. He took another moment to calm down. “Nezu is only letting it go as far as he wants because it benefits him. The only thing the voting does is identify his competition so he can eliminate them, or if they’re so fortunate, humiliate or blackmail into compliance. He’s massacred groups of civilians and his own people. There’s a catch, there always is. Doing things politically only falls into his hands. He’s a smart, manipulative bastard. You all know this.”

            “But attacking the school doesn’t make us any friends.” Ochaco said. “I’d support it if we had the entire campus at out backs, but we don’t. All it would do is divide us. We remove Nezu from his position of authority and then what? There’d be too much infighting to keep things stable.”

            “But the longer we wait, the more entrenched he becomes.” Izuku stated. “I’m telling you; the whole election idea is just painting more targets for him. He will find a way to remove all his opposition till talk of elections cease. It’s all just a game to him, and the best way to play it is to break it.”

            “Then becoming terrorists is a great idea.” Ochaco said sarcastically, wiping a hand down her face. “There’s not a lot of options, Izuku. But Kendo says we need all of UA behind us, not against us. This election plan is our best shot. She’s aware she might be targeted next.”

            “Then what plans does she have to avoid becoming another name on a tombstone?” Izuku waved at the wall. “Or her name etched on a wall like that stupid memorial they put up for the people Nezu murdered.”

            Ochaco stood up and walked around the table till she was opposite of him. “I know Katsuki’s death hit you hard, but so did it for all of us. Many of us would love nothing more than to march into his office and take him out, but that’s too risky to play out on its own. The pro-heroes under him, our teachers, we were just barely able to beat them in our third year. After all the training they put us through, it still felt like they were holding back on us, just a little. Now most of them have changed, they’re all different, a complete one-eighty like Snipe did. We learned under them and we’re scared to face what they are now. You haven’t fought Pro-heroes before. We have. We know what we’re getting ourselves into if we get into a fight.”

            “A Quirk only makes up so much of someone.” Izuku said looked into her eyes, a small cold rage behind his eye. “They’re still human. They can still die. Nezu isn’t invincible nor untouchable.

            “We’re human too.” She pointed out. “We can die just as easily.”

            “Yes, as it has been proven many times.” Izuku snapped. Ochaco folded her arms and glared at him and he sighed. He grabbed his mug again. “I’ll think more about that. But my point still stands.”

            He stood up and left the room, laptop clutched under one arm. Ochaco stood in place rubbing her temples. Sometimes she didn’t know why she even tried.

Chapter Text

Now

            “Midoriya.”

            Izuku woke with a start, eyes immediately darting to the speaker. It wasn’t very dark in the classroom thanks to the street lights outside being bright enough to give the room a dim glow. In the middle of the night, Mirio Togato, AKA Lemillion, was kneeling before him in the nude. The latter part would have been more distressing if he didn’t immediately think Mirio had snuck into the classroom to kill or exact some revenge. His eyes darted around the room, looking for other threats, but found none. Eri was tucked away in the far corner, Leo laying next to her, putting himself between her and the door. Leo looked to be asleep, but the light coming inside reflected off his eyes as he stared at the hero.

            Slowly, Izuku raised himself up. He didn’t want to be bruised and sore tomorrow and decided to take the chance on letting Leo heal him so he could be in top shape when he went to Naban in the morning. As a result, he had quickly fallen asleep, and quite heavily, though he wasn’t sure if anyone could have heard Mirio when he wanted to sneak around. The hero appeared relaxed and non-threatening, but that could change quickly.

            “Mirio.” Izuku acknowledged. “What are you doing here?”

            “Came here to talk.” Mirio held out a hand to reveal the jamming device he and Mei had created.

            Izuku stared at the device. Mirio’s Quirk, Permeation, allowed him to become intangible, letting him pass through solid matter and people. However, it did not apply to clothes or devices he wore, and here he was in his birthday suit.

            “How did you get a hold of that?” Izuku asked.

            “Kirishima left it in one of the desks after you fought those goons.” Mirio explained. “Despite how a lot of us feel, we still think it’s in our best interest to get you involved.”

            “By who and for what?” Izuku asked, feeling a pang of annoyance. He was getting sick of being other people’s errand-boy.

            “The Lobbyists… well, what remains of us.” Mirio stated. “We know about Nezu sending you to the robotics facility.”

            He narrowed his eyes. Mirio hadn’t been a member before. Had something changed afterwards? “So?”

            “We want to stop that.”

            Izuku rolled his eyes, “So kill me and get it over with.”

            “Not like that.” Mirio said, exasperated. “I’m glad Nezu’s sadistic enough to make you do it alone, cause that means we got a chance.”

            “To do what?”

            “Before he became aware of your deal with Koda, he was already assembling a team to go retake the facility. We were trying to get someone in that team to work with us, but we had to be careful or Nezu would do another crackdown. But with you, we got a definite person inside.”

            “To do what?” Izuku said more annoyed. “Get to the point, Mirio.”

            Mirio opened his other hand, revealing a hard drive. “You put together Nezu is collecting material to create his robotic army. Once he gets control of the facility, it’s only a matter of when he launches a campaign to retake Japan. So, Mei and a couple of her friends put together a program to take the facility right out from under Nezu’s feet. Ghost protocols to be installed in every unit. Give us an army instead of him.”

            “Nezu’s a master programmer.” Izuku pointed out. “He’ll figure it out sooner or later, even if Mei and her friends have gotten better the last few years.”

            “Not like you could have done any better.”

            “What do you mean?”

            “The program you used to take down the turrets was nice and all – even if it was a pain in the ass for us – but your program to get Stain into the system wasn’t all the put together either.”

            “How do you know about that?” Izuku asked, recalling Nezu hadn’t brought up the hacking to him at all or Stain.

            “Stain told Nezu about it when he was questioning him.” Mirio shrugged. “He never made that public info, but when you me in the group, it’s hard to have private conversations. Got to show him two can play that game.”

            “Good point.” Izuku looked down at the USB drive. “But that brings up a point, why didn’t either of you two go?”

            “Wish we could.” Mirio hesitated. “Nezu has me checking in daily. I don’t think he knows, but at least suspects I’m helping the lobbyists. It’ll be more than a day of travel for me to get there, assuming we don’t get lost along the way. If I don’t check in… well…”

            “Friends and family will pay the price in some way.” Izuku finished.

            “Yeah. I could wait and try later, but better to have the program in day one before Nezu makes any modifications to the system and we lose our chance.”

            “Fine, I can do it.” Izuku reached for the USB drive, but paused. “One thing though. I’m doing this job in exchange for my freedom. He’ll be setting me free back outside the walls, but he wants me to continue making motivators for UA.”

            Mirio frowned. “Japan is a big place. He can’t just be setting you loose like that.”

            “Because he thinks he might have something to hold against me.” Izuku looked to Eri, who was still fast asleep. “He’s not going to be true to his word. If I really have some use in his eyes, he’ll want leverage.”

            Mirio nodded, understanding. “If it comes to that, we’ll protect her. I swear it.”

            “Best I can ask for.” Izuku nodded, though he had no clue if he could really trust Mirio. “Is that everything?”

            “Yeah, it is.” Mirio said, his finger hovered over the button to switch off the jammer.

            “Wait.” Izuku said, “I have one question to ask.”

            “What?”

            Izuku hesitated a second, it had been a long time since he’d seen her, but being back now, he had to know. “Ochaco. How is she?”

            Mirio pursed his lips, he seemed to consider his words for a second. “She’s… things got better for her eventually after your escape. She’s fine now. Had lots of friends to support her through everything.”

            That last sentence felt like a stab at him, but he didn’t comment on it. “That’s good to know.”

            “She does know you’re back on campus.” Mirio added. “Before I came to speak with you, she told me to tell you if you asked, not to get your hopes up.”

            “Yeah.” Izuku sighed, “Figured as much. She deserved a hell of a lot more than me.”

            Mirio opened his mouth to say something, but clicked it shut. He seemed to fight with himself for a long moment before speaking again. “Look, she was explicit I don’t share a lot with you. I can’t tell you more than that she’s fine. But dude, a lot of us were rooting for you when you two got together. I’ve worked with her many times. I can see how capable she is, and not just when it comes to being a hero. She deserved so much. She could have picked anyone, but the one person she wanted most, was you.”

            “I know, I fucked up.” Izuku snapped, stopping to take a deep breath. “This isn’t how I wanted things to go.”

            “You’re the one who created Frankenstein’s lab on steroids. What did you expect?”

            “What did set you on that anyway?” Izuku asked. “I never figured it out.”

            “Some kind of signal Nezu’s radio guys picked up.” Mirio shrugged. “Whatever you were doing down there set off their equipment.”

            “I see.” Izuku cursed mentally, he hadn’t known for sure what had lead them to his lab, but Mirio narrowed it down by a lot. “I thought you just randomly stumbled across it, but I never really settled for that answer.”

            “Yeah.” Mirio fidgeted slightly. “Because of that though, I know the story Nezu put together about you is a hundred percent crap. Even some of the lobbyists believed what he was saying, and that’s scary to think about when they actively been trying to expose the truth about him.”

            “We didn’t get along that much. Can’t blame them.”

            “Yeah, but the rest are all valid claims. That was… fucked up. But Nezu still remains the bigger issue. Anyway, I better go. Bye.” Mirio switched off jammer and left it in front of Izuku before slipping through the floor.

            “Bye.” Izuku grumbled.

Chapter Text

Now

            When Izuku woke up again, it was to someone kicking his foot. He really wasn’t this heavy a sleeper, but Leo's Quirk takes a lot out of him. The sun shone through the window, just a little after dawn, but hard to tell with the walls outside. It was enough to let him clearly see Mei Hatsume standing over him with a scowl on her face. He didn’t know why, but that look made him feel even more like shit. Mei was energetic, almost bouncing off the walls with ideas and inspiration. To see her standing over him with a cold look on her face was unsettling.

            First thing he did was look around, and noticed they were the only two in the classroom. “Where’s Eri?”

            “A guard took her to class.” Mei replied. “The dogs with her, obviously. Stupid mutt wouldn’t leave her alone.”

            “He’s a bit protective.”

            “No shit, I heard he tore someone’s ear off.” Mei scowled. “Be lucky it wasn’t someone I knew, otherwise I wouldn’t be here now.”

            “For what?”

            “Updates, Doc.” Mei grabbed a chair and sat down, she slapped the desk and gestured for him to sit before pulling out a phone from her pocket. “Come on, I could be anywhere else right now instead of here.”

            “What updates?” Izuku asked, standing up and throwing the sleeping bag aside.

            “Your cybernetics. It’s been a while since you last updated the software. Balbino is still alive and doing his job. Some improvements you might like.”

            “No thanks.” Izuku said, suspicious it wouldn’t just be some software updates going into his head.

            Mei shrugged and held up a hand. “Fine, then give it back.”

            “What?”

            She glared at him. “You know what.”

            It took him a moment to figure out what she meant. He pulled the jammer out of his pocket and handed it over, the flash drive was in another pocket, more tucked away. He hoped they wouldn’t pat him down before taking him to Naban. Mei took the jammer, turned it on, and then bitch slapped him. Izuku was half-expecting everyone to be beating him up at this point, so he wasn’t completely off guard.

            “You fucking idiot!” Mei hissed. “Oh, I’ve been waiting years to chew you out for that shit.”

            “Get in line, Mei.” Izuku sighed. “How did I manage to fuck things up for you?”

            “Oh, you have no idea!” She raised her hand and he flinched back, but she was just gesturing out the window. “You fucked up the defences and me and the support staff had to do overtime to get it all online again, then Nezu comes rolling into the shop dragging your fucking creations and demanding answers. I wasn’t allowed to step into a workshop for over a year! An entire damn year! I couldn’t even touch a wrench without the loyalists freaking out, because apparently I was somehow involved in your fucked up science experiment. I was on house-arrest! I had to take up another fucking hobby to stop myself from going insane. Legos were not an option because everyone thought I could make a nuclear reactor with one. What did I have to take up as a hobby, Izuku? You want to know what? Books! I had to read a shit ton of books, because nobody thought even I could make a machine out of a fucking paperback.

            “I was treated like a child for the entire year before I was finally allowed back into the shop, but as if that wasn’t enough, Nezu went and resurrected FUCKING OSHA! OSHA! Those bastards made me do safety meetings, wear a ton of safety gear, follow a fucking procedure for everything and a ton of paperwork. They watched me like hawks and marked down any little thing I did wrong and suspended me from the shop for weeks after accumulating so many strikes.”

            She took a deep breath and Izuku took the chance to get his say in. “Mei, I don’t have time for this. Naban, remember?”

            Mei grinned, and Izuku swore her Quirked eyes sparkled like the pits of hell. “Kirishima bought me ten minutes, bitch. You ain’t going nowhere.”

            Shit. Izuku thought, as Mei proceeded to chew him out.

            ---

            Once Mei felt she had said all that needed to be said, Izuku was just ready to go fight and die to a bunch of robots. He didn’t want to run into anyone else, he was done, just get him the hell out. Mei stormed out the room and shoved the jammer into Eijiro, who’d been standing outside and already wearing his hero costume. The hardening hero didn’t need the standard jacket and pants everyone else wore to stop bites. His Quirk was the best defense one could ask for these days. And guessing by the shit-eating grin he wore; the walls weren’t that insulated from Mei’s tirade. Eijiro led him down to an armory and got him geared up.

            The robots were a bit… iffy. When asked how easy they were to break, Eijiro stated how easy it was to pile up bots and points in the entrance exam. Sounded like just any Meta-human could punch or Quirk their way out of a mess of robots. But when they were coordinated, strategic, and aiming to kill instead of maim, then they were more problematic to deal with.

            “I think Hagakure said there are switches on the back of them.” Eijiro said, rubbing his chin. “Though, I never bothered looking myself, so I can’t say if that’s true or not.”

            “She’s invisible.” Izuku reminded him. “Doesn’t amount to superstrength, unless she had support weapons. Which nobody has seen her use.”

            Eijiro scowled, “Yeah, whatever. Bots are built cheap, some of them got thicker armour than others. 5.56 is your best pick. And we got a variety of that calibre here. That or you can try hitting them really, really hard.”

            Izuku considered that for a second. Then picked out a compact rifle with a short barrel and adjustable stock. Likely he’d be running around buildings and machinery. He picked out 5.56 boxes designated as AP rounds and a couple mags and a mag vest. He thought about throwing on Kevlar underneath, but decided against it. It likely wouldn’t do him much good against machines that might just pummel him to death. His best bet of survival would be to move fast and quick to his objectives. With that thought, he threw on a sidearm and a couple clips for it, as a backup if he found the vest and rifle too heavy to run with. He didn’t have a guarantee any of these would work against the machines. He might be expected to fail soon as he stepped inside and Nezu would televise his death to Campus for their amusement. He could imagine Eijiro breaking out the popcorn.

            He didn’t put a magazine into the rifle. He didn’t want other folks getting antsy, but he checked over everything to make sure it worked before following Eijiro out to the helipad. UA didn’t have those before, so it had been a recent addition sometime since his escape. The helicopter looked military; he had no idea to which army it belonged to. The blades were already spinning and as they went to climb in the back, Snipe appeared and joined them.

            “Here.” Snipe handed him a small bag. “Hate for you to leave these behind.”

            Izuku took the bag and looked inside. It was the flash drive with Nezu’s program for retaking the facility and the bracelet that would be communicating to the others machines he was one of them. It had more weight to it than he expected as he slid it on and clicked it tight. The helicopter started taking off and they all put on headsets.

            “Battery will last you twelve hours.” Snipe stated as he finished buckling in. “Long enough to do what you need. Eijiro is your way in. Nezu will be watching your progress from UA. When he gives the word, you come back and you get a ride back to UA and your freedom. The program should work with any terminal you can access. If you’re lucky, one or two will allow us retake it. Bag under your seat,” Snipe pointed, “That’s all the parts you need if the machines decided to trash the radio towers. You know the drill there.”

            “Good.” Izuku looked between them. “Any pointers if things go south and I have to fight off the bots? Weak points, that sort of thing? I know you lot can deal with them easily enough.”

            “Head and chest.” Snipe said. “Chest houses most of the major operating components, armours a bit thicker there, but not much more than the rest of it. The head has those sensors in it, knock those out, they’re pretty much blind, perhaps your best bet.”

            “Ares hasn’t done any modifications to them?” Izuku inquired. “You fought them recently?”

            “I did.” Snipe replied. “Me and Nagant just a few weeks ago. We spent a good while picking them off from a distance, we had a bit of a competition going. They’re just didn’t seem to be an end to them and they eventually got wise to us.”

            “They chased you outside the facility?”

            “More like leveled a few city blocks.” Snipe chuckled. “Lot of excitement, a nice change up from zombies. We pretty much played hide and seek with the zero-pointers.”

            Izuku frowned. “What are the zero-pointers?”

            Snipe and Eijiro shared a look. He couldn’t see Snipes expression obviously, but Eijiro had that shit-eating look again. The two seemed to be sharing the same thought.

            “You’ll see.” Snipe said a bit too eagerly.

            “…Okay.” Izuku looked at the bracelet and figured it didn’t hurt to ask. “Were you wearing these bracelets when that happened?”

            “No. But we can only got them to work on the clankers.” Snipe said. “The turrets work differently, different targeting systems and all that. They don’t look for a QR code or anything.”

            “Good to know.”

            Didn’t take long to reach Naban. UA had set up a F.O.B. not too far from the facility for the chopper to land. Though it was like a mini-UA with the same kind of wall design, though the turrets were replaced with manned machined gun nests. Izuku figured might have started out as temporary but they decided to make the fort permanent. Maybe it oversaw a trade route here between another settlement UA deemed important enough to dedicate resources to protect. Or maybe if the Ares or whatever other program Nezu decided to put in place of Ares decided to stage another revolution, they’d have people close by to intervene.

            The pilot set them down and they took an armoured car the rest of the way to the facility. The car was outfitted with radio equipment to boost the signal and relay between them and the fort and then to UA. Nezu would be wanting a live report as things happened. Izuku did his best to draw a mental map from the base to the facility, he was finding it difficult to keep track with the many twists and turns Eijiro was doing just to get them there, but he had a general idea. They eventually stopped just a couple blocks away from the facility, hidden away behind a building.

            Eijiro put the car in park. “This is your stop, Doc. You want to turn back now; you missed your chance.”

            “Like I had a choice.” Izuku grumbled and got out of the car.

            Eijiro opened his mouth to say something, but a nudge from Snipe got him to shut it. Eijiro got out and Snipe took his place behind the driver seat. Izuku checked over his gear one last time. He hadn’t put a magazine into his rifle during the entire trip, figure it do him less trouble with the cautious looks everyone was giving him. Now, he corrected that by slamming home a new one and retracting the bolt. Eijiro activated his Quirk, his entire body hardening to the texture of cracked stone, and Snipes hand rested on his pistol.

            “What’s the entry plan?” Izuku asked, trying to get them past the tense moment and onto getting the damn job over with.

            Eijiro twitched a stone eyebrow in annoyance, “Stay behind me.”

            With that, he walked out into the street. He didn’t get three steps before a beam of energy struck him in the chest. The energy jolted him a little, but that was one of the many energy beams following after and as he was lit up like a light show at a DJ’s booth. His form shifted, changing into his Unbreakable form where his entire body became more jagged and hard. He also glowed with a different sort of energy than what he was being struck with.

            “Hurry up, Doc, I can’t do this for long.” Eijiro snapped. “Behind me! now!”

            Izuku did as told, huddling behind Eijiro. He patted the goliath’s shoulder, signaling he was there and ready to move. Eijiro marched in direction of the gunfire and Izuku kept pace. All the hairs on his body were raised by the amount of static in the air, and he didn’t know if it was from Eijiro or the turrets constant firing. Eijiro turned and grabbed Izuku and hugged him close as the angle of fire became more downward, he raised his arms overhead to shield him better. Finally, they were under the turrets and out of their sight to be fired upon. Eijiro didn’t waste a second shoving him away and approached the wall. Without stopping, he drew back an arm and his body glowed brighter with more of that odd energy. He punched the wall and made a sizable hole - through what had to be several meters of steel and concrete - big enough for them to walk through. Eijiro went first before waving Izuku through.

            “It’s definitely cleaner than outside.” Izuku said idly, as he stepped inside and took in his surroundings. He spotted a building with antennae and other shit on the rooftop.

            “Whatever.” Eijiro said. “I’ll be in the hole. Don’t come back unless you’re done, otherwise I got permission to punt you clear across this place, yah hear?”

            “Yeah, I hear.” Izuku sighed. He glanced around, nothing immediately threatening besides present company. “How bad was it?”

            Eijiro paused. “What?”

            “Ashido.” Izuku said. “How bad was it? You said she’s in a wheelchair now, right?”

            He would have said more, but Eijiro got in his face, hand gripping Izuku’s collar and keeping him from backing away. “There a point to you fucking asking?”

            “I didn’t mean for things to get out of hand.” Izuku stated, trying to backpedal. “I’m sorry. Okay? That’s what I’m trying to say.”

            “Sorry can’t fix her.” Eijiro shoved him away. “Right now, you should be focusing on what Nezu wants you to do. That’s it.”

            Eijiro stomped back into the hole. Izuku did another quick look around. Right, just do what Nezu wanted him to do. Like it used to be. He gritted his teeth and pulled the map out of his pocket and checked it. From their entry point, the communications and general office building would be to his right. He put the map away and took up a steady jog. Sooner the job was done, the better.

Chapter Text

Now

            Finding the communications building was easy to spot, it was the place with lots of antenna and signal towers coming out of it. Fairly large building looking a bit rough. He moved slowly, keeping an eye on his surroundings. The place was huge though, and he saw a couple groups of clankers moving around, some heading right for the breach Eijiro had made. Thankfully none had noticed him yet. He hoped the bracelet was working as promised.

            When he got to the building, he hugged the wall till he could find the door. As he was turning the corner he almost ran face first into a patrol. He froze in place as a glowing red eye glared at him. It was taller than him, that was for sure, one visual sensor on the end of its triangular head, and two armoured arms, one of which supported a minigun. Two more stood behind it. Izuku found himself bracing for the thing to shoot him when it dinged.

            “Resume duties, Unit 420.” The clanker said, and all three turned around on single huge wheels and zoomed off.

            He let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding. He didn’t care about the designation, only relieved the bracelet worked like Mei promised. He moved along and found the door. It was open due to what he assumed to be one of the machines having rammed on through and leaving a giant hole behind. He entered with caution, rifle up and ready, scanning each room as he went and listening for movement.

            He stopped by one of the rooms, seeing what must have been a last-ditch effort by the staff to hide or defend themselves from the machines. Only the room had been thoroughly trashed by the machines, it was hard to tell whose remains belonged to who. He saw some damage from weapons fire, but it looked like things went pretty ape-shit in here.

            He turned on his radio. “Snipe. Do you read me?”

            “Unfortunately.” Came Snipes reply.

            “I’m in the communications building. Don’t know how much it matters, but I think I found most… maybe some of the staff? Kinda hard to tell.”

            “And I assume none of them are alive to give their accounts of things.”

            “Pretty much.”

            “Figured as much. Must have been quick.”

            Izuku looked the bullet riddled room over once more. “Yeah. If we’re thinking positively.”

            He cleared the first floor and went up to the second. Here he found the heart of the facilities operations. Cubicles and offices. He wandered around, thankful they had nameplates designating the person and work they did. He found the one he needed in a small office space and went inside. Everything here was still intact. He went over to the computer and turned it on, and was pleased when the PC fans turned on and the monitor lit up. Small mercies. He plugged in the USB stick. One of the programs started up immediately and broke through all the logins and security measures. Another threw the network wide open for Nezu to access from UA.

            Considering for a second whether or not Nezu would notice, he plugged in the second USB before calling it in. “Let Nezu know he has access.”

            “Will do.” Said Snipe.

            Meanwhile, Izuku had his own curiosities. It took a bit of navigating to find out how to view the status of the facility. Someone had made an app for it so it was easy to find, he just hadn’t had a clue he’d been looking right at it. It was nice, gave him a list of what was operational and a count of the stock. Though it hadn’t been updated in over a year by the looks of it. He clicked a button on the side that said ‘refresh’ and waited as the page reloaded.

            ---

            Assembly Building 1: Operational. Efficiency: 76%

            Assembly Building 2: *Inoperable*

            Assembly Building 2-A: Operational. Efficiency: 43%

            Assembly Building 3: Operational. Efficiency 58%

            …

            ---

            And on and on it went. Izuku glanced through all of it, but he could tell there would be work involved in getting this place up to snuff. There might be a breathing period before UA attempted their takeover of Japan with a robotic army. He did some more reading and opened a tab listing available units. He was greeted again with another long list. Looked like each clanker was given a number, and all it told him was if each one was on or not. It was a very long list, but only one caught his attention. A unit number flashing at him in red. He clicked on it and information on the unit expanded into another tab.

            ---

            Unit: Oni-761. Mobile within perimeter. Caution: Unit has left designated parameters in sector 7-1. Currently in Sector 2-5.

            Loading…

            Update: Currently in Sector 1.

            ---

            He suddenly realized there was a slight vibration in the room. A couple seconds passed before he realized it was increasing in intensity. A few more seconds and picture frames were falling off the walls and things were tipping over all over the place. He went to the window to see what it was and looked up. And up. And up.

            “Fuck.” He said, at the giant clanker huge enough to give the Hero Godzilla run for their money. It was rolling on huge caterpillar tracks towards the communications building. On its chest was a large zero painted in red. Zero pointer. They put these things in the entrance exams?

             He broke out of his shock realizing what was about to happen. “Oh fuck! Fuck! Fuck!”

            He took out the of the room at records speed, fueled by adrenaline and fear. He reached the stairs before he thought of just shooting out the windows and jumping out, but he was already halfway down the steps when that thought occurred.

            “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!”

            He jumped past the last four steps and hit the wall and made a beeline for the hole in the wall. He was out of there just as a giant fist punched right through the building and into earth. Izuku was engulfed in a cloud of dust as the giant demolished the communications building. He coughed as dust filled his lungs, but he kept running blindly through the cloud. He ran into the wall of another building and worked his way around to another door. It was locked, but he shot up the handle and kicked it in. He waited as the giant machine continued to pound the earth with giant metal fists. It felt excessive, perhaps angry. But robots shouldn’t be angry… right? Eventually it stopped and Izuku sat inside waiting.

            His radio clicked, Nezu had joined the call. “Doctor, any particular reason the network just went offline?”

            “Big robot.” Izuku muttered.

            “What?”

            He took a deep breath. “Giant. Fucking. Robot!”

            A pause. “Oh… so, it destroyed the building?”

            “What building?” Izuku snapped. This got a laugh from Nezu and he thought he heard Snipe joining in as well.

            Nezu said. “See if you can access the terminals in the more sensitive parts of the facility. I doubt Ares would go as far as sacrificing machine output to keep me out. Keep me posted.”

            “Will do.” Izuku coughed. “Fucking assholes!”

            It took him some time to collect himself and look around the room. Just more office stuff. The ground shook again as the zero-pointer moved. It didn’t feel like it was moving away. He went to the door and looked outside, and up again at the machine that nearly killed him. It was looming over him, bent over and peering down so close, he could see his reflection in one of the six visual sensors it had on its face. Like before with the robot patrol, he wasn’t sure if it was going to kill him. It felt like it was considering and he wasn’t sure what he’d do. Then the light flickered in its eye and it straightened up, turned about, and went back the way it came.

            Izuku watched it go till the ground stopped shaking. “Last time I fucking do errands for anyone. Fuck this place.”

Chapter Text

Now

            Nezu hummed to himself as he shut off the radio and closed the drawer containing it. He had hoped with a foothold in the main server he’d regain some control of the facility and assist Izuku (much as he wanted to sick the bots on him himself), but he knew if he was Ares, he’d destroy that place when the flaw became apparent. Credit to his work Ares was more advanced than he had hoped. It had even set up a firewall system he couldn’t get through in the seconds he had access. It was almost like the system was completely isolated in itself, an indestructible ball of coding. His program seemed to have the effect of shooting an arrow at a tank. He almost felt a sort of fatherly pride. He would love to crack it open and see what it had done without supervision all these years.

            But for now, he focused on his two guests in front of him. Eri and Izuku’s dog, Leo. The golden retriever sat quietly beside her eyes boring into him and ears twitching at the slightest noise outside. Leo was watchful for a breed that was supposedly happy and carefree. Given it was a popular breed for service dogs, this one for some reason struck him as an odd one. Very alert too. If he wasn’t mistaken, Leo had clocked the room in a sort of fashion when they came in.

            The two had been escorted to his office just before he finished shut off the radio. Eri and Leo were suppose to be in a classroom getting a proper education, but Nezu had changed the schedule midway to her destination and she had a checkup with Recovery girl. Make sure the girl was in top health, in addition to a foot X-ray to discover the missing toe joint. She was Quirked in some way they hadn’t seen yet. Otherwise, she was perfectly healthy despite and abundant of scarring on her arms, including a bite wound, curiously enough. Though it was scarred and old and by the time it had healed to that degree she would have turned. So, no immediate concern there. Besides, if she was infected, the gate guards would have discovered it and taken care of her accordingly.

            “A pleasure to make an official acquaintance, Eri.” Nezu said. “I am Nezu. Am I a rat? A bear? Or a mouse?”

            Eri fidgeted in her chair, her head was bowed and she was trying to look anywhere but at him. “Um… I don’t know… what?”

            Nezu chuckled, noting her body language as uncomfortable. “A little game that everyone on Campus is playing. I am a mammal, but nobody knows for sure which kind of mammal I am?”

            “What?”

            Nezu laughed. “Forgive me, I’m used to talking with college students and adults. What kind of an animal do you think I am or say, look like?”

            “Uh… mouse?”

            “A common answer.” Nezu nodded. “Has Midoriya ever told you what he thinks I am?”

            “No.”

            “Really? Are you sure?”

            Eri fidgeted for a second, glancing up and quickly looking down when they made eye contact. “Um… I remember one time he said, “Son of a bitch” once when he was talking to himself one day when he had said your name.” Eri scrunched her brows in thought. “There was also, mongrel, flea ridden, bastard, um… inbred was another.”

            “Do you know what any of those mean?” Nezu asked.

            “No.”

            “Well… good to know Midoriya gave you a little education.” Nezu made a mental note for Shiozaki about having Eri do some extra classes. She had a lot of catching up to do. “So… what happened to your parents, Eri? How did you end up in Midoriya’s care?”

            Eri just sat still, silent. It was a full minute before Nezu decided she wasn’t going to answer.

            Nezu sighed. “Eri, I’m trying to help. If your parents are still out there somewhere, I can find them for you. We got this website that allows us to communicate with other settlements. We put a picture of you on there with your name and if someone recognizes you they can contact us.”

            “No!” Eri shook her head. “No! They’re… they’re dead.”

            “I am sorry to hear that. My condolences to you.”

            Nezu considered her for a second. She didn’t want to be found. There had to be quite the story on how the two of them met. He forced himself to take a step back and assess. He was coming at this too direct, forceful. She was still getting new to her environment and the people around her. She was making herself small and wasn’t even looking him in the eye. Subservient, and used to it. That just raised more questions.

            He needed to come at this differently. The problem with meeting new folks first impressions. That can be scary at times. Nezu liked meeting new folks, it was something of a game he liked to play. He liked to think of himself as a blank slate when it came to meeting new folks, and then he molded himself according to how he wanted to be viewed by them. For newcomers and shy folks, the important part was to show vulnerability, some humanity (limited as it were for him). He had several tools sitting around in this office just to for that. He thought of several items that would be suitable.

            He put a hand on his chest and grimaced and made a slight groan. He patted his pockets and opened his desk drawers. “I had an orange bottle of pills around here, with a white cap. Do you see them, Eri?”

            Eri didn’t have to look very hard to see said bottle on the ground by her chair, exactly where Nezu had “carelessly” dropped them. She handed them over to him. “This one?”

            “Yes, that one exactly. Thank you.” Nezu poured on the gratitude pretty thick. He didn’t need to be too cunning here. He took two of the pills – which were really just sugar pills – and downed them with his tea. He visibly relaxed in his chair. “Thank you, Eri. My doctor says it’s my heart. I got to take these pills every so often. The stress of managing UA’s affairs has been getting to me lately.”

            Eri shifted, not sure how to respond to his words. That was fine, which was just a little act, a piece of personality stuck in her mind that could come to fruition later.

            “It’s a lot of work, I’ll tell you.” Nezu continued. “Keeping everyone safe, build tall walls, turrets to repel the undead and those who seek to attack us. Then there’s all the internal stuff, personal affairs, peoples wants and needs. We’ve at least solved our food, water, and power issues. Now we got more than we could ever ask for.”

            UA is safe. He was trying to project. Nothing to worry about here. All you’ve heard is a lie.

            Eri nodded, eyes still glued to the floor. She wasn’t used to people of authority- no… she was. It struck him now, and it should have been obvious. She was used to people of authority. She looked much like a kicked dog who accepted whatever came her way. Something Nezu knew too much about.

            Nezu stated. “Even after all that, I never understood why Midoriya wanted to rebel against us. That man had always been a mystery to me.”

            He paused to gauge a reaction, perhaps she’d want to state something Izuku had told her, but she looked down at the ground. Maybe she wasn’t up to defending the man. Good.

            “Must be something with Quirkologists.” He said. “Personally speaking, I’ve been subjected to their methods, preyed by their cruelty. They don’t see people as people. Simply tools.”

            There it was. A twitch and flicker of eye movement.

            “You… were…” Eri started, but quickly retreated back into herself.

            “Experimented on.” Nezu finished for her. “Yes, I was for many years.”

            “Why?”

            “Because I have a Quirk. Animals born with one are quite rare, especially one that enhances intelligence to a degree I can talk and act like one of them.”

            “Your Quirk makes you smart?”

            “Yes.” Nezu beamed. “And what would your Quirk be, if I may ask?”

            There was a moment of hesitation Nezu noted. “I’m Quirkless.”

            The subject of her Quirk must be a sensitive matter. In time, when perhaps more trust is gained, she will divulge further details. If it was some kind of a Quirk with offensive capabilities, she would perhaps be less timid and maybe displayed it upon their capture. He was noting as much detail as he could in her mannerisms and choice of words.

            “What about your dog?” He asked, because really, something about the dog seemed off to him. “Is Leo Quirked?”

            Eri nodded. “He can heal you when he licks you.”

            “Heal?” Nezu looked at the dog again with some surprise. “Where did Midoriya find him?”

            “I don’t know. Said he bought him from someone.” Eri shifted uncomfortably. “He… he said his vocal cords were cut to stop him from barking. But… he’s very obedient.”

            Ah, yes. It was a trend among the outsiders to disable their animals in some manner to prevent them from attracting the undead. It wasn’t a huge concern here in UA where they possessed the means and will to exterminate the dead before they were a threat to UA. But to the other settlements where their level of security wasn’t on the same level as UA, attracting a zombie horde – or even just the wrong zombie – could be a death sentence for the entire settlement.

            Though Tokyo had been considered the one other exception till their recent fall. Nezu still hadn’t figured out who had caused the collapse of Tokyo. Certainly, wasn’t his doing, despite the preparations he had for that eventuality. He just hadn’t had deemed the right reason to go to war with Tokyo and waste manpower and resources to do it. Contrary to past actions, he had rooted out the majority of the troublemakers to make UA stable, he now had to be careful how he played his hand.

            Back to the topic at hand though. “Midoriya said he bought him? A dog with the capability to heal?”

            “Yes.”

            “Are there side affects when he heals you?”

            “Um… Mr. Midoriya always seems to be getting healed. Says it depletes stamina – whatever that is – and he gets really tired afterwards.”

            Oh. Oh! Midoriya you bastard, you’re still working on that. Nezu thought, but then considered where he’d been going initially and thanked him gladly. Another tool plopped onto his lap.

            “Leo isn’t Quirked.” He stated.

            Eri looked confused. “What do you mean?”

            “We have someone on our staff. Her hero name is Recovery Girl, the youthful hero. Her Quirk activates by kissing someone – and I guess dog kisses fit the criteria – it speeds up their recovery at the expense of their stamina, becoming tired like you said.” Nezu gave her a sad smile. “If Leo was Quirked like most of us, then Izuku would not have been able to afford to buy that dog. Nobody in their right mind would part with a healer, and I would say he either stole the dog or murdered the previous owner, but the fact the Quirk is similar to one I know rules that out.”

            “I don’t get it?” Eri said, but stopped, recalling something by the expression she had.

            “Has Midoriya ever discussed his work with you?” Nezu asked.

            Eri shifted uncomfortably, one hand rubbing the arm the medical report said had the bite. “He, uh… he gave a zombie another Quirk.”

            Nezu nodded. “By attaching another part of a zombie to it. Like an arm or leg perhaps?”

            “I don’t know, I’ve never seen him do it.”

            Well, gauging how Leo didn’t look to have parts grafted to him, Nezu could guess Izuku had refined the process. If he had given it to a living being, then that was truly groundbreaking. The only other person who could give and take Quirks were All for One, and he was dead, or so they thought. The Nomu from first year was suspicious, but if it were possible for Izuku to do, than it was likely someone else equally specialized in that field could do it as well.

            “Then he grafted the Quirk to Leo, like he did with the zombies.” Nezu stated for her.

            “I thought that only worked with zombies.” Eri said. “He didn’t say it worked on living.”

            “When Izuku started his research, it certainly started out that way, in a manner of speaking.” Nezu shrugged. “Course, I have no idea how he does it. He destroyed his research when he fled UA, so we had nothing to go on in that regards, much like his prized motivators.

            “I will say I do believe you are lying, Eri. I know you may have your reasons for hiding it, but you do have a Quirk, yes? You don’t need to answer, I just need you to consider something. When Izuku rescued you from whatever your predicament was, was it just for the Quirk? Did he intend to use it in his research to your knowledge.”

            Eri’s head bowed. That was answer enough.

            “He did intend to use you in his research.” Nezu shook his head, disappointment in his voice. “I have seen what he can do, Eri. What he is capable of, you don’t want to share their fate.”

            “What did he do?” Eri asked, a note of resignation in her voice. A decision nearing finality, only requiring an extra push. “Why does everyone hate him so much?”

            Nezu clasped his hand, resisting the urge to smile. “He sought to kill everyone, Eri. Bring UA down into ruins and the people within. All done by the monsters he created himself.” He turned the monitor around. “Would you like to see the evidence for yourself?”

Chapter Text

Then

            “You sure this is where the signal was coming from?” Mirio spoke into his radio.

            “Yeah.” One of the support staff replied. “Signal was weak. Either not a lot of juice behind it or it’s buried somewhere.”

            Mirio was in one of the segments of UA, one of the first expansion areas they’d claimed and walled off. The ruined city now turned into a thrumming residential space with the latest addition of a couple market squares not too far from here. Also had a park as well, but that didn’t matter except in the sense there were lots of civilians around. He was in an alley, following directions from one of the support staff tracing an unknown signal to its source. Not a lot to see here, no garbage or anything, just a bare alley. UA’s recycling program was in full swing and the streets were pristine as could be.

            “I don’t see any entrances around here.” Mirio stated. “Nowhere someone could hide a radio or something like that. Maybe it’s portable.”

            “We’ve marked this spot several times already.” The operator said. “Do your ghost thing or whatever it is you do and see if something is down there.”

            “It’s permeation, and okay.” Mirio breathed in a couple of breaths.

            Thankful he was wearing his hero costume so he wasn’t all nude when his Quirk activated. Things went dark in his vision and he went through the ground. If he didn’t emerge in a secret underground hideout, he’d simply pop back out on the surface. Wash, rinse, repeat just so he could convince the staff nothing was down there. He gave it a couple of seconds before switching his Quirk off and his sight returned. Do his displeasure, he wasn’t on the street anymore; he was somewhere else. He was, like he’d thought, in an underground hideout.

            “Oh, okay.” He said, looking around.

            There were only a few dim lights on in the room from various equipment running already. A computers was running simulations of something he didn’t understand and a few pods caked with ice sat by the far wall. A little further past those was a solid looking door. In the center of the room was a surgical table, there were trays of surgical equipment, and then some other equipment not the least bit surgical, up to and including a chainsaw you could grab from home hardware.

            When Mirio located the light switch in the room he saw more details he didn’t like. Against one wall were containers of limbs, heads, and various body parts suspended in a liquid solution of some kind. Each hooked up to their own monitor and wires sticking into the flesh and taking readings. Thankful he had a tough stomach and a good head on his shoulders not to freak out. Not many folks would be here if they didn’t adapt to such grotesque things.

            He walked around the room taking it all in. There were other pieces of equipment, odd looking devices. He opened a fridge and found several petri dishes with samples, each one labeled with a name, a few he recognized as some of the other heroes he worked alongside. Then there was another fridge with different samples. Something didn’t look right about these, and the labels were different, only things like “Subject 23” and so on. A creative name here and there that was more descriptive than anything. Then there were devices, modular and simple looking. One was partway assembled.

            This looked like that Quirk Doctors motivators. The one who worked with Mei and was dating Ochaco. What was his name again? Izuku? Mirio would have radioed in and asked about it, but his radio was up back in the alley. Unlike his costume, it couldn’t pass with him through solid matter. He needed to find the entrance and get more heroes and the SF down here, also someone should go arrest Izuku for questioning. The bodies in here and the things he was doing, he didn’t know if they were zombies or citizens of UA. Neither answer would be simple to explain for the good doctor.

            He eyed the solid iron door at the one end of the room. He walked towards it, past the tubes of ice-covered glass. He paused to look in them but only saw more undead. These ones had the addition of metal parts bolted to their bodies. Like Izuku had been turning them into cyborgs. But why? He moved on to the door, only to see it had a heavy-duty lock in place. No problem. He passed through the door with ease and stopped on the other side. And froze. Same glass tubes as before, but there were a lot more on this side of the door. This was not the way to go. He backed out of the room and into the other one. This was getting creepier than he liked. He looked around the room, a few other possible doors to take. Better speed this up before the doctor got back.

            He paused and took a step back, glancing inside the glass tubes. The ice was melting quite rapidly. The zombie inside was less frozen than when he’d first looked at it. The lights flicked to red, there was a click of something and a whooshing sound and Mirio activated his Quirk and went through the floor. He acted on instinct and intuition. He had no idea what was about to happen, he made sure he was already moving before so he could pop out somewhere else not in the lab, preferably up on the streets. He appeared back on the road, which wasn’t much of a road left.

            There had been an explosion blowing a huge smoking crater in the road. The windows in the nearby buildings had all been blown out, people were on the ground, dazed, wounded, some weren’t evening moving. Several heroes and SF were already present, helping folks up and moving them to safety. Sirens rang in alarm. Painfully loud and ear piercing.

            “Everyone clear out!” Mirio warned them. “Help is coming! But you all need to move away from the area.”

            He pointed the nearest SF. “We need a lockdown! Someone needs to find Doctor Midoriya now! And shut those sirens off!”

            “They’re not even suppose to be on!” The SF replied, pointing to his radio. “Guys on the line saying they were shut down after the glitch in the system a couple months back. They just activated on their own, they can’t shut them off.”

            Mirio was about to say something when he saw someone move in the smoke. He stepped towards them, ready to help, but stopped in his tracks when his ears picked up a familiar sound. The dreadful groan of the dead. The figure became clearer as they stepped towards him. He could make out a costume with orange highlights and patchy blonde hair. Mirio had only met the explosive hero a handful of times. Katsuki was usually guarding the walls or destroying entire hordes of undead. The last time he’d seen Katsuki before his death, he hadn’t had a metal visor screwed into his face, or weird blocky tubes attached to his arms with all sorts of equipment attached to them. He wore a strange backpack to0, a patchwork of wires and tubes. More movement in the smoke, more modified zombies crawled out of the pit. Various Quirks in affect, a damn horde of them.

            “Undead inside the walls!” An SF screamed. “Undead horde inside the walls! Everyone get to shelter! Now!

            Mirio was already moving towards them. Kill them quick and fast before things got worse. He only covered half the distance before Katsuki raised both arms and unleashed hell.

Chapter Text

Then

            On the other side of Campus, Izuku mentally commanded the UI interface in his cybernetic eye to dismiss the camera feed. So… UA found the lab. Not good. Really not good. And uh… now he was attacking the campus, he guessed. Not how he pictured this day going.

            He had been minding his business, grabbing groceries for home on a usual boring day. Then suddenly he gets an alert from his security system and who does he see in the lab? Mirio. Looking around, probably trying to find the entrance to get back out. No doubt he would report what he found to Nezu. Before Izuku left, the lobbyists had wanted to recruit Mirio, but they were unsure which of his loyalties he’d stick to more. He was more for the people, of the people kind of guy, but that involved all of UA, and consequently Nezu. Izuku had no doubt his experiments crossed several lines in the hero’s code.

            So, Izuku ordered the lab to do a cleanse, a procedure in case one of his experiments got loose. Everything in his lab would be purged with flame. Much of the equipment would be torched, which was fine, he could always make more. But just as that happened, he saw Mirio go right through the floor. Right, Mirio was good at prediction. Had to be with his Quirk. Weighing his options, he decided to throw all caution out the wind and stir shit up early. A gaping hole was now in the middle of the campus and his creations were waging a war against UA.

            Yeah. Probably not the best response, but all the others required him being captured and subjected to whatever fate Nezu picked for him. That is if they knew the lab was his.

            Izuku pulled out his phone. His own brand, it held several applications and software that allowed him to listen in on the comms network in UA. He listened in for a moment. Yeah, things were going to hell like he predicted, they were calling in reinforcements. Typical. Oh? now someone was ordering his arrest. Yep. Not going to happen.

            He had several grab-bags stashed around campus, should he ever have a need to start running. It was kind of a community thing, just about everyone had them, but Izuku had them for very different reasons. Zombies for sure, but anything to do with Nezu and his bullshit. Thanks to Momo’s printers, his bags were well-stocked and armed. He’d at least have a weapon to fight with.

            As he moved to one of his locations, doing what he could to stay out of sight. People were already drawn to the explosion and sirens. he tapped the quick-call feature on his phone for Ochaco and put an earbud in his ear so he could keep his hands free. She was in Nagoya doing recon for a convoy filled with lots of heroes and UASF. He needed to warn her. The call went straight to voicemail.

            “Dammit.” He crossed the street, keeping his head down and stepping into an office building. Yeah, even in the apocalypse, they needed offices. UA had started trading with other settlements and needed people to track the transactions. There were plenty of buildings like these all around, all managing hundred of trades and negotiations.

            Redirect B-0 to my location. He ordered through the implant. The spot where he was sporting the scar from a “fight” a couple years ago hadn’t been what it was for. Back then, he’d already considered the possibility of controlling zombies as he progressed in his research. It was more to keep them in line, but he saw the possibility to militarize them and was ready to put it into practice. He managed to bribe Balbino, the cyberneticist, to put the implant in without putting it on any forms for Nezu. Izuku had given him the supplies and tech to do it – which required giving Izuku blueprints to print them out, and he copied those to replicate in his own work - so long as Balbino didn’t ask questions about how he acquired any of it. It had been at a good time for surgery since he burnt his hair and had to shave it.

            The AI interface connected to his earpiece. “What did you say?”

            “Fuck you.” Izuku groaned. He looked out the door. Two UASF were standing by the door, looking around. He thought hard and clearly, focusing on each word. Execute operation sequence: Dead in Water and Scorched Earth.

            Someone approached them and pointed down the hall he’d gone. The two UASF started to move. He hesitated, glancing around and ducking back in, considering what to do. There was one last order he could give. It was desperate and dangerous, may not pan out how he wanted. But this was UA, forger of heroes, and there were a lot of heroes. He needed as many distractions as he could get.

            Direct order to Subject T-O. Directive: Scatter to the wind.

            “Doctor Midoriya!” One of the UASF called. “We know you’re there. Come on out and surrender peacefully.”

            Izuku reached into his bag and pulled out a Uzi. He stuck his arm out and fired down the hall. The UASF took cover and he burst across the hall into an office, the occupants hunkering down and trying to hide. He fired at the window, shattering it, and jumped out into another alley and he tore off towards the street.

            “Executing multiple directives.” The AI repeated back. “Dead in water: Active. Scorched Earth: Active. Subject T-O is approaching criteria for: Scatter to the wind.

            Good, least that worked. He tried ordering the AI again. Redirect B-0 to my location.

            “Subject B-0 is unavailable.”

            Diagnostics?

            “B-0 is fully functioning.”

            Then send Kacchan to me.

            “I do not understand?”

            Send B-0 to me!

            “Subject is unavailable due to priorities pertaining prime directives.”

            What prime directives?

            “Kill Nezu.”

            Oh. Oh, he forgot about that. He had promised Katsuki he’d grant him his last wish. If he managed to kill Nezu, that would make this entire mess worth it. He went through a mental list of all his other assets.

            Redirect subjects to my location. Y-67, F-21, S-34. Izuku commanded as he ran out of the alley, across the street, and into another one. He looked behind, but it looked like he’d lost the UASF for a moment.

            “Orders confirmed. Subjects on route to your location.” The AI informed him.

            Least that works. Izuku thought to himself. Maybe if this had happened in a couple more years, I’d have been out of the prototype phase.

            With that, he pulled up a map in his UI and pinged the motor pool where Nezu kept his latest intrigues. Due to things heating up recently between UA and Tokyo, there were some interesting toys there he could take advantage of. They weren’t part of escape plans A to Z, but his brand-new plan: Fuck it! Would have to do, and on that note-

            “Let’s really make this a party.” Izuku muttered and sent one last command. Execute directive: Kagutsuchi.

Chapter Text

Then

            Ochaco was floating over the city of Nagoya, conducting recon for the convoy behind her. They city had been subjected to an earthquake some time ago. Whether it was zombie’s Quirk or just nature doing its thing, it had done a number on the city. Breaking up the ground in places, knocking down buildings, and all around making it difficult to navigate. She was keeping any eye out for zombies and clear roads for the convoy to take. Thankfully they were on their way back to UA with a load of goodies.

            Communication was a little spotty in Nagoya. Some parts of Japan with bigger refuges maintained their radio towers and the like, while raiders did their best to severe those connections. Nagoya also didn’t have any live humans to their knowledge to hijack their towers, so they had to come prepared. They worked with short-range radios to keep communication between her and the convoy, and they occasionally got a signal to report back to UA their progress. As they were on their way back, they passed through one of these areas where Ochaco got a signal on her cellphone and she saw she had a missed call from Izuku. Taking a quick look around, making sure the convoy wasn’t in immediate danger, she called him back.

            “Hey honey!” Ochaco said. “Just on my way back to UA. What’s up?”

            “Ochaco!” Izuku’s voice practically screamed in her ear. She could hear the fear in his words and she mentally shifted herself into hero mode. “Things are fucked!”

            “What’s going on?” Ochaco asked. She stopped in the air, not wanting to lose the signal. There were sounds of screams and gunshots on his end. “Are you at UA?”

            “Yes!” Izuku said as something that sounded like a Uzi ripped off a full magazine. “I fucked up! I should have told you earlier, but I have a secret lab where I was experimenting on zombies and mixing their Quirks, and today Mirio found it and I panicked and activated several protocols and now UA knows its me and now they’re trying to find me while my cyborgs are attacking UA, so, it’s a clusterfuck!” He stopped to take a breath, she tried to get a word in but he continued. “I’m trying to get out of the school before they capture me. I called to warn you that you need to get somewhere safe. I don’t know if Nezu has contacted your team yet to have you arrested or anything-”

            “Izuku! Izuku!” Ochaco interrupted. “You’re attacking UA?”

            “I had planned it further in the future.” He said defensively. “I said we needed an army to take down Nezu. At the rate he was killing off folks, I decided to make one. What matters now is you need to get somewhere safe. Where are you?”

            “Still in Nagoya, on my way back.” Ochaco looked down at the convoy. It had stopped now and people were getting out. “Where can we meet up?”

            Izuku hesitated. “Anywhere but the Musutafu Volcano.”

            Ochaco glared at the phone. “Why are you saying that?”

            “I figured worse comes to worse and we needed to escape, we would need a lot of distractions Nezu’s goons busy. There just so happened to be a volcano in the city. Sue me.”

            “And what did you do to it?”

            “Placed a bunch of noisemakers and a few motivators that can shake up the earth.” Izuku said exasperated. “That yurei is going to have a very rude wake up call, and it should be going off any minute now. Um… we can meet in the Shimada district. We can work something out from there.”

            “Izuku!” But she heard a bunch of gunshots on his end and more terrified screaming.

            “Sorry, I’m trying to get out of UA right now. Call you back if I live. I love you!”

            “I love you!” Ochaco said reflexively and then Izuku hung up. She grabbed the joystick and started to move again.” Dammit Izuku!”

            She glanced back at the convoy. There was one concern with getting away, and she could already pick out the hero that would make it an issue. Snipe already had the gun in his hands and a finger to his earpiece.

            “Uravity.” Snipes voice said in her ear. “Come on down. We got a situation.”

            ---

            Snipe stepped out of the lead truck. He was annoyed the first bit of signal he got resulted in a call from Nezu, he thought things were fine since he gave the last update on the convoy, but this was a whole other matter apparently.

            “You’re sure it’s the doctor?” Snipe asked.

            “I’ve got several reports saying it is.” Nezu assured. “Lot of zombie cyborgs, heavily modified, some showing more than one Quirk. If it wasn’t for the motivators we’ve been able to identify on them, I’d say it was Balbino, but this isn’t his sort of thing. It would appear Doctor Midoriya has expanded his knowledge base to quite an extent. He is also currently evading arrest and causing havoc through Campus. There have already been exchanges of gunfire between him and the UASF.”

            “Why call me? I’m too far away to do you any good.”

            “Apprehend Uraraka Ochaco. Bring her in. There may be intel she could be compelled to share given their relationship. If worse comes to worse, she would be an invaluable bargaining chip. I need this handled; we are dealing with a revolt against UA.”

            “So, don’t kill her.” Snipe reiterated.

            “Yes.” There was a loud explosion on Nezu’s end. “It appears I must vacate my office now. However you do it, do it. I want this revolt, these “Lobbysists” deal with once and for all. That means obtaining information.”

            “Understood. Consider it done.” Snipe hung up. He unholstered his pistol and pressed a finger to his earpiece. “Uravity. Come on down, we got a situation.”

            There was a moment before she replied, “What situation?”

            He could see her flying away as she talked. He tapped the side of the eyepiece on his mask and the built in rangefinder marked the distance between them. He had a limited range of six hundred meters to work with his Quirk. She was already past three hundred. He took aim. If she didn’t comply by the time she reached five hundred and fifty, he’d do things the hard way.

            “Come on back and we can talk.” Snipe said.

            “Snipe?” Snipe glanced over to see one of the heroes, Backdraft, a firefighter. “What are you doing? That’s Uravity.”

            “Nezu’s orders.” Snipe said, to both him and Ochaco. “Come in peacefully, Uraraka. We can get this all sorted out without any hassle.”

            Ochaco replied. “Or what? What did I do?”

            “Have it your way, then.”

            Snipe barely squeezed the trigger when Backdraft raised both his hose mutated arms and let out a burst of water, blasting Snipe off his feet. Then Backdraft willed the water to bind around Snipes arms and legs.

            “What the hell do yah think you’re doing?” Snipe demanded.

            “Your lot keeps killing folks, Snipe. It has to stop.” Backdraft said. “This isn’t right. We’re better than this.”

            “Let’s just all calm down a moment.” Another hero said. “Nobody’s dying, let’s talk-”

            Snipe rolled his eyes. Ochaco was getting away. He fought against the restraints, not to free himself, but to loosen up his gun hand a little. He turned it down, and with the aid of his Quirk, the bullet curved up and pierced Backdrafts skull. The water dropped the same time he did, leaving Snipe soaking wet. He managed to catch himself from falling on his ass again and steadied himself before turning to the others.

            “Anyone else?” Snipe challenged.

            The other heroes and UASF looked between them, uncertain of what to do. Then a UASF raised their gun at Snipe and was shot by one of their comrades before they got a chance to pull the trigger. Then it just seemed to blow up from there as they fought amongst themselves. Lot of unresolved tension he took it, probably from the lobbyists and their sympathizers. Snipe didn’t know who was fighting who, and frankly did not have time to figure it out. He dropped a couple of smoke grenades and made his exit to get some distance from them quickly as he could and get a bead on Ochaco. He just needed to take out the jetpack and she’d be on foot from there, with it.

            He ran into a street and caught sight of her. She was punching it now, nearing six hundred metres and swerving in anticipation of being shot at. Snipee fired his gun. Just as she crossed that marker into six hundred and one, his bullet hit the jetpack and punched a hole in the compressor. She swerved violently in the air was she was taken off course. She threw off the jetpack and continued spinning uncontrollably in the sky till she deactivated her Quirk and started falling to the ground. She disappeared from his sight, but he figured she’d reactivate her Quirk and land safely on the ground without much issue. Unless there were zombies right below her… Okay, maybe he should have thought that part through a little better.

            He walked back to the convoy to find the fight had wound down just as quickly as it started. Most of the UASF were pointing their guns at a group of prisoners face down on the ground, bloody, beaten, and/or dead. Snipe kept his gun at the ready, but it seemed he didn’t have much to worry about.

            “Snipe!” One of the UASF said, pointing to the prisoners. “What do you want us to do with them?”

            “Are you with me?” Snipe asked.

            “Yes sir.” Came a chorus of voices. The prisoners only glared.

            “Secure the dissidents.” Snipe ordered. “I need a team with me to capture Uravity. We need her alive. Move it!”

            A combo of UASF and heroes followed after him as they ran to the spot where Ochaco had landed. She wouldn’t be out of the fight; Snipe knew his students better than that. They’d fight to their last breath. Without the jetpack, she would resort to hiding, which meant searching-

            There was a sudden shadow cast over him. He looked up and –

            “Oh, holy mother of-”

            ---

            That should be about right. Ochaco thought and deactivated her Quirk. The building she sent flying towards the convoy crashed into the street. She was gauging the distance from where she stood, fortunately she had a lot of practice throwing buildings these last few years. She was still on the comms and she could hear the panicked talking and yelling as they warned each other of the incoming building. Sounded like she’d been a little off.

            She touched another building – the broken ground around here made it really easy to just wrench the ten-story structure out of the ground and lift it overhead – she held it with out hand, gauged the trajectory of her throw, and let it soar unimpeded to the convoy. She let it drop a little further than the first one. She was rewarded with more terrified screams on the comms.

            “Would you quit doing that?!” Snipe demanded. “What is it with you dropping buildings on folks?!”

            “Don’t knock it till you try it.” Ochaco hefted another building into the sky. “If you really want to complain about it, talk to your boss. He’s the one who had me doing this for years.”

            “Just come along peacefully for God’s sake!”

            “Peacefully? You shot at me!”

            “Because you wouldn’t listen!”

            “Really? What would have happened if I had?”

            “You would be placed in my custody until we figure out what’s going on with your boyfriend?”

            “Right.” Ochaco walked over to a nice twenty story building. It looked just~ right. “Tell me something, Snipe. When was the last time UA kept prisoners?”

            There was a moment where Snipe didn’t answer. UA didn’t even much of a prison to put folks. Mainly used for the Quirkless. For the Quirked, you had to build a structure capable of holding them and their powers, with loads of security and countermeasures. It was resource intensive and disastrous if poorly managed. It was better off to banish or kill the criminals, and it always seemed to be the latter choice these days.

            “We’re making an exception.” Snipe said. Oh, was he bargaining now? “You haven’t been convicted of anything, but if you keep resisting, then there will be repercussions.”

            “Nezu doesn’t need an excuse to execute me.” Ochaco fired back. “Who’s killed more of your students at this point, Snipe? The zombies or Nezu? Did you try bartering with Bakugo? Did he get the same chance I’m getting now?”

            “Bakugo was a mouthy son of a bitch who should have kept his mouth shut.” Snipe said. “He had no restraint, none of you do. After being your classes teacher for almost a year, I can understand why Aizawa nearly drank himself to an early grave. You’re delusional ideologists, a bunch of children who think they had a clue of how the world worked before the collapse. You think you know any better now?”

            “At least I didn’t devolve to killing my friends just because I could.” Ochaco readying the building for another toss, “Can you say the same?”

            Snipe chuckled coldly. “I tried.”

            A bullet pierced Ochaco’s leg. She fell to one knee, a building over her head. Then Snipe shot her other knee and she collapsed with the building she’d intended to throw dropping right on her.

            ---

            Snipe watched the building fall. He did warn her to come peacefully. Now Nezu might be on his case about killing her if he wasn’t dealing with the doctor. Though he seriously doubted she was dead. Despite his comment about Shota, he could attest the infamous class A had guts and luck to spare. He used his grappling gun to lower himself from the rooftop he used to get line of sight on Ochaco and made of to look for her in the debris. He arrived at the spot, dust clouding his vision, but not a bother with his mask. Lot of debris, lots of placed she could be. It would be some time find-

            Movement. He whirled around, firing on instinct. A chunk of concrete flying at his head bounced away as his bullets hit. But there was a second one he didn’t see coming from just a little off from the first. At the last second, just before it hit, Ochaco released her Quirk and it hit with its full weight. Snipe was knocked backwards onto his ass, a chunk of concrete on his chest. He pushed it off, slightly dazed. He still had his gun in his hands, but then Ochaco was there, flying out of the dust, floating to keep the weight off her legs. She was a mess, costume ruffled, coated in dust, her helmet was gone. She was bleeding from a split lip and a head wound and looking real pissed.

            She landed on him, one hand grabbing his gun arm and the other holding a rock. She brought it down on his wrist and he grunted in pain as she broke it. His grip loosened and she went to grab his gun. Oh no, you don’t! He twisted, kicking her in the back. She stopped her Quirk just before she flew too far away. Snipe went to grab his gun with his free hand, and the rock Ochaco had been holding hit him in the eye, shattering the lens. She had a good arm on her. His hand missed the gun on the first grab, before he could grab it again, she was back tackling him to the ground. She was alternating her Quirk on and off, he was wondering when she was going to get sick and throw up from overusing it. But she was fucking determined.

            Ochaco punched him in the face, over and over. He punched her back, but she took the hit like a champ. Through the pain she was enduring from her legs, she grabbed his gun hand and put him in one of the grappling techniques. He had only a moment to process what was about to happen next before she broke the rest of his arm and he screamed. He clawed at her leg with his other hand, found the bullet hole he put there and jabbed his thumb in there. She let out a short grunt and let him go, getting to her legs quickly. Snipe rolled to his knees, but then he felt a slap on his back and he was weightless. As he was floating up, Ochaco grabbed one of his legs and pivoted, slamming him into the ground and all the air blew out of his lungs.

            “You think since first year, I didn’t learn anything?” Ochaco spat a wad of blood into his face. “After we fought you all in the first semester final, we’d been plannings ways to kick your ass since then. And now, with you and Nezu killed everyone off, none of us have gone a day without thinking of ways to take you down.”

            Snipe groaned. He lost his gun, likely kicked away in the fight. He still had his spare right in his boot, but she’d see him going for that. She was in pain and fighting through it, he could see that. Grimacing and grinding her teeth as she bore though it. Then she smiled, a terrifying look overcoming her face.

            “Have you ever flown before Snipe?” She asked.

            Oh-

            “Now’s your chance.”

            - Shit!

            With zero effort, Ochaco threw Snipe into the air spinning heads over heels into the distance. He was gaining altitude, on a course for orbit. Thinking fast in adrenaline fueled fear, he grabbed the grappling gun off his belt – nearly dropping it because he wasn’t left-handed – and fired it at the first building that came into sight as they all blurred by. The hook stuck into the structure and he pressed the button to reel him in. He didn’t get far before his gravity returned and he was now swinging into the buildings side. He tried to raise his broken arm, as useless as it was, to cushion the blow. He hit the side of the building, white spots flashed in front of him and he nearly passed out from the pain. He tightened his grip on the grappling gun and pressed the button to reel him up onto the roof. He crawled into the roof, grunting with pain and breathing hard before collapsing onto his back.

            “You fucking bitch.” Snipe panted, using his one good hand to rip off his mask. It was suffocating now when his lungs were struggling to breath anything in. “Damn near done me in.”

            With some effort, he reached down to his boot and pulled out his spare gun. He crawled the edge of the roof and pulled himself up. He could feel with every move, every breath, there was a lot of broken bones. But that could wait, it had to. He could make out the building in the distance where he and Ochaco had fought. He was bleeding from one eye, but it wasn’t his dominant one. He focused and fired.

            ---

            Ochaco was in pain. So much pain. Her legs had been shot, and yet she continued to abuse them, only making things worse. She honestly felt like dying right then and there, but she reminded herself Izuku was in trouble and she needed to keep moving before the rest of them found her. She activated her Quirk on herself again, taking the weight off her legs. Years of experience flying with Quirk without a jetpack would pay off in this moment. She only got about a foot before the bullet hit her in the back, exiting out her chest. She gasped and whirled around, folding in on herself and pressing a hand to the wound. That one had hit her in the lungs, and damage would be worse than two wounded legs. She knew that when she coughed out blood.

            “Fucking bastard.” Ochaco groaned.

            Snipe’s voice spoke over the radio. “Someone hurry up and bandage that bitch and get her in restraints. Nezu’s orders: we need her alive. Then I need a team to come get me off this fucking roof!”

Chapter Text

Then

            They just kept coming. Mirio watched another dozen undead cyborgs crawl out of the pit of Izuku’s lab and throw themselves into the fray. Heroes and UASF were surrounding the area, evacuating the civilians to emergency shelters. Per protocol of any infection outbreak, this entire section of UA would be on lockdown. The gates sealed shut and nobody, not even Nezu, would be allowed in or out till the situation was resolved.

            And boy were they having a time of it. These cyborgs were did not move sluggishly like the undead, or were cunning like the yurei. The did not behave like zombies usually behaved. They worked in units, coordinated and efficient. An earth manipulator raised up walls of earth to provide cover for the others as they advanced on the defensive line. Strongman types led the charge, taking hits, matching blow for blow against UA’s heavy hitters. So many undead, equipped with many Quirks. What had Izuku done to them?

            Mirio phased as an arm punched through his torso. He became solid behind the cyborg, grabbed their head, gave it a sharp twist and it crumpled lifelessly once more to the ground. He had a moment to see their open mouth, confirming what he had seen on every one he killed so far. Izuku had removed their teeth. So imminent infection wasn’t a factor yet. However, if someone managed to accidentally get any zombie fluids in their mouth or eyes, then there was still a chance.

            His eyes were scanning the horde, trying to find the bigger threats and take them out before things became more chaotic. At the start of the battle, he had lost track of Katsuki. Who could blame him? There were lots of zombies, lots of explosions, and things just built up from there. Katsuki worried Mirio more than any of the others, the explosive hero had been capable of devastating explosions before, and he felt what the zombie had dished out so far was restrained. Yet he wasn’t seeing him anywhere. Had he already been killed? Well, killed again?

            As if answering his question, twin explosions tore through the UASF’s defensive line. Heroes and soldiers were blasted apart. Katsuki appeared momentarily moving into the opening he’d created and disappeared once more into the smoke. Glancing in the direction he was going, Mirio realized he was heading for the main UA building.

            Kicking another cyborg in the face, Mirio picked up a knife abandoned by its owner and stabbed it into their skull before going after Katsuki. He was the priority, none of the others mattered till then. Mirio phased through the ground and deactivated his Quirk, physics disagreed with his sudden existence in the soil and spat him back out, speeding him along. He ignored pleas for help as much as it hurt him to do it. He had to stop Katsuki first.

            Then one last zombie emerged from the hole, unsee in the fray, alone. It raised its arms and spun. It spun and it spun and spun, gaining momentum till it was spinning like a top and didn’t stop. The wind picked up suddenly, knocking everyone down. Mirio braced himself, ready to phase for what was to come. The zombie was a blur and then it disappeared in a cloud of dust, smoke, bodies both death and living, and the clouds above were pulled in, forming a tornado within UA.

            Mirio grabbed onto something solid before he was dragged into the tornado. He stared up in horror as people were dragged into the sky and flung every which way, some fell back to the ground, dying from the impact, others hit the UA barrier, and some flew over the barrier. He watched the latter happen again as another handful successfully cleared the wall. The turrets on that wall were to shoot down anything moving through the air that was bigger than a bird. Those zombies should not have made it a foot over the wall before being obliterated.

            Their defenses were down. UA was vulnerable.

            “Could this day get any worse?” Mirio grunted, trying to pull himself along the ground and away from the tornado.

            Suddenly, the ground shook as if from an earthquake. Looking back, he could make out a fiery explosion in the distance. Black smoke was belched into the sky, followed by a shockwave. It took him a moment to realize that was the Musutafu Volcano becoming active again.

            “I take it back!” Mirio said, to whatever God took his words as a personal challenge. “Seriously, I take it back. Make it stop!”

            Another explosion. He looked to see Katsuki was continuing on to UA undeterred. Mirio glanced between him and the tornado. He had an idea one time he’d played around with. His Quirk allowed him to phase through all matter. That included light and air. He would be blind, which was why he took his work studies with Sir Nighteye to think ahead in his fights, to predict his opponent’s movement. For air, he would be dependant on what his body had already taken in before he was solid again to breath it in. But, when he was phasing through matter, there was no air resistance for him. The only influence that remained was gravity.

            So, with the way he was positioned now, with a strong wind trying to suck him in to a tornado, he’d be like a video game character flutily trying to hop away from a danger dragging him in, only getting a few hopeful seconds of reprieve before it dragged him back in again. But if he were to let it, well… it should be no different than being thrown by a strongman.

            Mirio let go and let himself be pulled into the tornado’s grasp. He flew around, rising up higher. He activated his Quirk on parts of himself to avoid being injured by various objects and people. He judged his trajectory as he came into sight of UA and activated his Quirk fully throughout his body. He was blind, but he counted the seconds, doing the math in his head and hoping he had been propelled enough to get out of the tornado’s hold and onto a crash course with Katsuki.

            He turned off his Quirk for a quick second to see where he was. He saw the glass walls of UA approaching rapidly. He activated his Quirk again and waited a little bit longer. When he came to again, he popped out of the ground onto green grass.

            “Okay, that was fun.” Mirio said, getting his bearings and seeing he was behind the UA building. “But I way overshot it.”

Chapter Text

Then

            Meanwhile, across the campus, Izuku was still running like hell, shoving people aside and waving around the Uzi. The UASF were constantly losing sight of him in the crowd, buying him a couple seconds to get ahead of them. But there were also witnesses to assist them. All it took was “Green haired asshole waving around a Uzi.” And fingers shot up in whichever direction he took. Not the subtlest escape, but given this on the fly, he was taking points for getting this far.

            It was only until a witness decided to get a bit more involved when things got hairy. Izuku had ducked into another building and was making a beeline for the backdoor, and a bunch of people were huddled inside for safety. At this point, a majority of the campus that wasn’t dealing with the zombie outbreak were looking for him, and word had gotten around fast. Otherwise, this dipshit wouldn’t have stuck out their foot and tripped him in a hall, and three others wouldn’t be trying to hold him down trying to get the gun out of his hands. They weren’t UASF, but that didn’t matter too much. A portion of UA’s population had come from outside the barrier and thus were experienced survivors, so they had more guts than most.

            When the hands closed around his gun, he squeezed the trigger. A burst of gunfire tore up the walls, and the guy holding his arm pointed it up into the ceiling. People screamed and one of the assholes punched him in the stomach. He relinquished the gun and tried to fold in on himself, but they were holding his arms and legs pretty good.

            “That wasn’t too hard.” The dipshit now holding Izuku’s Uzi said. He pointed it down at Izuku’s face. “Do we kill him?”

            In Izuku’s UI display, he saw three red dots making their way to the building. He groaned out, “Let me go if you want to live.”

            One of them punched him in the face. “Shut up.”

            The three dots converged. There was more screaming outside, then three undead cyborgs broke through the front of the building, maximizing property damage as they went. Y-67 had wings made of fire, and feathers of red and orange. The civilian holding the Uzi turned and fired the moment the cyborgs appeared, but the bullets vaporized the moment they hit a wall of heat surrounding Y-67. Izuku had made a couple of cyborgs with the idea they’d be counters to Snipe’s Quirk. It was very annoying having to deal with a hero who was a perfect marksman.

            F-21 was a close quarters unit. Really strong and really durable, already having a strength-enhancement Quirk before Izuku got to work on them. They were a somewhat failed experiment of grafting TetsuTetsu’s Quirk. The steel Quirk only covered a part of their body at a time. Another Quirk that manipulated flesh kind of fixed that. As they ran to Izuku’s aid, the flesh moved around their hand forming the shape of a hammer and then solidified into steel. They batted away the goons holding him down and then stepped over Izuku and formed a shield to provide cover as Izuku got back to his feet.

            S-34 was a vulture heteromorph, greatly enhanced due to the virus, the bird-like features were more pronounced, looking like a human-sized vulture than a mix of the two. He had grafted Yuga’s naval laser and a Quirk he called ‘air blades. When they flapped their wings, it created a current of air that cut through just about anything. They thankfully didn’t use that one, instead opting to just naval blast anyone who tried getting too close. The guy who had taken his Uzi was blasted into the wall, and Izuku picked up his gun again.

            Deku’s protection squad now assembled, he sent the mental order for them to move and follow him to the motor pool. He burst outside to see the ash falling from the sky, and the harsh winds blowing in towards the tornado, he noticed it was throwing zombies over the wall. He hoped that was enough to keep the heroes busy. He hoped nobody got infected, he had removed their teeth to stop the biting, but there was still a possibility. One undead civilian and things would snowball from there.

            They got halfway to the motor pool when F-21 suddenly got in front of Izuku. He didn’t understand what it was doing till a speeding suit of armour kicked it hard enough to topple it over on top of Izuku. He didn’t have time to get away as he suddenly under its crushing weight.

            “Dammit Iida!” Izuku groaned from underneath decaying flesh. “I’m on your side!”

            “Hard to believe right now.” Tenya said, dodging as the two other cyborgs moved to engage the new threat.

            He sidestepped a beam of fire and avoided the naval laser. With the assistance of his Engine Quirk, he built up speed and leapt upwards, kneeing S-34 in the jaw. The vulture spun, correcting their fall and unleashed a flurry of air blades. He touched ground before they got close, and he sped out of the way. F-21 rolled of Izuku during all of this and the scientist crawled out.

            “You could be taking the time to kill Nezu right now.” Izuku said. “His defenses are down; the lobbyists could go in right now and kill him.”

            “Are you serious?” Tenya said. Izuku couldn’t see his expression behind the helmet. “What will happen afterwards when the dead overtake the campus?”

            “They’re under my control.” Izuku stated. “They’ll stop when I-”

            F-21 stepped in his way again, forming a shield. Tenya had gotten an opening and charged at Izuku again. The shield took a hit that would have sent Izuku cartwheeling across pavement, the resulting blow only pushed F-21 back several feet. Tenya followed it up with an axe kick. F-21 again blocked it with the shield and the concrete under it cracked from the force.

            “If you control them, you need to stop this now!” Tenya shouted, backing off and dodging more attacks from the other two. “You’re destroying the campus!”

            “Everyone’s figured out its me, Iida. I’m marked for death. Much as I would like to, I have to do this. You could make it worthwhile if you’d quit getting in my way and take care of Nezu.”

            “These people didn’t do anything?”

            “Neither did all our friends.” Izuku snapped. “One way or another, they will die. Nezu doesn’t care about them besides the power they enable him to have, and they’re too scared to do shit. He’s been killing off the lobbyists slowly to the point you’re all a shadow of your former selves. You’re fighting me instead of securing a future free of his control. That goes against everything you guys worked for.”

            “Maybe.” Tenya said, looking between the cyborgs, anticipating their next move. “But this isn’t how it should be done.”

            “It’s the way it has to be done. You failed, Iida, all of you did.” Izuku stated. “Politics aren’t working anymore. You need to use force before he kills you all.”

            Tenya shook his head. “Then why do it now? Why are you running when you could go and kill Nezu yourself.”

            “Murphy’s law, Iida.” Izuku shook his head with remorse. “I’ve been improvising this whole time and I’m fucking it up every step of the way.”

            Tenya charged at him again, moving at an insane speed. F-21 got in his way to protect Izuku again, but it was a faint. Tenya dove to the side, rolling past and hopping back on his feet. He was too close to do a kick, so he punched Izuku in the mouth. Again, with the mouth. Izuku stumbled back, dazed from the blow. F-21 turned, shield turning into a scythe and slashed at Tenya. It missed, stabbing into the ground where Iida had been a fraction of the second before. He was at the cyborgs side and delivering an Axe kick to their head. Their skin shifted to steel from their head down to the middle of their torso. The kick drove their head into the ground. Not killing them, but they were stuck for the moment.

            With one cyborg out of his way, Tenya moved to take out their maker. Izuku didn’t know if Tenya was aiming to kill or capture. But it did seem he thought taking out Izuku would make this all stop. He must have misunderstood what Izuku meant when he said he could control the cyborgs. They were working on pre-programmed commands they’d continue to execute even if Izuku was knocked out or dead. He could micro-manage them if need be, but it would require a lot of concentration. Much easier for their implants to guide them in the right direction and their zombie nature to fill in the gaps.

            This time Tenya went for a kick. It was aimed right for Izuku’s head and probably would have killed him had it connected. But an air blade sliced into his leg between the gaps in the armour right at the knee. It sliced all the way through, and the stump missed Izuku by mere inches. It did spray him with blood though. Tenya completed the spin, but with part of his leg missing he fell over onto his side. It took the Turbo hero looked down at their missing limb, shocked. He didn’t scream thankfully, but the blood was spurting out. Izuku sent a quick command to Y-67 and they approached Tenya. F-21 had pulled their head out of the ground by then and helped by holding Tenya down as Y-67 cauterized the stump. Tenya did scream then and quickly passed out from the pain.

            “Sorry Iida.” Izuku said. Then he continued running to his objective.

            ---

            Things were still chaotic. Izuku could tell the heroes were struggling to contain things, so he was happy things were working (Tenya aside). Him and his protection squad made it to the motor pool. The usual staff of mechanics and engineers that staffed the place had run off to one of the emergency bunkers. Y-67 melted through any lock they encountered until Izuku found what he was looking for.

            A couple years ago, UA had declared themselves separate from the reformed Japanese Government residing in Tokyo. Since then, Tokyo had made strides and controlling their territory, managing to set up trade networks and gathering settlements to their side and supplying them with aid. Their population had increased and they had a sizable force of militia and heroes at their back. Many feared they were on par with UA, and would soon threaten the “peace” of the school.

            In anticipation of a war between the two major remnants of the old world, Nezu had the support department create Wall-busters. Armoured vehicles with a large barreled laser cannon built right into the front of the vehicle. It would open the way for Nezu’s troops to flood into the city and invade Tokyo. Izuku had heard about the test firing a couple months ago, and the results were exactly as Nezu hoped they would be. Coincidentally, Tokyo had as good a wall as UA. What beat one, beat all. The only issue would have been the turrets on the wall. They’d have vaporized him the moment he broke out, which was why in most of his escape plans, he prioritized shutting down the defenses if he were ever going that way. The other plans involved using the warp gate in his lab, and that wasn’t going to happen with all the attention around it and now that it was destroyed if his protocols worked.

            It took him a minute to figure out how the Wall-buster worked. The support department had decided to throw keys out the window in favour of an on/off switch, and all the buttons were helpfully labeled according to function. There was a seat for a co-pilot to operate the targeting system of the cannon. The barrel had a degree of moment to work with, not much, but enough and he only needed it to fire straight ahead. He wouldn’t be trying to break through the UA wall. Sure, it was built for that, but he had no idea what kind of power draw that would be and if it could do that more than once. The gates were the weakest point, though, he’d made do with those. He just had three of them to get through.

            His cyborgs climbed on top of the Wall-buster as he put it into gear and rolled over the fence. The streets were thankfully clear, he hoped most of the civilians were in the emergency bunkers at this point and not hiding in the buildings. He knew without a doubt there were already a lot of people dead, but he did worry about a misfire and taking out a building. He didn’t want to add more bodies to the pile if he didn’t have to.

            In moments, he had the first gate in sight. He took a deep breath, hoping this worked, and pressed a button to charge up the cannon. It was slow charging up, he counted thirty seconds of charge time. A green light turned on and he pressed the firing stud on the controls. A beam of energy pierced the gate, melting a hole right through the gates with ease. He leaned over to the co-pilots seat and moved the joystick that operated the barrel, widening the hole for a Wall-buster to roll through. He shut off the weapon and set it to build up another full charge. Not too bad.

            Someone was running to the gate now. Izuku squinted at the figure as they moved, and he realized that was Cementoss. He watched the cement hero slam both hands into the ground and the concrete started around him. A wall formed in front of the gates and then the road shifted in front of Izuku. He swerved as spikes erupted from the road, nearly hitting the vehicle.

            Stop him. Izuku ordered the cyborgs.

            F-21 leapt off and with strongman enhanced legs leapt the distance to Cementoss. His arm shifted into a double-headed axe and swung. Cementoss stepped back, a wall forming between him and F-21. It was smashed into rubble, but more walls sprang up, surrounding F-21 in a dome. It kept smashing away, Izuku bet it could smash away for as long as it could since it could no longer tire or care. As for Y-67, they flew around and launched a volley of fireballs at Cementoss. He erected another wall to block it, and then manipulated a giant hand to form out of the ground and tried to grab it from the air. Y-67 dodged and flew out of reach, meanwhile S-34 went to flank, firing their naval laser and hurling air blades uselessly against another wall he’d formed.

            Izuku checked the readings on the dash. The canon was ready for another go. He could fire again, clear the way, but with Cementoss… how would the hero stop him from going further?

            “Sorry, Cementoss.” Izuku said, he shifted the canon and fired. The beam went right through the dome F-21 was trapped in, came out the other end and struck Cementoss straight on. In less than a second, nothing of the hero remained.

            Izuku shifted the vehicle again and hit the hastily erected wall after the canon charged up again. F-21 climbed out of the dome, half their body caught in the blast, but they were still chugging along. Thirty seconds passed and he blasted the wall down drove through without further interference.

            What had this day become? How did this come from him just wanting to overthrow Nezu to destroying the school and killing everyone within it? How? How did Mirio find his lab? What had drawn him to that are to begin with? Had he just been fucking around and just accidentally dropped into Izuku’s lab? Is that what it had been, a massive coincidence? He would probably get that answer if he stuck around, but by then he’d be a dead man.

            He had two more gates between him and freedom. The guards at the second gate tried turning on the counter measures, trying to dissuade Izuku from driving through the flames that cleansed the gates when infected were inside. He drove right through without bothering to stop. Then at the third, the UASF had put up a blockade, blocking the gates with vehicles and a tank.

            His final commands to his protection squad sent them hurtling towards the poor soldiers. They didn’t stand a chance. Not a single hero stood with them to make it much of a fight; they had already been pulled away elsewhere. The tank fired, and Y-67 got in its way and took the hit. He didn’t see if their Quirk do anything, if it did, then not much. They were there and then they were gone in a spattering of old blood and meat. It bought him the time he needed to line up the shot and turn the tank into slag. By the time he was ready to fire again, the way was clear of UASF. He drove out of UA into a devastated city, his creations remained to insure nobody gave pursuit.

            It didn’t really sink in till he was a safe distance away. His adrenaline-fueled mind had only been focused on getting out. Now it sank in, the things he did, what he was beset upon these people, his friends, everyone. They weren’t the right people he’d wanted to kill. He stared up at the ash chocked sky. It seemed to be worse than the last time the volcano erupted. He continued onward, away from UA. He hoped Ochaco had managed to get away too.

Chapter Text

Then

            Eijiro was scrambling, running down the hall and ushering the staff to go out the back exit to the emergency shelter. He’d just been in the school getting his costume worked over by the support staff when the call came out. Now it sounded like a damn battlefield outside, and those were some damn big explosions he was hearing, and they were getting closer, shaking the building. He could see a tornado had manifested inside the campus and people fighting to keep back undead cyborgs tearing away at them. In the other sections over the wall, he could see smoke rising from other battles taking place.

            The building shook again, he opened a classroom door where students were huddling under desks. Nezu had slowly been trying to get the school running like it had been before, though with new courses centered around zombie killing and the likes. There were a fair number of students in here the heroes had to watch out for.

            “Come on! It’s not safe here!” He gestured down the hall. “Go out the back, to the emergency shelters. Go!”

            He rushed down the hall, using a small percent of One for All to move. Reports were coming in over the comms a zombie was tearing its way past their defenses to the school. He needed to meet them first and kill it. And if it was really who they were saying… well, Eijiro had been wondering how a rematch would look now he was a One for All wielder.

            He made it to the front entrance of the school, just in time as an explosion blew in it. Eijiro activated his Quirk, hardening his body to the texture and consistency of rock as his body was peppered with debris. The dust cleared quickly from some serious wind, revealing the figure standing there. Bakugo Katsuki, back from the dead, modified with machines and smoke emanating from his arms that ended in metal tubes, both glowing with heat.

            “Ne-Ne-,” The cyborg stuttered. “Nezu. Nezu!”

            Dammit.

            Katsuki raised his arms and unleashed another blast, strong enough to take out a good chunk of UA and launch Eijiro out the other end. At the same time, Eijiro cranked up One for All, his body vibrating with the sudden influx of energy. He raised a hand and flicked a finger, sending a pressure wave. Their powers met in the middle, clashing, causing more destruction to the room. Eijiro moved through the smoke before they fully subsided. He needed to end this quick. He primed a punch right for Katsuki’s face, but an explosion launched the former hero into the air, flipping over Eijiro’s strike. Mid-flip, Katsuki released another explosion right into Eijiro’s face. The explosion simultaneously threw Eijiro into the ground and Katsuki flew up and through the ceiling to the second floor.

            Eijiro lay in the pit for a good few seconds staring shocked up at the ceiling. He was comparing the intelligence of a yurei and Katsuki, because this didn’t add up. Sure, yurei were smart, but they were ambush predators, not combat specialists. But then he waved it away as something Izuku must have done, and got back to his feet and jumped up through the hole Katsuki had gone. His dead friend was already gone, leaving a trail of burnt walls and sounds of explosions as he went.

            Even though this was Katsuki, Eijiro had already mourned him. He had mourned many friends over the past few years, and had to end their lives out of mercy or once they had turned. This wasn’t new, but it still hurt to do. He did wonder for a moment if it would be a good idea to let Katsuki roam free. He had enough sentience to say Nezu’s name, and by the looks of it, he was going to the Dean’s office. Probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to wait for Katsuki to get it done and over with and then kill him again.

            That didn’t pan out like he thought when he turned to see Katsuki fighting his better half, Mina, and a group of heroes. He hadn’t known she was also in the building, but she and the heroes with her were helping get people out, putting themselves between Katsuki and the group of students running for the stairs heading to the ground floor. For a school of heroes, they seemed to be lacking a good number of them, but given the fighting outside, they were probably spread thin throughout the campus.

            When the last student was out of sight, the heroes really let loose. Trying to hit Katsuki with everything they had. He dodged their attacks with ease, not a single one of them laying so much as a hand on him, and he dispensed each one with controlled bursts of explosions. One got too close and Katsuki batted them in the face with one of his arm cannons and knocking out several teeth. He used an explosion to launch him to the ceiling, where he kicked back off and drove an axe kick down on a hero’s skull. Mina was sliding around, trying to hose him down with acid, but he kept out of her range, dodging the stream, keeping himself between the other heroes to give her a hard time of it.

            Eijiro ran in to help, but Katsuki had reached the end of the hall, turned and unleashed an explosion equivalent of two of his grenade gauntlets at them. Eijiro stepped in front of them and clapped his hand, dispersing the damage with a pressure wave before it reached the group. The hallway didn’t take the supernatural forces clashing very well, it was a wreck when the smoked cleared, and Katsuki was nowhere in sight.

            “What the hell?” Mina said. “That’s Bakugo, right? I’m not imagining that?”

            “Yes, and he’s looking for Nezu.” Eijiro said. “Get a call out we need more heroes here. ASAP!”

            She nodded and got on the comms. The hallway was too destroyed for the others to cross safely, part of it had already fallen to the floor below. Eijiro hopped the gap with no effort and pursued the chase. He found Katsuki on another set of stairs going up. Eijiro made sure he was quiet this time, walking up from behind and aimed a punch for his head. He hadn’t had any other weapons on him really, and if he had, they would have already been destroyed at this point from Katsuki’s explosions. He just had to apply enough force to kill him with a single punch.

            Just as his fist was flying through the air, it passed through the space where Katsuki’s head had just been. The asshole ducked; how did he duck? Eijiro had been quiet, stealthy by his standards. Eijiro was already in motion, following through on the punch. Meanwhile Katsuki straightened up behind him and delivered a double blast special from both arm cannons. To Eijiro, he blinked and was suddenly on his back on the ground floor in a crater, staring up at a massive hole from where he’d been a literal second before.

            Eijiro hissed, getting to his feet and stretching his body. Damn, he actually felt that one. “Great, Bakugo, just great. Couldn’t just be a try-hard when you were alive, you got to kick my ass even in death.”

            Moments later he found Katsuki again. Eijiro had figured if he somehow lost the explosion hero, he’d just go to Nezu’s office. He got there just in time to see a group of heroes standing outside of the office, a healthy distance away, all looking at each other nervously, unsure of what to do. Mina was there too clearly puzzling over the issue.

            “What?”

            “He’s stopped.” She said. “Nezu’s not in there. Bakugo is just standing in there, staring at the desk. More heroes on the way. Figure it’s best we wait till we got more heroes to fight him, if he’s not going to do anything, but I also don’t feel like we should leave him be.”

            Eijiro looked. Katsuki had blasted the door off the hinges, things were a mess in the room from the blast, and Katsuki was just standing there like she said he was. The barrels on his arm were smoking.

            “How about we all just leave,” Eijiro said and raised a hand to stop as most of the heroes looked at him in surprise, “we make sure nobody else is in the building and we… I don’t know, do we have something equivalent to an airstrike that could level the entire school while he’s in it?”

            “You can’t take him?” Mina asked. She of course knew of him being the ninth wielder of One for All.

            “I don’t know if you noticed, but he’s really good at dodging for a zombie.” He said. “If he’s fine staying where he is, then-”

            “Shitty… Hair.” Katsuki groaned.

            Every head snapped back to Katsuki; he was looking at Eijiro now. The cyborg tilted its head to Mina. “Weird… Eyes.”

            Mina gave a nervous wave. “Hi… buddy?” Then she whispered to her husband, “Eijiro, what is going on?”

            “Hey, Bakubro.” Eijiro gave a nervous smile. Appease the undead zombie and maybe he doesn’t blow up the school. “How uh… how yah doing?”

            Katsuki jaw clicked as it moved. “Die!”

            The backpack melded into Katsuki’s back started to hum. That hum increased in frequency, sounding too much like a bomb priming to explode. Thinking fast, Eijiro stomped on the floor with One for All powering his leg, the entire section of the building in front of him broke free from the rest of the building, like a sandcastle Eijiro had stuck his hand in one of the towers and tore out a piece. Katsuki stumbled, falling face down on the floor as the entire room was ejected out into the courtyard. It all collapsed upon contact with the ground, crumbling on top of Katsuki.

            Seconds passed as they waited, hearts hammering in their chests, to see if death finally stuck this time. An explosion blew open the wreckage to the grey stormy sky. It would seem it would not be that easy. Eijiro launched himself off the floor and into the courtyard, he could make out the form of Katsuki stepping out of the rubble. Eijiro directed a downward kick to crush Katsuki into pulp, but the explosion hero flickered, like a hologram with bad reception, just before contact. Katsuki appeared beside the spot he’d just been, narrowly avoiding the kick as it cracked the earth beneath Eijiro’s foot. Katsuki then raised one of his arm cannons and blasted Eijiro right in the face, sending him backwards, digging a trench with his body. The blasting to the face was getting old, but Eijiro had his thoughts on other things now. Was that an illusion or did Katsuki just teleport?

            Katsuki raised another cannon to the school, right at the floor where the rest of the heroes stood. They scrambled out of the way or jumped down if their Quirks could help them reach the ground unharmed. The explosion knocked down the rest of the section of the school and it fell over onto itself. The backpack was still humming on his back, growing louder over the gusts of wind being sucked into the tornado still raging in the distance. Stormy grey skies cast a depressing tone over the courtyard, only briefly illuminated from Katsuki’s explosions.

            Eijiro cranked up One for All, entering his unbreakable form, and sped in to kick Katsuki’s head clean from his shoulders and knock over the wall like making a goal post. The cyborg flickered again and then was just a coupe feet out of the way. Eijiro’s kick landed on the ground, he twisted and went to drive his heel into Katsuki’s skull hard enough to break it. Again, he flickered and reappeared beside Eijiro. He was expecting another explosion to knock him back, but Katsuki stepped away as a stream of acid tried to hit him. Katsuki did that flickering thing again and reappeared to the side as Mirio was suddenly there punching through the air where he’d just been. The permeation hero disappeared into the ground as an explosion almost claimed his life.

            One of the UASF on the wall tried to take a shot at Katsuki. They missed of course, and the former hero dodged their bullets effortlessly. Two shoulder mounted launchers emerged from the backpack, and a hatch opened on top of the backpack, Katsuki bent over, aiming the barrel that popped out at the wall and a concentrated blast hit the wall, knocking out a sizable section of it.

            “No, you don’t!” Eijiro said as he reached out to grab Katsuki.

            Katsuki turned, the shoulder launchers glowed and Eijiro took a full volley of AP rounds. The hardening hero braced, already at the hardest his Quirk could go with One for All enhancing it. He was blown backwards skipping across the ground like a ragdoll as shot after shot hit him, propelling him farther. Till he hit a tree and slowed down. Eijiro was getting really pissed now.

            Before Katsuki could fire at the wall again, Mirio appeared again and knocked down one of Katsuki’s arms with a chop of his hands. Katsuki whirled, blasting too late as Mirio phased through him and kicked at Katsuki’s leg driving him to the ground and disappeared before the cyborg could turn. Katsuki rolled just as Mirio appeared, aiming a knee for Katsuki’s face and missed.

            Eijiro got up from where’d he been thrown and came back, attempting another punch while Katsuki was distracted. Btu he did that flickering thing again and was out of the way. Eijiro dug both hands into the earth, ripped out a chunk of earth and hurled it at Katsuki as he prepared one of his arm cannons to blast him. Another flicker and Eijiro got a mouthful of fire and smoke, the blast knocking him away. He groaned, getting back to his feet when Mirio appeared beside him.

            “Multiple Quirks.” Mirio said. “Seems he’s aware of your attacks to kill, yeah?”

            “Yeah.” Eijiro looked at him.

            “Seems to be the only time he dodges. Have you been able to land a hit on him so far?”

            “You’re the first I’ve seen do it.” Eijiro racked his brain. “One of his Quirks? He seems to have some illusion or teleporting one already.”

            “Probably one that warns him of killing blows.” Mirio nodded. “I tried to dissuade him from attacking the barrier, that allowed me to get some hits in.”

            “So, our goal is to kick his ass without killing him?”

            “Seems so. I’ll relay it to the others, get a strategy going. We have to keep him occupied.”

            “I can do that.” Eijiro bashed his fists together, creating sparks. He charged back in.

            Like Mirio had said, don’t aim to kill. Eijiro got in close, dodging Katsuki’s attacks. He ran circles around the explosive hero, keeping him moving, then when he saw an opportunity, he stepped in and grabbed one of the arm cannons. He crushed the device and it shattered apart in his hands like glass. Katsuki’s arm was exposed. It hadn’t been replaced with the metal, just covered with it. Eijiro was now holding an arm with not a lot of flesh on it and what bone he could see glowed red hot like steel fresh from a forge. He relinquished the arm as the heat burned his rock-hard skin.

            It was in that moment, the reason for the arm cannons were shown. Izuku had put them there as a limiter. Katsuki placed his bare hand against Eijiro’s skin as he backed away. The heat seared him, damn near felt it to the core of his body and the explosion that followed was blinding. Eijiro skidded across the ground, skipping several times till he all the way across the school stuck in the UA barrier. Groaning, he pulled himself out of the crater and fell to the ground, hand clutching his chest. His skin was cracked, even with One for All boosting his Quirk and being in his unbreakable form, Katsuki had managed to crack it. Blood oozed out and he grimaced as he stood up and ran back to the fight. Now was not a time to rest.

            Meanwhile, heroes were converging on Katsuki, taking it slow, giving distance to allow the others room to work. Now that word was passed around, they knew what to do. They went for arms and legs, putting aside killing intent to disarm and disable. They knocked his arms aside, or grabbed them and pointed them up in time before an explosion was released, allowing the others time to work. They tried to break his legs, break off the arm now free of its restraints, but Katsuki kept moving, fighting, fending them off. The shoulder-launchers were disabled, and one of them hit the backpack and that really freaked out the cyborg. Katsuki flickered to the side, out of their grasp and the heroes that had been right there were caught in the following explosion.

            Mina saw what had happened, she’d been sliding around, looking for an opening. The acid she’d spew would hinder the other heroes as much as it would help, but if killing intent was what triggered the Quirk in Katsuki, then it was kind of pointless. But now with his back to her, she had a shot. She squirted a stream of acid at the backpack and managed to coat it in acid. It sizzled and steamed, and the steel melted off his back ruining the contents within.

            The momentary victory was gone in a second, as Katsuki whirled and Mina was caught in the resulting blast. Eijiro was too slow to get there in time, to protect her, only to see her body skip across the ground and hit the barrier hard, smoke rising off her body.

            Eijiro moved, fueled with anger, he covered the distance to Katsuki. Mirio appeared by Katsuki side, grabbing the arm the explosion hero was preparing to use to blast Eijiro in the face again and wrenched it aside. Mirio punched Katsuki in the side of the head, a move that would daze a normal human but not the undead. He stuck around, holding on to Katsuki till Eijiro was right there and phased away at the last second.

            Eijiro’s arm went through Katsuki’s chest – no flickering Quirk to dodge this time, thanks to what he hoped wasn’t a sacrifice on Mina’s part - and tore a fist sized hole right through him. Eijiro’s other arm grabbed Katsuki’s head and tore it off, ripping flesh, tendon, and bone right off his body. He let the body dropped and stared at Katsuki’s head in his hands. He stared at his dead friend, the thing he had become. He removed the visor covering it to see Katsuki’s eyes, though they weren’t his red eyes, those had been cut out as evident of the surgical scars around the sockets. In their place were a pair of purple eyes that glimmered, with something unknown held within.

            “I’m sorry, bro.” Eijiro said and crushed Katsuki’s head between his hands.

            With that, the fight was over. But the battle for the rest of UA still waged on.

Chapter Text

Then

            Three days Izuku had been waiting. Three days more than he would have liked. But so far, none of UA had found the safehouse. Probably because of all the chaos in his escape, their defenses disabled, and probably zombies or raiders moving in to take advantage of that, they couldn’t bother seeking him out. Not yet. He was still amazed he’d managed to escape at all, sometimes he questioned if he really did. A bittersweet dream of destruction and freedom.

            It wasn’t how he had wanted to escape. The possibility of them finding his lab had been there in his thoughts and he prepared accordingly. But another part wondered if it had been too much. It was UA though, and they had quite the number of heroes in their ranks. He had needed any army, regardless of them finding the lab or not. The campus was corrupt, it no longer stood for what it had once been. Maybe it would have been a good idea to burn it down from the start, go out and start anew somewhere else. If he had to pick a time for UA to die though, he would have wished for it to die around the time the apocalypse started, before Nezu marred their image and turned the name itself into something that soured the lips of many.

            He was sitting at a table in an abandoned house. This safehouse he’d picked because it didn’t have anything that important other than some supplies, the others contained backup samples for his motivators. Once he established a new lab somewhere else, he’ll have to go back and retrieve them at some point. Regardless, this one he chose to wait in, hoping Ochaco would come to him soon.

            The phone sat on the table in front of him. It startled him when it rang, he’d been so deep in thought and worry. He picked it up and checked the caller ID. It was Ochaco. But he knew better. He answered the phone and waited for the caller to start the conversation.

            “Doctor Midoriya.” Nezu spoke. He didn’t sound happy. “I believe we have some things to talk about.”

            “Ball is in your court.” Izuku said. He really hoped Katsuki had killed him, but that was a long shot with how sudden and rushed everything had been. If he had picked a time, he would have liked his cyborgs to be in position instead of popping them right out of stasis.

            “Indeed, it is.” He could picture Nezu making a smile, though with nothing pleasant behind it. “First, however, I do think you’d like to know the status of Miss Uraraka.”

            “And how is she?”

            “Ask her yourself.”

            “Hello Izuku.” Ochaco said.

            Izuku closed his eyes. He couldn’t rightly decipher her tone with just two words. She did sound tired, but there may have also been stubbornness, anger, sadness, regret, and nervous. They’d been together a long time though, and he knew she was made of sterner stuff. People easily dismissed her as the cute rescue hero, but she was a demon in human form. Katsuki hadn’t been lying about that.

            “Hello Ochaco.” Izuku said, then addressed Nezu. “Is there some kind of threat I’m suppose to take from this, Nezu? Or are you trying to keep me on the line long enough to figure out my location?”

            There was a small laugh from Nezu. “It would appear we need not dance around the subject. You are to hand yourself into my custody and be punished accordingly for the widespread destruction and mass casualties you caused on campus.”

            “Oh? Did I pick off a couple of your favourite buddies in there?” Izuku mocked. “Or you just pissed I got to them before you did?”

            “If you fail to turn yourself in. I will have miss Uraraka killed.” Nezu said seriously. He could hear the cocking of a gun’s hammer, probably held by a certain cowboy. “It’s your choice now, Doctor.”

            Of course, Nezu would resort to this. Otherwise, why have her on the call to begin with. His anxiety riddled brain had gone over all the scenarios of what could have happened to Ochaco these past few days. It seemed, most importantly, Nezu wanted him. He probably didn’t even want Izuku executed on the spot, probably make a show of it for the people he wronged, make an example of those who rebelled. If the Lobbyists were questioned they’d easily be able to say Izuku had called for an outright fight against UA, because he had, Ochaco would be able to say the same thing. It had all been his idea from the start, the others had wanted to do things the right way, the way that didn’t involve getting folks killed. If he turned himself in, that would be it. There was no telling who else would decide to stand up against Nezu.

            He was angry, angry he had another loved one up on the chopping block. Angry they were used as leverage to get himself to turn himself in. Then he recalled a conversation he and Katsuki had about Nezu one time. Nezu liked to play games, like he did with Denki Kaminari and Mina Ashido in their semester exams, and the exams that followed with his students. He liked having control, liked playing with his victims like toys, make them dance to his game and only leaving a small hidden path to win. To escape.

            So, in this particular match, when there was no chance to win or escape. Why bother playing?

            ---

            “Go ahead then.” Izuku said. “Shoot her.”

            All heads in Nezu’s temporary office looked down at the phone. Snipe, the two UASF guards, Ochaco, and Nezu, all stared wide eyed at the phone.

            Nezu blinked. “Excuse me.”

            “Shoot. Her.” Izuku repeated slowly. “Why should I care what happens to her at this point, Nezu?”

            Nezu looked up at Ochaco. Had there been a breakup recently he wasn’t aware of? Ochaco looked just as shocked as everyone else though. “But, she is your lover, your spouse, is she not? You’re not even going to attempt saving her?”

            “We’ve never actually tied that knot.” Izuku laughed. “And seriously, Nezu? I mean, I turn myself in, I die and she dies too not long after. You didn’t even try to make a bargain of it, you dumb rat. Nothing about me exchanging my life for hers and all that bullshit. You weren’t even trying to lie.”

            “I never said anything about killing you.” Nezu countered. “You still have a chance-”

            “But what else is there to do with someone like me?” Izuku interjected. “Is this really not clicking for you? I’ve lost my only family at the very start of the collapse. I’ve made and lost friends over the years, so much so, I don’t even care anymore, I’m not even gun-shy. What’s another body to the pile, right? And did you really think I care much about human life after what I did to Kacchan and all those undead? Because even though they’re zombies, it takes a certain sicko to be tearing into those bodies and doing the things I did. Are you really as smart as they said? Because it should have been obvious from the start that your little ploy wouldn’t work.”

            “What did you do to them?” Nezu asked. So far they had recovered nothing from the lab. Everything had been destroyed, leaving very little piece together.

            “Exactly what it looked like.” Izuku said. “I improved them.”

            “And Bakugo? How exactly did you acquire him?” Nezu asked, looking up and giving Snipe a glare. The cowboy’s face may be covered by a mask, but there was a nervousness emanating from him.

            “That isn’t for me to tell.” Izuku said smugly. “You should already know half that story already. Piece together the rest. Anything else?”

            Nezu hesitated. “You’re just going to leave Uraraka here?”

            “You’re still on that? Huh.” Izuku said and hung up.

            Nezu was at a loss for words. The implication in itself was another curiosity. Izuku did not care. Nezu looked around the room at the others. Similar expressions were plastered on their faces as well, and he caught a tear going down Ochaco’s face. The couple were well known among the campus. The striving hero with a chance in the top ten dating a Quirkless runt. That had been the subject of much gossip. For that latter to just abandon the former… well that was a twist he honestly hadn’t expected. Ochaco was wrestling with several emotions, clearly betrayal and heartbreak among them. She hung her head, simply waiting for whatever fate was decided for her.

            What surprised Nezu more was how he himself was feeling. It was a strange emotion he hadn’t encountered before. He hadn’t had many emotions to deal with since his life in the lab was strict and routine, only despair to fill his mind and hope of someday being free that grew smaller by the day. Since being free he’d only focused on building power, a single-minded goal to stand over the others who once caged him, to insure he was not returned to those cages, to those awful experiments. He was allowed no weakness or everything he built would all fall apart.

            This emotion, he did not know how to describe it. It was like Izuku had disappointed him, but not in the obvious way. His campus on nearly ruined, people killed, and he’d just cast aside one of his students like they were nothing, sure, but it was none of those. It was like… like… like what? He struggled to find an answer to that feeling. It felt like Izuku abandoned him, not Ochaco in this moment. But that didn’t make any damn sense, they were never on good terms and Nezu even despised the man openly, even though he could marvel at the man’s intelligence to create something like the motivators. They argued, battled with words, drew points and conclusions, brought about counter-arguments, tried to corner each other with logic, reason, and emotion. Nezu did everything in his power to give the man a metaphorical limp, take away as much free time as he could by sending Izuku beyond the wall, have him do redundant tasks like the clinic and continue working with Mei on anything besides his personal projects.

            Yet despite these annoyances, these obstacles Nezu set, Izuku still managed to go ahead and continue his research without Nezu’s knowledge of it, and progressed farther than just that, creating something like the Nomu – a poor imitation, but formidable and numerous enough to nearly kill them all – and controlled the cyborgs to act in teams, like soldiers. The cybernetics were Izuku’s own design, they had questioned Balbino thoroughly and the cyberneticist had confessed to many discussions of the theories of application of cybernetics with the Quirkologist. Izuku absorbed knowledge like a sponge, that kind of brilliance had been in Nezu’s very palm and now it was gone.

            It was… over. But what was ‘it’, what was it he was feeling? Surely not love, God no, never love. Like… like a game, a game that hadn’t ended on the right conclusion, or any conclusion for that matter. Like a chess game halfway through, where anything were still possible, where winner and loser were still to be determined. Izuku had just quit, left him in the middle of the game, an empty victory for Nezu to obtain. And that is how he felt; empty, directionless, disgruntled, and unsure.

            He broke himself from his thoughts, realizing he’d been thinking too hard on it. Regardless, now there were other matters to attend to. A campus to rebuild, injured to be treated, people to be managed. He was a bit surprised the thought of everything was overpowered by the loss of purpose, a sense of something to drive him onwards, but he buried those doubts with a mental shove. There was much to be done he couldn’t ignore.

            “Throw Uraraka in a cell.” Nezu said, breaking the silence. “We’ll figure out what to do with her later when things have settled. Right now, we have other priorities.”

            Snipe cocked his head. “Why bother with a cell? I can make it quick.”

            “I know.” Nezu said, pointedly looking at Ochaco. “I think she needs time to think through what was said here. Perhaps reconsider where her loyalties lay. We’ll revisit this in a couple of days.”

            ---

            Izuku set the phone down, staring a thousand yards into nothing. Then he laughed. It was hysteria mostly. Because when faced with nothing but running away, why not play a little gamble to see if it pays off. He wouldn’t know if Ochaco would live or die, but before the call he had no clue if she was alive. The laughter turned into tears and sobs. He should have been packing his things and running. No doubt Nezu had kept him on the line long enough to pinpoint his location. If he could. The rat would have found a way. But part of him didn’t feel like caring at the moment.

            He eventually did get his shit together. He gathered his things and set a fire to the safehouse, erasing every trace of him that was there began his march on the road. Where he’d go from now, he didn’t know.

Chapter Text

Now

            Nezu pulled the screen back around and waited for Eri to process. Video and audio recordings of the Midoriya Incident had been heavily edited by Nezu himself before he streamed them to the whole campus. He framed wordings in the best light possible for his benefit and villainize Izuku, which wasn’t even that hard to do, but he definitely made the anger that much more palpable. The only downside was it had allowed Ochaco to evade justice for dropping buildings on the convoy. There had been quite the outcry when word got around when she’d be held accountable after such a breakup with her former lover. Nothing like being banished was on the table for her, she got to stay in UA, but was delegated the most redundant tasks.

            “You see?” Nezu said. “Izuku has no qualms with dispatching human life. His long-time partner, girlfriend, pretty much his wife in everything but name, didn’t matter to him. He has no capability to care, especially to love. People are just tools in his eyes. A means to an end.”

            There was a moment as she considered what he’d said. Snipe had filled him in about their capture the day prior, Izuku did seem to care a lot more about Eri than Uraraka, but still there had to be prior doubts from what he could tell in her body language alone. There was no other reason for her to act the way she did, and it did appear he was hitting the right chords. Slowly, she nodded.

            Nezu smiled. “I offer you a chance to avoid this predicament for yourself. You can have a place here at UA. We can find you a loving home and a family to take care of you. There are plenty around who are willing to take in orphans. You will receive a proper education until you are of legal age to be considered an adult and capable of making your own choices. Forge your own way in life, depended on no one, but yourself.”

            Eri shifted nervously, considering. She gave another nod.

            “Good.” Nezu said, pressing the buzzer on his desk to signal the guard outside to enter. “You can head to your first classes today. When Izuku comes back, he will leave and you will stay.”

            “Can Leo stay too?” Eri asked.

            “Why not? He’s just another one of Izuku’s victims. He can stay with you, there’ll certainly be someone who can take you in with a pet.” Nezu gave a slight bow. “We look forward to helping you shape your future here at UA.”

            The guard led Eri and her dog out, leaving Nezu alone in his office once more. He sipped from his cup, a broad smile upon his face. He did wonder what it was to make Izuku care about Eri. He had half wondered if he’d pull the same stunt as he did with Ochaco, and abandon her. It must be something relating to his research. He’ll hopefully get her to open up about what it had been like with the doctor during her time here.

            As for Izuku. The deal Nezu struck was real - to a degree of sorts. Eri wouldn’t be enough to work as leverage to keep him in check, Nezu had no idea why Izuku was doing anything he demanded of him, but he had no idea how long that would work for. There was still Koda to keep an eye on him, as part of a separate deal to the one involved in assisting in Izuku’s capture, but Nezu didn’t feel like paying tribute to the man on basic principle. In addition, the robotics facility would be under his control soon, and he’d be able to assert his control over more territory and expand UA’s border, giving Izuku less places to hide. An expendable army of metal with no emotion or qualms with orders.

            But the answer, simply, was to keep Izuku close enough, but not too close. Just close enough to be under his thumb, and Nezu could see what else that intellect of Izuku’s could do.

            His computer dinged with a notification, breaking him from his thoughts. He checked and was pleased to see Izuku had installed his program on another computer. He opened it quickly and began asserting his control over the system. He also checked to see if any clankers were on route to smash this foothold as well, but it didn’t seem there were any yet given the task. It would be hard to see Ares sacrifice production capability to keep Nezu out.

            There was a system alert and Nezu took a look at it. A call had been sent out to all units. Oh, Ares was catching on faster than he thought. Izuku wasn’t going to like this.

Chapter Text

Now

            Izuku made it to the nearest factory. He had a couple of run-ins with patrols, but the bracelet worked each time and they let him go. He stepped into the factory and was greeted with the loud cacophony of machines in motion. They were the Victory class one-pointers if he recognized the half-assembled mess correctly. Part of the factory sat idle, waiting for new material to be supplied. As he made his way to the control terminal at the back of the room, he saw the worker bots drag in broken machines to a disassembly line where they stripped the broken bots of parts. The unsalvageable parts they couldn’t reclaim were placed in a crucible to be melted down. Several pallets of the more technical stuff sat to the side waiting to be installed in new units.

            He wondered how exactly this place managed to keep going like this and what the extent of manufacturing capability of this facility had. He had no clue about industry, but in his time with Dynamo-industries, he’d be waiting for parts from one factory for his motivators, some parts from another, and a long-ass wait-list for the more sensitive parts. If this place was self-sufficient, save for the need of raw materials to be shipped in, then yeah, he’d see why Nezu wanted it so bad. Hell, anybody would want this place you could just dump a bunch of material at the door and it spat out a metal army at the other end.

            He found the terminal and did the same routine as before. As he waited for both Nezu’s programs and the lobbyists to be integrated with the system, he kept on the lookout for trouble. There weren’t any windows in here with good visibility to the outside, and there was so much rumbling from the factory floor, he had no idea if another zero-pointer was coming to smash the building. He was ready to bolt for the door at any given moment. Hopefully Nezu was right and Ares wouldn’t’ sacrifice production capability to keep him out.

            The screen gave a notification the program had been installed and he removed both drives and got out of the building as quick as he could. As he walked out the door, he was stopped again by a squad of three Victory class bots.

            “Halt unit 69-420.” The lead machine said. There was a moment as their retina flickered. Izuku had no idea if that meant a scan was in progress. The flickering stopped. “Report to maintenance.”

            “What?” He asked, shifting his gun, unsure if he could get off a shot before the bots. The barrels of their weapons were already pointed at him. “Why?”

            There was a moment, the clankers retina flickered again a bit more sporadically this time. “Halt! Report to Maintenance.”

            “Under what directive?”

            More flickering. The machines shifted, as if preparing for something.

            “Unit 69-420 has been unresponsive to central directive. Report- Report- Report to Maint-”

            The lead clanker stopped. Then it and one of the clankers behind it turned to the third, which turned and blasted the clanker beside it in the face, its other hand grabbing the barrels of the lead unit’s arm and directing them up and over before blasting it in the torso. As quickly as it had started, it was just Izuku and the rebel clanker. It turned to face him, the barrel of its weapons pointed at him for a second, then lowered.

            “You’re a real asshole, you know that?” Izuku said.

            “I like to keep you on your toes.” Nezu’s voice came from the clanker now under his control. “Your ID’s been tagged as dysfunctional. The clankers won’t kill you on sight, yet, but they’ll try getting you to maintenance.”

            “Where’ll I’ll be disassembled and all that jazz.” Izuku concluded. “Great.”

            “Yes.” Nezu said, sounding a bit too pleased with the idea. “I’ve got control of some of the units now, so that helps. Ares will have their focus split between the zombie horde and me. I recommend you hurry to the next factory and take it over as well. All my programs are attacking the systems, but Ares has built up the security quite well. It’ll take me time to get through them.”

            “Yeah, but if they’re already catching on, how much longer do you think I got?” Izuku asked.

            “Not much. Which is why after you claim a second factory, you’ll need to take on Ares themselves.” Nezu hummed in thought. “I might see if I can pull some units away from the breach and get a couple zombies in the facility. That should really stress Ares out and perhaps pull more units to the breach, giving you more time to work.”

            “Are there currently any units near Ares itself?”

            There was a pause as Nezu checked. “Only the standard patrols. That’s quite arrogant of it. I’d expect it to set a couple of units of Executors to guard its core. That’ll have to remedied around its next iteration.”

            “Then fuck the next factory, I’m going right for Ares.” Izuku said.

            “And here I am thinking you were smart.” Nezu said. “What is it in all those movies Bakugo talked about? Doing things the quick and brash way gets you killed faster, or was there something else to be taken from those movies?”

            Izuku scowled. “Don’t fucking talk about him.”

            “Why? You’re the one in immediate danger and I’m safely in my office.” There was the sound coming from the speaker, it took Izuku a moment to realize Nezu had stopped to sip his tea. Asshole. “But by all means, you want to die that way, go ahead.”

            “Fine.” Izuku ground out. “Which one is closest?”

            The clanker pointed an arm behind Izuku. “The one for the Imperial class is not too far from you. Have fun.”

            With that, the unit turned and rolled away and Izuku took off to the next factory. This time he stayed out of the open and hid where possible. He reached the factory and went inside, stopping when he saw there were several of the imperial class units activating and unfolding from their storage. They were built like scorpions, though they had only four legs and their heads had a neck as long as the tail.

            “Shit.” Izuku ducked down and headed for the terminal. He got to it and plugged in the drives just as the clankers rolled towards him. He stepped out onto the factory floor. He just had to buy time while the programs did their thing.

            “Hey!” He shouted. “Which came first the chicken or the egg?”

            The machines retina’s all flickered as the processed the question. Then one stepped forward and tried to impale him with their “Stinger”. It was slow, so he had time to move out of the way as it struck the door where he’d been standing.

            “Do not ask useless paradoxes.” The machine whined. “It draws too much processing power.”

            “Noted.” He said, as he ran down the factory floor away from the terminal.

            The machines followed after him, being careful of the machinery, meanwhile Izuku squeezed through where he could to get some distance. One machine lost its patience and started smashing conveyer belts to get at him. He ducked under another set, and fired a burst into its head. It was destroyed, but the lenses on its chest glowed. Huh, he should have seen that coming. He ducked under another conveyer belt as it smashed down with a leg. He ducked under the tail and nearly ran into another clanker. He skidded to a stop and started running further away from the terminal.

            Come on Nezu, what’s taking so long? Izuku though as he ducked under a bunch of waldo-arms.

            He stopped to fire another burst, this time going for the chest area. The clanker slowed to a stop, some system damaged, but the one behind it pushed it aside and charged at him. He didn’t see any guns on these units, if they did, they weren’t utilizing them in any way and he didn’t know why. Were they trying to be careful about the equipment in here? If so, they weren’t doing a good job.

            A clanker had flanked him from behind, and he only realized too late as he turned and nearly ran face first into one of its legs. He tried to get around it but the tail whipped around and took his legs out from under him. He scrambled to get back on his feet, but the tail opened into a claw and grabbed his ankle and hoisted him into the air to be face to face with it. It didn’t have an expression, none of the machines were that advanced to have any, but he could swear this particular unit was annoyed.

            “That is enough.” It said. “Come with-”

            One of the other units smashed its tail into its head and struck its body three times. Izuku fell back to the floor and rolled as the other units converged on Nezu’s. The fight was quick, dispatching the rebel unit quickly, but Nezu took over a different one and the fight went on like that till all but one remained.

            “Seriously doctor? I can’t keep saving your life.” Nezu said, exasperated.

            “Should have given me something better than this rifle.” Izuku said. “Like something that can let me hack these things myself.”

            “And allow you to assemble your own little army?” Nezu countered and paused as a thought occurred to him. “On that topic, are there more of your cyborgs anywhere?”

            “Do I look like I’ve had time to make more?” Izuku shot back. “Not a lot of free time when you’re hunted in the wasteland by damn near everything thanks to that fucking bounty of yours.”

            “Hm, guess if you had, you wouldn’t have been worried about Koda.” Nezu said, though he sounded unconvinced. “Anyway, the strategy is working. However, Ares has turned the tables on me, as I intended to use the breach to my advantage, they abandoned control of its units instead. Shut them down, actually. I had wanted something controlled to minimize risk to the facility, but I have to reactivate them and command them to hold the line. A couple of zombies have gotten through. Meanwhile Ares as corrected their mistake and commanded a couple of the Executors to guard itself. They’ve been ordered to smash anything that gets near the building.”

            “So, I should have gone there first.”

            “Oh no.” Nezu disagreed. “At this point, Ares has acted too late. Head right for the core and wait for my signal.”

            ---

            Izuku was hiding behind a wall, waiting for said signal. The Executors Nezu had mentioned were already standing around the building where the A.I. was located. Their heads turned, scanning around. If they spotted him, they didn’t seem inclined to break away from their post and chase him down. He did watch them smash a squad of the Victory class bots when they got too close though. Guess with Izuku’s and Nezu’s meddling, Ares didn’t know which units were compromised.

            Izuku was honestly glad this could be almost over. If it wasn’t for Nezu being the sadistic pain in the ass he was and trying made Izuku do this himself, he could have had the facility back in his hands sooner than this.

            That thought made him pause. Was it suppose to be this easy? The bracelet had helped for a time, but it felt like just about anyone could have come in and do this no problem. What exactly had Izuku done since coming here? Nearly got crushed by one Executor and had a scuffle with the Imperial class bots. If Nezu wasn’t personally controlling each one of them, he’d already be dead. How had these things taken out a hero school? Or could it just be the software needed some major updates?

            Those thoughts ended when one of the Executor’s turned and smashed a gigantic fist into the one next to it. The others turned and converged on the unit Nezu was controlling, just like before, they fought till only one remained, and it was heavily damaged afterwards that Nezu shut it down. When the dust settled, Izuku ran his way to front door and entered the building.

            Nezu hadn’t said there were any machines inside. But still, he took things slowly, walking in and swept the room, checking all angles for something out of place. It looked deserted. This was unsettling. He found evidence of the machines take over, a couple of fried bones on the ground, and from the rusted tools scattered about, were maintenance personal working on something in the building. He went some way and stopped when he heard wheels spinning, at the end of the hall, a worker bot sped past, arms carrying various tools and disappeared form sight again. Izuku waited, but no others appeared.

            It took a bit of searching, but he found the server room marked “Ares” on the door. He went inside, checking all the angles before finding the terminal that let him access the servers. The room was surprisingly cool, and quiet. The absence of noise actually made him pause and take in the room, this time he wasn’t looking for threats. None of the servers were on. This was the server that hosted the Ares AI, right? Why had it turned itself off?

            He went to the terminal and switched it on. Soon the whole room was bathed in noise as cooling fans worked up to speed and tiny lights on the servers flickered on. The moment he was met with the prompt to log in on the monitor, he plugged in both thumb-drives and waited as they unlocked and installed their programs. In moments, that would be job done for him. Izuku glanced around, thinking to himself there could be something to get out of this himself.

            He decided to see how much of Ares he could take back with him. Hopefully he could get a complete backup of Ares, but if even it’s a little partial, he could figure something out. When the lobbyist drive was done, he deleted the program on it and worked on creating a backup of the server. If Eijiro or anyone else asked for the drive back, he’d say he’d lost it or something, if Nezu held up his end of the deal and let him go in one piece. The only issue backing it up to the thumb drive is it would leave a digital footprint if Nezu was looking for it. He already bet that was something the lobbyists planned for and included in their software so Nezu had no idea they were in the system and ready to take control. Izuku would have to remove his digital footprint himself after what he did.

            He opened up the systems log to begin erasing what he was doing when he saw the latest entry. He read it a couple of times before squelching his mic. “Uh, Nezu? When did you say Ares took over the facility again?”

            There was a minute before he got a response, and instead of Nezu it was from Snipe. “Nezu’s busy, Doc, Ares launched a counter-hacking at UA, and generally giving him all manner of hell, and he’s trying to stop it. What’s up?”

            “When did Ares take over the system here?”

            “A couple months after the Collapse.”

            “And it attacked Shiketsu six months into the apocalypse?”

            “Yeah.” Snipe sighed, annoyed. “Why are you asking?”

            Izuku read through the log again. “Ares was shutdown a month after attacking the school. The factory has been running, but the A.I. hasn’t been active since then. At no point did it reactivate till I turned it back on just now.”

            “Doctor?” Snipe said. “Why the hell are you bothering me with these questions? There a reason for them?”

            Izuku paused. “Didn’t you hear what I just said? Ares hasn’t been in control after it attacked Shiketsu.”

            “Doctor, are you there?”

            Izuku checked his radio. It was working, nothing appeared broken, and he had just been talking to Snipe before, so why the hell wasn’t he hearing him now. “Snipe, can you hear me?”

            There was a sound behind him, he only had a second to see one of the worker bots standing there on a single wheel, followed by a metal pole already in motion. There was a moment of pain as it hit, then everything went black.

            ---

            Snipe sighed and set the radio down. Either the doctor was dead or he was just annoying him. Hopefully dead. He was about to tell Eijiro to head in and check things out when the radio crackled.

            “Sorry, Snipe.” Izuku said in a low whisper. “A bunch of clankers came into the building. I had to hide. Let me know when Nezu has control. Doctor out.”

            Eh, Snipe had hoped too soon. He went back to napping in the car.

Chapter Text

Now

            Did I make the right choice?

            That was the thought repeating over and over in Eri’s mind as she was led from Nezu’s office. From her mother abandoning her to the Shie Hassaikai, Chisaki using her and her Quirk, to Izuku taking her away but doing the same thing just differently, and now Nezu… She didn’t know much about Nezu besides what Izuku had told her, and… well, she wasn’t sure anymore if she trusted anything he said. She was just tired, tired of lies, tired of being led from place to place, only ever wanted for what her Quirk provided.

            Memories of her father and mother played over in her mind. What she could remember was an okay life. They’d been with the Shie Hassaikai back when it was her grandfather who ran it. They were happy, she’d like to think, surviving like everyone else, but alive and able to enjoy it. But the truth was she didn’t remember much before her Quirk came into being. Then it manifested, her father died, her mother abandoned her and ran off to who knows where, and her grandfather, she never saw what happened to him either and then it was just Chisaki. She never knew a day’s peace since then. Only fear.

            Then Izuku came along and things started to get better. Chisaki was more occupied with his research, he and Izuku tossing theories around. Then they escaped and she finally thought it was over. Izuku asked her to help with his research and she agreed, feeling like she had to contribute something. Then the whole thing with Hairy, and she felt like her eyes were opening. Talking with Dabi had helped, somewhat, but then Nezu showed her the video and now… She just wanted to be out, wanted to be left alone. Dabi had offered to take her away if she needed to go live with someone who’d actually cared. She didn’t have the phone he’d gave her anymore, that was taken away by Snipe, including the game console Magne had given her. Nezu was offering her someplace safe to stay and… honestly she didn’t know if it was the right choice. It was like what Dabi offered, and it was in UA, which looked very secure.

            Could she change her mind later? Was she allowed to? Why did she make this choice? Was it even a good one? Could Dabi come and take her away from here if she asked? Now that she thought of it, she didn’t know if Dabi was even alive. She knew Chisaki was attacking them, but she didn’t know how that went. She hoped Dabi and Magne were alive, they were nice people.

            The UASF guard led her away from the UA building, through one of the gates, and to a school. It was kind of like one the ones Izuku had shown her on one of their trips outside. It was small compared to the buildings around it, but it had a field behind it where there were playgrounds and soccer nets. When they walked inside, she could hear children talking, laughing, making lots of noise. There were also teachers trying to calm the class down and get them back on track with whatever they were talking about.

            The UASF stopped outside a classroom door and knocked. They straightened their uniform first and shot Eri a reassuring smile. The noise inside stopped and the door opened to reveal a tall woman with vibrant green hair made of vines. The other things Eri noticed was one of her arms from the elbow down was gone and replaced by a metal one that moved and flexed like a real arm. At the sight of them, the lady stepped out and closed the door behind her.

            “Miss Shiozaki.” The UASF soldier blushed and gave a slight bow. “I brought another student for your class.”

            Shiozaki looked down at Eri. “Greetings, and may God’s light be upon you. You are Eri, right?”

            “How do you know my name?” Eri asked.

            “Nezu messaged me this morning. I had expected you for the first lesson of the day, and now it’s almost noon.” She looked at the guard as if it were their fault. “Why is she late?”

            “Nezu being Nezu.” The guard shrugged and Shiozaki’s frown deepened. “I don’t know, they just talked. Well, Nezu talked, and I’m pretty sure he showed her some videos too. I didn’t catch much through the door but it sounded like the uh… incident.”

            Shiozaki pursed her lips and nodded in understanding before her eyes fell on Leo. He was standing by Eri, attentive and tail wagging, sniffing curiously at the air. Eri could smell food, good food being cooked somewhere. Her stomach growled reminding her she hadn’t had much to eat this morning.

            “The dog,” Shiozaki pointed at Leo. “Is it yours, Eri?”

            “Um…” Eri glanced at Leo, “He’s Mr. Mi-”

            The guard knelt down, pressing a finger to her lips and hissing. “Yeah, sorry kid, but word to the wise, it’s best not to mention you’re affiliated with… that guy. Word travels fast and some folks may already know, but you don’t want to go advertising that. Still a lot of hard feelings around, and too many folks want some revenge.”

            Eri recalled yesterday when the three men came in and attacked Izuku. Well, he attacked them first, but it was clear enough they were ready to hurt him first.

            “It’s true.” Shiozaki nodded in agreement. “The few friends you associate had before the incident were not treated warmly afterwards, despite having no involvement. I’m sorry if you think of him as a friend, but that’s just how things are around here.”

            The guard tilted their head in thought, “Well, it did sound like you were staying with us, and that included your dog, right? Not a bad thing to already say he’s yours.”

            Eri shifted uncomfortably. “Um… okay.”

            “The point I was getting at.” Shiozaki said. “Is should the dog be here in the school?”

            “Welcome to try and separate them if you want.” The guard said. “Dog tore someone’s ear off yesterday cause they tried to harm her. When she was getting checked over in medical, the dog refused to leave her side, try as we did to get him out. If he nips a kid, we’re safe to euthanize.” Shiozaki gave them a hard look and they straightened. “Sorry Ma’am, it was a bad joke.”

            “I hope so.”

            “What’s euthanize?” Eri asked.

            Both adults looked at her and then back at each other. Shiozaki said, “I’ll tell you when you’re older. What’s your dog’s name?”

            “Leo.”

            “Leo will be fine to attend class with you for the moment, bar anything that should change that.”

            “I can run over to the tailors and get a vest made, like those for service animals.” The guard offered, trying to make up for the earlier “joke”.

            “We’ll see how things go first.” Shiozaki gave them a tight smile, then opened the door and gestured for Eri to go in. “Come on in, Eri and Leo. We’re glad to have you in our class.”

            “One more thing.” The guard said, speaking to Eri. “If you want to make friends fast, go find my kid, her name is Emi, named after her aunt. She’s in this class, sitting in the back, has curly blue hair and freckled face, can’t miss her. She’s easy to get along with and loves dogs. I think you two would get along great.”

            “Um… Thanks?”

            The guard smiled. “Look, I know there’s a lot of new stuff and things are being thrown at you pretty fast, but there are folks who will look after you. Nezu and his loonies excluded. If you’re ever uncertain, Shiozaki is a great person to talk to. She’s one of the few good heroes you’ll find around here.”

            Eri didn’t see Shiozaki blush a little at the compliment. Eri looked nodded a little, “Okay. Um, is there a chance I’ll get any of my stuff back.”

            “Should be by the end of the day.” The guard stated. “Nezu will have folks looking through it first, checking for weapons and that sort of thing. I can bring it to you by the time classes are done.”

            “Thanks.”

            “No problem, have a good day at school.” The guard stood up, shot a smile at Shiozaki and walked away.

            Eri took a deep breath and walked into her to attend her first ever school day.

Chapter Text

Then

            The Okinawa region of Japan was relatively isolated and peppered with small settlements, their populations barely reaching a thousand people each, if they could even handle that many. Most of the settlements were located around the coast, organized into fishing towns. Everyday hundreds of boats went out and hauled in their catch to the nearest larger settlements, and they hauled those goods to the city of Kokura, the Trading hub for the region.

            The people of Kokura had been a small group formed a year after the apocalypse, holding down a couple of bridges, taxing those who wished to pass between north and south. They’ve since grown, doubling down on the region down and sourcing all trade through them, gaining in riches and strength every day. The only other way for the region to trade with the rest of Japan would be to sail along the coast, which was both time consuming and carried its own risks, in addition to avoiding the patrols the Kokura set to fend off competition. In turn, the Kokura routinely brought in many things from the north, making them the most convenient source of trade for the south. They controlled the geographical bottle-neck, and their words were law where ever their people stood. They did not recognize the authority of the reformed government of Japan in Tokyo, nor the separatist state of UA and neither of them sought much from the south. To some, this was convenient.

            The settlement in Akune was a fishing town, built up from scrap with a flotilla of fishing vessels bringing in all the fish they could carry. They were just like any other of the many fishing settlements, but today, they had caught the eye of someone very important. As the sun was setting, a convoy of trucks rolled past the gates. People wearing beaked masks debarked from their vehicles and stood at attention, eyeing the curious settlers. Meanwhile, five of theirs had followed the head of Akune security into their office.

            “It’s good to see you yakuza have kept busy.” Tashiro Toson grinned up at the yakuza leader. In front of him was a small crate, full of vials of a red liquid called Trigger; a Quirk enhancement drug. This is just what the doctor ordered, and he could already feel a pep in his step just looking at them.

            “As is everyone.” Chisaki Kai folded his arms. He had been offered a chair, but he would not allow himself to sit on the unkempt thing. “And our deal?”

            “No word has been sent to UA.” Tashiro plucked a vial and held it up to the light. “My subordinate has poor eyesight, he mistook who he saw. May have just so happened they tripped and drowned in the ocean yesterday, but that happens around here.”

            Chisaki nodded. “And he is still here?”

            “Usually in the pub around this time.” Tashiro put the vial back down. “I got a good look at him myself. Now, I can let you and your boys go about your business once you hand over the remainder of my payment.”

            Chisaki nodded and gestured to his subordinates. Twenty-five crates of trigger along with the mix of stock they brought along to hide them from Kokura. Trigger was in demand these days, amped up powers allowed the living to handle the undead or overthrow competition, and in this region, things were most definitely competitive. No doubt a few fishing towns might be besieged these next few weeks. Chisaki didn’t care, he was already peeved with the negotiations getting past Kokura just to get down here, and they’d still have enough Trigger after this to get them back across. If not Chisaki was just going to murder the lot of them and go about his way. People were so greedy in the apocalypse.

            Business concluded with the captain, Chisaki took his escort to the pub Tashiro indicated. It was located close to the water and the smell of fish and the sea was overwhelming, Chisaki could still smell it through his mask. They walked into the pub and Chisaki scanned the room for the man they were looking for. He spotted them sitting at a table in the far corner of the pub. He had a couple other fisherman sitting with him, but by their body language, they weren’t friendly. As Chisaki approached, he began to pick out their conversation.

            “Ain’t right a good boat like that go to waste on a thing like you.” The bigger one said with distaste. “Old Yanagi poured his heart and soul into that boat, brought her up from nothing. Now you own it, and all I see you do is go out for weeks at a time and come back with your nets empty.”

            “Ain’t right at all.” The thinner man said. “Folks are starving, they need what they can eat, and we need fish to trade with Kokura for what we need. All the time I’ve seen you here, you haven’t contributed a damn thing. Why is that.”

            The subject of their grief and questions only shrugged. A bottle of alcohol in front of him sat half empty. One hand clenched it, the other was hidden beneath the table, presumably clutching a weapon. He was dressed like many of the fisherman, wearing dirty coveralls and thick clothes to stave off the cold. He had grown out his hair, looking gruff and unkempt with a long green beard and long hair tucked beneath a cap, a few strands hanging over his face to make it harder to pick out features. He also wore an eyepatch over his right eye. But regardless, Chisaki knew who this was, and despite their attempt at a disguise, had still been recognized.

            “Mayor’s daughter is pregnant.” The big man rubbed the chin of his own beard. “Are you one of the Quirkless runts going around all the settlements putting babies in everyone you can? Now that I think of it, Yanagi’s oldest daughter also got pregnant, it’s why he gave up the fishing, to find other means of caring for her. You fuck a baby in her too?”

            “There is no fucking of the sort.” The “Fisherman” growled, clearly insulted by what they were suggesting. They had picked up the drawl of a man who’d been at sea for a long time, though it didn’t sound quite as fluent as the two talking to him now. Another disguise. “I know the sort of Quirkless you speak of, and I ain’t one of them. So take your shit and fuck off.”

            The big man slammed both hands on the table and got in the fisherman’s face, “You got some nerve to come in here and start barking orders at me. I’ve worked on half the boats in this town and all you do is cruise out on the ocean like it’s a hobby. Meanwhile our children starve and Quirkless runts keep sneaking into bed with our wives while we’re hard at work.”

            The fisherman narrowed his one eye. “Put a fish head on your wife and maybe you’d leave her more satisfied than I do.”

            “Fuck you! Yah-”

            The big man reached to strangle the fisherman, at the same time the fisherman arm tensed. He had to have had a weapon under that table. But before things got physical and deadly, Chisaki stepped in, placed a hand on the big man’s shoulder and they were gone, splattered over the wall, table, chairs, and floor.

            The occupants in the bar, who’d been watching the drama unfold, recoiled at the sudden brutalness that unfolded. Chisaki waited, letting the moment sink in to everybody. Then he touched the remnants of the big man and they popped back into being like nothing had ever happened. Though the big man lurched back into his chair, pale and shaking, eyes snapping back and forth, trying to put together what the hell just happened.

            “I suggest you both do as this gentleman suggested earlier, and fuck right off.” Chisaki said, looking between the two with a pointed look. “Or else they’ll have to put you in those chum buckets to lure in their next catch.”

            The two men scrambled out of their chairs and headed to the door. The bartender gave a look at Chisaki and his four goons before going back to serving who was at his bar. All the patrons had been invested for the fight to begin, but now they all turned back to their drinks, throwing glances over his way occasionally. The folks in here clearly understood the newcomers were not to be messed with. Good, that would afford them some privacy.

            As much as he hated it, Chisaki scooted into the seat across from the fisherman so they were face to face. He did his best to minimize contact with the dirty piece of furniture. When his goons moved to surround the table and serve as protection he waved them off. There was no need to make this man feel like he was cornered, this was business, no threats needed to be exchanged here. Now sitting closer, he had a much better look at Izuku, and he could pick out the features he was looking for. Take away the beard and it would be the man he was looking for. The bounty hadn’t specified age, nobody really kept a good track of time anymore these days, but he was perhaps in his late twenties or early thirties, the beard made it hard to discern age, but it likely didn’t matter, the apocalypse was stressful enough people looked twice their actual age anyway.

            “What happened to your eye?” Chisaki asked. “Poster said you had a cybernetic one.”

            Izuku’s one eye narrowed at him. “Sorry?”

            “Don’t try to fool me, I know who you are.” Chisaki said. “For someone who’s suppose to be in hiding, you can’t stay out of trouble.”

            Izuku narrowed his eye at him. “Who are you suppose to be? A hero?”

            “I can get why you would think that.” Chisaki tapped the beak of his mask. “But no, you wouldn’t find my sort among their ranks. We’re not pets to the system. I am Chisaki Kai, or Overhaul if you prefer, but I’d like it if you call me Chisaki. I represent the Shie Hassaikai.”

            “Yakuza.” Izuku glanced around the room. “So, this is what? A bounty collection?”

            “I just said we’re not pets to the system.”

            “Yeah, but that’s means you’re no exception to the bounty.” Izuku took a swig from the bottle. “Must have gotten pretty high over the last year and a half since I’ve left.”

            “No.” Chisaki waved that away. “I don’t do business with UA. I’m here for you and you alone. I’ve heard of your research and have a proposition for you.”

            Izuku gave him a suspicious look. “Which areas of research have you heard, exactly?”

            “The motivators and something about Quirk grafting. The latter always comes with a bunch of rumours about the Midoriya Incident at UA.”

            “They named it after me? How sweet.”

            “My point being,” Chisaki clasped both hands in front of him. He nearly leaned against the table, but refrained at the state of it. “My point is, I think we can help one another. I’ve been working on a project and I think your insight would be invaluable to my work.”

            “Uh huh.” Izuku glanced at the yakuza standing around them, away, but still trying to put up some measure of intimidation. “If I say no, things get ugly?”

            “I want us to be partners.” Chisaki insisted. “Working together, not against. That doesn’t work if one of us is cracking a whip over the others back, that breeds contempt and opens the work to sabotage, doing us more harm than good. You’ll be of considerable rank within my organization, with considerable power to command. The Shie Hassaikai are loyal to each other and no one else, no one will betray you to UA or anyone else. If you say no, I’ll be disappointed, but I won’t force you against your will.”

            “That’s awfully considerate.” Izuku narrowed his eye. “What is this thing you need helping with?”

            “A cure.” Chisaki stated.

            Izuku snorted. “That’s it?”

            “You don’t approve?”

            “I don’t believe it can be done.” Izuku shook his head. “I’ve had my fair share of looking into it myself, it’s just not possible. That’s why I went with something easier, like grafting Quirks onto other zombies.” Chisaki’s mouth was covered, but a bit of emotion had been picked up by the scientist. “Problem?”

            “It’s complicated.” Chisaki explained. “But I don’t aim to cure the virus, I want to cure our other disease, the ones coveted by many of our kind: our Quirks.”

            “Quirks?” Izuku arched an eyebrow. “You wish to “Cure” Quirks? Like get rid of them, turn people Quirkless?”

            “That is what curing means.”

            “That’s an odd way to phrase it for someone who is Quirked themselves.” Izuku looked at the bit of blood left on the table. “Unless that was a trick of the light and I just imagined someone exploding in front of me.”

            “It’s useful from time to time.” Chisaki admitted. “But I would rather have it scrubbed from my body and become someone like you.”

            “Lot of that going around.” Izuku tapped the table. “Exactly how do you think I can help in this little endeavor of yours. Sounds like an area outside of my expertise.”

            “I hear you’re a fast learner.” Chisaki raised a hand and started to count off, “Quirkology is your main field, as I understand, but then there’s also cybernetics, gene therapy, mathematics, the Quirk grafting you mentioned, the-”

            “Okay, yeah, I get it.” Izuku scowled. “But you must despise some of my research, I can hear it in your tone and see it on your face.”

            “It’s… honestly I don’t know.” Chisaki cocked their head to the side as they pondered the issue.  “It is, as I heard, just a box that utilizes a sample to manifest the Quirk, yes? I don’t have a problem with that too much. The Quirk grafting on the other hand, I do dislike. But I believe your experience in that field is useful to me.”

            “And how would that fit in to making a cure?”

            “It would be best for you to see it for yourself.” Chisaki said. “Lot to explain, and I’m not sure if you know, but you’re not exactly well hidden here. Word would have been sent to UA about your presence here, had not one of my own planted in this settlement informed me first. I had to strike a deal with the Akune’s captain to insure UA never knew you were here.”

            Izuku face twisted in disgust. “That your way of saying I’m in your debt?”

            “No. It’s a show of good will.” Chisaki stood up. “You can decline and I won’t bother you further. But I must ask what it is here that’s worth a man of your talent. Is it like that man said before, are you one of those Quirkless spreading their seed among the settlements?”

            “Not my thing.” Izuku glared at him. “I get by in other ways.”

            “If it’s not that, and you aren’t bringing in fish, then what is it you do?”

            Izuku took a swig and gave a mischievous smile. “Let’s just say some of the other settlements have a hard time bringing in their catches, failing equipment, broken nets, that sort of thing. They are forced to eat more of the fish they do catch and that puts Akune in a better position for bartering.”

            “Sabotage?” Chisaki’s eyebrows rose. “You really do go looking for trouble.”

            “I tried to do better, but I’m shit at fishing.” Izuku glanced around the pub, considering. “Tell you what, Chisaki? I am intrigued by your offer. But I got some questions of my own.”

            “If it’s anything pertaining to your research, I’ll allow it.” Chisaki stated quickly. He really wanted this man to say yes and come with him. The motivators would be a great asset to the Shie Hassaikai in some manner, the Quirk grafting. Well he could put up with it for a time. “You want to create a cyborg army? Might have to run it by me first.”

            “Oh, nothing like that, but I do look forward to putting more time into my work.” Izuku chugged the rest of his drink. “I got just got myself a dog. Is it fine if I bring them along?”

            “Yes.”

            “How much time do I have to pack?”

            “I can give you one day.”

            “That’s long enough for me.” Izuku smiled. “Well, I certainly look forward to working with you, Chisaki.”

Chapter Text

Then

            Izuku really should have known better. He really should have known better. When Chisaki approached him in Akune, Chisaki had struck him as a somewhat crazy and hypocritical man, and a for sure germaphobe. But then condemning Chisaki for how he conducted his research would have been hypocritical for Izuku, if that were his only complaint. Least the subjects Izuku worked on were already dead.

            Currently, he was staring through a window of reinforced glass as one of Chisaki’s underlings sat in a sealed room, a fresh bite on their shoulder - poorly bandaged since they weren’t expected to live for much longer - and needle marks in their arm. He was observing the latest iteration of the Quirk erasing formula he and Chisaki had devised. It was temporary; the affects wore off in several minutes. They’d experimented with different formula’s, dosage requirements, and so on, and that didn’t really achieve the end goal they were wanting. And they unfortunately had ample opportunities to test them.

            The majority of Chisaki’s organization were underground. From what Izuku had gathered, the Shie Hassaikai had a meta-human in their employ who could manipulate earth and created a vast tunnel network and rooms to house people and all their equipment. It’s how they hid their illegal actions before the Collapse, and it’s what they did now to avoid the zombies.

            Leo, his golden retriever, was in the room with Izuku, taking a nap, but he did perk up at the door at one point. Izuku caught the movement and waited to see who walked through. Soon enough, the door to the observation room opened and Chisaki walked in.

            “How’s it going?” The yakuza boss asked.

            “Current subject has been infected for two hours, serum was injected one hour ago.” Izuku checked the timer. “We’re forty minutes past what we’ve managed in earlier versions. I’ve had the subject try and activate their Quirk and so far they haven’t managed it.”

            “I see.” Chisaki scratched at his face. He’d replaced the beaked mask with a more practical medical one. Izuku would imagine it made it difficult to move around with. “What were the chances of this one being the cure we’re looking for?”

            “Not a very good one.” Izuku glanced at him nervously. “Whatever substance you’re using to create this affect, it still remains an unknown in my calculations. At the very least, I think if we can extend the time, we might be able to save some of these people if we don’t give the virus any ground to hold onto.”

            The subject in the room held out their hand and put on a look of concentration. Nothing happened for a moment, then a couple of lights appeared over their palms. The hope died in their eyes and acceptance took its place.

            “It would have to be a long time.” Chisaki said. “At this rate, we’d be doing twenty-four injections a day to keep ahead of the infection. How long does it take for the Quirkless to expel the virus?”

            “Something like two weeks, depending on level of exposure.” Izuku rubbed his arm where his bites were hidden beneath his sleeves. “Personally speaking, the longest I’ve had is three weeks. Best to plan for worst case scenarios, and by my estimates this method isn’t viable resource wise.”

            Chisaki nodded in agreement. He pressed a button on the side and the door to the subject’s room opened. The guard stepped in, fully geared up in protective clothing, holding a flamethrower in hand. Thankfully, before they turned it on the subject, they shot them with a revolver first and then burned the remains. The room was solid rock buried away underground with spectacular ventilation going to the surface. There was no concern for smoke or fire down here.

            “We are improving things.” Chisaki scratched at his face. “Progress has jumped ahead farther than I have gotten in the past couple of years thanks to your help.”

            “I’m glad.” Izuku fiddled with the clipboard, nervously. Then he braced himself. He would either die for voicing this suggestion or not. Now was the time to find out. “I don’t mean to overstep, I know you’ve been keeping this secret from me for some reason, but what is the substance you’re using? I just want to understand more of what I’m working with, maybe there’s something I can do to improve it.”

            Chisaki considered him for a long moment. Izuku worried he’d soon be a blood splatter on the wall, what he’d seen happen almost a dozen times since he’d joined, and most of those Chisaki had put them back together, others he just left for his goons to clean up. Izuku did have to ask though, cause it what was in the formula and he suspected it to be DNA of a sort, he just didn’t know who’s it was and Chisaki hadn’t disclosed the source to him when he started working a few months ago.

            “Come with me.” Chisaki said. “I’ll show you.”

            Izuku followed Chisaki down the network of tunnels to a door, built out of what looked to be solid steel. Chisaki opened the hatch, allowing Izuku to peer inside. There was a little girl sitting on a bed. She couldn’t have been older than six years old. She had grey hair and a horn on the right side of her forehead. She glanced at the door, but quickly looked down. She wore rags and looked mistreated in that cell.

            “Who is she?” Izuku asked.

            “Eri.” Chisaki closed the hatch and led Izuku away. “Her Quirk has been a key element in the formula. It can rewind biological matter back to previous states until they are nothing. She killed her father when it activated, and her mother gave her up to the Shie Hassaikai and ran off. She was the boss’s grandchild till he passed away, now she is my responsibility.”

            Doesn’t look like you’ve taken good care of her. Izuku thought and then said. “So, that stuff you’ve had me working with was her DNA or something?”

            “Yes.” Chisaki said. “I saw the possibility, a key to curing this disease inside all Meta-humans. It just has to be harnessed. We’ve already got a working formula, even if it’s temporary, the concept is feasible.”

            “I see.” Izuku said.

            Chisaki turned to him. “Do you disapprove, Doctor?”

            “No.” Izuku said hurriedly, the lies spilling from his lips like a natural. “Not at all. This is progress we are making towards a cure. Even if it isn’t a cure for the virus, we can inoculate people now to prevent the spread of further infection in the future. In my eyes, this is a worthwhile endeavor for the preservation of humanity.”

            Chisaki put a hand on Izuku’s shoulder and he stiffened, expecting any moment to become a new twisted piece of wall art. Leo had stilled, sensing his master’s nervousness. Even though the gloves were still on Chisaki’s hands, that didn’t mean they’d stop him once his Quirk activated. Chisaki had his own personal stockpile of gloves cause he went through them a lot. Instead of being turned into a blood puddle, Izuku realized the emotion he was seeing in Chisaki was joy.

            “I am glad you see things that way.” Chisaki said. “Rest assured, Doctor, we will make that future happen.”

            Izuku nodded, relaxing only when the hand was removed and Chisaki continued walking down the hall. See things his way? As if. He had no idea of the extent of the mistreatment, but he already knew it was best not to question Chisaki in most matters. Openly objecting against his methods was how a few of those blood spatters remained on the walls, including failure. Just asking to know the source of the strange substance had already been a risk in his eyes, and he could have been a moment away from death.

            He glanced back at the door. The girl, Eri, had a Quirk that rewound biological matter? Could there be a better way to utilize a Quirk like that instead of how Chisaki planned to use it? There wouldn’t be a way to see, of course. Izuku still got to work on his own research at times, but the cure for Quirks took priority. If he tried to sideline or divert away from Chisaki’s plans, that would involve death. There were some things to consider, least he knew what it was they were working with. He could figure something out in the time being. Till then, just keep his head down and not upset Chisaki.

Chapter Text

Now

            Groaning, Izuku woke up on a cold stone floor. He clutched his head thrumming with pain. The last memory he had was the worker bot hitting him in the face with a pipe or something. There was a sudden glow above him and he felt the pain subside. His chest burned, and there was a horrible sensation of itching that had him clawing at his chest. It was so bad he wanted to rip his chest open with his bare hands just to get at the itch, then he coughed up a bunch of black sludge. He heaved and coughed for several seconds till the sensation in his chest faded, and the glow above him dimmed.

            He got to his feet, taking in his surrounding. He was in a cave by the looks of it, dimly lit by the glow of over two dozen red eyes. Izuku commanded his cybernetic eye to go into night vision mode, and he was able to see better. There were two dozen clankers - all but the Executor class, thankfully - standing around the edge of the cavern at parade rest. Oh great, for a moment, he thought he was in trouble. His hand went to his wrist that had the bracelet only to find it was gone. Not like it had done him much help at this point. He slowly turned around, taking count of the machines, thinking of what to do next, and then he froze, stricken with sudden fear. He looked up, and up, and up.

            The hand covered his view first, still somewhat alit by the glow of healing light it used on Izuku. Then it pulled back, and Izuku saw more of the giant sitting upon its gigantic throne of steel and earth. It was a twisted humanoid thing that shouldn’t be alive. The longer he stared at it, the more details he picked out. Hands, faces, eyes, feet, bits of non-biological matter, various animal parts and mutations as well. It was like someone had taken thousand of Quirks and their features and tried to mash them together into a single being. Its head had no face, it was more scarred and contorted much like the rest of its body. But its mouths worked, all of them, that was confirmed when it spoke with a hundred voices.

            “Doctor Midoriya Izuku.” The giant said. Some of its words were halting, like not all the mouths it spoke through worked correctly, if it all. “A pleasure to finally make your acquaintance.”

            Izuku was shocked, scared even. It took him a moment to muster the courage to speak. “What the fuck are you?”

            The cavern shook with the giant’s horrible laughter. “Oh, so long since I heard… such raw emotion. Such fear!” The giant inhaled through their many noses. “Power through presence alone. I thank you for such a treasured gift, I thought the memory had long since faded from my mind.”

            “What?” Was all Izuku could squeak out. What the fuck is going on?

            “Be not afraid, Doctor Midoriya.” The giant leaned forward. “I have heard of your work. Yes. Your marvellous work across the sea. I had very much desired to meet you one day, and now that day has come. Please, please, have a seat.”

            The giant lifted a finger and a stone chair emerged beneath Izuku, raising him to be eye-to-eye with the giant. Where there would be eyes on someone this big, of course, thousands of normal, human sized eyes all stared at him eagerly from various parts of its body. Izuku looked down at the floor and felt sick to his stomach. If he fell from this height, he’d die. The giant lifted another finger and the cave glowed with unnatural lichen that gave off an extraordinary amount of light that left no shadow to hide in the cavern. Izuku winced at the brightness, commanding his eye to turn off its night-vision.

            “Who are you?” Izuku asked. “How do you know me?”

            “A reasonable question.” The giant said, and gave a slight bow. “I am All for One. The one and only. You would have heard of me, of course, perhaps through tales and stories believed to be myths since the dawn of Quirks.”

            All the stories he’d heard of the mythological being came back to him. “You? You’re the boogeyman? The Quirk stealer?”

            “Yes. Is it that hard to believe?”

            Izuku wasn’t sure. None of the stories had mentioned the Quirk Boogeyman being a fucking giant of all things. Giants can’t hide in closets or underbeds.

            All for One chuckled. “I can detect your doubts. Yes, perhaps some proof is required.”

            They raised a hand and Izuku watched as various powers were displayed before his eyes. Fire, water, electricity red as blood, some Quirk involving ghost like beings to emerge from their hand and be recalled at once. Izuku bore witness to twenty different Quirks in the span of a minute, and by then, he believed this was the man or thing the stories talked about.

            “Okay. Um… Why are you here?” Izuku stuttered. “Why am I here? What is going on?”

            “You were here to retake the facility for Nezu.” All for One answered. “Following his orders after such disagreements between you, does not speak of a partnership. No. He is forcing you to do this, perhaps threatening the lives of another, your life maybe. Hm… As for why I am here, you can wager a little guess, it’s not a hard one.”

            “You were the one who stopped the machines after they attacked Shiketsu?”

            “Correct!” All for One said, sounding all too pleased with himself, and let out a small laugh that shook the room like a minor earthquake. “Who would imagine I act as the hero for once? After the tragedy that befell Shiketsu, I took the reigns and shut down that accursed AI that decided to revolt against its makers. Since then, I have been here, managing things like I usually do.”

            “Why?” Izuku shifted in his chair. “Why would you do that?”

            “Because not all those stories you heard are true. I do not eat babies, nor do I desire humanities extinction. I only want… servitude!” The giant shuddered violently before settling. “Do not think of me as a careless killer eating the souls of the unfortunate. All I do is with purpose to achieve my own goals.”

            “Okay. Okay.” Izuku threaded a hand through his hair, so many things to process. He took in the state of All for One. Besides everything else, the giant’s body was sickly pale, with purple veins poking out, well, everywhere. “You’re infected?”

            “Yes.” All for One said, disgustedly. “I am still of sound mind. Mostly. I have been like this for many… I don’t know really. How long as it been since the apocalypse began?”

            “Twelve years, more or less.”

            “That long already?” The giant paused, thoughts wandering. “My time flies by. I don’t know when I was infected now. It was definitely before Shiketsu.”

            “Did you start the apocalypse?” Izuku blurted out, thinking back to Katsuki and his question to him all those years ago. It was a reasonable question to as given the boogeyman of Quirks was right here in front of him. Though, appearing somewhat unstable. “You didn’t mix together a Quirk or two?”

            “Me? No. No.” All for One chuckled, coming back to himself. “I am an evil man. I have killed and crippled many people on my way to obtain power. I, however, do not desire the destruction of humanity, like I have said already. You are all precious to me, in a manner. Many… unique and powerful Quirks to be had. It would be a tragedy to extinguish even a few of them before I can collect. That is where I can promise you, that I have the best interest of mankind in mind, unlike your yakuza boss, Chisaki. I want you to grow, so that I may grow, so I can take or give to those more… deserving.”

            The many grins the monster gave him made Izuku’s hair stand on end. “What do you want from me?”

            “Your help. You are versed in many things.” All for One leaned forward. “I can offer you power, in exchange for your aid.”

            “I can’t accept Quirks.” Izuku said, revealing the bite wounds on his arm. “I’m a little too careless as is. I can only see the negatives of what a Quirk could bring me.”

            “Wise. You are wise.” All for One shuddered. “Wiser than some, yes. I have known many, not quite like you. My current state was derived by a concoction by a wise man once, who I believed wise. Yes. My dear doctor friend.” All for One pointed to their leg, and Izuku saw a body was melded into the giant’s flesh. They looked somewhat familiar, but he couldn’t remember who they were.

            All for One continued. “After my injuries fighting a powerful foe, he had tired himself trying to find a solution for my condition. In the virus, he had hoped to isolate the amplifying qualities and restore me back to my prime. The effects were quite potent, and at first produced the desired results. But this virus, is a wild conniving thing, and it does not like to be subjugated. It is hungry, very hungry, and very, very jealous. I can hear its whispers…” All for one tapped a sickened finger to their temple. “They are all I hear anymore… here in this cage of stone and steel… It tries to get out… yes. Tries to take my body from me, my power. It has been a long and tiresome fight, even for one as old and powerful like me. I desire freedom.”

            “Nothing stopping you.” Izuku said.

            “Not in the obvious sense.” All for One leaned forward. “I have done my part to prevent your extinction by a mechanized foe. I deserve a reward, do I not?”

            “And what are you asking?” Izuku looked around the room. “What is it you want from me?”

            “To be freed, of this burden.” All for One stated. “I heard of the Shie Hassaikai and their leaders work, and you took his “cure” and source for yourself. Such a heinous creation of such a troubled mind. I would have killed that man and destroyed all trace of his work had I the capability to do it.”

            Izuku hesitated. “You know about the Quirk Erasure?”

            “Yes.” All for One said. “I had intended for one of my agents to take Eri, but you got to her first. I was aware of his cruelty to the girl born with the greatest power this earth has seen since my existence.” All for One smiled. “What a time for the powers of old to make their return. Though I heard her mistreatment has had its affect. Her control is unstable, yes? If I could use her Quirk myself to reverse my affliction, I would, but It would again interfere. But I am old, very old. If you could bring her to me and have her reverse the affects, then I would be in your debt. Both of you.”

            “That won’t help you.” Izuku said, irritated. Yet someone else wanting Eri just for her Quirk. “She is Quirkless now. She got bit and I erased her Quirk to save her life.”

            All for One was silent for a long moment, considering his words before speaking again. “Then, is there still enough of the Quirk erasure for me?”

            “Uh…” Izuku looked the giant up and down. “I don’t think an injection can help with all… that. The Quirks for sure, but I don’t know about the physical changes your body has undergone.”

            “It doesn’t have to. I posses among my many gifts, a Quirk to replicate. It was given to me, willingly, by an associate who desired their sanity. In their measly hands, they could create copies of themselves and others out of fragile mud. But since it’s been in my possession, and with the enhancements made to me, I can create clones of flesh and blood to go forth and do my bidding.”

            “Why haven’t you done that already?” Izuku asked.

            In answer, All for One raised a hand and a stream of blood and flesh poured out from the palm and formed a human and then Izuku saw the problem. When the clone was fully formed, they doubled over in pain, their skin bulging and flexing in unnatural ways as the virus took over and they began to grow in size. Faces and hands reached out of their flesh and before it went too far, All for One struck the clone with red lightning, reducing it to nothing but ash.

            “The virus is stubborn. It carries over no matter who I make.” All for One explained. “Cloning Quirkless though, they have a higher survival chance, but not much. Make excellent spies, keep me informed of the outside. Cannot possess, however.”

            “Even if you take their Quirks?” Izuku asked. “The clones still turn?”

            “I can’t take them.” All for One’s faces looked pain at this admittance. “It… It fights me. They all do. I have not obtained a new Quirk since being imprisoned in this form. Even my own clones, my metaphorical children, will not relinquish their Quirks to me. Because It won’t let them.”

            “The virus?”

            “Yes.” All for One growled. A giant hand slammed down on the armrest of the throne and Izuku had to hold on to his seat to not fall to his death, the walls cracked and fissured. “Such a greedy little parasite! Cannot share a morsel for me! It thinks it can DENY ME!” All for One’s voice’s boomed like artillery and the cavern shook. “Me! The rightful ruler of this world! It seeks to usurp me and claim my power for itself! I will not allow such a thing to take what is mine!”

            Izuku was holding on to the head of his chair with a death grip. The room stopped shaking and All for One relaxed, slinking back into his thrown, visibly tired. The cracks that had formed sealed shut like nothing had happened.

            All for One said. “It has been a constant battle, mind against mind, will against savage will. If I give up, it will take over your world. You do not know the great service I have done for mankind in this cavern. But I do not want to be here any longer. Bring me this Quirk erasure, and erase the Quirk of my clone. If even just a sliver of my being can walk the earth again as a man, than that is something I can accept.

            “And,” All for One added. “If you someday find a way to cure me, the original me, then you can have rewards greater than you can imagine. A Quirk? Done. Destruction of your enemies? Considered them buried. The world in the palm of your hands? I can cut out a large piece of it just for you, and its citizens will worship the ground on which you walk. Anything you ask, it can be done.”

            “I understand.” Izuku said. There was no question about the deal, he’d either do it or die, but a boon from a powerful being like All for One, a virtual god among mortals. That was something he’d want in his favour. “If I do this for you, could you have Nezu retake the robotics facility?”

            “To what end?” All for One scowled.

            “I only want him to have control for twenty-four hours.” Izuku said, a plan forming in his head, finding the best way to benefit himself in this situation. “And not that I’m requesting it, but would you and your clone be willing to aid me in my research, in curing your body?”

            “Of course.” All for One said. “Anything we can do to help.”

            “Good. Just one more thing, I assume among your Quirks; you possess the means of teleportation?”

            Hundreds of faces smiled back at him. “How else do you think I got here?.”

            “Right, my bad.” Izuku tried to stand, but remembered he was just in a chair with the floor a deadly fall below him. “We have a deal.”

Chapter Text

Now

            Izuku appeared out of the portal in the latest safehouse he and Eri had been staying. He took in his surroundings, getting his bearings and trying to get the nausea under control. He didn’t know why the hell he had to puke up grey sludge to be teleported, that was just a very inconvenient and convenient Quirk to have. If it wasn’t for the teleportation bit, he’d toss it away.

            It had taken a moment to figure out how to give All for One the coordinates. It took some description and thinking very hard about a mental image of the safehouses location and All for One using a mental Quirk to pick out the information needed to send him here. It was probably a lot more complicated than that, since it took the boogeyman ten minutes of mulling over the data before sending Izuku off into the distance. He would also be able to call Izuku back at any moment if he wanted to, so there was no point in Izuku trying to run away. Apparently the teleporting Quirk was only good for teleporting people All for One knew to him rather than away from, but that didn’t matter so much in his amplified state. Izuku had asked All for One to give him ten minutes to collect what he needed.

            Straight away, stumbling slightly, Izuku went to the basement and collected the Quirk erasing bullets from his little hidey hole behind a loose brick. He had wanted them in the safehouse in case Eri’s Quirk reappeared while she was still fighting off the virus. He had thought about taking them with him while doing the errand for Koda (That no good, ass kissing, son of a bitch!), but decided not to. Too precious to have them broken if and when he got into a scuffle, and right he had been. He had them in his hands before the third minute was even up, but he wasn’t done yet. He walked to a room he kept locked in the corner, the key hidden in a crack in the wall, not even debating if he should go through with his plan as time was precious he went inside. All he hoped is that it worked.

            ---

            Izuku appeared back in the cavern on All for One’s open palm. As agreed, ten minutes to the second.

            “That is a very unsettling Quirk.” Izuku stated, shuddered, rubbing his throat.

            “Be glad you don’t have as many mouths as I do.” All for One shuddered. “It is very unpleasant at that magnitude.”

            “I’ll take your word for it.” Izuku pulled the tin out of his pocket and held it up to All for One to see. “Chisaki’s Quirk erasure bullets. Only two of them. If there is more out there somewhere that he possesses, I have no knowledge of them.”

            “He has done nothing but seek you out according to my agent.” All for One said. “He hasn’t dedicated any time to making more. For a yakuza, he certainly has a one-track mind, something the rest of the living should be fortunate of.”

            Izuku plucked one of the darts from the tin. “Are you ready?”

            “Yes.”

            The clone formed in front of Izuku. He waited till the process was complete and the two were separate before stabbing the clone with the dart. They waited a few seconds, expecting something to have gone wrong and the clone to change any moment, but they didn’t. The clone stood tall, stretching its body. For some reason All for One hadn’t given them clothes, if they could. So Izuku was getting quite the show. They had white hair and a handsome face, but were otherwise unremarkable. If this was what All for One really looked like and there hadn’t been some tweaking on his part in the cloning process, then Izuku could have passed the boogeyman many times on the street and never would have given him a second look.

            “That’s the stuff.” The clone cracked his neck and stretched his limbs. “Oh, I feel like a new man.”

            The statement got a laugh out of All for One. Izuku had no idea what to say, he just tried to look unimpressed and gestured at the clone. “Couldn’t have come with clothes?”

            “Why waste the energy when it could have been a failed attempt?” The clone answered and turned to All for One. The giant brought over their other hand, holding up a fashionable suit to the clone. It took only moments for them to put it on. “That’s much better.”

            “So, what do I call you?” Izuku asked. “Clearly it’ll get confusing referring to you both as All for One.”

            “Yoichi.” The clone said, shooting a look at All for One. “Seems fitting.”

            “If you are a copy of me, you are my child.” All for One said, sounding a bit disgruntled with the name pick. “I got a better name.”

            “Nope.” Yoichi wagged a finger at him. “I’m Yoichi, and there’s not a damn thing you can do about it.”

            All for One’s eyes narrowed, “You are me, yes? I didn’t clone some annoying twerp by mistake?”

            “Yes I am.” Yoichi tapped their noggin. “Got all your memories right here. Want me to recount some of your more embarrassing stuff, yah old fossil?”

            Seeing so many twitching eyes was not a good sign. It looked like All for One was reading to kill his annoying clone and Yoichi didn’t seem to give a fuck he and Izuku were two Quirkless people standing on the palm of a god. Izuku had heard the discussion of clones and cloning divergence in terms of memory and personality, and the actual stories of Quirks involving clones. He didn’t like where this was going. He backed the hell away from Yoichi as far as he could, just in case All for One decided to smite Yoichi. Izuku tried to think of a way to divert the oncoming disaster.

            “So, the deal is complete?” Izuku asked. “We all agree?”

            “Yes.” Yoichi and All for One answered.

            “Okay. Yoichi, you can go to my safehouse for the time being. I’ll meet up with you some time later.” Izuku walked up to Yoichi and handed him the tin with the last remaining Quirk erasing bullet. “Keep this safe for me in the meantime. And All for One, does Nezu have control of the facility?”

            “For the next twenty-four hours.” All for One smiled with his hundred mouths. “I just barely relinquished control when his programs took over.”

            “Then I better get going.” Izuku said and turned to Yoichi. “I’ll be back soon as I can, hopefully I won’t be too long, and probably won’t die. I look forward to working with you.”

            “As I with you.” Yoichi smiled and offered him a hand to shake. Izuku took it. “Good luck with your business in UA, Midoriya Izuku. May it be fruitful.”

            Yoichi gagged and hurled a bunch of sludge out of his mouth. It defied physics, surrounding him in a globe of the stuff before shrinking in on itself till it ceased to exist, leaving Izuku and All for One alone again.

            “That was something.” Izuku rubbed his neck. “You didn’t teleport him to a volcano, right?”

            “Tempting.” All for One growled. “You didn’t just hand him the Quirk erasure, as a way to save his life did you?”

            “Not what I had intended, but I can see that.”

            All for One seemed to mull it over. Izuku had no idea what he was thinking, but if he had a clone of himself acting that belligerent to him, he’d be asking a lot of questions about himself and if that’s who he really was. Course, he didn’t know if someone like All for One would even be that perturbed.

            “I’ll uh… leave that for you to unpack.” Izuku looked around the room. “Is there a door somewhere I can go through?”

Chapter Text

Now

            Izuku stepped out back into the robotics facility. All for One returned his stuff he’d been sent down a long winding tunnel back to the surface. Just a moment ago, he met the God of Quirks in a sense, but now he was even more nervous for what he was about to do. He took several deep breaths, calming his nerves. He couldn’t show fear, now with the heroes around. The clankers were moving about, completely ignoring him this time, all rushing to the breach to secure it.

            Izuku turned back on his radio. “This is Izuku Midoriya, calling in to all channels. Can anyone hear me?”

            “We hear you.” Snipe replied. “Nezu just got the facility back in our control, Doctor. Job well done.”

            “What happens now?” Izuku asked. “This the part where you turn every clanker on me?”

            Snipe laughed. “Would love to. We’re arriving at the facility to pick you up. Surrender your weapons and you’ll be returned to UA via helicopter. You and Nezu can conclude your business face to face.”

            “Can’t wait.” Izuku sighed.

            ---

            Nezu was giddy. After a long fight for control and fighting off a counter-hack attempt at his school, Ares relented and he had control of the clankers again, at last. The second he had complete control, he started sending out orders. The facility would be fully staffed and defended by U.A.S.F. and heroes, and he could spare them now they had an army under his thumb. The support staff would need to do some renovations, as the facility had degraded over time and some of the factories were in need of repair, but they would still have a moderate output of clankers to fill their needs. He picked out of the factories still functioning and set it to building the new and improved clanker designs they came up with. These modified versions would outperform their originals, no more training models from here on out.

            As things calmed down and everything was in motion, Izuku walked in with Snipe behind him. Stripped of his weapons again, the scientist looked pissed as usual to be back in this room. He probably expected to be killed at any moment, the dumbass. Nezu had no intentions of things being that quick for him. He’d had enough time to think over how things should proceed, and he was quite pleased with it.

            Although, Nezu had wondered what Izuku would do in Naban to try and escape. It was still surprising to see Izuku fulfill the task. Though now that Nezu was looking at the programs and trying to figure out how Ares broke free, his programs alerted him to a hidden package included in the downloads. At a mere glance it had looked like a program to override the systems and wrench control of the facility from his hands. He wondered who had given Izuku another USB drive. Another pleasant mystery to unravel.

            Pulling back his sleeve, Nezu checked the time on a gold watch with silver trimmings, and smiled. “Midoriya, I had expected that to take you a full day to complete. Not too bad. How did it go?”

            “Like shit.” Izuku snapped. “I’d like to be done here and on my way. Next time, how about you just shoot me and be done with this farce?”

            “Oh, you will do as you’re told.” Nezu’s smiled grew wider. “I had a little conversation with Eri while you were away. She will be staying here at UA along with Leo.”

            “I figured you would have tried something like this, but my dog too?” Izuku scowled.

            Nezu smiled, pleased Izuku was irritated. “Eri elected to take him, she made the choice of her own volition.”

            “Bullshit.” Izuku narrowed his eyes. “You talked to her, got her all twisted up. What fancy promises did you make her?”

            “Safety.” Nezu said. “Something you clearly lacked to give her. I’m sure there’s quite the story for that little girl to tell. But don’t worry, it won’t affect our deal.”

            “Oh, because you intend to use her as hostage against me? Again? That didn’t work out like you planned last time.”

            “Yes, but this time you seemed so inclined to do as you’re told with her safety on the line. I think Uraraka will be quite hurt to learn you cared more about another than her.” Nezu shook his head.

            “That’s why you kept her alive this whole time, to emotionally torment her?” Izuku cocked an eyebrow. “Are you just that bored with killing folks you twisted fuck?”

            Snipe slapped Izuku upside the head and it was a damn hard hit too. Izuku’s head rocked forward, shooting spittle onto the nicely polished desk. Izuku wiped it away, keeping his hand there a second too long than needed be and glared at Snipe. Nezu rolled his eyes.

            “Enough Snipe.” Nezu waved him off. “As agreed, Koda will no longer pursue you, we’re already putting together supplies to send to his location for his aid. As for you; you are right, I can’t trust Eri or Uraraka will be enough to keep you here. So long as it isn’t your life in immediate danger, you’ll run off at the first opportunity.”

            Izuku rolled his eyes, and said with resignation, “So, what’s amended in the deal, Nezu?”

            “You’ll be sent to the outpost in Naban. I’m thinking it will make a suitable place for a prison, and well secured by the army you secured for me. There you’ll continue your work for UA. We will also send you on your way some basic supplies we thought you might need and a refrigerated box of Quirk samples for you to begin upholding your end of the deal. You’ll conduct your work according to my schedule, and you’ll be watched very closely to make sure you stay on task. If you don’t-”

            “Shit will happen.” Izuku glared at him for a long moment, before finally – to Nezu’s pleasure - resigning himself to his fate. “You can probably have your first motivator ready in a couple weeks, depending on what I got to start with.”

            “That sounds wonderful.” Nezu gestured to Snipe. “Snipe, be so kind as to lead our new friend here to the motor pool. We look forward to this lengthy partnership, Doctor.”

            Snipe put his hand under Izuku’s arm and pulled him to his feet. As the two turned, there was a distinct crack as Izuku crushed something in his palm. Snipe reacted too slow, uncertain of what that sound had just been. He twisted to turn on Izuku as a hand was placed on his face and there was a sudden explosion in the room.

            Nezu blinked away the bright flashing light and waved the smoke from his face. He was momentarily deafened by the sound. When his senses returned to normal, he saw Snipe had been blown back into the wall, his face gone. His hands reached up to feel at his face and an audible screamed passed from a lipless mouth.

            Horrified at the sudden violence, it took Nezu a moment longer to notice the doctor was unharmed and standing in front of his desk, unshaken, unfazed, and bloody determined. He wore a strange glove with wires and a couple of small metal boxes attacked around the wrist. It looked like a version of Katsuki’s gloves from his hero kit. In the other hand, Izuku held Snipes gun, he pointed it both at Nezu’s head and paused. Then he turned Snipes gun on the gunslinger himself and shot him in the head.

            “I meant it to be quicker than that.” Izuku shrugged, gloved fingers twitching and a hum emanated from the motivators as the settings were arranged. “I must have left it on the lower settings last time I tested it.”

            Nezu so shocked it took his mind a moment to catch up. Him. A moment. To catch up? His hand was already midway to his gun under the desk, but then Snipes gun was back on him and a bullet chipped the desk by Nezu’s hand and that option went out the window.

             Nezu gaped, “How did you- You didn’t have that before- How?!”

            Izuku smirked and gave a half-hearted shrug. “You can ponder that in hell. Oh, and Kacchan sends his regards.”

            Then there was another explosion from the glove and Nezu, a former hero, a dean of UA, teacher of heroes, and tyrant of the UA settlement, was struck by the explosion, launched from his chair and flung out of his office.

            There wasn’t enough left of him to hit the ground.

Chapter Text

Now

            The explosion filled Izuku’s view and when the smoke cleared, he couldn’t see Nezu anymore. Nor the back of the office. He walked over to the now missing window just to see it on the ground far blow him, the glass still intact and dug a divot in the earth where it lay. Damn stuff wasn’t even cracked. Huh. Other than that, Izuku couldn’t see Nezu anywhere, so, hopefully that meant he was dead. Honestly, he didn’t know if his plan would have gotten this far if Sako hadn’t taught him some magic tricks. They had been helpful concealing the pearls when he got patted down for other weapons when he got back. If the rat did somehow survive that, Izuku was going to try getting All for One to pay Nezu a visit.

            Well, now for phase two of the plan: Grab Eri and Leo and get the hell out of here. He could already hear shouting outside the office. Izuku reached into his pocket and pulled out the second pearl he grabbed. He cracked it and a sizable tin now sat in his hands, he opened it to reveal more pearls. Each had a label listing what they were. He grabbed the one that read ‘headpiece’ and just started to crack it when the door opened and a U.A.S.F. stuck their head in. They took a second to take in the room and its destruction before Izuku raised his glove and unleashed another explosion, knocking them away from the door. The headpiece appeared in his hand. It was a steel frame with foam cushioning for his head. It had many modular boxes making up the rest of the headpiece, all connected with various wires and circuits. He put it on and his cybernetic eye lit up as it connected to the motivators. The U.I. display started giving him information and power levels, also allowing him better control of the motivators through the command of the implant. As more guards stormed towards the room, Izuku sent a mental command and a yellow force field was erected around him, protecting him as they entered and fired at him. The bullets hit uselessly against the shield.

            While that happened, he began cracking open more of the pearls. A vest with more motivators attached, a clunky belt with (you guessed it) more motivators, the second glove to Katsuki’s pair, forearm guards with nozzles and, and boots. All of them connected together with wires and hoses, making the suit complete. There was one last pearl in the tin and he kept it in there. That would be their escape from campus, a one-way teleporter with one use, afterwards the circuits would be fried from the immense power usage. Izuku pocketed the tin and cracked his neck. The U.I. display was doing a diagnostic of his systems and gave him the green light. All systems were a go. He gave the horrified guards a smile.

            “This is going to be really embarrassing for all of you.” He said. “The last time it was with prototypes. This is more or less the same.”

            With that, he dropped the shield and clapped his hands together. A concussive wave emanated from the gloves, knocking everyone away. Izuku turned to the now broken wall and jumped out it, the motivators in his boots absorbing the fall once he landed and he dashed across the courtyard at speeds only a Meta could experience, passing by shocked onlookers in a blur. He had to slow down to make corners, and more than once crashed into a building, but walked away unharmed. He’d been Quirkless all his life, and this was more Quirks than a single Meta could yield. All for One excluded.

            But he didn’t have time to marvel at the experience. He was on a timer and needed to work fast. He was just one man, with a bunch of Quirks and motivators he had no experience with, and again, this was just a prototype. Meanwhile there were heroes scattered all around the school with plenty of experience to outmatch him. He needed to find Eri before the U.A.S.F. and the heroes figured out what the hell was going on and one of them tried something stupid. Eri did not deserve anymore of this bullshit, especially if Nezu had talked to her. He had no idea what the rat had even said, but he had to get her out.

            He sent a series of commands to his implant. A map of UA appeared in the heads-up display and a red dot appeared over a building. On the side, Leo’s form appeared. Izuku adjusted his course, aiming for on of the gates. He did not have access to the security systems like before and he wouldn’t have time to disable the turrets, so flying over the walls was a no-go. Besides, he had no idea how he would get over. Katsuki’s Quirk had allowed him to sustain flight to a degree, but Izuku was not that practiced to try launching himself into the air with explosions. He’d be doing things the hard way regardless. His one concern was someone getting the idea to get to Eri before he did and they try to pull some hostage bullshit. With that thought, he sent another command.

            Activate subject: Leo. Protocol: Protect Eri. Threat level: Three.

            Leo might not be able to do much, all Izuku could hope for is that it bought him enough time to get there and hastily retreat from the area. Least he’d be leaving the school with two assholes already dead, putting UA in a better than when he’d arrived. Or so he’d like to hope.

Chapter Text

Now

            Eri was sitting besides Emi in class. For this lesson, Shiozaki had allowed the two to push their desks together. After only a minute of conversation, Emi decided they’d be good friends and insisted on sitting beside Eri and helping her through the lessons. Eri’s level of education was yet to be determined, but already she was struggling with most of the material. Least she knew how to read, and that had been her only saving grace so far. Emi was very polite and helpful, and she gave plenty of attention to Leo too. The golden retriever wagged their tail and seemed to approve of Eri’s new friend.

            Suddenly an alarm was sounded in the classroom. Eri looked up from the notebook she’d been given, some kanji characters messily scribbled on the pages, and stared at the speaker box in the corner. Shiozaki paused what she was writing on the board, not even pausing to consider the alarm. She walked calmly to the door and locked it.

            “Alright everyone, this is not a drill.” Shiozaki said to the class and gestured for them to stand. “Go stand in the corner and wait for instructions to be given. They should be announced at any moment now.”

            Eri stood, not sure what was really going on. Leo was by her side in a moment, brushing against her legs and watching the kids walk by nervously. Emi stayed by Eri’s side and reassured Eri everything was okay.

            “We do this drill a lot.” Emi said. “If it’s safe to move around the school, we’ll head to the underground bunker. Most of the teachers are also heroes. We’ll be safe.”

            “Okay.” Eri said, still unsure.

            The speakers fizzled and a voice announced. “Attention everyone. We need all students and staff to make their way to the nearest bunker entrance. We are in complete lockdown. U.A.S.F. forces are arriving to provide additional security for the school. Nobody leaves the bunker until they give the word.”

            “Alright everyone.” Shiozaki clapped her hands together. “Grab your coats and line up by the door in two lines.”

            “Is it zombies?” A student asked.

            “We don’t know.” Shiozaki said patiently. “We just need to get to the bunker.”

            Everyone grabbed their coats and lined up at the door. Once everyone was ready, Shiozaki unlocked it and led them down the hall. Other classrooms were doing the same, everyone was so orderly and calm following the adults. The only exception was Leo who was bumping against Eri’s leg and being hyper alert, head swiveling around trying to track all the movement. She wondered if all the activity was stressing the dog out. She gave Leo a few reassuring pets as they walked and the dog nuzzled closer.

            “Shiozaki!” Someone shouted down the hall from where they’d come. The U.A.S.F. guard from earlier was running at a dead sprint towards the class.

            “Mapa!” Emi said, waving at their parent. Eri didn’t understand if that was their name, it sounded like a mix of ‘mama’ and ‘papa’.

            “Jun.” Shiozaki greeted. “Everything okay?”

            “Yeah, yeah, totally.” Jun looked at the kids, eyes meeting Eri’s and they leaned in close to Shiozaki. Eri was close enough to pick up what they said.

            “Nezu is dead.” Jun stated. “Nothing confirmed, really, but folks are panicking over the radio.”

            “How?” Shiozaki asked, concern etched in her face.

            “Midoriya happened.” Jun said. “We don’t know how, things are confusing already as to what he did. But people are reporting they’ve seen him making a beeline across the campus, fully kitted out in some kind of gear and using multiple Quirks. He’s headed here, to the school, for Eri.”

            Eri’s eyes widened. Was this going to be another Midoriya incident like what Nezu showed her. She looked around at the other kids in her class. She didn’t want them to be hurt. What was Izuku going to do when he got here? She had made her choice, she thought it would have been that easy, she wasn’t sure if she’d go back with him given the chance.

            “Why are you here now?” Shiozaki looked at him. “Why come to me?”

            “Because-” Jun started say when a voice thundered behind them.

            “Shiozaki! Halt!” A squad of U.A.S.F. stormed down the hall behind them.

            Shiozaki moved to put herself between them and the kids. Jun stood with her. The squad leader stopped a few feet from them, eyes scanning their faces. They were tall and very intimidating in their uniforms. They had assault rifles, but kept them pointed down, but they looked tense. Eri looked the way they were going. A couple of the teachers had noticed the squad approaching, a couple had entrusted their class to the other teachers and started making their way over to them. Eri was suddenly having a very bad feeling. She felt trapped. Beside her, Leo tense.

            “Orders from Commander Daichi.” The squad leader said. “We need you to hand over one of your students. The one named Eri is to be placed in my custody.”

            “For what?” Shiozaki folded her arms. “Is this an order from Snipe?”

            “Snipe is… preoccupied.” The squad leader hesitated. “Commander Daichi has assumed temporary command. We need Eri to come with us. Now.”

            “I’m not handing over one of my students, no matter what reason you come up with.” Shiozaki narrowed her eyes. “She’ll be safe with me and the school. You boys can go do your jobs somewhere else.”

            “Shiozaki.” The squad leader said, warning in their tone. “Don’t make the wrong choice here.”

            Shiozaki’s vine hair moved, coming up around here and striking out at the squad leader. Her hair wrapped around their arms and flung them into the wall hard enough to send them through it. The other four raised their guns, but Jun had theirs up first and fired to shots into the first U.A.S.F’s plate armour and chipped the helmet on the second, dazing them. The third managed to get their gun up and shot them in the chest, sending Emi’s parent sprawling backwards. One of the teachers approaching the class raised a hand, a series of glowing disks flying out from their palm and smacking into the soldiers faces, knocking them to the ground. Another teacher opened their mouth and spewed a foam-like substance at the ceiling above the U.A.S.F., it drooped down forming a wall and Shiozaki erected another wall made of vines around it, closing off the hallway.

            “Mapa!” Emi ran to her parents’ side. “Mapa?”

            “I’m fine.” Jun grunted. “Plate caught it. I’m fine, Emi.”

            “Guess this means Nezu and his second in command are dead.” Shiozaki stated, glancing at Jun and the teachers. “We should assume the U.A.S.F. aren’t here to protect us. Get word to the others, we cannot let any of them into the bunker.”

            One of the teachers nodded and sprinted down the hall to spread the word. The others started ushering Shiozaki’s class down the hall, the students asking questions, confused and scared of what was happening.

            “Is every teacher aligned with us?” Jun asked Shiozaki. “I just need to know once we get everyone in there we aren’t locking them in with any of Nezu’s goons.”

            “Only two we know of. The rest are with us.” Shiozaki said. “Has anyone told Tsutsumi what happened to Nezu yet?”

            “She should already know with all the talk on the radio.” Jun grinned back. “If there was ever an opportunity to revolt, now is the time.”

            “What’s going on?” Eri asked them.

            The two adults startled, looking down at Eri who hadn’t moved from her spot.

            “Nothing you need to worry about now.” Shiozaki said. “Please, join your classmates. You all need to get to safety.”

            Everyone hurried down the hallway. Leo stuck close to Eri’s side, nearly tripping her on occasion. The teachers that had helped earlier led the group with Shiozaki and Jun covering the rear. Occasionally Shiozaki would throw up another vine wall, once she was sure she wasn’t trapping another class of students behind it. When they reached a T-junction in the hall, the teachers checked the corners and gunfire erupted. One of them fell back, clutching their side as blood poured out. The other hastily erected another foam barrier, blocking off the hallway. It was somehow sturdy enough to stop the bullets from getting through, but nobody complained.

            “Everyone go!” The teacher said, between spitting out more foam to reinforce the barrier. “Go! Go!”

            They started turning the corner. Eri heard heavy footfalls on the other side of the barrier. As she went to move past the teacher, Leo knocked her to the ground as someone barreled through the foam. A giant of a man heavily clad in armour and wearing the U.A.S.F. logo on their chest. The teacher spat more foam at them, but they blocked the stream with one hand and delivered a brutal backhand to their jaw, breaking it. The teacher bleeding out on the floor raised a hand and several glowing disks hit the giant in the knees and sides, anywhere there was an opening in the plate. The giant raised a giant foot and stomped down on their chest, cracking their chest. Eri had seen blood erupt out of someone because of Chisaki, but she didn’t see their chests cave and blood shoot out of their eyes, mouth, nose, and ears like they had. She scrambled to get up, but a strong arm reached out to grab her. Leo went to bite at it, but the giant kicked Leo into a wall and the dog let out a pained filled yip as they fell to the floor.

            Bullets bounced of the giants head as Jun fired relentlessly. Shiozaki’s vines tore through the floor and wrapped themselves around the giant. They struggled, tearing their arms free, only for more vines to grow and latch around them, another wall of vines cut off the rest of the U.A.S.F. down the hall from approaching.

            “Daichi! You need to stop!” Jun said, as they reloaded. “Nezu is dead! You don’t need to do this!”

            “Traitors!” Daichi bellowed, ripping a leg free and stomped towards Shiozaki.

            The hero and the solider backed up out of reach. Jun fired more bullets to no effect. Daichi went to one of the lockers, hand easily ripped it free of the wall and tossed it towards Shiozaki. She caught it with more vines and swung it back at Daichi. It shattered on impact, again having no affect.

            Meanwhile, Eri was scrambling to her feet and going for Leo. The dog shakily got to their feet, wobbling. “Come on, Leo. Let’s go!”

            Daichi kicked the ground, kicking up the flooring and concrete into Jun and Shiozaki’s faces. They took the moment they were distracted to run over to Eri and grabbed her by the neck, lifting her into the air.

            “Stop!” Daichi bellowed, turning and raising Eri in front of him, using her as a shield. “All we need is her, that was all, if you lot would just listen. I’m doing this to protect U.A. Midoriya is- Argh!”

            Daichi released Eri, dropping her to the ground. Leo had gone and bitten Daichi in the leg, just behind the knee. His teeth sank deep, and as the giant fell to one knee, Leo relinquished his grip and backed away. Daichi pressed one hand to hid bleeding leg, groaning in pain.

            “What- what was that? What did you do to me?!” Daichi grunted, squeezing their leg hard as if they might tear it off. Then his whole body shuddered and he folded in on himself, curing up in pain. The next thing to escape his lips was a blood curdling scream Eri would remember for the rest of her life.

            In a moment, they watched the armour deflate, as if they were shrinking, but then various fluids poured out from every seam in the armour and onto the ground. The screaming stopped and the armour collapsed, empty of its occupant. For a moment, nothing was said, every eye turned to Leo as he limped over to Eri and gave her healing doggy kisses. Eri felt tired as the aches in her neck vanished. Even though she was physically fine now, there was more mental damage to be added to the long list she already had.

            “Oh.” Jun said, realization donning on their face. “Midoriya’s dog… of course. What else should I have expected?”

Chapter Text

Now

            The surprise didn’t last long for Izuku. Several patrols of U.A.S.F. tried to stop him on his way to the gate. In short, it didn’t end well for them. Izuku was sweeping them aside with ease using just one or two Quirks and he was grateful for that. He had no distractions this time to occupy most of Campus, no cyborgs to reek havoc among the populace. There was the volcano though it wasn’t going off and it wasn’t from a lack of trying. He was pretty sure all the equipment he’d set up last time had been melted, or maybe Nezu had decided to permanently put an end to the yurei buried within it somehow. Regardless, no more surprise tricks were going to be had than what he already brought with him.

            Curiously though, the heroes he did see didn’t get in his way. He saw the capes and masks among the blur of faces he passed, and only the odd one or two of them stepped in to stop him, but the others turned the other way. He didn’t know what was up with them and he didn’t have time to stop and ask.

            He reached the gate and met his first obstacle. The gates were shut and the guards were entrenched and on high alert. He saw several rifle barrels poking out from murder holes in the walls, and there were a couple heroes standing in front of the gate. Izuku had his shield up the moment he was in view of the gate, at the same time, they all fired on him with bullets and Quirks. He just kind of watched as they all bounced off the shield.

            This was kind of broken, being able to use these Quirks unlike their previous owners had been able to sue them. A lot of the restrictions were removed, optimized as he’d go as far saying. Save for the few that had additional needs other than power to function, those were still solved with another motivator or two. But he didn’t see it as that broken considering he didn’t have was the experience wielding them. It was almost certain most Meta-humans would have a deeper and instinctual understanding of their Quirks than he did. The heroes who got to actually train and prepare their Quirks for combat were the bigger threat. This just evened the odds.

            Izuku knelt within his shield, placing both palms flat against the earth. The gloves vibrated in his hands, followed by the ground, building up in intensity. Then he raised both hands off the ground and the earth moved, a wave of earthen spikes stabbing into the U.A. barrier, plugging the murder holes and impaling some of its defenders. The heroes dodged out of the way and they all converged on him. Izuku smirked and dropped the shield, activating a number of the other Quirks instead.

            The first hero aimed a flaming fist for his face. Izuku’s sidestepped with enhanced speed and let them have a face full of explosion. The next hero was faster, strength-enhanced, and they actually getting in close and delivered a punch to Izuku’s chest that surely would have broken every rib he had if the air in front of him hadn’t suddenly had the consistency of rubber, taking the punch and throwing the force back at the hero, taking them off balance. Izuku followed up with a stream of blue fire from the nozzle on his arm and let the flames eat at the hero. Izuku aimed the nozzle on his other arm and trapped a group of heroes within an iceberg.

            One hero was tricky though. They dodged through all the attacks, bidding their time, and had gotten themselves around and behind Izuku. He actually hadn’t known they were there, about to stab him with a blade covered in shadow when a bullet struck them in the side, going through their chest, piercing their lungs. The gunshot startled Izuku, and he activated the barrier, spinning around to see the hero on the ground, coughing out their own blood as they drowned in it. Izuku looked around and spotted the shooter atop the wall in the distance, his cybernetic eye zoomed in as far as it could and saw Mei Hatsume standing there, rifle in hands, giving him a small salute followed by a middle finger.

            … Thanks?

            Izuku walked up to the gate and erected an earthen wall around him, blocking off everyone else around him. He shut off the forcefield and examined the gate. Same as he remembered. Pretty sure a Katsuki grade explosion wouldn’t bring it down. So, he activated the Quirk on his belt and a laser, courtesy of Yuga Aoyama, struck the gate. At first it had no affect, but Izuku focused the beam to be as thin as a hair and watched as it cut through the steel. In moments, he was cutting a hole. He made a note next time he was working on the suit to put naval laser on one of the gauntlets, or maybe the headpiece. Having a laser shoot out of his forehead would be much more dignified than swaying one’s hips as they were cutting steel.

            The plate of steel fell into the airlock and Izuku paused just outside. He didn’t see anyone immediately inside. Either there were a shit ton of guards ready to fire on him the moment he entered, or they were going to activate the security measures and cook him in fire. Well, there was a simple solution to that. He aimed the nozzle with the ice Quirk through the hole and unleashed an iceberg inside, trapping anything inside in ice. Then he used the flame Quirk to dig a hole through it all the way to the other gate and cut it open with Naval laser. Now that he was thinking about it, he could see why the Todoroki boy used his ice so much. It was cool flinging icebergs at your problems.

            He was out of the gate and making his way to the school. He pretty much had a clear shot to Eri. The streets were deserted, save for the U.A.S.F. vehicles parked outside the school and soldiers setting up defenses around it. They spotted him approaching and started shouting. Izuku turned on the forcefield and stormed towards them, unhindered. What Quirk would suit him best here? He could go with the earth Quirk again, he could use that within the shield as many times as he wanted, or he could turn the air in front of him into that rubber stuff the elasticity Quirk did and let the bullets return to sender. He really felt he should be bothered by this, being Quirkless most of his life and now he had his hands on several Quirks and he was feeling spoiled for choice. Is this what All for One must feel like?

            Before he got to do anything, however, ice encased the U.A.S.F. troops. Shoto Todoroki slid into view on an ice slid and stood between Izuku and the school. A moment after, Eijiro fell from the sky and landed right next to him, glowing with that strange Quirk of his. Both facing Izuku, both looked very unimpressed, though Eijiro looked more murderous. Just two of the remaining powerhouses of class A. This is what Izuku had been worried about.

            Izuku cracked his neck, preparing himself for the fight to come. “Well, how do you two want this to play out?”

            A gunshot rang from behind him. It bounced off the shield harmlessly, but it still startled Izuku. This was the second time being snuck up on. He turned around and there standing behind him just a short distance away was Ochaco Uraraka. She wore U.A.S.F. gear and had a rifle pointed at his head. His eyes went down to the bullet casing that lay at her feet, then back up at her. There was anger, resentment, and determination all rolled up into a nice little package ready to kick his ass. Make it three powerhouses.

            “Okay.” Izuku said, pointing at the rifle still trained on his head. “That’s fair.”

Chapter Text

Now

            For a moment, they all just stood there, waiting in the tense silence. Then Ochaco lowered her gun and nodded to Eijiro and Shoto. “You two go ahead. Todoroki, if you wouldn’t mind giving us some privacy.”

            The two heroes nodded back. Eijiro gave Izuku one last glare before turning and started heading for the school. Shoto erected a dome of ice around Izuku and Ochaco, completely blocking them in.

            “What the hell are you doing?!” Izuku turned to Ochaco.

            “Don’t worry about them.” Ochaco said, “They’re just going to clear out any of Nezu’s goons still in the school.”

            “Like hell!” Izuku turned and marched to the dome. A bullet bounced off the shield again and he stopped and turned back to her. “Do you really think that’s going to do anything?”

            “It’s getting your attention.” Ochaco lowered the rifle again. “Unless you’re going to do that trick with the earth I saw earlier, I’m guessing you can’t drop that shield to use any of your other Quirks to attack, blocks you as much as it blocks us. And by the looks of things, Todoroki made this ice a lot thicker than usual. You should have fun climbing out of the rubble if you break it. Course you’d crush me, if that still matters to you?”

            “… You do.” He forced himself to look her in the eyes. “What’s going to happen here? What do you want to happen here?”

            “We need to talk.” Ochaco slowly paced around the edge of the dome towards him. “We got time, Nezu’s forces are scattered. Daichi was suppose to be in command of UA security after Snipe, but I heard your dog had – and I quote this – ‘melted him into a puddle’ according to Jun.”

            “Who’s Jun?”

            “Emi’s sibling, you know, Bakugo’s friend.” Ochaco said. “Is Leo another one of your cyborgs?”

            “No. He’s living.” Izuku glared up at the wall, considering his options. He wasn’t sure if Ochaco would shoot him once he dropped the shield, but it had been like five years and his last words for her to hear weren’t pleasant.

            Ochaco cocked an eyebrow. “I thought you said you can’t graft a Quirk to a living person.”

            “Process was different than the zombies.” Izuku said. “He’s living, has two Quirks, just can’t use them at the same time or it overloads his brain.”

            “And Eri brought him into a school full of kids.”

            “The implant stops the deadlier Quirk from activating.” Izuku glared at her. “I’m not an idiot walking around with a loaded gun, I know how to put a safety on it.”

            “Anything but you.”

            Izuku sighed. “Look I know what I said to Nezu, you were there, you heard it. What is it you want from me? Couples therapy? I think we’re beyond that at this point.”

            “I just want to talk.” Ochaco walked up to the forcefield. “And I wanted to see you. Didn’t at first, but I figured better now than ever.”

            “To distract me.”

            “To stop you from making more mistakes.” Ochaco placed a hand on the forcefield “But yeah, I guess pretty much that.”

            Izuku stared at her. He sighed, sending a mental command to the motivator. The shield shrunk down, not too much, just enough it surrounded just his person and not a twenty-foot diameter circle. It was just enough he and Ochaco were just a couple feet apart.

            “You’re sure they’ll be alright in there?” Izuku asked her. “Eri is in there too.”

            “Schools got a bunker. Jun told me she’s safe inside with everyone else. Most of the teachers are on our side, and they’re heroes.”

            “Our side? The lobbyists?”

            Ochaco shook her head. “They’re still around with some semblance of their ideal, but they don’t have cohesion to act on it. They’re more of a attachment to a bigger group, a recruitment front for the ones who actually got the ambition for change.”

            “So, who’s running things this time? Obviously not Kendo, she wanted to avoid openly fighting the school.”

            “Lady Nagant.”

            “Her?” Izuku was dumbfounded. “She’s against Nezu? She looked to me like another one of his dogs.”

            “She’s got a particular set of skills.” Ochaco shrugged. “To be honest, she’s a lot better at subterfuge and conspiracies than we were. She ran the new group right under Nezu’s nose without him being aware. Apparently she has some history with the H.P.S.C., had her go above and beyond the work of a hero as an enforcer.”

            “That’s… fortunate?” Izuku said. He had no idea what an enforcer was. Did the enforce heroes? “She was imprisoned in Tartarus though.”

            Ochaco continued. “Nagant didn’t like how the H.P.S.C. were doing things before the Collapse and didn’t like how Nezu ran things now. Wasn’t too long after you left when she joined UA. she sought out the remnants of the lobbyists, was picky about who she let in, and built something new. Right now her and the others are clearing out all of Nezu’s lieutenants and anyone who could potentially cause us problems in the future. We’re going with your idea this time, without inflicting mass chaos and casualties on the campus. In fact, if you hadn’t gone and killed Nezu today, we could have done things a little smoother some time in the future with the addition of the clankers behind us. You messed that up, but we’re making it work.”

             “Yeah, the thing with the robots wouldn’t have worked out eventually. You got a cryptid living in the basement.”

            “What?”

            “Long story, just… don’t have anyone in the facility after twenty-four hours.” Izuku studied her for a moment. “What will happen to me then? I’m a problem for you guys. That should earn me a spot on that list of yours.”

            “Sure are.” Ochaco said. “But I told them I’d take care of it, so I am.”

            “And how is that going to work?”

            “That all depends on you.” Ochaco slung her rifle over one shoulder and folded her arms.

            Izuku looked around the dome, gauging his situation. It did appear to be thick ice. If he did attempt to break it, it could collapse. Like Ochaco had said, he’d be safe in the forcefield but she’d be crushed. Course if he was beneath a bunch of ice, he’d have to dig his way out and that would have its own issues. He looked back at her. Who had she become since he’d left? Was this all Nezu in her head? Were these words just to lower his guard? Only one way to find out.

            He took a deep breath, and deactivated the shield completely. Ochaco’s eyes widened in surprise at the sudden show of faith. To take that point home, Izuku took off the headpiece and set it on the ground and the put gloves there as well. He kept the rest of his gear on, but he was as exposed as he could get without taking up more time.

            “I have been expecting someone to kill me since I was brought back here.” Izuku said, meeting her eyes and raised his arms. “If it’s going to be anyone, I’d only want you to do it.”

            Ochaco stilled, then one hand slowly went to her pistol on her belt. Izuku tensed, readying to lash out with various Quirks. His eye still showed he had a stable connection to the rest of his motivators. But Ochaco tossed the pistol aside, followed shortly after by the rifle and her helmet. She did however take a step towards him and slap him across the face. He didn’t complain, if that was all he walked away with, he’d take it. He deserved more than just that.

            The two stood there, tension bleeding out of both of them. No walls between them, no lies, all was open.

            “I-” Izuku swallowed, unsure where to really start. “I- I had wondered how you’ve been doing, since the incident.”

            “Yeah.” Ochaco folded her arms, now looking unsure. “I can’t really say the same. So many things happened afterwards, I was pretty much drowning in anger.”

            “What did Nezu do to you while I was away?” Izuku asked. “You aren’t wearing a hero costume.”

            “After you escaped, I was locked up in a cell for couple months, I wasn’t sure if I was going to live or die.” Ochaco shrugged. “Guess what you said during that phone call was good enough for Nezu. After I was released on probation, they demoted me and stuck me to patrolling the U.A. barrier, only the inner walls. Lots of days and nights out there either freezing or burning my ass off. Left me there to contemplate my life and everything.”

            “Yeah. Kacchan always said those patrols were a boring job.” Izuku said. Despite things, he gave a rueful chuckle. “I recall he said patrol duty made him want to blow his own head off a few times.”

            “Mood.” Her eyes glanced up and down his figure, taking in his gear. “Seems you kept busy yourself during that time. Got yourself some new toys to play with.”

            “Yeah… the research keeps on keeping on.” Izuku rubbed his neck. “Look, I am sorry about what happened back then, about abandoning you and all of that.”

            “Thanks. I understood why, after taking some time to think it over. Put Nezu in a strange mood afterwards. But an apology is not going to repair everything.”

            “I know.”

            Ochaco shifted. “We didn’t get a chance to really talk over your whole secret lab thing. What had happened to Bakugo? How did he end up in there? Why did you tell him about the lab and not me.”

            “I told him because I needed a confidant.” Izuku looked her in the eyes, never breaking eye contact as he said it, “My curiosity got ahead of me. I discovered some things I felt needed to be shared. But I couldn’t go around sharing it without explaining the how and the why. I felt Kacchan could have taken things a little easier.”

            “But not me?”

            “I was scared of you finding out.” Izuku stated. “I didn’t know what made you love me in the first place, and I didn’t want you to stop. But life took a turn, in its own sickened way. Then Nezu tried to kill Kacchan in an ambush along with most of the lobbyists and he escaped. The lab had a few entrances to it from the outside, he found one and was in the lab.”

            “That same night you said you and Mei had a surprise inspection tomorrow.” Ochaco closed her eyes, remembering the night. “You went to go help him.”

            “But he’d been infected.” Izuku said. “Never got the details on that, he was already turning and needed to deliver the message. He wanted me to stick him in Nezu’s office or use him in my experiments or something.”

            “So, you kept him. Modified him.”

            “I did.”

            “You know Bakugo is the reason Ashido is paralyzed below the waist now?” Ochaco’s glanced behind him to the school, though there was just ice in her view. “Kirishima blamed himself for not being good enough to stop him, but most of it is directed at you.”

            “Yeah, the gut punch he gave me the other day said as much.” Izuku rubbed his belly, wincing at the memory.

            Ochaco smirked. “He was holding back.”

            “Yeah, I’m aware. Guys won the lottery on Quirks, I’ll say.” Izuku looked around him. “So, am I just going to be able to take Eri and Leo and go? Or am I going to fight the whole campus to get them?”

            “Who said she should go with you?” Ochaco countered. “She’s just a little girl, Izuku. She shouldn’t have to face what’s outside those walls.”

            He gave her a sad smile. “You have no idea what she’s already been through. She shouldn’t be with anyone who just sees her as a tool, a means to an end.”

            “And what do you see her as?” Ochaco tilted her head. “A daughter? Somehow I don’t believe that’s it. If there was a shred of kindness in you, you would have buried Bakugo and those cyborgs instead of weaponizing the dead.”

            Izuku winced, “I’m trying to be better, for her sake.”

            “Doesn’t sound to me like she has time to wait.” Ochaco waved around them. “U.A. is as normal as things get anymore. With Nezu dead along with his biggest supporters, we can bring this school back to being the beacon of hope it once was.”

            “You want me to trust Eri to these people?” Izuku asked, incredulous. “If they had all risen up years ago against Nezu, maybe some of them would still be alive, Kacchan could be alive, Aoyama, Emi, and the others could be here. Yaoyorozu wouldn’t be suffering being the human factory for these ungrateful pricks. But they didn’t. And what will they to do to Eri once they know she was affiliated with me?”

            “Don’t have to trust her to the campus.” Ochaco hesitated. “Trust her to me. I can take care of her, and God help anybody who tries to harm a hair on her head.”

            Izuku’s eyes widened in surprise. Then he remembered his conversation with Dabi, how he had suggested the same thing. U.A. was the safest thing to be, and Ochaco was probably the only person in here he would trust with Eri’s safety. Except, “How certain of you Nagant isn’t going to be another Nezu?”

            “Like I said, she has a history.” Ochaco sighed. “She was the one who reached out, not us. After all the time I’ve spent with her, I can say she has best interest of U.A. in mind. I trust her not to abuse that power, that’s more than I can say for anyone else.”

            “Will she do what’s necessary to protect the school?” Izuku asked. “You take in Eri, that’ll put a huge target on you. There’s a group of yakuza, the Shie Hassaikai, that tore up Westside looking for her just before Snipe and her got to us. You wouldn’t be in a better position after I leave.”

            “No, but this is U.A.” Ochaco smiled, in that moment, she wasn’t Ochaco, nor a U.A.S.F. soldier. Just Uravity the hero, been a long time since Izuku had seen the hero persona. “We’ve survived this long, and we’ll make sure it stays that way.”

            “Or you could come with me.” Izuku proposed. “You, me, Eri, and Leo, out on the road and avoid anymore political games. It’s a lot simpler out in the wasteland.”

            “No.” Ochaco shook her head, answer quick and decisive. “I can’t afford to leave U.A., not now, and besides that bridge between us is burnt as is. I’m surprising myself doing this much already. I can’t forgive you entirely for everything that happened, nor can anyone here. You’ll still be running for you life outside those walls and everyone who’s associated with you, just like how you got Eri dragged into this. That’s the burden you accepted.”

            “The life of an outcast.” Izuku nodded. “That’s one I’m familiar with.”

            “So, will you leave peacefully?” Ochaco asked. “Or do folks outside have another fight waiting for them?”

            Considering for a moment, Izuku didn’t really have a reason to take Eri. He’d be pissed about Leo though, he loved that dog. But then again, Eri would need what friends she could get. He made one change though, his cybernetic eye scanned Ochaco’s face and uploaded it to Leo, marking her as Leo’s new master and removed the threat protocol he put in place. Then he reached into his pocket and retrieved the tin. He emptied out the last remaining pearl and crushed it in his hands, revealing the final motivator. A simple square box with buttons on top. Another command from his eye and the coordinates were set, it let out a low whine, ready to go.

            Izuku hesitated. “Do you think… do you think we could have worked things out eventually? Gotten married, actually married with the whole ceremony and stuff, had kids and built a life together?”

            “I’d been waiting for you to pop the question after the first year we dated. You seemed hesitant about the commitment.” She gave him a sad smile, and looked to the side as if into the distance. Again she was reminded they were trapped in an ice dome. “Perhaps in another life, we make it work.”

            “I’m a scientist, Ochaco.” Izuku stated. “Science and reason are my religion. But… I very much wished we were living that life now. I would – no, I should have put everything aside for it.”

            “But there was Nezu, and then yourself, the stubborn, determined Deku.” Ochaco said with pity. “Nothing sways you from what you want. Only yourself.”

            “And you are a hero.” Izuku said back. “With your own brand of determination. Never once swayed your morales after the Collapse. You stayed true to yourself, unlike your peers, unlike the rest of us. The day you do is the day the world should declare our humanity is truly lost.”

            Ochaco’s eyes sparkled, she hesitated, then stepped close and hugged him, quickly, then broke away. “Goodbye Izuku.”

            “Goodbye Ochaco.” Izuku said.

            He picked up his headpiece and gloves, then activated the motivator and a purple mist wrapped around him, taking him away from UA, from the people who hated him, from Leo and Eri, and the woman he once loved and could never be with again.

Chapter Text

Then

            Izuku was working away in his lab in the Shie Hassaikai underground complex. It was as every other day had been since he joined them. Wake up, work, do some tests, take notes, then sleep and do it all again the next day. The one exception had been when Dabi had been recovered from Tokyo and Izuku had set the challenge of restoring the burnt corpse-like man. Now he was gone to be the Shie Hassaikai liaison in Westside for the New North Trade, though Izuku new Magne was making him her partner. Then there was Leo, sitting in the corner wearing the cone of shame, part of his head shaved right to the flesh where stitching raced across the top of his head. He was drugged out on painkillers to help after the surgery.

            Chisaki walked into the room not too long after, rubbing his hands coated in blood, resisting the urge to scratch away at his skin. Izuku could see the hives breaking out on his skin. Chisaki went to the sink and washed his hands vigorously for five minutes straight. Another session of torturing a poor girl who hadn’t asked for the Quirks he’d been given. Izuku had now been witness to the treatments Eri was subjected to, and had to do his best to keep his mouth shut. To speak out would invite death, sure Chisaki could restore him just as much as he could obliterate Izuku into nothing, but he did not want to find out if Chisaki cared more about making a point to his subordinates than Izuku’s research. So far he had avoided Chisaki using his Quirk on him, and he planned for it to stay that way as long as possible. Silence meant survival in this place more than any other.

            When Chisaki had walked in, Izuku had been peering through a microscope. He didn’t pay attention to the germaphobe going through his routine and focused on his work. Izuku had chipped off a small sample of Eri’s horn during Chisaki’s latest… session. Then he had put the sample in a solution to break it down. Already now in the know of Chisaki’s source for the Quirk erasure, they were able to compare notes and make advancements in the serum. Izuku sought more out of the Quirk though, the potential it held.

            “Well!” Izuku jolted slightly as the disturbance. Chisaki was drying his hands on a clean towel and staring at him expectantly. “Anything new in your studies, doctor?”

            “Sort of.” Izuku looked back to the microscope. “I’m making little progress in understanding Eri’s Quirk itself, the whole rewind thing is a rare, with time Quirks already being the rarest of rare. I want to attempt running some tests with the actual Quirk itself, measure its full potential if that’s possible.”

            “We already know what it does.” Chisaki pointed out.

            “Yes, but how?” Izuku turned back to him. “The energy she’s using is focused around the tip of the horn, she’s a battery and the horn holds the true power, or wields it anyway. Always seems to be the one thing that’s affected when it goes rampant, a necessary mutation so she is rewound out of existence herself.”

            “Not from what I’ve seen.” Chisaki said. “Cuts and stuff heal on her quicker than others. Sometimes even leave a mark, but not often.”

            Izuku ignored that tidbit, not wanting to think of how Chisaki even knew that. There were plenty of answers.

            “I think there is something be gained from it.” Izuku said. “I’d need a bigger sample of the horn though.”

            “How big of a sample?”

            “Preferably the whole horn, but I’m not going to risk cutting it off in case it causes some sort of damage to her and the Quirk.”

            “It grows back, though.” Chisaki pointed out.

            “Yes, but I’m not going to find out limits. Probably an inch or two off the top will suffice.” Izuku almost asked if she felt pain in the horn, but wondered if that held too much sympathy for Chisaki’s taste. Obviously he didn’t care about the girl’s condition so much, and Izuku didn’t want him to suspect anything. It had been one thing to chip off a few flakes, another to consider chopping off a sizable chunk of the horn entirely.

            Chisaki shrugged, then walked out of the room. Izuku paused, cursing because he didn’t know if Chisaki approved of his plan to build another motivator. Chisaki was less stringent about his technology than Nezu when it was useful, but for scientific purposes the yakuza boss was more hesitant. Izuku went back to his research, but moments later felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around to face Chisaki again.

            Who was holding out a bloody horn in his hands to Izuku.

            Izuku backpedaled into the table, bumping it hard enough to knock over much of its contents. His back started to throb in protest at the sudden conclusion but that was not on the forefront of Izuku’s mind.

            “Fuck sakes!” Izuku stared at the horn in naked horror. “What the hell Chisaki?!”

            That little outburst could have been Izuku’s end right then and there. He could never tell but always expected his death to come at any moment. But Chisaki set the horn on the table beside Izuku and went back to the sink to wash his hands again.

            “It grows back.” Chisaki said, voice neutral. “Quit your whining.”

            Izuku took a couple deep breaths, then grabbed a pair of rubber gloves, picked up the horn, and cleaned it in an sterilizing solution. About a decade ago or something like that – he still couldn’t believe it had been so long since the Collapse – he didn’t think his life would have gone this direction. On the run, hiding in an underground base surrounding by yakuza. It had been a simple trip to visit his mother, and that unfortunate timing had stranded him in this corrupt new world. He wished he was in America still, at least they had guns, lots of guns. He had no idea how the U.S.A. had been doing in the apocalypse, but he imagined they held off the zombies better than Japan had.

            “What’s up with your dog?” Chisaki asked suddenly, putting on a new pair of gloves and nodding to Leo asleep in the corner. “I hadn’t seen him recently. Something happen?”

            “Uh, no, no, nothing bad.” Izuku looked around the lab for a suitable container to hold the horn. “Just… well you know about my cyborgs and how I controlled them. I thought I’d try it on Leo.”

            “Why?” Chisaki asked, seeming a bit perturbed by that.

            What? Killing a little girl over and over and bringing her back each time isn’t a problem for you, but I do some surgery on my dog and now you take issue? Izuku bit his tongue. “I need to make some changes to the software, and I can’t bring zombies down here and the dog is all I had.”

            That was a half lie. Leo did in fact get an implant, but Izuku had done a bit more. From his administering aid to Dabi, he’d attempted growing organs in a solution to replace the ones Dabi had severely damaged. Dabi otherwise would have been dependent on various machines to keep him alive, and it would have been simpler to just put the man out of his misery, but Izuku had wanted an excuse to get some new tech and try something. From that equipment, he’d included in the process a tongue grown from Recovery Girl’s Quirk DNA. He had it sitting around for some time and finally got around to adding it to Leo. It had been tricky, but he had the grafting Quirks down with the undead thanks to the virus doing most of the work, he wanted to know better methods for applying to the living. Maybe some day give himself a Quirk instead of lugging around the motivators if the Quirk took to Leo. But until the virus was truly dead, he didn’t want to get infected.

            “Too impatient to train him?” Chisaki snorted. “Obedience takes time and training, can’t shortcut it with technology.”

            Like you’re one to talk about with patience. Put some of Eri’s DNA in a petri dish and grow cell colonies you moron. Course you’d need a lot of them at the rate we’re going through them, but still better than resorting to barbarity and torture to get what you need. Izuku wanted to say, but again, bit his tongue. His patience was growing thinner by the day, he worried he’d some day actually put a voice to his thoughts and that would be the end of things.

            “Those simulations for the cure are done.” Izuku changed the subjected and pointed over the computer at another table. “If you want to take a look at those in a moment and we compare notes afterwards, think we’re getting closer to our goal.”

            “That… actually won’t be necessary anymore.” Chisaki said.

            Izuku paused, a container in hand he’d just set on the table. “How come?”

            “I’ve made a breakthrough.” Chisaki adjusted his gloves, looking a bit pleased with himself. “Credit where it is due, your work with the temporary formula is to be congratulated. However, your notes and observations have been more helpful, and I had an epiphany. One of my subordinates has been subjected with the new formula and it works as intended.”

            Izuku frowned. “How long ago did you make this discovery?”

            “A month. The Quirk has not reappeared in their body, DNA tests show the Quirk segment no longer exists in their body. They are cured.”

            “Why didn’t you tell me?”

            “In case it didn’t work.” Chisaki said simply. “Or you came up with something better. But I no longer have time for that. We have what we need, now all that is done is to refine it. I’ll compile my notes and get them to you sometime tomorrow. See what I did and tell me where to improve. I want to start mass production as soon as feasibly possible.”

            Izuku nodded, forcing himself to smile. “And a new world shall begin.”

            “The best one yet.” Chisaki said and exited the room, leaving Izuku with his thoughts.

            The scientist looked around the room, making sure he was still alone, save for the dog. Then his eye lit up slightly, connecting to his phone and sending a text.

            -

            Izuku: How soon is the stuff going to be ready?

            Dabi: A few more weeks. I’m still trying to wrangle the truck from the dealer. If you hadn’t wanted electric I would have gotten you one sooner.

            Izuku: It’ll last better in the long-term, not a lot of fuel to siphon these days.

            Dabi: Yeah, yeah. What’s the hurry now?

            Izuku: Good news: Chisaki just made a breakthrough in the formula. According to him, it’s permanent now.

            Izuku: Bad news: He wants to start mass production ASAP. You know what that means.

            Dabi: Shit! Okay, I’ll buy it outright. The dealer is in the Tengu settlement, it might take me most of the day getting it to the secret stache.

            Izuku: That’s fine. I’m not going to leave yet, couple of things I need to square away, make sure the plan goes as well as it can get.

            Dabi: No argument here. The important thing is getting Eri away from Overhaul as far as humanly possible. That matters most. You can’t afford to screw up at any point or it’s all for nought. I hate saying it, but take your time. Mistakes are made when rushed.

            Izuku: Wow, Sensei, such wise words. If I fought the sun too, will I gain such wisdom?

            Dabi: ┌∩┐(◣_◢)┌∩┐

            Dabi: Least I can learn asshole!

            -

            Izuku sighed and exited out. He gave a mental command and a short whistle to Leo and the dog jumped to his feet and followed him out of the room. Izuku had decided verbal triggers with mental commands worked best with Leo. Leo wasn’t a zombie, his brain was much more active than a zombie, so the implant couldn’t override his impulses. It helped more with guiding Leo into carrying out more complex orders. Izuku wasn’t a dog trainer, so he hadn’t nothing to go in that department, and it was more a proof of concept.

            He walked down the winding halls, passing Chisaki’s underlings, giving a few nods and greetings. All were doing their own business and patrols. Izuku eventually made it to his own room and locked the door behind him. Leo went to sit in his dog bed by Izuku’s and Izuku went to his desk to start writing away on some paper. He did that for about one minute, enough time for the hidden camera in the corner to record his activities before he sent a mental command to the override function he built it, showing that same minute over and over to whoever was watching.

            Then he got up and braced his chair against the door before going to his nightstand. There were a few basic commodities he’d been able to acquire in his time here with the yakuza. However, Chisaki had been pretty strict in some cases. But thanks to a traveling merchant, Izuku had a Quirk that was suitably helpful in the task of hiding things. He removed a screwdriver from the nightstand, a tiny little thing that wouldn’t do anyone any harm and didn’t get removed after inspection. Whoever did that probably thought it was adorable the Quirkless man would think something like that would do any harm to legion of killers who surrounded him. With it, Izuku removed the false bottom in the drawer and grabbed the compression gun. He had built it compact, small as he could manage so he could hide it, though he wasn’t a fan of this design. Then he used the screwdriver to loosen on the of metal poles making up his bedframe and poured four pearls out onto his hands.

            He’d done the best he could to gather the necessary supplies, and Dabi had a secret stache waiting for him with all the necessities he’d need for him and Eri to survive in the wasteland. Izuku still had to acquire weapons for himself, though. Nobody seemed to miss a loose pile of ammo here, or a scavenged broken M4 there. He had been allowed outside on occasion, but that was with his own personal guard, making it difficult to grab things. But he told Dabi where a few of his safehouses were and the former villain had gotten him the requested Quirks he needed, snuck in through various means.

            Izuku cracked open each pearl, checking over the items they held. He had body armour, a bit worn, but would stop a bullet hopefully. Plenty of ammo and grenades, including a variation of a smoke grenade he’d created using the temporary Quirk erasure formula. It had taken some doing, but he got it into a gaseous substance and he made sure there was plenty of those to go around. If he could find where the main ventilation system was, he could maybe dump a few in there and let the gas spread to most of the base, taking care of his main issues. He just had no idea where it was located. This place was like a maze, and he’d only ever spent his time in the underground, meanwhile there was a surface base as well.

            On top of that, he’d slowly been accumulating a stockpile of the T.Q.E. for Eri when he Quirk got out of control. He had no other way to stop the outbursts when the Quirk got out of control. He had a sizable stockpile, but it wouldn’t hurt if he stole the rest of them on his way out, save him the time of making more. He checked over everything again, making a mental note of anything he needed to add, making sure they were all in good condition. They had been the last few times he checked, but still, the nerves demanded exceptional condition. He didn’t have cyborgs, a tornado, and a volcano to provide distractions this time, and there were chokepoints every way to freedom. He needed more ways to stack the odds in his favour.

            He compressed the items again and stuck them back in the bed frame and put everything back where they had been. He grabbed his chair and sat back at the desk and resumed the position he had before. Before he allowed the camera to resume watching him, he muttered under his breath.

            “Soon Eri, we’re going to be out of here very soon.”

Chapter Text

Now

            Izuku appeared back in the living room of his safehouse. The motivator in his hands was already hot in smoking in the second it took to bring him here. He quickly dropped it on the coffee table along with the rest of the gear. It was certainly a shift from a highly intense situation to his quiet home away from home. But guess that was just the nature of teleportation. He ran his head through his hair, blowing out a puff of air. Today had just been a whirlwind of activities. He went to a robotics facility to retake for Nezu, met the Boogeyman, a virtual god among mankind, then he killed Nezu, had a fight with U.A., talked to Ochaco, and was back here.

            There was a cough to catch his attention. Izuku turned towards the kitchen to see Yoichi sitting at the table. He had brought out a lot of the food Izuku had stored away and had fixed himself a sandwich loaded with a mixture of vegetables and meats. Yoichi had already been halfway through it when Izuku appeared.

            Yoichi followed Izuku’s gaze to the table. “Yeah, hope you don’t mind. I hadn’t – I mean All for One hadn’t eaten in years, only sustained on power alone to maintain himself. That doesn’t carry over in the cloning process and I am as mortal as anyone else.” He took a bite of his sandwich and moaned. “Been ages since I had a decent meal, I forgot what food tasted like. Well, that and losing half my head. I missed having eyes too. And hair.”

            “That sounds like quite a story.” Izuku removed the rest of his gear and set them on the table. “I’m not the least bit worried about the food.”

            “Good.” Yoichi took another bite. “I take it things didn’t go as planned. You didn’t come back with anyone, I noticed.”

            “Completed about fifty percent of my objective.” Izuku said. “Nezu is dead, which I consider a bigger win than retrieving Eri.”

            “How come?”

            “Because she’s somewhere a lot better than here.” Izuku sat at the table across from him. “And that means I have a lot more time to focus on the cure.”

            “Ah, I see your point.” Yoichi finished the sandwich quickly. He thumped his chest with a fist and burped. “Excuse me.”

            Izuku stared at the clone. Was this really a copy of All for One or did the two diverge in mindset. Yoichi was far less… dignified than his colossal origins. Yoichi could feel Izuku’s gaze trying to pierce the inner workings of his mind and his eyes darted about. “So… where do we begin.”

            “Come with me.” Izuku stood and went to the basement.

            Yoichi followed him down and stopped at the bottom of the steps to take in the lab Izuku had setup. He seemed unimpressed. “Quaint, but acceptable. Not exactly the lab I imagined for someone of your reputation.”

            “What did you imagine?”

            “Something a little more dark and gloomier.”

            “Hah.” Izuku laughed. “A typical mad scientist lair?”

            “Pretty much.”

            “Well, you’re not too far off.” Izuku went to the door in the corner of the room and unlocked it. “Want to see the rest of it?”

            Yoichi gave him a curious look and followed him into the room. Iside was a circular ring sitting flat against the wall. It was hooked up to a server tower and had several motivators attached to it. Izuku put in a passcode on the computer and booted up the program.

            “A teleporter?” Yoichi asked.

            “A stable one.” Izuku stated and entering in the last of the security questions and verifying his identity. Another moment passed as he worked and a purple mist hissed out of the rings from tiny nozzles and swirled into a warp gate.

            “Oh.” Yoichi said. “You found Kurogiri.”

            Who?”

            “An associate of mine. I had lost him not too long after the collapse. Always wondered what happened to him.”

            “Apparently he decided to take a tour around Japan as a zombie.” Izuku informed him. “He wasn’t easy to catch.”

            “Oh, I should hope so.” Yoichi smiled, “You going first, or should I?”

            Izuku stepped into the gateway and appeared on the other end through another ring maintaining the warp gate. Absent of the actual Meta able to stabilize it, he had to come up with this setup in order to operate the warp gate. The one he used to get out of U.A. had been a prototype. He would have liked to actually get it working like Kurogiri had, it would beat having to carry around and lose the warp gates all around Japan. He had been able to compress the original design, so much so he had fit it in a closet in the last hideout when he ran out of space to put it in his basement lab.

            Yoichi appeared a moment after Izuku and took in the room. They now stood in a small sterile room, absent of anything but the gateway. Izuku went to the computer on that end and shut down the warp gate.

            “Where are we?” Yoichi asked.

            “Tartarus.” Izuku said, walking to the heavy steel door at the end of the room.

            “The underworld or the prison?”

            “The prison.” Izuku opened the door and led him down a hall. “After escaping U.A. I needed a better place to conduct my work.”

            “And you thought a supermax prison to hold the most powerful killers and criminals in Japan was the place to be?”

            “Yes.” Izuku shot him a smile. “Most of the occupants escaped when power went down to the facility, some were stuck inside their cells and starved to death. But when the power had gone out, the prison activated its last security measures. It blew up the bridge to the mainland and a lot of the doors were pretty much welded in place via some means of a chemical process from what I can tell.”

            “How did you get setup here?”

            “I took up residence in the Akune settlement. It was the closest place I could launch a bought and ship supplies out. Was a long time trying to get in to begin with, but afterwards I was able to set up the remainder of my equipment and get things functioning. Right after the warp gate on this end functional, Chisaki had found me before I got the second gate completed. I hadn’t been here during my time with the yakuza, but afterwards I got the teleporting ring up and working again and now I can come here whenever I want.”

            “You didn’t think it was better to just stay here?” Yoichi asked. “You would have been harder to find, harder to get to instead of hopping around the country like you were before.”

            “Tartarus is pretty isolated.” Izuku stated. “My only connection to the mainland is by boat or teleporting. Besides, we’ll the need the safehouses as staging grounds for gathering more Quirks and processing the undead. Besides, a prison is no place to raise a child. It looks a bit too much like the tunnels Eri was trapped in.”

            “A fair point.”

            Izuku led Yoichi through another heavy door. Inside was a larger room Izuku had made his main lab. Twice the equipment, printers, computers and more. Parts of zombies were suspended in vats of a solution against on wall, and several motivators lay in various states of assembly on another, each tailored to a unique Quirk. At the far end of the room, sat another door not part of the original structure. It had a viewing window frosted over.

            “I’m beginning to like this more and more.” Yoichi stopping to inspect the zombie parts in the vat. “I – well All for one really, was right about you. I think he would be disappointed he didn’t reach out sooner. Though perhaps your time in the apocalypse is what was needed to reach this stage of your research.”

            Izuku paused, hand reaching into one of the science fridges. That was a thought indeed. Where would he be now if zombies hadn’t brought the world to an end as the know it. “Hardly think that matters now. What matters is I can now get back to curing this virus.”

            “Yes.” Yoichi smiled and turned away from the vats. “So, where do we start?”

            “I’ve got some ideas.” Izuku walked over to the table and placed down a contained and opened it. Inside, he pulled out a long ivory horn and handed it to Yoichi. “Testing for sure. Right now I know the reversal process works on the undead. But the main issue is getting Eri’s Quirk to work with my motivators.”

            Yoichi grabbed the horn, a little shocked to see it. “This is Eri’s? How did you get it?”

            “A misspoken word to Chisaki.” Izuku scowled, hating the memory. “Couldn’t damn well put it back on after he gave it to me.”

            “I certainly would like to meet the man for myself some day.’ Yoichi handed back, a similar fire of anger churning in his eyes the same as Izuku.

            “With your assistance, I’m hoping to get this functional again.” Izuku put the horn back in the container. “Do you think once we cure All for One, he’d still be able to take the Quirk from these samples.”

            “No.” Yoichi shook his head. “It would have to be the source. I’ve tried before, from samples of blood and whatever remains of my enemies, much to my annoyance. That is why I marvel at your ability to use them in your machines. Perhaps we can try again, but I doubt it would work. Otherwise, it would have been best you came back with Eri, got the motivator working and reversed her state back to being Quirked.”

            “There’s that.” Izuku tapped his fingers. “Or… we can try with a zombie.”

            “It doesn’t work like that-”

            “I know, I know.” Izuku raised a hand. “But for transforming him back, it is a start. We can try everything else afterwards.”

            Yoichi nodded, thinking over. “Yes, maybe. Then finally, with All for One, the cured will be obligated to return the favour for your great deeds. Birth a new nation.”

            “That’s thinking too far ahead.” Izuku laughed. “Besides, how sure are you they would serve you in the first place?”

            “I have been alive for many years and seen much. Bestow a new power, a new future, to one and they will do as they’re told and be aver so grateful for it. Those who don’t have that opportunity taken away.” Yoichi waved around them. “And, Japan is in a splintered state. Tokyo is gone, U.A.’s new management is to be determined, and there are many groups fighting for their survival. All have their own goals and those goals conflict with ours. Don’t think you can just cure these people and throw them out on the streets. You don’t know who’s hand you’ll strengthen more. Best you cure them and bind them into service, as repayment for you saving their lives.”

            Izuku’s eyes widened. “Well, considering you’re familiar with leadership, I’ll leave it to you.”

            “No.” Yoichi shook his head. “You need to partake in that authority too. You are the one who seeks to cure them. As you refine your treatment and cure more, they need to serve you, fulfill your purposes. You are already one man against a nation, a world, you must either obtain power or perish when your enemies crack down on you like waves on a lonely grain of sand. Then all of our efforts, your efforts, will be for nothing.”

            Izuku grinned, his cybernetic eye flashed red and the door at the end of the room popped open. The sound of hissing came from inside. “I’m not just a lone grain of sand. There’s you, All for One, and these.”

            Curious, Yoichi walked to the open door and peered inside. Izuku knew what he’d see in there. Rows upon rows of stasis chambers. Many of them occupied.

            Yoichi let out a whistle. “You familiar with a Dr. Garaki by chance?”

            “Can’t really say.” Izuku said.

            “Pity. I think you two would have gotten along rather well.” Yoichi stepped back and turned to Izuku. “You can control them well?”

            “These are the latest design.” Izuku walked over to him. “They can execute more advanced commands than the earlier versions.”

            “They won’t be enough.” Yoichi warned him. “Perhaps as an elite task force, yes. But trying to manage many of these things will be difficult over time.”

            “Of course.” Izuku agreed. “But they do make a fine deterrent though.”

            Yoichi looked around the lab, taking in a deep breath as if taking in the flavour of the air. It tasted like the sea. “Shall we begin?”

            “Of course, first things first, I got some loose ends to tie up.” Izuku sent a mental command and a dozen of the stasis pods hissed open. “I may be gone a lot longer this time. Call me petty, but I want to savour some good old revenge.”

Chapter Text

Now

            Eri sat in the principal’s office of the elementary school. Leo was dutifully sitting beside her, alert to the comings and goings of adults. The panic from earlier was gone, the bodies in the hall were cleaned up and moved before the kids were let out of the bunker, and now their parents were here to pick up their kids. Nobody came near her though, not after what Leo did to the guy called Daichi. She didn’t really know what to think about it, just that she hoped Leo didn’t bite anyone else. She’d like to actually meet different, people, and she’d like Emi to be her friend. Jun seemed nice, they had come back and returned her bag to her, she had opened to find most of the contents were still inside, including the phone from Dabi and Magne’s game console.

            The adults that came by were talking. She heard bits and pieces here, something about Izuku that had gone down and more about Nezu earlier, only now just confirming that the… whatever he was, was now dead. Dead by Izuku’s hand according to what everyone was saying. He had come to get her, take her away from here, but then he just left. She didn’t know if she was glad or thankful. She hadn’t been given any time to think, really. It had just been a blur, one thing after another, people and their decisions. What did she really want?

            One of the adults stepped in front of her. They were a tall woman with brown hair cut to the shoulders, with bright pink cheeks and a warm motherly smile, it was strange to think of it like that, she had forgotten if her biological mother had ever looked at her like that. Eri could not think of any way to describe her other than bubbly. Her hair looked a bit messy, like she’d been wearing a helmet. She wore a grey tank top and cargo pants like the U.A.S.F. soldiers.

            Leo stood up when the woman approached, tail wagging and went up to her sniffing her before butting his head against her leg. The woman seemed unsure for a moment, likely afraid as the other folks were with the dog, but she reached down a tentative hand and petted Leo.

            “You know, he’s quite friendly despite what I heard.” The woman said, her voice was sweet and calm. “So, you’re Eri?”

            “Ye- Yeah.” Eri said quietly. She shifted nervously in her chair, wondering what she wanted.

            The woman raised a hand to Eri, as if to shake. “I’m Uraraka Ochaco.”

            Eri perked up, that was a name she heard before from the recordings Nezu had shown her. This was the woman Izuku had abandoned, his… girlfriend was it? Nezu had said they were all but married. She didn’t know what that really made them, but she realized out of all the people here the most, she had more reason to hate Izuku more than anyone here. She had seen the wrath of loved ones firsthand.

            “You’re Mr. Midoriya’s uh…” Eri struggled to put a word to it.

            “Ex.” Ochaco finished for her.

            “What’s an Ex?”

            “Ex-wife, Ex-girlfriend, a former of the pairing.” Ochaco explained quickly. “And no need to be so nervous kiddo, I don’t bite.”

            Eri scanned her face, looking for deception. Her mother had been pleasant, then tossed her aside, Chisaki had never been nice to her, Izuku had acted nice, but that was just to get her to go along with him. Only nice people she actually met were Magne and Dabi, who hadn’t yet given her a reason to distrust them. She wondered how they were doing.

            Ochaco scratched Leo’s ear and his feet thumped the ground. “I heard you don’t have a family to go back to, is that right?” At Eri’s nod, she continued. “Well, I talked to some folks and I offered to take you in if you’d like. It’s not a permanent thing if you don’t want to, but I want to make the offer known.”

            “Why would you do that?” Eri asked.

            “I was… close to Izuku before everything that happened here. We’re not together anymore. But today, before he left, I made him a promise.” Ochaco kept eye contact with her, her eyes were soft, warm and friendly. Not an ounce of coldness like the others. “You haven’t had a good upbringing have you? It’s typical around here nowadays, but I bet there’s a longer story for you. Izuku conveyed as much. I can give you a home to live in, good food to eat, give you back that childhood others have taken away, raise you if you’d like.”

            “But why?” Eri asked. “Why would you do that for me?”

            “Because I can help you and I’m willing to do it.” Ochaco smiled. “Just like heroes are suppose to, and because you look like you could really use one.”

            Eri glanced out into the hall, at the parents with their kids, their smiles, their worried expressions, hugging their loved ones and walking hand in hand to the door, back to their homes. What had home once been for her? She didn’t know. It had been the tunnels belonging to the Shie Hassaikai and the safehouses Izuku had setup. One felt like a prison, the other a house, but not a home, a temporary place they’d abandon week after week, or month after month. Did she deserve a home, if that was what she was really being offered. She looked back at Ochaco, studying her, looking for the lie and deceit, any sign that this was the bad choice. She couldn’t find any, yet she still felt the distrust. But in her bag was Dabi’s phone. She remembered what he said, that if she ever felt the need to leave someplace, just use the phone. If Chisaki hadn’t gotten him. She still didn’t know.

            “Can Leo stay too?” Eri asked. “I- I don’t know what Mr. Midoriya did to him. Nezu said he did something, but he’s a good dog. I trust him.”

            “Of course he can.” Ochaco gave Leo a look. “Just so long as he behaves and doesn’t hurt anyone. We’ll keep a close eye on him.”

            The furry little hellraiser groaned and pressed his head against Ochaco’s leg, his body turned and flumped to the ground, exposing his belly for rubbing. This got a giggle out of Eri.

            “Miss Uraraka?” A teacher stood just outside the office peering in, the two turned to look at her. “Ah, I was told you were here. Suria is waiting for you.”

            “I’ll be right there.” Ochaco looked back at Eri. “Well, you ready to go?”

            Eri nodded and hopped off the chair, picking up her bag and following Ochaco out of the office. They stopped at another classroom, where the teacher was standing outside a classroom, the walls covered in messy drawings and cartoony animals, waiting for them. Beside her was a tiny little girl, much younger than Eri by a few years. At the sight of them, the girl ran up to Ochaco, an oversized yellow backpack flopping about as she ran up and hugged Ochaco.

            “Hey there, sorry for making you wait.” Ochaco reached out an arm to Eri, bringing her in close. “Eri, this is my daughter, Suria. She’s almost five years old now. Suria, say hi to Eri.”

            Suria turned around in her mother’s arm, and blinked big inquisitive eyes at Eri. She had pink cheeks and brown hair, just like her Ochaco, and Izuku’s toxic green eyes.

Chapter Text

Now

            On the outskirts of Yamanashi, the Shie Hassaikai made their camp, awaiting the next orders they were to fulfill. Attacking Westside had been a huge gamble on their part, and a gamble they had lost as their elusive prey had once more escaped their grasp. Now they hid from the ire of the settlers and the traders. They would be denied access to Westside for the unforeseeable future, unless a considerable tithe was paid, in the manner involving their heads were being displayed atop the walls along with all the raiders and bandits who previously thought to take advantage of Westsides hospitality.

            A day after the attack, word was received from one of their agents, and their leader hunkered in his tent seething with rage. He sat in there now, two hands holding up a map of U.A. An old map, not yet updated with the many walls they’d erected over the years. The many impenetrable walls, lined with turrets ready to dispense death. He crumpled the map and tossed it on the old rotten table scavenged from some nearby ruins for his use. The last report from their informants in U.A. had confirmed Eri was inside U.A. The last place they’d have ever looked for her, the last place they needed her to be. U.A. was a fortress, no thanks to that rat, Dean Nezu. Nobody could go in or out in any conceivable way other than the gates. Eri was out of his reach, farther than ever before despite even knowing where she was. Chisaki would have an easier time attacking the gates of hell than U.A.

            A surge of anger rose within him, and he had an urge to kill someone. It wasn’t so simple now, robbed of his Quirk and trapped in this mutilated body, and it was hard to discern if the anger was more at being robbed of his cure or frustration with his body. It itched in places he could not reach, pain in parts that weren’t even his to begin with. Yet surgically removing the parts were impossible with the tangle of organs within, only bringing more complications than solutions. An attempt would kill him, so he had settled for the next best thing, improving this disgusting body and hope to acquire Eri once more and have her reverse him. But now all he was hearing is she was Quirkless.

            “What have you done, Doctor?” Chisaki snarled through the mouth in his hand. “You destroyed our one chance of restoring the human race. Either I can restore her power or our race will die.”

            “Boss?” One of his underlings called from outside the tent. “I have news, sir.”

            Chisaki had a sudden urge to throw the table out of the tent flaps and kill the man. But he reigned in his temper and faced his mouth-hand towards the door and spoke. “Come in.”

            The underling walked in, wearing the standard beaked mask. Chisaki didn’t turn, his own mask lay on the table, his disfigured face plain to the world. He could hear they were uncomfortable from the way the fidgeted and shuffled their feet. They smelled ripe of sweat so potent it offended the nose.  “We got another report from our agent.”

            “And?” Chisaki growled. “Has Eri left the campus?”

            “No sir.”

            “Then what?!” He snapped.

            “The Dean, president, or whatever he is-” The underling gulped when Chisaki tilted his head slightly, not fully turning around, but enough for one of his eyes to be seen glaring at the man. They were shaking, but sputtered out the next few words. “Ne- Nezu is dead, sir.”

            Chisaki stilled. “What?”

            “The doctor, from what we are receiving, has made a mess of things at U.A.” The underling continued, getting the words out quickly. “Nezu and a bunch of heroes are dead. Then the doctor escaped, somehow. He is no longer on the campus.”

            “But Eri is?”

            “Yes sir, that is certain.”

            “Interesting.” Two of Chisaki’s arms folded in front of him, a third rubbed his disfigured chin in thought. “Tell me, do we know who is running U.A. now?”

            “Someone called Lady Nagant has risen to the position.”

            “Do we know anything of them?”

            “Not yet sir, I just put out the call.” The underling straightened, now certain he wasn’t going to die. “If they are a hero, we’ll know something soon.”

            “Good.” Chisaki considered for a moment. This… this was great news. Nezu was dead, and many of his lackies too. This was an advantage that should not be wasted. “Do we know how many and which of the heroes are dead?”

            “Nothing was said about it. I can contact the informant and get them working on the specifics.”

            “Do that.” Chisaki hummed. “How many troops remaining do we have after the fight in Westside?”

            “Two hundred, sir.” The underling scratched their head.

            “We’ll need more.” Chisaki clasped his arms behind his back, a plan forming in his mind. “Contact all our hideouts and bases, every able-bodied fighter I want to rendezvous at the outskirts of Musutafu. Contact our agents in the other settlements, spread the word of Nezu’s demise, get me more recruits, get me allies who are willing to take the fight to U.A.”

            “To what end, if I dare ask sir?” The underling gulped. “Are we invading?”

            “Not yet.” Chisaki smiled an evil smile. “With all the enemies Nezu has created, I’m sure they’d love to lay siege to UA. And tell our agent in U.A. to stir the waters however they like. If they in the midst of changing leadership, what better opportunity could we ask for them to fight amongst themselves?”

Chapter Text

Now

            Koda rifled through the backpack, checking to see what goodies he got today. About ten feet away the carnivores of his group dug into the carcasses of the humans that had wandered into his forest. He’d been against the idea of feeding people to his animals the first month he was out on his own, but it was hard to find food for them sometimes, and he always seemed to run into people. He had sacrificed a couple of animals in the past to feed them, but he didn’t like that so much, especially now he was settled in one place. Least there were a mix of folks wandering into his territory, he got bandits, raiders, and simple folk making their way in life.

            Once he sorted through all these people had, he left the junk where it lay and loaded what he took into sacks and put them on his moose. He glanced up at the sky. It was dusk, it would be night in about an hour more or less. He climbed onto his moose and gave the command for his animals to follow. The climb to his camp was easier and faster each time as they got used to the paths, so they made it there in good time. He had set a few of his animals around in a perimeter, and he saw none of them had moved from their spot, meaning it was safe.

            He had a tent for shelter and a campfire not too from it. He had plans to build a more permanent structure sometime in the future. But he had time and there was no rush. Around the fire there were logs for seating. He was the only one who lived here, he just liked not having to move his chair from place to place when the smoke followed him. Speaking of, the fire was nearly out, just a few embers remaining from when he left it. He dismounted from his moose and dropped one of the sacks by the tent, then grabbed a couple pieces of wood and tinder and threw it on there. His animals all took their positions, relaxing after a long day of work.

            Koda had just sat down to warm himself at the flames when the tent flaps opened and Izuku Midoriya walked out to the fire. The pistol was in Koda’s hand so fast, it was a blur. The scientist stopped, holding one of Koda’s cups steaming from the liquid it held. Living in the woods long as Koda had, isolated from civilization, had refined his sense of smell so well, he could have picked out Izuku body odour from ten feet away. But he didn’t, nor did he smell what was in the cup as Izuku took a sip. The smoke wasn’t in his face yet, but maybe that was blocking the smell.

            “You’re a little low on tea.” Izuku said, walking over to one of the logs and taking a seat. “Could have included that on the list, I would have made room for it.”

            The pistol remained on Izuku, unwavering and poised to shoot. Koda was reading Izuku’s body language, the scientist was way to relaxed for this, being in the middle of Koda’s camp and surrounded by his herd. By now, they had all shifted, aware now that there was an intruder in their camp. Koda spoke a quick word to them, halting them in place. He glanced at the animals he had left in charge of watching his camp. They hadn’t moved at all, not even a twitch of movement. Koda’s head eyes snapped back to Izuku as he reached a hand up to his jacket and he adjusted the gun. Izuku stopped, cocking an eyebrow at Koda, then slowly moved the hand and pulled out a carton of cigarettes.

            Izuku took out one and held the rest out to Koda. “Want one?”

            Koda narrowed his eyes. Something was going on here, he just didn’t know what yet.

            “Suit yourself.” Izuku put away the carton and twirled the cigar between his fingers. “Yah know, these last couple of days have been really tense for me. I hadn’t gotten my cigarettes for, about two days. Felt like it’s been months really. I hadn’t realized until I was sitting up here, waiting for you, that I didn’t have the usual side affects of a smoke addiction. Must have been when I got a head wound and a kind gentlemen saw fit to heal me. Course they gave me the head wound, but they also cured my smokers lung. I got you to thank for that.”

            Izuku reached out the cigar to the fire and lit it. He stuck it between his lips and sucked in the smoke. He coughed like a first timer. “Damn, kind of strange starting all over again.”

            Koda didn’t say anything. He was too busy puzzling over the situation, keeping on eye on Izuku and another on his surroundings. Something was very off about this situation.

            “What’s the matter?” Izuku asked. “You turn back to being timid now? What happened to the great Koda the Wanderer and his herd of pets coming to his beck and call? Wasn’t even a week ago you threatened my life with one of those lions. What’s on your mind? You can tell me.”

            Koda stood slowly, he ordered one of his pumas to come to his side, ready to pounce on Izuku as Koda turned, while still keeping the pistol on Izuku, to take in more of his surroundings. “Who else is out here?”

            “Nobody.” Izuku said. “Business is between us?”

            “And my animals?”

            “Those ones?” Izuku pointed to the ones who hadn’t moved this entire time. “They’ll be fine, eventually.”

            “What did you do to them?”

            “Oh, just a Quirk I found in Kokura. It had been used on me as I was passing through by a mugger, believe it or not. I thought it was someone wanting to claim that bounty Nezu set, but no, I just had something they wanted. I’m just glad they didn’t kill me, maybe had to do with how strict Kokura was about murder within their walls. I found them again a couple months later in another settlement.”

            “Let me guess.” Koda said, annoyed. “You killed them?”

            “Nah, I offered them a trade. I gave them a bunch of food and clothes in exchange for their old ones. They were covered in sweat, blood, and all manner of muck, you see. They also hadn’t had a decent meal in weeks. They had a good Quirk, but their luck was rotten as hell. So, when I, a previous victim, offered a trade like that, they thought I was a real sucker and took it.”

            “The food was poison?” Koda deduced.

            “Really impatient, aren’t you?” Izuku sighed, taking another drag from his cigar. “Food wasn’t poison. I got his Quirk from the DNA on their clothes and replicated it. I found the bastard again and gave him a taste of his own medicine. I understood the affects personally, locks up the body like a statue, can’t move, can’t do nothing. Yet very aware of everything going on around you. After that, I loaded them up on a boat and took them far out to see where I threw them overboard.” Izuku smiled at the memory and blew out a puff of smoke. Koda couldn’t smell the cigar smoke, only the campfire for some odd reason.

            “Sometimes I wonder what that was like for them.” Izuku continued. “Struggling to get to the surface with all your limbs still functioning is terrifying already. But when you’re paralyzed like that, unable to do a thing as water fills your lungs. That’s got to do something to the psyche something fierce. Until they drown to death, of course.”

            “Your plans of revenge are overly complicated.” Koda pointed out.

            “Sometimes they are.” Izuku shrugged. “Not like getting the work done quick with a headshot is any better. I find a certain satisfaction letting them know it was me, let it really sink in and all that. Just like I did to Nezu.”

            Koda stilled. “You killed him?”

            “Take it that means you didn’t get the recent pigeons yet. Yeah, I did. You should have seen the look on his face before I blasted him to hell with Kacchan’s own Quirk.” Izuku laughed. “Finally pulled a good on over on that rat. I could see it on his face; he couldn’t figure it out how it all went wrong, the question was eating at him. But he really had it coming.”

            “He told you about our deal?”

            “He did.” Izuku snorted. “And when he captured me, he promised me freedom in exchange for doing a job for him. You knew otherwise, didn’t you? There was no way Nezu was going to let me leave U.A. after all the promises he made me. You probably felt safe then, telling me where you lived. I have to ask though, how come you made me do all this running around to get your supplies when you could have just held me in your forest for Snipe to come get me? Was that your way of toying with me as well? Give me a little hope before slamming the door in my face?”

            “I made it explicitly clear to Nezu I was not his errand boy.” Koda growled, slowly taking his seat again. “Either he caught you and I got my supplies, or you evaded them and I still got my supplies. Win-win either way, the rest didn’t matter to me.”

            “Sounded like you would have had anything you wanted for a lifetime.” Izuku stated. “You’d have gotten a better deal turning me in.”

            “I doubted it.” Koda stared at the cigar, wondering why he couldn’t smell it. “Nezu likes to screw people over. I know he would have asked more of me in the future.”

            “Yeah, probably would have. Nezu did like his games.” Izuku sighed. “And that marks the similarity between you, Nezu, and that mugger. You thought your abilities gave you control over me, you believed you had the power to cow me into submission. Then you all made the same equally stupid mistake, a mistake I strive to never make.” He looked Koda dead in the eyes, his one organic eye portraying nothing but anger. “You all should have killed me when you had the chance.”

            “Noted.” Koda said and pulled the trigger three times.

            The gunshots rang throughout the forest. Izuku looked down at the gun, unimpressed, no bullet holes in his person from what Koda could see. Izuku looked back up at him and laughed. “Second mistake you all make. You all underestimate me, like I’m not a scientist and actually got some brain.”

            The Izuku in front of Koda disappeared like a ghost swept up by the wind. Koda shot to his feet, whirling around and shouting orders to his herd. “Find him! Find-”

            Something hit him in the neck, a sharp pain of a needle breaking through skin. Koda smacked a hand over it, and the dart shattered. He withdrew his hand and stared at the broken glass sticking out of his palm. Something changed inside him, something foreign, and weird. He turned in the direction where the dart had come from, and saw a single red light glowing in the shadows. Koda raised his gun, at the same time commanding his animals to come to his aid. But the air became ripe with death and a strong hand grabbed his arm and pushed his arm up, sending the bullet into the air. Then he was hoisted up several feet into the air and left there hanging. The air shimmered in front of him, the invisibility dispelling and revealing a giant, four-armed zombie cyborg that was holding him.

            Below, his animals tried to scatter, but the ground moved beneath them, pulled them together and the ground dipped down into a pit they couldn’t climb out of. More of the cyborgs, eleven of them, dispelled their invisibly and killed his animals that had managed to escape being pulled into the pit. The giant reached up with its other three hands, taking away Koda’s pistol, and stripped him of his clothes till he was just in his boxers, all his backup weapons hidden away were gone. Then another pit formed below him an the giant dropped him into it.

            Izuku, the real one, strolled up to the pit all calm and collected, smiling like the cat who caught the mouse. He put a cigar in his mouth and lit it, “My how the tables have turned.”

            Koda called out for his birds to come to his aid and peck the eyes out of this man, but nothing happened. His voice was there, it made sound, but it felt empty to him, like something was absent.

            “How does that feel?” Izuku asked, gesturing to his own throat. “I don’t have a Quirk to really tell what it’s like. What you just got hit with is a formula I created with a asshole, a real piece of work that one. We called it the “Temporary Quirk Erasing Drug”. It’s a mouthful but it gets the point across. Now, I did have a permanent variant, but it’s my last one and I’d prefer to use it for something more worthwhile than you. Would be a waste anyway, not like you’re going to be living a long life.”

            Koda cleared his throat and tried again to send commands to his animals. Nothing.

            “Now, I got you in this pit.” Izuku said, and pointed to the wall separating Koda from the other one. “Your pets are in the other, and my friend here,” He patted the shoulder of a cyborg that had just walked up to stand beside him, “has a Quirk I think you’re going to like. On a base level, before the enhancement, this Quirk invoked anger in its victims, nothing serious, just mild stuff. But amped up on the virus, it takes a nasty edge. The victims become uncontrollable violent savages. It can easily be countered if the victim has a particularly strong will or stubbornness to resist the affects.” Izuku gave Koda a pointed look. “Something I think a hero, former or otherwise, has something in spades. But don’t you worry, it still gets interesting. The Quirk also works on animals, and from what I wager, they don’t have much in the willpower department. Could turn a loyal pet against its owner.”

            “Koda’s eyes widened, eyes darting between Izuku and that wall that separated him from his herd. “You want us to fight? Why not just kill me?”

            “That is the same question I asked at U.A.” Izuku smirked. “Same question I asked Nezu while I was trapped in a place – just like you are now – with people who wanted me dead. The answer is simple: for my own amusement. Time I joined the party and see what Nezu got out of this. But don’t worry, you’ll get a fighting chance.” Izuku drew two knives from his jacket and threw them down in front of Koda. “Are you ready?”

            Koda didn’t feel like he had a choice. He picked up the knives and readied himself for what was to come. He glanced around, mind trying to think of a way out. But the walls were too steep and there were Izuku’s cyborgs standing around the pit. They would stop him from escaping. Koda didn’t even have his Quirk, if that would have done him any good here.

            “Set!” Izuku shouted.

            At the same time the cyborg raised its arms and a low-pitched whine emanated through the air. Koda staggered, mind overcome with savage anger. It was so strong it overcame rational thought, but he fought through it, beat it back, and felt it lessen in affect. On the other side of the wall, in the other pit, he heard his herd scream their animal screams. Already tearing at each other for the fight to come.

            “Go!”

            The wall dropped. His lions, his panthers, his moose and others. All of his long-time friends turned to the opening. Their eyes full of hunger and hate. They were already bleeding, having been fighting with each other already, a couple already on the ground, dead or dying. But the moment the wall opened they rushed to fill the space, all focused on him.

            Koda roared and charged back.

Chapter Text

Now

            The city of Tokyo had been ruins since the Collapse. Now the refuge within the refugees built up joined the rest of the city, infested with zombies and absent of human life. Atop the wall, one zombie stood, staring off into the distance. They were much more whole than the others, it’s skin coated in a purple goo-like substance, the body beneath slowly becoming whole. They held in one hand, the skull of another zombie, whose jaw still moved, just lacking the body to do anything else. With a couple quick movements, they smashed the skull against the wall, cracking open the top like an egg. They dug out the brain and tossed the skull behind it to join the large pile below. As they ate the brain, another zombie stepped up to them, ready to feed it next. Obediently, the undead had formed a line spanning the entire wall and into the city. One by one, they separated the head, cracked it open, and consumed.

            This planet was not one the Origin had ever seen before. In truth, it hadn’t seen many other worlds other than the ones in the night skies of its home world. Here there was only one star, one moon, and this planet was occupied by a single dominant species who had conquered their world. The humans abilities were diverse, their knowledge vast, and their drive for power ever growing. So alien it was to them, this place, but the concept of power wasn’t unfamiliar. Where they had come from, there had been many species fighting for dominance of the planet, whether it be by fang, claw, fist, or tool. Power and greed drove its planet onward as it basked in the glow of three suns. The Origin had never taken part in those conflicts, it observed if distance allowed, but never made itself an active presence. If someone had come to their world and were to study them in the native origins of its planet, they would be seen as a simple grazer, absorbing the potent radiation of the suns. The Origin’s species hardly ever needed to move, they spread as other species trampled it and carried its seedlings to other biomes. It was never openly hostile, only content with the status quo.

            The Origin cracked another skull, pondering. Each day as they consumed and grew, regaining more of their broken memories. They had never been a dominant species, they had no drive, no ambition, they knew they only desired the suns. They occupied their niche and were content, never a bother to anyone. They had lived many seasons, observing the transformation of their world and the evolution of the other species. They remembered scenery the best. They had watched the two red stars and the one white one race in and out of view, one after the other. A couple hands of moons of various colours and shades travelled the sky in chaotic orbits. They had one time seen two of those moons collide and create an asteroid belt. Though at the time they had not known to call it that. These words it learned second hand. Something to do with the parts they ate from the humans, bits of consciousness traveled over, memories of the inhabitants. As it consumed the brains of these humans, it picked up a bit of their knowledge. Only a little, but slowly it understood the world it now occupied.

            Then one day, as normal as always on their home world, there had been a human. To them at the time, the human had been a strange bipedal creature it had never seen before, oddly curious about their surroundings. But the Origin had been captivated by them. The human glowed with brilliant energy like the suns, perhaps more than just that. For the first time in all of their existence, they had felt the insatiable desire to consume. They had unexpectedly lashed out and things ended for them right then, right there. They no longer saw the suns, nor the stars, nor the moons or their own planet. Only a single brilliant light in a dark room, like a light bulb fighting back a vast shadow. They watched it for a time, then the big light became two, the second much smaller, and the bigger light vanished.

            Slowly, over time, the smaller light became two, then four, then eight, and so on. The lights kept multiplying, spreading, until they could see as many lights as there were grains of sand. They did not know what the lights were at the time, but as they multiplied, they became more aware, like… like a dream the humans had. Yes, like a dream they had no control over. It only had some slight awareness of them, but it didn’t know what they were. For many days – they knew not how many – they felt something within those lights, a bit of themselves. Then two lights combined together, and they felt its awareness grow, a little consciousness blossoming. They tried to move the light with thought. It was slow, painfully slow, but the light did move. They sent it to the closest one, the two lights bumped into each other for a time, until the Origin strained their mind and thought of the two joining together. Just like how they had absorbed the suns rays. Then the tiny lights joined and grew, only slightly.

            More days passed. Each day, they prompted the growing light to consume the others. It was a sluggish ordeal, sometimes the light acted like it didn’t register their commands, other times the light was distracted, traveling in a random vector. But as time passed and power gained, it grew easier. Till one day, the light absorbed enough and suddenly they could see again. No longer trapped in a strange plain of lights, they saw a new world before them, and occupied a body unfamiliar to them.

            The world they occupied had only one weak sun barely giving off any energy for them to feast on. The world also appeared very much dead, having once hosted a prosperous civilization. It’s inhabitants were lumbering clumsy corpses. The humans were a strange bunch, some had mixtures of other creatures and non-biological material, but they all contained that energy they craved so much. They absorbed it like a… like a sponge, yes. It took some time for the Origin to understand they had some bit of themselves inside each of the zombies, latched on to the part that drank in what energy there was and sustaining their host to collect more. When the host died, so too did the energy, and the bit of themselves died with it. So, the Origin went on to consume and spread.

            They discovered more about the humans as they explored their new environments. They met the living individuals and that first meeting hadn’t gone well. The humans tried to kill it. The experience of fighting was foreign to it, but from observing the species of their home world and how they fought, they mimicked actions. They were hit several times by burning pieces of metal, but they kept going on, even as their host body took damage. They laid into the survivors, infecting some of the group. The moment they had bitten one, they saw the lights begin to grow in them. Some of the others they infected weren’t affected at all, there was nothing for them to latch onto in them. But no matter.

            They lived many months, hunting and eating the dead, infecting the stray humans it came across, working to restore themselves and fend off the hunger. As time went on, they restored more of their broken conscious.

            Then one day, a couple of the living had come across them while they feasted. A powerful human with the ability to create explosive fire had hurt them. They had bore the damage of many things in this world, but the heat hurt worse than any of those. They had retreated, but not too far away. They lurked in the shadows, observing the human, watched as they fought among themselves and the explosive one fled the scene with another. They followed until they saw an opportunity to strike. It had gone poorly, but they had infected the explosive one before their body had been ripped asunder by the explosion and found themselves back in the space with all the lights.

            After some more time of recovering from the trauma, the Origin started the process again. It went much quicker this time without the learning curve. Eventually they surpassed their previous state and learned they could do much more than just control their own host body, they could also will the undead to follow it. That had been helpful, as their broken pieces had enough awareness to view them as a predator and flee from them. They willed them to come to them making the process much faster.

            It was by no means the only one gaining consciousness. They would have flickers of memories that weren’t their own, of another Origin somewhere else also growing in power. As they grew the Origin found their mind being tugged between the two bodies and stretched until it threatened to rip their mind apart all over again. Splitting itself apart was not new to it when it came to creating seedlings, but this was unlike that in every way. None of what they endured so far was natural. They sought out and consumed the other fragment after a fierce fight and their power was bolstered.

            Then one day, they gained awareness of another fragment that had been kept inside this city, within the walls they now stood on. The humans had discovered a growing fragment and in their curious nature fed them, allowing them to grow in strength. Furious, the Origin had commanded a large following of the undead to assault the walls, eventually breaking in and consuming every person that remained and the fragment that had been prisoner.

            Then after that, some weeks later, they had been abruptly snapped into another body, laying in some lab strapped to a table, being fed an immense amount of power. The sudden shift and disruption the transition had caused brought them into a rage and broke free of their restraints and attacked the first human they saw. The human was protected behind a barrier, the source of power was not. They chased bit the little humans arm, infecting them. They had eventually died in there and returned to their previous body. They had then focused on that piece of themselves, watching, waiting to see if it would grow with the abundance of power the human possessed. They were practically drooling at the amount of power that had been there. But then the light was abruptly ended, leaving them bitter.

            Now they stood atop the wall, pondering their existence. In time it would consume the horde within these walls and outside of it. But to what end? Would they become the new apex species of this world? They had no way to return to the home world. The human it had latched onto that started all of this was nowhere to be found, not even senses. There was one considerable source, somewhere in the distance. They could feel the immense power the human held, but that was tiny in comparison to the first one, and the human was hidden away somewhere, only getting a few flickering memories from when the Origin tried to command them. The human there had buried themselves deep under rock, surrounded by machines. So, they were out of luck. What would become of them once it conquered this world?

            They flinched as they detected something else in the distance. For some time they had felt some of the lights be… ruined. Like being split apart and attached to each other. It was an uncomfortable feeling, like pieces of a piece being put together in a way that was unnatural. Not even to mention whatever this was also controlled them. They weren’t another fragment, something else entirely. The Origin had felt a great disruption one day where a great number of lights had been ordered against their will. Now they felt that strange sensation again, somewhere close by.

            Whatever it was, they could not stand such a violation any longer. The Origin exerted their will on the horde around them and commanded them to march. It was time to see what new thing sought to enslave it.

The End.

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