Chapter Text
“I was so ahead of the curve, the curve became a sphere.”
“What is One for All?” Izuku reiterates his question. Yagi’s face goes pale as a ghost. He knew something, he knew about what Nana had told him. His heartbeat hammers within his chest, did this mean Nana wasn’t a hallucination? Was she not just a figment of his imagination?
The thought is unsettling. “Uhhh where did you hear about that?” Yagi stumbles over his words, his eyes wide as he tries to play it off nonchalantly. Unfortunately for him there wasn’t a single nonchalant bone within his body.
“Does that matter?” He asks back dryly.
Yagi shrinks into himself like a child that got caught with its hand in the cookie jar. “I suppose not…”
“Then what is it?” He already knows the answer. Nana had gotten quite into detail when she told him everything. She also ranted about how she didn’t teach her poor little scrawny kid to not tell his protege nothing. It had come as quite the shock when the Toshi she had been referring to ended up being All Might.
“And I can’t believe he’s such an idiot that he can’t even be a good mentor!” Nana rants off as she’s pacing around the room. Her eyes filled with annoyance that only a parent could have for their child. “I should’ve seen this coming! He’s always been a bit of a dimwit.”
“Hell he even chose that stupid hero name,” she scoffs, her hands on her hips. “All Might of all things, he’s not a comic book hero. I really should’ve told him no with that name…”
All Mig- what did she just say?!
It had come as quite the shock, although not enough to snap him completely out of his daze. His hallucination was not only real, but it also knew Mr Yagi. At first he had thought it was just a weird thing his mind had made up, but seeing the look on Mr Yagi’s face told him that this wasn’t made up.
“Did you find out from him?” Yagi apprehensively asks. Izuku quickly assesses that he means All for One due to the similar names. Did it have something to do with that guy? That would be so frustrating, especially given that he has One for All now. Nana had told him that he’s the new carrier, but it’s not something he wants.
Izuku shakes his head. All for One had told him nothing, if he did he didn’t remember at least. The only thing he remembered from the league's hideout was that he wanted his quirk. The thought unsettled him deeply. He wants to be rid of his quirk— this curse that has been put on him. However if it went into the hands of someone like All for One he would’ve doomed them all.
All for One was already crazily overpowered, adding a revival quirk would leave him unstoppable. They already just barely managed to subdue him, and that was with Izuku dying numerous times and All Might using all of his strength. His mind was shattered and Mr Yagi was now just barely able to move around.
“What is it?” Izuku asks, attempting to pry some information from him. He knew very little due to Nana wanting to give Mr Yagi a chance to explain himself. “Tell me,” he says with a hint of demand in his tone. He didn’t like being left out of the know. As Atlas he had managed to become well informed on pretty much any issue in the underground and yet he had never even heard of One for All until now.
“It’s…” Yagi trails off, trying to find the words. “..complicated.”
“Is it a name? A place? A person?”
“It’s a quirk,” he informs Izuku, grimacing before adding. “More specifically– it’s my quirk. And before it was mine it belonged to several other carriers, and now… now the carrier is you my boy.”
What.
He almost thought he misheard him, surely he couldn’t have just said those words could he? Izuku’s eyes widen as he tries to process this. “Your quirk?” His voice cracks as he says those two words. No one knew what All Might’s quirk was. There was, of course, speculation about it online but those were just rumours and none of them said anything about a quirk that can get passed down.
Izuku had been into the very depths of All Might conspiracy theories, the ones that would put quite a few police departments to shame with how they find evidence, and yet this was news to him. He almost feels ashamed to call himself an All Might fan. “I… have your quirk?” He could just barely feel his inner fanboy squeal in delight, but his body nor mind could respond to that happiness.
Mr Yagi gives an almost timid nod. The anxiousness didn’t fit a man of his greatness, it almost made him sick to see. He’s worried about how he’d react to it. “It was necessary, and I had been looking for a successor for a while now…”
“Why me?” It didn’t make sense that he chose him, he’s a criminal. He’s stolen and embezzled millions, he’s not the heroic type. Maybe once in his life before it all went to shit he was, but not anymore. He’s not deserving of All Might’s quirk nor did he want it. He didn’t even want his own.
“As I said it’s complicated,” Yagi tells him. “They wanted to send you to Tartarus. I couldn’t let that happen.”
Izuku stiffens. Of course, it wasn’t because Mr Yagi trusted him in particular or thought of him as a good successor, but instead because he wanted to protect him. He swallows thickly as he couldn’t help but feel a tinge of disappointment at that, but he didn’t dwell on that fleeting feeling.
“I understand.” He doesn’t, he really doesn’t, but this conversation was already exhausting him.
“I’m sure you have a lot of questions,” Yagi says, opening himself up to have this difficult conversation.
Izuku shrugs, he only really had one. “You said the quirk can be passed on?” He asks, but doesn’t wait for an answer as he continues. “You should find a new successor, I’ll give it to whoever you choose.” The quirk wasn’t really his, and he’d be damned if he let All Might’s power stay in the hands of someone like him.
Mr Yagi makes a face, looking as if he’s eaten something sour. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”
Izuku didn’t bother continuing the conversation and remained silent for the rest of the evening.
“You want me to bring a criminal around my students?” Shouta Aizawa drawls out as he’s in the middle of an emergency staff meeting. They were here to discuss the next course of action, both how they would go forward with making sure the students were safe and how they’d deal with Atlas. Or he should probably call him Midoriya now. Nedzu nods, clearly not thinking anything was wrong with it.
“You are working with future heroes, it can be a great learning experience for them!” Nedzu tells him cheerfully. That rat always managed to twist the narrative to make it fit in a way that benefits him. “And from my understanding class 1a has already been introduced to Midoriya?”
That was true and exactly why he didn’t want him to stick around them. Midoriya being friendly with his students before this entire shitshow and he was supposed to believe that was coincidence? Hell no. Over his dead body. He couldn’t help but feel paranoid that Midoriya had gotten close to his students and All Might for some ulterior motive.
He didn’t want him sent to Tartarus or anything but it felt as though Nedzu and the rest of the whole entire police department weren’t taking this as seriously as they should. He felt for the kid and didn’t think of him as beyond saving but he had enough of a backbone to say that he needed to face the consequences of his crimes “Can’t he go with Vlad?” Shouta asks, trying to push him onto the homeroom teacher for class 1b. “They need more experience than my class.”
1a had already gone through so much, he couldn’t put them at risk again. “I’m not taking him,” Vlad says firmly, shooting daggers at him. “I don’t understand why he’s even here!”
Nedzu rubs his paws together thoughtfully as he was sitting in the way too large chair. “Calm down Vlad. There’s no reason to yell,” he says calmly before turning to look at Shouta. “And you have no choice in the matter, Eraser. I need him here and you are part of the reason as to why the commission allowed it.”
Of course he had used him as a bargaining chip. “Really?” He asks in a dull tired voice. It was a smart idea on Nedzu’s part but that didn’t mean he liked it. His quirk would make it a whole lot more difficult for Midoriya to escape, so it did make sense that he’d be in charge of him. Still sucked. “What if he endangers the students?” Shouta asks with a deep sigh.
“He won’t.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I do,” Nedzu says with the utmost sincerity. “And if he steps out of line or harms someone during his stay at UA he will be sent to Tartarus no matter what. I’m not asking you to follow after him all hours of the day, just allow him to accompany you to your classes.”
That… didn’t make him feel any more at ease. His mind went back to the conversation he had with Yagi a few weeks ago, how concerned he was about his young neighbour. He had thought that Midoriya had gotten onto the wrong side of the law back then. How he hated his good intuition in times like this.
Shouta had met the kid a few times himself and yet he didn’t know how bad things really were. He’s a crap hero who couldn’t see that Midoriya was Atlas. But maybe this time around he could keep him from crime and stop him from being sent to Tartarus. It would cost his students safety, but Nedzu didn’t seem to care about that. Or he just didn’t see Midoriya as a threat to them.
“Fine,” Shouta grumbles, relenting on the issue. He’d keep an eye on him at all times, making sure he didn’t hurt his students. Midoriya was still young, although his crimes were grave, he wasn’t beyond hope. “I’ll take him.”
“I appreciate your help Eraser,” Nedzu tells him, putting a paw to his heart. “He’s not a bad kid, just very misguided.”
“I know.”
Nedzu gives a brief nod before switching the conversation topic. “Now for the next issue on the agenda,” he says, reading off a list. “The threat of the league is still at large, and we will need to put some more precautions in place. I’ve talked to a few smaller local hero agencies and have arranged for them to patrol more frequently around the areas where most of the hero students live.”
“What about the gen-ed students?” Midnight asks, she worked quite a bit with the non-hero students so there was no wonder why she was concerned for their safety as well.
“We have no reason to believe that they’d be targeted by the league,” Nedzu says shortly, looking down at a document. “I’ve also asked the support classes to develop an app where we can keep contact with the students. It will be mandatory for them to check in when they leave their homes and so that if anything happens they’ll be able to contact us quickly.”
“Doesn’t that sound like we’re keeping them under surveillance though?” Hizashi, Present Mic, asks Nedzu. He’s clearly skeptical of that suggestion. Shouta understands why. Teenagers like their privacy and they’d surely object to this.
“We are.”
“E-excuse me?” Hizashi blinks, looking at Nedzu as if he’s grown two heads.
“We are keeping the students under surveillance,” Nedzu says nonchalantly. Shouta didn’t expect him to come out and admit it like that, and by the faces of everyone else in the room they didn’t either. “It’s for their own safety of course. That is what we will tell them at the very least.”
“I’m not sure I get what you mean…?” Midnight tells him, inquiring about more information. Vlad and Hizashi were quick to make their protests about this known, heavily disliking the idea. The previously calm air went tense and filled with rowdy noises of protest.
“You want us to spy on our students?!” Hizashi yells out and Shouta just barely manages to activate his quirk in time so that the entire room wouldn’t be destroyed. Hizashi’s voice quirk was the bane of his existence.
“I feel like that’s a bit too much Nedzu,” Vlad trails off. “You can’t be serious.”
Nedzu looks at them with his beady, lifeless eyes, unimpressed with their antics. “There’s a traitor amongst us.”
The room went dead silent. No one dared to take a single breath. The tension rose sky high, the topic was practically taboo amongst the teachers.
The idea of a traitor had been brought up way back when the USJ attack happened, the subject was uncomfortable to think of. None of them wanted to believe that one of their students was capable of betraying UA and their classmates. They especially didn’t want to believe that it could be a teacher, so the topic was usually avoided during staff meetings.
“We need to be a step ahead of the league and the traitors,” Nedzu explains. Hizashi was about to protest again when Nedzu cut him off. “We will not be looking too far into their personal information, it will only be able to track their location and nothing else.”
“It still feels wrong…” Hizashi mumbles.
“Rest assured it is only a temporary measure.”
Hizashi grumbles for a few more moments, letting his displeasure be known. “Fine, but I don’t like it.”
Nedzu doesn’t pay him any mind as he continues on with the meeting.
Izuku didn’t do much of anything for the coming days. Mr Yagi kept bothering him, always checking in multiple times during the day. It’s almost as if he was afraid that Izuku would disappear if he didn’t see him 24/7. He also thought that maybe the sudden loss of his hero job was taking its toll on him.
He didn’t get to see much of any of the other heroes as everyone was busy doing homevisits to each hero student to get permission slips so that he could accompany Eraserhead to his classes. Not many would want someone as dangerous as him being around their kids.
Mr Yagi sat in front of him at the dining table as he was carefully pouring Izuku a cup of tea. He didn’t feel like drinking it, as it took too much effort to pick up the black mug. Every conversation he has had with Yagi ever since the one about One for All had become awkward and tense.
He still couldn’t believe that he got All Might’s power, and it was at the one point in his life where he couldn’t be elated about it. It just made him feel burdened. If he had gotten it earlier, before his crimes, before his mother died, he’d have been in the skies filled with joy. All Might had been his inspiration and the person that kept him going no matter how much he got bullied for being quirkless or for being weird.
That wasn’t enough anymore.
“...”
“...”
Neither of them speak a word to the other, both are too stuck in their internal battles to think of anything to say. Mr Yagi looked exhausted, as if he hadn’t gotten a good night's sleep in weeks. He couldn’t ask him if he was doing alright though, too exhausting to do so. He hoped his blank eyes showed at least a hint of concern.
“Do you feel any better?” Mr Yagi finally breaks the silence. Izuku shrugs, he had been feeling a little bit more, but it still took its toll on him. Yagi sighs deeply, taking a sip of his own tea. “I’ve heard from some of the heroes at Endeavour’s agency, they’re asking about meeting with you.”
Izuku slowly blinks, almost like a cat. He hadn’t thought about anyone from the agency ever since the incident. His mind had been too occupied with both everything and nothing at once. It must’ve come as quite the shock to them, especially Burnin’. To them he seemed like a weak kid who got beat up all the time. Him being a high-profile villain must be the last thing they’d have thought about him.
“Do you want to see them?” Yagi asks him cautiously. When Izuku doesn’t reply he continues. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”
He didn’t want to. It was probably the last thing he wanted to do. They deserved answers that he’s not ready to give. Izuku knows he’ll eventually have to face them, but he wants to wait at least a little while longer. The one who he wanted to see the least was Todoroki, he had told him he wouldn’t get caught only to end up getting caught a week later.
It hurt his imaginary pride. “...when’s classes starting again?” Izuku asks quietly, wondering how long he had until he had to see Todoroki again. He had been told by Nedzu that he had to come with Eraserhead to his classes and unfortunately Todoroki was his student. To make things even worse for him he had been introduced to pretty much everyone in class 1a.
“It’ll be on Monday,” Yagi tells him, sounding sympathetic. He only had three more days before he needed to face the consequences of his actions. “It’ll be okay. Just make sure to listen to what Eraser tells you.”
Izuku nods slowly. It’s not as if he can get out of this. If he tries to escape or disobeys then he’s going to Tartarus, and he couldn’t send Mr Yagi’s quirk into Tartarus. He needs to be extra careful now that he has One for All. “Okay…”
“Oh also I’m bringing the cats over next week,” Yagi tells him. Izuku perks up ever so slightly. He hadn’t thought much about them ever since his capture as he was sure Mr Yagi was taking good care of them. The cats had been a big help during his former episodes of extreme apathy, so perhaps bringing them could be of help this time around as well? “They miss you.”
Izuku doubted that, they probably just missed him giving them treats. But he wasn’t going to say that to Yagi. “Mhm…” he hums, his chest feeling a bit lighter at the thought of them.
Izuku’s sitting on a bench outside of principal Nedzu’s office waiting for Mr Yagi to leave it. He had some things to talk about with Nedzu so he had to come along. He always had to be near to at least one pro according to Nedzu for safety reasons. He thought it to be excessive, it would be hard for even him to escape UA as it is the most secure facility in the world.
Not that he had much of a desire to leave given that everyone who ever knew him or he screwed over knew his real identity by now. He had made a lot of enemies during his time as Atlas, many who wanted him dead. It would also take a whole lot of effort to escape, so he wasn’t even going to try.
Although it did slightly tempt him each time he was thinking about how he was going to need to see Todoroki tomorrow.
“Nedzu wants to see you,” Yagi tells him the second he leaves the office. Izuku stands up to enter the room. “I’ll be right outside.”
Izuku doesn’t say anything as he moves past him. The office was spacious and neat, almost obsessively clean. It suited the wicked mastermind of a rodent. He’s sitting down in his chair that’s perfectly fitted for his height. “Midoriya,” Nedzu greets him, motioning for him to sit down on the couch opposite of him.
“You wanted to see me…?” He mumbles quietly as he sits down. He hadn’t seen much of Nedzu since the time he came to visit him at the police department.
Nedzu pushes a document and pen towards him. “You’ll need to sign this.” Izuku picks up the pen, quickly signing it without reading through it. Nedzu scrunches his nose in displeasure. “You didn’t read it.”
“So?”
“The Atlas I’ve heard so much about would never be careless like that.” Izuku almost wants to point out that Nedzu barely knew him, and that rumours were often exaggerated, but he figures he’d let him think whatever he wanted.
“It’s just a document.” It didn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things. He’s already a criminal, even if it ended up being a slave contract he could always just not follow it. It’s not as if his life could get any worse at this point.
“I suppose you’re right in that,” Nedzu says calmly. “It’s a waiver. It can get quite dangerous in some of the hero classes, even for spectators. It’s something everyone who participates in the hero courses have to sign.” That made sense. If UA ended up in legal trouble due to every injury done on their grounds they’d be drowning in paperwork and they’d end up dead broke.
“Endeavour called me earlier,” Nedzu tells him as Izuku had stayed quiet for a while. “He’s quite angry with both you and I.” Izuku furrows his eyebrows. He had figured Endeavour would be angry with him but he didn’t think it’d have extended to Nedzu as well. “He doesn’t want you at UA or near his son. It would be wise for you to keep your distance from Todoroki.”
He bites down on his lip. Izuku had already planned on keeping his distance, but it felt weird being told to do so. Todoroki is his friend, but he’ll also only end up holding him back. If the media figures out that he’s friends with him it could ruin Todoroki’s hero career and put his integrity into question.
“...I understand,” Izuku says after a little while. “I’ll stay away.”
“I don’t mean to make your stay at UA uncomfortable,” Nedzu tells him softly. “You helped UA a lot with the league, and we won’t forget that so easily. However Endeavour is now the top hero, and it would be difficult if he made a scene about you being here.” The words were there to reassure him, but it had the opposite effect.
He’s such a burden. He makes everything more difficult than it has to be. If only he had stayed dead way bac- “Todoroki reached out to Eraserhead to ask about you,” Nedzu interrupted his fast thoughts. “You have a good friend.”
“He asked about me?”
“Yes. He threatened to burn down UA if we sent you to Tartarus,” Nedzu snickers, and Izuku couldn’t tell if he was joking or not. Surely Todoroki wouldn’t do something so crazy. “Although that’s off record. I’d rather not get the young Todoroki into trouble.” Oh he really wasn’t joking. Todoroki was always so coolheaded though…
“He’s always joking like that,” Izuku says quietly in a deadpan tone. Not even he believed his lie. Todoroki was many things but being good at jokes was not one of them. Since Izuku was the reason he even said something so out of character he might as well try to cover for him. “He didn’t mean anything by it.”
“It’s alright, he’s not in trouble.”
“Good,” Izuku sighs, a slight hint of relief in his voice. It seems even in his dazed state he cared about some things at least. He didn’t want to get one of his only friends in trouble. Todoroki sometimes acted so stupid for a boy so intelligent.
“I should let you get going,” Nedzu says, making Izuku shoot up to leave. More than ready to head back to his room. “You should rest up for tomorrow. It’ll be quite an interesting day for you.”
Izuku didn’t know what to reply to that, so he just didn’t.
“If you try anything there will be huge consequences,” Eraserhead tells him firmly as they were walking towards the main UA building. He had come to pick up Izuku from the living quarters as Mr Yagi was a little bit too busy to walk him. Izuku was almost grateful for that, he didn’t need Yagi to follow him everywhere like he was his dad or something.
“It’s not like I can do anything with you around,” Izuku mumbles under his breath. He had been feeling a hint of nervousness even though his senses were numbed. His senses were returning more and more with everyday, which normally would’ve been a relief but now he wished he didn’t feel anything at all.
“Exactly. So don’t bother trying.”
The walk to the homeroom was tense to say the least. The few students they passed by looked at him with wide eyes. There was no one in Japan that didn’t know his face by now. It didn’t bother him as much as he thought it would. However each time he passed by someone and they clutched their bag like he was going to steal it made him feel a little annoyed.
As if he’d ever steal something of such low value. They think of him like a common thief? Unless it was worth six figures or more he had no interest in it. Although he was flat broke by now given that the government stole confiscated his assets. So perhaps he really should think of going back to petty thievery.
It only took a few minutes before they got to class 1a’s homeroom, he could hear the sound of students talking. Izuku lets out a deep sigh, he really didn’t want to do this. He wished he could return home to his ratty apartment, wishing that he could take a nap on his hideous couch and just hide away from this entire situation. But that was out of the question, and he had to face this.
Eraserhead, or well Aizawa, opens the door to the classroom. Izuku trails after him, being quiet as a mouse in hopes that no one would notice him. The boisterous chatter quickly quieted down the second he entered the room. The air becomes thick with tension. He focuses on how cool his shoelaces look, trying his best not to look at the crowd of people.
He didn’t know most of them well, but it still felt awkward. Eventually the burning gazes of twenty people became too much and he looked up. Unfortunately the one he made eye contact with first ended up being no other than Katsuki Bakugou. The intense glare focused entirely on him.
“I see you’re all quiet for once,” Aizawa says, looking through the classroom. “You all know the situation, Midoriya will be shadowing me so just ignore him.” Izuku couldn’t help but be relieved at Aizawa’s lack of regard for him. He wished he had an invisibility quirk like the girl from 1a. “Any questions?”
Each hand shoots up in the air, all waiting to ask a question. The one who caught his attention the most was Iida. He had met him during his attempted murder of Stain, so at least there was a likeminded individual in the classroom with him. Aizawa looks unimpressed at the sea of hands. “Yes Iida?”
“Is this really the appropriate place to harbor such a criminal? He’s far too dangerous to be amongst the regular students.” Okay Mr almost-comitted-homicide. Izuku didn’t really care what he thought of him staying here, it was either this or Tartarus.
“Principal Nedzu approved it and so did the commission,” Aizawa says dryly. He looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here. “Anyways that’s enough with the questions, suit up then head to ground beta. We’re doing battle training again.”
‘He barely answered any questions…’ someone mumbles under their breath. None of them put up a fight about it, even as there was plenty of curiosity and some confusion amongst them. They all knew better than to go against Aizawa’s word. Izuku was thankful for that, even though he knew it was only because he couldn’t be bothered to answer all of their questions.
Each went to get their suitcase containing their hero suits before exiting in orderly fashion. However one student in particular stayed in the classroom. Todoroki walked to the front of the classroom, staring at Izuku, examining him to make sure he wasn’t injured. Izuku avoided eye contact.
“Go get changed Todoroki,” Aizawa tells him firmly.
Todoroki doesn’t listen. “Are you okay?” He asks Izuku, completely ignoring his teacher. Izuku internally groaned, he didn’t want to be rude towards Todoroki but he couldn’t exactly ignore Nedzu’s warning.
“I’m fine,” he says in a tense tone, trying to discourage any conversation. Todoroki was however, as always, incredibly socially awkward and did not pick up on the hint. He hears Aizawa let out a deep sigh of displeasure, he clearly wanted to get out of here.
“I tried calling you.”
“They took my phone,” Izuku mumbles. Even if he had access to a phone he doesn’t think anyone would let him contact Todoroki.
“Oh.”
“You should go get ready,” Izuku tells him. He knew there were limits to Aizawa’s patience, and he couldn’t risk having him snitch to Nedzu about him talking to Todoroki. He looked apprehensive about leaving, but eventually trailed out of the classroom to get ready for his battle training.
The second he was out of sight Izuku groaned. He couldn’t help but think about how unbearable his time at UA was going to end up being if he couldn’t even talk to Todoroki. Not to mention how many students that must hate him for being a criminal.
This was going to be harder than any heist he’s ever done.