The Road to Greatness: One Quirk at a Time - Chapter 5 (Patreon)

I turned away from Todoroki after giving him that final blow by confirming I could crush him at will, only to run into a super excited looking Kirishima. The large teen grabbed my shoulders and shook me back and forth as he enthusiastically exclaimed, “DUDE! That was SO MANLY! I had no idea you were so powerful!”

Behind him the majority of the class nodded their heads in agreement. This was something I needed to curb a bit or they might have unrealistic expectations, “I'm really not all that strong myself. It's only thanks to all the kind people who gave me locks of their hair that I was able to do what I did. Without their help, I'd be relatively Quirkless.”

Kirishima and a few others seemed to think on that for a bit. Kirishima got a weird glint in his eyes as he let go of my shoulders. Before I could react, he reached up and pulled a dozen or so strands of hair out of his head and held them out to me, “Take 'em bro! I can't wait to see what you can do in the future!”

I couldn't help looking shocked at the offer. I honestly didn't expect anyone in the class to offer me their Quirk like this. I expected I'd be borrowing their Quirks on occasion, mostly in the manner I borrowed Todoroki's Quirk in our match. It usually took me weeks to months of talking to someone to get them comfortable enough to let me have some of their hair so I could use their Quirk. Even the lovely Tanaka Sakura that gave me her Chrono Shift Quirk took months of talking. And she was a fan of mine!

Man, Kirishima really was a total bro. I got over my brief moment of shock and gave him a bright smile as I reached out and took the hairs he offered me, “Thanks man. I'll make sure you're proud of how I use it.”

Kirishima gave me a thumbs up and a tooth filled grin, “I'm sure you will man!”

With the spars all over, the majority of the class made their way to the locker rooms to change. The exception was Ojiro who hadn't quite made it back from the nurses office yet. As we were changing, Kaminari asked, “Was there a reason you picked the matches we all had the way you did?”

I finished pulling on my shirt and started buttoning it as I answered, “Yeah. I know what Quirks everyone has and roughly how strong their Quirks currently are.” I looked at Kaminari and grinned, “You'd be surprised how easy it is to just brush up against someone and touch them. I did that to Bakugo while in line for lunch, for example. So, I paired people up based on who I felt could fight each other on a somewhat balanced field.”

I pulled on my tie and started to tie it up nice and loose, “That's why I took on Todoroki myself. Aside from me, only Bakugo would have stood a chance in a fight. Though that's only if Todoroki didn't one shot him instantly.”

Kaminari seemed to think on that, and eventually nodded in agreement. If he hadn't panicked and fried his own brain with his lightning, he probably would have done better against Tokoyami, “Cool.”

The more social guys all continued to chat about random topics while changing. When we were done, the school day was over and we all made out way hime.

-----Line Break-----

The next morning I was reminded of a minor event I'd kind of forgotten about, the arrival of the media.

The school's main gate was flooded with reporters and camera men harassing the students. I considered what I should do. Getting passed them would be super easy, just say I was in any of the other classes such as GenEd. Or... I could totally mess with a reporter... Yeah, I'm going to mess with a reporter.

With my mind made up, I changed my face using and illusion and started walking toward the gate where I was immediately assaulted by a reporter. The woman had an armband with the letters NHA on it, one of the local news stations. She walked right up to me an shoved a microphone in my face without any consideration, “Tell me what it's like to have All Might as a teacher!”

I put on a somewhat oblivious expression and stared right at the camera lens, “Oh! Am I live! Hi mom!”

As I was waving and saying hello to various family members, the woman cut me off, “No, we're not live. It will be shown on the news later.”

I gave her a pout but sighed, “Fiiiine. What did you ask?”

The woman looked slightly annoyed as she said, “Tell me what it's like to have All Might as a teacher!”

It was so hard not to smile and laugh as I put on a somewhat terrified look, “Frightening! He's so incompetent that when he ran our heroic course yesterday he let one student get away with nearly murdering another!”

I saw the look of excitement in the woman's eyes as she pressed, “He really let one student get away with attempting to murder another?!”

I looked around like I was scared we would be overheard and gestured for her to lean closer. When she did I nodded my head and explained, “We got this kid in our class, Bakugo. I don't know how he was allowed to join a hero class when he's so clearly a villain! He's always shouting at people, calling them extras, and telling everyone to die. It's kind of scary. He's even bullied one kid so often and for so long that the poor guy is a nervous wreck that jumps at every shadow! I don't know how he got into the hero course either. And whoever put them into the same class together clearly didn't bother doing any research on the guy.”

The reporter and the camera man had both moved in a lot closer as I kept my voice low. She didn't say anything, letting me talk all I wanted as she was certain that she'd struck gold. So, I gave her a little more, “I dunno what Yuuei's staff was thinking, honestly. I only did a tiny bit of research into the guy telling everyone to die and in less than an hour had confessions from two students in his middle school that they heard him encouraging a quirkless student to commit suicide!”

It was a testament to the society we lived in that neither the reporter nor the camera operator looked the least bit disturbed by that. I kept going though, “But the kid did have a Quirk! A super strong one that his body was just too weak for until he was old enough!”

Now they looked much more interested. A villainous student that attempts to murder other students and encourages kids to commit suicide potentially robbing society of a super strong hero? Ohhhh I could see how golden they thought this all was. I wanted to continue, but Aizawa showed up with Awata-sensei right next to him. He told the reporters to get lost.

While he had their attention, I slipped away from the reporter I'd been talking to while smirking broadly. As I was moving through the gate, I heard the reporter shout, “WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE VIDEO IS RUINED?!”

I broke out into giggles as I walked to my class. Ah, Magnetic Manipulation, thank you for your work. I didn't want any evidence of me lying on camera about All Might, even if it wasn't my face, I only used that to draw her in and link the next part to All Might so she'd focus on it. She'd never be able to track me down for another interview since the face I made was one I'd designed a long time ago and rarely used.

So, she'd be forced to do some research on the information I had given her. She'd never get any information on All Might supposedly letting one kid get away with trying to murder another, but she would easily be able to find information on Bakugo. School records were public information so it would be easy for her to hunt down Bakugo's buddies and wring the truth out of them.

It would probably take a couple of days, but eventually there would be a story on the news about All Might teaching a future villain that already tried to kill someone and get another to commit suicide. It would be... spectacular! Get Midoriya in front of that one cop with a lie detector Quirk and he wouldn't be able to wuss out and say it never happened.

Oh man, if I was lucky maybe Midoriya would lie and get slapped with obstruction of justice. I'd love to see his face if that happened. Well, we'll see what happens.

-----Line Break-----

I sat in me desk, chatting with Kaminari and Kirishima when the door opened and Aizawa walked into the class room, immediately followed by Bubble Girl. What was most shocking is Aizawa didn't have his sleeping bag. Not only that, but he actually stood to the side of the podium next to Bubble Girl.

In a show of proper respect, the entire class was in their seats and silent within moments, even though the bell hadn't rung yet. Bubble Girl smiled brightly at the class, “Well, since you're all ready we can get started a little early. Today we'll be electing our class representative. I know you all haven't known each other very long, with a few exceptions, but I'd like to ask you all if there's anyone you would like to nominate for the role?”

Many hands went up. I kept mine down. I didn't want much to do with the entire thing. I, personally, think Momo would make the best President. I know Ida got the role in the story, but he was far too stiff. It's not like the role really mattered all that much, but I'd rather not have to deal with Ida too much. He was an alright guy, but he had issues.

With so many hands up, Bubble Girl went by seat number and called on Aoyama first. He stood and posed in an exaggerated manner, “May we nominate ourselves madam?”

Bubble Girl chuckled while shaking her head, “I'm afraid not.”

Aoyama sighed wistfully then said, “Then I would like to nominate Neito.”

I jerked a little in surprise at that. Though, after thinking about it for a moment... I suddenly had a bad idea of where this was going.

Bubble Girl smiled brightly at Aoyama and wrote my name down on the chalk board. She then proceeded to go through the class seat by seat. With only a couple of exceptions, most of the class nominated me. Ida nominated Momo, Uraraka nominated Midoriya, Bakugo tried, and failed, to nominate himself, Todoroki nominated Momo, and Midoriya nominated Ida.

I, personally, nominated Momo.

When it was done, Ida had one nomination, Midoriya had one, Momo had three, and I had the rest minus Bakugo. Bubble Girl looked over the results and nodded, “Looks like we have our candidates. We'll take a vote between the four people listed. The highest votes will get first place, and second highest will get second.”

I thought that was kind of silly, but went along with it anyway. We all wrote down who we were voting for and it got tossed into a small bag as Bubble Girl walked between our desks. Once we all voted, the votes were counted and... SHOCK! It was such a surprise when the votes came out exactly like the nominations. Including Bakugo getting scolded for voting for himself. No write in candidates allowed.

So, I ended up the President with Momo as my Vice President. That actually brought a smile to my face. The job might not actually mean all that much, but it would mean spending more time with Momo and that was all the motivation I needed.

During the entire event, Aizawa stood next to the podium without moving which meant he didn't just crawl onto the floor and go to sleep while leaving everything to us. Ha! Served him right!

After that, the rest of the day was pretty normal. At least until lunch. We were just sitting there, eating and chatting when the alarms went off. I rolled my eyes in annoyance as everyone suddenly went into a massive panic. Considering at least a third, or maybe quarter, of the students panicking were in the hero course, it was kind of sad.

When the rest of my class started making their way for the jammed doorway, I held Momo back, “Can you make me a megaphone?

She looked a little surprised, but nodded and turned around so she could lift her shirt up with some privacy. I helped her out by conjuring an illusion of curtains around her. There was the usual flash of light from Mom using her Quirk before I heard her asking, “Um, how do I get out of here Neito-san?”

I dismissed the illusion and smiled at her, “It was just an illusion so walking through it would have worked. I didn't want you to risk anyone seeing something they shouldn't. Myself included.”

Momo blushed a little and held the megaphone out to me. I gave her a thankful smile as I took it. I held the megaphone up to my mouth as I took a deep breath, “CALM DOWN! IT'S JUST SOME OF THOSE STUPID REPORTERS BREAKING AN ENTERING! YOU'RE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS! NOT PANICKING LITTLE CHILDREN! ACT LIKE IT!”

There was silence and a lot of shame faced teenagers. Soon enough the students shuffled out in a more dignified and orderly manner to meet at the designated areas for each class. Something else Aizawa failed to teach personally and left for us to discover in the pamphlets he'd left on our desks. Dick put peoples safety at risk by not even going over evacuation routes in case of emergencies.

It wasn't long before we were joined by Bubble Girl. She looked over us and smiled brightly, “Well done.” she focused on me, “I heard what you did Monoma-san. I would have been a little more polite about it, but very well done.”

I smiled in reply, not mentioning that I wasbeing as polite as I thought I should be. From there she led us back to the classroom and the day resumed. On the normal days without big events like the battle trial, our heroics class was actually more normal. We would go over scenarios, how we would solve them, rules, regulations, and anything else that would come up in the course of our discussions.

It was nowhere near as fun as the combat ones. In that way, the day passed.

-----Line Break-----

The next day was nothing special, at least until I got home and watched the nightly news. It was something I always do after school, catch up on local events. I was keeping an eye out for all kinds of things, mostly Quirks, but also things that might be related to All For One. I knew he was alive and was plotting, I knew some of those plots even. I didn't know much else and I was hoping keeping abreast of the goings on in Japan would help there.

So far, it hadn't.

It had made me despise Endeavor even more than I thought possible though. I'd seen him do all kinds of shady shit and while the news tried to scew it in his favor, there were a lotof accidental deaths involved in the crimes he 'solved'. They were always attributed to the villains, except when people survived and had vicious burns. Then it was played off like it was the victim's fault for doing something stupid. The excuses varied, but anyone with two brain cells to rub together could read between the lines.

Endeavor didn't give a fuck about civilians.

That wasn't what caught my attention tonight though, no it was a report on Yuuei letting in villains. It was a report by that reporter lady I messed with. She took the ball I lobbed her and really ran with it!

“Good evening. Tonight we bring you a rather disturbing story about the world renowned Yuuei High School accepting a young growing villain into their ranks. This young man in question has a long sordid history of violent bullying, including encouraging a fellow student to commit suicide simply because the young man was believed to be Quirkless.”

The reporter spoke in a serious tone and paused as if expecting their to be gasps from a live crowd watching.

“The student in question is one Katsuki Bakugo, a young man with a violent temper and a Quirk to match. For the last two days we have investigated his past based on some claims that were made by a fellow student. Unfortunately the camera that recorded his interview was damaged and he has been unavailable for a follow up. Despite this setback, our young intrepid reporter Kana-san dug into what she had been told and found the entire story.”

From there it was basically a recap of the interactions between Bakugo and Midoriya. Bakugo's butt buddies, Wings and Fingers, had been by his side since they were kids and they spilled everything they knew to the reporter. They'd known Bakugo for over a decade and were there for almost all of the shit he did, including telling Midoriya to jump off the roof of the school.

I gotta say, Bakugo's life as a bully was hinted at, after all one of the first incident shown was Midoriya standing up to Bakugo bullying another kid. So we know the bastard didn't pick exclusively on Midoriya. According to the twin idiots who followed him, Bakugo had Quite a list of victims. I learned a lot I didn't know, and something very disturbing.

Bakugo was responsible for someone killing themselves.

According to the reporters, he bullied a kid in middle school so bad the kid killed himself. The school was also heavily investigated and was in deep shit. They'd only told the students that the kid had left the school and nothing else. They knew that just a hint that the kid killed himself and everyone would know if was their star Bakugo who was at fault.

That... was horrific. I knew he was a sick piece of shit, but I didn't actually think he was responsible for someone dying. Shit.

Well, on the bright side, he definitely won't be in class tomorrow, the report ended with footage of Bakugo being taken into custody. The guy didn't help his case by cussing nonstop while looking like a feral animal.

I feel really really good right now.

-----Line Break-----

The next morning was a very different morning. For starters, Bubble Girl and Aizawa were already in the classroom when I arrived. I always tried to get to class a bit early, so I was one of the few who had arrived so far. The atmosphere was also different, a mixture of gloomy and worried. I sat at my desk and looked around, it was clear I wasn't the only one who had caught the news the night before.

No one spoke and none of the people arriving after me tried to speak, not even Mina and Kirishima. Everyone just took their seats and waited in silence. When Midoriya walked in, everyone's eyes moved over to look at him, we all knew he and Bakugo went to the same middle school and what Bakugo had said to him had been revealed.

Midoriya, pinned under so many gazes, winced and looked down in shame. I wanted to walk over and slap him for that. He had no reason to feel shame at being a victim of a bully. He had other things he should be ashamed of instead. He silently made his way to his seat and soon after that the last people arrived and the bell rang.

Once it finished, Bubble Girl was the one to address the class while glancing at the only empty seat in the room, “Most of you are likely aware of why Bakugo-san is absent. For those of you unaware, it has come to the attention of the authorities that he has done a few things that needed investigating. He's currently being detained until the situation is resolved.”

Absolutely no one looked surprised. I couldn't help scoffing, loudly. Bubble Girl focused on me, “Do you have something to say Monoma-kun?”

I nodded, “I do. If even a tenth of what Bakugo is accused of is true, then he had no business being here. Worse though is not that he not only managed to get in because his last school hid his deviant behavior, but because our original homeroom teacher didn't do his job properly.”

Bubble Girl looked a little surprised, glancing between a grimacing Aizawa and myself. Aizawa clearly understood what I was referring to, no one would ever accuse him of actually being stupid. Not understanding, Bubble Girl gestured for me to continue, “Explain please.”

“It's simple. Hound Dog, the school counselor, is supposed to actually be excellent at his job. If Aizawa had done his job and we'd all met with the counselor on the first day, instead of going to his Quirk Elitist test, Hound Dog likely wound have realized something was going on with Bakugo.”

I looked around the class as I said, “I'm no expert, but even I knew there was something up just from him calling his fellow students extras, and telling everyone to die all the time. Not to mention the anger he was all too happy to display whenever he felt like it. He was very clearly unhinged.”

Bubble Girl turned to stare at Aizawa. She didn't say anything in front of us, but I'm pretty sure he was going to get reamed even more for this. Fine by me. Seeing the school counselor was mandatory for a reason. Did Aizawa ignore laws when they were inconvenient? If so, that was the actions of a villain.

Bubble Girl eventually took her eyes away from Aizawa and returned them to me, “Thank you for the information Monoma-kun. We'll be sure to look into it and take the appropriate actions.”

From there it was the standard PSA about how we should all report bullies immediately and whatnot. A lot of the other students kept sending Midoriya glances during the speech. His entire life story had basically been broadcast to the entire country last night. On the bright side, now everyone who thought Midoriya was Quirkless knew otherwise.

From there the day proceeded like normal until after lunch. When we returned from lunch we were met by Bubble Girl and Aizawa. Bubble Girl was in her full her costume and had a bright grin on her face. Once the class was settled in, infectious grins on everyone's faces, Bubble Girl made the announcement, “Today we'll be heading to one of Yuuei's other facilities, the Unforseen Simulation Joint.”

As she spoke she pulled out a plastic card that read 'Rescue Training!' She was practically bouncing on her toes as she explained, “Today we will be doing rescue training with a rescue expert, I won't say who so I don;t spoil the surprise!” She flashed us a playful wink, “Now, get your costumes on and meet me outside to load onto the buses.”

There was a cheer from the majority of the class a the news. The boring normal classes had been getting to some of them and doing just about anything else sounded like fun. I grabbed my case, but waited behind, watching the entire class as everyone gathered their outfits. I glanced at Momo, “Momo-chan, I'll leave the girls to you. Meet me at the bus and we'll all get on together.”

After she gave me a smile to let me know she heard me, I followed the guys to the locker room and we all quickly changed to meet the girls at the bus. I made sure all the guys were there and when I spotted Momo in her revealing costume, I was reminded that I needed to give her details on a redesign that would be more modest while exposing more skin and giving more protection. I could do it on the ride over.

We all climbed aboard and began the drive over to the USJ facility. There was a lot of chatter as everyone talked to each other. Though there was no talk about Midoriya's Quirk being like All Mights. In fact, aside from Bakugo, no one had actually seen Midoriya use his Quirk. They'd only heard it was a strength enhancing one that hurt him when he used it.

While the class talked, I had chosen to sit next to Momo so I could discuss an updated costume with her.

“I get that you need to expose your skin to use your Quirk. An annoying limitation but one we can work with. You see, I think you should wear a backless crop top with a bit of armor over it. As long at it's made to be a bit tight you wont have to worry about it riding up and exposing you. You sould then wear a rather short pair of shorts and leave the majority of your legs exposed with just some boots, or other comfortable footwear, and maybe some shin guards so you can throw in some kicks while fighting. With that kind of outfit, you would basically be exposing most of your skin without being immodest and have at least some protection.”

Momo looked rather surprised and tilted her head as she thought, “Yes, I see. I could also continue to wear my belt with such an outfit.”

I grimmaced at that, “Yeah, about that. A book? Really? You do realize how common pyrokinesis Quirks are, right?”

Going by the way she blushed, she had let it slip her mind. Hell, technically you could even call Bakugo's Quirk a pyrokinesis one as it did create fire and he had some semblance of control over his explosions. So, yeah, pyrokinesis was one of the most common emitter type quirks in existence. I gave her a pass though, because she's cute and I'm biased as hell.

“I think you should look into a heads up display or a wrist computer, something along those lines so that you have a computer with a display at hand that you can use a search feature on. It would be a lot easier for you to use a word search than to flip though a book.”

Momo flushed again but nodded a little meekly. It looks like she hadn't though of that, “Just remember to make sure its hardened. Electrokinesis Quirks like Kaminari's might be rarer than fire ones, but they do exist.”

Momo nodded and quickly got over her embarassment. Instead she clenched her hands in front of her chest and seemed to have a fire in her eyes, “Thank you for the advice Neito-kun. I'll be sure to use it all to become a better hero!”

I smiled in return and gave her a nod, “I know you will.”

She immediately flushed again and all I could think about was wanting to tease her more. I ignored the knowing looks some of the guys in the class were giving me. At least I wouldn't have to outright tell them that I was interested in Momo to get them to leave her alone.

Actually, two of the three guys that might have stood a chance at getting Momo were more interested in other girls anyway. Kirishima clearly had one hell of a crush on Mina while I could see interest in Kirishima's eyes when he lanced at Jiro. It didn't hurt that those two had a similar style for their Hero costumes, both having a sort of punk theme to them.

The only other possibility was Todoroki and he was essentially asexual currently. Meaning zero threat. Though he did keep looking at me on occasion and getting a thoughtful look on his face. I assume he's still working things out for himself. Dude had a lot of trauma to get over when it came to the fire half of his Quirk.

Oh well, not my problem.

-----Line Break-----

The drive over didn't take long and we soon found ourselves standing in front of the USJ building. Seeing it in an anime or manga was one thing, seeing it in person was something completely different. The place was gargantuan. I honestly couldn't comprehend how it was actually built without supports for the ceiling. It was bigger even than the largest stadium I'd ever been to.

There to greet us in person was the rescue hero Thirteen, which caused Uraraka to have a little freak-out at meeting her favorite hero in person.

Unfortunately, I couldn't enjoy the moment as much as I would have liked. Mostly because I'd altered my perception of time to slow it a bit. This had the unfortunate effect of messing with my hearing as my brains processing speed increased to match what I could see. In other words, she sounded like she was talking in slow motion. I was using this vision mode and observing the fountain area for the first signs of Kurogiri opening a portal into here.

To me it felt like at least half an hour before I finally spotted a little black spec that slowly began to grow in my vision. Seeing it actually expanding just showed how fast Kurogiri could form his portals, nigh instantaneously. Since I'd found what I was looking for, I interrupted the ongoing discussion to speak up, “Something's happening in the plaza., by the fountain.”

Everyone looked in the direction I indicated. Kirishima asked, “Is this part of the class?”

While he spoke, a hand came out and grabbed the side of the portal. It was soon followed by a head with light blue hair. Oh, and he had a severed hand clamped over his face like a mask. Once he stepped through fully, I got my first in person look at the handsy villain himself, Shigaraki Tomura.

Not impressed.

Once Tomura stepped through a flodo of mutant type villains came through the portal and filled the plaza below us. The last thing through was the one creature I'd most wanted to meet for quite some time now, Nomu.

Well, technically just aNomu as there were many of them. This one was built like a tank, filled with massive muscles that made it actually a little bigger than All Might. It had solid black skin, a bird-like beak, oh and it's brain was creepily exposed for all to see.

Aizawa and Bubble Girl stepped forward to survey the situation while I made my observations. Aizawa was the one to speak, “No! Those are villains! Everyone gather together, Thirteen and bubble Girl protect the students!”

Bubble Girl narrowed her eyes as we all heard Shigaraki speak aloud, “Where's All Might? Isn't he supposed to be here Kurogiri?”

The black clouds shaped like a man with a metal neck brace spoke in a polite tone, “He should be here according to the documents we procured.”

Tomura scratched at his neck irritably, “Think he'll show up if we start killing some of these kids?”

Aizawa growled and shouted at us, “Bubble Girl take the students and leave!”

After telling us to go, the idiot leaped off of from the top of the stairs and down into the crowd of mutant types that had been gathered just to take him out. Used to taking orders, Bubble Girl nodded and turned to direct us out, when Kurogiri vanished from where he was and appeared between us and the door in a swirl of black mist. I couldn't stop a grin from forming on my face as greed came over me. I needhis Quirk!

Kurogiri's yellow eyes looked down on us as he blocked our path out, “I'm afraid I cannot allow that. Greetings. We are the League of Villains. I apologize for the presumption, but we've entered Yuuei today in order to engage with All Might. We were wondering if we might have the opportunity to extinguish him, you see.”

His eyes narrowed and swiveled to Thirteen, “Was All Might not meant to be in attendance at this juncture? Has the schedule been altered perchance? Ah well, setting that aside, this is my role...”

That was the moment that Kirishima decided he'd had enough. With a yell he charged toward Kurogiri while hardening his body. I was honestly caught off guard that he'd still done this even without Bakugo next to him to instigate things. As one might expect, the powerful punch that Kirishima threw did nothing to the amorphous form that was Kurogiri while using his portals.

Kirishima, only seeing black cloud scattering in the air, scoffed, “Take that! Bet you didn't see that coming!”

Kurogiri reformed, his body seeming to swell as he looked down on all of us, “That was perilous. I suppose it's to be expected, you are the 'golden egg's of Yuuei, after all.”

Thirteen, thanks to years of experience, shouted out, “It's not use! Just RUN!”

Kurogiri's body exploded outward sending black mist cascading over the entire class, “You will be scattered!”

As darkness swarmed around me, I activated my Minor Telekinesis Quirk and used it to grasp around his head. He had to have a physical body, which mean he had to have hair somewhere, even if his head was shaved perfectly bald.

I nearly screamed in frustration when I felt myself falling from the air toward rocky ground. I wasn't scared of the fall, which I negligently stopped using my active Quirk. I also saw another two people falling near me so I grabbed them as well and gently landed all three of us on the ground.

No, I almost screamed because I hadn't found any hair before we were portalled away. I took a deep breath and let it out. It was fine, I'd have another chance once we got back to the central plaza. I looked at who I was partnered with and grinned. Kaminari and Momo looked back at me. It looked like they wanted to thank me before a female voice called out in a mocking tone, “Well, well, well. It looks like we got a pair of pretty-boys.”

In front of us was a rather butch woman with a leer on her face as she looked both me and Kaminari over, “You boys can have the little girl.”

As she spoke she held her hands up and the tips of her fingers morphed into six inch metallic claws. Interesting... but not exactly all that impressive. I gave her a  bland look as I asked my classmates, “Either of you even interested in fighting or should I just crush them all myself?”

My comment caused the villains surrounding us to laugh aloud and make derisive comments. I ignored them and paid attention to the other two. The pair both nodded while Kaminari chimed in, “All yours.”

I nodded and with a wave of my hand every villain in the area was yelling in surprise as they were slammed into the rocky ground face down with enough force to crack it. I honestly didn't care if I killed any of them. They were all more than willing to rape, torture, and kill us. It was only fair they expect the same in return.

I also didn't care about any of their Quirks. I had bigger Quirks to hunt down and they were going to be mine! With all the villains in out area taken care of, I turned to Momo and Kaminari who didn't even look surprised at how easily I won, “We should head back toward the entrance an meet up with the others.”

“I agree, we should head there post haste.”

I smiled at Momo and turned to lead the way. Just a minute later we all heard a massive explosion and witnessed a gigantic geyser of water bursting into the air from near the plaza. My guess? Midoriya still got transported to the water area and just broke himself to get off that boat. Not sure what he did without that short pervert to stick all the bad guys together in the backwash.

We immediately picked up our pace and ran back to the plaza. I was tempted to pick us all up and fly our way there, but I didn't know if there were any hidden snipers or anyone with a Quirk that could mess with us in flight and take us down. Sadly, that was one of the bad things about a world filled with super powers, you never knew when someone had a hard counter to yours.

We arrived at the edge of the plaza a moment later and found a site of carnage.

Almost all of the villains that had been in the plaza lay on the ground defeated. The exceptions were Tomura, Kurogiri, and Nomu. Seeing Kurogiri there meant that someone had likely escaped to get the teachers. I had no idea if it was Ida or not. Things weren't the exact same as I knew them to be so assuming it was him could be a mistake. Which meant it might take even longer for full reinforcements to arrive than it did in the original story.

I had to swap Quirks and freeze time to take in the entire scene before me. Aizawa was on the ground, the Nomu on top of his battered body and holding one of his arms in its massive hand. Aizawa looked like he'd already been put through the wringer and his arm was half way through being crushed. I hated admitting it, but I didn't have a single Quirk in my arsenal that could stop the Nomu from completing that action.

If I tried with my Telekinesis the feedback might kill me. The Nomu could put out way more strength than a single metric ton of force. I didn't have any other Quirks that could interfere fast enough or with enough strength.

Shit.

Off to the side, Tomura was in the middle of mocking Aizawa. He was no threat to me, at all. Not as he was now, anyway. Kurogiri, if I wasn't focused on trying to steal some of his hair, was also of little threat to me. I could grab that collar of his and deal some serious damage to it pretty easily. I don't know if breaking the collar would kill him or not, but it would definitely do something.

I had time slowed so much I couldn't look around further to see if there was anything I'd missed. I was forced to let the Quirk go and allow time to resume. I had my plan.

As time resumed, Tomura moved, dashing to the side rather quickly. When I looked at where he was going, my eyes widened. Sitting in the water were Midoriya, Tsu-chan, and Sero. I couldn't help thinking that they must have used Sero's tape in place of Mineta's balls. Was that the power of the protagonist?

Tomura instantly had his hand pressed against Asui's face, but nothing happened. I glanced between Aizawa and Tomura, it was time to move.

“You really are a cool guy, Eraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!”

In the middle of Tomura speaking, I grabbed onto him with my telekinesis and launched him straight up into the air with all the strength I could muster. It brought a smile to hear him screaming like a little girl. It also had the exact effect I desired, both Nomu and Kurogiri focused solely on Tomura as he flew high up.

The large beast moved to protect Tomura by leaping into the air to catch him. Meanwhile, Kurogiri opened a portal that caught both the Nomu and Tomura, bringing them back to the ground.

Tomura looked furious and it took everything I had not to laugh at the look on his face. Others might find him terrifying, but I just found him to be an annoying child with dangerous toys. No, the only scary things here were the Nomu and Kurogiri. I don't know what, if any, limitations Kurogiri had on his portals, and that was terrifying. The Nomu was just plain strong and fast with really strong regeneration. I had literally nothing in my arsenal that could take that Nomu down. Delay? Sure. Put it out of the fight? Definitely. Defeat? Fuck no.

Tomura glared in the direction of Midoriya and the others, “Which one of you bastards did that?! I'll kill you all! Nomu! KILL THEM!”

The Nomu moved. One Moment it was towering over the beaten Aizawa, the next it was standing in front of Midoriya with its arm already in motion. I could see the powerful blow heading toward Midoriya. Meanwhile, green sparks erupted out of Midoriya's arm as he cocked it back to throw his own punch. A punch that only I knew would be meaningless. Not on my watch!

My hand shot out as I grabbed all three of them in a telekinetic grip, I didn't have time to swap to another Quirk and it should suffice more than enough to pull the three out of danger at this moment. I grabbed Midoriya, Tsu-chan, and Sero all at once and yanked them toward me as hard as I could. They might get whiplash, but it would be preferable to being reduced to a red stain by the Nomu.

What I saw next will be engraved into my memory forever. The trio I'd grabbed were in midair and rocketing toward me at a good clip, causing the Nomu's punch to completely miss. My goal had been achieved and the trio were heading right for me. I'd saved them because as much as I might give Midoriya a hard time, the guy really did want to be a hero and I didn't want him to die here and now.

I didn't want anyone on my side to die.

Clearly god didn't give a damn what I wanted.

I could only watch in horror as the Nomu moved again. It's massive body becoming a blur in my vision as it closed the distance I'd managed to gain for them. I couldn't do anything. If I changed Quirks, all three of them would stop moving and become easy prey to the Nomu. The only Quirk I could think of that would even slow the Nomu down was my Chrono Shift Quirk, but the distance was to great for it to have any effect.

My mind shifted into a new gear as I tried to think of something, anything I could do to stop the Nomu from catching them. The only thing I could think of was changing their trajectory. I started shifting them higher into the air so they would move in an arc.

It meant nothing.

The Nomu's massive fist, bigger than my head by almost two times, violently slammed into Midoriya's chest. At the same time that Midoriya's chest was being caved in, I felt like my head was going to explode. The sheer force of the Nomu's blow ripped Midoriya out of my control and sent his body rag-dolling through the air. I lost control of my Quirk sending Tsu-chan and Sero flying who knows where.

All I could feel was a blinding pain in my head and hear a feminine scream as a gush of warmth ran over my lips and chin. The next instant I felt a large mass slam into my body sending me rolling across the ground.

Instinct kicked in and I activated the minor regeneration Quirk I had in a burst of self preservation. My entire body felt sore and I could taste blood in my mouth. I did my best to force my way through the pain and take in the situation.

When I opened my eyes, I found myself staring up into the green eyes of Midoriya. When we'd come to a stop his mangled body had ended up on top of mine with us face to face. He was barely breathing, a rattling gasp that ended up with him coughing blood, right into my open mouth. His eyes seemed to focus on the blood I could now taste and a small, weak, smile graced his bloodied lips. His darkening eyes moved to look into mine once more. With what I could only assume was a supreme act of willpower, he smiled more and spoke in a ratting voice, “N-number ten...”

I watched, frozen in shock and pain, loosing hold of my copied Quirk, as the light faded from Midoriya's eyes and his whole body slumped against mine. I heard the last bit of air escaping his lungs from his mouth right next to my ear.

No.

Nonononononono FUCK NO!

What the fucking fuck! I refuse! This can't be right! He's the protagonist! Not ME!

Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck.

Oh shit. I'm number ten!

Nonononono, I want nothing to do with all this bullshit now! I'm not ready! I have no Quirks strong enough to deal with the bullshit coming yet!

Fate didn't give a fuck what I wanted. I could feel it.

Fell what? I could feel One For All. I could feel it changing me and it was working fast. Why? Because my body was... malleable. It had to be in order for me to use other peoples Quirks so easily. My body was made to change and to change rapidly into whatever was needed. One For All didn't need to do anything special, my body was more than willing to incorporate it into itself.

But, it got worse. I am always fully aware of the changes that went on with my body when copying a Quirk. It was part of why I could use unfamiliar Quirks so quickly and easily even if I had no idea what a persons Quirk was initially. I could feelwhat a Quirk was meant to do and follow those feelings. It didn't make me an expert and more practice would always make me better. But I could instantly utilize any Quirk from anyone.

So, what I felt from One For All scared the shit out of me. It was... EATING my Quirk, incorporating it into itself. I knew, right at that moment, that if I gave One For All to someone else, it would rip my Quirk out of me and leave me Quirkless. It was stealing my Quirk like some kind of sick parasite. Feeding on it to make itself stronger.

Within moments, One For All had replaced my Quirk with itself completely. I could still use my Quirk, I could feel it within One For All, along with seven other Quirks I now had permanent access to. Quirks that had been devoured and mutated by One For All like it was now doing to my own Quirk.

I felt and understood all of this in moments and knew I could use everything One For All had available immediately. Thank GOD I'd spent some much time abusing my regeneration Quirk and the gym in my home or I'd be too weak to take the Quirk on without it killing me.

I don't want to admit it because I'm too mad. But the fact is, One For All is seriously powerful after so many decades of building up strength. If I wasn't so pissed off slash terrified out of my mind, I'd probably be on a power high right about now. I couldn't risk that though. The Nomu still had orders to kill the other two and I needed to do everything in my power to stop it. I grabbed a hold of my telekinesis Quirk to gently lift Midoriya off of me with plans to use it to rescue the other two from the Nomu.

But, something horrifying happened when I did.

One For all ate the Quirk as I activated it. One For All was now my primary Quirk and it was kind enough to let me keep using my original Quirk at the same time. No, I had no time to think about this now or the implications of it.

I could still use the copied Quirk, so I did. I gently lifted Midoriya off of myself and set him to the side. When I sat up I took in the situation around me. Todoroki had shown up and half frozen the Nomu in place protecting Tsu-chan and Sero. Thank god. Tomura was laughing at Todoroki's effort so at least he was distracted. Double good. Lastly, Momo and Kaminari were right next to me, both looking at Midoriya's corpse in horror.

Seeing me shift broke Momo out of her shocked state. Seeing me covered in blood, she instantly conjured up some white gauze and began wiping the blood off of my face, “Are you alright Neito?”

I nodded and once more swapped to the regeneration Quirk. I flinched as I felt One For All eat it, causing Momo to look at me with concern, “Neito, your nose, eyes, and ears are all bleeding! They practically exploded when... when...”

“When Midoriya was hit.” I provided in a rasping voice.

She nodded her head, tears in her eyes as she fought to not look toward Midoriya once more. I needed to get better, faster. The stockpiling portion of One For All gave me access to a deep pool of raw power. I pulled on some of that power and fed it into the regeneration Quirk it had just eaten. Instantly I felt the Quirk get supercharged as my body rapidly healed from all the damage it had recently been dealt.

Momo's eyes widened in shock as she looked at me, “Neito... what did you do? Your eyes... they're no longer bloodshot.”

I glanced at Momo, “No time to explain now.”

I focused back onto the enemy. Nomu had just ripped off its own arm and leg to free itself from Todoroki's ice and the limbs were rapidly regrowing while Tomura bragged about its regeneration. I grit my teeth and gently moved Momo to the side, “I need to help Todoroki.”

“Dude, are you in any condition to fight?”

I glanced at Kaminari, and despite the stark shock and soul black terror I felt, I managed to put my usual cocky smirk on my face and nod, “I'm good.”

The two of them shared a look, came to an understanding, and stepped away from me. I took a deep breath and pulled on the well of power that was OFA. Power infused my entire body as black sparks of electricity danced around me filling the air with the smell of Ozone. I cranked OFA up to its maximum while holding onto my now amped up regeneration Quirk. I didn't feel any pain, yet, but I knew I was likely in for a whole hell of a lot of it the moment I moved. I could feel the power already putting stress on me as if it had a physical weight holding me down.

With nothing left to do and the Nomu fully regenerated, I had no more time. I took a deep breath, grit my teeth, squeezed my ass cheeks, and moved. The ground beneath my feet shattered, as did the leg I pushed off of the ground with. I grit my teeth tight enough to make my gums bleed, I could taste more blood in my mouth. But by the time I closed in with the Nomu, my leg was fully healed.

I could see Todoroki's eyes widen as my black lightning coated body flew into sight. I ignored him though, my eyes locked onto the Nomu. I didn't bother curling my hand into a fist, the Nomu had a shock absorption Quirk, a punch would do nothing. I shaped my hand like a blade, nice and flat, and thrust it forward with all the power of OFA.

It took everything I had not to scream in agony as my arm simultaneously pierced through the Nomu's chest, into its heart, and shattered into a million pieces. I fought through the pain and copied the Nomu's twisted and mutilated Quirk(s).

One For All ate ALLof them.

I felt my skin change as it took on the shock absorbing Quirk and my regeneration growing to a whole new level as OFA amplified the Nomu's already ridiculous regeneration. At the same time, all the tiredness I felt vanished as a stamina Quirk kicked in and was amplified.

I now had amplified versions of Super Strength, Super Speed, Shock Absorption, Super Regeneration, and Super Stamina, all locked inside of One For All and being granted to me all at once.

I ripped my fist out of the Nomu and landed on the ground in front of it. A calm came over me, the eyes of my storming emotions, as I stared at the motionless beast.

Off to the side Tomura shouted, “What the hell kind of hero are you?! Going for a killing blow first chance?!”

I slowly turned to stare at Tomura, all of that fear that faded a moment ago shifting into a dark rage. My hands flew up as I activated my telekinesis and let OFA eat and amplify it. Both Tomura and Kurogiri were grabbed and lifted off of the ground in tight telekinetic grips. I grabbed Tomura by the throat and squeezed tight enough to cut off his airflow. For Kurogiri I grabbed his neck brace with enough forced to make it creak and send a silent threat.

“Shut your fucking mouth or I'll crush your head into paste you sick fuck.”

To show him I meant business, my grip encompassed his entire head and squeezed slightly. And I saw it.

FEAR.

Tomura was afraid and I hate admitting it, but his fear fed into a dark part of me that wanted him to suffer for what he did. I knew it was wrong because, as he was now, he was just a mad dog being set loose on the world by his master.

The fear quickly shifted into a look of superiority though as the Nomu drew its arm back and launched a powerful blow at me. I didn't even move as its massive fist slammed into my head. The blow so powerful it caused a massive burst of wind to blast out around us. I continued to stare into Tomura's eyes and watched his look change to shock, and then back to fear as my grip on his head tightened.

“Call the Nomu off, or die. You choose.”

I loosened my grip on his neck just enough for Tomura to take in a deep gasp of air. His eyes never left mine as he screamed, “Kurogiri get us out of here!”

I tightened my grip on Kurogiri's collar silently telling him that if he moved I would crush him.

“I am afraid I cannot Shigaraki Tomura. I am as restrained as you are.”

I tightened my grip on Tomura's head to the point I could feel micro fractures beginning to form. Tomura screamed in pain until I relented a little, “One final chance.”

I ignored the powerful blows the Nomu continued to rain on me. He could swing all day and nothing would happen to me. My shock absorption now outclassed his own. Tomura glared hatefully at me, but I could see the fear powering the hate, “Fuck you hero!”

I calmly nodded, “I see. You're one of the stupid ones then.”

Without another word I grabbed his arms and legs in a telekinetic grip and squeezed down with all the force I could muster. Tomura screamed in absolute agony as his four limbs were mangled and crushed. His bones turned to powder, his muscles turned to mush, and his nerves on fire. I released my hold on him and let him fall to the ground, causing his screams to change in pitch as he hit the ground.

I turned to the Nomu still trying to pound my face in. No one else had moved, my appearance and subsequent actions shocking them all. The Nomu threw another punch but this time, I matched his punch with one of my own. Our fists slammed together and caused an even more powerful burst than the Nomu's solo punches released.

I went blow for blow with the Nomu, our fists colliding pointlessly. Our speed continued to increase until our arms were nothing more than blurs. Eventually the Nomu's speed stopped increasing but I continued to push myself faster and harder. I was drawing on the full power of OFA. Every punch shattered the bones in my arms and tore my muscles, yet they were healed before I even finished drawing them back, even stronger than before.

Soon, my speed completely eclipsed the speed of the Nomu, for every blow the Nomu threw, I threw two, then three, then four. It could do nothing to block the blows as I hammered on it as hard as I could over and over. It's body began to glow as friction combined with the damage to overpower its shock absorption.

I pushed myself even harder, growling in frustration until it increased in volume and became a roar. I drew on all the power I could, powerding the bones in my arms over and over again. Until, finally, I put every ounce of power I could muster into one massive blow, “FUCK YOU!”

My blow smashed into the Nomu with more power than any freight train could wish to have. It let out a squawk as I sent it flying into the air and smashing through the roof. I stared blankly at where the Nomu went, one thought flitting through my mind as my vision darkened, 'Did I just pull an All Might?'

I didn't get an answer as the darkness claimed me and I fell into unconscious bliss.

-----Line Break-----

AN

Okay, I really want to know what you guys think of this chapter.

Did you see the twist coming? How surprising was it?

And, mot of all, did you like it?