WARNINGS: Anxiety Attack/Panic Attack, Sickness, Shit Mental Health.

- - -

I came here expecting something small. I end up finding a war, and I am in the middle of it.

You would think that, since the League of Villains is so small, that these people would have a chance. However, that's not the case. Numbers can only get you so far if talent shines above.

Shigaraki doesn't hesitate to rush at the groups of idiots. A single touch and they are turned into dust, so fast that they are probably unaware that they are dying as death greets them before giving them a chance at survival.

Dabi is the same way. I can see the flames in the distance.

I don't know where the rest of the League of Villains are. Given the mass of people against them, they were likely forced to separate.

This is disgusting.

I know that I would have seen something like this in my hero career, but never would I have it would have been at such a scale.

I can my heart pounding in my throat as the air becomes more difficult to breathe. My body is trembling. My lungs burn.

Yet, I feel so far away for everything is so hard to hear. It's difficult to think.

It takes so long for me to actually do something, though I am unaware of how long.

What a fucking mess I am. Despite that, I need to do this.

Breathe, Izuku. Nobody you know is here, at least.

I finally pull out my phone, the screen blurry as I type in the password and open it. I don't think as I do what I know best and hack all the cameras in the area. Any video feed I can get will be useful for the investigation. After turning on the recording feature for all of them, I hack into the HC system and send the footage to them.

Even if I turn out to be useless, that won't be.

With that running in the background, I dial the HC president and hope to every being above that she answers. Thankfully, she does.

"Hero Commission President. How did you get this number?"

I am quite disappointed in myself that I found her voice grounding, but, for how annoying it sounds, it makes sense.

I take a deep breath, "Ma'am, it's Midoriya. I just hacked the HC to send footage from Deika City to. It's recording as we speak."

"What is going on?" In the background, I hear her making orders.

"The League of Villains came, and they are currently fighting practically every resident in the city. Turns out, 90% of the people here are part of the Meta Liberation army. The League of Villains are struggling, but it's not like they have a chance of losing from what I am seeing at the moment."

"Is there any new members On the League of Villains."

"I do not see anybody new at the moment."

"This is worse than we thought, but that is something. It means that they were not focusing on expansion/"

"No shit. There is nothing we can do. Even if a group of heroes were to leave now, it will likely be over by the time they get here."

"I see. Midoriya, I order you to stay there and watch without intervening unless necessary. Keep everything recording. I will send Hawks your way for backup. From there, once the incident finishes, please report back to the HC."

"Alright. Tell Hawks that I look like Eraserhead but without the scarf and better."

"...will do. Focus on the task at hand."

The bitch hangs up on me, and I put my phone away. I didn't want to talk to her anyway.

Now that I am back in the shitty, I find myself curled up in a corner on the roof. I don't know when that happened, but that's besides the fact. Being here is fucking dangerous, especially when my brain had to do a restart.

With that in mind, I feel like I am going to have a mental breakdown at any minute. Therefore, I need to be careful of that as well. Yay!

I stand up and switch to another rooftop, keeping an eye on Shigaraki. Just like before my disassociation episode, he is dusting people up.

However, something is different. He feels different. More powerful. More dangerous.

When a group rushes at him, Shigaraki only touches one person, yet the entire group disappears.

He doesn't need to touch someone to disintegrate them anymore. They just need to be connected somehow. Did his quirk go through an awakening?

For those unaware, an awakening is when you are put in a traumatic situation. Therefore, your quirk evolves to be stronger. Unfortunately, it doesn't work on someone quirkless, but it works on a villain that really needs to be in jail right now.

I can hardly believe it. Actually, I barely believe any of this. I'm waiting to wake up from this nightmare, yet nothing is happening.

Why do I have to be so goddamn weak that I can't stop this? Why do I have to let these dumbasses kill each other-?

Breathe, Izuku. I need to focus.

Blood and dust decorates the area, and I am forced to watch and move to keep an eye on Shigaraki because this man has just become so much more lethal.

Then, things get worse.

Out of nowhere, a bunch of Twices come running out of nowhere and fighting everyone. It takes me a moment to realize that this isn't a nightmare once more. There are at least hundreds of Twices flooding the streets.

Twice's quirk is duplicate. He can create a duplicate of something as long as he knows the measurements of it. It certainly wouldn't be a stretch that he can use it on himself. From the camp experience, we learned that these duplicates can use the quirks of the people they are based on since a duplicate Dabi was still able to create fire. Put it on himself, and his clones can creates clones about themselves over and over.

That's an extremely dangerous tool to have. I knew he could do this to some extent.

But this?

Come on, God.

The fighting continues until I see them start to run. They still kill people obviously, but they are going somewhere. Where the fuck do they need to go?

Actually, why are they here at all? They have to have a reason. These people must have something they want.

Either way, I follow from the rooftops, swallowing down the variety of emotions crawling up my throat.

It doesn't take long for them to reach the tallest building in the city and enter. That must be the main headquarters building. Ironic.

I consider going in for a hot second, but I decide that I rather not go inside a building full of villains fighting each other with the risk of being involved myself. The cameras should be recording inside anyway, so no biggy.

Fighting is going on around me, but at least I don't have to see that mess anymore. It gives me a chance to get my bearings for a moment.

I don't keep track of time. I will have to look back at the recordings later to figure that out. Time is a blur at this point.

One moment, the building stands.

The next, the building crumbles to dust, presumably because of Shigaraki's quirk.

I am forced to move some distance from the fight for my safety. I can't see shit with the dust, and that is not a safe situation to be in. When the dust clears, a large man with an equally large nose stares down at Shigaraki, who looks like he is having a mental break to be frank. Scanning the area further, I found some people in the debris, but one stands out.

Giran.

I know Giran is working with the League of Villains. Or was maybe? Why would he be here? I don't know. I don't see these people as the kind of people to go out of their way to save this man, but I could be wrong. I will keep that in my mind later.

The big nose man just gets bigger, turning into an ugly goblin.

I can't hear what they are saying (whether it be because of distance or anxiety is unknown to me), but Shigaraki attempts to attack the goblin by using decay on the ground to break the earth under him. However, the Goblin just picks Shigaraki up like a doll, holding him by the hands.

Blood splatters as the Goblin squishes one of Shigaraki's hands. That's certainly a way of disabling his quirk since it is five-point activation-

What? Goblin suddenly drops Shigaraki. It's difficult for me to see, but in the right angle, I see cracks in his fingers.

Did I guess his quirk activation wrong or is his quirk awakening?

Looking at the previously dropped boy, Shigaraki looks insane as he scratches his skin covered in blood. I'll have to zoom in on his hand later, but it looks mangled from here. The Goblin must suck balls if two huge fingers couldn't destroy his entire hand.

Big Nose gets bigger, and his skin gets darker at a faster rate.

Shigaraki starts running around the man like a cat when Goblin somehow makes a blast, pushing Shigaraki into a pile of rubble.

Another huge crash breaks my attention, and I shift my body to find someone familiar.

Gigantomachia. Things just got so much worse. The huge man towers over buildings and does not hesitate to crush his foes. While I have never seen him personally, Gran Torino has and told me a little bit about him.

He's practically a wall that can't be defeated unless with the right forces. Why is he here? He has to have teamed up with the League of Villains again.

Damn it damn it damn it.

I face the battle in front of me to find that Shigaraki is out of the pile, limping towards the Goblin with a psychotic grin on his face. Goblin must see him as a threat as metal flies out of nowhere and forms a suit on him.

He barely gets to use it when Shigaraki touches the arm of it, making the elbow down disappear within seconds.

I don't see what happens after that as I start running across the rooftops to get away due to a gut feeling. With what Shigaraki has demonstrated already, I don't want to be anywhere near that.

Cracks and breaks fill the air as a sound almost like sound comes to close to me. Dust surrounds me, and I can barely see shit.

Faster faster faster.

"Hold on and don't freak!"

I don't get the chance to do either of those things when I am scooped up by the underarms and swept off my feet to fly through the air. This certainly isn't a comfortable position, but at least I am going way faster away from that mess now.

I look over my shoulder to find Hawks and can't hold back a response, "God bless you're here."

Hawks sighs of relief, "No shit! I wasn't sure if I was picking you up or a complete stranger! Should have given more details!"

"I was being traumatized at the moment."

In a minute, we are in the forest where Hawks lands us. Considering he needs to not be seen, that makes sense.

As soon as we land, I run out of the forest back to the city only to find a crater and destruction left behind with a crowd standing outside of it. I slip my way through for front row view. Dust settles to reveal the Goblin man back to normal and on his knees in front of Shigaraki. Shigaraki is covered in blood, and his hair turned from light blue to white.

I don't hear what they are saying, but the Shouta Rip-Off suddenly says, "Everyone go save the grand commander!"

The people in the crowd don't hesitate to step forward (possibly a quirk), but one look from Shigaraki freezes them in place. I don't blame them.

Finally, I can hear the Big Nose Man's voice as he raises a loser sign to his forward, "Trumpet, any more of this is pointless death." He then bows down to Shigaraki, and I have to strain to hear, "As you said, I picked a fight and lost. The Meta Liberation Army will follow you."

NO NO NO NO NO! DON'T FUCKING GIVE THE ARMY TO FUCKING SHIGARAKI, YOU DUMBASS BITCH! YOU'RE SMART ENOUGH TO MAKE THEM STOP FIGHTING, BUT DUMB TO THE POINT OF HANDING THEM OVER TO A GUY WHO IS WELL-KNOWN FOR LEAVING SOME HOES BEHING AT THE USJ?!

It takes everything not to break down right there. Ninety percent of this town is part of this stupid army. Handing that over to Shigaraki is asking for a war at this point.

My emotions are blurred at this point. Anger and sadness and guilt and-

I can't even pay attention to Shigaraki's reaction. I turn away and retreat to where Hawks is waiting. He holds a grim look while the missing Deika City stands before him.

As soon as I am close, he turns around and starts walking. I follow after.

"Did anything happen?" Hawks ask, his usual tone gone.

I sigh, taking a moment to comprehend it before saying, "Shigaraki has an army now."

Hawks turns to me with widened eyes, "Shit," I nod as I am unsure of what the fuck to say, "We need to head back to the HC building. Mind if we fly there?"

"Just don't drop me," I attempt to tease, but my lord, that sounds empty.

Hawks and I fly back to my home city away from that hell.

- - -

Even after an hour of flying where I have to constantly worry about being dropped, I still can't wrap my head around what happened.

I know I said this multiple times, but it is the truth.

Yes, I have been through many things. The USJ, Hosu Incident, I-Island, and camp are just to name a few. Yet, this hits me harder. So much harder than anybody could expect.

Maybe it was the destruction. Or maybe it was the casual death as the Grim Reaper stood of the city, not afraid to take lives with Shigaraki's hands. Could be the guilt of not being able to do anything or innocent lives on the line or-

There's just so many. With my luck, it's probably all jumbled together to add to my trauma collection.

All those emotions just become numb by the time Hawks and I arrive at the HC building.

With a serious look on my face, I enter the building with Hawks to find some surprising visitors: Detective Tsukauchi, Gran Torino, and Sir Nighteye.

They approach us, sharing that same grim look as Hawks.

"Are you okay, Izuku?" Sir asks before anything. Worry flickers in his eyes.

I put on a fake smile, "Good as I can be. What are you guys doing here?"

Gran Torino groans, "The president requested us here. They want to have all of us together for some reason." I don't blame his reaction. Nobody wants to talk to her.

"Odd. Though, you and the Detective are part of the League of Villains case still, right?"

"Kid, if they were involved-"

"They're involved in everything."

"They have to make our lives more difficult."

Sir Nighteye hums, "That makes sense for you two, but I don't see why I am here."

I shrug, "We'll see. Let's talk to her before I decide to avoid her." I lead the way, and the five of us enter the dreaded elevator.

Then, we enter the office. The president looks just as tired as us, though I think we're tired for different reasons.

She straightens up and faces us, "Thank you everyone for coming on such short notice. As you aware, Deika City has recently been decimated, and that involved the League of Villains. Midoriya will give you more details later. For now, we have different matters to deal with. Due to the complexity of the case, I was trying to keep everyone here separate except for Sir Nighteye. The idea was to prevent Hawks from getting information that he could be forced to the League of Villains. Midoriya was consistently added and removed from the case as it would be preferred not to have a teenager working it. However, with rising tensions, I believe the best plan of action is to group everyone here together to better exchange information. I formally conclude that Midoriya Izuku, Sir Nighteye, Hawks, Detective Tsukauchi, and Gran Torino are officially to work on the League of Villains case together and to keep my informed of any updates. I have a meeting room dedicated to everyone so that everyone may be updated on everything that has happened. My assistant will lead you there. With that said, you are dismissed."

Wow, that is a lot to throw on us. I expected a lot of things, but this is not one of them.

While everyone else starts to leave, I speak up, interrupting whatever she was about to start doing, "Does that mean I won't be removed from the case again? You've removed me so many times, and I rather be warned."

Usually, I would joke about this, but my fucks meter is so low that I can't. She's removed me at least three times out of nowhere, and it pisses me off every single time.

Meanwhile, my new crew looks at me like I just committed a sin. Not surprising since this lady is a bitch, and nobody talks out of turn but her. But this is also me.

The president sighs, "You will not be removed unless we are forced to by the government."

"Great."

Without another word, I walk past my peers and enter the elevator. They join after wasting a few seconds of our time along with an assistant. The door closes, and we move down silently. If it was any other time of the day, it would be awkward, but I don't have the mental or emotional energy to start a conversation.

We stop at a floor, and the assistant says, "The whole floor is yours. If you need food or anything like that, you'll find it here. You can come here at anytime, and nobody can come in except the HC president and you five. I can't join you five, but I wish you luck on your work."

They have this much wasted space and for what? To have a taller building?

"Thank you," Sir Nighteye tells the assistant as he steps off. The rest of us grumble something along those lines. The assistant nods as the elevator door closes, leaving us once more.

I take the lead to step forward and check the floor out, and damn it is huge. The room we are introduced to looks like a meeting room. A huge table takes up the majority of the room with multitudes of chairs on each side. In the corner, I see a podium with a computer that I know I will be taking over soon. There are no windows, those being replaced with whiteboards or a blank wall. On the ceiling is a projector, so we could all watch a little movie of torture together.

Moving along, I enter a hallway with multiple doors. Upon further inspection, I find multiple bathrooms, a filing room, and a breakroom. There are other rooms, but I deny we will be using them anytime soon. I also find no cameras. I even go as far as to use my glasses to check, but there is none.

I return to the crew who is pulling out their files and scattering them across the table, "No cameras."

Gran Torino grunts, not seeming to give much thought to it.

Hawks, however, sees where I am going, "So we can practically do what needs to be done without worrying about her opinions. Sounds like a dream come true."

I huff, "No shit."

"You double-checked?"

"Obviously."

"Strange. She normally wants to be involved in everything."

Detective Tsukauchi looks at the two of us with a raised eyebrow, "Is it that big of a deal to you to?"

"Yes," We say at the same time.

"That is concerning. However, we will talk about that another day. For now, how should we proceed?"

I walk over to the table and look over the files, "We should debrief on this. I don't know how much Hawks knows, and Sir knows practically nothing besides what has been on the news."

Hawks raises his hands, "No need to worry about me. I should be caught up for the most part. It's just you and Sir."

Sir, who hasn't said anything, is sitting down, searching through the files, "I agree with Izuku's plan. How much has changed on the case since Izuku has last been on it?"

Detective Tsukauchi considers, "Disappointingly, nothing much has happened since his last leave. We are still looking into Kurogiri, and the League of Villains has been inactive for unknown reasons."

"I see. Are you guys available tonight to discuss everything? We can hold this off for another day if you have other business to take care of."

"It does not matter to me, but it would be beneficial to do it as soon as possible."

Gran Torino takes a random chair at the table, "As much as I would prefer sleep, I would end up staying awake anyway about this."

Hawks joins him, "This might be my only chance. I have no clue how available I will be since I don't want to be screwed over giving information to them."

I click my tongue, "We'll need a solution for that as well. I rather get this over with."

"Izuku," Sir suddenly says while I am approaching the podium. I face him, "Are you okay to do this? You shouldn't force yourself."

"I'm delaying my death with Eraserhead. Work with me here. Besides, I rather get all the trauma in one day instead of extending it to multiple." That is very much the truth. I swear I hear Hawks in the background say 'relatable,' but I can't be sure.

Gran Torino looks at me curious, "What did you do this time to get on a death list?"

I am about to respond, but Tsukauchi takes over for me, "He never told him he was leaving. He just left." Gran Torino facepalms.

It is not good that Tsukauchi knows the answer to that question. That means Shouta has either been looking for me or complaining. Both lead to terrible fates for me.

"On my behalf, he would have stopped me. I rather not talk about my terrible choices and get this over with," I explain. I am going to get enough lecturing from Shouta if I survive that long.

Thankfully, they decide to drop the topic.

Sir shifts through the paperwork, "Do you mind giving me a few minutes to catch up?"

All of us shake our heads no, we don't mind.

Hawks stands up, clearly not wanting to sit and wait, "Hey, Izu, you should probably change. That can't be comfortable."

I consider it. I have to change in my uniform from, like, three days ago, but that's not clean. However, it's probably cleaner than what I am wearing. It also allows me to remove my stilts and arm, and those have been on for far too long.

Now that those come into my mind, I am suddenly reminded of the numbness/pain in those areas.

Yeah, I should change.

I nod in agreement. With my bag still at hand, I head to the bathroom and close the door, locking it. I drop the bag, an odd feeling coming over me. That takes me a moment to figure out what that is about.

My mission is finally over. A simple mission that turned into Shigaraki obtaining an army.

I approach the mirror to find myself. I haven't looked at myself since this morning before all the mess, and I regret it now.

I- no, Mikumo looks terrible. I don't want to associate myself with the mess before me. The hair looks like it hasn't be touched in days. The suit I am wearing is ruffled. My face, despite the make-up, shows someone tired and done with life.

All of it is covered in dust.

Dust that could be dead people-

A bile rises in my throat, and my body quakes from the thought.

Shove it out, shove it out, shove it out!

It doesn't go away. I try not to throw up, trying to settle down, but my anxiety rises as I don't want more germs or bodies or-

In a blur, I am on my knees in front of a toilet.

I hug myself tightly as I suffocate between each round, going farther and farther away from reality as everything sticks to me.

The tears

The dust

The vomit

I open my eyes in an attempt to bring myself out only to see fake hair and dust. I snatch the wig without realizing, pulling it off and shoving it in the trashcan. This continues as I rip off my clothes, my arm, and my stilts. All of it goes in the trashcan.

I stumble on my feet and approach the sink. Turning on the water, I splash it on my face over and over, never feeling clean.

However, despite that, I feel better for now. It was so much worse before.

I look up to find me, still shaking with tears running down my cheeks. My face is red from the water. The only thing that remains of him is the eye contacts. I don't hesitate to remove them, throwing them in the trash with the rest of Mikumo.

I focus on my breathing, and I grip the end of the sink for dear life. Never have I wanted Shouta to be here more in my life. However, he's in a pissy mood, and I am just too tired to deal with that.

Besides, I need to get over this myself.

Eventually, I move to lean against the wall, finally taking a moment for myself.

I have no clue how long I have been here until Sir knocks on the door.

"Izuku? Are you okay? It's been almost half an hour now," Sir asks, clearly worried.

I sigh, keeping my voice steady, "Yeah. Give me five more minutes, please."

"Take all the time you need."

I don't know if Sir goes away or not, but I can't do anything about that anything.

As promised, I change in five minutes. I look at myself one more time to find my face and eyes red. My half-baked arm looks terrible too. Nothing I can do about that either. I end up leaving my bag of items as well. I want nothing to do with that. The only thing to do bring is the glasses that fell on the floor at some point.

I leave the bathroom to find Sir waiting for me. He looks me over, concerned.

"Are you sure?" Sir asks one more time. At this point, it's pissing me off, but I shove it down. Sir is doing nothing wrong.

I nod, leading the way back to the meeting room to be met with concerned eyes. I ignore that and go to the podium to take over the laptop.

Silence exists for a minute.

I eventually break it, and I nearly flinch at my own voice for how dull it sounds, "I'm sorry for the inconvenience. Let's get to it."

I cut them off before they can say anything by starting the videos.

Watching all the videos takes hours. We don't finish those until one in the morning, and we spend another hour discussing how Hawks is going to give us information.

Those videos reveal so much.

The most significant thing outside of Shigaraki gaining an army is Gigantomachia. From the footage, it doesn't seem like Shigaraki had control over the beast before.

Of course, based on the tears in the idiot's eyes, he is probably willing to follow Shigaraki now.

Speaking of the army, the Big Nose guy turns out to be a CEO of a company. Not only are we dealing with people, but it is possible that we are dealing with money as well. I'll have to look over that financial statements later. That would seem like a big deal since so much can be done with money. However, the people are so much more dangerous since they are specifically trained with their quirks.

That's going to be a fucking mess.

The reason the League of Villains came is still unknown. However, I have a feeling the answer is in here somewhere. We're just too tired to go through it right now. I'll do that when I wake up. If that happens.

The members themselves haven't changed much. There was nobody new. There was not even any Nomus. We already know that Shigaraki's and Twice's quirk evolved (if you can consider it evolving. He has always been able to do it, but he seems to be against it). However, someone who we are just discovering who's quirk has also evolved in Toga's.

She can now use the quirk of the person she is. She was in a bad place when she transformed into Ochaco, floated everyone in the sky, and forced them to crash to the ground. Those people are most likely dead from the height.

It took everything not to walk out of the room while watching that. When I see Ochaco, I'm giving her a hug.

On the slightly more positive side, Toga got injured.

The only other thing I can think of mentioning is learning about some of the quirks on the opposing team, especially the higher-ups.

Everything else has already been said. I'll look over it later to see if I missed anything.

Outside the videos, we determine our positions. Hawks is to get information and give it to me somehow. Gran Torino and Detective Tsukauchi are going to focus in on Kurogiri. Sir Nighteye is going to look into the CEO and his company. My job is to looking for anything odd in the videos.

Finally, the meeting finishes.

"That took forever," Hawks groans as he hops out of his chair and flaps his wings.

Everyone agrees.

Detective Tsukauchi looks at me, who is just walking away from the podium, "You have done a great honor for us by going in there despite the circumstances done. I thank you. We have so much to work with now." Gran Torino nods beside him.

"No problem. I wish everyone luck on their job," I say as I go to the elevator.

Gran Torino follows me quickly, "You should go home with someone, kid."

"No."

"Do you want to see Eraserhead more pissed?"

"...no."

"Then you either call Eraserhead to pick you up or one of us take you back to UA."

"I rather avoid him longer."

Hawks swoops right next to me, throwing an arm over my shoulders, "I can fly you home, mate!"

"No offense, but I am tired of flying. I need to use my legs."

"Mannnnn. I was looking forward to the company too."

Sir clears his throat, "I can take him home."

I sigh, "Would be appreciated, thank you."

"It is not a problem."

We all go down with no conversation. When we step out of the builiding, we nod to each other before walking out direction (or flying in Hawks's case).

Sir and I don't bother with conversation. I'm currently trying to figure out ways to avoid Shouta kill me while Sir just seems to enjoy the moment.

Not that I can blame him. The streets are peaceful with hardly any cars. The air is fresh unlike there.

It's about an half an hour walk (as well as an half an hour pain session with my legs), but as we near UA, Sir ruins the moment, "Izuku?"

"Hm?"

"Please, take a break for a couple of days. You've done so much for us. Let us take over for now. You can't run yourself into the ground, Izuku. That's asking for an early grave." I don't consider it. Most likely, I'm going to banned from hero work for a couple of days anyway.

"Probably will be forced."

"You don't need to become another All Might. Value yourself as a person, not an asset."

We stop in front of the gate, and I struggle to think of a response to that, especially with the groggy feeling.

Sir looks down at me and smiles, "You've done so much more than most of us. We've had our young days. You should value yours too."

I just nod.

"Take care of yourself. Please have a good rest."

Sir nods to me, turning and walking away.

The conversation ends up slipping my mind without a second thought.

I take a deep breath, unsure of what is waiting for me beyond the gates.

It takes me a minute to enter.