44

In a peaceful major city in Europe, the sun was shining down as the civilians walked through, minding their own business. A few heroes were out on patrol, and families that had the day off were enjoying the sunlight and the good weather.

That all changed when green gas suddenly exploded from the city's sewer system, quickly engulfing the population with it. While everyone tried to run with heroes trying to help, it was too late, and the attack had been too quick. It became clear what the green gas' purpose was when people inside inhaled it. About 99% of the population inside began to either mutate due to their quirks or completely lose control of it. Untrained civilians were being killed due to their own quirks, or harmed by others. A female office worker with a minor telepathic quirk caused a tornado, sweeping her coworkers and the buildings around her into it. A hero who could shoot eyebeams tried to close his eyes to prevent himself from causing destruction, but he couldn't control its output, so without a release valve, it began to spill out of his whole body, destroying a good chunk of the city.

The city soon became engulfed in smoke and flames from all the destruction its civilians were unintentionally causing. One young adult man could only collapse to his knees as he watched his fiance and best friend die, torn apart by their own quirks while he was completely unaffected.

'Why!?' he shouted in his mind, trying to understand what was going on when he heard someone speak to him.

"You don't have a quirk, do you?" rang a female voice, causing the man to turn his head to see someone walking towards him, wearing the Humarise cowl and robes with a T-shaped mask. She got down onto her knee to face him before taking off her mask to reveal her face.

"Congratulations," congratulated the female, "You have been saved."

The man could barely comprehend what was going on, and upon looking at those eyes that were completely oblivious to the destruction that had happened. The battle at Kamino Ward had nothing compared to this destruction.

Next day

Humarise announced to the world that they had been responsible for the terrorist attack, declaring it as a way for human salvation. Every major news outlet was already reporting about the attack as well as revealing that the gas used was a mutated and strengthened variant of the drug Trigger, called Ideotrigger. The heroes around the world immediately formed a task force to target all 25 known branches of Humarise, confiscate the bomb known as Trigger Bomb, and arrest the founder of Humarise, Flect Turn. The World Heroes Association was tasked in organizing transportation as well as logistics, and invited Toshinori Yagi to assist them. Endeavor, along with several assisting heroes who were also part of the top 10 in their own countries, was sent to Otheon, where Flect Turn was said to be. Since they might activate more Trigger Bombs, they couldn't involve the local law enforcement to assist them in raiding the bases.

While heroes all over the world participated, Star and Stripe was a hero more heavily involved within the US government, and could not participate in the initial raid. Rather, she was tasked with protecting the President in case Humarise tried to strike again since she was already at the White House.

While all 25 raids were successful with no casualties, the heroes did not accomplish their mission. There were no signs of the said Trigger Bombs, and Flect Turn had mysteriously disappeared.

After securing the President in a safe area and making sure that there was no bomb within a 50-mile radius did Star and Stripe head over to Otheon with Izuku and Kaina in tow. Izuku had to make sure his helmet was on at all times to avoid being recognized, though.

Otheon

After arriving at Otheon, they had to separate, with Cathleen having to meet up with the top brass on Otheon while Izuku and Kaina drove to where Endeavor and the others were waiting.

"So how are you feeling!?" laughed Cathleen over video chat as Kaina was driving the rented vehicle, "First off to America, and now to Otheon! You're going all over the place despite being a freshman in high school!"

Izuku could only numbly nod as he stared out the window.

"Hey, calm down, alright," said Cathleen as she knew what Izuku was thinking, "This whole situation is rather FUBAR. To think that they would do such a thing to a population. But don't let it keep plaguing your mind. Instead, think of a way to stop this, to make sure it won't happen again. Ensure that they will never try this, because why? Because we are here!"

Izuku couldn't help but smile at that before nodding in agreement. What happened already happened, and it wasn't like he could've done anything. He had been in a different country, and it had been a preemptive strike.

Kaina glanced at the rearview mirror before noticing a blue vehicle coming up on them. She flicked the switch to change lanes to let him pass, noticing he was weaving through other vehicles. She didn't want to risk a crash with a reckless driver.

Ex-Humarise member Alan Kay breathed heavily as he weaved through recklessly, glancing at the package next to him.

'Just need to get this to Eddie's son, he'll know how to crack the code and bring it to the proper authorities,' thought Alan as he glanced into his rearview mirror.

His eyes widened when he saw a motorcycle weave through several vehicles, recognizing just who it was. He couldn't even react before the assassin fired an arrow that broke through the car windows and through the strap of his eye patch.

'Shit, it's his damn pet assassin/brainwashed dog of his, Beros!' cursed Alan as he quickly tried to regain control of his car.

Beros didn't even bat an eye before using her quirk again, her thumb and pinky transforming into a bow. Maintaining perfect balance on her motorcycle, she knocked four arrows, ready to fire. Before she could fire her arrows though, her instincts blared at her to dodge. She ducked just in time to avoid a black strand from hitting her, all while hastily shooting her arrows.

Izuku furrowed his eyes in annoyance at his miss before winding back for another shot. He had been lucky to be on a video chat with Cathleen, who immediately permitted Izuku to use his quirk to intervene.

Izuku would've tried to chase Beros down, only to notice that Beros had managed to shoot off the tire she had been chasing. Choosing to save the civilian, Izuku opened the door and dove out of the vehicle, sending his Black Whip towards the vehicle. The strands of energy latched onto the vehicle, pulling Izuku forward. While Izuku would've loved to use One for All to pull the vehicle to a stop, he wasn't allowed to in his current disguise. Instead, he let the vehicle slingshot him forward to the spinning vehicle. Upon landing, Izuku wrenched the car door open, grabbing Alan Kay out before landing safely on the roads while the vehicle capsized, crashing into a wall, and spilling its contents out, including a silver briefcase.

Right below the highway was a young man with spiky brown hair and patched clothes named Rody Soul. A full-time big brother/caretaker as well as a small-time thief. It wasn't a job he was proud of, but he needed the money to take care of his little siblings. Plus he never actually participated in the crime itself, but merely acted as a transporter to throw off heroes and police chasing the actual perpetrators. He would discreetly take the stolen goods from the handoff and go on his merry way, with nobody knowing the wiser.

'This job will be easy,' thought Rody as he carried the silver briefcase full of valuable jewels, 'Even if I get a small cut, it can be used to get Roro and Lala some new toys as well as something more nutritious than what we eat. They're growing kids, and they need the extra calories,' thought Rody to himself before hearing something from above.

Looking up, Rody's eyes widened as he saw concrete objects falling towards his location. Rody panicked for a second before he managed to dodge a few before desperately diving forward to dodge a particularly large one that forced him to let go of his briefcase.

Rody covered his head to protect himself before noticing that there weren't any more falling objects. His quirk, Soul, which manifested into a pink birdlike creature, flew out and hovered over Rody worriedly.

"It's okay, I'm fine… I think," said Rody as he picked himself up, "Wait, where's the suitcase!"

Rody looked around before spying a silver briefcase on top of a dirty rage. Quickly reacting, he grabbed the suitcase and ran away.

"Are you alright?" asked Izuku immediately as he landed with Alan Kay in hand. Kaina had swerved and drifted the vehicle in front of the two to prevent anyone from taking a shot at them while pointing her rifle forward to deter any shots.

"Yeah, thank you," replied Alan before looking towards his vehicle, "We need to get my case out of there!"

"Whoa there, tell us why and we might be able to help you," said Kaina.

"It's important, vital to saving the world!" stressed Alan as he began to rush towards the vehicle despite it being on fire, only to be pulled back by Izuku, "Let go! I need to get my briefcase!"

"It wouldn't happen to be a silver briefcase, would it?" asked Kaina, causing Alan to blink in surprise, "If so, it fell out to the streets below. I saw it fly out of your car when it crashed."

Kaina's sharp and trained eyes had indeed spotted the said briefcase fly out when it flipped.

Alan's face fell in despair before realizing something.

"Tracker! I have a tracker on it! Please, you two are heroes, right? Help me find it before it's too late! I'll explain everything once I get it delivered to the proper authorities!" begged Alan.

Kaina and Izuku looked at each other before nodding, though Izuku immediately sent a text about the whole thing to Cathleen.

"So who are you, and what's so important about the briefcase?" asked Kaina as they got into the vehicle, with Kaina immediately pulling a U-turn, uncaring about the oncoming traffic as she weaved through it before finding an off-ramp.

"My name is Alan Kay, and I am…. no was forcibly recruited into Humarise as a scientist," confessed Alan as he pulled out the tracker, pointing to where they needed to go, "I managed to escape with a key that'll prevent what they want to do."

Izuku felt his eyes almost pop out at that confession. Humarise was a rather….. finicky subject to him. In the past, when he was deemed quirkless, he had sought the internet to find solace. Being the only quirkless child in a school full of quirks had been lonely, and because of his status, he was bullied. With a shrinking population, it was hard to find someone like him. He soon heard about the organization Humarise, where a lot of its members were quirkless like him. At first, he wanted to join it in order to meet other quirkless people like him, only for his mother to prompt him to read more about it. Upon reading their fanatical belief about the Quirk Doomsday Theory, it turned him off. And now, they were responsible for a whole city's worth of casualties.

Beros had grabbed the silver case from the crash, having also seen it fly out of the vehicle, and managed to get there first before fleeing to the scene, hiding in an alleyway. Beros opened it before seeing it full of expensive jewels. Such riches would tempt a person, except it was pointless in Beros's eyes. She kicked it away in frustration before reporting to Flect Turn about it.

As Beros made her report, Flect Turn merely gazed into Beros's eyes before dismissing, stating that he would take other measures.

Beros apologized for her failure as Flect Turn reminded her that the only atonement for having a quirk, or rather being possessed by the devil of sickness, was to participate in the salvation of innocent humans, innocent being a rather skewed view.

"It should be nearby," said Alan as he looked up from his tracker, "It's moving up from that subway station."

The trio looked over in time to see Rody walking up from the subway station with the suitcase in hand, whistling a tune.

'Something feels off with this case,' thought Rody as he double-checked the weight, 'Shouldn't this feel…. heavier? And clunkier too if a bunch of jewels are rattling around.'

Before he could check, he felt a hand suddenly grab his shoulders. Rody freaked out before he quickly turned around to see Alan Kay.

"You… You're Eddie's son, Rody Soul, right!? Eddie talked about you during our time together!" said Alan, "How did you end up with the briefcase? Whatever, talk about luck!"

"How do you know my shitty father?" growled Rody as he slapped Alan's hand away, "Why would I want to deal with a man who abandons his family to team up with a group of psychopaths who were responsible for the terrorist bombing!"

"It wasn't like that," said Alan firmly, "Eddie, like I was, wasn't given a choice in the matter. Either join or die. Or in your father's case, you and your siblings would've been killed."

"What?" blanked Rody.

"You saw what Humarise is willing to do," explained Alan, "Do you think it's below them to coerce scientists with threats of killing family members?"

Rody could only blink before realizing that perhaps his father hadn't ruthlessly abandoned them. That was cut short when an arrow suddenly came flying towards them. It would've pierced through Alan's chest had Kaina not pushed him away.

"Sniper!" shouted Kaina, "Ensnare.D, block out their vision!"

Izuku immediately used Smokescreen to cover them, making it difficult to see where they were.

Beros clicked her tongue in annoyance before noticing Izuku rushing out of the smokescreen carrying Alan and Rody away.

Beros quickly nocked her arrow once more, focused on sniping Izuku to end it in one shot. She was so hyper-focused on her mission that she quite literally didn't see what was coming next. One second she had Izuku in her sights, the next second a bullet slammed into her head, knocking her out.

Kaina had hidden in the smokescreen and used its cover to counter-snipe Beros. After her first shot, Kaina already tracked down where Beros was shooting from and hit her with a non-lethal rubber bullet that, while did not kill, still hit very hard.

"Amateur," scoffed Kaina as she withdrew her quirk. Even within the smokescreen, she had already memorized the layout of the area she was in. The scouter helped map out a little, but everything else was through instinct and experience.

Kaina quickly rushed over to where Beros was, who was still unconscious with her motorcycle on the side.

After removing her hood and mask, Kaina gazed down to see a young woman who was possibly just a teenager, blossoming into a young woman.

"She looks about 18, maybe into her senior year at a high school," murmured Kaina, "To be trained to be an assassin for her superiors….. Just like I was."

Kaina immediately made up her mind as she tied Beros up and carried her to their vehicle.

'It was too late for me to stop,' thought Kaina as she started up the vehicle, 'But maybe it's not too late for this girl to stop walking my path. She just needs a hand to show her what this path truly does to a person, and stop her from following.'

Izuku was doing his best, swinging his way towards the building where all the other heroes were at, carrying Rody and Alan. Since nobody was looking, Izuku cheated a little by using One for All to increase his strength to make it easier to swing and carry.

"We're almost there!" shouted Izuku, "Once we get to the international hero embassy, we should be safe."

As Izuku landed, he found that they were quickly surrounded by Otheon's police force with the SWAT team coming out, all of them quickly pointing their guns at the trio.

"Freeze! Don't move and put your hands behind your back!" shouted a police captain.

"My hero name is Ensnare.D!" shouted Izuku, "Intern student with the American Hero Star and Stripe. I have orders to bring these two to her with information vital to the World Hero Association!"

"We have permission to shoot them! Fire!" ordered the captain, seeing his order not being followed. He was also a Humarise secret agent, working undercover for the 'glory of human salvation.' He was under orders to secure the briefcase by any means necessary. It was a simple plan. Kill the heroes, and under the chaos, snatch the briefcase away to ensure that whatever Alan Kay had brought with him was disposed of. It didn't matter that young teenagers were killed, they were doomed to die to save the world.

Before any shots could be fired though, a loud voice came ringing out that stopped all of them from shooting.

"ENOUGH!"

The police officers could only look up in time to see Star and Stripe landing in front of Izuku and the others.

"Ma'am, please step away, this is a police matter," shouted the captain, only to cower when Star and Stripe turned her gaze towards the man.

"There are innocent people here, and one of them is my intern. One who clearly stated that he had information vital to us. And your response is to shoot them first and ask questions later!?" shouted Star and Stripe, causing the man to cower in fear, "Do you want to intentionally cause trouble on an international level!? Do you think you can bear that responsibility!?"

The captain wanted to reply, but couldn't. The police chief had ordered the shots be fired, being an agent of Humarise as well. Since they were already already committing genocide, it didn't really matter if they caused more trouble. But Cathleen's voice and will overrode any loyalty the man had, and could only cower in fear.

Cathleen turned to Izuku and the others before smiling, "C'mon. Let's get you into the World Hero Association Embassy, and we can get this all sorted out. The faster we get that information, the better the chance we have to strike."

Izuku nodded as he helped Alan and Rody up, following behind Cathleen. While he had been swinging, he had used the communications device built into his helmet to communicate with her about what was going on. The police that were in Cathleen's way quickly parted ways for them to leave.

The police captain was able to finally stand up when he got a call from the chief of police. After listening to the order, the captain nodded and replied "For the salvation of innocent humans."

The captain instantly drew his gun, aiming it at Alan, and fired 3 bullet burst shots.

Izuku, who had Danger Sense and Observation Haki on, was the first to notice the police chief's intent, but he couldn't react fast enough as it wasn't aimed towards him. Izuku grabbed Alan and tried to pull him away, but two of the bullets had drilled into him, hitting his right lung and nicking the rib cage while another hit his stomach.

"Medic!" shouted Cathleen as the other police officers quickly dogpiled on the police captain.

An ambulance quickly arrived and transported Alan to the hospital for emergency surgery, but a key informant was now gone. Rody, however, still had the briefcase with him as he and Izuku entered the building where everybody else was waiting.

The police chief of Otheon called Flect Turn about the situation.

"I can't have my men go in to confiscate the briefcase or arrest the two boys," stated the police chief, "My captain was able to force Alan Kay out of commission, but the hero lodging is considered a part of the World Heroes Association, and not something my people can get into."

"It does not matter," said Flect Turn, "Though slightly worrying, our time draws near. Our agents have already gotten everything ready. Once we are in place, then humanity's salvation will be at hand."

Flect Turn also noted to get more of his followers to protect the bombs. Ever since he heard Star and Stripe were getting involved, he moved up the timetable. Most of it was already done, all that was needed was just some fine-tuning.

'Where is Beros?' thought Flect Turn to himself before shrugging. She was just a loyal dog, nothing else.

"Well?" asked Endeavor gruffly as all the heroes in Otheon gathered around, "Where's the information at?"

"He said that it was in this briefcase, but most likely it's hidden somewhere," theorized Nighteye, who had flown into Otheon with his team to investigate in locating Flect Turn when they didn't find him at the Otheon headquarters.

"Then let's open it up," nodded another hero, "Clair, mind checking if there's a bomb hidden in there?"

Clair nodded, using her quirk Voyance to scan the briefcase before nodding that it was clear. The heroes opened it to see nothing but paperwork and other miscellaneous items. Nothing that seemed to help them at all.

"This is pointless," scoffed another hero, "Unless it's encoded, we won't get it."

"You're looking at it wrong," said Kaina as she entered after dropping Beros in a secure location, "If you're trying to hide something while hoping to get it to the heroes, you wouldn't put it in an obvious spot."

Kaina took the case, and examined it for a little before finding the suspicious spot on the underside of the outer shell.

"Can you scan here?" asked Kaina towards Clair.

Clair nodded, a little mystified at the request since she had already scanned the whole briefcase, but did so anyway.

"Doesn't look any diff… wait!" exclaimed Clair as she focused in on the spot that Kaina was pointing at, and compared it to the other side. It looked almost the same except for one key detail. It was very easy to overlook, as it had been designed to hide from X-ray sights.

"It's clear," nodded Clair, with Kaina pulling out the bottom of the briefcase to reveal some sort of puzzle box.

The heroes all looked at the puzzle in confusion as Kaina began to fiddle with it, but to no avail. Nobody really knew what to do, and Endeavor threatened to burn it if not the fact there was valuable intel inside the box.

"Here, let me," said Rody as he managed to push himself into the crowd, grabbing the puzzle box, "I remember doing something similar to this when I was a kid."

The crowd watched as Rody began to work through the puzzle box before finally completing it, opening the box to reveal a microSD chip and another device.

"Aiba," said Nighteye swiftly as he saw the chip.

"Got it!" said Manami, who had been forced to accompany him on this trip despite the fact it put her at quite a distance from her beloved Gentle Criminal, but had been convinced otherwise by said man.

Manami pulled out her laptop, inserting the microSD card while also scanning it for viruses before opening it to see a lot of files in it.

"Which should I open first?" asked Manami as she looked around.

"Find the one with the latest timestamp!" barked Katsuki from the crowd.

Manami glanced over to Nighteye, who gave her a nod before pulling up the latest video, linking it up to a nearby projector so people wouldn't crowd around her computer. Though she was getting better, she still did not like being in large crowds.

Every hero, heroine, and intern listened to the sound file of Alan Kay confessing to Flect Turn's true goal of total genocide.

"Take this key that my colleague, Eddie Soul, who was a fellow scientist who was also forced to work for Humarise, to disarm the bombs. He sacrificed his life to create this master key. Please, save this world," finished Alan Kay.

Rody had to turn his head to hide his emotions. His little quirk Pina, however, was already crying tears, showcasing his true emotions.

Flect Turn had received word that everything was in place. With a deep breath, he held up the dagger-shaped remote before clicking it to activate the bombs. The remote had been molded into a dagger form to showcase the weapon that would purify the Earth.

Instantly, all the Ideotrigger bombs were activated in 25 locations where they had conveniently gathered heroes from all over the world to said locations. At the same time, they began their broadcast to the whole world.

"We, Humarise, will rise to action to protect the pure humans called Quirkless against those who are afflicted with the disease called Quirks," began Flect Turn as their symbol was revealed to the world, "The humanity salvation devices which we have developed have been placed in 25 countries around the world, and have already started moving. Humanity's salvation will come in two hours. However, we are not merciless. If you wish to prevent it from coming to fruition, we will tell you the countries where the humanity salvation devices have been deployed. Even if you do not believe in what we are doing, we will give you an equal chance."

With that, the broadcast showed everyone just where they had been placed. All Might and a few others realized the gathering of heroes to raid the Humarise bases had been a trap as well as a small blessing. They had the manpower that could be easily gathered since they were already there within a short time, but if they failed, the destruction compared to the first bombing could be even more devastating.

Not only that, but because of the public announcement, everyone was panicking, and it was starting to spread. Roads were stuck in gridlock, and a few desperate civilians crashed into other vehicles. Teams had to be split in half, one dealing with evacuation while another began desperately searching for the bombs. The hero teams were not the only ones affected, though.

Dekai City

Re-Destro clenched his fist at this announcement. Quirks as a disease? Preposterous, they were the next step in evolution!

"I want every member making sure that we don't have a mole in here!" shouted Re-Destro, "We can't let this enemy win!"

Skeptic and Trumpeter immediately began calling all members while Geten was in the air with a few search-based quirks, making sure there were no bombs in their city. While they boasted up to 100,000 members, they were focused in Japan, versus a worldwide organization that spanned into 25 different countries, each gathering members from all over the place.

"What should we do about the members outside?" asked Skeptic as he rapidly tapped onto his keyboard, trying to hack into the Humarise system.

"Tell them to….. assist the heroes," said Re-Destro with a wince at that statement, "Though they are our enemy, this takes precedence."

Other crime groups were either assisting heroes or just fleeing in hopes of finding somewhere to hide.

Otheon

"Damn it, they couldn't have waited a bit longer?" hissed Clair's sidekick, who's quirk gave her abilities similar to a flying squirrel, though she dressed up as a kunoichi.

The Otheon team had deciphered Humarise's real base based on the information they had been given. An island mass Northeast of Otheon that hadn't existed 200 years ago. It was during all the chaos that this island had come into existence due to quirks and other factors, creating the island, though it was not an independent country. It could be said it was claimed by three other countries that shared its borders, but none of the governments had put any effort into industrializing the island. A perfect hiding spot from the world.

Cathleen closed her eyes for a second before opening them up, "We'll need to split up. A small strike team to hit Humarise and disable the bombs while the rest search for the bomb here. We can't all just go, otherwise it might make them panic and activate the bombs early. Endeavor, you'll take point on searching for the bombs while I'll take care of their secret little base."

Endeavor grunted, not wanting to obey the orders but knowing it wasn't the time or place to talk about it. Everything she had said was correct, but he wanted to be the one assaulting the island. And as much as it pained him to admit it, Star and Stripe was a hero that could match up against him.

"Then take my interns," said Endeavor, pointing to Katsuki and Shoto, "They can help out, and are more combat-oriented."

"Lemillion, accompany them," advised Nighteye, "His quirk can let him slip through their defense. Give him the key, he can take it with him."

Mirio grinned as he pulled out a small pouch that barely fit the key in, but managed to do so. Thanks to visiting the support facility quite a bit, along with Nighteye's help, he was able to get a small pouch constructed that worked in conjunction with his quirk. Anything zipped inside it while he was carrying it would permeate through the wall like he did. It made for being able to carry some sort of medical supplies in case of emergencies, though as of right now, it was very limited.

"Let's go, we don't have a second to lose!" shouted Cathleen as she got onto the jet she had managed to request.

Kaina was left behind to help find the bombs with her sharp eyes.

As they were about to leave, Rody called out to them.

"Hey!" shouted Rody, "You better win! My dad put his life on the line, and my siblings are in your hands!"

Cathleen, Mirio, and Izuku all turned to give a thumbs-up, with Shoto following their lead only because it seemed appropriate. Katsuki merely grumbled before giving a half-hearted wave before the hangar doors were closed.

"Let's move!" ordered Endeavor as the rest began sprinting towards the city to locate the bomb.

As the jet was quickly flying over to the Humarise secret base, the students were in the back, readying their gears. Cathleen was sitting next to the pilot, who was using his quirk to influence his jet to become invisible in a sense. His quirk allowed him to redirect people's attention from an object he was focused on. A stealth transport, one could say, and one that Cathleen was helping empower him with her own quirk.

Izuku took a deep breath as he looked over to the others. His helmet was firmly on to keep his identity a secret.

"So you're Star and Stripe's intern?" asked Mirio as he sat next to Izuku, using English to talk "Name's Lemillion!"

"I'm Ensnare.D," replied Izuku, "So I heard that you can go through objects? How does that work? My quirk is an emitter type that lets me emit smoke though if I focus, they can become whips to trap villains."

Mirio had been ready to go in-depth about his quirk when Katsuki suddenly stood up, standing right in front of Izuku, his eyes focused on Izuku.

"Can I help you?" asked Izuku politely.

It was silent for a few seconds, with Mirio and Shoto about to intervene when Katsuki barked in Japanese, "It's fucking you, isn't it Deku?"

Izuku blinked in shock, though thankful that his mask was blocking his expression before replying in English, "I'm sorry, I don't understand what you're saying?"

"Shut it Deku, I know it's you," said Katsuki as he tapped Izuku's helmet, "The design is almost the same as one of your first drawings for your hero costume before you changed it to that stupid straw hat. You think running to America and wearing a helmet would stop me from knowing who you are!?"

Izuku paused as he tried to find a rebuttal, only for Katsuki to continue, "And you think you can hide what you can do here? It's do or die right now, which means you come out swinging with everything you got. No civilians or anybody else for them to see besides the villain group we're going to eliminate."

Izuku took a deep breath, his mind racing through before giving up on the bluff. Pressing a button on the mask, the face mask retracted into the helmet to reveal Izuku's face.

"Was it that obvious?" asked Izuku as he looked up with dull eyes.

"Nope, just fucking bullshitted my way to see if I was right," cackled Katsuki, causing Izuku to almost fall from his seat, "But you can't hold back on these guys."

Izuku sighed as he nodded in agreement.

"So you are here Midoriya!" grinned Mirio, "Eri-chan has been asking about you. She misses you."

Shoto merely hummed before glancing over at Star and Stripe before deciding to add something to his little conspiracy theory board regarding Izuku's parentage.

"So you've been in America for the past month," said Shoto, "How is it there?"

"Quite different," nodded Izuku, "Especially since Star and Stripe work more closely with the government than most heroes. But we should focus on the incoming battle."

The others nodded as they finished up their preparations.

"Incoming on base soon!" said Cathleen, "We're going for a full-on assault to distract them from Lemillion while he sneaks in to deliver the key. Luckily we had a map of the whole place already from the information that he gave us. Lemillion, you're going to dive straight for the room, can you do it?"

Lemillion gave her a thumbs up, ready to do his part.

"Alright let's go!" shouted Cathleen as she opened the hangar doors, "Once we get out, we'll be detected. Let's make as much noise to distract them!"

The four heroes jumped out of the jet, diving towards the base. Mirio waited until the jet was above the base before diving so he could have a direct entrance toward the goal.

At the Humarise secret base, Flect Turn looked at the screens, seeing all the heroes desperately trying to locate the bombs. For those who did, he already had Humarise agents there to prevent them from disabling the bombs. And that was just a bomb. He had more secretly placed in case they managed to disable more.

Suddenly, the alarm rang, notifying everyone of intruders. A screen was pulled up to reveal Izuku and the others skydiving towards them.

"How did they get so close to us without noticing anything?" growled Flect Turn in a low voice, "And why hasn't Beros checked in?"

Still, everything was in his hands. Even the strongest hero of the US would not be able to deal with his affliction.

"All forces, engage against them. Purge the gravely afflicted," ordered Flect Turn, "We can't let them come close."

The cultists silently rushed away, grabbing their respective weapons.

As soon as they landed, they charged forward into the base before the cultists could form up a proper defense.

"Some of these members have quirks!" warned Izuku as he wrapped a cultist with blasters for arms before tossing him into another member.

"Don't point out the obvious!" shouted Katsuki as he sent out a barrage of explosions, knocking out.

"We should take care of them while they're still trying to prepare," suggested Shoto as he froze a row of cultists that were trying to squeeze out a door.

"Take them down in one go!" shouted Cathleen, "Push forward!"

Cathleen ran forward, crushing everyone in her way as she punched, kicked, and basically forced her way through everyone, quirk or no quirk.

"I'll crush you!" roared Rogone, a Humarise member who could transform into an ogre-like creature with iron clubs for arms.

He swung both arms down at Cathleen, only for her to easily stop it by grabbing his biceps.

"Sorry, but a lady likes to be wooed more gently," grinned Cathleen before swinging him right into a wall and through it.

"We need to at least stop them from coming through!" shouted another member named Sidero as he popped out an iron ball from his knuckle, "They can't get through if there's no passageway!"

Sidero enlarged the iron ball before tossing it into the hallway, making it as large as possible without caring for collateral damage.

"Ha, now they can't-" started Sidero only to see his iron ball suddenly heat up, turning red before ice suddenly covered it. Then it was shattered into pieces by Izuku's kick as the metal had turned brittle.

"That's not fair," whimpered Sidero before he was taken out by Katsuki's explosions.

Cathleen noticed Izuku's body being wrapped in lightning and being far stronger than usual, but decided to push it off for now. Suddenly, sword chains came piercing through the wall, but they all managed to dodge it. Then the wall broke to reveal a hulking muscular man with bleach-white skin named Leviathan charging at them.

Shoto immediately tried to freeze Leviathan, only for him to drill through the ice barrage.

"Careful, he's going berserk! He seems to have used Trigger!" warned Cathleen.

Shoto nodded as he shot a stream of fire, only for Leviathan to tank through it before trying to punch him. Shoto dodged back as Izuku kicked Leviathan in the head, sending him back.

"Ensnare.D., go ahead! We'll take care of this and be right behind you!" ordered Cathleen while Katsuki was dealing with the Serpenters.

Izuku nodded as he used One for All once more, feeling its power welling up in his body after having it sealed away for a good month, before rushing forward, barreling right through a bunch of Humarise members as well as Sidero, who had just injected himself with Trigger, only to be knocked to the side unconscious by Izuku.

Izuku saw some of the other cultists with quirks beginning to use Trigger, but Izuku had confidence that they could handle it. More importantly, they needed to make sure to distract Flect Turn and make it seem like Izuku had the key.

Izuku made it to the main meeting hall, noticing a lot of books as well as a statue of a shining baby in the middle. Izuku glanced around before seeing another path of stairs leading down from across the room.

"That must be where the control center is," said Izuku out loud.

Before he could take a step forward, a part of the column suddenly sprang out to reveal a laser gun that fired in front of Izuku, stopping him in his tracks.

"Go away. This is not a place where someone gravely afflicted can enter," declared Flect Turn, "This is a holy place that will bring about human salvation."

At once, Izuku saw not only steel walls being raised to protect the books, but soldiers coming out from the balconies, pointing their guns at him.

"Salvation for humanity?" spat Izuku, "The Quirk Doomsday Theory hasn't even been scientifically proven! And with a mere belief, you harmed so many innocent people!"

"The only innocent ones are the ones without the sickness that is called quirks," replied Flect Turn, "Quirks will only lead to humanity's doom as it grows more powerful and uncontrollable. The city was just a mere glimpse of what WILL happen. So it is up to us to prevent it!"

"All hail Humarise!" chanted the followers.

"Now then, since you're here, then you should have the key to the foolish scientist who believed he could delay the inevitable," said Flect Turn as he descended the stairs, "If you give up the key now, then I can guide you to atoning for your sins."

As Flect Turn came nearer to Izuku, a loud buzzer suddenly rang out, surprising them all.

"Bombs have been deactivated. Bombs have been deactivated. Countdown aborted."

"What!?" shouted Flect Turn as he quickly had one of the screens flip to the security camera where the whole control center for the bomb was.

Standing there was Mirio with a grin while holding a victory sign to the camera with the key clearly inserted in.

One of the reasons why Mirio had been able to sneak in so easily besides phasing through everything was that Cathleen used New Order on Mirio to be ignored by others. So despite Mirio quite literally phasing through the walls and a few people, nobody noticed him until he made it to the location he needed to go.

Back at fight

Cathleen grinned as she heard the announcement, canceling the order she had on Mirio before landing a liver punch against Rogone.

"Everyone, full power!" shouted Cathleen as she tossed Rogone away.

"Right/Don't tell me what I already know!" shouted Shoto and Katsuki.

Back to Izuku

"Surprise," said Izuku with a victorious grin, "We were just the distraction."

Flect Turn gritted his teeth in anger before turning to rush towards the control panel. If he removed the key, then maybe he could force the bombs to detonate early.

Before he could take a step, Izuku had already beaten him there, standing in front of the entrance towards the stairs to the control center.

Flect Turn scoffed as he activated laser beams in the room, all of them focused on Izuku, and fired without mercy.

Before they reached him though, Izuku let out a huge dense purple smokescreen that covered the exit and himself. The lasers hit the smoke screen and simply diffused away as it went through it.

"Tch, a gravely afflicted person at such a young age," scoffed Flect Turn as he took off his robes, "Then allow me to be your salvation by ridding you of your quirk and life."

"You sure like to claim salvation for a genocidal hypocritical cultist leader," said Izuku as he stepped out of the smoke.

"How dare you!" shouted Flect Turn, "I have the wisdom to see what quirks truly are!"

"And how does that lead to you destroying thousands of innocent lives!?" roared Izuku.

"Because they are unaware of the disaster they can cause," declared Flect Turn as he turned on his support gears, including a bunch of mirrors, "I can be a prime example. I was born with a disease. A disease that won't go away that reflects everything. Because of it, I was never held by my parents, my closest friends, and even the one I loved left me, because I reflected their feelings. I can't even choose to die because I reflect it. Such a thing cannot be controlled and will only lead to pain. With quirks evolving it will only lead to crushing humanity as a whole until everyone is extinct. That is why in order for humanity to survive, the diseased must be purged!"

"Bullshit!" declared Izuku as he took a step forward.

For some reason, everyone in the room watching couldn't help but freeze as something was building up. Flect Turn himself took a step back.

"It's sad that happened to you, but what did you do? You didn't try to fight it, or control it, you just gave up without looking for other options, other people who could have the same problem as you. You formed an organization that could have helped people, quirkless or quirked. Instead, you created one that declared anyone with a quirk deserved death, even ones that just drew their first breath. You say you want to save humanity, but all you achieved is selfishly making everyone suffer the way you did, believing it to be right!"

Izuku remembered the photos that Cathleen had been given concerning a few patients from the aftermath of the bombing. They had been sent to one before heading to Otheon to see if Cathleen could use her quirk to temporarily control patients from going out of control while surgeons tried their best to resolve the problems.

Cathleen had tried her best to hide it, but Kaina convinced her that Izuku needed to see it, if at least to prepare himself for the future. Reluctantly, she gave in, and Izuku almost collapsed to his knees at the photos. A young preschooler who had just gotten her quirk, which let her accelerate the growth of flowers. She had just told everyone she wanted to be a florist, to create a world of flowers for everyone to enjoy. And now she was in critical condition as she had been hit by debris from someone's quirk exploding at a flower store that her parents had taken her to. Flower seeds had gotten into her body through open wounds, and with her quirk being forcefully mutated and triggered, the flowers grew inside her body. The roots were not only causing great pain, but also greedily taking nutrients from her body.

Cathleen had arrived and managed to put her body in a stasis long enough for surgeons to remove everything, but the damage had already been done.

Flect Turn flinched before doubling down, "And what makes you believe that?"

"You said it yourself," growled Izuku, "You 'reflect' everything. You projected your own suffering onto others when you gave up. You don't want to save humanity, you just want everyone to suffer what you went through with the delusion of 'saving' humanity!"

Izuku took another step forward, causing everyone to step back once more, "Do you even know what you've done!? Have you seen the aftermath of your attack!? Countless lives are gone because of your deranged crusade! Children, toddlers who barely had a chance to do anything, are gone because of your bomb! Innocent people just going through their day, irrevocably scarred if not gone because you wanted others to feel your own pain without attempting to find a way or help, choosing the easy way out!"

Izuku's eyes burned with power as he continued his rant, "You stole their freedom to live. And you want to plunder even more! Drowning everyone in blood before you stand on the top of corpses that you slain!"

Flect Turn growled, not wanting to hear the conversation anymore before turning towards his cultists, "Saviors of Humanity, fire at-"

"No MORE! I SWEAR AS A HERO, I'LL STOP YOU AND YOUR GRANDEURS RIGHT HERE AND NOW!"

At this declaration, what seemed to be a pulse of invisible energy came from Izuku, spreading all across the room and through the wall. Izuku had used Haoushoku Haki without realizing it, his emotions having spilled out to unconsciously reach in to use it.

"... FIRE! SHOOT AT HIM!" ordered Flect Turn as he felt sweat dripping down his body. He wasn't sure what the hell happened, but he wasn't going to risk anything anymore!

However, upon hearing nobody even reacting, Flect Turn turned towards his followers, noticing they were standing still, as if frozen in said position. A second later, it became clear just what had happened when they all collapsed onto the ground, frothing in their mouths.

It wasn't just in that area, either.

Katsuki dodged the blades from the Serpent twins, who were cackling as their swords carved up the room, both having used Trigger.

"Your laugh is fucking annoying!" shouted Katsuki as he managed to pin the twins by grabbing the blades, ignoring the aching pain in his ribs. He had gotten slashed throughout his body, but managed to dodge most of it thanks to being able to launch explosions from his hands and feet, along with some new upgrades.

With a roar, Katsuki hurled them into a wall before spinning into a tornado and launching himself towards them. The twins tried to free themselves when they felt something in the air change, causing them to freeze for a second. They regained control of themselves, but it was too late.

"DIE!" shouted Katsuki as he slammed his ultimate move, Howitzer Impact, on the twins, knocking them unconscious.

Shoto also managed to trap Leviathan in ice, and before the man could drill himself out, he froze for a second. Before he could react, he was slammed with a point blank Jet Kindling punch that sent the man flying unconscious.

"Anyone feel that?" asked Cathleen as she noticed a lot of grunts had frozen up before fainting for some reason, foaming from their mouth. At first, she thought that poison gas had somehow been released, but soon threw that theory away when she noticed the unconscious vital signs were normal.

"Who cares? We can figure it out after we kick the big boss's ass!" said Katsuki as he launched himself forward.

The others agreed as they quickly ran towards where Izuku went.

At the control panel, Mirio was standing guard. And it was a good thing he did, as a few Humarise members managed to sneak in through alternate entrances. Mirio easily took care of them, but stood vigilant. He had no idea what would happen if the key was unplugged and was unwilling to find out.

His eyebrows raised when he felt something change in the air, but shrugged against it. He had a job to do.

"You…. what are you?" growled Flect Turn as he moved into a fighting position, "No matter, nothing you do will hurt me! I, who have been cursed to this existence, will reflect anything you try to do to me!"

Izuku immediately used Black Whip to try to capture Flect Turn, only to have it reflected away. Switching tactics, he used his fingers to flick compressed airs at him, only to have them also reflected back. Izuku jumped away, dodging the air bullets he made before seeing Flect Turn suddenly blitzing towards him faster than he expected.

'He's using his quirk to repel himself forward,' thought Izuku as he raised his arm and punched.

Their fists clashed against each other for a second before Izuku was pushed back, but not by much.

'What!?' thought Flect Turn in surprise, 'His attack should've been reflected against him and sent him flying with my own momentum included.'

Still, Flect Turn quickly activated all laser turrets and had them fire their strongest shots at Izuku and himself, with him using mirrors to reflect that attack. Izuku immediately responded with another thick smokescreen that engulfed himself and Flect Turn in it, making it useless.

"I can't see him in this smoke, but he can't see me either," hissed Flect Turn before he heard a voice.

"Clench your teeth, because this is going to hurt," warned Izuku as he raised his fist.

Flect Turn scoffed and was about to reply that nothing could hurt him when he noticed an obsidian black fist heading towards his face. He didn't bother trying to block it, confident that his quirk or curse would block it, only for the first time in forever, feel flesh hitting his face, his nerves responding to the stimuli of his tissue and bone being damaged, and possibly his teeth flying out of his mouth before being shot out of the smoke, rolling on the floor.

"What… what is this feeling?" coughed Flect Turn, unable to process the pain he was feeling for a second. He had not been able to feel pain or pleasure for such a long time, his quirk having reflected everything. And now, it has been completely bypassed. He spat out some blood, his tongue feeling the sensation of metallic flavoring.

"It's time you learned just how your victims feel, even if I can only give you just a little bit," said Izuku.

Flect Turn scrambled up to his feet, only for Izuku to sweep him off of them with a low kick. Using the momentum, Izuku continued his sweep around before jumping into the air with an arc kick to his stomach, sending him hurtling onto the floor. All with Izuku using Armament Haki, bypassing Flect Turn's defenses. Izuku grabbed Flect Turn and threw him into the ground once more before tossing him up and landing a barrage of punches that imprinted into his body before being sent flying away.

Flect Turn groaned as he managed to stand up once more.

'Need to stay away from him,' thought Flect Turn as he tried to run, 'He tried using that black whip, but I could repel it. Maybe it's only a close-range effect.'

Suddenly, out of the smokescreen, Flect Turn could see an arm stretching out far beyond normal limits, grabbing him by his collar.

"What are you!?" shouted Flect Turn in slight fear. The smokescreen, he could see it as not a quirk, but perhaps a support gear Izuku had inside his costume. He thought the black whip was his quirk. But now the man could stretch his limbs and bypass his quirk's automatic defense?

'The boy must be gravely afflicted beyond a doubt, like the Kamino Ward villain! But how has his body not collapsed from all these quirks? Shouldn't he be proof that the Quirk Doomsday Theory is real?'

Flect Turn didn't get the chance to contemplate this as Izuku pulled him forward towards him. The smokescreen slightly cleared up for him to see Izuku's body being wrapped in lightning. It was then he realized that he had a clue who the boy was, despite the mask covering his identity. His spies had found his records named as Ensnare.D, an intern with Star and Stripe, but it was clear that he had been undercover. The hero-in-training standing before him was none other than Izuku Midoriya, a boy who had been put on a watchlist as he somehow survived All for One's attempt to steal his quirk, and even injured the boogie man.

A pity that information came too late as Izuku clenched his other fist that was wreathed with Armament Haki.

"With this, it's over!" roared Izuku as he threw out his punch as soon as he pulled Flect Turn right in front of him.

Hamburg Smash

Izuku's fist not only slammed into Flect Turn's face once more, knocking the mastermind out, but it was so powerful that it blew away Flect Turn's quirk, his blue skin turning pale as it peeled off him. A visible imprint of Izuku's fist could be seen on the man's face as Izuku breathed heavily.

"Well, that's a nasty bruise," remarked Cathleen as she walked up to Izuku, seeing the fight was over, "Let's wrap this up! The other heroes should be finishing up the resistance and locating any other hidden bombs and surprises."

The heroes from all over the world, with the aid of the police, managed to arrest the Humarise members and safely dispose of the bomb. Otheon's chief of police had been arrested for being the inside mole for Humarise, along with a few other prominent members all over the world. Alan Spencer's information contained more than enough evidence about the hidden members of Humarise. The location of the base and the key to disable them had just been the most prominent one.

As Izuku was ready to leave, he met up with Katsuki and the others one last time before they headed back to Japan.

"Come back soon, Eri-chan is waiting," smiled Mirio as he gave Izuku a fist bump.

"Hopefully your time spent with America's number one hero is fruitful," said Shoto.

"Deku, you better come back so I can kick your ass!" shouted Katsuki.

"I'll be back before you all know it," said Izuku, "But don't tell anyone about where I am right now. There's a reason why I'm still wearing the mask."

The others nodded in agreement and left, though not before Katsuki got one more word in.

"Oh, and you better hope you live after all your girlfriends find out," grinned Katsuki, causing Izuku to pale momentarily.

With that, everyone made it to their planes to head back to their city.

Meanwhile, Rody Soul looked up to the skies, watching the planes fly. He took a deep breath as he, for the first time in a long while, remembered his father. This time, his emotions connected to it weren't anger, but sadness and longing.

"I should've known better," sighed Rody as he kicked a stone in his path, "He wouldn't have abandoned us so callously. Hope you can forgive me for thinking the worst of you."

Rody made it back home, giving his little siblings a big hug before looking at his savings. The gem heist hadn't exactly been a success, so he had not been paid for it. Still, it was better than having his siblings possibly dying of a horrific death when the Trigger bombs had gone off.

"Not much to go by," muttered Rody, "Gotta find a real job."

Suddenly, he heard someone knocking on the trailer door and quickly went to see who it was. He was surprised to see some sort of government worker wearing an expensive suit standing outside his home.

"Can I help you?" asked Rody.

"Rody Soul?" asked the man, to which Rody nodded, "I have a few documents that require your signatures. Do you mind if we finish this either inside or outside?"

"... Outside," said Rody as he closed the door behind him, wondering what was going on.

The agent merely nodded as he grabbed a nearby table and placed it between them, gesturing for Rody to grab a seat.

"What's this about?" asked Rody, slightly nervous.

"Quite a few things, along with apologies and reparations," said the agent as he opened up the briefcase, "Namely in regards to your father, Eddie Soul. The heroes were rather adamant that the man was the main reason why they were able to prevent Humarise's plot. In recognition of his actions, the government has decided to posthumously award him. As you are the beneficiary's son, it has been decided to have you receive the rewards."

The agent placed several papers in front of Rody, who began to scan through the paper before finding it difficult to breathe. On the papers was not only recognition for Eddie's sacrifice, but also money for everything that was done. The old house that had been forcefully confiscated from his family by the bank after Eddie had been kidnapped had been given back to them. The bank account that had been frozen by the government was unfrozen, and with a signature, he would become the owner, and the amount inside the account was enough to get him and his family through the years, enough to pay for his siblings' education.

While Rody wanted to yell the injustice that had been handed to them previously, he kept his words to himself, not wanting to risk losing the funds to allow his siblings an easier life.

"Besides having the house returned in your name and funds, there is another matter," said the agent as he pulled out another paper, "This one is from the one who escaped Humarise to get this information to us, Alan Key. He recently woke up and gave this to us."

Rody read through the paper before feeling heart almost stopping, tears threatening to come out of his eyes. Alan Key had made a will that should he perish, that all his belongings would go to him, and had also given him a trust fund that would allow him to pay for piloting school. Apparently, Eddie had told him that Rody had wanted to become a pilot when he grew up.

While Rody was able to hide his emotions, his quirk didn't allow him to do so, so Pino was displaying for all to see.

"And finally, this one," said the agent as he pushed another paper towards him, to which Rody quickly read through it.

It was a smaller letter, not as long as the others, but it was just as impactful. This letter was a recommendation from Star and Strip herself, allowing him to use her as a referral when applying to his school of choice. Such a referral would open doors that he might have had to struggle to get in.

"With that, my job is done," said the agent as he stood up, "Have a nice day."

Rody took a deep breath as he contemplated the future once more. Now, he had a chance to fulfill his dream as well as ensure his family was safe, healthy, and happy.