Kurogiri always enjoyed taking walks. He knew it didn't make sense since he could teleport everywhere, but maybe that was the reason. It was nice to take some time to get somewhere slowly and enjoy the journey.

He wanted to take advantage of this while he still could, because once the league made their debut he would have to stay in the bar when not on mission.

As he strolled through town he saw some blonde haired middle schooler push a green haired kid to the ground. The blonde haired kid releases small explosions from his hand and the child on the grown flinches in fear. Kurogiri smiles and thinks to himself.

"as all things should be, the strong standing over the weak. That kid seems to understand what we're trying to prove, it doesn't matter who's right, only who's strong. That exploding kid would make a fine villain when he grows up".

As the blonde kid starts to walk away, he turns around and screams at the smaller one getting off the ground "stay out of my way you fucking quirkless Deku!"

Kurogiri pauses at this. Quirkless? Wasn't their master looking for some quirkless test subjects for their new project? The mission to capture some hadn't been planned yet, but Kurogiri wasn't one to pass up on a golden opportunity.

As the child started to stand up and wipe tears from his face, Kurogiri waited until there wasn't anyone else on the street before easily warping away the distracted middle schooler.

All for one smirked and laughed as Kurogiri explained the situation, "you've really outdone yourself this time Kurogiri. It was going to be a hassle to find someone who was quirkless but not elderly, they aren't nearly as common as they used to be. I suppose we should get started then"

All for one reached forward and grabbed the terrified child. As his yellow backpack fell to the ground something interesting fell out, Kurogiri picked up the notebook labeled "Hero Analysis #13" and flipped through the pages and spoke to himself. "This child seems to have quite the skill in analysis and an obsession with heros".

Kurogiri was both impressed and disgusted by how much time this child clearly spent watching those fools in spandex.

All for one glanced through the notebook and smiled as maliciously as one can without a face. Looking down on the cowering child, "Well, little one, I think I have the perfect plan for you"

It has been a week since her little boy hadn't come home one day.

He seemed to have just disappeared off the face of the Earth. One moment he was with his friend Katsuki, the next he was just gone.

She spoke with the detective that was on his case as often as she could, trying to get every piece of news that she could.

She knew they wouldn't have any, but she had to know what happened to her baby. Inko had been heartbroken when one of the first questions the detective asked was what her son's quirk was. She swore she could see the interest leave the man when she admitted that Izuku was quirkless.

It broke her heart to see that almost no one really cared about a quirkless kid going missing. Everyone she spoke to suggested that he had run away, but she knew what they were thinking and what they kept hinting at.

Quirkless people were far more likely to commit suicide.

How could they assume a fourteen year old boy would do such a thing? Just the thought of it would send her into a spiral of sobbing and hoping that her baby was safe, wherever he was.

Months passed and there was no change, Inko had put up flyers all over town hoping that someone, anyone, had seen her baby. But she had to admit she was losing hope that he was safe somewhere.

Something bad had clearly happened, but no one would or could figure out what. It seemed like he was walking home one day and then just vanished into thin air.

At this point the police had stopped looking and weren't going to put more resources into finding a quirkless child that had gone missing months ago.

She hated that no one was looking. His disappearance didn't make the news, there was no effort on anyone's part to find her boy. It was like they just expected him to be dead as soon as they heard the word 'quirkless'

"How come this nomu is so much smaller than the others? Are you sure it will actually be useful?" Shigaraki stated while pointing at a nomu that was hunched over with a pale white skin that seemed to be made of something like bone with short spikes covering its body except for its chest, much like an odd porcupine of sorts.

It was crouched on the ground and its muscle and bone structure had been warped so it could only walk on all fours, so the already small nomu barely came up to Shigaraki's hip. The nomu looked up at Shigaraki when it was pointed at, it had a long bony snout with no lips to cover its teeth, and an exposed brain. The only thing that still seemed human about it were those piercing green eyes that seemed to take in everything around it.

All for One spoke slowly and softly "Now now, size isn't everything, it's important to have multiple tools in one's toolbox". Pointing at the massive nomu build to battle All Might "Think of this nomu like a sledgehammer. It's powerful, destructive and easy to use"

"Yes!" Shigaraki exclaimed "The perfect weapon!"

All for one raised a hand silencing the young villain, then pointed at the small spiked nomu

"This one is like a scalpel, fast, precise, and just as deadly in the right hands"

Shigaraki scratched his neck, getting frustrated "well, what makes this little runt so special? What can this tiny little thing do that the other monsters can't?!"

All for one looked to be in thought for a moment then moved over to a control panel before responding, "I see, perhaps a demonstration is needed" as he released one of the failed nomus from its pod. The nomu that stepped out seemed half made. One leg looked powerful and shaped like that of a bull, while on the other side four spider legs jutted out, making it walk awkwardly. Its body seemed contorted, one arm seemed crab like that was so long it nearly touched the ground and the other was human arm that seemed out of place on this monstrosity

"This nomu was our experiment to see what happens when you give a numo multiple mutation quirks, as you can see it is no use to us now going forward, so it will serve as a good example"

All for one turned to the small nomu and pointed at the failed experiment "analyze and terminate"

The small creature's body was completely still and it's entire focus was on the beast in front of it. Those green eyes seemed to bore into the target then it then spoke in a monotone voice without looking away. "3 Quirk: Part bull. Part crab. Part spider. Strength bull. Shoots web. Enxtend eye stocks. Weakness: Unbalanced. Limit on web amount. Shell not over heart''. Then, without warning, he extended the spikes on his body to about 2 feet as both the nomu and its clothes became invisible. Shigaraki looked around for a moment to see where the odd nomu went before he realized that the experiment was already dead, with a now bloody claw where its heart used to be.

All for one smiles "This nomu has been quite the fun project for me, I've given it invisibility, quirk identification, enhanced speed, and a mutation that gives it a bone exoskeleton with extendable spikes, I think it was called 'porcupine' or something foolish like that"

(Shigaraki decided not to mention he also thought it looked like a porcupine.)

Shigaraki's mouth grew into a terrifying grin "So this will be our rouge to cut apart the heroes" Then he paused for a moment, "But why does he walk like that? Is it from the quirk or something?"

"Ah, well you see, when turning a person into a nomu their biology is quite pliable. I'm sure you've noticed the irregular forms of the other nomu as well, such as the claws and teeth on our anti-All-Might nomu.

"I chose that shape for two reasons. Firstly, it is far faster when given a body suitable for running on all fours. Secondly, you always said you wanted a pet dog"

Shigaraki's grin returned in full force "Thank you Sensei"

It had been nearly a year since her baby boy had gone missing, and even Inko had to admit that she doubted he'd ever come back. The last 10 months were the hardest of Inko's entire life. Everything reminded her of her son. It was hard to carry any conversation without being filled with sorrow about her boy. Her best friend told Inko that her son Katsuki got into UA, but all that Inko could think about was how badly her son wanted to go there.

She wanted to be happy for them, but all she could feel was regret that it wasn't her child there. She had gotten to the point where her only remaining hope was that her son ran away and was just living somewhere else. Everything else was too hard to consider, so she just kept telling herself he was happy in some other city and would come home one day, even though she knew in her heart that wouldn't happen.

The day was finally here, the big day when they would show the world that the League of Villains is to be feared.

Today was the day All Might would die.

Shigaraki smiled as he saw the fear in the eyes of the students and pros, but then frowned underneath his hand mask when he realized that All Might wasn't there. Well, even without him there, he could still have fun ridding the world of a few heroes and some hero wannabes.

He said his little speech and signaled for the pawns behind him to charge forward through the swirling portal as eraserhead began fighting the thugs that had signed up for this attack.

On his left stood the hulking black nomu built specifically to kill All Might and on his right the currently invisible bony nomu that crouched low to the ground.

The smaller nomu was whispering into the collar that they had designed to record everything that the nomu said and what it was looking at. That way they had notes on all the quirks of the students and pros that were seen during the attack.

Shigaraki was still upset that All Might didn't show up, but felt that it was going well enough as he watched the students get warped all over the massive building. He taunted Aizawa and listened to the beautiful sound of fighting that seemed to come from all around them.

Kurogiri reappeared next to him as he watched the large nomu toss Eraserhead around like a ragdoll. Shigaraki was filled with rage at the news of an escaped student and seriously considered killing him for his mistake before thinking it over.

A few students started coming in from the different areas, most ran away to the exit, but a few started to run to the hero lying broken on the ground. Suddenly everyone's attention was drawn to the doors as they exploded open and All Might stepped in, giving his typical stupid lines and Shigaraki felt himself grow excited with the chance to end this man's life.

It was a thing of beauty to watch this immense nomu face off with the number 1 hero as they matched each other blow for blow. It seemed the tide of the battle had shifted when, with the help of a warp gate, nomu was able to get a hold on All Might in his weak point, tearing into his flesh. Then one of the escaped children started to freeze his nomu.

Getting frustrated with them interfering he looked at where the invisible nomu was and spoke quietly to it, "get rid of them" and pointed towards the three students.

He smiled as he watched a blonde haired kid with grenades around his wrists screamed out as spikes were jammed through his hands. Then, just moments later a student with white and red hair was slammed into by their invisible attacker and thrown into the water zone. But the third boy stood strong against this attack by taking a defensive position and hardening his entire body.

The fight between the nomu and All Might ended as the monster was launched through the ceiling. Shigaraki charged him in one final attempt to end All Might before getting shot in the hand.

It was so frustrating!

All Might was clearly on the verge of defeat, he seemed to be barely even standing after that intense exchange with the beast made to kill him. In a final act of desperation and rage, Shigaraki pointed at All Might and shouted out "KILL HIM" as he stepped through the portal.

The last thing he saw before leaving was the number one hero collapsing as his body was filled with puncture wounds and his invisible pet outlined in the hero's blood.

Kirishima looked on in terror as All Might, his hero and teacher, was thrown to the ground by this invisible enemy and his body shrunk down as it was pierced by something. The blood that sprayed out revealed the general shape of the attacker. A surprisingly small spike covered creature.

The hero began spitting up too much blood as the pro heroes began rushing in from the entrance and Kirishima rushed to All Might's side.

The invisible beast stepped away and became both visible and docile now that its task was complete. All Might reached up and tried to say something, but nothing came out but sputtering blood. Kirishima leaned in to hear what he was trying to say when All Might shoved a bloody finger into his mouth and closed his eyes with one final smile.

Kirishima had never felt more things at once in his life.

He was filled with sadness at the death of the most manly hero.

He was filled with anger at the monster that had killed him.

He was scared about whatever came next.

He was very confused as to why All Might's final action was to shove a bloody finger into his mouth.

Kirishima couldn't move himself away from the fallen hero as he watched the pros roundup the last of the villains and restrain the now calm beast who showed no resistance but continued to mutter into its collar whenever it looked at a pro.

Recovery Girl stood over All Might's body and did everything she could to hold herself together. Kirishima begged her to save his life, but they both knew that it was too late for that. But she paused when she saw blood on the boy's lips, but no wound.

"Is that All Might's blood?" She asked softly.

The boy looked up confused with tears rolling down his face "yeah.. I don't know why, but right before he.. Well he shoved a finger covered in blood in my mouth and tried to say something, but I couldn't hear him. Does that mean something to you?"

She sighed deeply and gently placed a hand on his back, "thank you for telling me, but that's a conversation for another day"

A few days had passed since the incident occurred, and detective Tsukauchi sat in principal Nezu's office with a somber look that hasn't left him since he got the news about his old friend.

Nezu walked up to him, seeming to remain positive no matter how bleak things became "Did you finally find out what those 'nomus' were?"

"Yeah, we finally got the blood work back, but I'm not sure you'll like the answer. They're people, or at least they were"

Nezu looked at the detective with horror in his eyes, "what happened to them?"

"It seems they were experimented on and given multiple quiks, which caused them to go mostly brain-dead and look the way they are now. But that's not the worst of it"

He sat down and placed a file on Nezu's desk

"The one that killed Toshinori was just a child. Some kid that was kidnapped about 10 months ago. We'll be notifying his family later today. The real question is how aware he was of what he was doing, and if he can recover"

The detective knew that experimentation was a sore spot for Nezu, which was honestly why he brought this up to him first. This Izuku Midoriya kid needed someone in his corner, and if anyone could understand him it would be Nezu.

The small mouse-rat-bear person walked into the facility where they were holding Izuku and spoke to the guard on duty.

"Hello, I'm here to meet with Izuku Mydoriya, also known as Nomu. Is there anything I should know about that sets him off"

The guard laughed a little "I'll be impressed if you can set him off. The thing doesn't respond to anything. The only time we got a reaction was when we took his collar, the thing nearly ripped my face off when we did that, but calmed down when we put a new one on him"

Nezu most certainly did not like that the guard called the boy a thing. But decided now wasn't the time to fight that battle.

Nezu approached the spike covered child who was handcuffed to a bench that he was laying on and wearing a quirk suppressing collar. Nezu felt rage at whoever would do this to a child as he looked at the person in front of him with an exposed brain and a blank expression, then back down as the picture of Izuku before he was taken.

The small mouse-like man spoke softly to the boy, laying across the bench on the other side of the interrogation table "Izuku Midoriya? Can you hear me?" The only response he got was the boy starting to quietly list the attributes of his quirk in very broken sentences.

Nezu sighed and tried again "Midoriya, I think I can get you out of this sticky situation, but you'll need to talk to me"

No response.

"Well, if you don't respond to Midoriya, let's try this" Nezu sighed again, already disliking this strategy. He stood on the table and spoke with as much of a commanding voice he could muster "Nomu! Answer me!"

Izuku immediately looked up, staring directly into Nezu's eyes.

"Shigaraki has left me in charge of you, now tell me what your name is"

He remained silent but kept looking around, as if waiting for someone to confirm this. Progress, at least he acknowledged Nezu.

So he tried a second time, feeling disgusted with himself but knowing that it was necessary. He didn't want to imagine what would happen to the boy if they couldn't get him to communicate. "Tell me your name or I'll have to tell Shigaraki you're not obeying me"

The boy seemed to curl in on himself at that statement, "Nomu ''. His voice was raspy and slightly distorted from his very non-humanoid mouth.

"You are Izuku Midoriya now, that is your name"

He pointed at himself with a boney claw, "Nomu?" He sounded very confused this time.

"No, you're not Nomu, you're Izuku"

"Izuku Nomu?"

Nezu felt a pang of sadness at the extent of damage this boy's mind had sustained. At least he could speak though, the other captured 'nomu' couldn't even do that much.

"Well that's progress at least, Izuku. Now, can you tell me where Shigaraki is?"

Izuku looked and felt very confused, shaking his head. Then paused, realising that he didn't have the answer to a direct question "Get trouble?" as he unconsciously moved a hand over the many scars that his master had given him.

"Oh, you're not in trouble, just the opposite, you've done a great job already!"

Izuku instinctively flinched when Nezu raised his voice.

Nezu felt his heart drop and spoke much softer "I won't hurt you Izuku, you're safe here. I won't let anyone else ever hurt you again"

Ink midoriya slammed the door open as a guard tried to stop her "Miss you can't go in there-"

"Where's my baby?!"

Izuku looked terrified by the yelling and slamming of the door and did everything he could to run away but was still handcuffed down. The collar started to shock him as he tried to become invisible. So all he could do was raise his hands to protect his head as he whimpered from the pain of the collar, expecting to be attacked.

Inko had a look of terror in her eyes as she fell to her knees. "No, no, no. what did they do to my boy. Are you telling me that is my innocent little Izuku?!"

Izuku looked up a little at the mention of his new name but seemed scared of the tone it was said with, and pointed at himself with a quiet "Izuku?"

Inko began sobbing as walked over to her son "Y-yes, you're my little Izuku"

The guard stopped her as got within arms reach of Izuku, "I'm sorry ma'am, but you really can't get that close, we don't know the extent of his conditioning, we don't know how dangerous he is"

Inko wanted to protest, but she saw how scared Izuku was with being a new place with new people. "Okay.. just promise me you'll take care of my boy"

Nezu spoke up "Miss midoriya, I will do everything in my power to make sure your son is safe and taken care of"

There were little difficulties that arose fairly immediately, like trying to eat and drink.

Izuku's hands weren't built for silverware and he clearly didn't know he was supposed to use them. So he simply leaned forward and ate the food directly off the plate.

Additionally, because he didn't have any lips, drinking water normally became a clear issue. Trying to use a glass made a mess and trying to use a straw wouldn't work at all since he couldn't make the needed suction. Izuku had a very hard time figuring out these new methods of drinking water and seemed confused everytime they brought out a different kind of cup for him to try using.

Inko felt terrible about it, but the only way they found he could easily drink water was to put a bowl of it on the ground. While Izuku had seemed surprised when given cups and straws, this method was clearly familiar to him as he immediately shot forward to quench his thirst.

It broke his mother's heart every time he seemed unsure about eating at a table or given even the slightest amount of respect. It became hard not to realise the role that Izuku had played while with the villains, an odd combination of assassin and pet.

The next day Inko, Nezu, and a few doctors looked over the brain scans they took of Izuku

The head doctor spoke up explaining what they were looking at for Inko's sake.

"So, this is not exactly what we were expecting. We had thought that there would be very little brain activity from what we have seen so far, but it's the exact opposite. It's like his brain never stops analyzing and memorizing the world around him. But here's the issue, the part of his brain that handles communication is barely functioning, it's like he has a super computer in there but can't tell anyone"

"That must be quite frustrating for him. I had a similar issue prior to learning Japanese" Nezu stated quietly

Inko didn't know what to say. She couldn't imagine living in such a way.

"The more worrying part is his emotions, it seems like pretty much all of them were dulled, except for one-"

"Fear" Inko cut in "you can see it in his eyes"

"Yes miss, we're assuming that's how they controlled him without completely wiping away his conscious thoughts like they did with the other nom- person"

Nezu calmly asked "What of his memories, he hasn't seemed to have much of a reaction to just about anyone"

"It appears that all conscious memories before being captured has been wiped, most likely from a quirk, but he shouldn't have any issues going forward"

Inko fell backwards into a chair, clutching her chest "So, you're telling me the only thing my boy remembers is being tortured for months?"

"He will still have any subconscious memories, such as how he feels about certain things, language, or any sorts of associations, but no, he won't have any actual memories from before then"

For the next few weeks Izuku spent most of his time in speech therapy and counseling once it became clear that he was always transported by warp and had no useful information. After a few sessions with a counselor he was put on anti-anxiety meds to help with his frequent feelings of panic. He started to speak a little more clearly, but it was obviously still a struggle.

Things also became easier once all charges were dropped since it was easy to tell that he had only ever fought out of fear and conditioning.

However, the public didn't necessarily feel the same way. Even if he had been brainwashed and controlled, he was still the monster that killed All Might to a lot of people. For this reason he hadn't been sent home yet even though he was cleared of his charges. Being in public was still dangerous for him, and the last thing anyone needed was him lashing out in fear because people provoked him out of anger.

Luckily that was getting better over time, with frequent therapy and medication, his emotions began to regulate more normally and he seemed a lot less frightened whenever he was approached by a new person. However, he still couldn't break the habit of explaining someone's quirk whenever they approached him, and only felt comfortable when he wore some kind of collar.

Inko would have thought he would want to be free of his old restraints, asking why he would still want to wear that.

He seemed to be in deep thought for a moment, then slowly responded "collar was mine, everything else take, but always keep collar" as he slowly fiddled with his new neck piece.

"Hmm, but what about your clothes? Wouldn't you always get to keep them like the collar?"

Izuku seemed to panic and his speech started to break down "no want answer"

Inko looked shocked but tried to calm him by gently holding him, "that's ok, you don't have to answer anything if you don't want to"

A few days later Nezu visited the young boy with someone that Izuku didn't recognize. Out of instinct he immediately started talking when he saw the new figure "constant eye contact stop quirk. Weaknesses, hair float and blink more when use"

Izuku looked embarrassed when he realized he did it again, and put a lot of effort into talking correctly. Each word coming out very planned and careful "I. Am. Sor-ry. I. Do. Not. Mean. To. Be. Rude"

Aizawa chuckled a little "weird but polite, I can work with that, you can call me Aizawa"

Nezu was a familiar face though, and Izuku felt comfortable with him around and with the compliment he tried extra hard to speak well "What. Can. Help. You. Today." He looked frustrated for a moment. Then tried again "What. Can. Help. You. With. Today?"

Nezu smiled at the progress the boy was making "we're here to talk to you about your future and what you would want that to look like".

"Future not like this?"

"We've talked about this Izuku, you won't be in here forever, but where you go from here is entirely up to you!"

"Want to help"

Aizawa spoke up "Why?"

Aizawa and Nezu both were able to respect the amount of effort he was willing to put into getting his point across well. "They made me hurt people, am not them, I want to help not hurt"

"How about being a hero?" Nezu chimed in.

Izuku looked down at the floor "No one want monster for hero"

Aizawa was furious at this "Izuku! You are not a monster. The monsters are people who did this to you. Not. You. Do you understand me?"

Izuku looked up a little, but still not looking at either man, trying to figure out if he was in trouble or not. "Sorry sir".

Nezu placed a small and gently hand on Izuku's shoulder "You're not in trouble, we just don't want you to blame yourself for things you didn't do"

"Now, please answer the question Nezu asked, would you want to be a hero?"

He looked up at Aizawa as tears ran down Izuku's face "Yes"

Nezu stood on the table, "Then it's decided, you'll be going to UA, we already spoke to your mother and she agreed as long as it was what you wanted".

"My A? I no have A"

"Ah yes, pesky memory loss, of course that's something you wouldn't have been taught about. UA is a school for heroes that I am the principal of".

Izuku's bright green eyes were wide with excitement. "I can train to hero?"

Aizawa nodded "Yes, and I'd be your teacher. We'll have to work on your grammar, but I think you'll do just fine"

Nezu smiled, "Plus, with the media calming down a bit, you'll be able to go back to your home from before you were taken. But if you have any issues coming and going from school we'll be happy to figure something out"

Izuku wasn't really sure what any of that meant, he had no idea what life looked like before the League, but it seemed good.

It was not good. He stepped into the room that was apparently his before his memories started. The walls were covered with the face of the man he killed. Was this his punishment? To always be surrounded by that face?

Were they angry at him for what he did, so he'd be forced to sleep in a room where those eyes could always haunt him.

It took Inko a little bit to figure out why he was crying and seemed scared of the posters. But once she understood they were moved into a box so he wouldn't have to look at them.

Other than that, it seemed like a minor change to Izuku. It was just a different room, but the windows were nice. He could see the outside whenever he wanted!

A few days later Izuku did his best to squeeze into the school uniform, but his body just wasn't the right shape, and the spikes weren't helping either. The best he could do was pull the spikes in as much as he could, so they were only a ½ inch long. Then he and his mother ordered a specialty uniform from the school, which was actually pretty common due to the range of student body types. The uniform looked bumpy and odd over the tiny spikes, but it actually fit him and he could still walk 'normally' while wearing it, so that was good enough.

He also got a new collar that he got to wear with his uniform. It was less noticeable than the one he had before, but it still helped to calm him down.

Izuku was very nervous and had practiced over and over to not start analyzing quirks when he meets people. He took a deep breath and walked into class 1-A