The red flare shot towards the ceiling of the dome-shaped facility.
"What the hell is happening... My nomu...!" Shigaraki Tomura stammered, taking a few steps back.
The nomu was gone. Blasted away through the ceiling, leaving a large, gaping hole. It was comical, in a way.
Anger and fear flooded through Shigaraki, and a sudden burst of rage made him yell and dash towards All Might, who was standing heroically near the center of the plaza, dust and smoke billowing around the hero's feet. The sight disgusted Shigaraki, magnifying his rage and resentment.
"Today is the day you die--"
Then suddenly a piercing pain exploded from his forearms and legs, one after the other, and he buckled back, falling to the ground.
He cried out in pain and frustration, then his body trembled with tangible fear as he realized he was shot. He turned quickly to the source of the gunshot sound, and his stomach lurched when he saw them.
They were here.
Standing on a tall ledge from the mountainous terrain, a pro hero with a cowboy hat, a mask, and a red cape held up a gun, pointing directly at Shigaraki. The villain breathed raggedly and slowly inched away, still on the ground.
"Kurogiri!" Shigaraki called, but there was no reply. No purple mist instantly appearing next to him whenever he demanded.
"KUROGIRI!" He yelled again, desperation and denial seeping through his voice.
"Don't bother!" Someone else called out. Shigaraki realized with a jolt it was another pro hero on the other side of the stadium, walking out from the trees. This hero had long blond hair and a really, really annoying voice.
"Your teleporting friend is outta service!" The loud blond hero screeched.
"Dammit! It was a trap all along!" Shigaraki said through gritted teeth, the pain from the bullet wounds tearing through his body, "Master... you lied..."
His mind barely had enough time to register that fact when he felt his entire body restrained as white strands of fabric snapped tight around him.
The villain struggled against the restraints to no avail. His arms were stuck behind his back and his hands couldn't reach the fabric wrapped around him.
"It would be advantageous for you to stop struggling," the deep voice that belonged to Eraser Head said behind Shigaraki, "I've erased your quirk anyway."
"You filthy heroes!" the villain spat, "I will not lose... to..."
His movements became sluggish and his eyelids grew heavy, then he felt himself sink into darkness.
•••
"Wait, they were here, in the facility, the entire time?" Iida said, his voice full of confusion and disbelief.
The group of 1-A students standing on top of the staircase witnessed how pro heroes popped out of nowhere, and they were very, very surprised.
"There's no other explanation..." Bakugo muttered, "it was an ambush, all along."
"So they knew the villains would come here?" Uraraka asked as she watched a swarm of Ectoplasm's clones race towards different sectors of the facility.
On the central plaza, Shigaraki was unconscious, knocked out by Midnight's quirk. Cementoss had constructed a high wall, blocking the students' view of All Might.
Izuku knew that his mentor was at his limit now.
"But how would they know?" Iida wondered out loud, "and if they did, why risk the safety of the class?"
The sound of Thirteen sighing attracted the attention of the class.
"Trust me, we didn't want to endanger all of you. But we needed to make sure the villains did not doubt anything," she said, then motioned at the unconscious body of purple mist, "especially since they have a villain who can teleport."
"I suppose that's reasonable..." Iida replied.
"How did you know in the first place, though?" Bakugo wasn't letting this matter go.
"Do you remember that security outbreak a while back? It was caused by them. We later noticed that a copy of a teacher schedule was missing," Thirteen explained, "we deduced that the arrival of All Might sparked hostility from villains, and so we set up precautions, hoping to protect the students while also to capture all the villains in one try."
Bakugo just listened quietly, and the entire class seemed to be convinced.
However, Izuku couldn't help the burning feeling of guilt.
Those stories were all lies, fabricated by the principal and All Might to hide the truth of Izuku's time travel.
None of the teachers knew Izuku's side of the story, and they were only told that the police received an anonymous tip saying that the League of Villains was planning to attack USJ on this day.
Izuku felt suffocated, all the lies dripping into his life until they flooded him completely. It felt like poison.
•••
Asui Tsuyu swam as fast as she could. She was somewhere in the shipwreck zone, dragging Mineta towards the shore. Behind her chased numerous other villains, the one that looked like a shark closing the distance at a frightening speed.
Just a little faster, Tsuyu forced herself to stay calm.
Mineta was trying his best to hold his breath, but he wouldn't be able to do so for long.
The shark villain was getting closer and closer, and Tsuyu pushed herself to her limit.
She thought about the mock battle training.
Think calmly, Tsuyu, just like during the training.
How did the winning sides win? What did they do?
Then she thought about Midoriya, his fight against Bakugo. There was one time where Midoriya had leaped above and over Bakugo to dodge an attack, while simultaneously blasting the blond boy down with his quirk.
An idea formed in her head.
"Sorry, Mineta."
Before Mineta could register what was happening Tsuyu threw Mineta straight out of the water in the air with her tongue.
"ASUIIII!!" Mineta screeched as he flew vertically up in the air.
In the water, the shark villain laughed cynically, "Saving your friend first? How moving!"
The shark villain opened his mouth, revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth.
Tsuyu stopped swimming and stayed in place as the villain closed the distance in merely a few seconds.
Then just as the villain snapped his mouth shut Tsuyu dodged out of the way upwards. The villain's momentum kept him charging forward in the water so he couldn't stop in time to turn around and attack Tsuyu again. Taking this opening, Tsuyu stepped hard on the villain's back and kicked herself up out of the water and in the air.
She used the villain's own momentum to help her burst out of the water.
Mineta was already falling, his screeching getting more and more desperate. His fall was stopped abruptly as Tsuyu's tongue wrapped around him, and he lurched in the air until finally, he landed in shallow waters.
Mineta opened his eyes, "What in the world just happened..."
Tsuyu landed right next to him only seconds later, the water splashing into Mineta's eyes so he had to close them again.
"Come on, let's go, they're catching up again," Tsuyu hurried out of the water towards the shore. Mineta followed close behind.
Then suddenly they saw a familiar figure and Mineta nearly burst into tears.
Ectoplasm halted in from of them.
"Is anyone hurt?" The pro hero said, his presence reassuring.
Tsuyu shook her head, "It's just me and Mineta in this zone. Where are the others?"
"All scattered about. But everything is under control now. Let's go."
Gunshots (most likely from Sniper) echoed in the facility, and screams of pain sounded from the waters behind them. Those villains, however scary they seemed to Tsuyu and Mineta, were mere insects compared to the professional heroes.
"Geez, Asui, how did you get us out of there, though?" Mineta asked as they started to head back towards the entrance.
"You should pay more attention in training," Tsuyu ribbited, "especially during Midoriya's rounds."
•••
Not long after, the remaining lower-class villains were all defeated by the pro heroes, and the sounds of police sirens had gathered at the gate of USJ.
Kirishima had arrived first, followed by Todoroki, Asui and Mineta; then the rest of class 1-A gradually reunited with the main group waiting on the top of the stairs.
Friends checked with each other to make sure they were ok and stories were exchanged from the different sectors of the facility.
However, despite all the sighs of relief and proud stories of fights against villains, nothing was the same anymore, and everyone felt it. A palpable tension lingered above the class no matter how much they tried to ignore it. They were shown the real world and the real dangers to come, and there was a sense of panic, almost, as no one knew how much worse these disasters can get.
But there was also something new. A feeling of seriousness and newfound determination that this world needed protection.
Everyone was thinking about the attack, but Izuku's mind was glued to something else.
Shigaraki and Kurogiri apprehended, All For One out there somewhere in the unknown.
Nothing will be the same again.
•••
"Glad for you to join me today," Principal Nezu squeaked as Izuku and All Might sat down on the sofa in the principal's office.
"I would like to start with the elephant in the room," Nezu sipped from his tea, "it happened."
"Yes, sir, it did," Izuku replied.
"A few updates, if you haven't heard it from your homeroom teacher already, all of the villains were captured. Apart from Shigaraki Tomura and Kurogiri, who are currently detained in Tartarus, the lower-class villains are all detained in various high-security jails in the city. How are your classmates?"
"They're doing fine. Even though this was a pretty frightening experience, all of us have recovered, and we're all starting to get ready for the sports festival. People like Kirishima are really hyped up for it."
Nezu hesitated for a split second and his expression became carefully composed again.
"Midoriya, with your abundant experience in the interaction with villains... have you ever suspected... information leaks?"
"What?" Izuku frowned at Nezu's tone, "you mean... traitors?"
"To put it bluntly, yes."
"No, I haven't really."
"Very well then," Nezu hopped off his chair and walked around the table towards Izuku and All Might, "if you need my help, my office is always open. Both of you should go and rest. I understand that All Might had quite the fight."
"It's my duty," All Might bowed slightly, then both of them left the office.
Izuku walked with his mentor silently in the empty hallway. It was late in the afternoon, with the last rays of sunset peeking through the glass walls.
They went back to All Might's private office, where Izuku had temporarily stored his backpack.
"You seem a bit down, young Midoriya," All Might broke the silence.
"I just feel like I'm losing my advantage of knowing the future," Izuku said as he retrieved his backpack, "what if things go worse starting from now?"
"It was the right decision," All Might asserted, "and plus, no matter if you know what's gonna happen or not, you must always be ahead of the villains. I'm sure in your original time you were doing the exact same thing, even if you were facing an unknown path."
Izuku thought about it, then nodded.
Then someone knocked on the office door.
"Midoriya."
All Might opened the door and Aizawa stepped in.
"Aizawa sensei," Izuku greeted his teacher.
"I saw you come in here. I need to ask you about something, and I'm pretty sure All Might is aware of this," Aizawa said in a serious tone.
"You were the 'anonymous tipper', weren't you?"
Izuku flinched.
"From the way you acted today, you knew what was going to happen," Aizawa continued, his face expressionless, "and the way you fight... You're not like Bakugo, who knows how to react by nature. Nor are you like Todoroki, who was trained under Endeavor. You've obviously received some sort of training before, but none of your records say so."
All Might was listening intently, obviously surprised by Aizawa's observations as well.
Izuku didn't like where this was heading.
"My point is," Aizawa said, "I know it when my student is hiding something.
"What else do you know?"
A/N: USJ arc is done. I'm not really planning out what I write so I will probably regret all this later but whatever thanks for reading love you all