A Tarnished Hero

"So, you want me to help you with preparations for the Sports Festival?" Izuku sipped on his cup of tea, the beverage graciously provided by the principal himself, even though they were currently inside his house. "Just gonna ask you, why? You have your employees, as well as a bunch of other people helping with the planning. Why enlist me?"

"Simple, you have a thought process quite different from today's average man." Nezu sipped on his cup of tea as well, his perfectly practiced technique making sure that none of it spilled onto his pristine clothes. "A rarity in this day and age, if I do say so myself."

"... Is my input really that important?" Izuku hummed as he placed the cup of tea back on the table, glass clinking against glass.

"You may value your words less because you haven't seen the total extent of the HPSC's influence on Japanese Hero society." Nezu placed his cup of tea on the desk as well, a somber aura emanating from his being. "Your time in that… other world, as you have said so yourself, may have caused you to forget some aspects of our society that you viewed with rose-tinted glasses up to the time of your death."

Looking back on his childhood days, he winced. Yeah, he did view heroes as the big thing, a dream to strive for, but with how he was treated, he saw some of the darker things society had to offer. But even up to the end, he refused to let go of his rose-tinted glasses. It was only when he arrived in the Lands Between that he had let go of his hopes and dreams, only to be replaced with a new one thanks to Melina.

It also made for some perspective shifts that he didn't know he needed.

"Alright, fine. You want me to help? You got my help." Izuku sighed while standing up from his chair. "So, where do we go from here?"

"Why, just back to my office. I've already called upon the others when I decided to come meet you." Nezu grinned smugly. Izuku blinked at the words, Nezu's quirk fascinating him even more. The more he kept on interacting with the rat, the more he saw into that madness that clung deep within his psyche.

To be fair, who wasn't mad these days? Just a few hours earlier when browsing through the web, he saw something in an article about the gender wage gap. Why are they asking for the same wage if they refuse to do the same work? Head-scratching, is what it is.

"'Kay then. No need to be wasting daylight." Now that he thought about it, Nezu didn't let the smile on his snout leave his face. Was he expecting this result? With that quirk of his, of course he was.

"No need to rush, Midoriya. Your punctuality and enthusiasm is appreciated, but you must learn to sometimes take the scenic route in your life." Nezu chuckled for a short while. "After all, all work and no play leads to a very unhappy life."

Izuku thought back to the Lands Between again. When was the last time he ever had time to himself to just unwind? Never… Everyday was just the same routine of waking up, exploring, finding something interesting, fighting, sometimes dying, and when everything was all said and done, find a place to set up camp and sleep.

It was only when he came back to Japan that he managed to find time to himself, and to be honest, he missed just lounging around with nothing to do other than contemplate. It sometimes brought him back to dark times, but most of the time, just the tranquility and peace that came over him was refreshing.

Plus, Melina was here, and he also had access to the Roundtable Hold down in the basement. Also, fun fact, Nobody other than he and Melina could the site of Grace in his basement. Understandable, really, as only the Tarnished can see them, and even then, some, if not most of them, lost the Sight.

A sad turn of events, for sure.

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"So, how will this work?" Izuku asked, already seated amongst the entirety of the staff.

"Quite simple, we all will be brainstorming on possible events to be used during the Sports Festival. Security and the other logistics will be taken care of by those in the position, isn't that right, Midnight?" Nezu pointed his snout towards the R18 heroine, said woman busy looking in the mirror as she fixed her hair that decided to be unruly this day. "So, yes. Events, people. Come on, no need to be shy."

"We are still following the same format, right?" Aizawa muttered, still chilling cozily in that yellow sleeping bag of his that made him resemble a caterpillar.

"Oh, yes. Unless someone here has any good ideas to change the current format, we will be sticking to our default format. For the purposes of our new blood, Midoriya, I will be explaining the default format." Nezu focused his gaze on Izuku. "We have three main events, along with a bunch of minor events during lunch break for either entertainment purposes or extra credit. However, for the purposes of this meeting, we will be deciding the three main events."

"Anything I should note for the events?" Izuku rubbed his chin.

"Ah, yes. Almost forgot that little tidbit." Izuku had the feeling that the rat didn't. "The first event must cull the number of students. Since every year level has about 20 students per class, there are a total of 220 students per year, provided that the later years do not have dropouts or… unfortunate accidents."

The wince coming from the teachers made the entire atmosphere somber, Izuku feeling that these people had seen some shit and then some. He empathized with them, not the part where students of theirs before had literally been rendered unable to continue their hero education, but the part where some of them probably saw their students die right before their eyes.

Yeah, that scenario would fuck anybody up.

"I see…" Izuku hummed.

"So, with that being said, does anyone have any ideas?" A hand was raised and her name was called out. "Yes, Thirteen?"

"How about an obstacle race? With each obstacle posing a threat to the entire herd of students." Nezu hummed at the thought.

"Isn't that what we had a few years back?" His paws tapped on the desk as he went into deep thought mode. "Well, I can see the appeal. Additionally, it hasn't been used for quite a few years now…"

"How about a battle royale?" Izuku raised his hand and the entire room fell silent at the suggestion. Nezu looked at him with interest, Aizawa with apprehension, Midnight with concern, and the rest just blurred with the rest. "What?"

"While the suggestion has merit, please bear in mind that we have a limited budget. Even with our funds – which is the highest we've ever seen thanks to All Might – it still isn't infinite." Nezu propped up his snout with both of his paws, an action that showcased that the rat was indeed interested. "Let's say we take this into consideration, how would we implement it in a way that would allow the students to still have energy to spare for the second event?"

"... Why not get rid of the second event?" Izuku suggested and Nezu raised a brow.

"Apologies, I forgot to tell you about the event themes. The first event is a culling of the number of participants, however, it must show what the students can do on their own with scenarios that their quirks either work well on, or the opposite." Nezu began explaining. "The second event is where their teamwork is tested, synergizing their quirks with one another on short notice. The third is always a tournament style competition where students will fight each other, showcasing their abilities."

"... I see…" Izuku hummed, the other teachers looking at him curiously. "Alright, with that in mind, how about merging the first and second event together. A battle royale could still show individual capabilities, but if we turn it into a team oriented event, it could also show how they work together on short notice, much more so if they were given a short time to find a team. "How about this, merge the first and second event together by making the Battle Royale have teams. Plus, it can also help with spotting individual talent when groups fight because, I'm sure you all know about this, group fights are technically just one on one's with massive scale."

"Hmm… That is true." Aizawa was the one who responded.

"Well, your suggestions do have merit, however, I still fail to see how it would be better than our tried and true default strategies." Nezu sipped on his cup of tea that he somehow managed to bring into the meeting room without being seen. In fact, some of the teachers looked at the rat with surprise, before it turned into resignation.

"Well, it could also be used to gauge how they would deal in high-stress situations, as well as come up with strategies on the fly. After all, most of them have no idea about each other's Quirks unless they were in the same class." Izuku stated with his hands on the table, fingers rapping against the hard wood creating a rhythmic tapping noise.

"That is a good explanation…" Nezu hummed for a bit. "I assume you all are on board with this event?"

"Why not? After that USJ mishap, the students, even those that aren't part of the Hero course, could stand to get some experience in fights." Vlad King mused with his hand on his chin. "Plus, some of my students are getting a bit heated with class 1-A."

"Sure, I'm game with this." Present Mic gave the rat a thumbs up. "Haven't been able to cast a battle royale before. This is gonna be awesome!"

"Hizashi, please calm down." Midnight sighed, although a smirk was quickly on her face. "That being said, yeah, I can see the battle royale being a fun little sport."

"Question is, what are the rules?" Snipe spoke up for the first time during the entire meeting. "Can't have it start without a few enforced rules."

"Quite, but I'm sure we can come up with them in time. However, that is if the battle royale will be our finalized event? So, any objections?" Nezu saw no argument from the other teachers, all of them seemingly aboard with battle royale. "Very well, if that is all, then we might as well start with going by the rules."

The meeting lasted for more than an hour, and once it finished, the teachers all went their separate ways because the school day wasn't even finished yet. Izuku still had to prepare for later afternoon during class 1-B's heroics training, or as they dubbed it with Izuku at the helm of their combat training, hell class.

Pussies, they wanted to be heroes, then they might as well be physically conditioned to fight anything thrown at them. Why are they complaining when the real thing will just be as harsh, if not more so than what he's giving them?

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"Ugh, where the bloody hell am I?" Patches groans could be heard all around the dark building, his bald head no longer shining underneath the gleaming light of the sun for their rays were nowhere near him. "The hell was I doing again… Ah right, the dragon… The wolf man… And the… by Marika's tits…"

His eyes widened when he recalled the last moment before everything went dark. A giant, fucking portal sucked him up, along with the wolf man and dragon corpse.

Quickly surveying his surroundings, because the Lands Between were just that much of an asshole to anybody within its grasp, he tightened his hands against his spear and shield…

"Blood fucking hell." Patches swore again when he realized once more that during his confrontation with the wolf man, he dropped his weapons because he didn't want to fight him. Now it came biting him in the ass because of that damned portal. "Shit, shit, shit… Okay, everything's fine… Just gotta observe… Like always… Lurk in somewhere dark…"

"Ugh, my head." A voice rattled from nearby, the tone a bit familiar. "Where am I…?"

"That's what I want to know." Patches immediately replied with a cheeky grin, pushing down his apprehension and fear for the moment. "So, how's it going?"

"Like someone bloody hit me in the head with a hammer, ugh…" The wolf man stood up, his height dwarfing Patches. "What happened? All I remember is getting sucked into a black… portal… Ah shit… You have any idea where we are?"

"Your guess is as good as mine." Patches shrugged, still feeling a bit vulnerable without his weapons. Sure, he could still fight – he wasn't a disabled asshole but an abled assholed – and he would fight anybody if they pissed him off.

Except THAT Tarnished. He'd get his ass chopped in half if he tried to fight him again.

"Well, that screws up most of my timetable…" The wolf man groaned, followed by further muttering that Patches wasn't able to hear.

"Welp, might as well go exploring." Patches grinned. "Of course, seeing as I am disarmed at the moment, I nominate you to be our vanguard."

"You really are a slime ball, you know that, right?" Patches' grin didn't fall, causing the wolf man to sigh once more. "Fine. Stay behind me, but don't be useless, alright?"

"You have my word!" Patches threw a thumbs up and the wolf man rolled his eyes. Rude. No sense of humor, that wolf man.

The two traversed the area, sunlight scarce and darkness overwhelming. The walls were hard concrete, but flimsy enough for the wolf man to break through if necessary. But that would cause the entire building to probably fall on top of their heads, so they'd rather not take the chance.

It was after a few more minutes that they had seen light shining from one of the windows, a smile floating up on Patches face when his bald head finally reflected off that glint of light, not that he was happy about the damn thing.

Peeking out of the window, both Patches and the wolf man saw a congregation of humans – those sane, at least – wearing uniform clothes. They looked at each other for a sole moment, before their eyes buggered out when they saw someone very familiar to them.

"The hell is Izuku doing here?"

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A/N: Help, I'm addicted to Deadlock!

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