Izuku gulped as Shigaraki grinned down at him. He didn't know what a murderer considered less permanent damage and, honestly, he wasn't really anxious to find out, but he was trapped. They'd taken away his weapons and tied him up so he couldn't fight back. The only thing he could rely on at all until Eraserhead came to save him was his brain and that didn't really help against physical damage... unless he could find some way out of it.

Toga: Talk your way out of it?

Compress: Will that even work?

"Um... can I offer an alternative?" He had no idea where he was going with this, he had no plan, but apparently he also had no filter, so it was happening and he was just gonna have to come up with something. Time to use that big brain of his and make Nezu proud.

Nezu: Survive first, please.

As expected, Shigaraki just looked at him in disbeleif and Dabi roared with laughter, "Come on, brat, how stupid can you get? You're tied up, about to be tortured out of your mind because we enjoy your pain and you really think we'll accept an alternative?!"

"Um..." Izuku shrugged as best he could. "I mean, it depends on if I can offer you something better, right? That's how deals work."

(a few people snorted but everyone was still too tense)

Shigaraki scoffed and rolled his eyes, "Unless you're offering to join us, I'm pretty sure you just failed your barter objective. Game over."

"Well, uh..." Izuku shuffled through everything he knew about Shigaraki. "Wait, you talk in gaming lingo a lot!"

"Because he's a nerd." Dabi smirked. "Which is an insult. You're not helping your case here."

(a few more people snorted)

"No! Not like..." Izuku forced himself to not panic. He needed to look in control. "What I mean is that the league didn't have a lot of members before recently, right? So you didn't have a lot of people to play with. And I'm sure Dabi and the others are sick of playing with you already too."

"Wow. You're really bad at this." Shigaraki deadpanned. "It's almost entertaining."

Shigaraki: But he's right, no one likes playing with me anymore for some reason.

"Yeah." Dabi drawled. "Number one rule of avoiding torture. Add insult to injury. I mean, he's not wrong, but still. Are we sure this guy is actually a master strategist or whatever?"

"He's a quirkless brat, of course he's stupid." Shigaraki said. "But I want to see if he hits rock bottom and keeps digging. Go on, kid, what's your point."

Izuku's cheeks burned at the insults, but he pushed forward, "Well, why don't you play me? I'm literally a captive audience. I can't say no to another round. You get a gaming partner, the rest of the league gets a break, and I already know you're better than me, so we can add psychological torture and humiliation to the deal! What do you say?"

Shigaraki: Huh...

"That is the stupidest thing I've ever..." Dabi trailed off as he noticed Shigaraki nodding thoughtfully. "Please don't tell me you're actually considering this?!"

Shigaraki: Well I need someone to play with!

"What? The kid makes some good points!" Shigaraki defended. "You're always whining whenever I make you play! It might be nice to play against someone who isn't going to melt my best controller."

Dabi: You dust your controllers all the time!

Shigaraki: That one was my favorite!

"You dust your controllers all the time." Dabi complained. "I don't get why you're so upset over one."

"It lit up!" Shigaraki yelled. "It was cool!"

"I don't have a quirk." Izuku pointed out. "I can't lose control and break the controller."

Shigaraki: Yeah, good point.

Dabi glared at him, "You're just trying to get out of being tortured."

"Well, yeah..." Izuku gave an awkward smile. "But, uh... do you really want to play him while we wait for Sensei to give you permission to kill me?"

Dabi: Well, no. Rats he actually did it.

Dabi threw his hands in the air, "Ugh, fine! Go psychologically destroy the hero brat with video games... but I think we should up the ante a bit. Something should happen if he loses."

(everyone stiffened. That didn't sound good.)

Izuku gulped and turned to Shigaraki, who was nodding thoughtfully, "Real life consequences always enhance the experience. So let's play it this way..."

He leaned forward, forcing Izuku to crane his neck to get away from him, and grinned, "You know a lot about heroes, right? So, every time you die in game, you tell us an interesting bit of info, like an NPC giving out a reward for winning a quest. If you refuse, we take a finger instead. How's that?"

Uraraka: Deku's not going to tell is he...?

Izuku felt sick to his stomach. It felt like a betrayal. Give the villains info on his friends, or take the torture himself. There were no good choices. If Eraser were here, he'd say that giving up the info was the logical option... and Nezu would challenge him to come up with half truths or nuggets of info that sounded priceless, but were actually more worthless than his old teachers thought he was. It would be a challenge, but since when had Izuku stepped down from one of those?

Aizawa: Problem child!

He took a deep breath and nodded, "Deal. What game are we playing?"

Shouta didn't even look up as Bakugo, Uraraka, Shinso and Todoroki walked through the door, "No."

(everyone snorted)

Bakugo scoffed, "You haven't even heard our idea yet."

"And whatever it is, the answer is no." Shouta rubbed the bridge of his nose. "The heroes will save Deku. You are students."

Toga: But I'm not.

"But Toga's not." Uraraka pointed out. "She saved my life at the summer camp and you guys let her!"

"Her situation is different." Vlad King explained awkwardly, glancing at Shouta. "She's..."

"Under the guardianship of a pro hero." Todoroki finished. "And not technically a UA student and so the school won't face backlash if she's injured like they would if one of us were."

Nezu: Which is very important.

Shouta sighed, "Your point?"

Shinso smirked and held up a bag. It was insulated to keep it cold and Shouta raised an eyebrow as he took it, "If this is full of snakes about to jump out at me..."

Thirteen: Uh why is that your first response?

He rolled his eyes, "No, it's even better. Just look, old man."

Shouta opened the bag curiously, Vlad glancing over his shoulder, only to blink at the sight of dozens of vials of blood, each neatly labeled in Yaoyorozu's handwriting, along with a notebook that could have been one of Deku's, "Okay... explain."

"We can't go on this mission, we get that." Uraraka piped up. "But since Toga's quirk evolved during the attack, if she goes, then we can too... kinda. We each wrote down some tips for using our quirks too, so she can learn them faster!"

"There's blood from 1B in there too." Shinso added. "They didn't want to be left out."

Monoma: I probably didn't give mine. No point.

"And we're going to help save him." Bakugo threatened. "It's just up to you whether we have to be there to do that or not."

"Problem children." Shouta looked to Vlad in exhaustion, "It's a decent plan, but she's your daughter. It's up to you."

Vlad thought for a moment, "She's been begging to go anyway and she's more used to danger than the students are. If it keeps the rest of our kids out of danger, I'll go along and make sure she doesn't get hurt."

Toga(sadly): Aw he's such a nice dad... rats I want to get adopted now...

Shouta turned back to the students, "Fine. You win. But if I hear of anyone leaving UA to go fight, I will not hesitate to expel them, do you hear me?"

"Loud and clear, old man." Bakugo huffed.

"But remember we literally put our blood, sweat, and tears into this mission." Shinso pointed out. "We're relying on you to do the rest."

Momo: Yeah literally...

Uraraka nodded, "Bring him home safe. Please."

Shouta didn't hesitate, "We will."

The kids nodded and Shouta watched them leave, a headache already coming on, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been. At least the kids had agreed to stay safe.

Recovery Girl: Which is so much better than in our world.

"You've gotta be proud of those kiddos, Eraser." Vlad said. "That's a pretty creative solution."

"It's alright, I guess." Shouta griped stubbornly. "The kids have come a long way. Plus it gives me an idea. How's Nezu coming with the villains?"

Spinner: Um what's he doing to us?

Compress: Nothing bad, I presume.

Izuku bit his lip and tried not to grip the controller too tightly. He'd lost. He'd known he would, but despite his best efforts, he'd really only managed to stay alive for fifteen minutes in the game and now Shigaraki and Dabi were both leering at him like vultures ready for the carnage.

(everyone gulped)

"Time to pay up kid." Dabi's grin pulled at his staples. "Info or pain. Your choice."

"Like the brat'll ever actually betray his precious heroes." Shigaraki said. "Well, brat? We're waiting."

Midoriya: I'm not going to talk.

Izuku's mouth was dry and he frantically looked around the room. There were no better escape routes than the last ten times he'd checked, so what info could he give that wouldn't get someone killed? His train of thought crashed off the rails when his gaze caught on Shigaraki's shoes. It wasn't about heroes, but... he glanced toward the TV where All for One might be eavesdropping, but if what Dabi had said about the light was true then he wasn't listening. Yet.

Midoriya: Okay that's not bad information for them to know...

"We wear the same brand of shoe." Izuku said carefully. "They're specially made."

Shigaraki scratched at his neck. "This again? I asked for info on heroes, you brat! Not fashion!"

Twice: Just listen, Shiggy. Nah, ignore him.

"They're specially made." Izuku repeated slowly. "They have extra room in the toe for an extra toe joint. Only quirkless people find them comfortable."

Shigaraki stopped scratching and stared at him in confusion, "What?"

Dabi started laughing, "You must really be desperate not to give us any actual information, you useless brat. If you hadn't noticed, then you're more stupid than I thought, but Shigaraki definitely has a quirk. He can prove it on your face if you'd like."

Dabi: Yeah but... he didn't always apparently...

Izuku ignored him, keeping his eyes on Shigaraki, "Your quirk came in late, didn't it? You were probably already five when it finally appeared. When did you meet All for One? I bet it was around that same time, wasn't it?"

"Shut up!" Shigaraki growled. "Sensei saved me!"

"Did he?" Izuku asked. "From what? Disintegration is extremely destructive and hard to control. I bet the first time it manifested was absolutely terrifying. Was that what he saved you from?"

Shigaraki(growling): Yes...

"Wait a minute." Dabi was no longer laughing as he looked between Izuku and Shigaraki. "What are you saying?"

"Don't!" Shigaraki screamed. "Shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut up!"

Kurogiri(quietly): He knows...

Izuku knew that the smart thing to do would be to stop talking, but he'd already gone too far and he couldn't stop the words from spilling out. "Disintegration was never your quirk, Shigaraki. All for One gave it to you with full knowledge of what it was and what it would do when it manifested. You were born quirkless just like me."

(there was silence before Kendo spoke up)

Kendo: So now he knows... what do you think will happen?

Shigaraki: I don't know but he's not working for sensei anymore that's for sure.

Aizawa: Considering it's the problem child's fault I think we can expect total chaos.

Midoriya: You're probably not wrong honestly...