Izuku almost hadn't gone out tonight. It was New Year, so he'd been planning on staying up with Mom as late as she wanted, then maybe hacking into the hero comms after she went to bed. But then, Mom had had a long day at work, so she ended up going to bed at 12:02, about as early as possible while still being able to brag about staying up until midnight. So, with that plan out the window, as soon as he was sure she was asleep, Izuku had hacked into the city cameras and quickly realized that the holiday made the streets a lot busier than he was used to, which meant that the heroes could probably use some more boots on the ground, so Izuku had rushed to get dressed in his vigilante outfit and run straight out the door and onto the rooftops.

Which was how he had ended up on the roof of one of the many apartment buildings with a direct view of the bar district where Amplifier patrolled. A few fights had broken out that either resolved themselves quickly or that Amplifier made it to before he could get down to the street, so Izuku had spent most of his night looking for girls who were just a little too drunk to be willingly going home with a guy and shooting his marbles at the sketchy dudes trying to force them into either alleyways or cars. It was actually a lot more fun than he'd expected it to be and almost always bought more than enough time for the girl's friends to usher her away while the guy was busy storming around looking for whatever punk had just shot him in the leg with a marble.

(everyone laughed)

He felt a little bad for laughing whenever, but at one point, Amplifier had caught sight of what he was doing and he'd seen her holding back laughter of her own and wink at him, so he supposed he wasn't doing anything too terrible, right? Whenever he wasn't annoying the crime out of frat boys, he ended up trying to eavesdrop on the people who seemed to be having good luck seducing people the right way. What could he say? He didn't know anything about flirting and he needed inspiration to help Kaminari become a better hero and add the weapon of seduction to his arsenal!

Midnight: You know you could always ask me for help, Kaminari.

Aizawa: Nemuri.

Izuku giggled as the most recent guy he was watching got definitively shot down by his target's best friend. The guy just laughed off the disappointment with his buddies before going to find someone else to flirt with. It seemed like, as busy and risky as the night was, everyone was having fun and there wouldn't be any major issues to ruin the party.

Mt. Lady: He jinxed it didn't he?

Until everyone started screaming.

Hagakure: Oh boy...

Bakugo(grumbling): Why are you such a danger magnet deku?

Izuku whipped around to see a small crowd of people running toward him, some tripping desperately to get away from the stretching vines that were reaching for their ankles as a large, mutated villain loomed behind them. Izuku's brain immediately started racing as he analyzed what he could see of the villain's quirk in the darkness. It seemed to be somewhat similar to Kamui Woods' quirk, so there were probably weaknesses to things like heat, fire, and prolonged exposure to darkness, none of which Izuku was necessarily prepared to take advantage of right now. His top priority needed to be evacuation and letting Amplifier know about the villain.

Joke: Yeah go get her!

Izuku jumped down onto the street and ran toward one of the civilians who was currently being dragged backward across the concrete by one of the vines. They were desperately trying to grab onto anything to stop themselves, but the villain was moving too quickly for that to do any good. His marbles probably wouldn't do any good here, not unless he could get close enough to the villain's main body to target his eyes, and his pipes were a bludgeoning weapon, which weren't going to be the most effective against wood, which could easily take the blows. Izuku didn't stop to second guess himself as he grabbed the utility knife from his belt. He didn't let himself use it that often because it just seemed way more harmful than his other weapons, but he was a vigilante! He had to do whatever it took to protect people!

He put on a final burst of speed and managed to grab the civilian's hand. The villain didn't stop pulling, but Izuku dug in his feet, grabbed the vine, and started hacking through it with his knife. The civilian started running away as soon as they were free and Izuku hissed as the vine snapped up and hit him in the face before trying to wrap around his neck. He quickly dropped and rolled away, hiding behind a car as the vine uprooted an entire mailbox and threw it across the street. Izuku felt a warm liquid on his cheek and reached to wipe it away in confusion, since he didn't think he'd started crying, then grimaced as he looked at the dark blood on his fingers. Of course the vines had to have thorns.

Happy New Year!

Jana: For the record I have no idea what that's doing there.

Izuku was surprised that Amplifier hadn't shown up yet, since the villain wasn't exactly being quiet and the civilians were definitely screaming, and then he was even more apprised when he realized that some of the civilians were starting to run back towards him and the villain. He quickly climbed up the nearest fire escape to get a better viewpoint and looked around.

A rose quirk. It was the only thing that made any sense. The villain had taken an entire block hostage and had used his quirk to grow a massive wall of thorns, vines and flowers to trap all the civilians inside. The wall wasn't taller than the surrounding buildings, so it wasn't like the heroes would be able to see it from a distance unless they happened to look down the correct street and notice something odd. The thick layer of roses was probably enough to muffle the screams too, so from outside the attack, it most likely just sounded like another rowdy party. The villain was trying to maximize damage while minimizing risk of hero interference.

Iida: ...How does that even work?

Mei: I have no idea.

Izuku's eyes scanned the street quickly as he evaluated his options. He had two things to worry about: getting the civilians out and getting the heroes in, so how could he...? Maybe he could use one of the buildings as a tunnel? Izuku grimaced as he realized that wouldn't work. While some of the doors on the inside of the vine wall weren't covered, the vines were growing quickly and were starting to cover entire buildings. If the villain was trying to minimize hero interference, he'd probably covered all the external exits before the attack even began.

Uraraka: Oh no this is bad...

Which meant that the only thing he could do was contact the heroes for help, then do his best to take down the villain while they got there. He was trapped like everyone else, so he couldn't run to get them, so how could he....?

Midoriya: Hack something! One of these buildings must have a computer!

Izuku jumped off the roof right before the vines covered it completely and he had to be careful to jump a ways out from the wall so he didn't catch himself on too many of the thorns on his way down. He immediately started running, forcing himself to ignore the screams as the people around him tried to escape the villain's almost infinite attacks. He was nothing but a quirkless weakling, he wouldn't be able to save all them on his own! As much as Izuku absolutely despised turning his back on people in need, he'd be an idiot not to see that their best chance was to get the heroes here as soon as possible, which meant that Izuku had to find a computer.

He cursed under his breath as almost every door he passed was sealed shut by vines. It would take him far too long to cut through them all, so he just needed to find... there! Izuku sprinted toward the first door he saw that only had one or two vines covering it and he sliced through them with his knife as quickly as he could. He ran inside immediately, leaving the door open behind him as an escape route, should he need it.

He raced through a few dark hallways until bursting through the door of a large room with a loud bang that drew the attention of the entire crowd inside. Even the DJ stopped playing the deafening music with a record screech and took off his headphones. Izuku caught his breath and started looking around desperately, "I need a computer! Where can I find one?!"

Kirishima: Awkward...

One of the bouncers came up to him, crossing his arms intimidatingly over his chest, "Kid, I don't know what you think you're doing here, but this is a bar, which mean you have to leave."

Jirou: It's an emergency!

Izuku looked at him in confusion before glancing around the room again. No windows. Loud music. They didn't know about the attack. Yet.

Thirteen: Well things just got more complicated.

"Look, you're all in danger." Izuku said desperately. "I'm Viridian. I'm a vigilante and I need...."

The bouncer laughed rudely, "Yeah, you're a vigilante and I'm the easter bunny. Get out of here, kid, before I force you to leave."

Bakugo: Oh just knock him out or something there's no time to explain!

Izuku didn't have time for this. He glared at the bouncer, who obviously had some sort of strength enhancing quirk, but the thing about strength quirks was that, with the obvious exception of All Might, that strength usually came at the expense of some speed. So when the bouncer moved to grab him, Izuku moved faster, ducking below his arm and using one of his pipes to hit the man in the crotch which should give him some extra time to find a computer before he came after him again.

(a few people winced)

"Computer, computer..." Izuku muttered to himself as the crowd parted for him in shock. "Maybe at the point of sale?"

He hurried to the bar and, sure enough, there was a computer for the employees to use. It was pretty basic, but there was an internet connection and Izuku knew he could make it work. He had to.

The bouncer had apparently recovered from Izuku's blow because he was starting to advance again, not that Izuku really had time to worry about that, since hacking the hero comms took a certain amount of concentration, even with as many times as he'd done it. Maybe he should pull out his knife again? He obviously wouldn't use it on civilians, but it might intimidate them enough to leave him alone. But more likely it would just escalate the situation and get him beaten up before he could get the heroes, which would doom everyone trapped inside the villain's quirk. Why did everything have to be so complicated?!

Mitsuki: I don't know but everything involving you is for some reason!

To Izuku's pleasant surprise, some of the patrons actually came to his aid and held the bouncer back so Izuku could hack the hero network in peace.

"Come on, man." A huge guy with stitched green skin and horns laid a heavy hand on the bouncer's shoulder. "Let the kid do his thing, we're all curious about what he's doing here."

"Yeah!" A woman with high pigtails popped her bubble gum loudly. "This is great free entertainment, right?"

Mina: Hey it's Maki and Akiko!

"You realize this probably only sounds like a good idea because we're all drunk, right?" Their friend, a young man with tentacles for hair that gave Izuku an odd sense of deja vu, laughed. "But, hey, Akiko's right, it makes the night more interesting."

Spinner: And Ogawa.

Izuku honestly didn't care why they left him alone, just so long as he had enough time to contact the heroes, "Almost there... Amplifier?! Can you hear me?"

"Yeah, Viridian, loud and clear." Amplifier sounded confused and the crowd erupted into whispers. "Hey, I thought you were out on the streets tonight, not virtual. Where are you? Are there other people there with you?"

Kamui: Yes.

"I'm at a bar." Izuku blazed on, even though Amplifier tried to interrupt him. "No, I'm not drinking, don't worry about that. There's an attack... wait a minute, let me get the others on the call real quick, we're going to need everyone we can get."

Now that he was in the system, it didn't take any time at all to add the other heroes Izuku knew were in the area to the call, "Okay, Eraser? Rock Lock? Death Arms?"

"Viridian?" Eraser sounded concerned. "You never call this many of us, what's going on?"

Aizawa: Villain attack.

"Who is Viridian?" Death Arms normally wasn't active this late, he'd just taken an extra shift for new year, so Izuku hadn't ever had to call him before.

Mt. Lady: Maybe we should convince him to take later shifts too. It seems like nighttime is when the most crime happens anyway.

Izuku heard a crash in the distance and figured that the villain was probably on his way, "No time to explain, but you need to get here right now! I'm at..." Izuku turned to the bouncer. "What's this place called?"

The bouncer simply glared, so the girl with pigtails answered, "Club Ecstasy."

"Club Ecstasy." Izuku said quickly. "The villain's blocked off the entire block and... oh @&*(#$."

Everyone: Uh oh!

The crowd erupted into screams as a tangle of sharp vines emerged from the door, followed quickly by the villain himself. It was the first time that Izuku had actually gotten a clear look at him since the attack began and he felt his blood run cold as he saw the villain's eyes and everything fell into place.

The villain's eyes held nothing but cold, crazed, rage.

Gran Torino: It's a berserker...

"You need to hurry!" Izuku yelled, already grabbing his slingshot and a handful of marbles. "It's a berserker!"

Izuku hadn't even stopped speaking when he let loose a barrage of marbles at the berkerser's face. The villain screamed in rage and Izuku ran forward with his pipes, ducking beneath the vines as best as he could and body slamming into the villain full force, knocking him off balance slightly. The villain reached for Izuku with one of his vines, but the vines seemed to be part of his body, which meant he probably couldn't easily detach them, so Izuku grabbed the vine and wrapped it around his arm before throwing himself to the floor and pulling the villain down with him.

Inko: Izuku please be careful!

Izuku didn't waste any time climbing on top of the villain and holding him down as best he could, which honestly wasn't very well. He grabbed his knife and tossed it across the floor to the bouncer, "Hurry and get everyone out of here! Use the entrances on the south, not the north. They'll be blocked by vines, but if you chop through them, there shouldn't be any more in that direction."

The bouncer nodded resolutely and ran away, followed by a large crowd of now panicking civilians. Those who didn't immediately run away pressed themselves against the walls to get as far away from the fight as they could as the villain finally managed to throw Izuku off of him.

All Might: At least he's accepting his help.

To his surprise, the berserker didn't immediately come at him again, nor did he go after the bouncer, which had been Izuku's next concern. Instead, he seemed to be arguing with himself.

"I'm sick of following your stupid orders!" He screamed. "I just want to destroy stuff!"

Kurogiri: He's capable of thought...

Izuku took advantage of the villain's distraction to run back to the computer, "Eraser? Are you still there?"

"Yeah, kid." Eraser sounded like he was running. "We're on our way."

Cementoss: Hurry...

"Good." Izuku didn't look away from the villain as he continued his argument with... whoever was strategizing this whole attack. "He's got a rose quirk, so he's going to be weak to both extreme heat and extreme cold if there are any heroes around with those power sets. Also, if you can find anyone to cut through the vines, make as many exits as you can. I already sent someone to try and cut their way out of this building, so hopefully all the civilians will be able to get out while he's focused on fighting me. I'm gonna go distract him!"

Aizawa: Problem child!

"Problem Child!"

Izuku ignored Eraser's panic as he turned his full attention back to the villain. His grumpy uncle could kill him later if he didn't die. Well, at least Kacchan would be happy, right?

Bakugo: No I won't!

"No! You can go @$(&* yourself for all I care!" The villain plucked something small from his ear and slammed it on the ground before stomping it into pieces with his foot. "Stupid girl with her stupid orders and her stupid bees!" He turned to Izuku with a deranged smile on his face. "I don't know why that *$@# was so insistent I come after you, anyway. You're just a pipsqueak. Choking the life out of you won't even be satisfying."

Inko: Bees... Queen Bee...

Mitsuki: And after Izuku...

Izuku gulped and shifted into a battle stance. He could see the people along with walls slowly filtering out, which meant that the bouncer had managed to clear an exit. Now Izuku just needed to distract the villain and get him as far away from that path as possible.

"Well, I mean, I've been told I can be pretty annoying." Izuku said with fake confidence. "So maybe you just need to get to know me a little more?"

Power Loader: Don't antagonize the berserker even more!

Tsu: Stop being a target, ribbit!

The villain's face twisted in rage and he lunged at Izuku, who barely managed to dodge in time. As it was, the berserker rammed into the bar with full force, shattering most of the alcohol bottles displayed behind the counter. Izuku's original plan was to lead the villain back outside, but apparently word had spread of the cleared exit and people from the street were flooding in to get out the other side, which meant that if Izuku led the villain out the exit he came in, he'd be putting all the evacuees in danger. His only option right now was to contain the fight as best he could and focus all the berserker's rage on himself so he didn't notice the civilians evacuating behind them.

Uraraka: Deku be careful!

Izuku used one of his pipes to intercept another hit at the last second. He twisted the pipe to wrap the vine around it and pulled the villain close to land a kick to his chest. From that point on, Izuku did his best to stay as close to the villain as possible, which made it difficult for the vines to get a good hold on him. Every time that the berserker tried to turn around, Izuku landed another hit to distract him from the civilians who were still streaming past behind them.

Izuku was vaguely aware that he was bleeding by this point, even though he wasn't really in any pain. He probably should be, considering that he was fighting close range with a guy whose every limb was covered in sharp thorns, but Izuku didn't have time to worry about that right now when there were people in danger. For now, he was doing well at accomplishing his main goal of distraction, but his opponent had the benefit of whatever experiments the villain factory had done on him, so even though Izuku was starting to drag, the villain was acting like the attacks weren't even affecting him.

Recovery Girl: Oh no...

"Thank god, the heroes are here! We're saved!"

Izuku and the berserker both whipped their heads toward the door as they heard the evacuating civilians start cheering. Izuku was curious who was going to get here first, was it Amplifier because she was close? Or maybe she'd focus on getting another entrance open and leading civilians that way? Maybe Eraser... or not.

Endeavor glowered at him coldly and Izuku froze as the