Denki sat on Izuku's bed and let him ramble about a recent hero fight as he tried to ignore the anxiety that had been growing in his gut for the past three days. All Might's offer had come out of nowhere and he just couldn't shake the feeling that he didn't deserve it. Like seriously?! He'd just barely learned to control his own quirk, what had he done to deserve All Might's power too?! He felt like he'd fooled All Might somehow into thinking he was this great hero student with a lot of potential, so what would happen when he realized Denki was just average or even a little bit below? Would he take back his offer? Would he be mad? Would Denki still be able to be a hero if All Might hated him? Knowing that those questions were probably ridiculous didn't do anything to stop the thoughts, especially since he had absolutely nothing to compare this whole situation to.

Bakugo: Dunceface you're being an idiot.

Kaminari: I know...

In addition, Denki just couldn't stop staring at Izuku. If anyone deserved an awesome quirk like All Might's, it was him. He was a lot smarter than Denki was and he was a better fighter, so there was no doubt in his mind that Izuku would make a way better successor than he would. With everything that he knew about quirk theory, Izuku probably wouldn't have any problems learning how the quirk worked and if he had a quirk, there would be nothing holding him back from being one of the best heroes Japan had ever seen. It just seemed like it would be a really jerk move to accept All Might's offer when he already had a powerful quirk that he wouldn't even be able to control without Izuku's help.

Uraraka: Well he's right about that... but I don't think it's a jerk move, Kaminari.

Of course, that was only one of the reasons why Denki had told All Might he needed time to think about his offer. He had been understanding, as expected of the number one hero, but he had seemed a little disappointed by Denki's hesitation. It was the offer of a lifetime, he knew that! It was just... a lot and Denki didn't know if it was even possible. He'd never heard of a quirk that could be transferred before. What if All Might was lying to him?

Recovery Girl: Oh he's not but seriously Toshinori?! You expect to ask a kid if they want to accept your quirk and you don't even consider that they need some time to think about it?!

All Might: Well I mean young Midoriya just said 'yes' immediately-

Inko: He did what?!

Midoriya: I'm sorry mom!

Denki jumped with a yelp as Izuku poked his cheek, "Hey, you've been spacing out more than usual today. It's not a bad thing! I just... you can lie down for a while or we can just watch tv or something."

"Um..." Denki gave a smile that he didn't feel was very convincing. "No, don't worry about it, it's nothing."

Izuku frowned and jumped onto the bed beside him, "Okay."

Dabi: Wait he's not pushing?

Toga: Aw he needs to know about this!

"Okay?" Denki narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "You're not gonna push?"

Izuku shrugged, "I have bad days where I don't really want to be pushed, so I figured I'd just be here for you? Sorry if that's awkward or not the right thing, I was just trying..."

Spinner: Yeah, fair enough.

"Your mom's at work, right?" Denki interrupted suddenly.

Tsukauchi: And he's going to tell him anyway.

Izuku's eyes widened, "Um... yeah?"

Denki took a deep breath and hesitated. All Might had told him that he shouldn't tell anyone about One for All, but... Denki's brain had been racing in circles for days now and he still didn't know what to do. Maybe if he told just one person, it wouldn't be so bad? And it was just Izuku and Denki knew he could trust him! It wasn't as if All Might had to know...

Gran Torino: Yes, go ahead, tell him.

But he'd promised All Might that he wouldn't tell! How could he be All Might's successor if their entire relationship was built on lies?! But he really did need advice and Izuku was looking at him expectantly now, so he couldn't just say nothing! Maybe he could talk around the issue? Like in those movies where they treated something as a hypothetical or something?

Yeah, that might work.

Mitsuki: Well, it would except Izuku's way too smart about this.

"Um..." Denki bit his lip nervously. "You know a lot about quirk theory, right?"

"I mean, I wouldn't call myself an expert." Izuku said. "But I've got a basic understanding of it. What does that have to do with Mom being at work?"

"Nothing." Denki said quickly. "Nothing. I... it's nothing. We can just drop it."

Iida: He's not going to is he?

Izuku's eyes widened and it seemed like he was sympathy panicking right alongside Denki, "No, it's fine! It doesn't matter! Um... did you have a question about your quirk?"

"Not mine." Not yet, anyway. "Just kinda in general. Uh... this is a really weird question, but do you know if it's theoretically possible for someone to give somebody else a quirk?"

Shigaraki: It is- wait...

To Denki's surprise, Izuku went stiff. He could practically see the thoughts and theories racing behind his forehead and it was almost a full minute before Izuku finally said anything, "... Why?"

Shigaraki: He's going to think it's related to the villain factory.

Everyone(realizing): Oh.

"Just curious?" Denki shrugged and tried to quell the rising panic. He'd been expecting a ramble, or even a laugh and an assurance that it was impossible, not whatever this was. "I, uh, I must have read it somewhere. Like I said, it's nothing, we can just drop it."

Kendo: And that's going to make him panic more.

"Denki, please, I need you to be completely honest with me." Izuku grabbed his shoulders and looked at him intensely. His eyes were wide, and he looked scared, which was making Denki even more nervous. "Did somebody offer you a quirk?"

Monoma: And great, of course they change the scene now.

Hagakure: Hey it's Ogawa!

Ogawa was finally starting to get used to his new quirk, even if it was still strange. He felt like he was four all over again, getting to know his limits and discovering new aspects unexpectedly and often at inconvenient times. It would have been nostalgic if it wasn't for the torture. It took everything he had to withstand the daily training that the doctor put him through and he could feel himself slowly caving in despite his best intentions. It would be so much easier to give up. He could just obey whatever the doctor and Sensei wanted him to do and he wouldn't have to worry about the pain or the punishments anymore. He could just be.

Hawks: No!

Mirko: Don't give up!

He always tried to bury those feelings whenever they came up, but they were just there in the background. That was bad enough, but then it was made even more complicated by the fact that the people living in his head seemed to disagree on the right course of action. Thankfully, Kumo's theory of them integrating into him hadn't been entirely correct. They had kind of blended together, but he was still mostly him, which he couldn't be more grateful for. There were two of them, as far as he could tell, each with their own personality and shadowy shape in his mind. One of them seemed a little too eager to take the easy way out and the other was stubborn as hell, which meant that Ogawa was constantly stuck in the middle of the two when it came to giving in and just obeying his captors. It was starting to get really annoying.

Mina: Well at least he's not giving in?

Bakugo: He'd better not...

Lately, though, he'd been siding a little more with the stubborn shadow. From what they had been able to put together, they were in unprecedented waters in terms of the experiments which meant that just like Ogawa didn't know his quirk's limits yet, neither did the doctor. He used pain to test those limits, because of course he did, but after the first week, Ogawa had started to perform just slightly under what he felt he could. The doctor was still delighted with the results and Ogawa took care to make sure he never suspected that they were hiding anything from him, but it also meant that he didn't know his own true limits, since he never had a moment when he wasn't being watched to test them.

Nezu: Tricking them... it'll help him escape.

Joke: I hope it works...

Ogawa heard a clang as a door farther down the hall opened and he hurried to pretend to be asleep so he wouldn't be dragged off immediately for another session. He stayed still and controlled his breathing as he heard the sounds of the cell next door being opened and someone being thrown in. It was only once he was sure the doctor was gone that he dared open his eyes and gasped.

"Kumo?" Ogawa said in a horrified whisper, despite the fact that he knew his cellmate probably wasn't in any state to respond. "Is that you?"

Midnight: What did they do to him...?

Kumo's normally stark white hair had darkened to a bruised, blackened purple and the vapor was rapidly fluctuating out of control, sometimes covering almost his whole body and sometimes disappearing almost entirely. At the sound of Ogawa's voice, he groaned and rolled himself onto his side, opening his eyes to reveal a startling, glowing yellow that had Ogawa scrambling instinctively to get away.

(everyone stared at the screen. He looked... alarmingly familiar...)

Toga(whispering): He... he looks like Kurogiri...

"Guess what, Ogawa?" Kumo gave a weak smile and Ogawa could tell he was about to pass out. "I finally got friends of my own."

Aizawa(to Kurogiri): Oboro...?

Kurogiri(his mist flickering erratically): I- I'm not- I'm not a nomu- I'm not-!

Shigaraki: Kurogiri-

Mic: Oboro-

Kurogiri(his mist suddenly shooting out): Stop talking! (everyone stopped. There was silence for a few moments as Kurogiri closed his eyes and pulled his mist back in, looking calmer) ...I'm fine. That's another world, I'm not... I'm not...

Aizawa: Oboro...

Kurogiri: Don't- don't call me that.

Twice: Are you okay? I don't care if you are.

Kurogiri: I am fine, Twice. Come on, the screen's moving on without us. (The League looked at him and then at each other in concern but the scene changed and reacting was just so much easier than dealing with the fact that their mother figure was apparently brainwashed or something so...)

Izuku held his breath as he waited for Denki to answer. He'd thought he was doing a good job at protecting him from his vigilante side, but if the villain factory had somehow found him... well, he figured that it was more likely that All for One or whoever the true leader was would simply steal his quirk rather than offer him a new one, but there was always the possibility that the villain factory was trying to recruit him.

Endeavor: Wrong.

His heart sunk when Denki chuckled awkwardly, "How did you know?"

Izuku's heart sank. How had they found him?! He thought that he'd been at least somewhat careful with his identity. He didn't go home if he felt like someone was following him and Eraserhead and the heroes hadn't been able to figure it out yet, but if the villain factory hadn't found him through Izuku, then how had they found him?

All Might: Not the villain factory...

"Uh, Izuku?" Denki pulled him out of his thoughts. "Is that a bad thing? Because you look like you're freaking out and it's kinda making me freak out because you're freaking out."

Izuku wanted to laugh hysterically. Was it a bad thing?! Yes! Yes it was a very bad thing! It meant that the villains were targeting his best friend and putting him in danger! Izuku couldn't just say that, though, because Denki was already starting to freak out and Izuku hadn't even said anything. He deflated. At least if the villain factory was trying to recruit him, the heroes might be able to track whoever made contact and find the rest of the operation that way. It wasn't much of a silver lining, but Izuku would at least try to be grateful.

Tsunotori: He's going to be so relieved when Kaminari tells him.

"It's dangerous." Izuku said finally. "It's theoretically possible, when someone has a quirk that allows it, but there are a lot of risks, and I've only ever seen evidence of it being done by villains."

There. A simple explanation that left just enough to the imagination that Denki would be able to understand that it was a villain who approached him and he'd be able to adjust to that before they decided how they were supposed to move forward.

Setsuna: About that...

Izuku waited for the realization that he'd met a villain to set in, but it never did. Instead, Denki just frowned thoughtfully and muttered to himself, "Hmm, that's weird, because it was definitely a hero who gave me the offer... "

Whatever Izuku's train of thought had been, it completely jumped the rail, "What?"

Denki's eyes widened as he apparently realized he'd said that out loud, "Oops."

Vlad: 'Oops'? Seriously?

"Oops?" Izuku repeated frantically. "Oops?!"

If there was a hero with a transfer quirk, why weren't they involved with the villain factory investigation and how hadn't Izuku ever read about them anywhere? He'd spent years as the ultimate hero fanboy. He knew every pro hero's quirk in Japan and had written about most of them in his notebook, so he would have come across anything similar to All for One, but he hadn't, which meant that whatever hero had approached Denki was very good at hiding their quirk from the media, which meant that he was probably very good at hiding other things and probably shouldn't be trusted. If anything, the fact that it was a hero made Izuku even more concerned, if that were possible.

All Might: Uh... well... I can be trusted.

Power Loader: Viridian doesn't know it's you.

"He, uh, kinda swore me to secrecy?" Denki explained. "I wasn't supposed to say anything! I promised him that I wouldn't tell anyone because it's kinda a big deal and would probably get really bad if it got out and villains found out about it, but I've been thinking about it for three days and I still don't know what I'm supposed to tell him or if I'm supposed to accept because it's a really generous off..."

"You haven't accepted the quirk yet?" Izuku deflated in relief. "Okay, that's good. That's really good. We can work with that. Sorry, um... okay. Let's figure this out. It would be helpful to know... um, you said you can't tell me what hero gave you the offer, right?"

Denki shook his head sheepishly, "I wasn't even supposed to tell you. Again, there's the whole swearing to secrecy thing, but... I mean, you said there were risks? What are they? All... the hero didn't say anything about any risks."

All Might: Oh right I didn't tell him about the possibility of his limbs being blown off-

Everyone: His limbs being what?!

Izuku sighed and ran a hand through his hair as he turned to his computer, "I can show you some of the research that's been done, if you want. But I'm gonna warn you... it's not pretty. You know how when someone gets an organ transplant, there's a huge risk that the body will reject it?"

"Yeah, that's why they're always so careful to make sure the blood types and everything match." Denki nodded along. "So... when a new quirk is introduced, the body tries to reject it in the same way?"

Bakugo: All Might you idiot what was that about his limbs being blown off?!

Inko: And what about Izuku?!

Midoriya(panicking): Guys don't worry it'll only happen if I got One for All and I didn't have enough muscle mass but I did the whole beach workout for ten months and cleaned it up and all my limbs are still intact!

Recovery Girl(muttering): Mostly intact.

"Exactly." Izuku said. "There's an acute autoimmune response because the body recognizes the new quirk as a foreign body, but because a quirk is so ingrained into someone's genetic code, it can't get rid of it. The immune system has trouble targeting the correct part of the genetic code and that can cause the grey matter to atrophy in such a way that..."

Denki held up a hand, "Izuku, you know I love your mutterings, but I think you lost me somewhere in there. You gotta remember that I'm kinda stupid, so explain it like you'd explain it to an absolute idiot."

Kirishima: You're not an idiot Kaminari.

Sero: Yeah dude you just think differently.

"You're not an idiot." Izuku huffed.

"Well, for the moment, pretend that I am." Denki gestured for him to continue. "Now, tell me again, but in stupid person language, what might happen if I accept this quirk?"

Spinner: Your brain turns into mush.

Izuku took a deep breath, "Your body could reject it and start attacking itself because it's hard to differentiate between what's you and what not you. It could turn your brain into swiss cheese and you'd die."

Denki's eyes widened, "Oh. That's... that's not good."

A lot of people: Ya think?

Izuku let out a crazed sounding chuckled, "No, that's not good. In the few cases where a quirkless individual receives a quirk later in life, they die within a few years, sometimes even less. Quirk transfer isn't generally good for a person's life expectancy."

"Why would All... It doesn't make sense, it doesn't seem like something he'd do!" " Denki groaned and flipped around so his face was buried in the mattress. He laid there for another long moment until he suddenly raised his head and looked at Izuku. "Wait, how long did you say those people lived after getting a quirk?"

Izuku tried to ignore the fact that twice now, Denki had started saying something that sounded suspiciously like All for One, "A few months to a few years, maybe a little longer if they were lucky."

All Might: But I've been living for a really long time now.

Denki sat up, "Well that makes zero sense because All Might's been active for almost 40 years and he's still going strong when by your logic he should be long dead by now."

Kaminari(realizing he just said his name): Oops.

"Well I wouldn't say going strong, but I guess there could be some quirk that could counteract the negative... " Izuku started muttering, then stopped, eyes widening as the rest of his brain caught up. "Wait, All Might?! As in the symbol of peace, All Might?! All Might offered you a quirk?!"

Denki froze again, "Oops... "

Tsu(glancing at Kurogiri): So... Kurogiri used to be sensei's friend? Ribbit?

Shoji: I guess but... poor senseis... (everyone looked at the rooftop trio. They didn't seem to be taking it very well.)

Ojiro: Poor Shirakumo too... he got brainwashed and no one came to rescue him...

Mineta: Do you guys think he can be fixed? Like someone can bring him back?

Shinso: I don't know...

Tetsutetsu: I hope so...

Shigaraki: I don't know... I don't want Kurogiri to be brainwashed but... what if he'll be... gone... if they bring Shirakumo back? I don't want him to go away...

Kurogiri: I'm not going anywhere, Tomura. I'm not going anywhere.