The cashier had looked at him weirdly when he'd bought two ice cream cones for himself, but he'd just glared at her and paid without any explanation. He wasn't sure there was an explanation, honestly. How was he supposed to say out loud that he'd seen in some stupid scene in a movie where the characters were celebrating some stupid event that only made sense as part of the plot and poured a beer on the ground for their friend who'd died. Ogawa wasn't dead, hopefully, but he wasn't there either, and Katsuki couldn't drink, so he figured ice cream would have to do.

Bakugo: Well it'd better do.

Kirishima(sympathetically): I think it does.

The sun was already starting to set by the time he reached the beach. It was still as full of trash as ever, but considering it was the last place they hung out, Katsuki thought it was as good a place as any to do his stupid little fake celebration. It was messy and imperfect and would need a lot of work to make it anywhere near decent, but that described Katsuki too, so he thought it was ironically fitting or some @$#^&%.

"I got in." Katsuki muttered, there was no point in raising his voice when he was talking to someone who wasn't even there. He felt a little ridiculous leaning over the railing with an ice cream cone dripping in each hand, but he shook his head and forced himself to push through it. "I'm gonna be a great hero, even with all the mistakes I've made, and you'd better be proud of me, got it? Now that I'm a hero in training, I'm gonna find the #@$*& that took you and make them pay so that no one else gets hurt. I'm gonna get you back, I promise."

Nejire: At least he already escaped?

Izuku tried to calm his breathing and keep himself from having a panic attack as he ran home across the rooftops. He had just basically threatened the number one hero! That was so stupid! If All Might had had any more strength or any real connection to All for One, Izuku could have died! Why had he done that? A quieter part of himself, however, was almost proud. He'd done what it took to keep his friend safe and that was what was important, no matter who he had to fight to make it happen. Yeah, it might not have been the smartest thing to do, but deep down, Izuku knew it was the right one.

All Might: I'm a hero! I don't kill people, let alone people who are trying to do the right thing.

He wasn't planning on doing any more vigilante work tonight, but once the screams started, Izuku knew he really didn't have a choice. After what had happened with Endeavor, he knew it was too much to hope for just a purse snatcher, and his heart still sunk when he caught sight of the monster that was currently tearing its way down the street. The monster's main body wasn't that large, but the tentacles sprouting from its head spread all the way across the street. Dozens of tendrils reached out and wrapped around cars, walls, and mailboxes. Anything that was in the monster's path was tossed them aside almost like it was nothing, leaving panicked civilians to crawl out of their ruined cars and run in every direction. Some of the cars had lines of a smoking black goop smeared across them where the tentacles had been and Izuku made a note to avoid the substance as it slowly ate through the metal. Overall, the street was in absolute chaos and from his place on the roof, Izuku could almost imagine the crazed look in the berserker's eyes as he raged below.

Hagakure(gasping): It's Ogawa!

Jirou: Viridian that's not a berserker!

But somehow, he couldn't there were some things about this monster that didn't really match up with the other berserkers that Izuku had fought in the past. For one, while it was definitely destroying everything in its path, it wasn't going after people, just the buildings and cars that were in his way and it seemed like he had a destination in mind. It wasn't unheard of for berserkers to have a goal that they obsessed over, Endeavor had been a prime example of that, but this one didn't actually seem obsessed or angry, just determined and almost desperate. If it wasn't for the fact that the quirk was far too powerful to have not undergone any modification, Izuku would have thought the villain factory was taking a step backward and going back to making instant villains.

Izuku was about to jump down and attack when he hesitated. He had promises that he needed to keep, and he couldn't do that if he made himself a target and got himself killed. He'd made a big exception to fight Endeavor, but it had been just that: an exception. Even then, he wouldn't have stood a chance against the former number two hero if he hadn't had an entire team of heroes backing him up. Izuku was used to fighting at a disadvantage, it was how he walked into every single fight, but Berserkers were more powerful than standard villains and he didn't even have a quirk to fight back with. If he went down there with zero backup and tried to fight a villain this powerful, he might not be lucky enough to make it out.

Bakugo: He's not a villain!

Izuku couldn't let that happen.

Inko: Yes... please don't die Izuku...

Thankfully, the tentacle monster still wasn't going after people. The only people Izuku could see that were really in danger were the people in cars, but even then, most people had realized that by this point and had abandoned their cars and just started running. Izuku could focus on evacuation and tracking the berserker's path to relay it to the heroes. The last time he'd had a fight like this, Izuku had ended up hacking into the hero comms from a random computer, but the rose berserker had been staying put, not moving like this one was. He needed to be able to keep up with the monster and stationary computer wouldn't let him do that. It really was too bad that Izuku had no chance at becoming a real hero, because it would have been a lot less annoying if he just had his own comm set and could call the heroes through the network without having to hack in.

Tsukauchi: He would get one if he went into the vigilante rehabilitation program but...

Mei: He's not going to while the Hero Commission is still so quirkist.

After a moment, Izuku decided he'd just have to figure out the communication problems as he went. He jumped into an alley between two buildings and made sure that there was a clear exit on the other end before running out onto the street and using one of his marbles to hit a nearby street sign. There was a sharp ting as it hit and the nearby civilians swiveled around to investigate the odd noise. Izuku didn't hesitate to gesture for them to follow him, "This way! Hurry!"

Everyone nearby gave one last glance back at the berserker before running toward Izuku at full tilt. Izuku stepped to the side to allow them to run into the alley, "Go to the end of this alley! There's an exit to the next street between the dumpsters!"

Some of them nodded gratefully as they passed, while others were too rushed to even give him a second glance. When pretty much everyone had gotten off the street, Izuku grabbed the arm of a girl with red hair pulled into a single ponytail on the side of her head. He really wished he had time to analyze her quirk, but he needed to focus right now on keeping everyone safe, "Hey, uh, do you have your phone?"

Kendo: Hey it's me!

"Yes, I do..." She looked at him curiously. "Wait, aren't you that Viridian vigilante?"

"Yep, that's me." Izuku gave a shaky smile and looked back to make sure the last stragglers were headed his way. "Um, could you do me a favor? Can you maybe call the police and then tell them that the villain is most likely headed south? And tell them to close off the roads intersecting this one, the monster's attacking anything on the street."

"Of course!" The girl pulled out her phone and looked up at him skeptically, "But, um, why can't you tell them yourself?"

Midoriya: No time to explain just call them please!

"No time." Izuku grimaced. "I need to focus on tracking the monster and getting people off the street so no one gets hurt."

The girl nodded and began dialing as she followed what was left of the crowd through the alley, but Izuku didn't really pay attention after that as he waited for everyone nearby to get off the street. Once the street was empty, he climbed the nearest fire escape and watched the tentacle villain carefully. If he could try to predict which direction the monster was going to go next, he could evacuate that area and stay out of the villain's sight as much as possible, all while keeping one step ahead. It might not be the post straightforward plan and it definitely came with its own set of risks, but it was significantly safer than his usual plan of making himself a target. Izuku hadn't forgotten when Mom had dragged him out to visit her coworker and their daughter Tsu had criticized that strategy. It had made him feel terrible at the time, but he had had to admit that she had a point. When he made himself a target, he had to focus on keeping the villains attention and couldn't really help evacuate civilians effectively, so while it was still a valid strategy for when he needed it, it would probably be best to not have it as his go-to plan.

Midnight: He's learning...

Izuku headed in the direction that the berserker looked most frequently and dropped down in an alley a little ways down the street. His last plan had seemed to work fairly well, so Izuku loaded up another marble and caught the attention of everyone who was panicking so he could lead them to safety. Once most of the people were off the streets, he assigned one of the more level-headed civilians to call the police with an update on the berserker's movements and Izuku himself moved on right as the tentacle monster reached the section of street he had just evacuated. It was a weird approach, but Izuku hoped Eraser would be proud of him for trying to save people without putting himself in danger... or well, at least not more danger than necessary.

Aizawa: Well this is better I guess...

Shouta was going to kill that kid. If Viridian would just let them help him, then he could actually get his own comm link instead of sending irregular updates through escaping civilians. It would cut out the middleman and be so much more effective, but no, the kid had to be stubborn and keep doing things illegally. It was completely illogical.

Aizawa(sighing): No he's actually being pretty logical... the illogical one here is thinking that he somehow has a shonen protagonist quirk or whatever.

"The villain has just started heading east." Tsukauchi informed him as he ran toward the fight. "Viridian seems to be doing a good job of evacuating his path, and we've sent cops to stop traffic, plus we've got a few other heroes that are on their way to help. Do you have eyes on the villain, Eraser?"

"Not yet." Shouta grit his teeth. He could hear the commotion and sometimes he could see where the monster was if it happened to stretch its tentacles above the height of the surrounding buildings, but he was still a few minutes out from being able to cancel the $@#&*'s quirk and put an end to the fight. Shouta pushed himself to run a little faster. He wasn't going to let Viridian fight another Berserker on his own.

Sero: Hey he's not a monster!

Mina: They don't know that though... wait they're not going to kill him are they?!

Iida: Ashido don't say that!

Ogawa needed to find Bakugo.

He was the only person that Ogawa knew that might be able to teach him how to be a hero and save Kumo. Amplifier could be helpful as well, but she was, like, an actual hero, so she'd just look at him weird and try to say that he should leave the saving to the pros, but the pros didn't know what it was like there! They had no way of knowing what life was like in the labs, weeks upon weeks stuck just waiting and trying to ignore the pain until the next time the doctor came to poke and prod at them. They had no idea what it was like to wake up with other people in their heads and discover that their quirk had fundamentally changed. They didn't know how quickly Kumo was going to lose himself if Ogawa didn't save him!

Mt. Lady: Hey the heroes aren't that bad!

Hound Dog: He's not thinking rationally right now...

But he didn't know how to be a hero. He was just a stupid, normal guy who had made a lot of mistakes and had zero idea of what it meant to be a hero, but Bakugo did! He'd made mistakes just like Ogawa had, but he was going to be a hero and save people, so he'd be able to help Ogawa be a hero so he could storm the labs and rescue his friend. He needed to find Bakugo, but where?! He'd last seen him at the beach, right? Maybe he was still there? How long had it been?

Bakugo: I am still there...

Ogawa growled and rubbed his head as he used his tentacles to drag himself farther down the street. He knew he wasn't thinking clearly. He had enough adrenaline in his system that he could barely feel the bite in his leg anymore, but he was still vaguely aware that whatever venom the monster had was making him angry and desperate. It was a weirdly familiar feeling, but he wasn't thinking clearly enough to worry about when he'd felt this way before. For now, the only thing his mind was latching onto was finding Bakugo so they could save Kumo.

Anything that was in the way of that goal had to be ripped to the ground.

Tetsutetsu(gulping): Not good...

"Eraserhead." Tsukauchi's voice echoed over his comm link. "Viridian just sent an update. The villain is headed toward Dagobah beach."

"What do you mean the experiment escaped?!"

Shigaraki: Sensei...

The doctor whimpered, but All for One didn't do anything to comfort him. The only reason he wasn't dead already was because he was still the best qualified pawn to train their most recent experiments and the nomu, not that he seemed to be doing stellar job of that at the moment.

"I gave you access to all of our failed experiments, the nomu." All for One's voice was dangerously quiet. "And you're telling me that not one of them was able to apprehend the subject before he left the building?!"

"I-I sent the nomu after him as soon as I was able to, Sensei, I swear!" The doctor rasped, gripping at the painful-looking burns on his arms. "But the acid ink aspect of his quirk was more powerful than we had anticipated! One of the nomu did manage to expose him to the venom quirk we used to contaminate the trigger for the instant villains, but I knew you didn't want to show your hand too early by releasing the Nomu, so I called them back when the subject left the building... "

Kurogiri: Well he is right about that last part...

All for One cut off the doctor's excuses with a glare, "You are correct. I do not want to show my hand too early. And what do you think will happen if the heroes get their hands on that experiment? All of that work with Endeavor to convince them that our experiments are just beginning will have been for nothing! Get out my sight!"

Toga(rolling her eyes): Oh just kill that guy already.

The doctor flinched and bowed deeply several times before leaving All for One alone. This was far from ideal. Sure, he had always planned to use Shirakumo as Tomura's perfect assistant, but that didn't mean that he hadn't been planning on putting their test run to good use. Having him escape now was like having a vital instrument break moments before the curtain rose for the opening number!

Spinner: Wow he is really obsessed with symphonies isn't he...?

And to make it worse, their subject's training was painfully incomplete. Yes, All for One had already managed to anchor the various brainwashing and persuasion quirks in the subject's brain, but their hold was still weak and easily overridden by any strong emotion such as the panic of escaping the labs. Even if All for One were to order him to come back via those quirks, the subject probably wouldn't even register the order, much less obey it!

But, the show must go on. All for One forced himself to take a deep breath. What was the worst case scenario and how could they avoid it? If the heroes were able to capture the subject and interrogate him, they would easily be able to find the doctor's base of operations and, by extension, their other experiments. They could always move the labs to another location, All for One had no lack of different properties to choose from, but there was enough sensitive machinery that such an endeavor would take time. It would move quicker if they could rely on Warp Gate, but the new quirk was still untested and they had only just begun Shirakumo's training, so there was no guarantee that he would obey the doctor's orders especially considering how quickly their test run had gone off the rails the second he sensed an opening. No, using Warp Gate might be faster, but it was still too risky to rely on that quirk and its holder this early in the process.

All for One sighed heavily and picked up his phone. It was irksome, but the best move was most likely to cut ties with the escaped subject as soon as possible. The heroes were blinded by their own prejudices, so even if they managed to get their hands on the body, they wouldn't think to look for multiple quirks in an autopsy. The only person who might suspect All for One was All Might, but the holder of One for All was utterly convinced that his old nemesis had been dead for years. It wasn't ideal, but at least if the subject was terminated, the information lost would be minimal and it would give All for One time to move their operations and perfect the behavior of Tomura's assistant before they had to face the heroes.

Mitsuki: No!

Bakugo: Don't you dare kill him!

The phone rang a few times before the girl picked up, "Hello?"

(the sounds glitched and everyone was surprised)

Inko: W-what happened to the audio?

Jana: I edited it so you couldn't hear who the host was. Spoilers and all that.

Mei: But we know it's a girl now... (all the hero course girls looked at each other worriedly, wondering if any of them were the host)

"Queen Bee, I have a mission for you." All for One rubbed the scar where the bridge of his nose had once been. "What poisons can your hive administer on short notice?"

Koda(freaking out): Oh no it's too easy to just sting him and then it'll be all over!

Ojiro: Hey, calm down, Koda, the heroes are there, maybe they can stop Queen Bee!

Shinso: It's hard to get rid of an entire swarm though...

Endeavor: Fire would be useful but I'm already dead in that world.

Todoroki: You're not the only flame based hero, dad.