"Earlier today, a Gate broke near the Fujiya Hospital. Housed inside an empty apartment complex, there was no warning when the seven-day time limit elapsed. Heroes immediately rushed to the site upon receiving an emergency request, but by the time they had gotten there, the Gate had already been cleared." The news reporter vanished as the image on screen was replaced by a grainy photo of Izuku and Momo, clad in their disguises.

"Two Heroes, a male and a female according to eye-witnesses who heard their voice, were apparently visiting the hospital when the break occurred. Neither has identified themselves."

Shaky handheld footage then appeared, likely from a smartphone. Shadows raced along the streets, Tank the Ice Bear slamming his foot down atop Villains and smashing them into a paste. One Cyclops rushed the person holding the phone, who screamed in fear once he realized his mistake in sticking around.

But before the titan with pale skin could reach him, a blade bisected it at the waist, sending a spray of blood and guts onto the camera and its owner, who made a sound of disgust.

The foot rewound and froze at just the right moment to see a blur of green energy in the form of Igris.

"Many dozens of summons were reported, a near impossible feat, which has caused many to speculate about a conspiracy created by the Hero Safety Commission in an attempt to raise Japan's standings amongst the Awakened communities of the world. Safety Commission representative and Number 3 Hero, Hawks, had this to say." Lines of jumping audio appeared, to represent Hawks on the phone.

"Japan is one of the strongest Awakened Nations at the moment, the Commission has no need to fool its citizens. We ourselves are flummoxed by the video and eye-witness reports as neither Hero seems to appear in our database. No evidence was recovered that would indicate the identity of them, and so far they have not come forward. Our only assumption could be that they were operating without Hero Licenses and were afraid to be punished. However, we as the Commission, should they come forward, shall only reward their efforts as Good Samaritans helping their fellow man and saving many lives." The audio ended.

"And they did indeed save quite a few," The reporter confirmed, showing images of destroyed apartments and shaken men, women, and children being evacuated. "Estimates report that over 300 people would have died before proper Heroes could arrive to quell the Villains, the worst Gate break in Japan in nearly 5 years. But thanks to the efforts of the two unknown Heroes, only 6 people lost their lives. Many were injured severely, but thanks to the proximity of the Fujiya Hospital and the efforts of many medical personnel, every survivor is expected to make a full recovery. A public statement by the head of..."

"How could you not stick around?!" Kei shouted as the reporter went on with the broadcast.

But Izuku ignored her, too distraught by the news that they had been too late to save 6 of the many civilians.

Momo immediately sensed his dread. "Izuku, it's a miracle we were there at all. Even the Number 3 Hero would've had more casualties than us." Kei went silent, realizing what her brother was feeling.

"But those 6... if we had just been a little faster..."

"You can only do so much. Even with all the Shadows..." She leaned over the couch, taking his hand. "We saved hundreds of lives. We did what we could. Are you telling me that you didn't do everything in your power to help? You and I know you give your all, everytime you fight." He averted his eyes. "It's hard to accept, but sometimes there are people you just can't save." Momo felt bad about the 6 as well, obviously, but she didn't want to lose sleep at night over something she couldn't control. "We can't control the actions of Villains, we can only control our own actions. The Gate was simply too close to a populated area."

Izuku reluctantly nodded, but Momo still saw discontentment in his eyes.

"Dad would be proud," Kei finally spoke back up. "So would mom. Even Dad had days when he couldn't save everyone," She said, referring to old news articles she had poured over trying to get any time with her father, no matter how disconnected the source may have been.

"Maybe... but there's always room to do better," He said, sighing. "We can still get stronger."

Momo smiled at that. "Of course we can. The sky's the limit."

The realization seemed to calm Izuku, knowing that he couldn't have done anything more earlier in the day, but that in the future, he'd be strong enough to save everyone.

"Is that the reason you didn't stick around? Because people had died?"

Izuku shook his head. "No, I just didn't care for the limelight. Besides, we're still trying to keep a low profile for the Shadows, even our voices could've given us away if we let them air."

"And my parents exposed me to enough media as a child," Momo pointed out, "I'm more than happy to live without ever being known by the public again."

"That's probably smart, but aren't you guys gonna have to go public eventually anyways?"

Izuku and Momo exchanged glances. "I mean, after what Natsuo said..."

"We might be able to keep our identities quiet. If we just wear disguises whenever we do Hero work in public. We could probably get registered as S-Ranks or higher without telling them our real names or showing our faces."

"No way," Kei said, "No Agency would let you do that. Could you imagine Endeavor allowing someone to be that secretive."

"We could be Solo Heroes like Miruko. I'd rather not get tied down by Agency rules anyways."

"Or we could start our own Agency," Momo proposed.

"Let's... not get ahead of ourselves, we still have school to get through," Izuku said, effectively ending the conversation.

*******

"Ugh... you can all piss off!" Dabi shouted as he exited the airport, heading for a Hero Commission escort that would take him away from the paparazzi. His signature skin grafts and white hair made it hard for him to avoid the press.

"What are you doing back in Japan?!"

"Do you have business with your father?!"

"Is this about Ryukyu taking hold of her own Agency?!"

"Are you two getting back together?!"

Dabi could've tried letting his power leak out to scare off the reporters, but they were one of the few groups of people who never backed down from any Rank. And because most Heroes didn't want to be caught in a bad light, very few ever acted on their violent impulses towards the media.

The governments had very little hold over S-Ranks and higher, but the media, as always, was the bane of many existences. There was no avoiding them as they affected public opinion.

"Please make a path!" A Commission Agent shouted, pushing through the waves of people. "This is a visitor of the Scavenger Guild! We need you all to move!" The Agent, Tsukauchi, began brazenly shoving people aside. He, as an Agent, could do what many Heroes couldn't, he could exert force on the paparazzi. Being part of the government and not caring much for his public perception, he had no qualms about using his Awakened strength to make life easier for other Heroes.

"Hmph... lucky..." Dabi muttered as he was finally free to walk to the car and close the door behind him. Tsukauchi got in on the other side and slid into a seat opposite of Dabi in the luxury car.

"It's an honor-"

"Cut the crap, Naomasa," Dabi interrupted. "You knew me before I hit it big. I don't care about the pleasantries."

Tsukauchi smiled. "That's fine with me. I assume you're here to visit family?"

"What else would I be here for?" Dabi asked with a hint of scorn.

The Agent cringed. "Well, it's not that I don't trust you, but Thomas Andre has a history of screwing with Japan." Thomas Andre was arguably the strongest Hero in the world. He was critical in taking down Kamish and Diablo during humanity's darkest days. But many argued that without All Might there to help him, humanity's darkest days could've also been the end of days.

All Might showed little interest in this debate, but Thomas Andre was... well he was like a guy on the internet who just couldn't let an argument go. And because he was a National-Rank, maybe people egged this argument onwards, fueling his ego as the world's strongest.

Because All Might wasn't interested in actually fighting Andre, as he saw it to be a pointless dick-measuring contest which would only serve to endanger humanity, the debate persisted.

Dabi shrugged. "To be honest, he screws with his Agency members as much as he screws with Japan. He gave me time off to visit family, and made some vague comments about All Might, so I don't know his true intentions."

Tsukauchi sighed. "You always know how to dodge my Quirk."

Dabi was telling the truth, in a way. Being an S-Rank from Japan, he had plenty of interactions with Tsukauchi. And in his youth, he learned just how important it was to be able to sidestep the man's Lie Detecting Quirk. It had exposed his relationship with another Hero, so he was certain to never let it trip him up again.

Thomas had made vague comments about All Might. And Dabi didn't really know what he was up to, only some basic understanding. So he passed the test. But really, Dabi knew something was going on behind the scenes.

Tsukauchi, knowing that was all he'd get, threw aside his curiosity and moved onto catching up with an old friend.

"You know Ryuko still asks about you," He said, using Ryukyu's actual name.

"Yeah?" Dabi scoffed. "What's she asking? If I'm dead yet?"

Tsukauchi grinned. "More or less. She's still pissed that you moved to America."

Dabi threw his hands up. "What, I'm supposed to turn down an offer from a National-Rank? She knows why I left."

"That's why she's pissed. She's the one stuck with Endeavor now. She's upset you didn't ask her to come with you."

"I left to get away from the old man. She would be leaving to follow at my heels like a puppy dog. That's no reason for her to leave Japan." Dabi shrugged. "I was stagnant and she was moving up in the world."

"You thought it was best to just leave her behind?"

"Well she's an Agency head now, isn't she? She would've had to start all over in America."

"You think she wouldn't have been fine with that?"

Dabi rolled his eyes. "Listen, I'm not some jerkoff who decides what's best for her. She knew what she wanted and I did what was necessary to make sure she got it. That's why I left her. There are almost no female Hero run Agencies in Japan. Ryukyu was one of the first S-Ranks to achieve that goal. Hell even that brat Miruko struggled to become an Agency head for a while before realizing the rest of the Agencies wouldn't let her. Endeavor bought out all the Gates from her, making her Agency useless. That's why she's solo now."

"So you left in order to help her defeat patriarchy?" Tsukauchi asked, a shit-eating grin on his face.

Dabi snorted. "Something like that. America's just as hard on female Agency heads as Japan is, if not more so. She's at a good point in her life now. She wouldn't be there if she had stuck with me. She'd talked about wanting to become an Agency head for years. It seemed like the only thing she wanted. If she followed me, there would've been underlying resentment towards me for giving up her dreams, and if she didn't follow me, she'd be pissed I left her, but she'd achieve her dream. That's just the way it works, man. Shit options, shit outcomes."

"Well... you haven't changed much."

"It's a family habit," He shot back. "We're stubborn bastards. Speaking of, anything else suspicious with the old man?"

The Agent shrugged. "He's continued hoarding Villain Cores, weapons, armor, etc. But it just seems like he's trying to get the best for his Agency. However..." Tsukauchi seemed to hesitate for a moment. "You heard about the Gate Break by Jujiya Hospital?"

"Yeah, the two kids cleared it."

"Kids?"

Dabi shrugged. "The pics made 'em look like teenagers in that armor, and reports said they sounded young."

"Ah... thought you might know more than us. Those shadowy summons were something else... Anyways, we were investigating how the Gate, being as strong as it was, went unnoticed for so long. Well... most of the security footage of that area was lost in the rampage, but we think one of Endeavor's men checked out that apartment just a few days before shit hit the fan."

"Think he was planning to come in and take the glory?"

"That's the weird thing. None of Endeavor's men were even remotely in the area, and neither was he. So if he was truly aware of it... it means he let it break for some other reason."

"Maybe..." Dabi said, thinking back to what Thomas said about All Might not doing Hero work recently. "Was the old man trying to draw him out? Maybe Thomas was right... Something's wrong with All Might..."

"We're still looking into it, but there's not enough evidence to convict him of anything, and besides, as an XS-Rank, the Commission can't really do anything to him anyways." Tsukauchi leaned back. "As you so eloquently put it. Shit options, shit outcomes."

They passed UA, a place that Dabi himself almost ended up at, before defying his father's wishes.

"They start in two days," Tsukauchi said, noticing Dabi's attention to the school. "Shoto is in on recommendations so no one else should know about him until they show up for class. And then the secret is gonna be blown wide open."

"Yeah? Well hopefully he has some decent classmates... Maybe they'll knock some sense into him about our father... like Kyu did for me..."

Tsukauchi smiled kindly at the man. He was one of the most intimidating Heroes out there. With his grotesque skin and powerful blue flames, he really appeared to be a devil at times. But he was up there as one of the more considerate S-Ranks the Agent knew. Even if he could be brash or a little ill-tempered.

"I'm sure it'll be an interesting year for the school."

*******

"I feel weird..." Izuku said, trying to smooth out his uniform. "Are you sure it fits okay?"

"Izu, stop stressing. And stop fiddling with it!" Kei cried, fixing his tie for the umpteenth time. "It looks fine! Yaomomo will tell you the same thing when you meet up."

"Yaomomo?"

"She didn't like me calling her Miss Yaoyorozu."

Momo had headed back to her own apartment the day before school in order to collect her own things and get ready. But in the few days they'd spent together, the three of them had become a close-knit family unit of sorts.

"And remember, if you see Bakugo... punch him as hard as you can," Kei reminded him.

Izuku scoffed. "I'm not gonna occupy my first day at school with violence."

"But you're going to eventually hit him right?"

"Kei... we were friends once, me and him. I wanna give him a chance."

"I'd say you're crazy... but we both already know that," Kei said, picking up her own backpack for the day. "Just do me a favor. At the very least, if you don't hit him, make sure to hold hands with Yaomomo or kiss her to assert dominance."

Izuku barked out a laugh as his cheeks grew bright-red at the thought of any sort of PDA. "She gets pretty... protective of me, so I don't think you have to worry about Bakugo," He said, recalling his first encounter with Iida.

Kei rolled her eyes, "Well at least I can count on her to do the right thing."

"Violence isn't the answer, Kei," Izuku joked, a light grin on his face.

"You're right, violence is not the answer... Violence is a question, and when the question involves Bakugo, the answer is yes."

Izuku just shook his head, grabbing a protein bar as he headed for the door.

"Oh, did you two figure out what you're going to do about those cultist dickheads?" She asked, referring to the contact information the two had received.

Izuku refrained from commenting on her language, instead choosing to say, "We talked about it a little bit. We're gonna meet them after school with our disguises on, see how they react to us."

"You guys aren't gonna kill 'em are you? Cause that behavior can be traced back to you since you had their info." It wasn't that Kei worried about Izuku and Momo's morality, just the consequences for taking lives. Even if they were S-Ranks, she was concerned about the legalities.

Izuku shrugged. "I don't plan on killing them. Can't say the same for Momo, they've put her through hell so..."

"Well, I guess I owe her an apology."

Izuku tilted his head. "What for?"

"I didn't think she could handle this all. Being a Hero, dealing with these shitheads, whatever. But she's got some badassery inside of her after all."

"Yeah. I've gotta be careful, or else she'll show me up in class," He said, holding the door open for his sister as they left.

It would be one hell of a day. Between Bakugo, cultists... and the Anti-Heroes that would soon make themselves known to the world.