Izuku wasn't gonna lie, the day didn't start out like any other day. Usually he would wake up by himself before anyone else and make a cup of coffee. Normally, he would go on a jog and get back to his room to change into his hero gear and head to Noriko's room where they would draw straws to see who had to stay with the class.

That wasn't what happened that day. 

Billy shook him awake, and although it was still early enough to go through his schedule, the fact that he had to be woken up was enough to give him a bad feeling about the day to come. 

When he told his friends they assured him everything would be fine before joking a bit as they lightly elbowed him.

"Oh no, I actually got a reasonable amount of sleep. The world is coming to an end !" Idie had said, terribly mimicking Izuku's voice as she waved her hands in the air, trying to look frantic but only succeeding to look like a crazy person.

The joking made him feel a little better, but the dread still lingered. 

When Izuku drew the short straw, Noriko offered to take his place, and he gladly accepted. She gave some excuse about how Denki had asked to train with her for a bit due to the similarity of their powers, because god forbid she actually seem like she cares about her friends. 

The feeling went away somewhat as he patrolled the school grounds watching for threats. Maybe it was just because he felt like he was more prepared while on patrol. Or maybe it was because of his great vantage point from the sky as he flew above the school, his sharp eyes searching for any threats to the students. 

At lunch, Izuku double checked with the others that nothing had been out of place or strange during their days. The feeling had gotten worse as he got around more people, and he wasn't quite sure if it was just his anxiety acting up or his instincts warning him, but he allowed himself to relax for just a bit as he ate with his team. 

As usual, Billy complained about how much he missed cheeseburgers and Noriko slapped him on the back of his head, telling him off as Idie just laughed at them. 

"Quit complaining or I'll tell Teddy that you're a whiny little baby when you don't get what you want. He'll never agree to marry you then." Noriko joked, assuming bringing up his boyfriend would at least get him flustered. 

"Ha, bold of you to assume he doesn't already know. And how do you know he hasn't already agreed to marry me?" Billy replied, sticking his tongue out at her after he finished. 

"Because you would have come to us crying tears of joy if he had said anything like that. You're a bigger crybaby than Izuku when it comes to your boyfriend." Idie piped up from her seat where she had been silently laughing at them for the entirety of their conversation. "And that's pretty difficult to accomplish." She looked pointedly at Izuku before they all laughed.

They all knew that sixteen was early to get married. Hell, you can't even get married until you're eighteen unless you've been emancipated or have parental consent in the United States, but they also all knew that as heroes, you sometimes don't live very long. If you fall in love and you think you can make it in long term, you take any chance you can get. So they figured with how madly in love Billy was with his boyfriend and the way Teddy returned his feelings, it was worth it to at least try. Sadly, Billy hadn't quite popped the question yet, and they enjoyed teasing him relentlessly about it. 

 After lunch, Izuku was feeling better than be had been before, and felt almost completely relaxed as he patrolled in the afternoon. Not totally, seeing as he was supposed to be keeping an eye out for potential threats, but it was a lot better than he had been before lunch, that was for sure. 

It wasn't until after school got out that everything went to shit. 

Again, the day hadn't quite been normal. Something had kept Izuku on edge for most of the day, and (sadly) his instincts were almost always correct when it came to his own bad luck. Maybe it was an extension of his mutation. Maybe he just had really good intuition. Whatever the case, he always liked to listen to his gut when it  had told him something was going to go wrong that morning.

As he sat at the table, just having come in from guarding the dorm building, there was suddenly yelling outside. Izuku and Idie, who had been partnered together that day, immediately went into professional mode as their number one priority became to protect the students from whatever threat may be waiting for them just outside of their dorm. 

"Oya, protect the students. Make sure they stay inside. Pay extra attention to Katsuki, you know how he is. I'll go see what's happening outside." Izuku ordered, forgetting his half-finished soup that Uraraka had made for dinner. He almost felt bad for the students. No high school student should have such a hard look on their face at the prospect of a villain attack. These kids had been through too much already. 

"Got it. Call if you need any help. I'll call for Eraserhead."

Izuku just nodded as he rushed out the door to assist his friends with whatever they may be struggling with. He was not prepared for what he saw. 

Lady Deathstrike stood in the front lawn of the building, nails at full length, the adamantium shimmering in the setting sun. His scar stung just a bit as he stared at her, momentarily frozen on the lawn. The last time he saw her, it hadn't been pretty. 

"Ah, Izuku. How's the injury doing?" She asked, her voice dripping with a smug satisfaction as she gestured at the long scar going down his face. 

"I think you know," He replied curtly, not trying to hide the venom in his voice.

"If you didn't want to get hurt, you shouldn't have interfered," She slowly turned and began walking toward him. Izuku glanced over to see Billy and Noriko both knocked out covered in scratches. They didn't look too badly injured. Nothing would scar. "After all, you are just a child."

"So I was just supposed to let Logan get killed? No thank you."

"Hm, no respect for your elders. Just like your friends there. But I'm not here for you. I'm here on hire to take care of a few people in that pesky class. The League of Villains, what a terrible name,  they hired me. But now that I know you're here, the job can wait for just a bit. Killing Logan's favorite student? That would just end him. Worse than death."

Izuku growled, knowing it was true. Logan would blame himself and possibly go after Lady Deathstrike in a blind rage, ending up killing himself, even with that amazing healing ability he had. Either that, or he would attempt to drown himself in alcohol, which wasn't much better. 

"Well, too bad you're not going to get to do that." He readied himself, getting in a fighting stance. He had fought her before. He knew her patterns. He could win this. Idie had to stay back to protect the students. He could do this. 

Right?

Right.

Maybe not super easily, but he could at least hold his own, which was more than some people could say. Lady Deathstrike moved too quickly for him to do many things with his quirk, and out of all the weapons he had on his person at the moment, flying wasn't the best option.

Sure, he had guns, but let's just say his aim could use some improvement. It wasn't terrible, per se, but she was too fast for him to have much time to aim and actually hit her.

Izuku glanced over quickly at his friends to see how they were faring. That was a mistake, as she ran toward him, slashing down with her adamantium claws. He instinctively raised his arm to block the strike and her eyes widened as the claws just created sparks as they came in contact with the fabric. Izuku couldn't help his smirk at her face.

"I didn't even have to use my powers for that stroke of bad luck." He laughed, jumping away from her in her stupor. "Being friends with the princess of Wakanda has its perks."

"Vibranium," She stated simply, glaring at the offending garment.

Adamantium could cut through almost anything, but vibranium was equal to it in terms of strength. She wouldn't be able to cut through his coat without breaking her nails. Not that she wasn't still a threat without them, but she was much less dangerous.

As they continued to exchange blows, she focused more on his face, legs, and the exposed part of his torso that wasn't covered by his trench coat. 

She finally lunged at an open spot on his chest, her claws at the ready. Of course, he had left the spot open on purpose to lure her in and he stood ready, a knife in each hand. As she got close he reacted, but it was just a second too late. 

As he sliced her stomach with his knives, making sure it wouldn't kill her if she got medical attention soon, her claws imbedded themselves in his chest. At the last second, he had used his powers on her, bad luck making her miss his heart and lungs by the slightest bit. Any closer and he most definitely would have died. 

With his last few minutes of consciousness, he slapped a pair of mutation-cancelling cuffs on her wrists before falling away from her onto his back.

"Midoriya Izuku," She rasped from beside him, "You have been a worthy adversary, but I will kill you someday."

"Well," He replied, his voice equally terrible sounding, "Let's wait until we're both healed up. Sound good?" She nodded in reply and he let his head fall back to the ground with a thud. What he missed was the blonde watching with shock from just a few yards away.

---

Long chapter!

I absolutely hate that glew is the past tense of glow. Like, sure, glowed would work, but it doesn't sound as good at glew. I mostly despise the way it's spelled. Why is any word in the English language spelled like that?

And, yes, that is a reference to Izuku being besties with Shuri. It's my story, I get to do as I like. 

Also, Lady Deathstrike (aka Oyama Yuriko) is such a kickass lady. Like, gosh I love her.