The dust from All Might's punch slowly settled, drifting down like grey snow over the USJ.
But there was nothing there.
All Might stood in the center of the crater his landing had created, his fists clenched, his blue eyes scanning the perimeter with frantic intensity. There was no yellow blur. There was no red lightning. There was only the lingering smell of burnt air—the sharp, metallic tang of ozone that tasted like copper on the tongue.
The silence that followed was heavier than the violence that had preceded it.
Near the fountain, Shigaraki Tomura scrambled to his feet. He looked at the Nomu, which lay face down, motionless. He looked at All Might, who was glaring at him. Then he looked at the empty space where the speedster had been.
"Cheater..." Shigaraki scratched at his neck, his fingernails digging into raw skin. "It's bugged... the whole game is bugged. Kurogiri."
"Yes, Shigaraki," the mist villain said, his voice tight with urgency.
"We're leaving. The heavy hitter is offline. The boss is here. And... that thing..." Shigaraki shuddered, a genuine tremor of fear rippling through him. "I don't know what that was. But we can't fight it."
All Might lunged. "You aren't going anywhere!"
But Kurogiri was already expanding, a warp gate swallowing the handy-man villain. "We will meet again, All Might. But today... the board has been overturned by a third player."
The villains vanished.
All Might didn't pursue. He couldn't. His time was limited, and more importantly, the threat that had just left was far more concerning than the League. He turned to the students.
"Is everyone safe?!" All Might bellowed, though the smile on his face was strained, lacking its usual luster.
The students of Class 1-A didn't cheer. They didn't rush forward to hug their idol. They stood rooted to the spot, staring at the spot where the yellow speedster had stood.
"All Might..." Tsuyu Asui croaked, her hands still trembling near her mouth. "That villain... he beat the thing that was supposed to kill you. In one second."
All Might walked over to the fallen Nomu. He knelt down, placing two fingers on the creature's neck. It was alive, but its brain activity seemed to have been wiped clean.
"He didn't just beat it," All Might murmured, his voice low so the students wouldn't hear. "He surgically dismantled its nervous system. He severed the connection between the brain and the body without breaking the skin."
He stood up, a cold sweat breaking out on his brow. Who has that kind of precision at that speed? Who has that kind of power?
Ten minutes later, the police arrived.
The students were gathered near the entrance, wrapped in shock blankets. Paramedics were tending to Aizawa, who was drifting in and out of consciousness, muttering about "red eyes."
Detective Tsukauchi walked over to the group of students, notebook in hand. "I need statements. I know you're all shaken, but we need to understand what happened here. Who took down the bio-weapon?"
"He called himself Zoom," Ochako Uraraka said quietly. She was rubbing her arms, trying to get warm, though it wasn't cold. "He said... he said heroes are reactionary. That we're always one step behind."
"Zoom," Tsukauchi wrote the name down. "Did he look like a villain?"
"He looked like a nightmare," Mineta whispered, hugging his knees. "His voice... it sounded like two people talking at once. A demon and a man."
Katsuki Bakugo sat on the bumper of an ambulance, a towel draped over his head. He hadn't spoken since the speedster vanished. His eyes were fixed on the ground.
Kirishima sat next to him. "Hey, Bakugo. You okay, man? You were right next to him."
Bakugo didn't answer immediately. His mind was replaying the moment. The yellow blur appearing instantly. The hand on his wrist. The absolute, crushing realization that if the speedster had wanted to, he could have snapped Bakugo's arm before Bakugo could even ignite a spark.
"He was mocking us," Bakugo finally whispered, his voice hoarse.
"Huh?" Kirishima leaned in.
Bakugo looked up, and for the first time, Kirishima saw fear in his friend's eyes. Not the fear of dying, but the fear of being insignificant.
"He wasn't fighting us," Bakugo grit his teeth. "He was teaching us. He looked at me... he looked at me like I was a toddler playing with matches. He said power doesn't make us gods."
Bakugo clenched his fists, smoke drifting from his palms.
"He called us slow. And he was right."
A few yards away, Shoto Todoroki stood with Iida and Yaoyorozu. Todoroki was looking at the scorched pavement where Zoom had vibrated.
"The ice," Todoroki said softly. "When I tried to freeze him... he didn't melt it with fire. He vibrated his foot so fast that he shattered the molecular bonds of the ice. He turned it back into snow instantly."
"Is that physically possible?" Yaoyorozu asked, her face pale. "The amount of kinetic energy required to do that without causing a nuclear explosion... his control must be absolute."
"He said he's the 'inevitable result of our society,'" Iida adjusted his glasses, though his hand was shaking. "What does that mean? Is he a vigilante? A political terrorist?"
"He wore yellow," All Might interrupted.
The students turned. The Symbol of Peace had deflated into his skinny form—hidden from the general view by the police line, but visible to the students who knew or suspected. He looked old. Tired.
"His suit," All Might said, looking at the horizon. "It was yellow. Like my cape. But the lightning was red."
"A mockery?" Midoriya's voice echoed in All Might's head, though the boy wasn't there. You have to consider reality.
"He called himself the Reverse," Tsukauchi said, walking up to his old friend. "According to Aizawa's report before he passed out. 'I am the Reverse. I am Zoom.'"
All Might leaned against the police cruiser. "Naomasa... that creature, the Nomu. It was as strong as me. Maybe stronger. And this 'Zoom' treated it like a toy."
"Do we classify him as a villain?" Tsukauchi asked. "He saved the students. He neutralized the threat."
"He broke into a government facility," All Might said grimly. "He assaulted a Pro Hero—Aizawa is missing an elbow because of the villains, but Zoom didn't help him. He waited. He watched."
All Might looked at his hands.
"He told the students he wanted to break their illusion of safety. A hero builds hope, Naomasa. This man... he wants to build dread. He wants us to know that no matter how fast we run to save someone..."
All Might looked up, his eyes haunted.
"...he will always be there first."
Back on the bus ride to the station, the silence persisted.
Usually, after a villain attack, the students would be buzzing with adrenaline, talking about how they survived, how cool the pros were.
Not today.
Today, they were thinking about the yellow phantom.
"Do you think he's right?" Kaminari asked, breaking the silence. "About us being too slow?"
"Shut up," Bakugo snapped, but there was no heat in it.
Tsuyu looked out the window at the passing city. Everything looked different now. The heroes patrolling the streets looked sluggish. The cars looked like snails.
Somewhere out there, in the spaces between the seconds, a man in a yellow suit was watching them. And the terrifying part wasn't that he wanted to kill them.
It was that he wanted them to realize they weren't special.
As the bus turned a corner, Bakugo looked out the window and saw a flash of yellow lightning reflect off a skyscraper miles away. He flinched.
The age of All Might was ending. The age of Zoom had begun.