The first thing Midoriya Izuku became aware of was pain—a dull throbbing at the base of his skull that pulsed in time with his heartbeat.
The second was screaming—not the controlled panic of civilians during typical villain attacks, but raw, primal terror that made his hero instincts kick in before his eyes even opened.
"Nngh..." he groaned, forcing himself to consciousness. His vision swam, buildings around him seeming to sway impossibly. He blinked hard, trying to clear his head.
What he saw made him wonder if he was still unconscious.
The sky—blue and clear only moments ago in his memory—was torn open by a massive, swirling vortex that spilled darkness and stars into daylight. From this wound in reality poured... creatures? Machines? Both? They rode sleek flying craft that reminded him vaguely of motorcycles, wielding weapons that discharged energy unlike any quirk he'd ever analyzed.
"Aliens?" he whispered, the word tasting foreign on his tongue. Not a mutant quirk-user, not a technological villain, but actual extraterrestrials. His analytical mind tried to process this even as his body automatically shifted into a defensive stance.
A nearby blast sent a car tumbling toward a group of screaming office workers. Without hesitation, Midoriya activated One For All, green lightning crackling around his limbs as he leaped forward. Grabbing the vehicle mid-air, he redirected its momentum upward, muscles straining as he landed and set it down safely.
"Everyone, this way!" he shouted in English—thank goodness for Present Mic's rigorous language lessons. The civilians stared at him wide-eyed, hesitating. He realized how he must look to them—a teenage boy in a strange green costume, glowing with energy. "I'm here to help! I'm a h—" he caught himself, uncertainty flickering. Was he still a hero-in-training here? "—I'm here to help," he repeated firmly.
Finally, they moved, rushing past him toward what appeared to be a police barricade several blocks down. Midoriya scanned the area frantically. Where were Todoroki and Kacchan? Had they been transported too? Were they—
A massive explosion several streets over answered one question. That precise blast pattern, designed for maximum impact with controlled collateral damage—that was Bakugo's signature. Relief flooded through Midoriya, quickly followed by renewed determination.
He sprinted toward the explosion, leaping over debris and abandoned vehicles. As he rounded a corner, the scene before him momentarily stopped him in his tracks.
Bakugo hovered ten feet off the ground, propelled by continuous smaller explosions from his palms. His expression was one Midoriya knew well—the concentrated fury of battle mixed with undeniable exhilaration. He was surrounded by five of the alien creatures, their weapons trained on him.
"Is that all you got, you space rejects?" Bakugo taunted, sweeping his arm in an arc that released a perfectly controlled explosion—powerful enough to knock back his attackers without destroying the storefront behind them. "I've fought scarier things in training exercises!"
A blue energy blast grazed Bakugo's shoulder, burning through the fabric of his costume. He snarled, retaliating with a concentrated explosion that sent the shooter flying backward.
"Kacchan!" Midoriya called, launching himself into the fray.
Bakugo's red eyes snapped to him, widening briefly before narrowing again. "About time you showed up, Deku! Thought I'd have to save this entire city myself!"
Despite everything, Midoriya found himself smiling. Typical Kacchan—even dimensional displacement couldn't dent his ego.
"Where's half-and-half?" Bakugo demanded, dropping to the ground beside Midoriya as they faced the regrouping aliens.
"I don't know yet," Midoriya admitted, scanning the battlefield. "But if we're both here, he must be too."
As if summoned by their conversation, a wave of ice swept down the adjacent street, freezing a line of the invaders in place. Todoroki appeared atop the ice formation, his dual-colored hair unmistakable even at a distance. Unlike Bakugo's aggressive assault or Midoriya's rescue focus, Todoroki had been methodically creating barriers—protecting civilians while simultaneously restricting enemy movement.
"Efficient as always," Midoriya murmured, relieved to see his friend unharmed.
Bakugo scoffed. "Show-off."
The three converged at an intersection. Up close, Midoriya could see that both his friends had sustained minor injuries—a cut above Todoroki's eye, burns on Bakugo's left arm where his gauntlet had been damaged.
"You're hurt," Midoriya said, concern etching his features.
"Focus, Deku," Bakugo snapped, though without real heat. "We've got bigger problems than a few scratches."
Todoroki nodded toward the sky portal. "Any idea what we're dealing with? Or where we are?"
Midoriya's eyes darted around, taking in details he'd been too preoccupied to notice before—the architectural style of the buildings, street signs, the distant outline of what appeared to be—
"That's the Empire State Building," he realized aloud.
"We're in New York. America."
"That villain's quirk teleported us across the ocean?" Bakugo's expression shifted from irritation to grudging interest. "That's... actually impressive."
"And these creatures," Todoroki added quietly, gaze fixed on the portal. "They're not human. Not mutations or transformations. Something else entirely."
Midoriya's mind raced, piecing together fragments of information. "The dimensional distortion must have been more severe than just geographical displacement. Maybe we're in—"
"Save the analysis for later," Bakugo cut in, cracking his knuckles as another wave of aliens rounded the corner. "Right now, we fight."
Todoroki stepped forward, right side frosting over. "Agreed. Whatever this is, there are civilians in danger."
"Right," Midoriya nodded, pushing aside his questions for now. "Todoroki-kun, can you create barriers to funnel civilians away from the heaviest fighting? Kacchan, aerial reconnaissance—we need to know how widespread this invasion is."
"Don't order me around, Deku," Bakugo growled automatically, but he was already positioning himself for takeoff.
"There's a police line three blocks south," Midoriya continued. "That should be our evacuation point."
Todoroki nodded once, already sending a wave of ice to create a protective corridor. "We reconvene here in ten minutes."
"Try to keep up," Bakugo smirked before blasting himself skyward.
As they separated, Midoriya took a deep breath, centering himself. This wasn't how he'd expected his internship to go, but the fundamentals remained the same: save everyone you can. He increased One For All to 25%, feeling the power surge through him as he leaped toward a collapsing building where civilians were trapped.
******
From his aerial vantage point, Bakugo surveyed the chaos with narrowed eyes. The invasion appeared centered around a tall tower with a distinctive 'STARK' logo—the epicenter of the portal directly above it. Military helicopters were attempting to engage but being easily outmaneuvered by the alien craft.
"Amateurs," he muttered, banking sharply to avoid energy fire. He'd always known he was destined for greatness, but fighting an actual alien invasion? That was beyond even his ambitious imagination.
Not that he'd admit to being impressed, of course. These ugly space freaks had chosen the wrong planet to invade, especially if they thought they could get away with attacking civilians.
Bakugo had spent years crafting his hero persona—aggressive, uncompromising, victorious. The crowd-pleasing act of All Might never appealed to him; he preferred to be respected rather than loved.
A flash of movement caught his eye—a civilian hanging precariously from a broken office window, too high for emergency services to reach.
Without hesitation, Bakugo changed course, using precision blasts to propel himself toward the building. He might not have Deku's bleeding heart or Todoroki's stoic dedication, but he was a hero-in-training all the same.
******
Todoroki worked methodically, his expression betraying nothing of the turmoil beneath. The rational part of his mind—the part trained by his father's relentless drills—assessed the situation clinically: unknown hostile forces, widespread civilian casualties, damage consistent with a large-scale terrorist attack but with technology far beyond current capabilities.
The emotional part—the part he'd only recently begun to acknowledge thanks to Midoriya's influence—registered horror at the destruction and confusion about their displacement.
He pushed both aside, focusing on the task at hand.
"This way," he directed a group of shell-shocked businesspeople, reinforcing the ice corridor as sections began to crack under debris impact.
Unlike Bakugo's flashy combat style or Midoriya's dramatic rescues, Todoroki's approach was efficient and understated. He created pathways, supported damaged structures, and extinguished fires—using both his ice and fire sides in harmony for perhaps the first time in his life.
Strange, he thought, that it would take being thrown into another world for him to finally embrace his full power without hesitation. His father would be smugly satisfied, though for all the wrong reasons.
A child's cry pulled him from his thoughts. A young girl, no more than six, stood frozen in terror as a section of facade crumbled above her. Todoroki reacted instantly, his right hand sending forth a precise jet of ice that caught the debris mid-fall while his left generated enough heat to melt a path through rubble blocking her escape route.
"Come," he said simply, kneeling to the girl's level and extending his hand. His dual temperature—one palm cool, one warm—seemed to fascinate her enough to momentarily override her fear.
She took his hand, and he guided her swiftly to safety, handing her off to a police officer before turning back toward the battle without waiting for thanks.
******
Midoriya moved through the chaos with increasingly confident precision, his mind cataloging everything: the aliens' physical vulnerabilities (joints and neck regions), their weapons' recharge rate (3.5 seconds between shots), the structural weak points of damaged buildings.
He'd rescued seventeen civilians so far, each extraction teaching him something new about navigating this unfamiliar battleground. His notebook remained secure in his costume pocket, but he didn't need it—his mind was absorbing everything, forming connections, developing strategies.
"Hello? Anyone here?" he called, entering a partially collapsed coffee shop. A weak response came from behind the counter.
Midoriya found a barista trapped under a fallen beam, conscious but unable to move. He carefully positioned himself, activating Full Cowling to enhance his strength as he lifted the debris.
"You've got green lightning coming off you," the barista observed with remarkably calm curiosity given the circumstances.
"Ah, yeah," Midoriya replied, helping her up. "It's my... ability."
"You one of those enhanced individuals? Like Captain America?"
Midoriya blinked, filing away the unfamiliar reference for later analysis. "Something like that. Can you walk?"
She nodded, wincing slightly. "Thanks for the save. You with that response team? The ones with the billionaire and the flag guy?"
Before Midoriya could ask what she meant, an explosion rocked the building. Through the shattered storefront, he saw Bakugo engaged with a group of particularly large aliens, his movements growing visibly tired.
"I need to help my friend," Midoriya explained, guiding the barista toward the exit. "Head south—there's a police evacuation point."
Once she was safely away, Midoriya launched himself toward Bakugo, green lightning intensifying around him as he channeled more of One For All's power. As he soared through the air, his mind cleared with sudden clarity.
They were heroes—in training perhaps, but heroes nonetheless. Whatever world or dimension they'd landed in, whatever strange invasion they'd encountered, their purpose remained unchanged. Save people. Fight villains. Win.
A determined smile spread across his face as he entered the fray alongside his childhood friend.
*******
Ten minutes later, the three regrouped at the intersection as planned. All showed signs of extended combat—torn costumes, minor injuries, labored breathing—but also the focused determination of heroes who'd found their purpose in crisis.
"Report," Todoroki said simply, creating a small ice barrier to give them momentary cover.
"Portal's centered over that Stark Tower," Bakugo pointed. "Strongest concentration of hostiles there. Military's engaging but outmatched."
Midoriya nodded, mind racing. "I've been hearing civilians mention something about enhanced individuals and a response team. Might be this country's pro heroes."
"If they have pro heroes, where are they?" Bakugo demanded, reloading his grenade bracers with collected sweat. "We've been fighting for nearly half an hour!"
As if in answer to his question, a red and gold humanoid figure streaked across the sky, leaving a contrail of repulsor energy as it engaged the alien craft with technology that rivaled even the best support items from their world.
"That might be one of them," Todoroki observed dryly.
Midoriya's eyes widened, his inner quirk analyst awakening despite the circumstances. "Amazing! The flight capability appears to be technological rather than quirk-based, suggesting a fundamentally different approach to heroics than our system. The weaponry is integrated into the suit rather than being separate support items, which implies—"
"Deku," Bakugo interrupted, "shut up."
Midoriya flushed, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "R-right, sorry!"
A massive green figure leaped between buildings in the distance, roaring as it tore through alien forces with raw strength that might even surpass All Might's.
"Definitely heroes," Todoroki confirmed, watching the giant.
"So what's our play?" Bakugo asked, unusually receptive to strategy now that the situation's scope had become clear. "Link up with the local pros?"
Midoriya considered this, weighing options rapidly. "We don't know how their hero system works or if they'll recognize our authority as U.A. students. For now, we should continue what we're doing—civilian evacuation and containment where possible, direct combat only when necessary."
"Agreed," Todoroki nodded. "We're guests here. We follow their lead."
Bakugo scowled but didn't argue. "Fine. But if those ugly space freaks get in my way, I'm blasting them back to whatever planet they came from."
Midoriya smiled despite everything. Some things never changed, no matter what dimension you were in.
"Let's go," he said, green lightning once again surrounding his form as One For All activated.
Together, the three U.A. students launched back into battle—Bakugo rocketing skyward with explosive propulsion, Todoroki sliding forward on a rapidly forming ice path, and Midoriya leaping between buildings with enhanced agility.
They didn't know where they were, how they'd arrived, or how they'd get home. But they knew who they were—heroes, even in a world not their own.
And right now, that was enough.