Prologue:

25 Years Ago…..

Dry and cold was the air as I stood at the main entrance to UA in silence watching my older twin load her final belongings into the trunk of the taxi bound for the airport. Inghild hasn't talked to anyone, not even me in the past month after the latest villain attack on our class. I can tell she was worried both for me but never have before have I seen her take such drastic actions.

I learned that in the time since we last talked, Inghild had filled a withdrawal application for the two of us. She went to the extreme of pretending to be me in order to make clear to the school's administration that both of us have set a course to leaving our Hero Education. I only found this out yesterday when the principal approached me in the halls to ask for a final confirmation, it was then that I learned of what had transpired behind my back in the past few days.

In the end, I was only to save my own place in the school as I explained things to the principal thoroughly. The school's administration then interrogated my sister for hours and it only had ended an hour ago. I eavesdrop on the questions as well as my sister's yelling in the principal's office. The things my sister said were beyond my comprehension and after a grueling eight hours, the door opens and my sister marches out throwing her school uniform on the ground.

She made a final effort to convince me to leave with her saying that the hero life was not for either of us. That the concept of 'Heroes' will be society's Achilles heel and all it takes is for a few of them to go turncoat, compromise international security, and we would immediately go all the way back to the feudal period.

"The age of guns and nuclear bombs were more secured than where we are now!" Inghild kept repeating.

Alas I had enough and for once, I stood up against my older twin. I told her that she was all wrong and that society was byfar better off and more secure in the age that we lived in today. That Heroes will never turn their backs on anyone they protected and that it was their duty to do so regardless of what happens to them.

My sister, whom had a stronger tongue than I, easily brushed my response aside with all sorts of jargon and knowledge that a person at her age should not know. She was pissed, very pissed and at that moment I knew I had won the argument because I had made my opponent lose control over their emotions.

I had hoped Inghild would calm down like she usually would after she loses and maybe do some silent self-reflection of what she had done. I was wrong, she went on and despite my stalling, packed all her bags and carried them to the main entrance of the school. A taxi that I assumed she had arranged earlier arrives and now… she is done loading the trunk and with a slam, she was ready to go.

Inghild then faces me, our eyes connect. Much of her fury has gone by now and I can tell she was sorry for what she had done. Painfully, she stretches out her arm,

"Acadia, I am leaving… will you come with me? You're all that I have in this world." My sister pleads while holding back her tears.

We stand there for a few seconds and behind me, I can hear the main entrance doors open. I take a glance behind me for a brief second and hear the voices of my classmates calling out to me and my sister to come back….pleading for us to come back.

"Unfortunate I would conclude." My sister says, her tone of voice abruptly entered her professional format. "I love you Acadia, I really do. But if you choose to hang around societal filth with the likes of the untermenschen you call…. Classmates… then I really must say… This is the end of our partnership."

I turn my gaze back towards her to see her throwing a briefcase sized black metal suitcase at me. The object knocks me off my feet and my bum lands hard on the cold concrete.

"As a farewell gift, I present you with a means of protecting yourself whilst you swim in the pool of shit containing filth beyond my comprehension. It is yours and you can choose to do whatever you want with it. Kill someone, kill me, kill yourself from the dread of what you have done to create the rift beyond me, your older sister, and you. I don't care. All I ask is that you stay out of my life from here on out. Let this be my final order to you as your older sister. Shall if you decide to go against this directive, I will kill you. I'll say it again, I WILL KILL YOU." Inghild spits at me. "Good bye, and good riddance….si…. Ms. Acadia."

Before I could say another word, my sister takes off and enters the taxi, slamming the door behind her. The car speeds off and as my classmate reach me, it was already turning around the corner.

"Good bye… Inghild." I murmur.


Author's anecdote:

Following the departure and subsequent complete cut-off from her sister, Acadia completes the final months of her second year at UA. At the end of the school year, Acadia too drops out of the UA Hero program for 'personal and emotional' reasons. All she wanted to do was reunite with her sister however Inghild was nowhere to be found. It was as if she had completely disappeared off the face of the world completely.

After searching in vain for two years and low on funds, Acadia enlists in the United States Navy and served four patrol tours aboard various naval vessels. Upon retiring, Acadia was approached by the CIA with a job offer. Acadia saw this as an easier pathway towards locating her lost sister and so takes up the offer. She was trained as a special operations agent with a specialization in apprehending villains.

Acadia's training differed extremely from UA's doctrine. At UA, students were taught how to use their quirks to the fullest and accept assistance from others. At the CIA training base, Acadia was taught not to use her quirk but to use firearms. She was taught to neutralize villains of various capabilities with all sorts of conventional weapons used before the rise of quirks and superhero agencies. Lastly, Acadia was taught to work and lead a team, that all of them were in the problem together and that if one of them fails, they all fail.

For now, I will release the names of Acadia's team and their roles.

Acadia Krueger [Team Leader]

Chelsea 'Maggie' Magbaredge. [Weapons specialist]

Shawn Lang Zai 'Lang Zai'. [Tech. expert, cook]

David Westinghouse. [Muscle]

I'm not a Hero is made in collaboration with members a part of the Greatest MY HARP AU roleplaying forum. Special thanks goes out to: BigCityCaptain, Flaming Fate Zero, Professor Bear, and Evieeee for the willingness to contribute their characters into this fanfiction.

I also thank my background staff for working with me over the month of July in planning this fanfiction and I can say this will be one fanfiction that I will definitely be continuing until a certain end/criteria me and my team have set is reached. Until then, stay tuned.

Final note: My Hero Academia, UA, Tesla, and elements belonging to the BNHA universe presented in this fanfiction are all properties of their affiliated owners. I'm not a Hero does not claim any rights to any products/characters belonging to these parties featured in this fanfiction.


Chapter 1: Old Faces

Musutafu Japan, present day

"Hack into the most prestigious Hairo institution in the world, gain admin status and then metaphorically spray the entire system with Siracha sauce… You're kidding me." Shawn gawks after he reads the mission plan.

"Can it be done?" I ask him.

Shawn being Shawn, leaves us in silence for a few seconds as he chews on his pen and makes the occasional fart.

"Normally… no." He concludes

The rest of the team groans almost immediately.

"Oh my, so has the great Shawn finally been given a task he cannot complete?! Come on you armchair caterpillar." David insults Shawn.

David gets a pen stuck in his nostrils the moment he finishes from Shawn.

"Ohhh… how rude." Shawn laughs sarcastically. "Let me finish… worm."

He takes a sip of creamer.

"As I was saying… normally no for the average computer geek… but me being the awesome me who is byfar superior than muscle milk guzzling David Casanova the womanizer over there…. In terms of technology and codes… Yes I can do it."

While the others sight in relief, I don't.

"Good, me and Chelsea will infiltrate the school and have the target taken care of." I announce. "David, you can babysit Shawn again and no, he is in charge of the van… like always."

David groans in protest but I tell him the zip it and deal with it. Moreover, Shawn was the better driver than all of us. His years of playing racing games somehow, oddly enough, pays off every time we needed to make a quick getaway.

As everyone goes back to their rooms to make their final preparations for the op, I lock myself in my own room. Something I did always before an op where I would imagine my twin sister with me in the room… uttering her high words of wisdom and giving me some on the spot lectures on life which didn't make sense to me…. Back then of course.

I imagine her walk towards the window of my room, placing her hand on the glass and utter something in German before she turns back towards me with a smile and tells me that we, we will find a way through. For a moment, I thought she was there….and I walk up to her with arms open only to be disappointed for the millionth time. She wasn't there with me. Raising up my head, the box Inghild left me sat on the table. Though it was scratched on some surfaces and dented at the corners, I still made out the word: FN Herstal.

Opening the latches and then the lid of the box, I pick up the FN Five-Seven my sister gave to me as our parting gift. It wasn't incredibly heavy thanks to its lightweight design but the weight and the sensation of carrying it… always makes me feel that I am with my sister. I give the weapon an examination to make sure everything was fine with it and that was when Chelsea knocks on my door telling me to get in the van. I quickly holster the pistol and proceed out the door.

An hour later, in the Van.

"You look troubled Acadia, what's wrong?" Shawn asks, eyeing me through the rear-view mirror from his position in the driver's seat.

I keep my silence, I didn't want the team to know any more about my past affiliation with UA… it was an avenue they can use to ask of my sister whom I have not told them about in all the years we've been together.

"Acadia… talk to me." Shawn says again.

I give him the silent treatment.

"Cougar, TALK TO ME!" David joins in a few seconds later.

I shoot him a glare.

"Goose Talk to me!" Shawn then joins in, like David calling me by the respective nicknames they assigned to me.

"MAVERICK!" Chelsea yells at Shawn. "Shut up, Katie needs her space."

"Ohh pershional shpaesh… the same old excuse again…" Shawn mocks.

"Women's needs… strikes again… ehh Shawn?" David joins in… again.

"Both of you, ZIP IT." I snarl. "It's already bad that I'm going back into this sewer but with you two gawking and spitting provocations all around… well… it feels like one of you decided to open the vents and pour sewage on me. So… if you would benefit me… please ZIP IT."

Fortunately, the two men resumed their normal level of maturity immediately after my request and the rest of the ride to UA was… easier. After a few more minutes, Shawn parks the van a block away from the High School and sets up base with David while I and Chelsea disembark and head towards our objective. As we near the school, a white limousine passes us and turns to corner. As we make our way across the corner, we saw the same vehicle now parked at the entrance to the school. The passenger door was opened by the driver and outs steps our target dressed in a blue night gown. The press as all over her with their flashing cameras and voice sticks.

"Should have planted a stick of C4 on that limo as it passed and blown it up when I had the chance." Chelsea whispers into my ear.

"Too high profile and besides… The director is already very displeased with your preference of employing arson everywhere we go." I reply.

"Good point, I might get fired for that." Chelsea giggles.

"Worse, sent to Leavenworth or a black site for your misconduct." I joke sarcastically. "Seriously, no explosions this time please? Let's just make the person disappear and the effects of our actions won't be on the news… again."

As a means of purchasing insurance, I traded half of my magazines for several sticks of Chelsea's C4 sticks and a few other hidden explosives she had on her. There is no way I am letting her go into a school filled with children and their parents dressed internally like a bomber. All goes smoothly as we pass through security and have are bags checked. Like always, I pray for the cloaking technology in my bag works to hide the disassembled rifle I carried.

Once through security, me and Chelsea parted ways to head towards our preassigned locations. My path took me through the main entrance, into a staircase to the second floor, around some corners and finally to a secured metal door.

"I'm at the door, Shawn open this will yah?" I speak into the comm while waving at the nearby camera.

"Of course your majesty." Shawn replies sarcastically and the door buzzes open.

Just as I was about to head in, an oddly familiar voice calls my name at the most inconvenient time possible.

"Acadia! I know that is you. Where have you been all these years?" Felix shouts.

I freeze still in place, begging for him to buy my fake voice.

"I'm sorry, I do not know of this person called Acadia. I am with KDR here to do maintenance on the security system recently installed in this building." I reply.

Felix laughs. "Hah hah, good try Acadia. Come on, what are you doing here? Bah I don't care, let me take you to meet everyone!"

I can hear him slowly walking towards me. In response I discreetly reach into jacket to find my Shockter Knuckles, a non-lethal solution designed to take down obstacles. Obstacles very much like Felix.

"Sorry old friend…" I say in myself.

Taking advantage of his friendly approach behind me, I whirl around at the last moment with the non-lethal gadget charged and ready. Felix was slow to respond and only saw the electrified knuckles impact his right temple delivering a shock of volts sufficient to render him unconscious. He falls to the ground without resistance and sprawls open like a fish ready to be gutted.

"Clean up on third floor, corridor three." I speak into my comms. "No mess, just body removal."

"Roger that." The voice of the leader of the secondary team on station replies. "We'll have it taken care of."

I check Felix's vitals to make sure he was OK. His pulse was OK, just knocked out. Satisfied I proceed through the secured door and towards my objective location.

"Felix Larson, pro hero. Graduate of UA Hero class 20XX…fascinating." Shawn speaks over the comms. He was up to no good again digging through the files of my victims. I can already imagine him hunched over in front of his laptop, hooting his trademark villainous laugh as he scrolls down each page "Fascinating except I did not expect it to be so easy for you to land a knockout punch on a man like him in one go. Great work Katie… I am amused. Hyu hyu hyu hyuuuu"

"Zip it Shawn." I bark back at him as I climb a few flights of stairs.

"I'm in position." Chelsea announces a while later. "And I have eyes on the target."

"That's good, remember we need her alive." I remind my colleague.

It took me a few more seconds to reach my own position on top of the auditorium control room. I place my backpack on the ground and begin to assemble my rifle. Just as I finish screwing the silencer on, Chelsea brings me news.

"Boss, I think we need a change of plan. It appears an advanced target has appeared. Bottom center row, count seven chairs from the back and go five to the right." She instructs me.

Quickly applying my scope, I search the seated crowd as instructed by my partner until I arrive at a blonde heroine's head.

"It's just a blonde hero." I reply to my partner.

"Not from my vantage point. I swear we can confirm him to be Alfheim."

"Do you for sure have a positive ID?" I question my partner. "Have you had Shawn run the database?"

"Database matches the lady sitting at that seat at 85% sure that she is Alfheim." Shawn interrupts. "I've even ran it through the guest seating list for tonight, it's more likely than likely no that it is her."

There was a brief moment of radio silence as I thought of my options.

"Your call team leader. All I'm saying is that this opportunity may save us a trip to her arctic lair." Shawn kills the silence.

"That's not our mission." I conclude. "I prefer to have a valid confirmation and authorization from Langley than to take a risk at an innocent's life. Moreover, our mission will be high profile enough, no need to add more Siracha. Chelsea, back on target as planned."

I hear groaning over the comms, more than likely it was Shawn. I shut it out and focus on the shot. Taking deep breaths, I feel the flow of blood in my body slowing down and all my blood vessels shrinking in diameter. My scope, trained on the individual now speak at the podium to address the class of graduating heroes. For a moment, I said sorry to the graduates for what I am about to do to their graduating ceremony. Unfortunately, there was no other way that we could get our hands on the HVI.

"Blow the lights when you're ready Shawn." I inform him.

"Blowing in 3…2…1…"

BANG!

Gunfire from an unknown rifle erupts just as the lights go out. Through my scope, I see the target's head explode beyond recognition and I determine that more than likely, a high caliber rifle was used. The crowd below screams, horrified in the dark, they begin turning on the flashlights on their smartphones to scan the auditorium.

"Who took the shot?!" I yell over the comms.

"Not me." Chelsea replies immediately.

"Thanks for the assist, we owe you one." An unknown snickers over our channel.

I immediately order my team to change channels and to get the hell out. During the process, the lights come back on and Shawn comes through informing he'd been locked out of the system. As if things could get worse, somebody in the audience spots me still holding my rifle and points me out to everyone.

"Shit…" I swear and a duo of heroes begin flying towards me.

I cannot allow myself to be apprehended so I aim my rifle towards the nearest hero at a non-lethal spot and pull the trigger. The bullet connects with the Hero and he disengages. Unfortunately his accomplice continues forward and ultimately gets his hands on me. We engage in a small fist fight but it was short lived as it was obvious I had more experience and knowledge than he did. I knock him out with a snap kick to his nose and immediately pick up my gear to leave. As I limp through the hallways and towards the exit, I disassemble the rifle and stuff it into my backpack. I then drape a PRESS lanyard over my neck and flip my jacket inside out to assume the identity of an injured press worker. My disguise works and a squad of special response personnel from the local police led by a hero pass me without suspicion other than the quick 'are you ok's.

Going through the main doors, I am met with a crowd out frightened students, their parents, and few teachers trying to calm everyone. I don't bother to look around anymore and I pull my cap over my face and head into the crowd towards the exit. Walking through the chaos, I hear the cries and murmurs of what had just happened. Some students crying in anguish after what had just happened at their graduation ceremony. Parents trying to calm and comfort their children as well as demanding answers from the teachers.

It seemed like my sister was right…. Particularly on the topic of how reliant on heroes society has become. Whenever something happens and the Heroes don't make it in time to save the day or night, the public breaks down and sympathy is let loose. When sympathy is let loose, the villains both in plain sight as well as within the groups of heroes would know they have accomplished what they wanted to do. Clearly what happened tonight was a victory for them having assassinated a famous heroine.

Another squad of police special response personnel led by a hero comes running through the crowd. With a stroke of bad luck, they stop in front of me and a second familiar voice calls my name.

"Acadia… what are you doing here?" Ayame asks.

Rats, now I am really trapped. I don't look up and pretend not to notice anyone calling me. I walk around the Hero and the squad of police she was leading. Before I could go any further. Ayame grabs me by my arm.

"Acadia, why are you so unresponsive? It's not like you." Ayame again tries to get me to answer her questions.

I shake my arm off her light grip and bolt into the crowd.

"STOP HER!" Ayame shouts and the crowd screams. I hear the sound of police coming after me.

"Shawn, where is that evac vehicle?!" I demand over the comms hopping the wall surrounding UA.

"Blue Tesla, coming right at you." Shawn immediately replies. "Dang I love automated cars, so easy to hack."

A blue Tesla model 6 comes screeching down the street and stops in front of me. I climb in immediately and take the steering wheel.

"Shawn, give me the con." I order.

"The con is yours captain." He replies and the Tesla's automatic drive light shuts off.

With the police as well as a couple of heroes in my rear view me, I jam down on the throttles and make my escape. It would be another two hours of evading the police and ridding the stolen Tesla before I rejoin my team at the dining table in the safe house. The first question I asked was,

"What the hell happened out there tonight?!"

The room was silent for a moment until Shawn spoke up.

"Somebody hitch hiked onto my hack and took over the moment I was about to blow the lights. Then… they fricked our mission by killing our target."

"Anyone know who the other team was?" I ask.

"Besides us and Maxon's team working in the crowd, nobody with executing authorization that we know of were there." Shawn replies again.

Before I could ask my next question, the phone rings and Chelsea picks it up. She puts it on speaker quickly after.

"Good evening boys and girls." The voice of Director Fredericks radiates. "As I'm sure all of us are aware, something bad has happened during your recent op in Musutafu that resulted in the death of the target. That's fine."

Puzzled, I ask. "That's fine? Sorry sir, but the directive was for us to take in Ms. Ishimura and transport her to a secured site for question and interrogation…"

"That's what we told you, yes you're correct." Fredericks cuts me off. "Dead men don't tell tales but obtaining a live individual was more of a… secondary objective that we made the primary objective."

"So in other words, we could have blown up her car when we had the chance." Chelsea asks.

"Correct." The Director surprisingly replies. "Instead, we are really interested in the hard drive Ms. Ishimura had surgically placed inside her right leg."

"What's inside of it sir?" I ask.

"That's classified, you don't need to know." Fredericks replies. "Your new mission is to infiltrate the city morgue, locate Ms. Ishimura's cadaver and extract the hard drive. Employ any measures you deem fit however please do keep a low profile. We are already having a hard time covering up the previous incident."

Without saying a goodbye, the director cuts the call.

"Oh yay… now we are morgue examiners." She says sarcastically. "I wonder how that'll work out. First we need to get in, then we need to find the body, then we're going to have to cut it open, extract the hard drive and then seal it up all back again as if the lacerations were done during a previous surgery."

We all look towards him. Shawn does not notice because he was already leaning back in his wheelie chair and crossing his legs over the table.

"I hereby declare this Mission Impossible… no way can it be done. Sure I can get the security system down to allow us in but we don't have a surgeon who can…."

Shawn stops.

"That's why we have you Shawn." Chelsea laughs. "If I remember your dossier correctly, you dropped out of med school to do computing… didn't you? I'm sure they have at least taught you the skills of open a person up… no?"

"It's settled then." I say. "Shawn will infiltrate the morgue with me. We'll do some surgery and get the hard drive and we'll be out before anyone knows. We move out tonight, Shawn pack lightly."

End of Chapter 1.


Chapter 2: Surgical Precision

Preview:

"Come on Shawn, rip the drive out and let's go!" I yell under the gunfire.

"Got it!" Shawn yells back producing a bloodied glove. "Hey get down!"

I instantly floor myself and see Shawn whipping up his carbine and firing two shots. A dead body then falls onto me, blood and pieces of brain pouring out onto me.

"That's why I never became a neurosurgeon." Shawn tells me for humour. "Cuz damn those brains are hard to get into."

"Good story Shawn." I reply pushing the body off of me. "Let's go, there must be more of them."

"Wait…" Shawn says. "I need to burn this mess before. I suspect some of my sweat got onto the cadaver."

He pulls the pin off a Willie Pete grenade and tosses it onto the corpse of Ms. Ishimura.

"Alright, we're done here. NOW MOVE!" I yell at Shawn as I hear footsteps fast approaching.

"Guys… whatever you're gonna do to get out of there… make it quick." Chelsea says over the comm. "We've got a suspicious rotor wing entering the airspace. Unregistered and possibly armed."

"Rocket out!" David yells in the background.

I look up to see a rocket zooming across the air towards me and Shawn.

"Cover! Shawn shrieks pushing me into a nearby fire escape.