Chapter one: Serendipity
A/N: Sorry for the unoriginal idea but the plot bunny is so much like some of my other stories I want to write this. Not sure if I will continue it but this works as a one shot I think...
"Your dream is retarded! Go kill yourself!" Bakugo roared whilst destroying his notebook. Izuku could only cower and hope Bakugo's next target wasn't his face.
That had been only an hour ago.
As he walked Izuku reminisced about the past. In this world eighty percent of people have quirks, genetic mutations that give people superpowers.
He was part of the far and few that had no quirk. He had found out when he was five that he would never develop one. He just wasn't born good enough. His childhood friend, ironically the one who had told him to kill himself not even an hour and a half ago, was born with an amazing quirk. He could make explosions. It was a powerful and versatile quirk.
Both of them had grown up idolizing a certain hero, All Might. He was the top hero in the Hero Organization and also one of the best heroes in the last fifty years. He would save people with a large grin and tell them it would all be okay.
Izuku wanted that. His dream was to be a hero exactly like that. He wanted to be a real hero that saved people with a smile and put them at ease. He wanted to be like All might… but that could never happen. Bakugo, his childhood friend turned bully, had made that very clear. He could never become a hero. He was weak and pathetic in a world where heroes aren't made. They are just born better.
Izuku's meandering gait had led him down the long way home. Before him was a low side walk with a bridge overhead making a tunnel. It used to be a scary place for him as a kid, but when you have to take the tunnel everyday to get to school because you have bullies waiting in ambush a minorly shady tunnel is suddenly not so bad…
Izuku wandered in still clutching the notebook Bakugo and burn. It was a green note book his mother had given him. It was titled 'For my Future'. He always wrote down notes about the heroes he saw, thinking he was going to grow up to be like them despite his not having a quirk of his own. He was beginning to doubt that though. Was it true what Bakugo had said? Was he retarded for believing he could be a hero that can smile and tell everyone they'd be okay if he didn't have a super powerful quirk?
Unbeknownst to him a mass of green and black slime was rising out of a sewer grate.
All Might was on the move.
He had lost sight of the villain he was chasing. The slime monster had given him the slip by going into the sewer. As a pro he knew the sewers like the back of his had but that slime quirk was rather unorthodox and once he had slipped into the sewers, All Might had lost him.
All Might growled as he followed the trail of the sewer system going off of years of experience to predict which part of the city he would have to come up to. He had already sent out an alert to all heroes in the area, so the Slime only had two options.
He could stay in the sewers and be caught by the heroes who specialized in swamping those areas out or he could come up and try to give All might the slip above ground. All Might was banking on chance of the latter happening. The man had stolen money, not food, so he was most likely not below ground in some kind of dwelling. Using his experience there was a few places he would be in.
All Might just prayed he could get there in time.
Izuku was suffocating in sewer sludge.
"What's the matter kid? Slime got yer tongue? Don't worry. I am just going to posses your body and lay some eggs in your stomach!" the slime chuckled.
Izuku's eyes widened. H-he was technically being r-r-raped? Suddenly the large amount of sludge in his mouth, down his throat, and up his nose, seemed if possible, even more nauseatingly awful. He was suffering a fate worse than death and here he was not being able to do anything! All because he was quirk-less!
'Someone… anyone… help me…' Izuku thought. 'All Might! Anyone! Help!'
Without warning the slime monster froze and Izuku was splattered with green mucus. It was the slime monster's… blood?
Izuku coughed as his mouth was suddenly freed from the slime monster's hold. When Izuku looked around the first thing he saw was the cold very, very dead eyes of the thing that had attacked him laying on the ground wet and runny like they were an uncooked egg yolk. This eye was stepped on.
A hand was offered.
Izuku took it slowly.
All Might was the first to arrive on the scene.
A murder.
The victim?
The perpetrator he had been trying to bring in.
Perhaps the villain had met with someone and… All Might stopped himself. There was no point in continuing that thought.
The Forensic Heroes would take it from here. All Might sectioned off the area and stood vigil.
Nobody would disturb the evidence…
Izuku was still shaking.
He had nearly been strangled to death after being horribly… Izuku shook off those thoughts.
His rescuer was a tall, muscular man with shaggy black hair and no nose. The way he walked showed his disdain for all those he met.
The worst part?
He knew who this guy was…
The man was known as the Hero Killer: Stain. He was the antithesis to all things hero.
He had murdered and crippled over 23 heroes so far. Why would he save some nameless nobody like him?
Stain had taken him to an abandoned park and showed him a bathroom he could wash up in. When he was done Stain was blocking the exit.
The man turned to him. "Why didn't you fight back?"
Izuku looked down in shame.
T-that's right… it was his fault. He should just be grateful he was still alive and- No, he was grateful… If it wasn't for Stain, he would've been toast. Really slimy dank toast… He could go for some toast right now… He wondered if perhaps Stain was actually a good person. He looked like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle died and came back as some kind of freaky revenant.
"Do you always mumble?" Stain asked.
Izuku looked up mortified. H-he heard that?
"Look. You may be a victim, but don't let your resolve fail. Those without conviction are trash, good for nothing except to be thrown out... Tell me. Even after all this what do you want?" Stain asked.
The answer was simple but actually saying it in front of this man was nothing short of suicide. If he lied, Izuku just knew, he would die. If he hesitated, he would die. So, mustering up his courage he spoke his dream.
"I want to be a hero like All Might! I want to rescue people and give them comfort!" Izuku said beginning to cry. He was scared, he had just been through a traumatic experience. "Even though I have no quirk, I will be a hero!"
Izuku's heart was pounding. He was going to die. Right here and right now. But at least… he had no regrets. He proclaimed his intent… aaaannnddd now he was gonna die! He was going to die, and he was going to-
"Then do it." The Hero Killer said frankly.
"W-what?" Izuku asked.
Stain just scowled. "Kid eighty percent of the world has a quirk, that means a good two billion out of the world's ten billion people have no quirk just like you.
"Now ask yourself out of the eighty percent have quirks, how many do you think have quirks that are suitable for saving people? Think of those people who's only ability are say... to control how fast their hair grows, those that have super strength but breakable bodies, and those that have sensory powers that have no use like a man having taste buds all over his body.
"Now, tell me how many of them you think actually have the temperament, skill, and charisma to do be like All Might?
"Now, tell me how many lose points because of popularity and such. Is the hero good with kids? Would he be better in the construction yard? Finally, tell me how many you think would honestly rush in and give their life for a civilian?
"I can tell you that number of people is less that a trillionth of a percent of the population. Without conviction a hero is nothing. What I do is purge those so-called heroes who make a living off of their powers and charm. Those lying sycophants care only for the cash that lines their pockets and not for the people they are supposed to save.
"The system is sick. I am just the inconvenient truth. The cure that no one wants to consider." Stain said.
Stain looked him right in the eyes. "Use this experience. When you are off being a hero remember this. Remember how scared you were, how you wished for it all to end, for anyone to save you and then kill it. Kill it and actually go save someone with no thought for reward... Heroes must, as a rule, try to act to help another despite their fear. Kill that part of you that is weak… and if you do that… you may just have my respect as a hero…"
And with that Stain was gone and Izuku was left to think.
Izuku was left to think for a long time. He had always thought he was in the minority. That his case was special because he had no quirk. He had never really thought that there was even more people out there without a quirk. It was humbling… and inspiring. He would be a hero without a quirk. He would become strong and be a hero that everyone can look up to.
His mother greeted him, but she was also on a call with his dad. He was working overseas in America. He was a sales man who's vigorous sales pitch selling cars for Toyota.
Izuku wandered into his room. It was full of All Might posters and figurines. Flopping down on the bed he kept replaying the whole thing over and over again. He felt awful.
He had gotten his first taste of hero work today. As a victim…
He had been so scared… Is this what All Might felt? No… it couldn't be… All Might wouldn't be scared of that thing. He would laugh and tear it off of himself. Slowly Izuku realized he had just watched a man die today. The slime monster, no matter how terrible, no matter how despicable, that was a person Stain had killed.
He could still smell the man in his sinuses and his throat felt sore. He hated how weak and helpless he had felt.
He never wanted to feel that weak and helpless again. He wanted… he wanted to save people!
Later that night Izuku woke up with the most awful stomach ache. His whole body seemed to churn and deep in his gut it felt like there was something moving.
Izuku was panicking. He was going to die!
Suddenly the wiggling feeling stopped, and the terrible pain ceased. Izuku was panting. What the hell was going on!?
Just then, something burst from his chest.
Izuku made a strangled noise and passed out.
Izuku woke up the next morning in a horrible panic, clutching his chest and crying in terror.
But he was fine.
Panting, Izuku tried to calm himself down. It was just a nightmare. He wasn't weak. Anyone would have nightmares after what happened to him yesterday.
Thoughts of the dead man he had witnessed brutally murdered filled his mind. He… he needed to get to school.
Izuku was quieter than normal. He needed to tell an adult what happened but felt… terrified for some reason. Also Stain, despite his crimes, had saved his life. He could at the very least hold off on telling the authorities until he was out of town…
Izuku shook his head. He didn't know what to do… on one hand Stain had saved him, on the other however he was a murderer and had murdered his attacker.
What would All Might do? Then an uncomfortable thought occurred.
'What happens to people when All Might doesn't come save them?' Izuku thought morbidly. 'Then they would've been like me…'
Something churned in his gut. A panic sweat formed until his stomach suddenly settled. Another though occurred.
'Why didn't I go to a doctor?! I just had so many germs shoved down my throat! I could have AIDS!' Izuku mentally screamed.
A sudden force of calm hit him like a truck. Everything was probably fine. Besides if he went to the doctor then he would have to talk about the attack and that would be like betraying the man who saved his life.
Izuku shook his head. That's right. He was probably fine. Bakugo had given him so many swirlies trying to 'fix his hair for him' he was probably immune to sewer stuff…
The class was normal. He was missing his notebook as he had come up with a cool hero costume idea.
After class was when he knew he was in trouble again. Bakugo had cornered him during lunch and guided him into a part of the school known as 'the hurt locker'. It was place people could go to settle fights. Bakugo used it to teach him a lesson.
"You weren't serious about that shit talk you were talking about yesterday, were you?' Bakugo said slamming him up against the wall. "You wanna be a hero… don't make me puke. Like some little piece of shit like you could ever become a hero."
"I-I… I mean…" Izuku stuttered before the wave of calm washed over him again. "I am not getting in your way Kaachan. You will be a hero in the battle program. I am applying to the support program. I realized recently I… I'm just not cut out for fighting… Not without a quirk… I can, however, make some really cool support gear for real heroes like you."
Bakugo looked like someone had slapped him in the face. "You're giving up?"
"Not giving up." Izuku said maintaining eye contact. "I realize my limits… and know my strengths. I am smart just not very strong. I have no quirk so what do you expect? I can work in the support program and use my strengths to help save people."
"How?" Bakugo said still a bit thunderstruck.
"I am going to make armor." Izuku said easily. "My hero suits, like the kind I have been drawing my entire life, can save heroes lives and make their lives easier. You don't have to worry. I won't get in your way."
Bakugo was quiet for a long time. He just stared at Izuku like he was some kind of alien before turning around slowly and walking away.
Izuku was calm all the way back home and back into his room shutting and then locking the door.
Then the wave of calm left and Izuku sunk to his knees. What the hell was that?!
It was like someone had controlled his body? Is there even quirks like that? Where did the decision to become a support hero come from? This was…
Izuku slumped. It was actually a really good idea… Maybe… maybe he didn't need to be a hero like he had thought. He-
Wait! Were was all this coming from!?
Izuku shook his head. This was not normal. He would wait one more day and then he was going to go to a doctor. He needed help.
Izuku woke up again in the middle of the night. He was starving.
Wandering into the kitchen he began to scour for something, anything, he could eat.
His nose led him to the cupboard and he began to eat.
Izuku came to the next morning covered in cocoa powder and chocolate smeared his mouth and his pillow.
That's it. He was going to the doctor today.
It wasn't a school day, so he was going to go.
…
He was going to do it!
…
What was going on with him?
…
He felt really hungry.
…
Chocolate…
The next thing Izuku knew he was in an alleyway in a hoodie and his pajamas, covered in candy wrappers.
Izuku trembled.
Doctor. He needed a doctor.
"Come on Missy! Show us those knockers!" a male voice said while the woman screamed for help.
"Come on! I got her arms!"
"Hey!" Izuku shouted.
Before Izuku knew it, he was running towards them, mind working overdrive. Guy on the left was a vision-based quirk. X-ray vision or the like given the circumstances. Guy on the right was a strength, size, or durability-based quirk given his musculature. He was probably the leader. The look out was a literal rat-man. Look out, his mind supplied.
Stopping right before them he was shaking. Now what? He had no quirk. How was he going to-
"Just keep moving boy… We are into women, but if you try to make our lives difficult…" the man gave him a once over with a perverted leer.
Izuku was terrified. But like before a wave of calm washed over him, but his intent was mixed into it.
He wanted to be a hero.
The men backed away slowly, eyes wide.
He wanted to be big and strong like All Might.
The rat man came to see what was going on and froze on the spot, pissing himself.
He wanted to rescue others with a big smile on his face to let them know everything would be okay!
The screams started.
Izuku came to again in holding an unconscious lady on some roof top. Her clothes were torn in places, but she looked fine. Izuku set her down and began to walk away trembling.
Making his way down the stairs eyes wide.
"What happened?" Izuku muttered frightened of himself.
'We saved her.' A voice said. Izuku froze looking around wildly.
"Who's there?" Izuku asked voice wavering.
'Us.' The voice said. 'We are here.'
"What 'We'? Who are you?" Izuku asked again.
Slowly the strangest feeling Izuku had ever felt occurred. He felt his stomach churn and slime began to ooze from all his pours. Black inky tarlike slime. Worst of all… it was alive…
A wave of calm washed over him once again. 'There is no need to fear ourselves. We are one.'
It was the strangest thing knowing he should be scared. He should be screaming. But Izuku wasn't afraid. In fact, Izuku had never been more peaceful in his life.
"What are you?" Izuku asked. When the slime didn't respond Izuku tried again. "What are we?"
'We are Izuku Midoriya. We are a fourteen-year-old symbiosis. We met ourselves three days ago when the one called the Hero Killer: Stain killed our former host. We are now happily bonded. We are Izuku.'
"You are a parasite." Izuku muttered. He felt his own head shake. 'We are a symbiosis. We give, and we take. We are Izuku.'
There was silence as Izuku realized with muted horror that this thing was talking through his own mouth.
"You were the slime monster." Izuku said. "You tried to rape me."
'We were not trying to rape us. We were trying to escape. We were scared. The one called All Might was after us. We didn't want to be killed. We laid our core into your body. We 'hatched'. We are Izuku.'
"You didn't ask consent so that was rape like what 'we' stopped those guys from doing to that lady… but you must have done something bad to have All Might chase you. What did you do?" Izuku asked through the forced calm.
'We got little metal bits called 'Coin' or 'Money' out of an "ATM machine" so we may buy sustenance. In our hunger we might've broken it.' The voice admitted sheepishly. 'Then All Might was on us. One punch and we would die. He is too strong…'
"All Might would not have hurt you. You need to be more careful. What is it you eat?" Izuku asked genuinely curious.
'Our brothers eat brains.' The voice said. Izuku felt the muted horror again but couldn't force himself out of this utter calm feeling. 'But we eat chocolate. We love chocolate. Last host was very fond of delicious chocolate and showed us that we did not need brains. We were small then. We haven't even tasted brains yet. We shouldn't be worried.'
"So today… you just bought some chocolate with my-I mean our money?" Izuku asked. Best to make the creature think he was agreeing with it until he got help.
'Yes. We did get chocolate with the paper bits. We ate all the chocolate. We need lots every day. We need about five brain's worth.'
Izuku casually checked his wallet and found the Christmas and birthday money he had been saving up to go into the hero program was missing. Through the calm he decided he was irritated.
"That money was important." Izuku said with a sigh. He couldn't feel anything except exasperation through the calm. "I needed that to be a hero."
'But we are a hero.' The voice said confused. 'We love helping people. We are strong and can save people. We even helped that woman. Why would we need money to do that?'
"So, when we go to UA we can live on our own." Izuku said. "We want to live off our own strength. We try to be the givers rather than the receivers of charity. We help and do what is right. That money is supposed to support us and buy us stuff like chocolate later. Stuff for the human part of us to survive with."
'But we need nothing. We take care of our own needs. We only need chocolate to live and we can get metal and paper bits from 'ATM machines.' The voice said.
"Then your just a criminal! I refuse to be part of this!" Izuku said finally breaking through the calm. "I want to be a hero like All Might! I want to be someone who does the right thing! We can't just going around stealing!"
'Then… what do we do? We cannot separate. We would both die. We need chocolate. Or brains. What do we do?' the voice asked.
Izuku sunk to the ground and hugged his knees to his chest. Theft or homicide to survive… great… just great…
"We will ask All Might for help." Izuku said slowly.
'He will kill us.' The voice said.
"No, he won't. I believe in my hero. He can help us. I know he can."
'Very well. We trust ourselves.' The voice said. 'We just hope we are not wrong in this.'
All Might was still looking for the child the burnt notebook belonged to.
Reading it some he found he was intrigued. It was a notebook full of things a pro hero would need to know. All Might was actually surprised when he saw there were tips and tricks that even he could learn from. He knew it all of course, but it was the new perspective and refreshment of re-reading the basics that left him feeling nostalgic.
Suddenly there was an explosion in the middle of the city square.
Bakugo was just wandering feeling lost. Deku… that stupid piece of shit was actually giving up on his dream. It made him feel… empty… That was one more constant gone from his life. Whatever. Deku was a piece of shit wad of…
Bakugo hated it.
He wanted Deku to fight back. It had been inspiring to him on some level. If that piece of shit can still believe in being a hero then maybe it was okay for Bakugo to believe he actually was good enough to stand up against hundreds of students all trying to get into UA that might have better grades, better physical training, and as much as he hated to admit, better quirks.
His 'Hot Hands' quirk was good. It was powerful and Bakugo loved it, but even he wasn't so arrogant as to believe it would help him in any situation. There would be times when he needed to save people trapped under rubble.
He couldn't just hit them with a huge blast and hope for the best. No, a quirk that would allow you to move the earth itself like Cementoss's Cement quirk would be much better suited. He was actually going in as a very niche type of hero.
Heavy combat and high threat type assignments. He'd be the guy people would call when everything went to shit, and they needed to blow up aliens or something.
Like All Might.
He wanted people to acknowledge him.
He wanted to be a hero.
And Deku… he really wanted to help people… Bakugo would never say it out loud but although he thought he was brain dead for thinking he could do it without a quirk, Bakugo deeply respected Deku's desire to help and serve people.
In some ways… he wanted to be like Deku as much as he wanted to be like All Might. But now that stupid quirkless loser was giving up! How dare that bastard make him feel sad for some quirkless give up loser! He felt sad for that stupid, brain dead, piece of shit-
Bakugo instinctively blasted the thing that suddenly appeared out of nowhere next to him, but a huge man with a broken nose, dodged effortlessly . The piece of shit kicked him away with a savage round house kick.
"Hahaha! Naughty, naughty!" a voice cackled. "You are that little piece of shit that beat the living snot outta me and my brothers huh? Well just your luck bub. I brought some friends!"
Bakugo got up as he was suddenly surrounded by huge guys coming out of a purple haze.
Izuku got an alert on his phone. Some of the guys at school was sending out a video of Bakugo fighting off like a dozen adult villains on Sunshine st.
Izuku booked it.
'Where are we going?'
"I have to save Kaachan!" He shouted as he ran as fast as he could. Suddenly his legs felt like they were longer. Looking down he saw that his legs were long and thick with muscle. He was also much taller. Bulkier.
'We are Izuku.' The voice said. 'We want to save Kaachan. Right?'
Izuku smiled with a mouth of razor-sharp teeth.
"N-no!" All Might panted coughing up blood and beginning to shrink down to his smaller form. "N-not now!"
All he could do was watch as a boy was savagely beaten by over a dozen adults. The collateral damage was causing the heroes on the scene to hesitate and save the many rather than the few. There were at least three of them that had stupidly powerful quirks. The boy, though only in middle school, was holding them off admirably but was not quite strong enough to take on so many powerful quirk users.
All Might felt useless.
The creature had carried him to Kaachan and retreated back into his body.
"Wait! Where are you going! I thought we would be saving Kaachan!?"
'F-fire bad…' the voice said sounding scared. Izuku's head whipped around showing him all the fire in the area. Kaachan's blast quirk had done a number on the city street and may have hit a gas line.
Izuku's hearing suddenly amplified allowing Izuku to hear all the parasite could hear. 'Too loud… scared…'
Izuku however caught sight of Kaachan getting curb stomped and recognized the leader as the guys that the parasite beat up. His eyes widened. This was his fault…
Blood was dripping from Kaachan's mouth and his cries filled the air as a villain with an electric quirk shocked him again and again.
Seeing this, Izuku was already running towards him.
'What are we doing?!' the voice yelled inside his head. 'We are going to get ourselves killed!'
'My body is moving on its own! I have to save Kaachan!' Izuku thought. Thinking fast he tore off his hoody and threw it at the face of the guy electrocuting Kaachan and dived between the man's legs.
"What the-EEEII!" the man squealed as Izuku followed up be kicking the man in the testicles as hard as he could.
"Deku… dumbass… run…" Bakugo choked out. Man, that bastard could take a lot of punishment…
"I can't just stand by and watch you die!" Izuku shouted at him.
Bakugo saw the one of them, who had a telekinesis quirk was beginning to pick up rubble to throw at them. Bakugo acted on instinct one last time and roared summoning up all his energy and blasted the guy attacking Deku. He managed to get him. The rubble dropped but it was coming down on the bystanders.
Suddenly, it was him.
All Might.
"DELWARE SMASH!" All Might roared as his mighty blow created an enormous tornado sending debris and the villains flying.
And just like that it was all over.
"Now both of you have a lot of explaining to do." All Might said coughing up blood. All Might was hurt! "But maybe later…"
Izuku was later at a Mc-donalds having an argument with his new friend?
'They have no tater tots…' the voice said.
"They are a burger and fries place. What do you expect?" Izuku muttered. The receptionist was giving him a weird look.
"Is there something you are looking for?" she asked.
'Tater tots!' the voice shouted. 'Why don't you have them!?'
Izuku winced at the 'loudness' of the words. "Ugh… s-sorry! I was just wondering if you still have-ah…shamrock shakes…?"
The receptionist raised an eyebrow but was back to her smiley self. "We are very sorry about that sir! We have been out of that for at least a month! Could I recommend to you a chocolate milkshake instead?'
'YES.' The voice said. 'We need to marry this woman… they offered us chocolates…'
"What?!" Izuku squeaked at his voice's suggestion. The cashier looked confused however. "N-no! I mean-yes! I mean um… can I have a chocolate milkshake please?"
'We want thirty!' the voice said.
"Why of course! We will get that right to you!" the cashier said. "that will be-"
Izuku paid for their milkshake and subsequently waited off to the side so he could have an argument with 'himself'.
"We can't just eat chocolate all the time!" Izuku hissed to himself.
'So, you would like to swap to brains? The cashier looked tasty…' the voice said. It liked to joke about eating people but always seemed to prefer chocolate…
"Nooo!" Izuku muttered. "We just need to make sure we don't look weird! You are the one that kept saying that doctors would kill us!"
'Very well.' The voice said. 'But we demand we get ourselves tater tots soon, maybe a live rat as a snack…'
They got their milkshake and headed out.
"Look. I- We are going to be a Hero. Okay?" Izuku said muttering to himself oblivious to the looks on people's faces as he walked by them. "We do not eat people. No brains! Ever!"
'Alright.' the voice said.
"Also I might just be weird but talking to you I need to refer to you as somebody as myself." Izuku continued sipping his milkshake.
'Hmm... what did we have in mind?' the voice asked.
"Swamp thing? Sewerman?" Izuku muttered. "Wait! Sorry! I am used to coming up with hero names."
'That is fine. Hmm... what about Toxin?' the voice asked sounding amused.
"No... hmm... how about Venom?" Izuku asked. "Sorry. That's more a villain name. I'm an idiot..."
'We are foolish at times.' the voice said. 'But we like it.'
"So Venom then?" Izuku asked.
'Why not?'
A/N:
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