OOps...I somehow started something else I will not finish...don't hate me.
"Silly fish, that's not food." Izuku Midoriya said in a small sad voice as he reached into the pond his notebook had been tossed into. On any other day he should've just been able to easily grab his burnt notebook out of the pool and carry on with his walk home; but not today. Not in this universe. In many other countless universes, the fish just swim away and nothing holds Izuku up at the fish pond. Here, however, one of the koi seems to have thought the book WAS food and when Izuku had tried to grab for it the fish snatched it in its mouth and swam down with it.
Izuku was so surprised when the koi fish dragged his book down that he never aborted his movement forwards and he screeched as he lost his footing and tumbled head first into the small koi pond. Izuku could luckily swim, but even if he could not the pond was small enough to just stand up in, and he did just that after 3.2 seconds of crazed flailing.
He then spent the next ten minutes crying his eyes out and doing his best to dry his clothes and his notebook in the afternoon sun. It was only when he realized his phone had stopped working due to the water that he finally decided to head home. Of course, he was so caught up trying to get his phone to work that he was not watching where he was going and a few minutes into his was Izuku, being the tiny boi that he is, managed to fall right into an open drainage pipe.
You see, in any other universe, ones where Izuku left on time, he would have walked under to bridge, been attacked by the sludge villain, and met All Might. Here though All Might was long gone. Packed up the sludge villain 5 minutes before Izuku arrived. But in his rush to get the villain into police custody before his time ran out All Might had forgotten to put the manhole cover back in place.
*Splash*
Izuku hit the bottom of the large pipe. Soaking him for the second time today. But this time with foul-smelling liquid Izuku did not want to question. Izuku took stock of his injuries as he sat up. He had fallen feet first and both his ankles hurt, but they were not broken, and his knees where just skinned. Izuku carefully stood up and was momentarily happy to find nothing else hurt. He had fallen about 7 feet, the manhole above him being when he came from, but the ladder up to it had been corroded away. The ladder and half the walls were melted. They were covered in a strange green sludge, dripping and oozing, and the sludge was eating away at the things around it like a strong acid. Ew.
Izuku's phone was still dead, so he cupped his hands around his face and started to yell up for help. Two minutes later a group of older teens showed up above him. Thank God, he was saved.
"Don't worry kid, we'll get you out!" One of the teens spoke down to him.
"Yeah! I gotta quirk that enhance others quirk's, what's yours, maybe if I boost it you can just climb or hop out?" The second one said.
"I-I don't have have a q-quirk."
And just like that, the concern on the boy's faces fell away. And in its place, Izuku found disgust. Izuku had seen it before. Many times. Like being quirkless was being soulless. And before Izuku could even say one more thing, the lid to the manhole was replaced and Izuku's world fell into darkness and silence.
Would the world even miss him if he just put his face down into the 6 inches of sludge water and breathed in?
Yes. They would. Or his mother would. And Izuku could never hurt his mother. Izuku knew there was another manhole just up the street, and even though the acidic sludge had come from that direction, just by feeling the walls Izuku could tell there was less of it the farther away from that one manhole. Like whatever had left it there had sat there waiting for a long time. Not to say that there was no slime still coating the walls. Even in the pitch black, Izuku could feel it eating away at the stone and metals lining the walls. It did not seem to eat through skin, whatever it was, which was good for Izuku, but the rough walls were hard to follow -
Izuku stopped short after his hand collided with something that was not a normal wall. A big metal panel...no...it was a door. Maybe a hatch to the surface? Izuku could only hope. There was a big metal ring in the center of the door and Izuku grabbed onto it and twisted.
Nothing.
Izuku was not strong enough. The thing was rusted shut (and probably locked if the keyhole had anything to say about it) but that didn't make Izuku give up. Using as much of the acidic sludge as he could he shoved it into the lock and onto the door mechanics and felt as the door slowly began to dissolve. It took time, but he had always been patient, and finally, he heard something *click* inside the door and this time when he tried the rust gave way and Izuku was let into the room.
The first thing he registered was the lights. Small as they may be, the lined the walls of this small subterranean room and they nearly blinded him. The next thing he saw was all the green. The room was filled with plants. No. One plant. One very big vine-like plant that filled the entire room...and at the center. Oh. He was not alone.
In the center of the mass of plants was a man (woman?) but they were not whole. It looked like they were part of the pants like all the plants came from them and they were slowly losing the battle and were wasting away. And they were looking right at him. And then it smiled on its nearly nonexisting face and spoke.
"I predicted our meeting today at 1 to 3,443,134,786 odds, Izuku..." The mass of plants breathed in like he was struggling for air. "I was supposed to die in a few days none the wiser...but I'm very glad you found me... because I would like to give you all you need to succeed at your dreams..."
Izuku didn't know what to do, but he was terrified. His first thought was 'villain' and his next was 'run'. But was Izuku turned back tot he door he found it covered with vines blocking his escape.
"No, no, no." The Vine monster huffed out in gasps. "Please there is so much you can do with my help..just please boy...hear me out..." The thing gasped for air again, "I won't hurt you...really Izuku..."
Izuku glumped, his eyes big and round and his pulse jumping in his veins, but he had enough brains to ask the most important thing first. "H-how do you k-know my name?"
The creature gave a weak smile. "My quirk..." it rasped moving forwards with a limb full of small red fruit, "Is called tree of knowledge...I never figured out how it exactly works...but every fruit that grows is full of all different things..." Another deep breath "Some could teach you how to build a house, others how to play the piano, I even ate one once that made me amazing at clipping coupons...but some are just filled with general knowledge of the world and the people in it... That is how I knew of you Izuku, and that is how I know you are exactly what I have wished for all these years."
"I d-don't understand...please, just let me go! I'm n-not what anyone wi-wishes for! I'm a quirkless no one! I'm jj-just a useless De-"
"STOP!" The vine man yelled. Izuku stopped, terrified. The creature just coughed, it's hands, long turned into vines could not even make the move to try and cover, and spittle flew across the room. Ew. But the creature spoke on. "Do not insult yourself! You are only what you make yourself..." The creatures' eyes then slowly drifted shut before opening again. "Please I do not have much time...listen to my story and then if you want to leave I will let you go..."
Izuku was unsure, but then again he did not want to anger this being, and it seemed like it did not want to harm him, so with little other option Izuku agreed and sat down for a very long story.
It turns out that this being was, in fact, the notorious vigilante 'Cognitionis' that disappeared 22 years ago after a brutal fight with a young rookie Endeavor. Izuku had done lots of research on Cognitionis in the past because it was long thought the man was quirkless, but even so, he was the longest uncaught vigilante in modern history. No one had ever seen him use a quirk, because apparently the only thing the man could do was grow fruit to give people knowledge. He used to even look 'normal', but after the fight with the flame hero, he was so badly burnt his plant quirk took over and had been slowly killing him ever since.
He had had nothing but the occasional knowledge of the topside world to keep him company for years. Izuku felt so bad for the poor man. To help so many people and to be prosecuted and burnt so badly... Cognitionis was also famous for always helping people, just knowing who to help and how...was that in the fruits too? Izuku asked as much, and yes, sometimes the fruit was about people and how to help, but Cognitionis could not control what fruit was produced when. But he did have the knowledge of what the fruit held once it was ripe, and Cognitionis had had years to collect fruit down here into piles by category.
On the far wall was 'Random Shit' Cognitionis explained anything from how to use Photoshop to how many licks it takes to get to the center of tootsie pop...Not all 'knowledge berries' were grown equal. The wall to the right had, quote: 'Good stuff'. Things like advanced mathematics, phycology, how to be a master of chess or the violin, all within one small fruit. But it was the last wall that made the difference. The last wall was filled with berries that held knowledge that would be useful to a vigilante...or Hero. Martial arts, battle tactics, maps of the city- of every city, how to hack, how to build your own support items, how to use the law to your advantage...
And apparently, Cognitionis wanted to give it all to Izuku.
"What!? Why me?!" Izuku back peddled not understanding.
Cognitionis was unimpressed. "Becuase you are my only choice...please young Izuku, I know you, and after so many years of eating my fruit I know I will not live the night, so it must be you. I must trust you with all this fruit and what they hold."
"What would I even do with them, sir?"
"Eat them. All of them. Use the knowledge for good...fix things that I never got to...that I was too afraid to try to do...Become a Hero."
"Without a quirk? Is that even possible?"
Cognitionis tried in vain to laugh but just coughed out, "Knowledge is power...with enough of it you can do anything...Including being the first quirkless hero."
"B-but...isn't it just cheating...just eating fruit to get the skills other spend years building?" Izuku asked.
"Hmmm..." Cognitionis pondered "Perhaps a bit, but let me tell you my quirk does not just grant you everything. Each berry is like sitting in on a 10,000-hour lecture on a subject..." A big slow gulp of air, "As you eat it is up to your own brain to process the information and understand it... Many who have eaten my berries were not smart enough to grasp what they had learned and would forget it all in minutes..." Cognitionis's eyes closed once more and hardly opened this time, "But I believe you are different...I believe you can eat and remember all these fruits and use that brain of yours as your weapon."
"I don't know..." And just then a single fruit was held in his face.
"Try one...just one...this once for my piece of mind...A dying mans wish..."
Izuku thought about it for a second, staring at the berry. It kind of looked like a cross between a strawberry and a pea pod, but it smelled like a peach and with a deep breath Izuku nodded and picked it from the vine.
It tasted horrible.
Like a wet dog hair and dead bug sandwich with an undertone of sickly sweet raspberry flavoring. Luckily, just seconds after the taste hit his tongue, the information hit his brain. Wave after wave of information, so fast he could hardly keep up. He was learning faster than ever before, and he was learning about the sewer system in the city. No, it was about every sewer system in every city in Japan. No, it was a map and information about every underground passageway, pipe system, and sewer in the world. It was a lot to take in. But now as Izuku came down from his learning high and came back to the world he just knew the direction in this pipe system to go to get out safely, and even how to navigate it in the dark to get close to home and back to the surface.
How useful could this be to someone who wanted to avoid people? A vigilante could disappear down any manhole or into an underground passageway, or subway...A villain. Well...Izuku could not see how the knowledge of a simple thing like the underground could be deadly. He now knew weak spots that could be blown up to kill thousands of people, secret tunnels that could be used for illegal activities, and passages that lead right under bank vaults and other places of the sort.
Izuku had been told earlier that there were 2,366 berries in the room. He could NOT let them fall into the wrong hands.
Cognitionis was smiling now, best his vine riddled face could. He was looking at Izuku was joy, as he had seen the second when Izuku had accepted his burden. "Thank you Izuku...Just thank you...And I was right...you have an amazing brain...26 seconds for one of the more packed berries...is a new record...thought you would be out for hours...normal brains would have taken days...but thanks you..." The words seemed to come harder now.
"No, thank you. For trusting me, for letting you vines let me in the door and telling me who you are, Cognitionis. I promise I will not let a single berry fall into the wrong hands. Ever."
Cognitionis smiled again, weak and slow. "One last thing I must request of you...When I die you must burn my body."
"WHAT?!"
"I will die... but my quirk will not- take a small cutting... for yourself and plant it... so you will never be without new fruit... to learn from... but burn this... main plant here...so no one will ever use it...for evil...again..."
Izuku wanted to ask so bad what the 'again' was all about, but he could tell the man did not have much time left. So Izuku sat with him as Cognitionis closed his eyes and the vines slowly grew over his too still body. Izuku cried the stress away of the day as he packed up to go home. It was only after he had gotten safely back to his house, and his terrified mother, that he found a new signature in his notebook done by a stray vine, it read 'To my hope for the future, you are only what you make yourself; make yourself a hero -Cognitionis '
He had told his mother he had fallen into an open manhole cover and could not find his way out for hours, and that his phone had died in an earlier trip into the koi pond at school. It was all of course true, but Izuku left out the whole meeting Cognitionis and watching him die part. He decided he did not want his mother to know, or worry. Some part of Izuku already knew that once he started to eat the berries left behind there was a good chance he would just follow in Cognitionis's footsteps to become a vigilante. After all, if any of those berries told him where someone needed his help he would not hesitate.
His mother had also given him the day off from school as it was as clear as the day her son went through a traumatic event. Again, not lies. But because his mother still needed to go to work, Izuku had the day to himself to go gather the berries up. He first emptied his closet, it looked like it would just be big enough to fit all the berries. He then got his gym bag, and a few backpacks, anything he could carry to fill with berries and set off to the bunker. But not before grabbing a lighter and some lighter fluid, a small knife, and a pot of dirt.
Three trips and 7 hours later every berry was safely in Izuku's house, the body was burnt, and Izuku now had a new potted plant that was already wilting. Izuku was also freaking out.
It was just now hitting him what he agreed too. Was he really going to eat all these things, gain the power of knowledge, and then go running off fighting crime in some ancient vigilantes name? Well...the answer was yes, maybe...because the first thing Izuku did after his little freak out ate a berry, and then another, and another. After about 8 berries from the 'vigilante' backpack, his brain hurt too much to do more, but oh, what he now knew.
Two of the berries had contained a lifetime of fighting moves and body training sequences. Another two how to hack and code. One had a full history of every hero and villain. Another provided him with what he could only conclude was a PhD in medicine and surgery. Then came one on quirk laws, and another on building advanced machines. And it was only after he processed all of these things together that Izuku realized a few very important things:
1) All Might was dying after a fight with 'All for One'.
2) All for One was still alive.
3) Izuku was pretty sure he could save All Might.
4) Izuku was pretty sure he needed to put a lot of work into becoming a hero. Because while he could feel the muscles in his body telling him they knew how to fight, he also now knew that his body was not trained to perform the moves he learned.
So for the next three months, Izuku trained ate berries and planned. The first thing he did was convince his mother to let him be homeschooled.
"Mom?" Izuku asked just two days after meeting Cognitionis. "Can I be homeschooled?"
Inko had stopped her cooking and looked over at her poor boy. She had known for years that her son was bullied at school, but he would never tell her by who. Inko strongly suspected that Izuku had been pushed into that open manhole, but even after telling the school as much had been told to leave. But still, she did not have the time to homeschool him. She sighed. "Izuku, honey, I have to work two jobs just to keep food on the table, I don't have to time to teach you anything, as much as I would like the piece of mind knowing you are here all day."
"I'll teach myself mom, I promise! I won't stop till I know everything I can!"
Inko looked at her son, eyes so full of determination, and she gave in. "Okay, " She waited for Izuku to get done cheering, "I will talk to the school about getting a list of what you need to know and set up tests prooving you passed your grade. BUT! And there is a but, if you can't pass even one test I'm picking a new school and sending you to it!"
It was months later now. With all the berries Izuku ate daily, he became a walking encyclopedia. His mother just thought it was all the studying in the new environment, but it did allow him to pass every test and gave him lots of free time to train his body. (And to take care of his new houseplant, that oddly enough liked to be sung to at least once a day?) Izuku's berry diet consisted mostly of the berries in the 'vigilante useful' bag and Izuku knew now the best ways to eat, and train, to get his body into the shape that he needed it to be.
The training was surprisingly easy. Hell on his body, but it did not take long before Izuku was moving with a grace far, far beyond his years. He may not have been able to run fast or lift much at first, but having the knowledge of how to run most efficiently and how to lift things and exercise without hurting yourself was amazing and made training go fast.
It was four months later until one of his daily 8 berries gave him what he needed to solve a few of his problems. Names and specialties of people in the city. That's how Izuku found one Mei Hatsume.
Izuku had walked up to the big sturdy looking building and knocked on the big garage door. Mei didn't open the door though, she answered calling through it.
"who are you and what do you want?!"
Izuku knew exactly what to say.
"I'm Midoriya Izuku, I'm a genius and I have come to build babies with you." Izuku ripped a page out of his notebook and pushed it under the metal door. About a minute later the door slowly lifted from the ground and the girl with pink hair (and grease smudges on her cheek) looked at him like he was candy.
"This is a machine to print organs," she said.
"I know. I designed it."
"HUMAN ORGANS!" She waved her hands all over the place.
"I know."
"You want to use my workshop to print human organs?!"
Izuku just nodded, "Yup! And probably some other things to revolutionize the world."
His new pink haired friend grinned ear to ear. "Well, why didn't you just say so! Come in! Let me show you around!"
Izuku did not think he could ever thank the girl enough, she thought the same about him. They spent hours every day working together, bouncing ideas off each other, and doing tests of the organ printing machine. Izuku agreed with her that the world was too focused on quirks, and not helping people with science. Once people had come along with healing quirks, people just stopped trying to do things in medicine with machines. The tec to print organs had been around for years, but no one had thought to build a device to make human organs when every hospital had a healer on staff. Shame really. Even with the healers' many things were unhealable (like missing organs).
They did need funding though, luckily Izuku knew how to hack computers, and he knew the IP addresses and banks of criminals and crime syndicates. And while he had had a moral break down on stealing, it was only stealing from people who used the money for bad things, and he only stole enough to invest in stocks. There had been a berry about the stock market and now Izuku was an expert and quickly on his way to becoming rich.
Izuku had not told his new friend about the berries. He had resolved never to tell anyone about them. Too dangerous. Instead, he just began telling people he was a genius, and he was, the more berries he ate the more Izuku knew his brain was special. One of the berries had been information on the fruit themselves and the plant he now kept on his windowsill. Most people would not be able to take in and remember much from half as many berries as Izuku did. Izuku's brain was almost like it was made for analyzing vast quantities of data. And together with Mei they built so many things. Izuku had told her about his idea to become a vigilante.
She loved the idea if only she could build his gear. And she did, and Izuku helped. They ended up with a beautiful mix of functionality and design. Starting with the face, which was a full metal vine themed mask. Izuku had not explained the vine theme, but Mei did not care, she thought it was something to do with the green theme Izuku liked. Green was the color of his mother's (and his) hair and it was always his favorite so the outfit became green. The facemask provided many important things. First was the eyes, the green lenses on top hid tec like no other. Compressed versions of night vision goggles, and heat sensing ones, and even a camera that could film countless hours of high def video all small enough to fit in the mask. The bottom part of the face mask around his mouth also held important tec. A voice modulator that deepened and altered his voice to sound older, a respirator that would keep his air fresh in case of an airborne quirk (Izuku was proud of that one because it worked so quickly with its detection system that it would be the best on the market if it was on the market), and a few small oxygen storage spots that would allow Izuku to stay underwater for an extra four or five minutes.
The only other thing in his full face mask (ok, so it was really a helmet at this point) was ear protection. Izuku was far from stupid; there were too many quirks that dealt with sound not to have his ears covered. It was even likely he would come across Present Mic in this area so Izuku and Mei had crafted small but powerful earmuffs that would cancel out any sound higher than a safe decibel level.
Of course, all of this was hidden by his green hood. Mei liked to joke calling him 'robin hood' and 'green arrow' and other old references, but Izuku loved the thing. It was made of custom material, like all his new outfit, that breathed, was bulletproof up to heavy calibers, did not burn easily, and was machine washable. The cloak was brilliant emerald green, but perhaps the best part was that it was reversible. Within seconds Izuku could turn his cloak inside out and this way it looked like a normal everyday black hoodie. He hoped to be able to disappear with it, go from vigilante to kid out too late in a breath of air.
Also to fit with the theme, his pants were designed to look like dark cargo pants. But they did have drawstring inside of them. While walking out as a vigilante he would pull the strings tight so his pants would not be loose, but with one hand movement, his pants would become baggy and hang differntly on his body.
After a long debate, Izuku backpack was store bought. Just a black backpack brand that every other kid in Japan seemed to have. They did add a few hidden pockets inside of it, but Izuku knew that if he was searched it would all be over.
That was because Izuku was decked out head to toe in weapons. With the berries help Izuku could now use dozens of weapons with scary efficiency. Including guns. But after weighing the pros and cons Both Mei and Izuku agreed on no guns. Izuku could use them just fine, but if he was caught with a gun it would be one more illegal thing they could charge him with. UA also did not allow students to have guns unless they were an extension of one's quirk, so a gun was no help to Izuku.
There were no laws about bows an arrows though. Legally as long as it was not a crossbow he could carry one around no problem. And Izuku was good with a bow. So good that he almost never missed. He and Mei made a small compound bow that could collapse and be tucked into his backpack. The arrows in a quiver designed to look like a poster canister, the top could be attached then removed in a secret way so that it looked like there was an All Might poster still in its new plastic wrap inside.
He also had knives and shuriken, and a few knock out darts- but his favorite weapons were his set of hooked blades. They were stunning, like nothing else in the world. They were short, they had to be to fit in his backpack, but they were designed to control an fight. They were made out of a metal that did not exist in nature, Izuku had known the names of people with quirks that had made this masterpiece. Two with quirks that made strong metals that had amazing properties, another that could combine any two materials, and one more that could shape metal with their hands, that was good because the metal Izuku had made was almost impossible to smelt. Or sharpen. Mei and he had to create a lazor just to put an edge on the things, but luckily the blade never dulled. They had a flat side to bludgeon with, deadly sharp blades to cut with, and the small hooks at the end of the blades to grab and pull with. Izuku could also climb with them due to the angle of the hooks.
All in all his outfit was amazing. And with half a year left to the entrance exams, Izuku took his first night and went off looking for trouble.
The problem with the berries was that the information they provided on people and places was often months, if not years, out of date. Izuku had tried at least three different places where he had thought would have been full of crime, only to get there and fine empty warehouses and vacant buildings.
It didn't stop Izuku from having the time of his life though. It was only an hour or two into what he was calling his first patrol, dancing over rooftops with his knowledge of parkour and the city he could navigate with his eyes closed when he heard a scream.
Izuku ran to find a woman surrounded by three large men. Izuku knew just what to do. This was going to go great.
Things had not gone great. Hatsume was laughing at him as she bandaged his wounds.
"So let me get this straight," she said as she wrapped his chest where his bruised ribs were, "You didn't even stop for a second to see or ask what was going on, you just jumped in to fight the men?"
Izuku sighed and did his best not to move. "Yeah...I just thought those men were hurting that woman...It looked so obvious."
"But they just wanted their wallets back..."
"Apparently..."
"And once you kicked their butts the woman then used her quick to toss you into a wall when your back was turned..." Hatsume giggled. She had been afraid at first when Izuku had said he had been hurt, but it was nothing life-threatening, and caused by a girl Izuku had assumed was a helpless victim, so it was hard for her to stop laughing.
Izuku sighed again. How could he have been so stupid?! "I don't understand! I'm a genius, you know I arrived in front for that scene and I didn't even think beyond what I saw! I'm supposed to be intelligent!"
"Intelligent does not equal wisdom my friend," Hatsume started "you may have the intelligence, but if you don't know how to use it it may as well be useless."
Izuku glared at Hatsume. He hated the word 'useless'. Hatsume just put up her hands' in surrender. "Hey, none of that Zu'. I'm just saying, intelligence in knowing a tomato is a fruit, wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad...Now let's talk about adding more padding to your costume."
And Izuku had to agree with her on all accounts. He needed to use his mind, not just possess it. Annnndd he also needed more padding in his suit.
Inko had been shocked at just how much her Izuku had changed in just a few months of homeschooling. Inko had been worried Izuku would fall behind in his studies at first, but it seemed like for the first time in his life Izuku was using his brain to the fullest. Inko always knew her son was smart, but he had blown her away since he stopped going to school. Her son was nothing short of a genius, and Inko had had no clue for years. How had this been overlooked? Inko had gone to Izukus old school for answers and thing became just a little bit clearer. Izukus grades had always been great, but every test and grade he ever got was one to two points exactly behind Katsuki Bakugo.
It all made sense. How Bakugo had stopped coming around right about the same time Izuku started to crawl into his shell. The small burn marks and black eyes...Inko heard day in and day out how her best friend ranted about her son's temper...Oh! How had Inko never seen it?! Izuku would never tell her anything though, but that didn't stop Inko from doing two things. First was call up Mitsuki and tell her what had been going on. Mitsuki, bless her soul, believed every word, and promised to have a long talk to her boy and finally make him go to anger management, which was a long time coming.
The second thing Inko did was contact a local university that did IQ tests and have the head of the psychology department over for dinner. Her son had taken to exercising during the day and picked up martial arts at a local gym and would be home soon to meet their guest. Although Inko did not like all the injuries her son came home with, she agreed him knowing martial arts was a good thing to keep him safe...funny thing is was that he had never told her where he practiced...but teenaged boys must have their secrets and Inko did not want to press when he was so happy now. She suspected it all had something to do with the pink haired girl she had seen around...
"Mom! I'm home!" Izuku yelled from the other room, entering the kitchen. "Huh? Who's this?"
"Izuku honey, this is Professor Lee from the University. He had a PhD in phycology and he's here to give you an IQ test," Inko smiled, "And have dinner with us." She left out that part about talking about his future, but she was hoping Dr. Lee would help with that too once he saw how smart her boy was.
"An IQ test?" Izuku question looking to Dr. Lee, "I'm mean, Sir, it's nice to meet you, but why would I need one of those?"
Thank god Dr. Lee had an answer. "Well young Midoriya, if you score high enough on the IQ test you could go to any high school you want on scholarship. Maybe even skip high school and go straight to university with grants and access to places that most people only dream of seeing."
"Would it help me get into UA?"
Dr. Lee shrugged, "Couldn't hurt. Nezu is known for practically adopting genius students, I'm sure if you applied the support or business departments would take you in a heartbeat if you had a high IQ"
Inko did not miss how her son's face soured as Dr. Lee assumed her son would be going into anything other than heroics. But Izuku did agree to take the papers and the No.2 pencil from and started the test looking mildly excited. To Inko even the first page looked complicated, but Izuku blew through that one so fast Inko didn't even have time to try and answer the first question in her head. Izuku blew through the next few pages too. It was about halfway through the 30 or so page test that her son's face began to drop. Were the questions getting too hard? No, he was still filling out the papers faster than Inko could read them. Inko looked to Dr. Lee, whose eyes were wide staring at her son's hand where it met paper, glancing every few seconds to the stopwatch in his hands.
It took about 5 minutes for Izuku to finish the whole test, and by the end, he was visibly upset and her peaceful son took the test papers and threw them back at Dr. Lee looking ready to cry. Dr. Lee jumped and scrambled to catch all the papers.
"IZUKU!" Inko yelled, appalled at her son's behavior, needing an explanation.
"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" Izuku was now helping pick up the papers even more distraught than before. Her son sniffled and wiped his face looking between his mother and Dr. Lee. "It's just...I'm quirkless, not useless...you don't have to give me the easy test, I can handle the normal one...Really Dr. Lee, I can just let me try!"
Inko did not know who was more confused, herself or Dr. Lee, whose face looked like he had just taken a bite of a lemon and was trying to figure out why it did not taste like ice cream. "Easy test?" the man repeated.
Izuku nodded handing Dr. Lee the rest of the papers. "S-sorry, again Sir. But I would like to do the normal test that you give quirked people."
Dr. Lee blinked before looking down at his papers, then at his stopwatch before finally looking back to Izuku. "Midoriya...this was not the 'easy test'." He said in plain words. "This is the same test I give everyone, and although I haven't sored it yet, I have never seen anyone complete it in this time..."
"Oh." Both Izuku and Inko said at the same time.
Dr. Lee nodded before straightening the papers and grabbing a folder from his bag. "Mrs. Midoriya, do you have a privet room I could use for grading? Testers are not supposed to do it in front of the ones who took the test."
"Oh yes!" Inko said, "Here I have a desk in my room, I will show you to it."
"Thank you Mrs. Midoriya, I should be done about the same time you to finish dinner."
Inko showed Dr. Lee to her desk and went back to cooking for three. It was so nice to have a guest, for once. Even if Izuku seemed highly unsure now, drifting around the kitchen helping her get out plates and drinks. Inko didn't pry. That was her motto as a parent. She trusted Izuku to come to her with problems, but she didn't go digging through his life or stuff. Like the now locked closet in her son's room. Most parents would have demanded to make sure there were no drugs or guns in there, but Inko just went with it knowing her kid was a good one. Besides, Izuku was a teenage boy, it was probably just porn in there anyway.
Just as Izuku was finishing setting the table and Inko was turning off the rice cooker, a very pale looking Dr. Lee returned to the kitchen. He looked like he had seen a ghost, and he would not stop staring at her son. Inko began to worry then.
"Dr. Lee?" She questioned. Had her son failed that bad that the man was afraid to let out the news?
Dr. Lee just shook his head and focused on Izuku. "Young Midoriya, didn't you take an IQ test in first grade with everyone else in your school?"
Izuku frowned and looked away from Inko and Dr. Lee. "Um..." he mumbled. "IwasnotallowedtoobecuaseIdidn'thaveaquirk..."
"Excuse me?" Dr. Lee said at the same time Inko's blood began to boil.
Izuku played with his chopsticks still without looking up. "I d-didn't have a a q-quirk...so they wouldn't l-let me take the t-test. They only had so many com-computers and they sk-skipped me b-becuase the ot-ther kids had a better chance..." Izuku trailed off then sniffling, and Inko was furious.
The one thing a school is trusted to do is teach children. Regardless of race, poor, rich, quirked or quirkless, they are supposed to teach any kid willing to learn. However, as Inko was finding out, again and again, the old school of Izuku's had failed over and over again and she was mad. How could they deny her baby the same opportunities as everyone else! It was not only morally wrong, but it was illegal!
Dr. Lee now looked pissed as well. He took a deep breath and started to speak. "Well, I'm so sorry you have not been tested before," Dr. Lee shook his head, eyes wide open looking at Izuku, "but you are without a doubt a genius. Probably a Super Genius."
Izuku finally looked up then. "Really?" he asked.
Inko knew her son seemed to know everything nowadays, but she had no clue what a super genius was. "What's that?" She asked.
Dr. Lee scrubbed a hand over his face. "Beyond certain IQ levels, a normal IQ test is useless. There are people in this world that can never be given an IQ number strictly because there is no test in the world designed to test these few people. We call these people Super Geniuses. And in my professional opinion, by how easy and quickly you completed this test designed to take hours to finish, you, young Midoriya are very likely on that level."
Inko was intrigued. "But you can't tell if he is or not?"
"I'm afraid that this test cannot test the higher end of IQ. It's like ...hmmm...you would say dogs are intelligent creatures right?"
"Yes, I had a dog once as a kid who could count to 10..." Inko replied it had been a border collie mix rarely seen in Japan, but her family had rescued it.
"Well, if that dog made an IQ test, could that test be used to test human levels of intelligence?"
Inko scrunched up her face, "Well..no...I suppose it could be used, but I can't imagine it would be very accurate."
Dr. Lee nodded. "Exactly. Point is, to officially be deemed a super genius, you would need to take a test designed to test them, but considering there is less than 20 super geniuses in the world today, well the best I can do is contact them and hope one will be willing to test you...hmmm...you wanted to go to UA right?"
Izuku nodded and Dr. Lee spoke more, "Well Principal Nezu is one of only 4 super geniuses in Japan. It makes sense to ask him first-"
"I've already set up a meeting with Principal Nezu. It's next week." Izuku cut the man off. And when had her son done that?!
"How did you manage that?!" Doctor Lee seemed confused. "Nezu rarely meets with people outside his school!"
"Oh, Recovery Girl set it up for me," Izuku said like it was common knowledge.
"When did you meet Recovery Girl?" Inko questioned. How was there so much she didn't know about her own son?!
Izuku sighed and began his story. "Okay, so mom, you know my friend with the pink hair? Well her name is Mei Hatsume, and together we invent things..."
-Flashback!-
It had been about two weeks ago when Izuku and Hatsume finished their organ printer. It was now working flawlessly, and patent pending. The problem was that it would take years of testing to be approved by hospitals and Izuku knew that All Might needed it ASAP. Izuku had told Mei he had hacked All Might's medical records (that he had) and that's how he knew the man needed a few extra organs, but it was Mei who had come up with the idea to just dump their prototype off at Recovery Girl's house with instructions on a note.
They had gone at midnight, long after Recovery girl's quiet street had gone to bed, and had rolled the machine up on a trolly and pinned a note to the door. Everything would have been perfect, If Recovery Girl had not seen them, snuck out the back and circled around them.
"What you two kids doing on my front step?!"
Both teens jumped a foot in the air. Izuku was super excited to meet the heroine, but how was the old lady so silent!? She had snuck up on them. The two shot each other panicked looks, for how smart they both were they had never made a plan for in case they were caught tonight. But they seemed to both come to the conclusion that since they were doing nothing illegal (tonight anyway) that the truth was the best.
"Well... I'm waiting, kids! Don't make me open a can of butt whooping on you!"
"Ahh...We are donating medical equipment...?" Izuku states, but it sounded more like a question even to his ears.
"Donating medical equipment." Recovery Girl deadpanned and an old lady way.
"Yes?" the two teens replied.
"And what makes you think I of ALL people need donated medical equipment?" Recover Girl shook her head, "Just take it away and quick before I call your parents!" Recovery Girl then started to shoe the two teens away.
"But!" Izuku said dodging Recovery Girl, "It grows human organs!"
Recovery Girl stopped dead in her tracks and looked at Izuku. "I'm sorry sonny, I must have heard you wrong..."
"No, Ma'am. You heard right! Our baby here grows human organs!" Mei shouted happily. "100% guaranteed to work!"
Recovery Girl blinked a few times before her narrow eyes narrowed more. "Impossible. There is no machine in the world that does such a thing well enough to match tissue and blood type."
"Ours is new, Recovery Girl," Izuku convinced "We are both geniuses and we decided to create this machine. It works, and it's patent pending, but it will take years to get into hospitals. It may be largely untested, but it will work and we want you to have our prototype."
"Again kids...Why?"
Izuku shuffled his feet again before giving an answer that was as close to the truth as he could tell. "Becuase of All Might ma'am." And Izuku watched as Recovery Girl's eyes went wide, "Ah..I mean...It doesn't take a genius to see that All Might favors his side now, and has been doing less and less hero work...The only things your quirk can't heal are missing organs, limbs, genetic diseases, and cancer. But since the symptoms do not seem to match cancer or a disease, and he doesn't look like he is missing anything on the outside he has to be missing stuff on the inside!" There. It looked like Recovery Girl bought his story.
"Plus he totally hacked All Might's medical files, Cuz' my best friend is the bestest smarty pants!" Hatsume cheered.
"MEI!" Izuku gasped.
Luckily it seemed Recovery Girl was already on Izuku's side and knocked Mei over the head with her umbrella. "Hush child! Do not tell me things I don't need to know." Izuku grinned as Recovery Girl did. "So you two made this machine?"
"Yup!" Izuku said the same time Mei said "WEEELLLL...you see, I was just minding my own business, thinking of new babies to make, and then BOOM! Out of nowhere this kid shows up at my workshop and slips the plans for this girl under my door! It was nuts! I helped build and test it, but the idea and designs for our baby here were all Midoriya here!"
Recovery Girls eyes snapped to Izuku and he gulped. "Is this true, young man?" She asked him. Izuku nodded yes. Recovery Girl hummed, then also nodded, knocking her umbrella cane thing against the ground like she had just made a decision. "Alright!" She said. "I will take your donation." The two teens cheered in the night. "BUT!" She stopped them, "Only if I can have your phone numbers and full names!"
"What! Why!?"
"Becuase! If this machine breaks down or doesn't work I want to know who to yell at to come to get it off my property!"
And so both teens had given her the requested information. Izuku had also gotten an autograph. Less than two days later Izuku was getting a call from Recovery Girl, asking him to meet with Nezu. She didn't tell him why, not that Izuku cared. What Izuku didn't know was that every staff member at UA gets one 'freebie' to recommend a student during their time at UA and Recovery Girl wanted to get Izuku into UA. His machine had worked, within 24hours after giving the device a DNA sample it had printed a new stomach that matched perfectly for Toshi. It passed every test and as soon as she could get a hospital to give her a team and an operating room she would print another stomach and lung and transplant them in the very excited All Might. Who was also very excited to meet the young teens who had created the machine, but Recovery Girl refused to give up their names till she knew it was going to work.
Izuku knew none of this though, he just knew he had a meeting with Principal Nezu.
-end flashback! -
Gobsmacked was the word Inko thought of. Inko was prepared for a lot of things when raising a teenage son. Him getting into fights, pushing away from her, dating girls, but Inko was pretty sure in the Mother handbook nowhere does it say your child may run off and revolutionize medicine in the middle of the night with their friend.
Dr. Lee seemed equally gobsmacked. "Let me get this straight," He said after Izuku finished his tale, "On a hunch that some hero you refuse to tell us who was missing an organ or two you went out with your inventor friend and made the worlds first machine to print organs, but instead of selling it to the highest bidder you decided to drop it off at Recovery Girls door at midnight?!"
"Yes...that about sums it up...then a few days later I got the call and I will go to meet with Nezu soon on her request," Izuku confirmed.
"And why have you never had yourself tested before? Surely you realize a normal kid doesn't do that?"
Izuku looked sad again, but Inko came to his rescue. "I think it's clear that his old school failed on many accounts."
Dr. Lee frowned, "You know, I know a good lawyer, she works with quirkless people to get them what they deserve out of the system. She helped me get my promotion when I was passed up 4 times for department head."
"You're Quirkless?" Izuku asked.
Dr. Lee just smiled. "Yes, and let an old man tell you something, no one with a quirk will ever truly understand what it's like to be looked down upon for something we cannot control. It's up to us to help each other. That's why I think you should sue your old middle school, and your elementary school. They wronged you, and if you don't stand up and say something..."
Izuku looked conflicted, but Inko agreed. "Izuku, I think this would be a good idea, we may not have a ton of money, but we have enough to hire this lawyer and right the system here." Her son still looked afraid of the idea though, but Inko wanted her pound of flesh from that school, so she played the card she knew her son would jump for, helping people. "Please son, you wouldn't want this to happen to anyone else, would you? Think of everyone you would be helping."
"Okay, mom." Bingo.
Inko was going to sue the butts-off the school system, and no one was going to stop her. They spent a very nice dinner discussing the school's faults and Izuku's future. Izuku was still adamant about being a hero, and Inko so hoped he could, even if it would mean her boy was in danger she would know he would be happy, and that was all she ever wanted.
Tomorrow morning Izuku would meet with Nezu, but tonight he was out patrolling. Or...Vigilanteing... Izuku did not have a set patrol route or time, better not to get caught. And oh, was Izuku starting to worry about getting caught. It had only been a few weeks, but already he was making a name for himself. The local news was calling him the vigilante 'Green' who was getting locally famous for stopping small crime and outing bigger crime groups to the cops. The public knew he used a bow and arrows and thought to have some coordination or fighting quirk. Izuku just giggled. He had no quirk, magic knowledge giving berries, but no quirk.
But once Izuku started training his body to match the strength needed for his martial arts knowledge he found fighting came almost natural for him. He knew how to counter every move and where to hit, and after the first night, he learned from his mistake and would wait to see how best to help the real situation at hand. His costume had also undergone a few changes. He still used his bow and arrows, and his hooked blades, but now he had added tasers to both. He had taser arrows straight out of the old comics, and the base of each of his hooked blades would now knock out a person on a button push and contact. He had found the best fights were the ones that were over as quickly as possible and not the ones that were drawn out and flashy. Less chance for him or others to get hurt, and less chance to be around when other 'help' arrived.
Police activity had only increased in the neighborhood due to 'Green' being active in the area. They were not here because of the pickpockets, missing kids, drugs, or general crime. But Izuku knew that this was just how the world worked and they were on order to arrest him. Izuku was actually glad for the extra patrols, most of the smaller crimes were resolved by the cops without Izuku's help at all, and would not have been if the extra cops were not driving around looking for him. But it was going on a month since his first 'sighting' and Izuku knew that any night now he would expect to meet a Hero sent to take him in.
Tonight, by the decreased cop cars, was also probably that night. Izuku had been extra careful once he realized the cops had been ordered away, and about an hour into his night, he had the overwhelming gut feeling that he was being watched.
Well. It was time to see who he was dealing with.
The good thing about having swords that are kind of shaped like a crowbar was that he could get into any manhole he wanted. The underground had been his best escape route, that first berry being one of the most innocent but powerful bits of knowledge. Izuku jumped and rolled down to the bottom of an alley. He waited for a bit, pretending to do chin-ups on a fire escape, but the feeling of being watched only increased.
From the spot he had chosen there was only one building that gave a clear view of Izuku. That would be where the hero would be. Izuku let himself fall from the fire escape and kind of drifted over to the manhole cover to a drainage pipe he then casually popped the lid and jumped inside, making sure to leave the lid open like he was coming back. What Izuku knew though was that just one alleyway over there was another opening to the pipe, and as quick as he could he climbed the backside of the building the hero was on and silently snuck up on his pursuer.
Izuku had eaten four different berries on nothing else but how to move silently and hide in plain sight. Years, decades worth of knowledge that Izuku put into practice. Slowly Izuku used a small mirror to look around the last corner and to his delight he saw none other than the underground Hero Eraserhead watching down in the alley Izuku had just been in.
Izuku almost blew his location due to the need to fanboy. Eraserhead was his favorite underground hero. All Might was his favorite overall, but Eraserhead held a special place in Izuku's heart if only because his quirk was not a typical hero one and he fought every battle basically on martial arts skill. Luckily Izuku was able to contain his excitement and sneak away without being noticed. As much as he wanted to meet one of his heroes, he also had not had the chance of fighting anyone with real training before and knew better than to push his luck.
Unforchulantly luck didn't know any better and decided to push Izuku. Twenty minutes later a man with knives for hands was holding up a 24-hour store and Izuku was forced to intervene. Using his bow, and open door, and a shocking arrow, Izuku tased the man from across the street. But all the commotion had alerted Eraserhead to his location. He hardly had time to run into an alleyway before the pro hero was on him.
The hero's infamous capture weapon wrapped around Izuku, but Izuku had been ready, had put away his collapsible bow and taken out his hooked blades. Izuku slashed at the captured weapon and his custom swords cut through the weapon with surprising ease. It must have also surprised Eraserhead because the pro froze for a second before literally leaping straight at Izuku.
Izuku would later tell Hatsume about the epic fight that followed. Izuku had not really had the chance to test out his fighting capabilities until then, but millions of hours of information on how to fight flowing through his head allowed him to keep up with even the likes of Eraserhead. It was amazing. almost like a dance. Block punch, throw punch, roll, duck, dodge. The pro would change styles or legs and Izuku would change to match him. It was fun, it was so fun using so much of what he had learned and moved to the beat of the battle. It was fun till he landed a hit. And Eraserhead doubled over in pain.
"Oh my god! I'm so sorry, are you okay?!" Izuku said his first words to the Hero. Thankful that the voice modulator in his mask deepened his voice because even with his voice deepened it was still a bit squeaky as he ran to the Hero's side. Why didn't the man block?!
Izuku reached out to help, but his hand was snatched and yanked. Izuku lost his footing and fell forwards and he hit the ground hard. Oh. It had been a trap. Izuku felt the first click of a handcuff snapped onto one of his wrists. He had to move NOW. Heart pounding Izuku kicked out and knocked Eraserhead off balance just long enough to scramble upright again.
"Kid," Eraserhead said.
But Izuku was already running. Down the street into an alley and right where he knew there was a manhole cover and the perfect pipe for escape. He hit the bottom of the four-foot tall pipe with a splash and took off forwards. Two seconds later another splash hit behind him, but it didn't matter, as long as Izuku could stay ahead. Left, right, left, and there it was. A small opening between larger pipes that only the tiniest teenager in the class could fit through. Izuku tossed his pack through the hole and then leaped and crawled through himself, landing on the other side just as Eraserhead showed up where he had just been.
Izuku took a few deep breaths, turned back to look at the pro who could not fit, then took off into the tunnels. Smartly making his way home still with the handcuffs still hanging from one arm.
"You really think Green is a kid Shota?" Hizashi asked as he handed his life partner another painkiller and something to drink.
Shota grunted from his sleeping bag and gratefully took the pill and a gulp of the water. "If I had to guess, but I," Shota sighed, "I don't know. His size suggested he is young, but the way he moved..."
"Well, why couldn't it have been a woman? Woman can be small."
"We fought a for while...felt my knee hit a cup...last I checked woman don't wear genital protection."
"So Green is a kid. So what Shota, teens run around in fancy little outfits all the time, what's got you so freaked?"
Shota scrubbed his hand over his face. "You don't understand, the way he fought was beyond what any kid should know..."
"So he was trained?"
"Trained is one word for it. God, we fought for about five minutes. No matter what I through at him, he could counter perfectly. I was going all out trying to just land one hit and this this- Green just...he just danced and moved like he was having fun."
"Well, it's been reported Green has some sorta battle enhancing quirk-" But Shota cut him off.
"No, no, no! I had MY quirk activated! I felt nothing, to indicate he was using a quirk, he was just that good. I still kept my eyes open so long though they went blurry, and Green landed a hit."
"Whoa. Hold up, he landed a hit on YOU? Mister trained for 15 years and knows 5 different types of martial arts?"
"Green knew all of them too!" Shota stood up wincing as he did, but he needed to pace. "He KNEW Judo and Aikido, and Karate, and even Krav Maga. All that and more. Expertly like he had trained for decades..."
"Shota...you can't train for decades and still be a kid..."
"I know that...but...when he hit me and I went down...He was worried about me. Like he didn't think the underhanded punch would hit. He said sorry and rushed to my side. God, his wrist was so small in my hand."
"Annndd that's when you lost the handcuffs I gave you for your birthday?"
"Yes. He got away. Ran right into another pipe. He could navigate them in the dark and he knew just where to go to lose me...His strange swords also cut right through my capture weapon... no ordinary kid has access to materials to make something that could do that."
A heavy silence sat between the two. It could be said at this point that both pros were suspecting child soldiers. It was a logical leap. Kids had been going missing for just over a decade in the area if this kid was about 12 he would have been one of the first to disappear. Hizashi hated child soldiers. Hated the villains that kidnapped children for their quirks and made them fight their battles. But was Shota sure, before they blow that horn?
"You're thinking Green is a child soldier?"
Shota hummed and shook his head.
"Is that a no? Cuz' I mean why would someone trained by villains be running around stopping crime?"
"He could have escaped. He was so skilled, they could have created a weapon they could not handle...If he was a child soldier."
"If?"
Shota stopped pacing and sat back down into his sleeping bag. "Kids raised by villains normally don't apologize for hitting people...but I don't know of any other place someone so young could get so much training..."
"We're going to have to capture him, aren't we?"
"Yeah...we are..as quickly as possible."
Hizashi sighed. "Alright, I'll call Midnight.. let's get the team back together."