Izuku Midoriya: Emerald Knight
By Fox McCloude
Disclaimer: My Hero Academia, Green Lantern and all related characters belong to Kouhei Horikoshi and DC Comics. All rights reserved.
(PART I)
Universe of Earth-2014.26, edges of the Sol System…
"Warning. Power ring level under 3%. Recharge necessary."
Abin Sur frowned at the reminder. It was hardly the first time; sometimes he focused so much on his job he'd forget to recharge until it was absolutely needed. His colleagues at the Green Lantern Corps often warned him one day that could be the death of him.
And all seemed to indicate that day had come. He was too far away from Oa to send out a distress signal, and there was no way to know if there were other Lanterns in the sector who could come to his aid in time. He'd been warned: the Red Lanterns weren't pulling any punches in their killing spree, but he figured he could put an end to that by bringing their leader in. And he'd almost succeeded.
Key word being almost. He was careless, and as soon as he dropped his guard, his prisoner seized the chance to break free, and in the middle of the scuffle, he even stole his power battery before he could recharge. Now he was in a faraway system, fighting for his life with a ring running out of power with each passing second.
"Do you want this, Abin Sur?" Atrocitus said, holding the aforementioned object with one hand, while a red power ring glowed in the other.
Sometimes, with that broken lip it was hard to tell whether he was smiling or not, but he definitely was doing so at the time.
The Red Lantern Corps' leader raised his own ring, firing an energy beam that flowed like blood, which he countered raising a shield. By some miracle he endured it, although the constant reminder of his energy running out by the second made him fully conscious that he was fighting a hopeless battle.
In a desperate move, he sent out a power surge against Atrocitus to push him back and have a moment's rest, if only to get his thoughts clear. If he wanted to have a chance of survival, he'd have to move carefully.
"Power ring, are there any inhabitable planets in this system?"
"Affirmative, Abin Sur. The third planet in this system, known by the natives as Earth. However, said planet has no recorded contact with the Green Lantern Corps since its foundation, and from what is known, they still have a primitive civilization, barely in their early stages of space exploration."
"It might be my only chance," Abin Sur said. "If I can make it there, I can lay low and send out a distress signal. How much power do we have left?"
"Power level nearing 2%."
"It'll be enough," the Green Lantern said with finality, seeing how his foe had recovered from the last energy blast, ready to charge again.
Abin Sur immediately decided to turn around and fly towards the aforementioned planet, as fast as he could without wasting his energy more than necessary.
"You're not getting away from me!" Atrocitus yelled.
Abin Sur didn't need to look back to know his foe had taken the bait. It was a simple yet risky plan, and he'd only have one shot. If he succeeded, he'd regain his power battery to recharge his ring, enough to send the call for backup and fight back on even terms. If he didn't… his colleagues would have all the right to rub in his face their "we warned you" for not paying more attention to his ring's charge on a regular basis.
Atrocitus didn't make it easy, constantly firing red energy blasts from behind. In fact, he had a brief respite when he finally reached the system's asteroid belt and used them to temporarily hide from sight, distracting him with the smaller ones to give him some obstacles in his path. That bought him a few minutes to head for his destination.
He finally found it: the aforementioned third planet of the Sol System. In other circumstances he'd have stopped to admire the view, as it was a rather lush and beautiful planet. But having spent so much of his energy in his escape and deflecting the asteroids to distract Atrocitus, that wasn't a good idea right now.
"Warning, Power Ring level under 1.5%. Continued use requires access the reserve energy, compromising the passive protection shield."
"Do it," Abin Sur said. "This will be an all-or-nothing attack after all."
"Did you finally get tired of flying away?" Atrocitus asked, staring at him with those threatening yellow eyes."
"I've never fled before. And I'm certainly not doing it now."
This was it. He'd focus his remaining power into a single attack to get close to Atrocitus, close enough to insert his ring into the battery and give it a boost, and the resulting explosion of their energies would repel them both, launching Atrocitus back to the faraway edges of the system and knocking him out for a while, and him towards planet Earth.
The only downside, he'd have no way to know whether he'd land in an inhabited zone, or if the natives would be hostile towards strange visitors from other planets, but it was his only chance. He had no way to beat Atrocitus in single combat as he was.
"Meet your end, Atrocitus!" he yelled as he charged forward.
From the distance, the surveillance satellites orbiting planet Earth could only get footage of what seemed two luminous stars, a green one and a red one, firing beams at one another. Both glowed intensely before charging against each other at full speed, and the clash caused a powerful explosion of green energy that quickly spread to the nearby space.
The resulting energy wave interfered with the satellites temporarily, and thus none of them could record the moment of the green light plummeting towards planet Earth like a meteor, while the red one was blasted away until it vanished into the depths of space.
Abin Sur's plan had succeeded. He'd taken back his power battery and would be able to send out a distress signal out of the system, which the other Lanterns would eventually pick up.
The only problem, he wouldn't live long enough to greet them when they came…
Meanwhile, down in the planet…
Izuku Midoriya always had one single dream. Since he was a child, all he'd ever wanted was to become a hero like his idol All Might. Someone who'd always save everyone with a smile and tell them that everything would be okay.
But that wouldn't come to pass. In a time where 80% of human population had already developed a Quirk, having their own unique abilities, he was among the unfortunate 20% who didn't. Which of course and much to his dismay, carried the burden of being the butt of jokes and dismissal from his classmates.
Especially him…
"Can you believe that loser? Writing entire Hero Analysis notebooks?"
"Haha, what an idiot! What's the point in analyzing heroes if you'll never be one yourself?"
"He's really hopeless, isn't he, Bakugou?"
Even below, as he picked up from the pond the scorched and dripping notebook, he could hear how Katsuki "Kacchan" Bakugou and his friends kept mocking him. The only silver lining was that at least his notes had survived, for the most part.
Not that it'd do him any good anyway.
"Hey, check this out. Says here some UFO crashed in one of the islands north of the Dagobah Coast."
"For real? Must have been what caused that quake this morning. Hey Bakugou, wanna go check it out before the authorities get to it? Could be a meteorite or an alien spaceship!"
"Bah, I don't care about any fucking space junk! See ya tomorrow, fucking extras!"
So, something had fallen near the cost. Early that morning, news reports talked about something weird: the space probes in the outer edges of the system picked up some unidentified objects, traversing through space at great speed, as if coming out of nowhere. However, they lost their trail shortly after, and a few hours later, something interfered with the surveillance satellites, some kind of green energy.
Then an unknown object crashed near his zone, and he'd felt the tremor before. Could it be the same thing?
None of that mattered to Izuku. At the time, he only had one thought in his head.
'I wish… I wish I could make them eat their words.'
As he walked across the streets, Izuku paid little to no attention to his surroundings as he skimmed throughout his hero news app. An attempted robbery at the Starling Central Bank foiled by Green Arrow and Arsenal, a peeping tom in Jump City who got the scare of his life when Raven blocked his view, and among the locals, a thirty-foot villain with a shark head taken down by a debutant hero, a giantess named Mount Lady, who stole from Kamui Woods his daily five minutes in the spotlight. Exciting and all, but he wasn't in the mood to check them out.
Why? Why was he born Quirkless? At the age of four, when all of his peers had already manifested their abilities, only he did not. He and his mom checked up with Doctor Tsubasa, and then they found the answer. He had none: he'd fallen into the unfortunate 20% of the population born without the Quirk factor. They were less common as time went by, but they always seemed relegated to be second-class citizens, unless they could be tech geniuses or something.
He'd also ruled out the possibility of a metagene; he didn't have any stimuli to awake it, and by his current age it was near impossible. That left him with little choices, and he definitely didn't think his mother would be amused that he tried to take a dip in a vat of radioactive waste or take a stroll near a particle accelerator about to explode. His chances to develop powers were practically zero.
He had accepted it, but that didn't make it any less frustrating.
'What's the point in crying over it? It's not like something's gonna fall out of the sky for me to magically change my destiny.'
And so it was. Izuku didn't show it outwardly, but it really hurt him inside to be a "normal" in a world where almost everybody else was not. Thus, he allowed himself to vent it out when nobody was looking. Problem was, whenever he dwelled on that feeling, he'd disconnect from the rest of the world, making him pay less attention to his surroundings.
Which also prevented him from seeing the small, glowing green dot coming at him from behind, until it hit him.
"Ouch! What the…?" he yelped, rubbing the back of his head and looking behind.
Many a time his classmates would have pranked him with the old "Kick Me, I'm Quirkless" sign on his back without him realizing, but he'd checked out and that wasn't the case. Whoever had thrown whatever it was at him, either they hid well, or they were fast enough to get the hell out of there. Or both things.
All that was left was the object in question, which he kneeled to pick up from the ground.
"What's this?" he wondered, checking it intently.
It looked like some sort of ring. It was green, with a strange symbol that looked like a circle with two tangent bars. Izuku wondered who'd throw a ring at him in the first place, but seeing nobody in sight, he figured all he had left was to go deliver it to the police later. Until then, he might just have to wear it on his finger.
And that sole choice would seal his fate, that day, on that very instant. For as soon as he fit the ring in his finger, it glowed with a radiant emerald light.
"B-but what's… ah-AAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"
The next things that happened were too fast to process: first he felt how his body was surrounded with a strange energy, then he was dragged against his will by an unknown force, as if the ring was alive and trying to pull him somewhere, and finally, he was flying through the air at speeds he'd never imagine before.
After that, he suffered a rather… messy landing.
"Aaaahh! Oww… bleh…" He spat dirt out of his mouth as he tried to get back on his feet. "What was…?"
He didn't have much time to think about what happened. After wiping his mouth and dusting off his clothes, he finally realized where he was. He wasn't in his old Musutafu district anymore: there were no buildings, power posts or anything that he'd see in a city. Around him all he could see was water, water everywhere, like an island… and a large part of the ground he was standing on was scorched.
Like a huge crater caused by an object crashing violently.
"Wait a moment… an object from space crashed on an island this morning. Then that means I'm…"
He looked everywhere frenetically, rubbing his eyes several times to make sure they weren't playing tricks on him. How did he end up so far away from his district? How would he get back? Did the ring he put on have anything to do with it?
"Urrrrgh…"
Some nearby pained groans brought him back from his muttering. That meant he wasn't alone, and he didn't take long to realize it came from the middle of the crater he was standing on.
And what he saw almost made his eyes fly out in shock.
In the middle of the crater, there was a figure laying, with an arm over his stomach and stained in a way suggesting grave injuries. Izuku was left paralyzed for a moment, but when he could finally get some clarity in his head, he knew what he had to do.
"Hey!" he shouted, sliding down the crater and running towards the wounded person. "Are you alright?! Oh my God, you're gravely hurt! I need to call emergencies right away! My cellphone, my cellphone, where's my…!"
"Calm… down…" the individual spoke, raising his other hand, making him stand still. It was then that Izuku could get a good look at him.
The wounded individual was bald, had red skin and pointy ears. Izuku wasn't too surprised at his appearance; so many years of watching heroes made him guess he just had a Quirk that made him look like that. His uniform was mostly black save for the green details in the upper torso and boots, the lines going through his arms and legs similar to the movie Tron, and the chest insignia looking a lot like the ring he'd found before. Most likely a Hero he didn't know, and some villain had injured him.
"The… ring… do you… have the ring?"
"Ring? What…? Oh!" He quickly saw his hand and realized. "This ring? If it's yours I'll return it to you, I assure you I didn't… Ah, what am I saying?! You're hurt, you need help!"
"No… it's too late… for me… the ring…"
The green-haired boy didn't get what was going on. The Hero or whoever he was had been badly hurt, and he cared more about the ring than his own life? He needed to do something, but perhaps he was on an important mission, and if he could help him, maybe…
"What's… your name?"
"I-Izuku. Izuku Midoriya."
"Izuku… Midoriya…" the stranger said as he raised the object he had on his side.
Izuku then noticed said object looked a lot like an old-fashioned oil lantern, except that instead of a flame, it emitted an almost unnatural emerald green glow. Something in it made him feel drawn to it. It was beautiful to look at, almost mesmerizing.
"The power… battery…" the red man continued. "Point the ring… at the battery… and repeat these words… In brightest day..."
Izuku still didn't get what was going on, but he finally decided to comply. Holding the battery with his left hand, he put the ring near the opening sending out the green glow. He took a deep breath and pronounced the words.
"In brightest day."
"In blackest… night."
"In blackest night."
"No evil shall… escape my sight."
"No evil shall escape my sight."
"Let those who… worship evil's might."
"Let those who worship evil's might."
"Beware… my power… Green Lantern's light."
"Beware my power… Green Lantern's light?"
And he hadn't even finished pronouncing the word "light", when the glow he saw before took the battery over, and then redirected towards the ring in his hand. From there, Izuku saw and felt how it flowed through his hand, then his arm and the rest of his body, an overwhelming energy like he'd never felt before.
It was like he had been granted unfathomable power, the power to do anything with just imagining and wishing to do it.
When he looked again, he realized his school uniform had been replaced by a suit identical to the wounded red-skinned man. The ring remained in the same finger where he'd been wearing it the whole time.
"The ring… has accepted you… guard it… until they…"
"Eh? Wait up! Hold on, please! Tell me what's going on?!"
The man was unable to answer any further. In that very instant, he shut his eyes for the last time. His head fell on his shoulder, blood from his mouth pouring down, and his raised hand fell to the ground, never to be lifted again.
"Wake up, please! Tell me what's happening! Why…?"
He had too many questions. Who was he? Why was he there? What was that ring and that so-called power battery he'd just handed over to him? And who were "they"?
He didn't have the answers, but in light of what had happened, all he could do was to show some respect for the deceased. At the time, he wished he had a shovel to at least give him a proper burial. Even if he didn't know who he was, it was the least he owed him.
And as if it was magically responding to his thoughts, the ring emitted an emerald energy, materializing a shovel in front of him. It was totally green and seemingly made out of light, but once he snapped out of his initial shock, when he touched it he realized it was solid, tangible.
"This is… the ring answered to my thoughts?"
"Affirmative, Izuku Midoriya from Earth," a computer-sounding voice replied.
"Wha?! What, how, where, who said that?" he yelled, looking all around.
The ring glowed and blinked as the voice spoke again. "I am the artificial intelligence imbedded in the Green Lantern power ring. I am programmed to assist and guide the wielder in any endeavor as required."
"Green Lantern power ring? Could you explain me what's this all about?" Izuku asked.
"Affirmative," the ring declared.
Right on cue, the ring projected a holographic screen, showing all kinds of aliens he could have ever imagined from his comic books stories he enjoyed so much. Some were humanoid, others not much, looking like jellyfish, with tentacles instead of hands, one that looked like a squirrel, another looking like a disco sphere with glasses, to say the least… all of them, however, had something in common: they wore uniforms similar to his, projecting green energy from the rings in their fingers.
"The Green Lantern Corps is an intergalactic police force founded over three million years ago by the Guardians of the Universe, dedicated to keep peace an order in all the universe," the ring explained. "Each of the 3600 sectors the universe is divided in is assigned a Green Lantern, who is issued with a power ring fueled by his or her willpower. Through it, the ring allows the wielder to generate and project energy in any way they can imagine, whether it is in the form of beams, barriers or solid light constructs."
Next, the ring showed him images focused on the alien of whom he just received it, fighting against another who looked a lot more feral and intimidating, with yellow, pupil-less eyes, sharp teeth and a broken lip on one side. It seemed like they were fighting each other to death, with both of them firing beams at each other and creating all kinds of imaginable weapons, trying to get the other to yield first.
"The ring's former bearer was called Abin Sur, until now Green Lantern assigned to Sector 2814. He was in an important mission, but he was fatally wounded by an intergalactic criminal named Atrocitus. Coming from Sector 666, Atrocitus gained possession of a red power battery fueled by anger, and after founding his own Red Lantern Corps, he's spearheading a campaign to destroy the Green Lanterns."
"And what does that mean?" Izuku asked. "What do I have to do with this?"
"When a Green Lantern falls, their ring either returns on its own to planet Oa, or it will search for a new wielder should the previous one wishes so. The ring has chosen you, Izuku Midoriya."
"WHAT?!" Izuku shouted at the top of his lungs, panic quickly rushing through him as he understood the implications. "Doesn't that mean that 'Atrocious' guy or whatever he's called is gonna come after me now?!"
"It is a possibility. However, before he was mortally wounded, Abin Sur was able to deliver a discharge on Atrocitus that will most certainly put him out of commission, long enough for other Green Lanterns to pick up the distress signal he sent and come to this planet. Also, if you use the power ring sparingly, it is unlikely he will pick up your power signature."
"And what do I do until then? Am I supposed to keep the ring on me until they come or what?"
"Affirmative. The power ring now belongs to you."
Izuku glanced at his hand once more, not uttering a single word as he contemplated the ring. It would take a while to sink in, but as far as he could get, the power ring was now his just because its previous owner died. But it made no sense; with over six billion people living on Earth, what would he have to be chosen above the rest? Was he just lucky because it hit him and he picked it up?
But there was also the fact that some psycho murderer was out there, and keeping the ring would certainly put a big target on him. He certainly didn't like the idea of having a criminal hot on his trail just because of that nifty ring.
Then again, that Abin Sur guy didn't have a choice, did he? Maybe he could just lay low until the other Lanterns showed up, and he could hand the ring to them? Surely they could find somebody better than him to give it to.
Until then, however, there was another thing to do.
"Ring…" he finally said. It felt weird to talk to an object, but he'd done so for the past few minutes anyway. "You said I can do anything? I can create anything I want?"
"Affirmative. Anything the wielder can imagine, the ring will create. The ring's power is only limited by the wielder's willpower and imagination."
Going back to his previous purpose, namely giving the alien a proper burial, he imagined the shovel he created turning into a bulldozer machine. Indeed, the shovel vanished and morphed into the vehicle, just like he had imagined, albeit all green.
"Incredible, it really worked," he said, unable to not to feel amazed at what he'd done.
He immediately willed the bulldozer to dig a large hole on the ground, and much to his surprise, the ring did exactly what he wanted. Once the hole was large enough, he created a pair of giant hands to carefully place Abin Sur's corpse in it, and then used them to dig back the soil on it, moving them until he left the ground completely uniform, or as uniform as it was when he came.
"I'm sorry I can't do anything else for you, Abin Sur-san." Izuku placed his hands in a prayer position. "Please rest in peace."
After a minute of silence, the next thing to do was to go back home, preferably unseen. He grabbed the power battery and looked around, just making sure there weren't any police or news helicopters swooping around the area. He had to get out of there before people came to ask him questions he wasn't in the mood to answer.
The images the ring had shown him showcased the aliens flying across space, and through the air when they were in other planets. Did that mean he could use it to fly?
He imagined himself as the superheroes from his comic books, focused his strength and raising his fist upwards, he yelled with decision:
"Up, up, and away!"
And much to his surprise, it worked again. When he opened his eyes once more, he was actually flying! He was flying up towards the clouds! It was surprisingly easy… and wonderful. As easy as imagining that the air around him was like water, and that he could easily float in it as if he was swimming in a pool.
"This is incredible! I can float! I can fly! YAHOOO!"
He could go up, down, spin over his head, go anywhere he wanted, and as fast as he wanted. He could stay in the same place and look around, just in case there were any birds or planes nearby.
But then he remembered: he needed to get back home quickly. He created a pair of binoculars to look around, hoping to find his district. Surprisingly he was even able to zoom in to get a better focus and he found his apartment building in no time. All he had to do was fly there… without being seen and everything would be fine.
"Okay, here goes nothing…"
However, as he was getting ready to fly home, something else caught his attention. An explosion raised a large smoke column coming from another residential district, causing him to yelp. Still with the binoculars active, he looked through them to find out what was going on, zooming in closer and closer, as more explosions continued to follow.
Once he got a clear view, a villain with a sludge-like body was causing a riot, and several buildings around had suffered broken windows or were burning in flames. Several heroes had appeared in the scene, among them Death Arms who tried to punch the villain, but his punches had no effect in his liquid body; Backdraft, who was trying to extinguish the fire, and Kamui Woods, who was risking his own integrity by exposing to the flames and explosions as he tried to rescue those trapped in the line of fire.
People were already gathering around, and Izuku saw the giantess Mount Lady approaching, although she had to stop on her tracks when she noticed she didn't have enough room to walk. He focused his eyes on the villain, wondering why the heroes didn't try harder to stop him, and then he realized he'd taken a hostage.
But not just any hostage. Once he got a clear view, soon it made sense why there were so many explosions one after another.
"It can't be… Kacchan?"
The explosive blond was struggling, flailing his arms around as he tried to break free from the sludge villain's body, using his hand blasts to try and make an escape route, albeit unsuccessfully since the villain regenerated once the blasts ceased, and it seemed they did little more than tickle him. The Heroes evidently couldn't get close enough out of fear of hurting the hostage, or because they were too busy doing crowd control.
Every hero has a story, but almost all of them have something in common. At some point in their lives, something inside them made their bodies move on their own, in response to the situation. They couldn't simply stand by without doing anything.
Or in the case of Izuku Midoriya, he couldn't float in the air without doing anything.
"KACCHAN!"
He didn't even think about it. Before he realized what he was doing, he just shot forward like a missile towards that place. There was only one thing in his mind: his friend needed help.
'What the hell am I doing?! What can I do right now?!'
However, as he flew closer to the scene, some clarity found its way into his mind, making him recall Page 25 of his Hero Future Analysis Notes. The sludge villain was evidently impervious to physical blows thanks to his liquid body… barring one place.
"TAKE THIS!"
Ignoring the crowd's screaming, Izuku aimed his fist with the ring forward, firing an energy beam. It quickly morphed into a hand with two fingers pointing ahead, in a V-sign.
"AAARGH, MY EYES!" the villain shouted.
Just as he imagined, poking the villain's eyes worked, distracting his attention for a moment. Long enough for him to open the hand he'd created and grab Katsuki, who was still struggling and unleashing explosions as he tried to break free on his own. He easily pulled him out of the sludge villain, tossing him at Mount Lady to put him safe.
Mission accomplished… save for one small detail. Now everybody's attention was focused on him.
"Look, Mommy! It's a new Hero!"
"Who is it? Never saw him before."
"Wait, he seems just a kid!"
"Oh crap," Izuku mumbled. "What do I do now? Everybody saw me already, maybe I should just run… or fly away. But I already got involved, so there's no point in fleeing, and if I do I might make things worse for me, although…
"DAMN YOU, LITTLE SQUIRT!"
A huge sludge hand pulled him out of his muttering. With a giant *SPLAT!* the villain had already chosen him as his new target. Izuku only managed to shield himself under an energy dome when the hand was just above him, and he could hear the screams of terror of everybody watching.
"AAAHHH, THE EXPLOSIVE KID WAS GOOD, BUT YOU'RE BETTER! DECIDED, I'LL TAKE YOUR BODY TO GET MY REVENGE ON THAT GUY!"
And the villain quickly took to try and engulf him completely. However, no matter how hard he tried, he was unable to pierce through the barrier. He just went splat against it making liquid noises, and seeing it didn't work, he took to find any hole or crack to bypass it.
"WHAT THE HELL?! WHAT'S THIS THING MADE OF?!"
"This is…"
Izuku glanced at his ring, and then outside the barrier. The villain's creepy eyes and huge mouth still tried to break the barrier like a monster out of the worst of nightmares, but tried as he might, he failed. Izuku's barrier was impenetrable… because he willed it to be so, to make sure he couldn't break it.
Suddenly, he felt more at ease at the thought that his life was not in danger, and knew what he had to do. He focused hard on the barrier surrounding him, willing it to explode with great force, just enough to spread out the villain and make a path for him, but without causing collateral damage.
"GYAAAAAAAARRRGHH!"
In a matter of seconds, he was flying above the villain as his splattered remains ended up all over the street. They moved on their own again, converging to a single point like a liquid metal Terminator trying to rebuild itself. That quickly gave him an idea.
"The villain's body is liquid. Physical blows won't hurt him. But what about… spinning in a centrifuge…?"
It seemed ridiculous, but it was worth a try. With all his might he focused on trapping the villain with his ring's energy, once he made sure all of his pieces were inside. Then, he imagined a giant blender, just like the one his mom had at home.
"WHAT THE HELL?! LET ME OUT YOU BRAT, LET ME OUTTA HERE!"
"Let's mix!" Izuku shouted, turning it on.
The effect was immediate: his blender got to work and the villain was submitted to become a giant milkshake. Izuku kept him that way for a few minutes, until he finally stopped screaming. Only then he turned the blender off and vanished it, letting the sludge villain to spill across the pavement, with both of his eyes now a pair of X's for pupils and his mouth wide open.
Thank goodness, he was still alive, but he wouldn't cause trouble for a while.
Everybody was left dumbfounded, himself included, as he landed idly on the ground. Only once everything was said and done he came to realize what he'd just done.
"Hey, hey, kiddo!" the giant with muscular arms cried out. "What do you think you're doing?"
"Huh? What? I just…"
"Really kid, you should have left this to us pros!" Backdraft said.
"How dare you steal my spotlight?!" Mount Lady yelled. "My debut was just a week ago! No fair that another rookie's coming over! And what kind of Quirk was that?"
"Eh? No, no, wait! This is just a misunderstanding! Let me explain, the thing is, I just…"
Things were about to get pretty hairy for Izuku. Worse still, when the cops arrived, and they had many questions to ask him. Questions that, whether he liked or not, he'd have to answer if he didn't want to get in more troubles than he already was.
…
The wait at the police station was shorter than he expected. He was allowed to call his mother to explain what happened, and the questions they asked him were much easier to answer than he though. After all, he just needed to tell everybody the truth.
"So, let me get this straight. You picked up a ring that hit you from behind, you put it on, and it dragged you towards a dying alien." The police captain, who was in charge of the questioning, was a large and built man with the face and body of a great buffalo.
"Yes, sir." Izuku nodded.
"Per the rules of the alien's… Corps, Green Lanterns or whatever they're called, now that ring belongs to you, and you used it to save your friend when you saw him in danger," the police captain continued in a sterner tone.
"Yes, sir." Izuku nodded again.
The policeman remained silent. Both Midoriyas exchanged expectant glances, and Izuku felt his mother's shaking hand grabbing hold of his own. He could see she was trying to calm him down as much as she tried herself, as they both felt the same way, unsure as to how this would end.
"Chief." Suddenly, a policewoman with long bunny ears and feet opened the door. "We've got word from the Dagobah bay. The alien's corpse has been found. Right on the place the boy said it was."
"Thanks, Usagiyama," the chief declared, and the policewoman left. "Mrs. Midoriya, I need to be frank with you guys. In normal circumstances, your son would have broken every law about the misuse of superpowers in public."
"I understand," the woman said, holding her son's hand again. They both lowered their heads in shame, predicting what would come next.
"However, technically speaking, your son did not use any superpowers. Also, an alien ring capable of creating anything its owner asks is not included among the regulated objects to use for self-defense or to help another person."
"Does that mean…?" Inko suddenly became hopeful, and Izuku felt his own face lighting up as well.
"Due to the unique circumstances, and since the Bakugous have declared they won't press charges out of gratitude, we'll let your son off the hook with just a warning. As long as he promises he won't be getting in trouble again."
"Are you serious?" the woman exclaimed, her lachrymal glands about to burst. "Thank you so much, sir!"
"Er, by the way, Mr. Chief," Izuku asked coyly, poking his thumbs together. "About the ring…"
"Ah yeah, about that," he said as he pulled the aforementioned object, along with the power battery. "Nobody here has been able to make it work. If it's true what you say, and it only works for the rightful wielder… I think it's not fair for us to confiscate it."
He then returned both objects to Izuku. The boy placed the ring back on his finger, although this time he didn't activate the costume like before. In any case, it felt nice to have it back.
"Fortunately, this time nobody was hurt. However, and I'm telling you this for your own sake, I hope you don't get into trouble like this again. Next time, leave it to the pros. Try not to use that ring if possible, are we clear?"
"Yes, sir! I really thank you, sir!" Izuku bowed so hard he almost smacked into the chief's desk.
"You may go now."
Mother and son exited the police station, very close to each other. Izuku kept staring at the power ring in his hand, feeling almost like a kid with a new toy. He still wondered what he was going to do with it, though. It'd been a really strange day.
"Hey, Deku bastard!" a familiar voice yelled, only to be cut off by a smack behind the head. "Ouch! That hurts, you old hag!"
"Shut up, you fucking brat! Now go and properly thank him for saving your fucking life!"
The Bakugou family was waiting for them at the corridor. As Mr. Bakugou tried to calm his them down, his wife forced their son to lower his head, grabbing him from behind. After yelling at each other a few times, Mrs. Bakugou finally turned around to look at the Midoriyas and calmed down.
"Really, I'm really sorry the troubles this little bastard caused to show," she said with a kind voice, yet punctuated by the little vein bulging on her temple. "Come on, Katsuki, out with it."
"Tch…" The aforementioned looked away for a bit, but after a few seconds he finally dared to look at his former childhood friend with his typical I'm-gonna-kill-you-for-this glare, forcing the words out of his throat. "Thanks for saving my life, stupid nerd… though nobody asked you," he added under his breath, getting another smack from his mother. "Ouch! Knock it off, you hag!"
"Shut your trap! It's your fucking fault for being so weak and getting caught like that!"
"Honey, calm down please, the police is going to get mad."
"Ah, if you excuse us," Inko said as she grabbed her son's shoulders. "I think Izuku and I should be taking our leave now. Goodbye!"
Izuku quickly got his mom's message, and they walked away from there, as the Bakugous continued their argument. Still one block away they could hear their screaming.
Once they were at a safe distance, Inko finally decided to talk to her son. She had many things to say after all.
"Izuku, what were you thinking? Why did you get involved in that? You could have gotten hurt or worse! And using that ring without knowing where it came from, just because a dying alien gave it to you?"
"What was I supposed to do?" Izuku asked. "Mom, if I hadn't intervened, maybe Kacchan would be dead now! Besides…"
"Besides?" Inko gave him an inquiring glare.
Izuku held back his breath before answering. He needed to explain what he felt at the time. It was hard to express through words, but it was a feeling he'd never felt before. And after he did… he would be hard-pressed to forget it.
"Mom… I didn't understand then, but when I put this ring on, I discovered I could do anything with it. And in that instant, when I saved Kacchan, when I stopped that villain, it felt incredible. Like for once I was living my dream… my dream of being a Hero."
"Izuku, I'm proud of you for being so brave, but you can't act that way," his mother said in a worried tone. "You were lucky this time just because of that ring, but who's telling us that's gonna happen again? Also, what about that alien's friends, Green Lanterns or whatever they are? What if they come and take it away from you? You better not get used to it."
"… Yeah… I suppose you're right on that. Still, even if I don't use it, can I keep it on me until then?"
"*Sigh*, alright. We better go home now. All this mess made me hungry. I think we'll be having katsudon tonight."
Izuku smiled. "That sounds good to me."
Feeling more at ease, Izuku rubbed the hand where he wore the ring. It'd been a brief experience, but even so, he'd be lying to himself if he said he didn't enjoy it.
Then again, he'd have to be realistic; his mother had a point. If those Green Lanterns came later to take the ring, he'd have to hand it over, whether he liked it or not.
As they boarded the train, he spotted his old childhood friend and his parents on the other side of the station. He saw Kacchan tried to intentionally hide out of his sight, maybe to avoid feeling more embarrassment, though not before giving him a rather odd glare.
At the time, and with the reminder of the incident, how Kacchan looked like someone calling for help, something inside him made him feel good. Even if it was just an instant, he could experience what felt to be a hero. The joy of saving someone, no matter the personal cost. Just like he'd always dreamed.
'Even if I got in trouble for it… it was great to be a Hero, if only for once.'
Maybe… maybe he'd found the way to become a Pro Hero. On the slim chance of being able to keep that ring, maybe he could make it his own, and use it as the means to do so. If the limit was his own imagination, would there be anything he couldn't do with it?
Deep in space, meanwhile…
He was careless, he had to admit it. And that carelessness could have cost him his life.
Pretty clever that Abin Sur. He did a desperate attack using his remaining charge to recover his power battery, and intentionally let himself get stabbed in the stomach when they clashed. Only that way he could get close enough to get his hand into the power battery, and send an energy burst into it that forced him to let go of it.
The blast left him in a daze. He didn't even remember how long he'd been out of it, but he had been drifting quite a distance, and he was out of the system's edges. He'd take a while to find the bastard again, that is, if he had survived that.
"Until I see your corpse and pour your blood into my ring, I won't leave this system," he declared to himself. "I won't rest until the accursed green light finally extinguishes from the face of the universe."
He projected a tracking wave all around himself. The ring still had about 54% charge, but it'd be better to make sure he was at full capacity during the next bout. He couldn't press his luck again; he needed to find his own power battery, lost during his escape.
A few seconds later, the reflected wave from the battery helped him locate it. Without missing a beat he flew in that direction, quickly finding the wreckage, the remains of the ship where that idiot Abin Sur was transporting him.
A preemptive measure from him, maybe so as to not to waste his own energy's ring while he took him as a prisoner, and at the same time leaving him unable to access his own power. Smart, maybe, but not enough to keep him locked up.
The red power battery floated among the ship's debris, waiting for its master to retrieve it. Atrocitus held the handle and prepared to recharge. As usual, he pronounced the oath he coined himself, to counter that of those accursed Green Lanterns.
"With blood and rage of crimson red, ripped from a corpse so freshly dead. Together with my hellish hate, I'll burn you all—THAT IS YOUR FATE!"
The power battery flashed and charged the ring at full capacity. Now, all that he had left was make sure Abin Sur was dead, and if he wasn't to finish his job. No one would stop him.
To be continued…
Author's notes:
Uff, at long last I broke through my writer's block and have something to publish. I'd been cooking this idea for quite a while, though I had some troubles piecing everything together. Then it turned out a little longer than I originally planned, so I decided to split it in two parts. The idea came after I read a DC/MHA crossover, titled "Neither a Bird nor a Plane, it's Deku!" by FoxOnPie, and I offered to submit this as part of its multiverse, hence the Earth designation at the beginning. By the way, if you haven't read that one, you should totally do it, it's one of the best DC/MHA crossovers ever seen.
Now, as you guys can see I took the classic Green Lantern origin for Hal Jordan, getting the power ring from the dying Abin Sur. The confrontation with Atrocitus at the beginning has some details taken from the animated movie Green Lantern: Emerald Knights, although I tried to base him more in his GL: The Animated Series counterpart. For the second part of this story, I'll be using some basis from the Superman: TAS episode "In Brightest Day", let's see how it turns out.
Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed it. Don't forget to let me know your thoughts. See you all on Part II!