Phoenix journal: No. 4
Entry 78:
Ochako didn't take us killing Endeavour that well. I can still feel the slap she gave me, even if it was in the dreams. I tried to argue with her, talking about all that he has done, but she is still her eternal forgiving self. She is kind, almost too kind. She almost made me feel bad for watching that monster burn. I'm just afraid what will happen when I kill Lemillion. I don't want to lose the relationship we currently have.
Entry 81:
I've discovered something that worries me. I was examining Shigaraki's and Kurogiri's DNA when I discovered some disturbing information. First disturbing realization is what was taken from Shigaraki. Stem cells. That by itself isn't that dangerous, but stem cells could be used to speed up a cloning process, or even enhance it. I didn't use that option. It was to risky and I'd rather take it slowly and safely. But someone else wanted stem cells from Shigaraki specifically and is probably using it in a process similar to my cloning.
As for Kurogiri, he is a nomu. Not one of mine, nor how I would make one, but his DNA shares remarkable similarities in its' structure. Meaning someone has been experimenting with intelligent nomus long before I even knew about the league of villains. Couple this with Shigaraki's stolen stem cells and it can only mean one thing. All for one still has allies and they are working on cloning or making something very, very dangerous. We'll have to start investigating this once Lemillion is dead.
"So Hawks, why exactly did you want to talk with me? And why at night?" Lemillion asked as he and Hawks walked through near empty streets in the middle of the night. "It's just a precaution after what happened to Endeavour. I want as few people as possible to know about this" Hawks replied. "Hey, you couldn't know that Deku knew Endeavour was with you. I don't know how he knew, but I'm sure he won't manage to pull of that again" Lemillion said. "I know, just want to be certain. As for why I wanted to see you. I don't want to be number one" Hawks said. "Why not?" Lemillion asked, slightly surprised. "It's so much work, I'm not the person you would want to lead all heroes. I would much rather be in the top 20's or 30's" Hawks replied.
"I can understand that, but why do you want to talk to me about it?" Lemillion asked. "We both know that you already was your path to become number one before Endeavour died. I was kinda hoping you would take second place during the last hero rankings, but I remained in second place and now I'm number one. That's why I want your help" Hawks explained. "I'll always help out a fellow hero" Lemillion said. "Good. You see, there has been…" Hawks said before he stopped next to an alleyway with his back turned against Lemillion.
"Did you hear some-" Lemillion asked, but was cut off when he felt something being shot into his neck. He quickly grabbed his neck and dragged out a dart. He tried to activate his quirk, but nothing happened. "What the?" Lemillion said confused as Hawks turned to face him "I'm sorry" Hawks said and injected Lemillion with something before he could react. "You killed Endea…" Lemillion hissed, but lost balance has his vision turned dark and he fell unconscious.
When Lemillion woke up again, he found himself inside a cell with not much more than a bed, toilet, sink and the chair he was tied to. He tried to remember what had happened, but was interrupted when Deku came into the cell. Lemillion tried to attack Deku, but his quirk wouldn't activate. So instead he ended up tipping his chair forwards and planted his face into the ground. "What did you do to my quirk?" Lemillion hissed. "You remember our good old friend Overhaul?" Deku asked. "You've used her to make quirk destroying drugs!" Lemillion yelled and tried to get free. "I would never hurt my own daughter" Deku said and pulled the chair back, so that Lemillion sat normally. "No, I'm just using the few bullets that are left from Overhaul's work. Sadly, they never became permanent and we only have a very limited supply of them" Deku explained as he stood behind Lemillion. "So instead we have to ration them, use them until the effect almost runs out, then give you another shot. Which would give you a few days left to live before we have to kill you" Deku said with a grin.
"Why is Hawks with you?" Lemillion asked. "He came to me. Talked about joining the revolution, supporting the cause. Didn't believe him at first, but he has proven himself loyal. First luring out Endeavour, then bringing you right where I needed you" Deku explained. "You won't win this. Even if you kill me, there are others who will stop you" Lemillion threatened. "There will be others who will try to stop me, but I will not stop. You know why? Because I fight for a just world" Deku replied. "Anyways, I have experiments to run. Meanwhile, you'll get to talk with the new number one hero" Deku said and walked out of the room just as Hawks came in. "Have fun" Deku smirked and walked to his lab to run his experiments.
The next morning Todoroki walked into the lab to check on Deku. He hadn't gone to his room last night, which usually meant that he had pulled an all-nighter. "Deku, you know this isn't healthy" Todoroki said as he found the boy looking over a screen with an intense look. Deku didn't notice Todoroki's remark and instead looked across the screen while muttering under his breath. "Deku" Todoroki said slightly louder. Deku was immediately snapped out of his thoughts and quickly faced Todoroki, revealing the sleep bags under his eyes. "Oh, Todoroki. You're going to sleep?" Deku asked. "It is 10 o'clock in the morning" Todoroki replied. "Oh, guess I got carried away a bit" Deku chuckled.
"You got caught up in your research again?" Todoroki asked. "Well, yeah" Deku replied. "But I think I finally have some explanation for what happened to me in Deika" He said. "When you collapsed to the ground?" Todoroki wondered. "That is a part of it, yes" Deku replied. "You remember the big green flash right?" He asked. "Yes, almost forgot I was in a fight because of it" Todoroki answered. "Well, that was my quirk. My natural quirk" Deku said.
"Your quirk? I thought you were born quirkless" Todoroki said, slightly confused. "So thought I up until I suddenly could make and control what might look like green fire, but is really plasma. The problem came afterwards when that same quirk wrought havoc on my own body" Deku said. "So of course I ran tests on myself afterwards, and I just got more and more questions. You see, all the quirkless people I've experimented on has fallen into one of two possibilities. Either there isn't any resemblance of a quirk, or the quirk gene is present, but the quirkless trait is the active one. I thought I fell into the former, but now I know I fall into neither. My quirk is coded into my DNA completely differently than any case I've seen. That is how I still have an extra toe joint from my quirkless gene" Deku explained.
"How does that happen?" Todoroki wondered, even more confused than before. "Have you ever heard of the quirk singularity theory?" Deku asked. "No, can't say I have" Todoroki replied. "Thought so much. The quirk singularity theory is based on the current trend where each generation develops more powerful and complex quirk. At some point, quirk could become too powerful and complex for our body to handle. I believe my quirk reached that point. It is so powerful and requires so much of the body that my body simply shut it off. Forced it away to protect itself" Deku explained. "If that's the case, wouldn't that mean that more people like you will get born as time goes by?" Todoroki wondered. "You would be right in that assessment" Deku replied and pulled up some statistics on the screen for Todoroki to see.
"Everyone knows that 80 percent of the world's population has quirks, but that is just the global average. It gets slightly higher near to where quirks first appeared, in China and it gets slightly lower the further away you get, like western Europe. Although, it doesn't vary that much due to global immigration an emigration. You'll also find a large difference in the percentage between generations. Among the older population, quirks remained a minority for a long time and in the younger generations more and more people have quirks. The year we were born, 92 percent of all children later developed quirks. Three years later it had become 93 percent. The weird thing is that it has stayed at 93 percent ever since, and actually dropped by a decimal point for those who are now developing quirks" Deku explained. "So more people are becoming quirkless?" Todoroki asked, slightly shocked. "Yes, the evolution of humanity seems to be going in reverse now. Although, that isn't the most interesting statistic. That would go to the percentage of quirkless people with parents who have quirks, which I would fall under" Deku replied.
"Ever since quirks started to get widely tested for, the amount of quirkless people who have parents with quirks has remained at roughly one percent. That is also true for the year we were born. It is seen as a rare genetical fluke. However, in the last 8 years that number has risen, and quite dramatically as well. Two percent of quirkless children born 8 years ago had parents with quirks. If you look at the most recent data for those born 4 years ago and are now developing quirks, that number has risen to 12 percent" Deku explained. "Sadly, I can't confirm if this is just a cosmic coincidence or the result of quirk singularity. As much as I wish I could conduct tests on this trend, I can't. Experimenting on children is right out and those who are old enough are a one in a million. All I have is myself" He added with a sigh. "I see. So we can only really speculate about this" Todoroki said. "Yeah, pretty much" Deku said and stood up. "Anyways, we have a prisoner to look after. Did Hawks say anything suspicious yesterday?" He asked. "No, he largely just listened to Lemillion shouting at him about betrayal and so on. The motion sensors didn't pick up anything unexpected either" Todoroki replied. "Good" Deku said and began walking towards Lemillion's cell.
Later that night, Deku found himself in the familiar dream landscape of one for all. He looked to his side and saw a very pissed of Uraraka. Before Deku could react he was slapped across the face so hard that he fell to the ground. "What was that for!?" Deku exclaimed. "What have you done to Lemillion!?" Uraraka shouted. "What do you think? He is a hero" Deku answered and got up. "Lemillion is different. He doesn't do it for selfish reasons, he only wants to save people!" Uraraka protested. "Don't act stupid, it doesn't suit you. You knew that this would happen. I don't care how noble a hero is, they still perpetuate the same corrupt system" Deku retorted.
"I know you see things that way, but why Lemillion? Isn't he what you wanted All Might to be?" Uraraka asked as she calmed down slightly. "He only wants to save one million people, make them smile. He's even the only top 10 hero who hires quirkless people in his agency" She added as tears formed in her eyes. "Uraraka, believe me when I tell you that this isn't personal. Yes, he is one of the better heroes out there, I'll admit that. But I can't let that get in the way of my goals, you know that. Besides, there is only really one question which I care about to judge heroes" Deku explained. "And what is that?" Uraraka wondered. "Do you think that a quirkless person can become a hero?" Izuku asked. "Of course they can" Uraraka said. "I know you think that, but does Lemillion feel the same?" Izuku asked. "I don't know, I've never asked him" Uraraka replied. "I see" Izuku sighed and gave a thoughtful look. "Look, Ochako. I'm sorry that this hurt you like this" He said, trying to comfort her. "Don't Ochako me Izuku. It doesn't change what you will do" Uraraka said. "I know" Izuku replied in a solemn tone.