The Rogues

by Fire Slash Shorts

(Shocker Izuku AU!). Several teens mocked and forgotten by the world become vigilantes to help those just like them. The heroes might not like what they're doing, but seeing as they're the only ones willing to confront all the BS in their society that the heroes ignore, the young vigilantes don't plan on stopping anytime soon…

Author's Note: Hey everyone, FireSlash here and welcome to 'The Rogues,' a oneshot series detailing Izuku becoming a vigilante version of the Marvel villain Shocker. So, I'm pretty sure you might have some questions and I'm going to answer some at the end of the chapter. I do want to let you know about a bit of stuff though before we get into this.

First off, this story was takes a more nihilistic and darker look at MHA, which means stuff that doesn't normally happen in canon will happen here. Keep this in mind when reading.

Second, Izuku is a bit more confident. Just wanted to let you know

Third, this is a vent fic, meaning that I will be doing. a lot of bashing of canon. Why? Well, for my fic 'Electro' over on my main account, I aim to do a deconstruction of canon, which meant that I had to rewatch the anime with a critical eye. Sadly, this has caused me to find many faults with the series (my opinion of MHA: I love the setting and several of the characters, hence why I write Fanfiction, but canon's lackluster in terms of storytelling and character development) which bother me. As such, this series of oneshots will go over several key parts that I have issues with. Character Bashing and BS being called out lies ahead, though they won't really appear until the second chapter. On this account, I don't plan on mincing words regarding my opinions on the subjects I write about, however, I do plan on keeping my bashing levels to a bearable level while also making sure it's relevant to the plot of the fic. If that puts you off, then I suggest you leave. I also wanted to mention that besides this series of one-shots being inspired by me racking up ideas for 'Electro' and 'A Sinister Foe', this fic is also inspired by two fanfics by Sonnie Celanna: 'Called Out' and 'The Three Spiders'. I'd highly recommend checking them out.

Fourth, I have no update schedule for this fic. I simply write when I feel like it. Just wanted to get that out there, especially since this isn't my main account (not like I've been good at keeping update schedules anyways).

Finally, if you want to know what Izuku's suit looks like, it's the same as the comic book Shocker's except the yellow is replaced by dark green and the dark red with dark purple.

Well, I said all that I had to, so let's get on to the story. Review and enjoy :-).

0000

"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose." -Dr. Seuss

"Nothing is given to man on earth - struggle is built into the nature of life, and conflict is possible - the hero is the man who lets no obstacle prevent him from pursuing the values he has chosen." -Andrew Bernstein

"You're gonna be, a shinin' star, In fancy clothes, and fancy car-ars, And then you'll see, you're gonna go far, 'Cause everyone knows, just who ya are-are, So live your life!"- Rihanna and T.I

0000

"Give Up!"

These were two words Izuku Midoriya was quite familiar with, nearly everyone urging him to abandon his dream. What was his dream? To become a hero.

Izuku lived in a world where eighty percent of the population was born with innate powers referred to as 'quirks'. With quirks, becoming a professional hero was possible, so why was Izuku constantly told to give up? The answer was because he was one of the twenty percent of people born quirkless. According to society, having no quirk meant you couldn't be a hero. In fact, you were barely considered human.

Izuku knew this pain all too well. His school life was, simply put, absolute hell. Shortly after being diagnosed as quirkless at the age of four, all his playground friends had left his side, instead choosing to use him as a target for practicing their quirks. Leading the pack was Katsuki Bakugou, a boy whose quirk allowed him to create explosions by igniting his sweat. The two were once inseparable friends, but when Katsuki's quirk developed, he became arrogant and cruel, using his power to inflict pain upon others. No one did anything to stop him, as they only saw the fact his quirk would allow him to become a great hero. Whenever Izuku would try receiving aid from the teachers, he'd be met with the same responses:

"Stop making up rumors about you classmate."

"It's only natural how rough he is with his quirk. You'd be the same if you had one, showing it off all the time."

"Quit your complaining already!"

"Bakugou would never do such a thing!"

It was funny how everyone saw him as a hero even though he behaved more like a villain. Izuku still had the burn marks to prove the other boy's violent nature.

The sad thing was his experience was nothing special. Most quirkless kids were treated like he was. None of them could do anything about it either as society simply hated them for existing. Even in the real world, the quirkless were discriminated against, including by the government. Izuku would constantly read about protests held by the quirkless as a means of demanding more protections against discrimination, but did the government ever listen? Nope. No one did. Not even the heroes of the world.

As a fan of heroes, Izuku was hurt by this. How come no heroes ever expressed their support for the quirkless? It wouldn't take long to do, even a 'I stand with the quirkless' would suffice. But save for maybe a few, none of them bothered getting involved in these issues.

Then again, something he noticed was how heroes always seemed to take on the flashier jobs. Fighting bad guys was what most heroes were known for and some were known to be far more excessive than necessary. Japan's second highest ranking hero Endeavor was an example of this. Having an intense fire quirk, it was common for him to heavily damage his surroundings and severely wound the people he was fighting. In some instances, this was fine, but when it was a lowly robber, did he really deserve to have his face burnt off?

With all this said, Izuku still refused to give up on his dream. The world told him he couldn't be a hero, but he knew they were wrong. Sure, he couldn't punch through solid rock or shoot fire, but that gap could easily be breached. Many heroes weren't bulletproof, including the majority of Japan's top ten heroes, so if he really wanted, he could learn how to shoot a gun, but this wasn't the route he took. No, instead, he decided to overcome his shortcomings with the aid of technology.

In his world, technology was advanced enough where exo-suits were used for physical labor and holograms were a commonly used device. For some reason, the hero world didn't see the vast amount of feats that someone aided by technology could accomplish. Even at a young age, Izuku recognized how he could use technology to aid him in fighting people stronger than him.

He began learning how to invent when he was young. At the age of twelve, Izuku developed his first piece of equipment. With Izuku having first hand experience with Katsuki and his powerful quirk, he used the other boy as a baseline for developing something that could easily deal with people like him.

Dubbed the 'Shocker Gear', Izuku managed to create a suit that deployed a vibrational shield, the suit constantly vibrating to reduce and deflect blows that would otherwise be lethal to a person without superhuman durability. Not only was he bulletproof, but if he was struck by Katsuki while wearing the suit, the explosions wouldn't even faze him. It was also highly heat resistant, though too much exposure to high heats produced by things such as torrents of flames could melt his suit.

The vibrations could even be used to knock someone out if he grabs them, them being intense enough to kill someone if he grabs onto them for a long period of time. To further increase his offensive capabilities, he developed a pair vibro-shock gauntlets, which he could use to both fire concentrated blasts of air vibrated at an intense frequency and use them to increase his striking prowess to the point where he could punch through steel. As he didn't want to kill anyone, Izuku also made it so he could adjust the power of the blasts. When your strongest blasts were far more powerful than Katsuki could hope to produce with his quirk, this was a necessity.

Of course, to be a pro-hero, one needs to learn how to fight and Izuku made sure to take martial arts. He also made it a hobby to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of several quirks so he could counter them when fighting villains.

With all this preparation done, you'd expect Izuku to have gotten into a high-school dedicated to helping him get his hero license, right? Sadly, this wasn't the case. Yes, he did become a hero, but not in the 'legal' way. The way the system was set up prevented him from getting into any sort of hero school, but he refused to let his dream die. If it meant he had to become a vigilante to save people, so be it…

0000

His journey to becoming a vigilante began on a seemingly ordinary day of middle-school, a day he couldn't forget no matter how hard he wished to forget.

"All right, as you all know, you're all reaching the end of middle school," his homeroom teacher stated, causing Izuku to start paying more attention as to what was coming out of his mouth. There was a chance he was going to go over the application process for picking high schools, something Izuku found to be important. "Now's the time you all think about your future. Eh, who am I kidding? All of you are planning on becoming heroes, correct?"

Upon saying that, most of the students began cheering in affirmation, some of them even displaying their quirks in a non-destructive manner.

"Hey teach, don't lump me into the same category as these crappy side characters," Katsuki stated, the boy being in Izuku's homeroom much to his annoyance. "I'm off to be the best damn hero you've ever seen."

"Ah, right, you're applying to U.A correct?" His teacher asked the boy, surprising most of his classmates. U.A Academy was considered to be the best hero development school in Japan. The chances of anyone getting in were slim, yet this didn't seem to faze Katsuki, the boy having a smirk on his face.

"Damn right I am, I even aced the mock test!"

As his classmates began fawning over Katsuki, Izuku began to dive into his own little world, not wanting to watch his classmates stroke the ego of his biggest bully. As horrible of a person as Katsuki was, Izuku knew he was going to get into a good school. His quirk was strong and his grades were fantastic, and the hero-society loved people like him, willing to ignore his sins if it meant that they could have another powerhouse ready to take on the villains.

0000

Yes, Izuku was a fan of heroes, but he wasn't a blind fanboy. Being quirkless caused him to experience the worst of the worst of society and heroes. Despite what the word 'villain' might imply, not all villains were evil. Besides the obvious reasoning that some criminals commit crimes to try to make ends meet, there were other villains who were the way they are due to their quirks. Being a quirk analyst, Izuku knew that some quirks made people have uncontrollable behavioral patterns.

'But hey, treatment options exist!' Someone might say, and they'd be correct. However, said treatment options are expensive. Not only that, but most people whose quirks influence their behavior don't receive the support they need, typically being shunned or abandoned by their families and peers. Instead of helping them, most heroes were sadly more than willing to beat up these villains and send them to jail. It was easier and flashier to do so after all, a lot of heroes unfortunately treating their careers as a popularity contest…

0000

"Midoriya, aren't you applying to U.A as well?"

Izuku blinked, snapping back to reality before looking at his teacher. While it was true Izuku wanted to get into U.A as well, it was obvious the teacher mentioned this to stir up drama. After all, to everyone else, him applying to U.A was a stupid idea.

"Really? Isn't he quirkless? How does he possibly think he can get into U.A?" One of his classmates asked, everyone else laughing. The only person who wasn't was Katsuki.

"Deku," Katsuki growled, not liking the fact the boy was applying to the same school as him, Deku being a nickname the boy gave him out of mockery. Deku was a word meaning useless, and Katsuki latched onto it, using it to mock the boy for his lack of a quirk. Honestly, he felt Katsuki could have a little more variety when calling him names. Seriously, he only latched onto that one and 'quirkless loser' as insults. For someone who was supposedly the second smartest student in the school, behind himself, he sure didn't act like it…

"All right, all right, that's enough," the teacher stated to regain control of the class, though Izuku knew that if it wasn't for the fact that the bell was about to ring, they would've continued mocking him.

Thankfully, the bell did end up ringing a few minutes later, causing everyone to flood outside the room. Glad that the day was over, the boy began to pack his things, only for a hand to squeeze his shoulder.

"Where the fuck do you think you're going?" Katsuki growled at the young genius. Behind him were his two lackeys, people Izuku honestly never paid attention to unless they were in his presence. Heck, even then, they were too busy worshipping the ground Katsuki walks on to even make much of an impact on the boy's life.

Izuku, wanting to go home already, answered truthfully. "Home."

Katsuki narrowed his eyes in anger, stopping Izuku as he tried getting around the boy. "Oh no you don't. We're going to have a nice, 'friendly' chat."

Knowing he wouldn't be going home until Katsuki said his piece, Izuku sighed. "What?"

"Behind every hero is a story about their uprising," Katsuki explained. "I want mine to be unique. I'll be the only person to have graduated from this shitty school and make it pro. I'd rather not have any setbacks, so don't apply to U.A, got it?"

Izuku stood firm. "U.A is my dream as well, so no Bakugou, I won't move just so you can have your way."

If Katsuki was angry before, he was now enraged. "Well, how the fuck are you going to get into U.A without a quirk you fucking Deku? You think a quirkless nobody can compete with someone like me, huh!?" Izuku opened his mouth to retort, only to be cut off. "Just do us all a favor and take a swan dive off the roof. You'll be far more useful dead, and who knows? You might even get a quirk in your next life."

It was Izuku's turn to be angry. How dare Katsuki have the audacity to claim he was aiming to be a hero when he just told someone to kill themselves!

"Tch, got something to say?" Katsuki mockingly asked. Oh how Izuku wanted to say something, but he knew he couldn't. Katsuki had the school on a leash, so if he even tried fighting back, he could be potentially expelled. His school wasn't anything special, so when they found out they had someone extremely powerful attending, they were more than willing to let his behavior slide if it meant he could bring them some fame. As such, the boy simply settled for a glare, not like it did anything. "Tch, you can't even defend yourself. Whatever, I'm done here."

Katsuki and his lackeys soon left, Izuku frowning to himself.

'Just you wait Bakugou, I'll prove to you and everyone else that the quirkless can do great things.'

0000

Izuku seriously didn't know what was worse, Katsuki's suicide baiting comment or what happened to him after. Honestly, he was leaning towards the former…

0000

"Ah, just my luck, a disguise, and one of a harmless schoolboy no less. Looks like I can finally get rid of that pesky hero."

Whelp, looks like he won't be proving anything anytime soon. After grabbing his notebook, Izuku began heading home. Having decided to take a shortcut through a small tunnel, he unfortunately ran into a villain who was using it as a hideout. 'Why now?1"

Izuku immediately backed up, knowing he couldn't do anything to the villain at the moment. Seeing as he was literally a ball of sludge, physical attacks would just pass right through him. If only he had his suit…

"Get over here!" Using a tendril, the sludge villain attempted to grab Izuku, only for the boy to dodge, his martial arts training kicking in. "Looks like we got a runner."

Not letting up, the monster continued to fire his tendrils at the boy, Izuku managing to dodge two of them. Sadly, he wasn't quick enough, so the villain easily caught him with the third tendril he shot.

"Don't worry kid," the sludge villain said as it began absorbing Izuku into him. "This won't take long."

'Is this where I die?' Izuku asked himself as he desperately struggled to break free, only for his efforts to be in vain. The villain's hold was too strong. 'As a useless Deku? Looks like I wasn't able to protect anyone…'

Seriously, if he had his suit right now, he'd be able to blow the villain back. Not only that, but it was isolated, meaning the villain wouldn't have been able to enter his body.

"Hah, you know, if it wasn't for you, I'd probably be caught right now," The villain mocked his dying victim. "Thanks kid, you're my hero."

'How ironic…' Was the world playing a cruel joke on him?

Soon, his struggling began to reduce, his vision and hearing fading away. Thankfully, the universe decided to throw Izuku a bone as a familiar voice echoed around the tunnel.

"TEXAS SMASH!"

'All Might?' Izuku asked himself, managing to catch the faint outline of his hero before passing out, the lack of air having caught up to him.

0000

All Might was Izuku's hero and the top ranking hero in the world. Known as the 'Symbol of Peace', All Might was everything an aspiring hero strived to be; strong, smart, and heroic. Normally when someone meets their hero, they'd claim it was the 'best day of their life', but for Izuku, this wasn't the case. Rather, it caused him to be even more critical of heroes.

0000

"Hey, hey kid, get up."

Opening his eyes, Izuku awakened to his hero gently patting his cheek, trying to wake him up. Eyes widening in amazement, Izuku leaped upwards, surprised to be face to face with his hero.

"Thank goodness you're awake," the American hero stated, sighing in relief. "I would've hated it if anyone got hurt because of me."

"A-All Might!?" Izuku shouted in glee, the sight of his idol being enough to instantly cheer him up despite his horrible day. "Thanks for saving me."

"It's no problem my boy!" All Might stated in his signature booming voice. "Well, now since that's over, you should go home and rest up. I got a villain I need to bring in. I've already prepared an autograph in one of your notebooks.

Noticing the notebook next to him, Izuku saw that the hero did indeed sign two pages of the notebook. "Wow! I'll treasure this forever. It'll be a family heirloom!"

"I'm glad to hear it. Sadly, I must go! Until we meet again. Plus Ultra!" Watching his hero preparing to take off, Izuku knew that he couldn't let All Might leave. All Might was his idol and is seen as the prime example of a 'genuine person', so he needed to know if the Symbol of Peace believed that the quirkless could become heroes. Of course, the man was constantly saying how anyone could be a hero, but did he truly believe that?

"All Might, wait!"

"Can't!" The hero declared. "I must go!"

With that, All Might flew off, only to realize mid-flight that Izuku was clinging onto his leg. "Kid, what are you doing!?"

"I need to ask you something!" Izuku declared, gripping onto the hero with all his might. What Izuku didn't know was that All Might was on a time limit for how long he could use his powers.

'Shit!' Coughing up blood, All Might began thinking of a way to remove the fan clinging onto his leg. Realizing that he couldn't ask the kid to let go, he steered himself to a nearby building and landed on its roof.

"What you did was extremely reckless," All Might told him as the boy caught his breath. "You could have been killed."

"I know," Izuku told him. "But I need to ask you something."

"I can't stay to chat," All Might said, struggling to keep his powers flowing. "I need to go."

"Please wait!"

"I will not wait!" Preparing to take off, All Might suddenly stopped when he heard the boy shout his question.

"CAN A QUIRKLESS PERSON BECOME A HERO!?" Izuku asked before closing his eyes. "…All my life, I was told that I was useless because I didn't have a quirk. They told me I shouldn't be a hero, but I know I can do good! I've made stuff more advanced than most of the stuff produced by most support companies, but the world never gives me the time of day because I'm quirkless, so I need to know, do you believe I can be a hero?" Opening his eyes, Izuku widened upon seeing his idol replaced by a scrawny man. "Wait? An imposter?"

"Not an imposter," The man stated. "I'm All Might."

'I knew he was weakening,' Izuku thought to himself as he looked at All Might's true form.

"What you see is the real me. My muscle form is the result of my quirk. You know how people flex to make themselves look bigger? That's what it is for me." Pulling up his shirt, All Might displayed a large wound on his stomach. "Ugly, isn't it? I got this from a villain five years ago."

"Was it Toxic Chainsaw?" Izuku asked, remembering how that was the only high ranked villain to face off against All Might that year. All Might simply shook his head.

"No. That chump couldn't land a good hit on me. This was a villain who I refused to make public. Now, for your question; as you know, a person's quirk doesn't define them as a hero…"

'I wish the world thought thes,' Izuku thought bitterly, his mind immediately flashing to Endeavor and the only reason he was popular in the first place.

"But to have no quirk? Sorry, but I don't think it's possible."

'So you're just like them.' Clenching his fists, Izuku couldn't believe his idol had lied to him and to the quirkless population. He claimed anyone could be a hero, yet he most likely didn't even think about the quirkless when he made this declaration. He basically said what everyone else had said; he was worthless. How could he even wake up in the morning knowing that he constantly looks down on twenty percent of the world?

"It's nice to dream, but you need to be realistic. If you really want to help out, try becoming a police officer. Sure, they're constantly ridiculed for being less effective than heroes, but you'll still be helping others."

Izuku clenched his fist, anger consuming him as Katsuki's mocking laughter echoed through his brain. While he wasn't afraid of confronting the boy physically, that didn't mean that he wasn't affected by the blonde's torment. It was why he ended up asking his next question without meaning to. "…Then why can bad people be heroes?"

"Huh?"

At this point, Izuku was done thinking rationally. He was just tired, tired of being tossed around. He just wanted to know why people like Katsuki were allowed to be heroes while more deserving people weren't even given a chance. "I know this kid who wants to be a hero, but he doesn't deserve to be one. Everyday, he picks on me, yet he still thinks he deserves to be a hero just because he has a powerful quirk. He isn't even the only person like this. So tell me, tell me why those people can call themselves heroes but the quirkless can't even chase a dream in peace!"

"…" All Might stood silent, not really having an answer to the question. Eventually, he managed to think of one. "We don't get to choose who saves us kid. It's sad, but it's true…"

'That's the type of behavior which enables them to be the way they are…' Izuku had to stop himself from doing anything rash. It seems like All Might really was on the side of society and not the oppressed.

Realizing Izuku had nothing left to say, All Might began making his way to the building's staircase. "If you want to leave, these stairs should take you to the bottom floor. Also, would you mind keeping my secret for me? I need the public to continue believing the Symbol of Peace is invincible. There's no telling what might happen if you reveal that I'm not."

"..Yeah," Despite everything he was feeling, he was willing to keep All Might's wound a secret. Sure, the man said he couldn't be a hero, but All Might was still one of the genuine heroes around. He was just a bit ignorant due to being born powerful (at least, this is what Izuku told himself to justify All Might's response. Was he right? Who knows…)

"Take care kid." With that, All Might left the building, leaving Izuku to his own thoughts.

"So… even All Might doesn't think I'm capable… " Izuku said with a dry laugh, tears spilling out of his eyes.

At that moment, Izuku almost gave up on his dream, but then he remembered everything he planned to stand for. He wanted to be the hero to prove that anyone with the right mindset could be one, even without a flashy quirk. He wanted to be the one willing to fight for, help, and protect those abandoned by society and the heroes. He wanted to bring upon positive change, no matter how big or small. As such, he refused to let his dream die.

"Then I'll show him!" Izuku shouted, conviction coursing through his voice. He didn't care if anyone was listening in, he was going to let loose. "I'll show them all! It doesn't matter that I'm quirkless, that won't stop me! I WILL be a hero! I WILL save people! Nothing short of death will stop me, so bring it on world! I'm not giving up, you hear me!? I'M NOT GIVING UP!"

0000

Him shouting on top of a random roof wasn't his proudest moment, but Izuku was too consumed by his emotions to care at the time. Too bad hindsight was twenty-twenty. As it turns out, someone did hear him, someone who would become perhaps the most important person in his life. Too bad she loved to remind him of that moment every time she got…

0000

If asked, those who knew Tooru Hagakure would describe her as a sweet, bubbly, and easygoing girl. Compared to most her age, she hardly ever seemed to get upset and had no issues bouncing back up from a failure. In addition, she was always willing to lend a helping hand to those in need, wanting to become a hero in the future. Why? Well, she had two reasons, her primary one being simply due her desire to help others.

Her other reason however would seem shallow to others, a reason she kept a secret. Her second biggest motivation for becoming a hero was because she wanted to be noticed. To outsiders, her reasoning would simply make her like most of the other heroes in existence: attention hogs. But when one realizes what her quirk is, they cannot help but understand why she wants attention. Her quirk, invisibility, makes it so that she's invisible twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. Unlike everyone around her, she's never had the luxury of receiving attention. After all, how could she if no one could even see her? To the world, she was simply a pair of floating clothes. She's longed for someone to finally make direct eye contact with her, to be able to give someone a hug without them over or underestimating her height, and for the day the cute boys in her class would finally give her the time of day.

Unfortunately, all everyone saw was an invisible girl, not caring that there was more to Tooru than her quirk. If she was being honest, she'd rather be quirkless than be permanently invisible. It's funny, a girl who wants to be a hero also wants to be quirkless, but in her case, at least being quirkless would allow others to see her. Heck, the last time she could even look at herself in the mirror was before she got her quirk…

'Whatever, it's not like I'll ever be visible,' the girl would always think to herself whenever she found herself being brought down by her lack of visibility. 'I just gotta make the most of what I have…'

Despite her quirk not being as powerful or flashy as others, Tooru was still willing to make her dreams come true. Like Izuku, she took martial arts, knowing that her best way of winning a fight was to rely on sneak attacks and raw skill. She also made sure to train her stealth capabilities to their maximum potential. If she were a villain, she'd be the ultimate assassin.

Too bad no one recognized this or her efforts to be a hero. Instead, people were willing to mock and bully the girl for something she couldn't control. Despite her sweet and bubbly nature, Tooru was a target for bullies. Girls constantly made demeaning comments about her lack of visibility, picking on her biggest insecurity. Those who heard she wanted to be a hero laughed in her.

"Would anyone notice if you disappeared?" One girl asked her on the same day Katsuki suicide baited Izuku. Having been reduced to tears, Tooru decided to take a walk around her neighborhood, eager to clear her head. She was honestly so tired of everything. She wanted to give up, both on her dream and in general.

"Would anyone notice?" Tooru asked herself, leaning against a building. Thankfully, barely anyone was out right now, so she had time to relax.

Now would probably be a good time to remind everyone how fate works in mysterious ways, for the building Tooru was standing under was the same building Izuku was at.

"Then I'll show him!"

'Huh?' Tooru began looking around, trying to see where that yelling was coming from. Looking up, she noticed a silhouette of a person seemingly screaming at nothing. Still, she can feel the determination coursing through his every word. 'What's he talking about?'

"I'll show them all! It doesn't matter that I'm quirkless, that won't stop me! I WILL be a hero! I WILL save people! Nothing short of death will stop me, so bring it on world! I'm not giving up, you hear me!? I'M NOT GIVING UP!"

"Guh!" A surge of adrenaline suddenly flowed through her body, the words impacting her much more than words shouted a lunatic on a roof should. Tooru knew about quirkless discrimination and knew how her own experiences were quite similar to those who were quirkless, so hearing a quirkless boy shouting in defiance at the world filled her with more courage and determination than ever.

"He's right. It doesn't matter what my quirk does, I WILL be a hero," Tooru declared. "I will be a hero and no one will stop me!"

0000

Unfortunately for Izuku, this wasn't the story of how he became a hero the legal way. As such, it was only natural that he'd fail the exam, not of a lack of trying mind you, but due to his lack of a quirk and U.A's policies.

0000

There were nine months between Izuku's encounter with All Might and the U.A Entrance Exam and during this period, he made sure to prepare himself. Fine-tuning his suit, practicing with it, honing his martial arts skills, and making sure his intellect remained high was how he spent all his free time.

Sadly, the former two weren't going to do him any good. Why? Well, Izuku had sent out a request to U.A asking to be allowed to use his 'Shocker Gear', only to get a letter that made his body boil.

'Izuku Midoriya,' it read. 'We at U.A are writing to let you know that we have decided to deny your request of being allowed to use support gear for the physical portion of the entrance exam. We only allow support equipment to be used if it allows someone to use their quirk they otherwise wouldn't be able to without them. Due to your quirkless status, you are not part of said group and are not permitted to bring anything that might give you an unfair advantage.- U.A'

Reading this letter caused Izuku to scoff. Simply put, he was screwed. The physical portion of U.A's exam consists of destroying and/or disabling robots under a certain time period, and without his gear, there's no way he was going to be able to do so. Now, he knew that he could try applying to U.A's general education program and thus may have a chance to join the hero program if he performs well at one of the Sports Festivals held each year, but there were two issues he had with this option. First off, he wouldn't be allowed to use his gear during the festival either. Secondly was that he hated the idea of the Sport's Festivals held by the hero schools. Rather than be composed of actual sports, the festivals were filled with events that those with strong quirks excelled in, followed by a fighting tournament for the final event. With it taking place on a flat plane and with no one besides the Support Course students being allowed to bring equipment, the winners were almost always those with powerful quirks. The only reason he watched the festivals to begin with was to analyze the quirks of the participants.

Also, what on Earth were they talking about him having an 'unfair advantage'? Quirks made it so that the powerful had an unfair advantage to begin with. His gear would simply allow him to compete with them.

Still, he wasn't going to give up. It's not like he had anything to lose by taking the exam…

Eventually, after a grueling nine months, it was finally time for Izuku to take U.A's entrance exam. He was a bit nervous, especially due to the physical portion of the exam. He knew that it didn't matter if he aced the written exam, if he flunked the physical exam, then he wouldn't be able to attend U.A. He honestly wondered what the purpose of the written exam was…

"Out of my fucking way Deku!" The voice of his childhood bully commanded, causing Izuku to turn around. Seeing as Katsuki was actually expecting the boy to move, Izuku frowned. Some things never change…

Deciding that he wasn't in the mood to deal with Katsuki today, Izuku simply did as he was told. Walking forwards, the boy failed to notice a large crack in the sidewalk. Like a moron, he tripped over it…

'Or I could die of embarrassment first...'

Before he could hit the floor, the boy was surprised when someone gently touched his shoulder, causing him to float. Looking to his right, he noticed a girl was keeping him afloat with what seemed to be some sort of telekinesis quirk. Or was it an anti-gravitation quirk? Eh, he'll have to find out later.

"And release." Upon saying that, the girl managed to release her hold on the boy, him landing safely on his feet. "Whew, it's a good thing I managed to catch you. Falling before the entrance exam would've been some serious bad luck."

"Thanks," Izuku said, a bit embarrassed, both by his mistake and by the fact he was talking to a girl. Back in middle school, no girl wanted to talk to him, so having one help him was definitely surprising. "I'm Izuku Midoryia, and you are?"

"Ochako Uraraka," The girl greeted, only for her watch to start beeping. "Oh shoot, the exam's going to start soon. Well, good luck Midoriya."

"You too." Waving the girl goodbye as she ran into the building, Izuku sighed. "Let's do this."

0000

Upon completing the mental portion of the exam, the hopeful participants were told about the exam and how the robots were split into four categories, the zero-pointer, the one-pointers, the two-pointers, and the three-pointers. Izuku ended up getting yelled at by one of the test takers for going on a mutter spree about how he can possibly deal with the robots, but other than feeling embarrassed for being called out, he didn't do much about it, not wanting to get into a confrontation.

Once the explanation finished, the test-takers were then transported to a faux city and the exam was started. Sadly, as expected, the robots were too much for him to handle without equipment. He tried finding a weakness in the robots such as exposed wiring or some sort of switch that would turn them off, but he couldn't find anything in that vein. Afterwards, he tried chucking debris at them, but even the weaker ones shrugged off his attacks as if they were nothing. Finally, he decided to take them on with brunt force, but all that accomplished was now he had a set of bloody knuckles.

'This test is stupid!' Izuku thought to himself. Seriously, there is nothing heroic about destroying robots. Sure, heroes needed to know how to fight, but shouldn't a person's character also be judged? There's been nothing remotely like a psychological examination done to him. There was also the fact that people couldn't bring weapons to the exam, but he's mentally complained about that enough.

Unfortunately, things were only going to get worse as the zero-pointer was released. For some reason, U.A decided it was a good idea to sic a giant robot that can shoot lasers on a bunch of middle-schoolers.

'What the hell?!' Izuku thought to himself as he watched the zero-pointer destroy the buildings around it. 'That thing could seriously hurt someone!'

Supposedly the principal of U.A had some sort of intelligence heightening quirk, but Izuku was really doubting this was the case due to how the exam was set up.

...And lo-and-behold, someone did get hurt by the robot.

"H-help." Under some rubble and in the path of the robot was the brown haired girl who managed to catch him from falling. It was clear she couldn't get out and if someone didn't do anything, she would be crushed. "S-somebody, please help me!"

Some would point out that the zero-pointer was most likely programmed to avoid causing any lethal damage, meaning it would simply step over the girl. Izuku would argue that there was a chance that the robot could still kill her. After all, if the rubble had fallen in any other way, she would've been dead, her head smashed by the debris. It was due to this knowledge that iInstead of running away like the other test-takers, Izuku ran forwards, ready to help the girl.

"That rubble looks too big for me to lift and there's no way I'm going to be able to destroy that thing, so I'll have to hope the girl can use her quirk to lift the rubble and try to pull her out," Izuku mumbled to himself. Reaching the girl, he began to reassure her. "Hey, I'm here to help. Do you think you can lift at least some of the pieces off of you?"

"I-I'm not sure," Ochako admitted. "My quirk, 'Zero Gravity', makes it so I can make things float, but if I use it too much or I lift too much, I get nauseous and my quirk's effect weakens. I've used up too much energy fighting the robots."

"That's fine," Izuku replied, trying to reassure her. "I only need you to lift up the rubble for a second while I pull you out. You can do it."

Nodding, Ochako began using her quirk on the piece of rubble on top of her. Making it float, Izuku quickly pulled her out. Upon releasing her quirk, she collapsed on her knees and began throwing up. Thankfully the robot moved slowly and was preoccupied with destroying buildings, so it only covered half the distance it initially was to the two teens.

Once Ochako finished emptying her stomach, she tried standing up, only to yelp in pain before collapsing back to her knees.

"Are you ok?" Izuku asked her.

"No, my ankle's twisted," the girl replied.

Izuku realized that there was only one way to help her, getting embarrassed as a result. "P-please forgive me for what's about to happen."

"Huh?" Ochako asked curiously, only to yelp in surprise as Izuku picked her up in a bridal carry. Doing so, he began to run away from the robot, utilizing the alleyways present to safely get away. Eventually, he was able to get back to the entrance of the faux city, where the pro-hero Recovery Girl was healing people with her quirk.

Watching as Recovery Girl began healing Ochako, he couldn't help but feel happy that she was saved. However, that happiness soon turned into sadness and anger as he realized he didn't get a single point on the exam. Knowing Ochako was going to be fine, the boy began to go back to his bus, hiding his tears with his arms, wanting the day to end.

Unknown to him, his act of bravery left an impression on Ochako, one that would come into play later on in his journey.

0000

Despite his feelings about the exam at the moment, Izuku would come to appreciate the fact that he took it despite bombing it spectacularly. If it wasn't for the fact he took it, he would've never interacted with his partner in crime and his other half.

*Sniffle*

No matter how hard she tried, Tooru couldn't hold back her sobs. Like Izuku, she had no way of destroying the robots, and thus failed the exam. The robots had no weak spots to exploit and she wasn't allowed to bring any weapons. What was she supposed to do?

She tried so hard to pass the exam, but she still failed. She couldn't even say that she could try applying to other schools as they held similar exams. No matter what she did, she was going to fail.

Today showed her that everything said about her was correct. She was nothing, she couldn't accomplish much, and the world wouldn't notice if she disappeared.

"H-hey, are you alright?" A familiar voice asked her, the voice being familiar in the sense that while she didn't know who it belonged to, it was one she's heard somewhere before. Turning around, the invisible girl found herself face-to-face with one Izuku Midoriya.

Normally, Izuku wouldn't be the one to initiate any sort of social interaction with a stranger, his social anxiety getting in the way. However, being as he couldn't leave someone alone who obviously needed help, Izuku had the weird habit of trying to talk to strangers who seemed to be upset. Not really having anyone to talk to in his life, he wanted to grant people the opportunity to express themselves. Of course, most people simply looked at him like he was crazy or shooed him away, especially after learning that he was quirkless, but there were the rare times where he actually helped them regain control of their emotions.

Glancing at his face, Tooru noticed that his eyes were red, showing signs that he had been crying not too long ago.

Izuku likewise was able to piece together what was wrong with the girl. "Oh, you too huh? I didn't get any points during the exam. It turns out you can't just punch them without a strength enhancing quirk."

"Y-yeah, I couldn't do anything to them," Tooru told him. "My quirk only makes me invisible."

"An invisibility quirk?" Izuku asked, his eyes widening at the opportunity to study a new quirk. "That's crazy useful!"

"Huh?"

"Your quirk makes you the perfect scout or spy! You could also help sneak people out of a hostage situation or take out the villains before they even notice! It'd be hard for someone to fight you since they can't see you!"

Tooru smiled at the fact someone was speaking highly of her quirk. No one's ever done that before...

"Can you make other people invisible? Can you turn yourself visible?"

And there went her happiness. She knew that Izuku was going to make fun of her. Still, she answered. "I can't do either. My quirk makes only me invisible."

Izuku's smile dropped. "Oh."

'And here it comes.'

"Still, your quirk's very useful if used correctly!"

'What?'

"It sucks that U.A can't see that, but forget them. You can totally be a hero!"

*THUD!*

"Ah, are you alright?" Izuku asked, noticing how the girl had collapsed on her knees (at least, he assumed she was on her knees based on how her clothes were bending) and began bawling her eyes out.

"No one's ever said anything nice about my quirk before," the girl said, making Izuku frown. He understood what she was going through, people mocking him left and right for something he can't control. He could only imagine how tough life has been for the literally invisible girl. "THANK YOU! THANK YOU!"

Izuku allowed the girl to continue bawling her eyes out, standing in silence. Eventually, the girl finished, standing up and bashfully smiling at him, not like he could notice though.

"Sorry about that."

"Don't worry," Izuku admitted. "I'm just glad to help."

"Again, thank you." Suddenly, the invisible girl began radiating a lot of positive energy. "Hey, what's your name? I'm Tooru Hagakure."

"I'm Izuku Midoriya," the boy replied, his social anxiety kicking in again now that he's helped her.

"You've asked me about my quirk, so what's your quirk?

As soon as she said this, Izuku flinched, making Tooru wonder what she did wrong. Now it was Izuku's turn to worry about Tooru reacting to him not having one. "…I'm quirkless."

"Oh," Tooru replied. "I'm sorry for bringing it up."

"It's fine." Any minute now, Tooru was going to spit on him, punch him in the gut, or denounce him as a freak.

"The fact you tried taking this exam quirkless is really cool though!" Tooru exclaimed in a cheery tone. "I don't mean to assume things, but you've probably been told to give up as much as I have, maybe more, but you're still willing to try! That's pretty cool!

If it wasn't for the fact he had already let loose his tears beforehand, he would've been a sobbing mess right now. "Thank you. I was hoping to use my suit, but U.A denied my request to use support gear."

"You can invent? Wow! You keep getting cooler and cooler Midoriya!"

"'C'mon, I 'm not cool…" Izuku tried to deny, but Tooru wasn't going to let him deny what she thought of him.

"Yes you are and you're not allowed to deny it."

"W-well, if I'm cool, then you're cool as well. Your quirk's very useful and you're so nice."

"It wasn't useful enough to help me pass…"

"Like I said, forget U.A. If you want to be a hero, then don't let anyone tell you otherwise. You and I might have to find a different way to get our hero licenses, but we can do it." Izuku suddenly looked up at the sky and clenched his fist. "I don't plan on giving up."

"How? How haven't you given up yet?" Tooru asked him. She seriously needed to know how he was able to remain so strong despite all he's been through.

"Because I can't," Izuku firmly told her, the fire in his soul igniting. "I'm the only one who believes in me. No, I am the only one who knows what I'm capable of. No one will tell me what I'm worth or what I can and cannot do. I know I CAN help people and I WILL find a way to do so, no matter what."

Izuku's words began inspiring the girl, despite her having failed the entrance exam. It was just like that one time when she heard that quirkless boy shouting on top of his lungs… wait a minute!

"You're that boy I heard shouting on the roof!" Tooru suddenly exclaimed. "You were saying stuff like 'Bring it on world' and 'I WILL be a hero despite being quirkless!' When I heard you say that, I got pumped up, like I could take on the world."

"You heard all that?" Izuku asked, wanting to curl up into a ball and hide. A girl heard him hollering like a maniac, how embarrassing…

"Yeah! I was in a really bad mood that day and you cheered me up!" The invisible cheerfully gushed. Izuku had to admit, her happiness was contagious, him starting to feel better about not passing the exam. "Hey, do you have to be anywhere now? Since we both failed the exam, wanna go somewhere to cheer up?"

Izuku almost pinched himself, believing for a moment that he was dreaming. Someone was actually asking him to hang out? "S-sure."

Even though she was invincible, he could tell Tooru was beaming. "Great! I know a place that sells the cutest and tastiest mochi ever! You have to try it!"

0000

That day was one of the best days Izuku ever had. Sure, he flunked the exam, but he met Tooru Hagakure, his soon-to-be girlfriend. That whole day, the two of them hung out, able to be themselves without worrying about what the other thought about them. At the end of the day, they exchanged numbers and began making plans to hang out once more. Once more soon became twice more, and twice more turned to spending their weekends with each other. The two even applied to the same school together.

It was only a matter of time before Tooru would discover that her soon-to-be boyfriend was a vigilante, however, before that happened, there's still the fact Izuku needed to become a vigilante himself. What motivated him to do so? Simply put, he was inspired by someone already in the field...

0000

Two weeks after the exam, Izuku began furiously browsing all the hero forums he knew of. The reason? He was enraged by the hologram U.A had sent him informing him of his results.

"Greetings," the holograph of U.A's principal, an animal hybrid named Nezu, spoke once Izuku turned on the hologram. While the boy already knew he failed, he understood that it was best to make sure this was the case. "Now, I know what you all must be thinking. Am I a bear, a mouse, or a dog? In the end, none of that matters since I'm Nezu, the principle of U.A Academy. Let's get down to business, shall we? You've received an almost perfect mark on the written portion of the exam. However, simply put, you did not receive enough villain points to normally pass the physical portion of the exam. Now, if we simply judged you on villain points, you would've failed, but here at U.A, we also look for heroic spirits and have noted that you managed to aid one of your test-goers during a tough situation."

The hologram soon shifted to a recording of Ochako conversing with pro-hero and test usher Present Mic.

"Uh, excuse me, but I have a question about the test…"

"Sure! Ask away, little listener!"

"Well, during the test, a green haired boy, Izuku Midoriya, saved me from the zero-pointer that was about to crush me. I would've been dead if it wasn't for him, so if possible, if he didn't get enough points to pass, could you please give him some of mine. He deserves to go here!"

"HAHAHAHAH! Don't you worry, he should be fine," Present Mic informed her. It was then that the hologram shifted back to Nezu.

"As a result of your actions, you have received a total of sixty hero points, placing you in the top ten scoring applicants of this year."

Izuku's eyes widened. He passed. He actually passed!

"Despite this, we have unfortunately decided that you still failed the exam."

"What?" Izuku asked in disbelief.

"Part of being a hero is knowing how to defend yourself and you received zero villain points. The fact you received no villain points suggests that you do not have what it takes physically to be a hero. As such, we have no choice but to fail you. Good luck in your future endeavors."

Izuku didn't know whether he wanted to trash his entire room or cry for an entire day. The only reason he didn't even score a single villain point was because they didn't allow him to bring something to defend himself with. If he had his 'Shocker Gear', he would've been able to grab villain points. Simply put, he was more than confident in saying that the only reason he failed was because of U.A's absolute disgrace of a system.

The anger from that day resided into the next day, hence why Izuku was looking up information about new heroes. However, as he was doing so, a particular forum managed to grab his attention, one speaking not of a pro-hero, but of a vigilante known as 'Knuckleduster.' Reading through it, Izuku saw several posts debating his quirk while also talking about how they felt about him in general. Oddly enough, save for a few negative comments, most were very receptive of having vigilantes around in general.

"He's a bit too brutal for my liking, but he fights the villains the heroes ignore."

"My neighborhood doesn't have a lot of heroes around, so him being there makes me feel much safer."

It was then that an idea formed in his head. He still had his Shocker equipment… perhaps he could use it to become a vigilante. Sure, he'd have to avoid pro-heroes, not wanting his identity to be revealed by heroes trying to unmask him thinking he had a quirk (vigilantism being legal for some reason if you don't have a quirk), but besides that, there was nothing stopping him.

"If the system won't let me be a pro-hero, then I'll just be a vigilante," Izuku mumbled under his breath. Closing the forum, the boy pulled up a map of Japan and began calculating possible locations for him to patrol, him wanting the areas with the least amount of hero activity. Not only would it help him avoid the pros, but he'd be helping people who need it the most, those abandoned by the heroes.

As for a name, he already had one in mind.

"Look out world, the Shocker's about to make his debut."

0000

Unknown to the world, that one simple declaration by one quirkless boy would result in many lives being saved and society receiving a wakeup call…

0000

Author's note 2: Here's a list of some questions you might have and some answers to them.

Q: Out of all the Spider-Man villains Izuku could become, why the Shocker? A: In regards to the Spider-Man villains, I feel Shocker is definitely the most underrated (with Electro coming in close second). Sure, he's not Doc Oc or Green Goblin levels of smart and he's not Electro or Rhino levels of powerful, but he's still a threat to any street level character, being strong enough to draw blood from Luke Cage and is durable enough to take blows from Spider-Man giving it his all (which is a character who's able to lift 25 tons btw). I also felt that Shocker would not only be a huge threat in the world of MHA due to his capabilities, but he would be the easiest for someone to become. In the realm of science fiction, Shocker's suit is far from the most complicated and is one that is easily capable of being produced in the world of MHA.

Q: Why didn't you let Izuku pass despite his rescue points? A: It goes with the 'darker' and more 'nihilistic' tone to the fic. I'd figure that U.A not accepting someone who didn't even score a single villain point would make sense in this fic's world.

Q: How come Tooru didn't pass? A: Like many people, I wondered how she passed to begin with. I have two theories in mind; either she scored enough rescue points or the robots had exposed parts to them. The first one is unlikely seeing as the anime made a huge deal out of Izuku passing with no villain points while the second one is more plausible. However, with the way I set up the exam, there's no way for her to pass with the second theory so she unfortunately failed.

Q: There's no way Shocker is stronger/durable enough to survive Katsuki's explosions, right? A: Wrong. As mentioned before, Shocker has drawn blood from Luke Cage, a hero who is not only bulletproof, but has survived the Human Torch going half-nova. Katsuki can't break through Ejiro's regular hardening form, which in it of itself was barely bulletproof (during the Shie Hissaki arc, Ejiro's hardened skin is cracked by a bullet).

Q: Will other characters take the role of Spider-Man villains as their vigilante guises? A: Yes, though besides Shocker and one more villain, I won't be using any of the ones currently in 'A Sinister Foe' (which is a story that has Izuku developing tech that gives him the powers of OG Electro (prior to him becoming a living lightning bolt), Shocker, Doc Oc, Vulture, Rhino, and Mysterio). Tooru will be getting hers next chapter alongside the abilities of a certain character.

Q: Why did you include the quote from T.I and Rihanna's song 'Live Your Life'? It's a bit out of place. A: I was actually listening to it while writing this and thought it sorta went well with this fic's theme.

0000

Next Time: Tooru and Izuku go on their first date and she becomes Izuku's vigilante partner. Meanwhile, Eraserhead tries to stop the new vigilante, only for the Shocker to let him know why he should have his teaching license revoked. Izuku also gets another additional member to his developing group of vigilantes.