Chapter 1: Masks are about to be made
After Izuku learned he is Quirkless, he was in a sour mood despite the fact he continued his training to be a hero, made some discoveries and unique and breakthrough technology by his smarts, but no, the world had to disregard him because to the Superhero Society he was just an useless bystander!
Even more, many of the Pro Heroes were selfish and probably corrupt, his only friend became his bully and Izuku even wondered about the reality of All Might, the very hero whom he idolized.
To cheer him up his mother, Inko took him to the place she knew he would love: the I-Island's own sister construct or predecessor, the E-Island. The former's short name stood for Intelligence Island and the latter for Experimental Island.
There are several key differences though: first of all the older one's diameter is three times bigger than the used successors'; secondly it has nine city-like fortresses rather than four cities, thirdly it could be accessed by ships and submarines among planes and lastly, it's both abandoned and closed from the world. However, the members of the Midoriya family, because one of them was among the designers have been owned access to visit the otherwise unvisitable artificial island.
"Wow". Izuku was amazed on the sight of the currently docked land, although he was still conflicted inside and to his surprise, they walked deeper he was even more flabbergasted by the area.
In the middle of the whole island was a statue, which was the central city's center too, it appeared to be a tall and thick pillar holding a globe, this was constricted by a snake if only the included eagle wouldn't be likely fighting with its head.
'Why did they made a memoir based on an out of time franchise?' asked Inko from herself.
"Yo Joe!" shouted happily the boy, recognizing the franchise: GI Joe. To the pair's shock, a hidden door opened from the statue's base.
"Uhm. Mommy?" Izuku quickly felt both scared and curious about the new situation, luckily nothing came out from the weakly lighted and sloped corridor.
"What about inspecting out?" asked him his mother and they slowly and cautiously walked to the entry.
When they reached to the edge, the child accidently stepped even closer and slipped, by slipping he went down sliding down the slope and by the shock he screamed on his way.
"Izuku!" screamed his mom as she found the three persons at once passage's holders on the left and right side.
Down the lower end the poor kid slid into a big room hiding nineteen human sized capsules, although each of those were bigger than an average human, albeit Fat Gum couldn't fit in any of them. The nineteenth was on the opposite side of the room to the exit.
The four years old slid into this one and from his backpack a figurine fell out: a very old Cobra Commander from the 9,5 cm series from the first run of the GI Joe. The toy ended on the floor as the child slowly stood up. "Ouch." exclaimed the greenette without realizing three things: for one, he was lost, for two, he "lost" the toy and for three, he accidently touched a fingerprint based lock on the capsule.
He learned that when the object hissed and cool steam came out of it, enough to conceal someone in it, or two someone in this case, despite the fact the ventilators worked to drain out the steam through an alternate route.
Izuku quickly stepped back as the unsure something tried to climb out the capsule, the child was three meters away from the opened storage when he fell to his butt, now he was scared but silent from the shock.
He heard the slowly stepping being which came out the former home of its, he was sure it was a humanoid because of the sound of boots.
When the steam started to disappear, the silhouette of the mysterious entity started to be recognizable: first he saw black military boots, then a dark blue trousers with black kneepads which could be found in a medieval armor, a black belt with a golden buckle, a light blue shirt with a blood red tie behind a dark blue (again), light protective military vest with the iconic blood red Cobra logo, over this was the dark blue and currently open military jacket with black elbow pads, black wrist guards and visible black gloves, unlike those the other objects were hidden by the unbuttoned greatcoat which was also dark blue, and finally the modified M1945 Stahlhelm helmet following the primary color theme with the face concealing silver colored mask which both protect the identity, the head and also equipped with additional functions.
Then clicked to the boy, who was the person whom he with just met: the Cobra Commander. And not an imperfect impression of his. Instead the one and only kind Cobra Commander, who led the Cobra in the GI Joe franchise. The most iconic leader of the villainous organization in the history of fictional groups and the one who only lost because of sheer bad luck in his franchise.
Now the fright started to engulf the kid, if The Cobra Commander was real, then the whole thing must be real what happened in the past too. And there aren't any Joes to stop him or the Cobra from return.
Instead of any malicious act, the adult simply held the "lost" toy to him and said in a kind voice of baritone which was unexpected to the child: "I presume this is yours."
When the leader of Cobra was melted out the cryogenic sleep or hibernation he was dazzled. 'Where am I?' and he realized. 'We lost. Those Joes defeated us in the end. We were imprisoned into this cryoprison by them. Nineteen of us including me.' he realized through his mask's sensors that he is in the C-Island. 'And they ironically imprisoned us into our CobraCommand Island's prison designed to hold our most valuable captives.'
As he slowly climbed out his former cell, he detected two object signatures, one is three meters away from him and one which was almost stepped on by him. 'What's that?' asked himself as he silently picked up the small toy based on his first field uniform. 'Oh, just a mini me. Never thought someone would make a real action figure about me or the Joes. What if I slip and die from this toy? My associates and inner circle wouldn't let me live it down posthumously.' he humored the idea of the unusual and poetic death caused by a child's toy. Then he checked the further detected signature and learned that was four years old child, the figurine's owner. 'Why he is here? Even better question. How he did get here?'
He slowly gets adapted back to the walking as he moved to the boy, who looked afraid of the perceived nothing. Cobra Commander also realized something, in fact two information: the boy had green hair and eyes. 'This is new. A kid with green hair and eyes. And real?'
After the child accepted and retook his toy the man kneeled to the former's level as much as he could. He wasn't an acrobatic person to his account neither a genius when he was compared to his associates, but he was smart although his ideas were mainly crazy if they weren't for a long run project.
"Thank you. Nice to meet you." the boy was a little shocked from the encounter, but still talked.
"Nice to meet you. How did you end here?" asked Cobra Commander from the preteen.
"I slid down from the entry of the hidden door." replied the asked automatically or matter to factly.
"The slide was Storm Shadow's idea. Welcome on the CobraCommand Island. I am the Cobra Commander." introduced himself the man to the younger as their chat started in Japanese, he was glad for the translator despite he learned the language himself.
"My name is Midoriya Izuku answered the boy and his eyes questioned something. "CobraCommand Island? But this is the E-Island, in other name, the Experimental Island made as the prototype of the Intelligence Island, otherwise known as I-Island." he corrected the man or partially corrected.
"I believe they just renamed and kept the whole thing secret." described the former leader the past time situation, not that he knew anything after the Cobra's Last Stand.
"Wait a second. This makes a sense. It's possible one of my ancestors took a part in its construction then made sure it can be used as a secret prison for the Cobra's leadership." conspired the child.
"Ancestors? What time we date today?" suddenly asked the man with curiosity and shock.
"2304.07.30. Fifteen days after my birthday, why?" replied the boy before he realized that the man is really the Cobra Commander for real, who blinked behind his mask until the realization sank in.
"2304.07.30., I was prisoned here with my closest and chosen comrades at 1991.07.15. Did we miss a lot of events?
"Before we could have interstellar holidays, Quirks have been appeared. The humanity's mass empowering event resulted the technology's regression and the society changed into something from a comic book. Currently the world's population's 80% has a Quirk, a superpower. They range from changing eye color to manipulating elements or even weather."
"A Superhero Society? Must be hard." commented the masked one with sympathy.
"Those who doesn't have a Quirk called Quirkless, and they are discriminated badly in several countries." moved on Izuku sadly.
"What?!" shouted Cobra Commander angrily, his sudden action threw the boy off the loop. "Are you kidding with me? The so-called useless Quirkless are the ones who suffer most! This can't be real!" his vocal tone noticeably went higher, it sounded now like in the classic cartoon. "Without a Quirk even if you're a supposedly second or third class citizen you could do a ton of work. IT, designing, teaching, military and many more places where Quirkless could have a place to be employed without the fear of messing up with the equipment. But no! They must discriminate them, punish them with extreme prejudice! Unbelievable! Impossible! This society is rotten from the core! If these Quirks won't be stopped, humanity might go extinct by their power! AND! YOU! SOUNDS! LIKE! AN! OPPRESSED! BECAUSE! YOU! ARE! DIAGNOSED! WITHOUT! POWER! WHAT'S THIS MADNESS GOING ON!?" his rant was answered by a meek and quiet answer from the kid. "Injustice?" which sounded like a question.
"I hate injustice." growled the man even though he was calmed down by the fact he accidently scared the child, then he saw a woman in the exit.
"Who are you?" asked the lady from him, who was recognized by his helmet as the boy's mother.
"Nice to meet you madame. I am the Cobra Commander." introduced himself to her, his voice is back to normal baritone tone.
"Your voice is changed." commented the preteen innocently.
"A half-annoying bug in the speaker. I had to hear my recorded voice to realize the mistake. Not that important to fix. After it's goes with my character." replied to him the man to his little fan's joy.
"Izuku, is this man is really The Cobra Commander?" asked the boy's mother from her child.
"Yes, he is mom. He isn't that evil as I thought." answered the boy to her.
"Evil? Me?" the innocent comment earned a dramatic reply from the man, his voice is turned back to the higher pitch again. "Yes, I did evil things. But I just wanted to make the world better. Now I have learned my lessons and I'll follow a right way of doing it." at the last sentence's second half he returned to the baritone.
"Okay." Inko was still dubious but surprised on the man's honestly, however, she took the courage and introduced herself to him. "I am Midoriya Inko."
"Greetings." replied the man and Izuku's mother continued. "I've heard your rant about the injustice of our society. It seems you don't like it despite you've just heard about it."
"Of course I hate even the words about it, your son looks if he was bullied for being "powerless". But I believe there is more behind the whole mess." followed the Cobra Commander.
"Izuku made great inventions, none of them sounds big, although they're advanced for our society. However, when it was outed, he is Quirkless, only his father and I did support him truly."
"For now." declared the out of time man and turned to the boy. "If you want to get friends, earn their respect first, then show them your faults. Many people will understand those, whose are not invincible." gave him an advice.
"But All Might is invincible. He is the Number One Hero in Japan." countered the boy.
"Really? Is he invincible like you say or is it your belief about him? What he would say if you ask this, can a Quirkless be a Hero too?" tried him the experienced man.
"He would say no." replied Izuku sadly and something clicked in him. A click which could be heard over the planet. "He is another human just like me, but unlike me he has a lot of power. His strength is overwhelming to others in comparison, viewed god-like. He smiles like an unbeatable Symbol of Peace and Justice. Yet his might makes him vulnerable, because he can be defeated with the right tools."
"Are you sure?" asked from him the adults at once: Inko with shock and Cobra Commander with curiosity.
"Poison, suffocation, exhaustion, anything stronger than him, better combat skills, faster attacks, weaknesses, his flaws, his image and even his Quirk. He only gets enhanced physical capabilities in a large, but not unmeasurable count. He is fast, but laser is faster; he is strong, but machines can be stronger, he is durable, but there more durable things than him. If we view from the media, he can't allow himself to be hurt enough to bleed. He never admitted himself to be a human either, people view him as a god, a pillar of security. His power made the generation which makes me suffer too. He is smart, but there people even smarter than him."
"So theoretically you know how to beat him. But do you know how to do it?" asked him the masked man.
"I have been analyzing Heroes and Quirks as young as I started, I know the most about All Might yet. These are just hobbies." replied the boy.
"Hold on, are these your hobbies?" stopped him the former organization leader. "Do you know how someone call this on government level? It's called spying. Kid, did anyone realized that your info might be dangerous?"
"Well, Izuku's analyses are detailed for his age." told him the boy's mother as the former showed an analysis notebook. "Hero Analysis for the Future 4." he said as he opened at Yoroi Musha's page, the blue coated man looked at it and his jaw ended open for a while.
"That's detailed? With this even a rookie Cobra Trooper could score a kill against this veteran Hero." he was both amazed and impressed. "You're smart kid. If you turn into a bad guy, you could kill Heroes left and right without much issue."
"I'm not that great." Izuku quickly shrunk from the comment, surprising the man.
"You're supposed to be beaming from the pride. You're not even humble. Being humble means you appreciate the compliment and respect but decline it openly to not being drunk from it. What you're doing is being scared if you're waiting for a punishment. This is not right. I bet even Doctor Mindbender would be impressed by your analyzing skills."
"Really?" asked the boy from him.
"I am sure. Not everyone is a bully or holds prejudice against smart people." gave the man his answer to him and continued. "What kind of discoveries or invention you made by the way?"
"I've made some spherical scout drones with anti-gravity engines, but they ended in the orbit by a miscalculation." recounted Izuku one his lesser mention feat.
"Pardon? You accidently made some artificial satellites from something supposed to locate criminals?" Cobra Commander thought he heard badly.
"Uhm. Yes? For a while after their launch I thought they were lost, instead their simple A.I connected to my homemade computer and they made a connection. Now we've got an independent and global wi-fi, a GPS and even an independent satellite network." finished the younger Midoriya.
"Hahaha! And were you in trouble for it?" laughed on the short summary the listener, his question was answered by the boy's mother. "No we weren't. However, Izuku had to give his word to not launching up more satellite than the already orbiting 27."
"That's a lot to get away. Imagine their face if they realize who could use it or what's for. The ones who reprimanded you are lazy." commented the Cobra Commander.
"Then there is Izuku's Trash Devastator project for cleaning up the Earth. It was shot down for being stupid." continued the boy's mother.
"The Trash Devastator's were planned to be ship sized robots to eat up and convert the trash into usable materials without even paying any cost for it. Their AI is designed on my first AI, called PIXAL. Although they're necessities a place to use the recycled resource to be reused." revealed the kid more about the project."
"In a comparison to the crazy project of mine to destroy the US currency and replace with ours, this is amazing and smart. And I was from seconds to win there."
"That's my favorite scenario to take over the world from the Cobra. Monopolizing the currency is something against you can't fight properly." exclaimed the child prodigy, then he realized the compliment about his project. "Wait, really?"
"Excluding the fact to create those robots and you earn free resources minus money, that machine plan is incredible." said the Cobra's main leader, and he realized something. "How we should proceed from now?"
"What's for?" asked him the Midoriya duo.
"This world needs a change, and someone should take steps for it. Plus you know more about it than us." replied the man as he pointed to the other cryoprisons and at the preteen when he mentioned the knowledge difference.
"I still don't get it. Why do you ask me to be in charge?" the younger Midoriya was still shocked from the adult leader's recommendation to being the one to lead a possibly rebirthing organization.
"You have everything to lead and you only need some tutorial, training, experience, teachers, resources and allies. I see a great potential in you." Cobra Commander's voice turned to the higher pitch. "YOU! CAN! SHOW! THE! WORLD! WHAT! IS! YOU! ARE! MADE! OF!"
The boy thought, the adults were looked at him curiously for his answer, then he spoke: "I just want to help others, if I need to work with massive theater, then I'll play very carefully. There are people, whom need help, they will be helped. In return they'll help us. Trust for trust, loyalty for loyalty. Plans can be made, as well power. If they'll reject me or try to reject us, then we'll take over." Ending his speech Izuku took a pause as the elder's waited and the child raised his fist with enthusiasm her mother only saw last time when her son watched All Might's debut video. "For Cobra!"
Omake: Cobra Commander's height in this fic is 188 cm and his personality based of his multiple appearances, also his appearance here is based on his classic look with an updated overall.