Chapter 1: The many little steps…
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It was a dark night when a small figure snuck out a gate without the previously opener man detected the change as he closed the gate.
The little figure ran as fast it could, until they bumped into something, a tall, metallic and unknown something or somebody. Before the tiny person could fell to the ground, two, similarly metallic hands caught them, connected to similar arms, looking up they saw a bulky torso and a head, also the chest's middle part had a dark green, glowing circle and the rectangular eyes of this entity were glowing with this color.
"Hello little one. Are you okay? What can I help you?" asked the larger person's deep, robotic voice from the smaller and they desperately replied: "Please, help me."
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Izuku Midoriya was four years old when he learned two hard truths from the life: first, he is Quirkless, second, no man born as equal. Cold lessons for a Superhero Society, which is full of Heroes and Villains.
Some weeks after his diagnosis of being Quirkless, the boy walked into the Marvelous Stories store, where people could buy comics or manga, depending on what they wanted to read.
This shop's owner was an old, but youthful man with gray hair and a fancy mustache, wearing his light brown jacket, dark brown jeans alongside glasses and black shoes. This man was something else to the other people, he knew a ton of things about Quirks like Izuku. However, unlike the boy, he had another kind of knowledge: how to be real a Hero. Funnily enough, he has been inspired many Pros from Musutafu, the list even includes Endeavor, whom never would say out loud even in his family to being a Human Torch fan.
It helped that the store's owner also owned a lot of Pre-Quirk Era comics and manga about Heroes, Vigilantes and Villains, although these were only for reading. To Izuku, many of them were much greater Heroes than the nowadays' Pros.
When the somber looking boy walked in, the man quickly figured something wrong with his young friend, because the kid is very rarely not cheerful.
"What's wrong Izuku? Did someone said All Might being bad?" asked him the elder.
"No, no one did. I don't know how to be a Hero without Quirk." replied the child, then it clicked to the older chatter: the boy is Quirkless.
"Well, what do you know about Kurogado?" gave a question to Izuku.
"He is the First Underground Hero, a main founder of U.A. and he was Onager before his more famous Hero Name. And…" started the quickly "recharged" boy, before he could continue, the man interrupted him. "What's his Quirk?" he asked with curiosity.
"He was Quirkless." revealed the child when he realized something.
"Yes, he was. The First Quirkless Pro Hero was Quirkless. Just like Night Trasher, Punisher, Hawkeye, Helmut Zemo, Iron Man and Darkhawk." told him the man.
"But Iron Man and Darkhawk had cool suits." countered the greenette.
"Yet, you like the former, because he did use his battle armors to match opponents like the Hulk, the Mighty Thor or the Mad Titan, Thanos." added the elder.
"I don't know. Can I be a hero like him?" asked him the boy.
"Izuku. You're smarter than most of your peers, including Bakugo, regardless what he says. I bet you could make something like Tony Stark." encouraged Stan the child.
"Like building a suit in a cave from boxes and scraps?" asked him back questioningly Midoriya, this earned a good laugh from the store's owner.
"As long you won't be kidnapped by Villains to kickstart your work, then it's fine." joked a newly arrived man, he looked an older Izuku without freckles. However, this person wore a gray suit with long trousers and owned a walking stick. His hair was also black. "You must be the kid, whom about Hisashi can't shut up his mouth, when I'm visiting him." exclaimed this man about the boy, despite they're just met.
"Who are you sir?" asked him Izuku with caution.
"Guess you don't know me yet. I am Jack Midoriya, formerly the Hero called Aegis and your uncle. After all, Hisashi is my brother." introduced himself the boy's uncle.
"Wow. You were a Pro until your sickness got better on you." noted the child.
"Yep, I was. Still want to be a hero?" asked Jack from his nephew. "Because as I know from your mother, you're the most heroic kid in the neighborhood."
"Yes, I want to be one." returned Izuku with more charisma. "I even started to train myself after I became three and I made some gadgets to make my training better."
"Is that including your satellites?" noted the uncle, making the boy a little embarrassed as Stan barely could hold back his laugh remembering the incident, where the enthusiastic inventor sent thirty anti-gravity engine using drones originally made for assisting Heroes in rescue into orbital track, instead they became makeshift satellites for GPS and they even had a separate internet system connected with the Midoriya's equipment. Izuku was lucky for getting away lightly with that stunt.
"But they're working." remarked the child.
"Also, the Akatani Industries sent me to assist you with the resources. The boss wants to see your success as much as I am." revealed to him the suited man.
"And I can help you with inspirations if you need." added Stan, he wanted to see the boy becoming a great hero.
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After the Midoriya's checked the warehouse lent by Jack, Izuku quickly started to get into work: first he made an energy reactor based on the Arc Reactor made by Tony Stark in the comics and the manga. Although, there were differences, the boy's creation was just as small as the one used to the Hero's life, it contained more power, it glowed green and had a noticeable raw power by the energized atoms inside the small power source. Because of its emerald green glow he called as the Trapiche Reactor and for industrial use to the Akatani Industries he made a much larger one.
Jack quickly got the proper level of security defense to the warehouse, where the little prodigy started his work.
Two weeks later the preteen genius made his first Trapiche Repulsor Blaster and the stronger Trapiche Repulsor Cannon. There were major differences between the two techs: the blaster was weaker and drained much less energy, which could be replenished by the reactor, than the much stronger and slower cannon, also the former was basically Izuku's basic Repulsor, which could be put into the palm of the suit, the latter needed a place at least on the forearm. Then testing came with the child's test exoskeleton.
"Are you sure about this?" asked him Jack with a sound of worry, behind the protective glass of course.
"Yes, I am." replied the boy, his skeletal suit and a protective helmet gave his safety, on the weird but cool looking equipment was a TR blaster on the left hand and a TR cannon on the right forearm.
"Test one, repulsor blast from the left arm." warned the man Inko, who was next to him as the child aimed with his best at the target dummy and fired a projectile. The target was hit perfectly where it was aimed.
"Here comes a second shot." said Izuku and fired a stronger shot, this one flinched him and scored a successful hit.
"Test two, the right arm comes." declared the boy and fired the consecutive blasts from the cannon, the second move made him to fall on his butt cutely.
"Okay Tony. You need more muscles, weight and a stronger exoskeleton." noted Jack.
"The suit must have an endoskeleton too." added the boy.
"What's for you need that?" asked Stan, the third witness of the test.
"To protect me further and to assist me if I can't move by myself." revealed the child to the adults.
By hard work and a day before his fifth birthday, the young prodigy made his first suit, the prototype, the Vulcanus Line Mark 0. It looked like the classic gray armor, but it had a green "chest light" instead of a blue and it was much smaller, also the kid made his first Unibeam analogy called Heartbreaker, after the same named armor of Iron Man.
Officially called as the Agile Aegis Armor Model 1, this suit couldn't fly, but it protected the wielder and had an in-built support AI called TONY by Izuku and the others.
Somehow Jack could persuade Endeavor to assist with the public patrol test, not the Hero liked the idea, although he was amused too by the cumbersome movements of the armored kid.
"Are you sure this is your goal to be a Hero?" asked the Flame Hero from the child, the boy's uncle also walked with them.
"This is just the first suit." exclaimed Izuku with some courage.
"If you want to be safe, you should get a voice distorter." recommended to him Enji, he didn't get it why this was a good idea to start with, although he couldn't continue his thoughts because a muscular man leaped at passing limo, crushing its engine.
"A Villain." murmured the Midoriya duo as the Hero dashed into action and the madman just tore the vehicle's top to take a young child around the boy's age out to kill her.
"Release her!" yelled Todoroki as he punched the maniac into the face and caught the girl. When he took her down to the ground, the Villain kicked him away, unnoticed by the witnesses, Izuku also leaped into the rescue.
"Hi. You should leave." he told to the girl as he caught her hand to lead her away, reluctantly she followed his lead.
"Where are you two going?" mocked them the blond baddie as he got them and pressed them to the wall with his enhanced strength coming from his Quirk. Before he could smash the children's head with his fists, the girl rolled left and Izuku fired a soccer ball sized blast from his chest right before got a massive haymaker. The blast connected with the Villain and he blanked out in the same time as the armor user did.
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Three days later Izuku woke up in the hospital without his armor, from his bed he saw his mother, his uncle and a detective from the police.
"Is the girl safe." asked them the child, barely getting out his coma induced sleep.
"Don't worry. She is okay." reassured him the detective, then he turned serious. "But you're in trouble."
"Oh no! Did I kill that man?" now, the young Midoriya was freaking out.
"Ho. Calm down. You just knocked him out, in turn he knocked you out. Luckily your armor protected you." calmed him down the police representative.
"Then what's for I am in trouble?" asked him the calmed kid.
"For being the youngest person got charged by vigilantism. Knowing the scenario, you just tried to help. However, saving life is the duty of the Pros, not preteens. Even with your suit, you made a quite trouble. Because the witnesses accused you to use your Quirk, despite the fact you're Quirkless. Until you won't get the license for using your gear, your future support items and your possible future weapons. Your suit is under the lock at the Akatani Industries' warehouse, called the Forge. revealed to him the detective. "On the bright side. You saved precious lives." his relatives were proud.
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When Izuku became twelve years old, he earned his suit utility license and turned back to live action testing in the Forge. He made new suits in the passing years: one looking like the second suit from the Iron Man movie and two bulky models.
"Flight test one incoming." yelled the boy in armor as his uncle watched his flight test from his post, inside the testing area was a robot with the body of an astromech droid called Y0-E1 or just Yuei, like the school. The newer armors also had better pilot protection than the first one too.
When the teen launched himself, he suddenly found himself on the celling and in his surprise, he released the grip on the repulsors' flight mechanism and he fell on his face. Luckily, he had the helmet intact and in work.
"Are you okay?" asked him Jack.
"Good thing I put shock absorbers into the armor, and I am fine." replied the boy as he stood up for the second round, his voice distorter made him sound like the Golden Avenger himself in suit, but much younger, like the IMAA variant.
The second test ended in a triple backflip in the air and a fall on the back, his droid used the fire extinguisher to spray him as a help.
"Thanks." snarked the teen.
"Never thought you could that in flight." noted his uncle.
"Neither me." replied Izuku and he flipped up his helmet's visor with the automatic mechanism in the helmet. "But I can do a penta variant without flying." added with a smirk, of course he could, he was a martial artist and he practiced kendo too, albeit unofficially after his departure from the dojo.
The third test started promising until Izuku lost control and he rocketed into the protective glass and landed on his ended like a ragdoll, plus his droid sprayed him again.
"Stupid bug." referred the boy after opening his visor referring at the security bug in his robot, at least it worked. The fourth test worked perfectly with the Agile Aegis Armor Model 2/Vulcanus Line Mark I.
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A week later, nearby to the Japanese shore a cruise ship sailed. On board was also a family including a pair of brothers, a smart girl as an older sibling and a cheerful boy as a younger one.
Suddenly and somehow the boy ended in the water and before anyone could act, a pair of hands caught him, and a body rose from the underwater. A bulky, tall robot or armor, this mainly golden and red colored suit had a bulbous glass dome around a helmet, the suit reminded the witnesses to an early underwater armor of Iron Man.
"There is no need to fear. I am here!" declared the rescuer as they swam and walked up on the ship's hull with their rescued kid to reunite him with his family.
This was the Agile Aegis Armor Model 3/Poseidon Line Mark I and the inspirator of something in the future after the encounter.
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Some week later the Water Hose duo met with Muscular, before the latter could kill the heavily injured pair, an equally large hand caught his.
"What the heck?" asked the brute as he turned to meet with a two metres tall robot, it was bulky and made for heavy lifting, plus it was heavily armored too.
"Leave them alone." told him the machine or wielded armor, just to be punched hard in the face or helmet by the Villain.
"No! I'm going to crush you scrappy!" declared the thug and the two large fighters engaged into a vicious fist fight, which was won by the metallic brawler. Unfortunately, Muscular escaped before the reinforcement Heroes could detain him.
This life saving suit was this time the mainly blue, secondary gray Agile Aegis Armor Model 4/Behemoth Line Mark I "Igor".
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One year later Jack could get some land at Nabu Island and the Akatani Industries built up the Foundry named complex, a wall surrounding a few buildings: the Midori Tower, the Armory Tower, the Training Keep, the Blacksmith Keep, the Shipyard Dock, the Hangar and the Energy Keep. The latest in the line gave clean, free and safe energy through its Large Trapiche Reactor to the Island and to the Foundry.
In the summer vacation Izuku earned his support item utility license and he also made his fifth suit, Agile Aegis Armor Model 5/Vulcanus Line Mark II, this looked like the second its predecessor, although it was a bit bulkier in some parts because of the added equipment in its storage compartment and it had the movie's Mark IV's color scheme, however it had green color instead of red and the suit is reminiscent of the Mark VII's in shape.
The boy tested the suit around the island until he spotted a pair of spectators from the Mount Shiroyama. As he flew to them the older one, the girl cautiously stepped back as the boy still sat at his spot and watched in awe at the flyer.
When the armored teen landed, his visor slid up and "collapsed", revealing his green hair and his face, despite the fact he is 166 cm tall, the suit added him an extra 13 cm-s with the helmet, without that he was still 176 cm, which easily made him towering over the younger kids.
"Nice to meet you. Did you enjoy my flight's scene?" asked them oldest.
"Nice to meet you. She is Mahoro and I am Katsuma. Your flight is cool." introduced Katsuma his sister and himself to the newcomer.
"I am Izuku." introduced himself the armored one.
"Who did make that for you?" asked him Mahoro.
"Do I count? I am the one, who makes my armors." revealed to them Izuku.
"What?" the girl was shocked on the news.
"How did you do?" this only made the youngest of the talkers more interested.
"It took me a lot of designing, hard work, plenty of safe tests and a place, where I could make it." told them the greenette.
"Did you make it in the Foundry?" asked Katsuma from the older boy.
"The Foundry is where I make my new armors, robots and vehicles. The list also includes this suit. However, I made my earlier suits at the Forge in Musutafu." said Izuku.
"Why do you make these armors?" Mahoro didn't know why someone like this teen needs these suits.
"I would like to be a Hero, one without Quirk." revealed to them the young genius with some worry, but the siblings were in awe from it.
"That's much cooler." exclaimed the girl.
"Awesome. You can show to the others, that you don't need a Quirk to be a Hero." said Katsuma.
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In the last year of Izuku's time at the Aldera Junior High, the greenette earned his weapon usage license and he made a newer suit, alongside the fact he tried to make Bakugo learn some common sense.
However, the second day of that year ended badly: first, Katsuki Bakugo was "nice" enough to chew him out after being saved by Izuku from the Sludge Villain, second, earlier in the school the Midoriya got a terrible bait sentence, negated by the fact the nice guy punched the offender in the face as an answer.
So, the teen went to the Forge for suiting up his newest armor for the test patrol in the night, he didn't know yet how much his life going to be changed this night.