Hello, I'm Apex Redeemer!
So, this is a rewrite of the original Subject Nine, which in my proof-read opinion- courtesy of my reviewers, was too rushed when it came to Izuku's character development.
I hope that this rewrite will be much more satisfactory than the previous story. Sorry to those that liked the original, but there were one too many things that were overlooked.
There will be more details over the changes to this story as we progress. But as for those who have read my previous version of Subject Nine, this chapter was the one that changed the least, overall.
Alright, I'm only gonna say this ONCE!!! I do not own My Hero Academia, its characters, or its plot. Those rights belong to Kohei Horikoshi, the only thing I own is this story's concept.
Chapter 1
Shota Aizawa breathed in the cool night air from his post, the distant lights of police and special ops vehicles flashing below him as helicopters swept the premises overhead between the main force and the perimeter lines.
Normally, the sheer number of law enforcement would attract bystanders and news anchors like moths to a flame; Shota was grateful for the fact that their little get-together was deep within the woods. Especially with the enemy they had on their hands.
They were a smooth bunch, constantly slipping under the radar and resurfacing only when it apparently was deemed absolutely necessary. And after three years worth of investigations, the Hero Public Safety Commission had officially begun to prepare a raid on one of their oldest targets. With charges ranging from abduction, trafficking, and murder among other cruelties, their sights had been set upon a terrorist facility that specialized in experimental Quirk implantation.
Facility Apotheosis.
Word from their inside men before their extraction had let the Commission know that the Facility had begun the beginning stages of a new project titled Operation Overlord. It involved the creation of a new breed of Quirked Super Soldier; tasked with taking down certain groups that the facility thought would stand in their way, all while also furthering the organization's cause. It didn't matter if the target was a politician, hero, villain, civilian, or even a rival terrorist group.
They were to be either indoctrinated, or terminated.
"Ready, EraserHead?'' asked his fellow heroine, Midnight, over the comms.
Shota grunted as he fiddled with his capture weapon, "Let's get this over wi-" .
He was cut off by a muffled explosion from inside the facility, a faint trail of smoke billowing out from a section of the building's roof.
"Did we do that?" asked Present Mic amidst the overflow of law enforcement radio calls.
The booming voice of Japan's Number One Hero suddenly exploded within their earpieces, "Thirteen seconds until their automatic defenses are disabled! Is everyone in position?!"
EraserHead let out an annoyed grunt as his squadron mounted up behind him. With such a threat to society, it was only natural for the Top Pros to involve themselves sooner or later. And with All Might being the almost omnipresent symbol that he was, his involvement was a no-brainer.
But he wasn't the only Top Pro around.
"Quit your yapping, all of you!" snapped the Number Two Hero, Endeavor, "Strike Team Charlie, maintain the front entrance! Delta, cover the sides and widen your perimeter! Get moving! Now!"
The heroes' raid began at last.
Costume-clad men, women and sidekicks barged in; All Might proudly declaring his presence with a "I AM HERE!" even through the flaming fists, screeching vocal cords, and cracking whips causing whatever personnel within range to panic even further as they ran around the facility. Police stormed in right after to help the heroes in detaining scientists, freeing test subjects, and securing whatever evidence was within their grasp.
Shota and his squadron rushed further down the facility, where they came across the operation halls. If his mind's memory of their acquired facility layout served him correctly, this area had been where the smoke was seen coming out of.
However, even as he sprinted through the halls without so much as a sound, the Underground Hero couldn't help but feel an uncomfortable pull in his gut.
'Something isn't right about this. Considering most of these fanatics were already injured when we came in, we can only assume that something went wrong with whatever the hell they were experimenting on.' He turned the hall and entered a new passageway. 'Whatever it was, it had to have been big. Best to stay alert.'
He made sure to voice his gut feeling to the operatives following suit behind him.
"EraserHead, sir! My Quirk's picking up seventeen bogies! Incoming at twelve a' clock!"
Shota frowned, "Increasing?"
"No sir! But they're not regular foot soldiers either!"
The Underground Hero nodded in understanding. "Roman Formation, Position Five!
He launched his capture weapon at the exposed piping just above the incoming door, the troops behind him shifting positions to allow a rather bulky agent to take the lead. With a burst of speed as Shota pulled himself up and out of the way, the uniformed man crashed straight through the double doors, the reinforced metal crumpling as easily as paper. Shota swung himself through, and anchored himself high above the room as the red glow of Erasure emanated from his eyes.
It served to effect, and just before his squadron came into line of sight, he shut it off, the facility's fighters too stunned at the loss of their Quirks to fight back in time properly.
Shota dropped down at the end of the room to continue along the hall, his squadron left to their own devices. Backup was on its way soon, so they wouldn't have that much trouble then.
"For Apotheosiiiis!
He dodged a desperate swipe of a knife as a remaining scientist sprung up from their hiding spot. Activating his Quirk once again, Shota's capture weapon shot out to enwrap the hand wielding the weapon, and squeezed hard enough to force the man to drop it. It didn't take long for Shota to down his opponent and begin his interrogation.
"What's going on in these rooms?"
"Go and rot, you hero scum!" yelled the man. That earned him a dislocated arm. "Ahh!"
"The next denial will result in a broken limb," the hero warned.
"A-augmentation!" yelled the pained scientist, "That's all I'll say t-to the likes of you!"
"That's fine, I'll just leave you to Endeavor."
With a simple chop, Shota knocked the man out and released his capture weapon. Putting handcuffs on the man's hands and legs, he continued to run through the hall, damage in the form of sprayed debris signaling he was close to the explosion's source.
His pace slowed once his eyes caught the body of an unconscious worker, skin on the left majority nearly burnt to a crisp.
Ignoring the smell of singed hair and flesh, Shota readied his weapon while stalking towards the final set of partly-opened, partly-broken doors.
With the cloth wrapping around the handles and pulling firmly, the gates fell from their hinges. Shota stepped inside, ready for anything, and his eyes widened.
"Eraser!" a voice called out. Shota turned his head to see Midnight and Present Mic running towards him.
"Mic, get the medics here now!" he commanded.
Not missing a beat, Present Mic spun on his heel and rushed back from where he came from. Midnight didn't stop however, and came to a stop next to Shota.
"Oh god," she murmured.
Inside the room was a large, cylindrical-shaped stasis pod made of black metal with what seemed to be the remnants of glass at its front edges. Tubes of varying sizes were splayed nearly all over the floor; some connected to computers, others disappearing into the floor or ceiling- all eventually connecting to the top of the pod. But what truly caught Shota's eye was the damaged state of the pod. The front had apparently been shattered open, and thin trails of smoke emanated from the pod's exposed inner systems. Surrounding the pod via a puddle was a neon blue-green liquid, pieces of metal and glass littered within.
"Eraser! I'm back with the meds, what's the situat- woah!"
The medics rushed in, careful to not aggravate the technology itself while attending to the bodies of several barely-surviving scientists laid across the room.
"Well, that's the explosion mystery solved," Midnight commented, "Just what do you think was in there?"
Shota studied the room, "Don't know exactly, but it's definitely something big."
Thud.
Midnight turned to EraserHead with a look.
"I heard it," he whispered.
The duo exited the room to walk through the hall quietly. Passing another operation room, they found it empty, a storage closet, dark and empty, a security quarters, that was empty too.
Damn it.
"Huff, huff."
The heroes froze. It came from an office.
"Huff, huff." Thud.
Midnight turned towards the sound, and hearing another thud, she didn't hesitate to break open the door and step aside for Shota.
Ignoring his stinging eyes as he activated Erasure, the Underground Hero stepped right into the room. Sweeping his gaze, he found it dark and trashed. But with the faint glow of the distant helicopter floodlights, something moving in his peripheral vision caught his attention. He focused on it… there.
It was a boy.
He was partly obscured by the darkness, but with another flash from the outside helicopters, his figure was clear. Kneeling on one knee with visible cuts and burns littering his small but surprisingly muscular body, he was clearly in the younger stages of his youth.
The boy turned towards them, his eyes seemingly trying to focus on the adults in front of him.
"Wh-who...?" he slurred.
"It's okay, sweetie. We're not here to hurt you," reassured Midnight.
The boy tried to stand up, his legs visibly shaking. "Need... to ensure… eliminate the threat... for... for Apotheosis."
The child collapsed, but Shota rushed and caught the boy before he hit the floor.
The Underground Hero rubbed at his dried eyes, finally letting them rest. "Let's get him to the hospital."
~-*-~
He was disrupted from his nap on the hospital bench by Midnight, or rather Nemuri Kayama, given she was now out of costume.
"He's awake," she announced cheerily.
Shota rubbed away the crust from his eyes, "Any details from Endeavor's interrogations we should know about before we go in?"
Nemuri only shrugged, "Most of it we already knew from the Commission. Should anything new pop up, they'll tell us."
The dark-haired man looked around. "Where's Hizashi?"
"Went to his radio show, something about him having a special performance tonight?"
"Tch, loud-mouthed traitor, he was supposed to be here," he rubbed his eyes again. "You leaving too?" he grumbled.
She smiled, "Nope! I want to see him a little more before I leave to fill out my report. By the way, have you touched his hair? It's so fluffy! Not to mention he's so cute when he's sleeping!" she gushed.
Shota rolled his eyes.
~-*-~
When the pair entered into the room, the boy had already been treated for his injuries as well as cleaned. Sporting bandages and bits of gauze, he had been propped against the bed's pillows, hands folded over his lap while remaining absolutely quiet.
It was then where Shota was able to get a good look at the boy. Scanning him over, he noted the white fluffy hair that stuck up at odd angles, freckles that formed a diamond shape on his cheekbones, and big, bright green orbs on a face so neutral and emotionless, it had honestly caught the Underground Hero off guard.
"Ah, welcome you two, I am Detective Naomasa, we were just getting started."
To the boy's right was a man with short dark hair wearing a light brown trench coat over a plain white shirt and grey slacks. Sitting in a foldable chair, a notepad and pencil were poised and at the ready.
Nodding politely in greeting, Shota stood at the foot of the bed while Nemuri took her place at the left, smiling sweetly.
"Hi honey, mind telling us your name?" she asked.
The boy looked at her and tilted his head, "Name? I do not have a name."
"Can you tell us what you were called at the facility then?" asked Shota calmly.
The boy looked on at the heroes, "Subject Nine," he droned.
While Nemuri offered a sympathetic smile and the detective a surprised look, Shota kept his visage unchanged. Yes, he didn't show any outward emotions, but his heart flared with anger. Anger at he fact that a boy had to refer to himself as a number. Not an alias or a name, a number.
The emotionless response was slightly off-putting, but it didn't really surprise him.
Who knew just what that boy had gone through?
Detective Naomasa wrote what he had heard down, then took over the questioning. "Well… Nine. As you already know, I am Detective Naomasa. We're here to ask you some questions over Facility Apotheosis. Just tell us what you know and if this starts to get overwhelming for you, let us know, okay?"
He got a nod in response.
"Alright, let's begin. How old are you?"
"I am ten years old."
"Okay, and when were you taken to Apotheosis?"
"I was born there."
That got him a confused look from the detective, " I'm sorry, you were born there?"
"Yes."
"Were your parents taken as well?"
"I do not have parents."
Now everyone was confused, he was born in the facility, but didn't have parents? Shota had a hunch what the boy could have been referring to, but he was almost afraid to ask about it.
"Explain."
The boy just kept staring at them, occasionally switching between the heroes and the detective, "My birthing process was an artificial one."
The room was quiet for a minute; with Naomasa rapidly scribbling down information, Nemuri trying to pet the boy's hair comfortingly, and Shota merely watching the kid with a mixture of surprise and caution. Nine's own expression remained blank apart from the cautious glance at Midnight's petting as he leaned away.
"Looks like Organism Augmentation and Quirk Engineering wasn't the only thing that Apotheosis did," Aizawa grumbled under his breath.
The questions continued for a few more minutes. They were simple ones, such as how long had Nine been training, what the pods were for, if there were any others like him, the type of weapons the facility had, etc. In the end, it all came to the last question, one that was on everyone's minds.
The detective spoke first. "You said you had been training at the Facility since you were five, and that many of the other test subjects we rescued along with yourself were mostly used as sparring tools. Could you tell us what you were to the organization?"
Nine swept his gaze over the room's three adults; his emerald orbs didn't appear to be simply staring anymore. It was like he was analysing them, studying them. It unnerved the heroes quite a bit. But after another look at his blankets he responded, his demeanour never changing.
The answer they got was straight and simple. "I am Operation Overlord."
The heroes and detective's eyes widened in shock. This kid was a weapon, the weapon. And at only ten years old? Had he been the cause for the explosion earlier?
Aizawa was much more alert now, and the first to shake himself from his stupor. "Were you involved in any way with Quirk Engineering?"
Nine nodded, "Yes."
Nemuri was next, "Do you mean you were given a Quirk as well as an augmented body?"
Nine was about to respond, but Naomasa lifted his hand, "Due to not being in a more secure area, we are going to have to refrain from asking these types of questions for now. We'll continue after you have recovered enough to be moved to a safer location."
~-*-~
As Nemuri fawned slightly over at the Nine's hair -which unnerved boy, but didn't resist- the two men talked at the side of the room.
"This just got a hell of a lot more complicated," Shota drawled.
Naomasa nodded, "The Commission is gonna have a field day with this. I'll talk to the doctors to see when he should be ready to move, and to swear their silence. I don't want the press getting their ears on this. We already risked enough asking the questions we did."
"It's the most rational choice we can take right now," Shota agreed.
The detective began to pack his notes as he opened the door to exit. "I'll call you when we have a place set up. Expect the Principal of UA to be there for supervision and advisory purposes, and I'll be sure to bring All Might for security. Get some rest EraserHead, we have some hard work ahead of us."
After a quick goodbye, Shota left Nemuri alone with the boy.
"Problem child," he muttered.
End of Chapter 1
Okay, That's the first chapter, nothing too different here.
There's a couple of changes I would like to address with this rewrite. Let's start.
Mama Midnight, not enough of that out there. If Izuku is gonna grow and develop emotionally into the hero we know him for, he's gonna need some motherly love. Aizawa's too 'monotone' for that.
Nine will eventually be named 'Izuku', and he will not use Nine as his hero name.
With the system I've planned out for this story, mainly Izuku's direct involvement with the HPSC, I'll be changing UA's Hero Course just a tad. And by that I mean splitting the characters between THREE Hero Classes: 1A, 1B, and (considering UA's classes stop at 1K), 1L. You'll see how it plays out.
And last but not least, the usual Katsuki/Izuku antagonist dynamic won't be present in this fic, just letting you know.
That'll be it for now, Apex out.