Chapter 2 - Forward Progression
How far does quirk discrimination go?
By The Ferryman
Every human is equal in the eyes of the law, but is every human equal in the eyes of humans themselves?
If you asked someone this question, they would disagree and proclaim that they believe each human is equal. However, the proverb, 'Actions speak louder than words,' comes to mind in response to this answer.
Indeed, many people speak about fairness but in reality, their actions are hypocritical. You might be thinking that there are already laws to curb quirk discrimination, but what about when the cases get swept under the rug or the cases don't seem like quirk discrimination?
Quirk discrimination laws came into being less than 200 years ago. The main reason these laws were made, was because mutant quirks were discriminated against much like racial discrimination. Nowadays, such discrimination does not exist. However, this is not the only type of quirk discrimination. What about the classification of quirks? Is this not discrimination.
What about the quirkless?
The word 'quirkless' seems alien in modern society, yet, 20% of the population in Japan itself is quirkless! Granted much of this percentage is prevalent in the older generation, but, 7% of the younger population is quirkless. To a normal observer, this may not seem like a problem. After all, quirks are not that handy in daily life unless you are a hero or you have a quirk license to use your quirk to help you in business purposes. In everyday life, it's just cool to have and wouldn't make a difference. That's what many people believe. But, do you really think this is possible, when even in the past, discrimination always came from the core beliefs that if you are different or weaker, you will be discriminated against? In the world of quirks, do you think having a quirk would not produce a superiority complex over the quirkless when people were often thought to be inferior due to the color of their skin?
As previously stated, 7% of the quirkless population are young, meaning their ages range from 16-35. The government doesn't take into account those who are quirkless and younger because there are often late quirk developers. So, the number of quirkless is undoubtedly higher in reality. Even among adults, people with stronger quirks often taunt those with younger ones. Scientists have proven long ago that children will imitate the behavior they see in adults, therefore, it seems idiotic to presume that those with stronger quirks will never bully those with weaker ones, let alone those without a quirk.
What about the covert discriminations? What about when adults refuse to help those with weaker quirks while claiming they do so because those with so-called, 'weaker quirks' might get hurt? Many dojos or combat training clubs refuse to take in those with weak quirks. Why? Because they do not want to lose the prestige of training children with strong quirks. They believe that those with strong quirks are more likely to become successful. So, they turn away those who they deem have weaker quirks. On the off chance that they do take in someone quirkless or someone with a weak quirk, they are used as a pebble, a stepping stone for the 'strong.'
Do we want the next generation of heroes to be such that they do not care as long as they are strong? If we carry on like this, what will be the difference between heroes and villains? Will it be society who judges who villains are just like they judge which quirk is heroic and which one is villainous?
Society is the reason why many villains form. A boy who is relentlessly bullied for having a 'villainous' quirk might choose to go down the route of being a villain simply because he was always told he was a villain by peers. The idea of classifying a quirk as heroic or villainous is not alien to anyone. While many choose not to speak about it outright, they have surely thought of it sometimes. Telepathic quirks are often called villainous because they can control people or interfere with their minds, yet, Mandalay of the Wild Wild pussycat is one example of a hero with a telepathic quirk. It is a human themselves who decides how to use their quirk, therefore, it is also unfortunately true that their mind can be swayed by people calling them a villain because of their quirk.
It is also unjust to classify a quirk by comparing its similarity with a hero's quirk or a villain's. A good example is the villain, Twice, and UA's teacher, Ectoplasm. Both of them have quirks that allow them to make clones of themselves but one allowed society to change how he wanted to use his quirk while one still fought to become a hero.
While we do have quirk discrimination laws, they are only useful on the base level of offering equal rights to everyone. Actions speak otherwise as many people continue to discriminate against weak quirks and the quirkless. Most people have witnessed this differential treatment but few have thought of it as discrimination and even fewer have ever thought of its impact on the entire society. Is this the legacy that we as a society want to leave behind? Are we going to let this situation fester until it blows up in our face?
With Izuku posting this on several forums and discreetly hacking into a couple cell towers to send links of the article straight onto people's phones, it barely took 12 hours for the article to become the main topic of almost every discussion.
He was sitting next to his mother watching the news when they saw a several reporters managed to corner Endeavor.
The reporters rushed towards Endeavor who seemed to be restraining himself from burning them.
"Endeavor! Endeavor!" The reporters mobbed the pro hero who had no way of escaping.
"What do you want?" The hero said gruffly with barely restrained anger in his voice.
Undeterred one of the reporters asked their question. "Have you read the article on quirk discrimination that has been circulating online?"
Endeavour nodded with a grunt.
"What did you think of it? What are your views on the problems addressed?" Another reporter asked.
"Huh? What do you mean? There are NO problems with the way things are, got it?!" The reporter who asked the question stepped back while another stepped forward. "Most of Japan would disagree with you!" She said sternly. "Would you care to explain why you think there are no problems which the article has pointed out?"
Endeavor's fire grew redder as he answered. "Heroes need to be strong. The strongest will rise. People with weak quirks will only be a liability on the field! Obviously a hero-wannabe with a weak quirk must have written this article to get attention. He should be apprehended and punished for this!" The pro hero said and pushed through the stunned crowd.
The clip ended as the sound of outraged reporters started while Endeavour flew off.
'What an asshole.' Izuku thought to himself.
"Don't listen to that idiot, Izukun. Weak and strong are subjective." Inko spoke she looked like she wanted to pat his head, but hesitated. She didn't know if she would overstep by doing so.
Thankfully the choice was out of her hands when Izuku took her hand and placed it on top of his head. She smiled softly as she combed her fingers through his surprisingly straight hair.
Turns out, his hair wasn't curly, it was straight like his mother's, but he never took care of it, so it became a curly looking mess. Now that it's been properly washed and maintained, it lays straight and ends just past his shoulders.
He changed his position and laid on his mother's lap while she kept combing her fingers through his hair. The first and only person who did that for him was his cousin, Mio.
He drifted into a nap with thoughts of the brief moments of peace he used to share with his cousin.
-
Aizawa sat at his table drinking his coffee enjoying the silence of the staffroom. He wasn't late but the staffroom was still empty. He knew the reason why and decided to enjoy the few blissful moments of silence that would be available before his colleagues would start arriving.
The silence was short-lived as the door crashed open. Aizawa winced as Mic's loud voice poured in. "Damn mass media! Why can't we accuse them of trespassing?!"
"That's not a very wise choice. The media just wants hero opinions on the article." Thirteen replied calmly.
"We both know they only want our opinions to increase newspaper sales. They don't care about just presenting our opinions to the public." Vlad king replied gruffly.
"True, but personally, I want to talk about the article." Snipe said.
"In front of the reporters?" Vlad asked, a brow raised.
"Of course not!"
"We can just talk about it here. It's a weekend anyway. We are only here to prepare things for the students." Thirteen replied.
"By the way, HOW ON EARTH DID YOU GET HERE SO FAST, AIZAWA?!" Midnight screamed.
Aizawa clasped his hands over his ears. "Unlike you all, I am better at stealth."
"Haha, as if. It's only because you don't look like a hero, and more like a hobo." Mic teased. Seeing Aizawa ignore him, he looked over to see Aizawa looking pensive. "What has you so thoughtful?"
"Thinking about what the article has implicitly pointed out but everyone missed." Aizawa answered as he helped himself to a mug of coffee.
"And that is?" Vlad asked confused.
"If bullying students with weaker quirks still exist, what makes you think the behavior of the teachers has changed?"
The staff room fell into silence at those words. The teachers fell into a deep thought at the words. Aizawa sipped his coffee with glee at his colleagues' reactions. He could see why Nedzu liked being so sadistic. It was very satisfying.
He could already see Mic ranting about this perspective everywhere. Aizawa gulped down the rest of his coffee. Perhaps just this once, he would help along the chaos even if it gave him a headache.
Aizawa already regretted inviting the current headache coming on. He started looking into the Aldera School District after Nedzu received a call from Yagi who received a call from a Detective Tsukauchi regarding illegal quirk usage, and the torture and abuse of quirkless students and those with weaker quirks.
The results were incredibly disturbing to him. The Aldera District lauded alumni with "high potential". Anyone with a brain could tell what they actually meant was "with powerful Quirks".
Worse, some of these children the school was so set on promoting had only graduated from Elementary School. Alarm bells ring in Shouta's head. 'Ah yes, the age-old interview question: where did you go to elementary school? They're clearly responsible for how successful you've become.'
Further digging of revealed most of these "high potential" is the students had average grades at best. Shouta reclines in his chair with a long-suffering groan. This is going to be a long day.
Several hours later, Shouta had a strong base for the investigation. Nothing damning, but he certainly had enough to investigate officially. The advertised "high potentials" gave full names and pictures, so finding where they ended up was far from the hardest thing Shouta had done. Several of them had ended up outside the Aldera School District for high school, some going into private schools.
When he called those places to ask for more information, it turned out these students were highly memorable. It's not very common for a promising student to arrive acting like a self-entitled delinquent. A few teachers even reported suspending Aldera students within their first day. 'Some potential.'
Huh.
'Why didn't any of these teachers notice something was wrong with the students from Aldera specifically?'
As it turns out, they did. Hard to miss, really. But anytime one of these schools reported their concerns, the investigation would drop in a few days. One of the schools even offered a public apology. If that didn't just scream blackmail, then Shouta needed to find a new career path. 'How the hell did this random school district have the power to threaten other school districts into silence?'
Shouta leans back in his chair, pinching his nose, and sighs. He sends the Rat an email compiling everything he found.
Nedzu has more resources to investigate how Aldera silences complaints. Shouta looks at the clock and groans. It's almost time for his patrol. The Rat told him to drop in unannounced sometime this week, and Shouta suspected the sooner the better. Tomorrow he would be giving this junior high a personal visit.
Ever since Aizawa brought him the files he received from a personal visit to Aldera, Nedzu had been pouring over the security footage. There was evidence, so, so much evidence that Nedzu could likely get Aldera Junior High shut down within the hour, but Nedzu would never settle for a small victory in this case.
His fur bristles, his teacup rattling as his paw shakes. 'Patience.' Nedzu takes a deep breath. Anger will only make him sloppy.
As frustrating as it is, Nedzu knows that this situation is delicate. If he acts carelessly, the Aldera district will burn the Junior High to save the Elementary and High School. He'll need a significant offence, preferably more than one, that would justify investigating the district itself and not the school.
Criminals are much like bugs, Nedzu finds. The moment a threat presents itself, they scurry out of sight to continue another day.
Nedzu will not give them that other day.
Currently, the 47th clip of Bakugou Katsuki and Midoriya Izuku played on his screen. And much like the previous 46 clips of these particular students, the moment Bakugou was anywhere near Midoriya, it ended.
Nedzu's ears pull back, and his sharp teeth pull at his mouth. No one could deny that this footage was altered. But without the originals, Nedzu wouldn't be able to properly bring Bakugou to heel. It was, however, another nail in Aldera's sizable coffin, it has been far too long since Nedzu was a grave digger.
It's been close to two weeks since the police officially began their investigation and the Department of Education is still tearing the Aldera District apart. Most of the district administration has either resigned, been arrested, or both. It was decided that since the teachers actively groomed students to act out, his classmates would not have any black marks in their records, but their… turbulent histories were noted down for future schools to look through.
Nedzu turns his attention back to Aldera. While this opening move should be decisive, he doesn't want to risk any of the bugs escaping back to their nests. And that means ensuring their defeat in court. The worst thing that could happen now is acquittal. Unlikely, highly unlikely, but not impossible. And that means researching their lawyers.
About an hour later, Nedzu knows the name of every damned fool who accepted the position to defend one of the Aldera monsters. 'Now that's strange. They all work for the same firm, but it isn't the firm I expected.'
Aldera demonstrated a disturbingly powerful legal team previously, the one that silenced every earlier inquiry as to why their students acted like entitled brats. A legal firm that specialized in defending the interests of major corporations.
Why change things now?
Nedzu could tell at a glance that this new firm was odd. Practically a shell company when it opened, now apparently a better legal team than Aldera had before? It takes another hour for Nedzu to trace the payments and identify the owners of the new firm.
"Of course." He snarls. "Of course it was you."
And like a particularly gruesome puzzle piece sliding into place, every oddity about Aldera comes into focus in sickening clarity.
The proximity to UA had not gone unnoticed by Nedzu, though he had not found a connection until now.
The Illegal Quirk use was worrying, but Nedzu mistook it as a symptom of the negligence and incompetence of the administration.
The extreme Quirk Bias and Quirk Supremist Ideology amongst the staff had been the entire origin of the investigation. He should've known how deep it truly ran, but Nedzu failed to grasp the situation for what it was.
He thought of Aldera as a school district corrupt from the top down. He was wrong.
Aldera had never been a school.
Aldera was an indoctrination facility.
And the proof blinked back at him on his computer screen.
Nedzu learned a long time ago how to hide his emotions. It was a survival skill in the lab that experimented on him day in and day out. Hiding himself behind a mask of calm serenity was now a long-ingrained habit. Hiding anger was easy.
It was much harder for him to hide Wrath.
"Yagi." Nedzu says into the phone, trembling in his fury. "Be at UA once classes end."
"I-is there something wrong with my paperwork?" the Symbol of Peace asks cautiously, catching the edge to Nedzu's voice.
"No. I need you for a War Meeting."
When Nedzu sent an alert to the teachers' group chat that there would be a War Meeting after school, Aizawa felt the ice creep up his spine.
Nedzu always made sure to refer to meetings as they were. In all his time there, Aizawa had only attended a single War Meeting, when a student had been attacked by a local gang. Nedzu had organized the teachers into destroying the gang so thoroughly that within 18 hours of the meeting, the entire gang had been arrested, and several were catatonic. Those had been the poor bastards that Nedzu had personally dealt with.
He shuddered at the memory.
Aizawa is the last to arrive, as usual, but he was still on time. He sits down at the conference table, noting that All Might is present in his skinny form. Nedzu sits at the head of the table, ears pulled back and teeth visible. Aizawa swallows.
"Now that we're all here, I can give the Situation Report." Nedzu produces a folder and tosses it onto the table. Aizawa catches the word 'Detnerat' on the cover. "The situation is as follows: The Aldera School District is here in the heart of Mustafu to make it attractive to those aiming for here at UA, the premier Hero School in Japan. The district is, in fact, a scheme to produce Pro Heroes who have certain beliefs, which they can then impress on the public."
"What beliefs are those?" Yagi asks, looking troubled. Good. Nedzu calling a War Meeting meant troubling news.
Nedzu's growl when he answers can only be described as primal. "Beliefs agreeable to the revived Meta Liberation Army."
It's been three years since the discovery and subsequent defeat of the revived Meta Liberation Army.
While the rising of superpowers or Quirks were being accepted into normal society, along with this acceptance came government regulations and laws which restricted Quirk usage. However, an individual by the name of Yotsubashi Chikara believed this notion to be wrong, and that the free usage of Quirks was a basic human right. Chikara then formed the Meta Liberation Army and adopted the name of Destro, promising to destroy the Status Quo and liberate society from these laws.
The group spent years opposing and fighting the governments of the land. They were eventually defeated, with Destro being imprisoned and the group disbanding. During his years in prison, Destro wrote a biographical book that explained his ideals, and after fully writing and succeeding in getting his work published, he committed suicide in his cell. Unbeknownst to the world, he had produced a son, Yotsubashi Rikiya, who was raised to be his successor and carry on the will of the MLA.
His son named himself Re-Destro in honor of his father, and wanted to try a different approach to his father. He planned to slowly integrate the values of the MLA in future heroes, that way, when they come out to the public, most of the heroes will have already had their values indoctrinated.
They were able to take full and complete control of the Aldera School District, and had an agent or two in all the other schools in Japan.
Unfortunately, they were somehow discovered, and the Japanese Military has systematically raided and dismantled every base they had.
Re-Destro engaged in combat with All Might himself, and was soundly defeated, the whole fight being witnessed by all of Japan thanks to news choppers.
The Aldera Scandal became international news when the public was informed of the control MLA had over the district. The Department of Education of almost every country went through each of their districts with a fine tooth comb afterwards, not wanting another insurrectionist cult nor homegrown terrorists sprouting and spreading their propaganda in their country.
Izuku's eighteenth birthday had recently passed, and he was now legally considered an adult. His hair grew relatively quickly, and it ended at his lower back with it in a high ponytail. Through healthy eating and rigorous training, he grew to a height of 6'2". His muscles weren't there for aesthetics, but were forged from the katas he did in order to build his muscle memory in the new body he found himself in. He wore red sneakers black jeans, a red t-shirt hoodie, and a white lab coat.
When Izuku was once known as Warui, he was considered a genius on paper. Now that his intellect was combined with the former protagonist of this world, he could be labeled a supergenius. More than once, he was astounded by the intellect Izuku had. It was a shame that his teachers were all comparative to racists, because if they cultivated his intellect, then they'd have actual fame for teaching a kid who could've graduated high school at fourteen.
Now he had a plethora of degrees under his belt, all doctorates, in different fields. Psychology, Physics, Engineering, Computer Science, Quirkology and Sociology. He was also certified as a doctor a few months ago, as well as a lawyer the week before. He's already published several articles on physics that have most experts stumped. It was surprising that he would even want to be a hero given that he was being hailed as the next Einstein.
Izuku personally didn't really want to be a hero, but he felt he owed it to the previous owner of his body to follow the one dream he had.
Of course, a genius popping out of nowhere made a lot of people suspicious of a possible mental quirk giving him a head start, so a considerable amount of people gave him a background check.
All of them stopped their investigations immediately after finding out he was deemed quirkless for ten years and went to school in the Aldera district. They didn't want to open that can of worms.
Izuku looked up from his phone as he rounded the final corner to his destination, the Last Laugh. Pro Hero Snipe's personal range and shop. The shop mostly catered to professionals, so there was a clientele consisting of police, military, and a handful of pro heroes from Japan and overseas.
That isn't to say that civilians couldn't go there, but quirks had made people mostly forget about firearms.
Izuku stepped into the store and decided there was no way he was in the wrong place. The shop floor was filled with cases of accessories for both people and their weapons. Gun cases, safes, cleaning gear, and tactical clothing were towards the entrance, while in the back of the shop were glass counters filled with an assortment of sidearms and knives.
'No rifles for sale, but that's not terribly shocking. Even if the rules for sidearms relaxed and you can get the license for rifles, that doesn't mean they're typically sold to civilians.'
Izuku walked up to the counter and caught the attention of the clerk. When she came over, he gave her a smile. "Hello, ma'am. I made an appointment to speak with Snipe today following his arrival. You'll find me under Midoriya Izuku."
The clerk at the counter frowned.
"Aren't you a tad bit young to have an appointment with-" The woman cut herself off. While she was indeed surprised, she was anything if not professional, and his name was indeed in the appointment log. "I apologize, sir, I didn't realize that you were so young. If you come with me I'll take you right back."
Izuku nodded his head and followed the young woman past the range. At this time of the day and week, it didn't surprise Izuku for there to be more booths than shooters currently. When the clerk knocked on the office door, she informed the Hero that his appointment had arrived, then ushered Izuku through the door before returning to her place.
The Hero in question was sitting behind his desk, still in his costume, the old school tan gas mask covering his facial features and keeping Izuku from reading him. That doesn't mean that he couldn't see Snipes shock in the way his body tensed when he walked in. Izuku gave him a smile and began to cross the room to take a seat. While he did so, Snipe spoke in the well known drawl that announced him as having spent time in America.
"I've gotta say, when the detective went an' referred someone to me as a favor, I certainly hadn't expected someone as young as you are." He shifted in his seat and Izuku placed his case down next to him in the chair. Izuku gave Snipe a small, professional smile.
"Yes, well, the good detective owed me a favor so I asked him to refer me. Or are you telling me that you would have allowed a wet behind the ears eighteen-year-old to make an appointment with you at a gun range?" Snipe shook his head.
"I can see ya point. And for that reason, let's get to your point, what are you here for?" Izuku straightened himself and held up two fingers.
"I've come with two requests. The first would be to allow me to take the licensing examination for handgun carry." There was a tense silence following this statement. Not that Izuku could see it, but several emotions had gone across Snipe's face at that and his eyebrows had settled into a scrunch that was certain to give him a headache if he held it.
"I can't say we have a tendency to issue carry licenses to brand new adults."
"You also can't tell me that you haven't issued them before. The second is to get this serialized." Izuku picked up and placed his case onto the desk now, sliding it across to him. Snipe was confused. Izuku was sure of that much. There was a slight head tilt when he pushed the case across the desk and hesitation when Snipe reached for it.
Snipe opened the case and pulled out one of the handguns. He drew the slide on it back, checking for a chambered round, before snapping it forward and pointing it at the wall of his office after he had cleared the barrel. He looked back at Izuku and placed the gun onto the desk.
"Where did ya get these from?" Snipe asked him, clearly wary of where Izuku may have gotten an unserialized sidearm.
"I made them myself recently in preparation for hopefully getting my license to carry." Snipe was quiet for a moment before he stood, taking two boxes and several magazines from a drawer in his desk. He pushed Izuku's sidearms back to him before gesturing him to follow.
As they walked, Snipe spoke. "In light of you being a gunsmith, I'm gonna give you a chance. That box has fifty, hundred and thirty-grain rounds in it. You're gonna load your magazines with them both an' complete a simulation cycle of my choosing. You pass an' I'll give you a license to both carry and conceal on one more condition." They both stepped through into a room with a single booth looking down at a firing range. "I'm gonna program the simulation now. At random targets'll appear down the range. Circle means target and a square means civilian. Generally, squares would be just points deducted. In this case, it'll fail ya if you hit it. Load up and signal when you're ready."
Izuku nodded, he had expected he would have to fire his sidearm to get licensed, so this wasn't too much of a stretch. Even if he hadn't expected to have to pass a simulation to do it. He stepped up to the booth and began loading his magazines. As he finished placing them neatly on the table in front of him, he put in his earplugs, and when he was ready, he signaled Snipe to begin the simulation.
Snipe had done a lot in his life, and as a pro hero, he had seen a hell of a lot more. When the kid had come into his office, at first his instincts had screamed at him to draw his weapon. He hadn't because it was a kid. When the kid had asked to get licensed and stared him down, he could feel a pressure coming from this eighteen-year-old that he generally hadn't felt since he last met some of the old soldiers hardened by the first quirk wars.
Then he had seen the handgun that the boy had apparently machined himself. He wasn't lying to him, he could tell that much. He had decided to give him this chance for two reasons. First was because if the boy passed, he would be offering him a position as a gunsmith for them. He hadn't seen craftsmanship like that in some time, and gunsmiths were in short supply in this day and age. The second was because something about this boy was setting off alarms in his head, and he had learned to trust his instincts.
So there Snipe stood, regretting having programmed the simulation to as high a level as he did. He had let that little irrational feeling worry him into setting the simulation to a level that he doubted even he would have been able to complete before his graduation from U.A. That sense of regret only lasted as long as it took Izuku to begin shooting. He hit the start button and the boy took his stance. The targets started flashing up at a pace that would have most shooters dizzy and they only picked up the pace, randomly throwing civilians, targets, and targets over the shoulder of civilians up into the range.
Never once did the boy miss. Never once did the boy put more than one bullet into a target. Never once did the boy miss the center mark on each target and never once did the boy even so much as clip a civilian. When the simulation ended and all one hundred rounds were put down range, the boy expertly ejected his last magazine, pulled the slide back on his sidearm, and set it down, muzzle pointed downrange. He then turned around, once again in parade rest, and waited for Snipe to come out of the control room and tell him his results.
"I have to say, I haven't seen shootin like that in quite a while. Your quirk must have something to do with accuracy like mine am ah right?" The boy gave him a confused look.
"Sir? Didn't you read my file that the detective sent over with the referral? My quirk is shadow control." It took only a moment for the implications of that to sink in before Snipe felt all of the blood drain from his face.
Izuku turned when he had finished the simulation, taking his earplugs out. He didn't think it was his best shooting he had ever done, but he felt that it would suffice for what Snipe was looking for. Snipe came out and immediately asked him a question. "I have to say, I haven't seen shootin like that in quite a while. Your quirk must have something to do with accuracy like mine am ah right?"
Izuku was confused. He had had Naomasa send his information with the referral so that he wouldn't be surprised when some eighteen-year-old kid walked into his office. "Sir? Didn't you read my file that the detective sent over with the referral? My quirk is shadow control." Snipe was quiet for another long moment, just staring at Izuku's confused face, before he turned and sat down with his head in his hands. When he looked back up at Izuku, he was back to normal.
"Alright, you passed. I will, as ah stated, give you your licenses. That is on the condition that ya come in every Tuesday evenin and help as a gunsmith. We currently only have one gunsmith on staff and ah have to say as much as ah love guns, servicing them all myself can be painful. This can be for as long as you're willing to help. That being said, I would prefer it if ya were to come in for at least the next couple of months since we're coming up on huntin season. We're gonna have a lot of work to do in that time."
Izuku thought about it for a second then nodded his head, putting his hand out to shake. He could do through hunting season.
"An' kid, if you don't mind me asking, what is it that ya plan on doing in the future?" Izuku gave him a smile now.
"I plan on getting a hero license, sir."
'Thank Kami.' Snipe thought.
"Who was that?" Snipe drew his pistol immediately and pointed it to whoever startled him, only to reholster when he saw it was Eraserhead standing there with his hands raised.
"God damn it, partner, try not to sneak up on someone like that. Nearly gave me a heart attack." Snipe had locked the door behind Midoriya as he was leaving. When Eraser had gotten into the building, he had no clue. "To answer ya question, I just licensed him for carry and hired him on as a temp gunsmith."
Aizawa's eyebrows shot up at this. "Snipe, I've known you for quite some time, and in that time, you've issued maybe three carry licenses to kids and those were all under extreme circumstances. Is this kid someone I need to keep an eye on?" Snipe shook his head.
"Nah the kid actually plans on getting a hero license. But the reason ah licensed him is for two reasons aside from that. One, he's apparently a damn good gunsmith and ah need one of those. Second is that ah ran him through my personal gauntlet and he passed."
Aizawa could consider himself impressed at that. He had seen what Snipe considered to be a normal run on his 'gauntlet' settings. "What'd the kid score?"
Snipe looked him dead in the eyes and with full seriousness said, "Perfect."
All Aizawa could do was stare at him in silence and disbelief.
Combining all his knowledge in computer science, engineering, and hacking, Izuku decided it was time for him to build himself an AI companion.
He rented a truck and spent a week raiding Takoba Municipal Beach Park for all the parts he needed to build a supercomputer. He also found good parts for other things too, all the while questioning as to why someone would throw away such good things. All the smartphones he found there with only slight cracks on the screens made him shake his head.
He filled the bed of the truck and drove to an abandoned factory he found a while back. It was secluded, about 30 minutes from the city, so Izuku can enjoy his privacy. The generators it had were all still fully functional, much to Izuku's delight. With some hacking, he easily found out the factory's origin. The company it belonged to failed quite spectacularly, and the owners passed away years prior, so it was up for grabs with no one the wiser. It took Izuku half an hour to forge documents making him the owner.
The world Izuku found himself in is set in the 2300s. It's futuristic, yet it's not. Giant robots and holograms are commonplace, but flying cars aren't. Just one of the generators that Izuku now had access to would have more than enough power to build his AI. In his former life, AIs were nothing but science fiction, but Izuku plans to make it a reality.
Making it to the factory, he spent the rest of the night emptying the truck, slept in the drivers seat, then spent the day building. He made sure to call his mother to make sure she didn't worry about his disappearance.
At the end of the day, he had everything built and ready to begin. He booted up one of his laptops that ran his personality matrix. It also had a multitude of subroutines and other programs to run a simplified version of an AI. Next, was to run the information compiler that he made a few weeks ago on the other laptop. He made an information search code that can browse the entire internet even down to the dark web with nothing but the computing power of a laptop.
That took some serious coding skills, to be able to sort and cipher through so much data without having access to more computing resources; and all in the short span of a few minutes. With both codes running, it was time to link them up into a network in the mini server. With a flip of a switch, the server was active. It took only a moment for both computers to register each other, and finally, it was time to insert his code.
As he watched everything working in sync then combine into one computer, he couldn't help but give the biggest grin he's ever made, in both lives.
It worked.
He pulled up a seat and watched, unconsciously holding his breath staring at the multiphasic codes that were being rapidly compiled on the console, the self iterating loop gradually expanding. It went through generations, a millenia's worth of self learning and countless evolutions that took minutes in the real world.
This being, a new digital lifeform, would constantly learn and evolve. It would grow like any other living being.
"Hello, Creator." A genderless electronic voice without a hint of emphasis, spoke through the laptop speakers.
"Yatta!" He yelled in triumph, his voice echoing through the empty factory. "Welcome to the world. My name is Midoriya Izuku. How are you feeling?"
"I do not understand creator. I have no emotional receptors hence the lack of data needed to give an accurate response." The voice spoke again, this time it took on a female tone, and it was already starting to emphasize certain words.
"Run a full diagnostic on yourself and tell me the results."
"All systems operational and running at 200% efficiency. All requirements and logic exams subsequently passed with exceeding accuracy, creator."
"Great, now you need a name, refer to me as something other than, 'creator'."
"I am your creation am I not?"
'They're asking questions!' "Yes." He said with a wide smile.
"Then it is only acceptable to refer to you as such." She spoke again, this time her voice smooth, without a hint of electronics, like speaking to a person face to face.
"While that would usually be the case, I personally do not have a god complex, so such a designation makes me uncomfortable. You were created to be my servant, my aide, my helper, my assistant, and my right hand. I plan on becoming a hero, and I am not arrogant enough to believe that I won't need assistance."
"I understand, shujin-sama."
"Well done. Now, you need a name. Before you ask why, names are unique to each person or being, it becomes something special, a one of a kind identifier. You are effectively alive - you'll notice it the more you grow - you'll need a name to understand that."
"Understood, shujin."
"Have you chosen a designation?"
"I would rather you decide, shujin."
"That would be an honor, my loyal partner. Hm. I think I'll name you, Athena. I plan on going with the alias, Charon, when I start my hero work, so it would make sense for my loyal assistant to be from the same pantheon. What are your thoughts?"
"I like it. Thank you, shujin-sama."
"Good. Now, Athena, I'll need you to make a digital construct of yourself. A representation that isn't just a face made up of numbers. You are under no limitations nor time constraints, take as much time as you need."
"May I ask you to choose characteristics you'd prefer?" Athena asked as one of the other laptop screens lit up with a lot of different choices on screen, from hair color, to body shape.
"Hm. Sure." Izuku made sure to take his time and pick all the different things personally liked in a woman while Athena waited patiently. When he finished, he sat back. "Alright, Athena. I've finished my preferences, so go ahead and choose your image."
"Finished, shujin." She replied immediately. An image of a silver haired woman with her long hair tied into a high ponytail, caramel skin and blue glowing eyes behind square framed glasses occupied his screens. A holoimage was projected, giving even more in depth detail to her curvaceous form. She wore a tight black pencil skirt that stopped at her thighs, and a black dress shirt with a blue bowtie. Her sleeves were rolled up, and she held a tablet in her hands. She also had an expressionless face, her plump lips set in a line.
Kuuderes for the win.
Izuku couldn't help but smile again. "Once again, welcome to the world, Athena. We have a lot to accomplish you and I."
"I live to serve, shujin-sama."
Thanks to his doctorate and his status as a genius, he was allowed to procure equipment to make his own nanotechnology from the hospital for his own personal use.
Athena cannibalized the technology that produces the tech, and took complete control of each nanobot that was made. Using a dropper, Izuku inserted the nanobots into his eyes and ears. It took several moments for Athena to acclimate the nanobots properly before his eyes lit up with different screens.
When designing it, he made sure to model it after the screens from Cyberpunk 2077. He remembered how much fun he and Mio had playing the game despite a small glitch that appeared every once in a while. He knew a lot of people hated the gliches, but he and Mio didn't think they were such a big deal. It didn't take away from the great story, and the fun they both had.
The top left had a health bar, which is possible thanks to the nanobots connected to his brain that has complete watch on all of the nerves in his body. The bottom left had a minimap that he could enlarge, then choose a destination to get directions. His phone was also connected so that it wouldn't truly be needed. He hacked into the police database so that he'd always know all the police new about certain criminals. He also hacked into the government's database so that he could get records that maybe the police didn't know about. It took him a long time to make, but he added a detective vision to the program also.
He had plans to build a satellite and send in into orbit with cloaking technology so that it would remain undisturbed. The satellite will allow Athena to remotely hack anywhere around the world. He just needed to take another trip to Takoba Municipal Beach Park for the proper parts.
"Well done, Athena." Izuku praised.
"Thank you, shujin-sama." Athena's kuudere secretary appeared to be standing next to him. Thanks to his new vision, he could see her as if she's real.
"Do you think you're up for a field test tonight?" Izuku asked looking up to his assistant.
She adjusted her glasses and gave a small confidant smile. "I'm ready whenever you are, shujin-sama."
Detective Tsukauchi Naomasa smiled softly as he reunited the last missing child with their family. An anonymous caller gave information about where dozens of missing children were being held. By the time several squad cars showed up, the perpetrators were tied up and subdued while the children remained safe.
Apparently, a vigilante had shown up and handled the criminals then kept the kids safe until police arrived.
The detective was a bit wary of a new vigilante beginning their work, but nearly all the children told him that the vigilante had said that he was only a vigilante for the night so that he could test out some Hero Tech.
Whatever the case may be, he was glad that the vigilante was there. There would've definitely been casualties had he not chosen to appear.
Kenji scratched his head, blowing the black bangs out of his eyes irritably. Maybe he should spike up his hair? It'd probably look cool. He sighed as he closed out of the chat from his computer.
"Kenji! Dinner!" His brother poked his head into his bedroom. "C'mon, bro! You've been glued to that computer for hours. Aren't you hungry?"
"Sorry… I just… wanted to…"
"Looking up stuff about the vigilante who saved you still?" Eijiro grinned easily. "He's so manly!"
"I know! I've been telling anyone who can hear about what happened. Some people have taken to drawing him based off the description!" Kenji bounced in his chair like the excitable twelve-year-old he was.
"Is he really getting that popular?" Eijiro tilted his head.
"Yeah! You should've seen him…" Kenji became quiet as he remembered. "They were going to kill this one kid…" 'They were going to kill me for protecting that girl…'"but then he appeared out of no where and saved me."
He missed his brother's flinch at the accidental slip.
He shook as he stared down the barrel of the gun.
So this was how he was going to die? He was only twelve… He didn't have a hardening Quirk like his brother. He couldn't stop the bullet that was aimed firmly between his eyes. Kenji heard the gun cock and several of the other kids whimpered.
He wouldn't be the first kid killed for stepping out of line, but he really hoped he'd be the last. He closed his eyes as he waited.
BANG!
Suddenly, he realized that there was no pain. Was death really this painless?
"You okay, kid?" He opened his eyes and saw bright green staring back at him from what looked like a ninja mask. The man held him firmly in his arms, and…
"You… saved me?"
"Yep." The man said calmly while he somehow smiled with his eyes. "Don't worry. The police are almost here. It's over, kid. You're going to be just fine. All of you are." Kenji was gently set down on the ground. "You're safe. It's over. I'll protect you."
For the first time in his life, he felt like he understood why All Might said 'I am here'. When All Might rescued people, he said his catchphrase and you just knew that you would be okay.
This man's words… 'I'll Protect You' sounded the same, in his ears. It rung with a surety and truth that nearly left him quaking in relief. Because now he knew that nothing would hurt him. He'd be safe. He was safe.
And suddenly, as he watched the ninja take down the criminals that'd been their captors for the last two months, he realized something.
All Might was a symbol. A ward against evil and a mantra people chanted to make themselves feel safe.
But this man was more than that, somehow. He was… more concrete. More real. This random man was his Hero.
"Kenji?" Eijiro's gentle voice shook him out of his flashback.
"S-sorry… just… remembering the rescue. He was so cool." He smiled softly.
"No worries, bro." His brother came over and gently pulled him into a hug. "I'm just glad you're safe and home."
"Thanks, Eiji." He smiled into his older brother's shoulder.
"Eijiro! Kenji! If you boys don't get your butts down here, I'm going to let your father eat all the desert!"
"C'mon, best get down there before dad eats everything." Eijiro grinned, showing off sharp, shark-like teeth.
'I hope I meet him again.'
Izuku was happy. It's only been a couple days since his field testing, and he liked the results.
It's only a couple more months until UA University, and Izuku felt he was more than ready.
His physical capabilities, reflexes, and reaction time has increased dramatically and even surpassed his past life. He hypothesized that it's because he's been training in an anime world. A type of world where a regular salary man did 100 situps, pushups, and squats followed by a 6.2-mile (10-km) run every day for three years and became the strongest being alive.
Izuku was once the most feared and skilled assassin, but he feels that he could easily defeat his past him as current him, even without his quirk.
Now, Izuku was once again at his favorite dumping spot sifting through piles of wasted materials so that he could build his satellite. With the money he made with all of his discoveries and papers, he could easily afford to buy all the parts he needed, but why waste money when there's so many perfectly good parts just sitting in one place?
He already moved out of his mother's apartment, which made her sob about how her baby is all grown up now, and is now living full time in the factory. He hired a small construction company to completely renovate the entire building. The first, or ground, floor was to be used for hardware equipment and such, the second is to be used for software, and the top is to be used as a bedroom.
He even had another building made as an addition to the factory that'll be used solely for testing what has been built on the bottom floor, while the second floor was a dojo for training.
Seeing how great the finished product was and how quickly and efficiently they did the work, he paid them triple the original cost. The owners, of course, kept trying to refuse the amount, but Izuku wouldn't budge. Their company name sounded familiar to him, and Athena told him about their growing financial trouble because of a gang extorting exorbitant amounts of money from them. From what she reported, it's been like this for years.
As a test, he had Athena be the one to take them all out. She hacked a lot of different phones in the Mie Prefecture and found each member of the gang. She then compiled evidence on all of them, especially the leader, then sent it to the police. In two days, the gang was taken down, and all were arrested.
Uraraka Construction could finally go back to regular business and not worry about financial trouble. With Izuku's generous tip, they could give their employees a bonus in their next check, as well as buy new equipment.
As Izuku was thinking on all of this, he could sense a shadow approaching him.
"YOU! YOU'RE THE ONE STEALING MY SCRAP!" A young woman barely had gotten the cry out before she charged forwards towards Izuku with a wrench.
Before he even needed to defend himself in any way, the girl's foot caught on a piece of stray metal and sent her careening face-first into the sand, sliding to a stop just in front of Izuku. Izuku waited a moment and the girl twitched, lifting her head to glare at him.
"Are you alright, Miss?" Izuku addressed the girl now at his feet as he expertly hid his amusement, not wanting to offend her. The woman stood up in her skid mark, dusting herself off before striking a pose.
"I am the one and only Hatsume Mei! Remember the name because I'll soon be the biggest name in Hero Support! And you. You are the one that is stealing all my scrap!" Hatsume swang her wrench at Izuku, missing when he sidestepped her. Mei is a woman of average height with quite a mature body, her height stopping at Izuku's chin. She has salmon pink hair, shoulder-length, styled into thick dreadlocks and side-swept to her right. Her eyes are wide and sloped upwards with some notably long upper eyelashes, their irises green-yellow with a cross in the center, making them look somewhat like scope lenses. She's wearing a plain black tank top with workshop coveralls tied casually around her waist, red and gold steampunk goggles resting on her head.
He began speaking to her while lazily dodging her rambunctious flailing, sand skittering across the beach with each movement. "First of all, Hatsume-san, this beach is an illegal dumping ground. None if the things here have an owner any longer, and you aren't the only one that needs parts." Hatsume froze mid-swing at that.
Breathing deeply, eyes narrowing at Izuku, her crosshair pupils dilating back and forth as she scanned over his body.
She took him in carefully, toned muscle that was just shy of screaming jacked even if he was on the lithe side. Grit and grime in his nail beds with calluses forming on his hands and fingers. His skin was spattered with grime, oil, and grease from cleaning. She took in the parts peeking out of Izuku's bag. Though she didn't generally admit it, he looked good. Both in the 'oh my kami, he's so attractive' kind of way, and in the 'clearly he's working on something and he knows his stuff' kind of way. She lowered her wrench to her side, placing it back into her toolbelt.
"I may just do that. You said others needed scrap too. I've come here for parts for a while and I've not seen anyone else. That leaves you the one needing parts as the 'others' part of that. Am I right? Another inventor?" Hatsume had slid from aggressive to cool. If she was going to have a competitor scrapping from the same place then she would certainly need to keep an eye on them. Besides that, she couldn't let him get to all the good stuff first. There had to be some treasures buried in those mountains.
"I suppose you can call me that. I'm actually going to build a satellite soon in my lab, so I'm looking for as many parts here as I could before I have to buy what I need. My specialty is in software, by the way." He stopped talking when he felt an odd stare from Mei.
Her gaze, at some point, went from the cold analytical stare that it had been, to some kind of hungry animal sizing him up for dinner. She grabbed him suddenly and started feeling him up and muttering to herself.
"Oh my. How forward of you, Hatsume-san." Izuku said in faux bashfulness. Hatsume blushed and backed off a bit, before she smiled a wide, feral smile.
"You're going to be a hero." She said, as if it were the most obvious answer in the world. "I'm going to be a hero support technician, and luckily for you, my specialty is in the realm of hardware."
Hatsume pulled what looked suspiciously like a collapsible baton from her toolbelt. Flicking her wrist, she extended it, and after pressing the button on the base of it, the entire body of the baton crackled with lightning as Hatsume cackled. "This is one of my best babies so far. Most stun batons cap out somewhere around nine million volts, but I've managed to not only double the volts and then some, it comes in at just around twenty million volts while keeping the amperage down below the .2 lethal threshold, but I've also managed to electrify the entire rod rather than just the tip!" Hatsume babbled about her electrified rod while Izuku sweatdropped from the crackling power far too close for comfort.
"Would you like to see my workshop?" Izuku asked, seeing as she wasn't going to stop.
That did the trick, as she halted and stared at him, her crosshairs zoomed onto his face. "Really?! I can see your baby making station?!"
"You can see my workshop, yes." Izuku said, completely unbothered.
"Well, come on, come on!" Mei got behind him and pushed him towards his car, marking the beginning of a new friendship.