Run
Izuku had decided to take the long way home that day, just to leave himself alone with his thoughts. As he walked, he ended up passing through the park, and more notably the old statue of All Might. It was so lifelike, perfectly capturing his award-winning smile and inspiring presence. Even looking at it he could feel the weight of his power and legacy.
And the weight of Izuku's failure.
"Sometimes I think Kacchan's right about me. Sometimes I worry he's right about you. It's been four years since you di- since we met" he admitted, his voice was that of a confession.
"Maybe he's right. Maybe you did lie to me… No you wouldn't do that. It's something wrong with me. Maybe I'm doing it wrong because I'm useless. Maybe because I'm quirkless your quirk didn't work. Or maybe it's obvious what I should be doing but I just can't do it. Kacchan would probably find it easy. But I can't be a hero like you"
Silence, like he expected.
"I just wish… I just wish you were here to teach me. I bet you would have been an amazing teacher. I bet you could make even a Deku like me a hero" he started to cry.
"Kacchan is right though. I'm never going to be a hero, there isn't a world out there where I would be a hero" he admitted now actively sobbing and shaking as he broke down
"I'm sorry. I've disappointed you All Might. I've failed you"
He collapsed onto his knees, lying by the statue in silence. He didn't know what to do or who to turn to. Who could he ask? Why did it have to be him who ran into that building rather than someone more capable?
It should've been someone else. Someone who wasn't pathetic like him.
He just lay there. He didn't know how much time had passed. But he just lay there in silence. Stewing on his own helplessness and failure.
But then not far in the distance there was an explosion, and a great pummel of smoke rising. A villain?
He dragged himself to his feet and wiped his eyes with his sleeve. Something bad was over there and his curious mind just had to find out what.
Elsewhere
Moonfish wasn't supposed to be this powerful. The escaped death row inmate (who may never have been on death row in this world) was supposed to only have power over his teeth. In this world he seemed to also have power over his fingernails granting him far more versatility.
"There's meat to devour within this armour. Meat and flesh" he scratched the armour surface and had even penetrated through some of the weaker parts. The close quarters environment wasn't helpful, it left Firstbreed with no room to manoeuvre. But was ideal for Moonfish.
"Flame, Reformer, one of you might want to help me with this one" he yelled through his communicator.
"Don't worry Firstbreed" Moonfish turned in shock as Eternal Flame appeared at the window at the window.
Before Moonfish could even turn to face him, Eternal Flame had already reared his fist back.
"0.4% SMASH" he yelled punching through the wall and incapacitating Moonfish in one swift punch. Shattering his teeth and nails and throwing him into the wall. Firstbreed checked that he was truly incapacitated before securing him in restraints.
Then he opened his helmet to breath and crouched down in exhaustion. Eternal Flame placed a hand on his shoulder in comfort.
"Sorry just exhausted taking down criminals on his level" Firstbreed panted, gasping for air.
Eternal Flame nodded at him understanding, out of the three of them Eternal Flame was the one who most embodied their idol All Might. What with his black eyes being so similar to All Might's, though with green irises rather than blue. (Was that a side effect of One for All? He'd have to ask him) He had also come to share that man's physique and costume. Though the costume was a forest green rather than red, his smile, while just as wide, was less joyous but more sincere. He had also grown a green beard and his own hair had grown out of control, forming a large ponytail (though nowhere near the size of Yaoyorozu's).
"I understand, do you want me and Reformer to go on ahead?" he asked to which Firstbreed scoffed.
"Not a chance" he replied as Eternal Flame offered him a hand "just give me a minute"
"I don't blame you. Without One for All I'd probably be collapsed on the ground by now" he reassured him, pulling him up.
"Shouldn't-shouldn't it be Two for All?" he panted "given the unique circumstances of your version of that quirk"
"Maybe but it doesn't really run off the tongue you know" he admitted rubbing the back of his head awkwardly.
"How many have we taken down now?" Firstbreed asked still panting.
"Last I counted it was a hundred and thirty-one, not including the hired muscle" Reformer answered, himself arriving via portal.
"We're lagging behind" he panted and at that inconvenient moment his interface started to beep red.
"AN EMERGENCY HAS OCCURRED. A HERO IS NEEDED"
"Not now" he moaned looking into the alert "any time but now"
"What is it?" Eternal Flame asked.
"Shadow Master"
Shadow Master had been a villain that Izuku hadn't faced until becoming a pro. He had the ability to control people's shadows and transform them into replicas of people and had managed to amass an army of shadow people before Izuku had stopped him. The thing was he was an old villain, and he had once fought All Might but lost. Normally he would spend a long time in hiding, too afraid of either All Might or the League of villains to act.
But in this world All Might was dead.
"It's a distraction. It has to be, every news and media outlet is reporting on our arrest spree. There's no way he would be attacking unless it was to draw our attention" Reformer argued, "and it's just the kind of tactic my father would use"
"So what do we do? Split up?" Eternal Flame asked.
"No. My father will be using this time to go into hiding. Along with the rest of his associates. If even one of us splits off our assault then that could lead to another thirty villains escaping. And these aren't thugs on the street, they're legitimate threats that we could lose track of" Reformer argued "the pro heroes can keep innocents safe but we'll never get chance at these villains. And more importantly to save the innocents those villains would hurt"
There was a collective pit of guilt in each of their stomachs, but the truth remained that they could only do so much. They couldn't allow All for One to manipulate them so easily.
"I'm going to keep an eye on it, nonetheless. But you're right we can't stop now" Firstbreed admitted "Let's go"
Shadow Master's Attack
He could see a crowd as he ran towards the smoke. Through the crowd and news vans he could see him, a villain. One draped in a long black cloak and dark hood. His face was hidden in shadow as he just laughed manically.
Between him and the crowd were an untold number of shadow people. Attacking the people still stuck inside the buildings. Some heroes were already on the scene but already were outnumbered by the shadow people.
"There's just too many of them" growled Edgeshot, as he began to become swarmed.
"Isn't that too bad. I do sincerely hope you call in backup. The more you bring the more shadows I can command. And the greater variety of quirks at my disposal" Shadow Master laughed in a raspy voice "speaking of which"
Behind him Izuku could see the shadows of the crowd rising out of the ground and flying towards the villain, coming in all different shapes and sizes. There reappeared as identical as their original casters. The Mt Lady shadow towering among them.
The shadows were every bit able to use their originator's quirks to their advantage and soon they were single handily causing a full-scale riot.
"Get the civilians out of here. They're just making things worse" shouted Kaumi Woods yelled as he tangled several civilians in his arms, trying to get them to safety.
"Everyone listen to me" shouted Death Arms as he wrestled with his shadow counterpart "You need to get out of here"
"That's a mistake, I've already got their shadows under my command. Yours as well, eventually you will be overwhelmed and I will be triumphant. You might as well use them as cannon fodder, it's your only chance. Only All Might could defeat me, only his quirk could not be copied. You are simply doomed" Shadow Master cackled causing Izuku to pause in his tracks.
He can't copy One for All? All Might was able to defeat him? That means he was the only person here who could possibly defeat him, perhaps he was the only one who could. And yet he couldn't. Because he was useless. Because he couldn't figure out how to use a fucking quirk. But they needed One for All. They needed All Might. But he wasn't All Might. So what could he do?
What would All Might do?
He ran.
Far away three heroes saw him run. Due to the cameras still running. Immediately realising their mistake, they turned towards him. But he had no idea. No idea help was on its way. No idea what's doing. No idea why's running. No idea why he can't stop.
"STOP KID YOU'RE GOING YOURSELF KILLED"
"Aren't you brave little kid? But it's time for you to die with your heroes boy"
A shadow swung. He ducked. Barley. Another used some sort of spike quirk gashing his arm. He managed to dodge some vine quirk. Then he tumbled to the ground due to a wind quirk.
And yet he got back up. Scrambling he ran forward.
"YOU HAVE TO STOP HURTING PEOPLE" he screamed getting one good punch on the villains face "DETROIT SMASH"
Shadow Master lacked any superhero immunity. Unfortunately he didn't need it. For no superpower occured.
"This little brat thinks he's All Might. Kill him"
Tendrils of darkness wrapped around his waist. The Kamui Woods shadow. He was pulled away from the villain. Into the street. The last thing he saw was the silhouette of Mt Lady's foot coming crashing down on him.
He survived.
"How could we forget? How could I forget? Of all people"
Izuku dared to open his eyes. He'd been carried to safety by the Eternal Flame. No not just him, Reformer and Firstbreed had arrived too.
"Being a hero should be about saving lives, not fighting villains. That's the true goal of a hero. And it's time I prove it" he yelled placing Izuku down.
"BECAUSE WE CAN HELP" he shouted before charging in a punching the Shadow Death Arms across the street. Instantly causing him to disintegrate. It seemed the shadow people were not durable.
Above him Firstbreed flew into action, two energy blasts from his cannons were unleashed upon two unsuspecting shadows.
"If we had known how powerful he was we'd never have delayed. But that's no excuse" he shouted before zooming to engage the shadow of Mt Lady, unleashing a beam of green energy against it.
"Thank you for reminding us Izuku. But now let us do our jobs properly" Reformer shouted, him unleashing a wave of blue fire upon the shadow people.
Izuku just stood there is awe as the Green Heroes just annihilated the shadows that had managed to hold their own against pro heroes. And they knew his name! Wait how did they know his name?
"It's a delight to see such powerful heroes like you. New soldiers for my ARMY" shouted Shadow Master as new shadows formed out from the Green Heroes "Thank you for my new conscripts. Now kill them"
"NO" screamed Izuku but the new shadows did not use the quirks that their counterparts had been boasting. Instead meekly attacking them with fists and brawn.
Eternal Flame laughed "your quirk has it's limitations doesn't it. You can copy the quirks we were born with, but not the power we earned"
"And you seem to have my original quirk but none of the ones I picked up along the way" Reformer said effortless destroying his shadow counterpart.
"And unlike you I don't need a quirk to fight shouted Firstbreed, punching a hole right through his shadow.
"No, no that's impossible" shouted Shadow Master now starting to panic.
"Oh is it? We'll see if you still feel that way in prison" Eternal Flame shouted smiling wide "cover the civilians. He's mine"
He sprang forward. Three shadows destroyed before one could blink. Two more had their heads smashed together. Another received a kick. And then he was at the villain.
"URAVITY STRIKE" he bellowed unleashing what seemed to be a more powerful Detroit Smash. The villain went flying. And instantly fell unconscious.
"It's okay now we've got this" Eternal Flame said before turning to Izuku. A feeling of shame welled up in his stomach at the look "stay here we need to talk to you"
Though Shadow Master was incapacitated his army remained. In the end it took the Green Heroes well over an hour to eliminate them all, especially as many had filtered into alleyways and began hiding from the heroes. And this was after the civilians had been rescued which took another half hour.
During it all Izuku just stood there, at one point he was scolded by the pro heroes but mostly he just waited there. They likely wanted to scold him, to warn him not to be careless next time. He had acted stupidly.
When the Green Heroes returned Izuku thought they were coming to talk to him. But instead they gave him an apologetic look.
Eternal Flame mouthed "later" before turning to the cameras.
"I'm sure you all have a lot of questions" Eternal Flame said "but allow us to first introduce ourselves. I am the Hero Eternal Flame"
"I am the Quirkless Hero: Firstbreed, because I'm the first of a breed of quirkless heroes" said Firstbreed, landing beside Eternal Flame. Izuku was right, he was a quirkless hero. It is possible to be a hero without a quirk.
"And I am the All for One Hero: Reformer. I can take the quirks of villains and reform them in my pursuit of justice" Reformer explained, flexing his fingers to emphasize his point.
"We come from different worlds, ones that run parallel to our own. Similar yet different, and billions of them exist. But some of them are luckier than others" Firstbreed explained, displaying a holographic image of thousands of worlds behind him.
"Some have symbols of peace; some suffer the master villains. Some worlds become doomed while some thrive" Reformer explained "often due to the tiniest of changes. Eventually we learned to travel between them"
"And so, the three of us united, vowing to go to world to world. Defeating the evil within and saving their inhabitants and their world. We became the Trinity of Justice" Eternal Flame explained "and we have already saved hundreds of worlds and never once failed, and that has led us to your world. We won't lie there is a danger. But never before have we failed and will not do so this time"
Izuku could only gape in shock as the reporters began to hound the heroes. Everything he knew about life, the universe and everything had come crashing down in a single moment.
A/N: This chapter was getting too long, so the Trinity of Justice will be privately meeting our Izuku in the next chapter.
When designing the members of the Trinity of Justice (who I'll refer to the symbols of peace or SOP for short in these author notes) are meant to embody the full potential of Izuku from some of the most common backgrounds to his character. Eternal Flame is the One for All Izuku at his fullest power (and beyond that power due to some backstory stuff). Reformer is the fullest potential of a villain quirk/ villain background Izuku, while Firstbreed is meant to be full potential of the quirkless Izuku.
Some of you were upset that Izuku remains timid in this story, I think that's a core part of his character. Therefore I hope you can enjoy seeing the SOP Izukus be the more confident version you wanted.
And yes Eternal Flame is enough of a dork to name his attacks after his friends.