After eventually waking Inko up, the two got on the couch and moved to talking about this new predicament.
And then Inko came to a shocking conclusion.
"You can't use it," Inko told him firmly.
"WHAT!?" Izuku almost jumped off the couch in shock. "What do you mean I can't use it!? Why not!? Mom, do you know what this means for me! People will stop bullying me! Kacchan might actually like me again! I'll finally be able to become a hero!?"
"But what if it's temporary?" Inko asked him, giving him a sad and concerned look.
Immediately, Izuku deflated, and his pupils shrunk in despair as he realized what his mother was talking about.
This was not, technically speaking, HIS quirk. It was an effect of the spider's quirk. Or at least that's what they assumed.
And quirk effects were not always permanent. Most of the time they weren't. So that meant that his newfound power might be short-lived.
All the excitement drained from Izuku, and Inko's heart broke as she saw her son's face fall. But she knew that it was better to bring this to his attention now. Because if she let him freely use his quirk, and train with it, only to lose it in a week or two, then he would be crushed.
"Let's just wait a month," Inko told him, trying to put some hope back into him. "If it is temporary then it would have worn off by then. If you still have it, then it's probably permanent. And you'll be free to use it however you'd like."
Izuku clenched his fist tightly as if trying to physically hold onto the hope that this would last. That it wouldn't just be a cruel joke. "I...I understand."
"Also, I know you'd want to go out of your way to help people with your quirk. But remember that you don't know how to use it yet." Inko warned him. "With that much power, you could end up hurting someone very badly if you're not careful. If you see someone in danger, just let the heroes handle it, sweetie."
Again, another good point, that Izuku didn't like at all. "Yes, mom."
"And one last thing dear." Inko hated that she had to say all this, but she knew she needed to. "Don't tell anyone at school about your quirk. We both know what they'll do if you show it off, and then lose it later."
Oh god, he could only imagine. The only reason the discrimination and bullying was bearable right now is because it stopped being the most amusing thing in the world to them. If he lost his quirk after showing it off, then it would renew interest in him, and give them all something new to throw in his face.
Once again another good point that he didn't want to hear.
At this point, Izuku was just standing there with his head held low. Looking more defeated than he had in a while.
Inko stood up and grabbed Izuku's shoulders. "Izuku, look at me."
Izuku slowly lifted his gaze up to meet Inko's and saw her smiling lovingly at him.
"We don't know if they're temporary. They might be permanent." Inko told him. "And if they're not. It's not the end of the world. You could still be a doctor? They save people."
It wasn't the same. It would never be the same. Not that Izuku didn't respect doctors, he absolutely did, his mother was one after all. But Izuku had always dreamed of being a hero. Ever since he knew what a hero was.
It wasn't easy to just give up on your dreams.
But he couldn't explain that to her. He had failed at that too many times.
"Alright, mom." Izuku sighed.
In the end, he couldn't refuse her authority nor refute her points. So he just had to go along with it.
He'd already put up with all the bullying and powerlessness all his life anyway, what was another month? How bad could it be?
The next day.
"Take a swan dive off the roof and hope you're born with a quirk in your next life!" Bakugo told him mockingly.
Very bad. Turns out the answer was very bad.
Let's go back a bit.
You see the teacher had talked to all of them about thinking seriously about their future...for about two seconds before just saying "who cares you all want to be heroes!"
And then he pointed out that both he and Bakugo applied for U.A.
Which brought life back to the dead horse that was making fun of Izuku.
Naturally, everyone laughed at him.
But Bakugo had a different reaction.
Suddenly, while Izuku was sitting in his seat wishing he could just disappear, he felt something, that strange buzzing in his head again.
Incoming. Left.
He barely turned his head in time to see Bakugo coming at him with his palm raised and a look that would make a grown man shrivel up in fear.
It seemed like time had slowed, and Izuku guessed that was a result of his new spider speed, and so were as he actually had about a second to react, it felt like he had ten.
So he leaned back, so when Bakugo slammed his palm against his desk and blew it up, the explosion just missed him.
Bakugo was shouting at him, but Izuku wasn't listening. His brain was too busy thinking about what just happened.
That buzzing. The same thing happened last night. Some kind of...warning system. Like a...spider-sense. Izuku thought. Do spiders normally have that? What else can it do? Does it just tell me if I'm in danger or does it tell me if other people are in danger too? What about danger that isn't physical, will it tell me if I'm about to say something wrong?
Then suddenly, Izuku felt Bakugo grab his shirt. "Hey! Pay attention to me Deku!"
Huh? Why didn't it go off? Izuku wondered. Kacchan went to grab me so why...unless...it only alerts me if I'm actually being attacked. Kacchan just went to grab me and didn't attack me yet. So since he didn't go to attack me, it didn't go off.
"DEKU!" Bakugo could see that Izuku still was not paying him full attention, and so he raised his palm, ready to attack him.
And the spider-sense still didn't go off.
Bakugo was about to attack, but suddenly he was stopped.
"Bakugo, if you are going to assault Midoriya then please wait till after my class." His teacher warned him half-heartedly.
The explosive blond paused, and eventually backed off, letting Izuku go, glaring at the boy all the while he returned to his seat.
Kacchan definitely went to hit me there! Why didn't it go off!? Unless that was a bluff? Izuku theorized. No. That's not like Kacchan at all. If he wanted to attack me he definitely would. The only thing I can think of is that it didn't warn me because Kacchan didn't end up actually attacking me, but how would the spider-sense know that...unless it's a precognition ability!
"And Midoriya! Please stop with the creepy muttering!" His teacher scolded him, with a far harsher tone than he had with Bakugo.
"Yes sir! Sorry!" Izuku apologized.
Later
Izuku did what he normally did and packed up as quickly as he could...or rather, he would have done that if that wouldn't have given away the fact that he now had super speed.
Since Izuku hadn't really gotten used to his new powers, he knew that if he attempted to go as fast as he normally did, he would mess up and move way faster than a normal person should.
So he restrained his movements and went slowly and carefully.
And this had the expected result.
Bakugo came in, told him not to apply to U.A., threatened him, destroyed his notebook. Typical stuff, and as the blond and his minions were leaving, Izuku thought he might actually get a break, and that would be all Bakugo did to him today.
Until he said this.
"Take a swan dive off the roof, and hope you're born with a quirk in your next life."
Izuku's eyes bulged and he paused for a second, trying to figure out if what he heard was really what he said.
When he eventually realized that yes, Bakugo really said that, his blood boiled.
He looked at Bakugo with a look of pure anger, and Bakugo met his gaze with confidence, holding up his palm to remind him of his power.
Izuku's fist clenched. Never in his life had he wanted to punch Bakugo, so much. And maybe it's because now he could. With his new power, he now actually stood a chance in a fight with him.
But, he held back. His fist unclenched, and he turned away from Bakugo.
"Heh." Bakugo chuckled. "Weakling."
The bully and his entourage left, leaving Izuku alone in the classroom.
He sighed and looked out the window where Bakugo had thrown his notebook.
Izuku did a scan of the classroom and then looked around the area down below the window.
No one was there. No one was watching.
He knew he shouldn't do this. He really, really shouldn't.
But...no one was looking so...it wouldn't hurt to use his quirk just a little bit.
And so he jumped out the window, from the fourth floor.
After about a second of freefall, Izuku landed safely on the ground, without a scratch.
Izuku smiled to himself for a second. It was just a reminder that this was real and that at least for now he had a quirk.
He prayed it would last.
Moving on, he walked towards the pool of water that his notebook was now floating in, and much to his dismay the fish in the pond were nibbling at it.
Izuku sighed, and quickly picked the soaking wet notebook. "My dreams aren't fish food."
Now with the rush of using his powers for a second had worn off, he was back to thinking about what Bakugo had said.
"I can't believe he said something so stupid!" Izuku shouted as he walked out the school gates. "What if I really did kill myself! He'd have committed a murder basically."
He wasn't actually gonna do it. He'd never even thought of doing it. And he was sure that Bakugo didn't actually mean it. But the fact that he actually said that showed that his former friend was really far gone. And it hurt to see.
"What happened to us Kacchan?" Izuku asked aloud, as he walked underneath a bridge on his way home. "Did quirks really change you so much?"
He still remembered, very clearly, the time when they were friends. Although it was now far in the past, and a very short part of his life, it was some of the best memories he had, so he held onto them tightly.
How did it go from that to this?
BEHIND YOU!
His spider-sense went off, and the buzzing was MUCH stronger than it had ever been before. To the point where it hurt a bit.
He quickly looked behind him and saw a giant hand made of sludge was coming at him.
Oh god! Izuku jumped back a good ten feet, safely dodging the sludge.
A villain!? Izuku's eyes widened in fear and shock as he watched the villain come closer to him.
"A medium-sized disguise. Perfect." The villain was literally a mass of sludge, with its only two human-like characteristics, being two eyes and a mouth. "Hey, kid. Let me borrow your body!"
And with that the villain lunged at him, extending his sludge tentacle to try and snatch up Izuku.
The spider-powered teen dodged to the side, before moving to the other side to get away from another tentacle.
I have to get out of sight! Izuku thought.
He looked around, and saw the buildings around him, before getting an idea.
Kicking himself off the ground with a mighty jump, he launched himself a good twenty feet. Then while in mid-air, he quickly kicked off his shoes and socks, before turning to a nearby building and shooting out a web line.
The line hit the building, and Izuku pulled himself towards it.
Izuku hit the building and latched onto it with his hands and feet. Sticking to it with his quirk.
"Hey! Get back here!" The villain shouted as it shouted out another sludge tendril at the teen.
Izuku quickly crawled up the building, the tendril barely missing him and smashing into the building, breaking apart the concrete it smashed into.
He made it to the roof and looked down at the Sludge Villain.
"Hey! Come back down!" The Villain cried.
Seems like his range extends up here. Izuku thought, breathing a sigh of relief.
He was safe. He could easily take off and run to find a hero.
"Pah! Fine! I'll just find another disguise!" The villain shouted.
Izuku's eyes widened. His pupils dilating, as he realized that now with him out of reach, the sludge villain would go attack someone else. Someone who was much likely much less equipped to escape from this horrifying monster of a villain.
In that instant, he knew what he had to do.
As the villain started running away in the other direction, Izuku jumped off the roof and started shooting webs shots at the villain's back, but they were all absorbed into the monster's liquid body. Doing nothing.
"Eh!?" The villain turned around and saw Izuku falling back towards the ground. "So you came back! Stupid kid!"
The sludge villain launched out another tendril, at Izuku, but the teen shot a web at the ground and tugged, pulling himself towards the ground at great speed, dodging the tendril.
He landed on the street so hard, it cracked the ground. And yet he was unaffected.
Its body was unaffected by my webs! And I don't think I can punch his liquid body away! Izuku was quickly trying to come up with ideas before the villain could get another chance to attack him.
He focused on the villain's eyes and saw them swivel to look at him.
And a lightbulb illuminated over his head.
The villain shot out another tendril at Izuku, and the boy moved a foot to the side to dodge it, before shooting out a web shot at the villain's eyes.
"Ah!" The shot hit, and the villain's eye was covered in a thick, sticky web. "Get it off! Get it off!"
The villain started flailing wildly, its slimy tendrils thrashing everything nearby. Knocking over parking meters, damaging cars, breaking windows, and causing other damage to his surroundings.
Seeing how well that worked, Izuku unleashed a barrage of web shots at the villain's eye and mouth, covering them in a sheet of webbing.
"MMMM!" MMHHM!" The villain tried to yell out curses at Izuku, but the webs around its face kept any words from coming out.
"Time to finish this!" Izuku shouted.
He shot a web line at the villain's face, which was covered by the web sheet. And then started pulling.
"MMMMMMM! MMMMM!" The villain shouted out in panic, as he felt his face literally being pulled off his body, he tried to resist, urge his body to keep hold of his eyes and mouth, but Izuku's webbing was too strong, and his strength too much, and after a few moments, eventually, they plopped free.
The eyes and mouth plopped onto the floor, and the sludge body fell to the floor. Seemingly motionless.
After taking a few moments to take everything, Izuku realized that the fight was over.
He won.
"I...I did it! I-I won! I beat the villain!" Elation filled Izuku's body, as a huge grin broke out on his face. "I won!"
"Did you now?" Said a gruff voice from behind him.
Izuku pupils shrink in fear. As a hero nerd, he immediately recognized that voice.
He turned behind him and saw the hero Death Arms standing there with his arms crossed.
"Kid, do you know what vigilantism is?!" Death Arms had been pursuing the Sludge Villain but had lost track of him when he went into the sewers. Now he finally found the bastard only to see that some kid had taken him down. Impressive, and illegal.
"Y-Yes, sir." Izuku wilted under the hero's gaze. "B-But I was attacked, a-and I-I-"
"Could you have run away?" Death Arms asked him.
"W-What?" Izuku realized where this was going.
"Could you. Have run away?" Death Arms repeated sternly.
"W-Well...I...yes." Izuku's head fell and his shoulders slumped. "I...could have used my quirk to run away."
"Well, then what the hell did you think you were doing fighting that guy!?" Death Arms scolded him, yelling so loudly that it would put Present Mic to shame. "Unlicensed use of a quirk is illegal! And you can see why! Look at all the property damage you caused!"
Izuku turned around and cringed when he saw that there was a good deal of damage done to his surroundings. Messed up cars, broken parts of the streets, chunks missing in the walls, etc.
"If I wanted to, I could arrest you, you know!" Death Arms shouted at him.
Izuku froze on the spot, as fear filled his body. Oh god! If I get arrested I might never be a hero quirk or not! Oh god, what did I do! What did I-
"Hey!" Death Arms grabbed Izuku's shoulders and shook him to get his attention back. "Listen! I'm gonna let you go for now! Since no one got hurt, and you took him down easy enough it seems. I'd be a shame to let someone with your potential get blocked from the hero business because of this."
A wave of relief washed over Izuku and yet again a smile broke out on his face, this time accompanied by tears of joy. Lots of tears. Literal rivers of tears. "Thank you, sir! Thank you! So much!"
"Ok! Ok! Jeeze!" Death Arms pushed Izuku away, not wanting the literal rivers of tears to soak his costume. "I-"
Suddenly Death Arms stopped, as he spotted something from behind Izuku.
It was the Sludge Villain! He was escaping down into the sewer!
Little did Izuku or Death Arms know. While the Sludge Villain's face was separated from its body, controlling it'd body became much harder, but not impossible. It could slowly ooze its body in any direction, and while Izuku and Death Arms were distracted, he managed to push his body back towards his face, regaining full control, before slithering back into the sewers.
"Damn it!" Death Arms ran past Izuku. "Go back, home kid! Let the pros deal with this!"
And with that, he was gone. Leaving Izuku alone.
Honestly, he wasn't sure how to feel.
On the one hand, the villain got away. On the other hand, he didn't get arrested for vigilantism.
And although Izuku was glad that his chances of being a hero weren't killed at that moment, he was also deeply frustrated that his hard work in taking out the villain was for nothing.
He sighed and looked at the destruction the villain had caused and winced once again.
Izuku could only imagine the pain it would be to clean all this up. It was far from the worst destruction he'd seen a villain cause while fighting a hero, VERY far in fact. But it was also very far from the instant victory, no collateral damage All Might fights.
I still have a lot to improve if I'm gonna be the number one hero. Assuming that this quirk lasts. Izuku sighed.
He had been able to defeat the villain with his quirk, but his quirk might not be permanent. What would have happened if he didn't have this quirk he wondered?
Well, the answer was obvious. He would have died.
Izuku looked at his hand. Clenching and unclenching it.
He'd always known he was weak before. But, ironically, it was only now that had power, did he truly know how powerless he was before.
KABOOM!
Izuku's attention snapped back to reality, as an explosion went off in the distance.
That was only a few miles away. Izuku thought, as he quickly realized what happened. That must be the Sludge Villain!
His first reaction was to run towards it, and see what was going on. After all, he loved watching hero fights.
But then he stopped when he remembered what Death Arms told him.
To go home.
He knew he should probably listen. He'd let Izuku off with a warning and he shouldn't take advantage of the man's kindness.
After thinking about it for a minute, he decided to go. After all, he was just going to watch. Get some closure. See for himself that the villain was taken care of.
He was just going to watch.
With that in mind, Izuku started running towards the explosions.
A few minutes later.
Izuku hoped he wasn't too late. He had to restrain himself again, to keep from moving at super speeds again, so it's not like he got here as fast as he could.
However, judging from the continuing explosions, and a group of people gathered near the explosions, and the fact that his spider-sense was going off like crazy, he guessed that the fight was still going on.
From the distance over the crowd, he could only see bits of green sludge, confirming his suspicions.
GET CLOSER! GET CLOSER! GO GO GO!
The buzzing in his head was so powerful, more powerful than it had ever been before. And he knew that whatever was going on in front must have been really bad.
But couldn't see much more than that through the crowd. He'd need to get closer.
So he gentilly, and slowly pushed through the crowd, trying to make sure he didn't hurt anyone with his super strength or even reveal he had it.
Eventually, he made it to the front and was able to get a full view of the nightmare that was in front of him past the police tape.
The entire area was littered with flames, as Backdraft and Kamui Woods worked to both put out the flames and rescue the people still in the area.
Destruction was everywhere, with the Sludge villain at its center. Several other heroes were present, such as Death Arms, and Mt. Lady was also nearby, but it seemed like she couldn't get anywhere close to the villain, because the area was too small for her to fit, and Death Arms was just standing by the crowd, and no hero was attacking the villain directly.
But the worst part was that the villain had a hostage.
Kacchan! Izuku thought as pure horror filled his body and mind, and his face went white with terror.
Bakugo was being held by the Sludge Villain, stuck in its body while the villain tried to suffocate him.
The explosive teen was trying his best to escape, using his explosions to try and free himself, but all that did was set the surrounding area on fire.
Never in his life had Izuku seen Bakugo, the cool, powerful Bakugo, so helpless, and it absolutely terrified him.
The pure fear in his eyes was so odd, so out of place. The vulnerability is so contrasting with his image of his former friend.
It was like watching someone light water on fire. It was opposite to what one would expect that it boggles the mind.
MOVE! MOVE! SAVE HIM! SAVE HIM!
Izuku, without thinking, moved forward, about to try and save Bakugo himself.
However, he only made it past the police tape, before he was stopped by Death Arms, who held Izuku back with his hand.
"What! You again!" Death Arms said when he saw the person he was holding back was Izuku. "I thought I told you to go home!"
"Kacchan!" Izuku shouted out to his captured tormentor, before turning to Death Arms. "Please! You have to help him! Why aren't you helping him!?"
Death Arms winced, the desperation in Izuku's tone and the use of what was obviously a nickname implied that the person being held captive was a friend of the boy's. "J-Just hang in there kid! Let the pros handle it!"
Izuku remembered when Death Arms had said that earlier. And then he remembered his mother's words.
With that much power, you could end up hurting someone very badly if you're not careful. If you see someone in danger, just let the heroes handle it, sweetie.
Unlicensed use of a quirk is illegal! And you can see why! Look at all the property damage you caused!
This was different from last time. Now there were people around. A lot of people. People who could get hurt if he charged in recklessly like he did last time. And the surrounding buildings were already weakened by the fire if the villain did that thrashing about like he did last time when Izuku blinded him.
Not to mention, with all these people here, there was no way he'd get away with the same blatant vigilantism.
If he moved in, not only could people get hurt, but his dreams of getting into U.A. would end there and then, after all, they didn't allow criminals.
Still, the pure look of fear on Bakugo's face made him want to charge in right away. Even now his body was moving forward unconsciously, only held back by Death Arms's arm.
After a few moments, he came to a decision. And he stopped.
He had always admired heroes as a child. He practically worshiped them. He could trust them to take care of this.
Right?
And so he waited. And watched.
While the heroes did nothing.
MOVE! MOVE! SAVE HIM! HE'S DYING! SAVE HIM!
His spider-sense was going off like crazy. It hurt so much to ignore it. But had to...right?
He waited, and waited, and waited, for someone to do something.
But no one did.
SAVE HIM! MOVE!
Seconds turned to minutes, as more and more time went on, and no one made a move to stop the villain. No one moved to save Bakugo.
"Why?" Izuku whispered, only being loud enough for Death Arms to hear before he started yelling at the top of his lungs. "Why isn't anyone doing anything!?"
"We can't!" Death Arms yelled at the kid.
"What do you mean you can't!?" That made Izuku angry. He just told him to sit there and trust the heroes, and now he's saying they can't do anything!? "Your heroes! Do something!"
"His body is immune to all-out attacks!" Death Arms argued. "We're waiting for backup!"
"Attack his face!" Izuku screamed at him at the top of his lungs.
Death Arms eyes widened, and he looked back at the Sludge Villain and realized that while most of it'd body and arms were made of liquid, its face was not.
Never in his life had he felt like such a failure.
Moving quickly, Death Arms bent down, and dug his fingers into the road, before using his strength to pull out a huge chunk of the street. "Hey ugly!"
"Huh!?" The villain looked at Death Arms, giving the hero a good look at its face.
And so Death Arms threw the chunk of the street at the villain as hard as he could.
"AGHHHH!" The villain's face was thrown off his body, knocked away by the hunk of tar.
His body fell to the floor, and Bakugo was free. Although at this point, he had already fallen conscious, so he just laid there, in a puddle of sludge.
"Kacchan!" Izuku ran forward, with the villain defeated, he had no reason to stay back, and so he ran to him.
Meanwhile, Death Arms quickly went over and picked up the Sludge Villain's face. Not letting the same thing happen twice.
Izuku went over to Bakugo's unconscious body, and much to his relief he was still breathing.
They weren't too late. Bakugo was saved.
The next day, at Izuku's house.
"Katsuki's dying," Inko told him tearfully.
"W-What?" Fortunately, Izuku was already sitting, otherwise, his legs would have crumbled beneath him and made him fall on his ass.
"The-the sludge. I-It was in his mouth too long a-and, he got sick." Inko sobbed, trying her best to explain this through the tears.
It was in him too long.
It was in him. Too long.
He could have stopped this. He should have stopped this.
Izuku had beaten the Sludge Villain already. He could have done it again in record time.
But he just stood by.
He let Kacchan die.
Yeah, Bakugo is gonna die here. He's kinda like Uncle Ben, except different. Trust me, you'll see the next chapter.
Now let me explain a bit about the spider-sense. First of all, it's not literally talking to him. That's just the best way to show how it works in the context of this fic. It warns him of where the danger is, how much danger there is, and what kind of danger there is.
Also, you might be wondering what happened to All Might. Well to put it simply, I needed All Might not to be here. You see, now that Izuku has a quirk, it's a bit harder to believe that Izuku would jump onto him and accidentally release the sludge villain. Meaning he couldn't escape and kill Bakugo. And All Might would have just one shot him anyway, for this to happen, I needed All Might out of the picture. So he's not here. He's still in Japan, he just happened to not go shopping today. We'll see him later.
Anyway, that's all for now true believers. Please review, and have a nice day.