Origins-A Life Well lived
To become a hero had never been on Hisashi Akatani's wish list.
One might find this odd with the fact he was born with a relatively flashy Quirk, one that, honed to perfection, could've made him a great hero, or at least a sidekick. That Quirk in question was the self-explaining 'Fire Breath' and it came with a gaping flaw: From the moment it awoke when he was four years old, Hisashi had almost exclusively breathed out flames whenever he so much as took a breath or spoke; an understandable problem for a newly awakened Quirk, nothing some fireproof furniture and a little training couldn't fix.
At least, if the Akatani family had been one of at least modest finances. Sadly, they were a poor family, barely able to out a roof over their heads and feed themselves with meager box assembly jobs. It took a special kind of mouthguard, made in a government facility, to give their son some semblance of a normal life. A mouthguard they couldn't truly afford. So, when the HPSC offered to train their son, the family accepted.
This was an early attempt to create their own personal hero. Sadly, it wouldn't be almost 30 years later that it succeeded with Hawks. So, Hisashi spent his late adolescence and teen hood running obstacle courses, enduring brutal training and instructors with poor people skills.
The biggest of the two only upsides were that he had met his two best friends at this facility: the meek Masaru Bakugo with an explosion Quirk and rigid Felix Turn with a Reflection Quirk. Well, in the latter's case, Hisashi considered him a friend; Felix seemed to hate people and Quirks in general.
The other was that he was, after failing to reach the HPSC's standards for a hero license, pushed into a new job; one that he could do well in:
Firefighting.
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Krayopolis.
During the first generation of Quirks, this American city was the firefighting capital of the world; mostly due to the rise of what were then called 'The Burnish'; fire wielders who could construct machines and structures with crystalized flame. This had lead to a technological revolution. Sadly, this burst of human creativity was mostly forgotten once the Burnish disappeared and the city's founder's true history and mountain of black laundry was revealed in the wake of the Hero Movement.
To be here was a dream for Hisashi: Now that he was no longer bound to become a hero, he hoped to learn from the history of Krayopolis and bring fourth ideas that could boost the fire departments he aimed to work for/
"Whatever and whenever you need it, Felix." Hisashi beamed for the umpteenth time. "Ask and ye shall receive."
The blue skinned Felix paid his friend little attention as they disembarked from their plane.
"Just try not to burn anything while I'm meeting with my lawyer."
As it turned out, Felix had come from money; LOTS of money. Yayorozu levels of money. The one catch was that it was in his father's name and his now late father had been an American. So, when coming over, he saw that Krayopolis was nearby and 'suggested' Hisashi to come along.
"Not a problem, buddy. I'll see you at the hotel."
Felix gave a curt nod and left with his lawyer, leaving Hisashi to explore the city after checking into the hotel. He'd already brought several books and DVDs about Krayopolis' history and some of the tech, but to see it for himself was a whole other experience.
It was when he began to return for the day that life changed:
Just before entering the hotel lobby, an explosion and erupted not too far away, sparking an inferno that slowly began to overtake the city block. Pro Heroes instantly began to race in and save civilians, but the intensity of the flames grew with each passing second. To make matters worse, the Fire Department was halved by ANOTHER explosion, this one overtaking an office building.
Hisashi, at this point, was still in training for his future career. However, the hellish, borderline abusive training that the HPSC had put him through had drilled into him a diligence in keeping near peak condition, along with the fact that ANY fire Quirk wielder, no matter how untrained, had a resistance to heat and flames.
Feet propelling him forwards and his mouth guard loosened, Hisashi raced through the crowd and into the flames.
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He had been expected to be berated and or arrested for interference at the very least when, after the fire was subdued and the madness calmed down, he let the police take him away. If nothing else, for illegal Quirk usage during a VERY high stakes situation no civilian or rookie Firefighter should be involved with.
So, you could probably imagine the young man's surprise when he was instead given a medal and praise for his actions: Saving 40 civilians and 10 Pro heroes along with their sidekicks, while also putting out the worst aspects of the inferno.
There had been one single fire-fighting technique that Hisashi had excelled at even as a child: Backfire; the method of starting a new fire to burn into and eventually snuff out a current one. While his own Quirk was rather weak on the scale, give it enough time and it could snuff out any flame.
Krayopolis' mayor, Galo Fotia IV, thanked the young Japanese man with an all-expense paid tour of and stay in the city, even moving him to a penthouse suite and arranging a limo for his travel. Hisashi had tried to decline, but the young mayor and many civilains and Pros would have none of it. The Pros Hisashi had aided offered him tours of their agencies and to cover some of his remaining education as thanks.
In fact, when Hisashi finally returned to Japan a week later, without Felix (who stayed behind to take up his family fortune), everyone wanted a piece of him: Fire Departments were begging and bribing him to join them. Endeavour's agency made an offer to speed him to professional heroism; apparently, if a Pro hero gave you the okay, that was all it took.
Then, a month later, the young fire-breather learnt that he had been given an honorary Pro License in America. This sparked the HPSC to reach out to him. Hisashi had not wanted anything to do with the Committee, nor did he want anything to do with heroism.
"I only did that because I had some training, and it was the right thing to do."
"Training you received under us." The chairman pointed out.
"And you tossed me away." Hisashi retorted, a rare smirk on his face. When the HPSC realized there was nothing they could bribe him with, they did the next best thing:
"You know, Masaru Bakugo is shaping up to be a successful lawyer. It would be…."
Hisashi unleashed a torrent of flames that just barely missed the official.
"You stay the hell away from Masa." The young fire-breather snapped, his voice graveled with rage as he put his mouthguard back on. "Fine, I'll be your little publicity stunt, but remember this: The second you released me from your oh so loving care…You forfeited any control of me. Also…!"
Hisashi then whipped out a recorder and pressed play:
"Training you received under us…..You know, Masaru Bakugo is shaping up to be a successful lawyer. It would be…."
The HPSC's eyes widened with shock.
"Yeah, you really need to start checking for stuff like that…" Hisashi smirked. "And yeah, I'm sure you could deny it or erase it, but…."
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The HPSC gave Hisashi a Pro Hero License for Japan the very next day and contacted Masaru Bakugo to aid his childhood friend in getting ready for Pro-hood. After that, Hisashi's life became a whirlwind of paperwork and costume designs, most he rejected right off the bat for being too 'scary', 'revealing', 'impractical' or 'combat oriented.'
He did, however, find one that was to his liking: A black and orange firefighter uniform with larger boots, which contained coolant, grappling hooks and suction functions. A firefighter's helmet with a pull down friendly looking mask and strength-enhancing/cooling gloves were accompanied by two axe-boomerangs.
And thus, all that was needed to begin the career of the Blazing Hero: Backfire was a location to base his Agency.
"YOU MORON!"
Hisashi had overheard some yelling while waiting to meet with the housing agency and investigated.
"Is there a problem?" He'd ask asked as looked over the scene; the yeller and one other man looking down at a jittery looking man with a scary face. Evidentally, the yelling man did not hear Hisashi, as he kept berating the man for misplacing some documents and costing them a big deal.
"Well, you just lost another." Hisashi announced, helping the man to his feet and giving the other two a sarcastic salute as he walked outside with the other.
That was the first time Hisashi met his future best friend; Jin Bumiwagara; a meeting the latter would never forget.
MH-RH
The Rescue Heroes had started off as a joke.
A week after settling into the center of downtown, Hisashi had been invited to a meeting between the Top 100 Pros (he apparently WAS #100, but this was more to not being added to the 'popularity contest') and he and Jin, AKA Clone Hero Twice, were understandably nervous.
"Damn they all are looking fine! What a bunch of dorks…" Jin muttered, dodging a nudge from Hisashi, who made his way over to some of the lesser ranked heroes; he was not about to embrass himself in front of the Top 10!
"Ah, Backfire! Happy you could join us!" Gang Orca waved over before spying Twice. "And I'm guessing this is your partner?"
"Partner? I'm the only sidekick!" Twice half joked.
"Twice, don't be like that." Backfire reminded his partner. "Yes, Jin is my partner."
"Wash, wash washer!" Wash waved happily, dragging Thirteen along.
"Well, I for once am happy to see more Rescue-oriented heroes." The Space Hero mused, others in their group nodding.
"Honestly, I'd rather just stick to saving rather than fighting." The male Water Hose remarked, seeing Hisashi nod in agreement. "We may not look it, but our Water Quirks are nothing special."
"Tell me about it." Manual mused. "I don't even know HOW I got my ranking…"
He then looked up to Backfire.
"Can I get your autograph?"
This took the Blazing hero by surprise, but he did so with a smile.
"I'm nothing special myself, ya know."
"Oh, now that's a load of bull!" Twice mused, getting their attention. "He pulled my ass out of a career destroying incident and gave me a job, this guy here? He should be top 10 already!"
Many warmly laughed at Twice's devotion to his partner, 13 among them. Their cute laugh got Twice's attention.
"Um…Can I get YOUR autograph?" He shyly asked. "I've always liked Sci-fi and you're the go to hero for that…."
Now it was 13's turn to be surprised, but they did as the request. Selkie, in contrast to his 'cool' look, let out an adoring 'awww' at the scene, as did Backfire.
"I do hope we can all work together someday." The Space Hero mused. "Be nice to not only be in the spotlight, but work with fellow rescuers."
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Not even a week later, 13's hope became a reality: A surprise storm off the coast threatened several fishing boats and tourists, not to mention the nearest parts of the city. Without any request and despite being at an elemental disadvantage, Backfire and Twice had raced to aid Selkie, Gang Orca and Water Hose. 13 had appeared suddenly; sucking up debris from the strong winds and pulling flying civilians closer for Twice's clones to grab as Wash backed up Hisashi in manning the boats and saving civilians.
Not a single causality came from the disaster, which did not make front page nor result in an increase of rank for any hero involved, but it got people thinking: Alone, any of these Pros were good, but when they worked together?
A week later, the HPSC approved a request for multi-agency merge, and the Rescue Heroes were formed.
Backfire was field commander and frequently backed up by his partner Twice, while Wash was an expert in cleaning wounds and water rescue with Selkie, Manual and the Water Hose duo. 13 often served as mission control but was always available to help. To complete their squad, Gang Orca's echolocation helped in finding civilians, while Hero Study students Rock Lock and Kamui Woods specialized in mountain and forest rescues.
The team became an overnight sensation: Toys, T-shirts and even an award winning 'educational-action' animated series that the team lent their voices to. Their rankings shot up and for a brief while, people began to remember that heroism was more than punching villains away; it was about protecting and serving.
All Might voiced his approval of the team, but sadly never could find the occasion to team-up with them in real life, although there was an episode of the TV show he did. The Wild, Wild Pussycats however, did team up with the Rescue Heroes so often they almost lost their identity as a separate group.
Life seemed to be going good for Hisashi; a good job, wonderful friends and making more money that he had ever imagned; enough to send his parents to live comfortably in America.
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Backfire had not expected to return to the States so quickly, but with his honorary license, he was in a unique position to aid the American pros against someone they considered of having potential of rivalling Destro's Metal Liberation Army:
HumaRise, a Quirk Singularity Destruction cult that was growing in influence and membership.
Backfire had backed up Captain Celebrity (what an annoyance) in dealing with a commander's plan to contaminate the water of three major American cities with a special poison that would kill anyone with a Quirk Gene. With some help with Elecophant, Cow Lady and Celebrity's sidekick Stars & Stripes, they had managed to stop the plot.
"…Felix?" Backfire asked in horror when he saw his childhood friend standing over the mastermind, who had slit his throat at Felix's gentle request.
"I go by Felct Turn now." The blue skinned man snarled. "I see you became an idiotic hero as well."
That was the first of many meetings. Meetings that would always turn into battles. Battles Backfire would never enjoy speaking of.
MH-RH
They say that when you first meet the love of your life, the world freezes. And then the world speeds up to make up for lost time. For Hisashi, the first bit certainly did happen.
It was his night off and Masaru had invited/begged him to accompany him at a business dinner. Apparently, there was a woman who had been borderline stalking him and he figured having Backfire as his plus one would scare her off.
Mitsuki, a voluptuous and fiery blonde model, was not deterred from her fawning of Masaru and she gave Hisashi little thought beyond being impressed a rising hero was her 'future hubby's' childhood friend. Hisashi felt some pity for his friend, but after dealing with Flect and the HPSC, he could tell Mistuki was not that bad a person; just opinionated, proud and enjoying a challenge to both herself and others.
"Mitsuki, please. Be nice for once." Another voice added before everything, but Hisashi, seemed to freeze. Turning to the source, his eyes widened:
Her voice was like a dove's coo; gentle and soothing. Her shy smile warmed Hisashi in a manner he'd not felt in years. Her green hair and round expressive eyes reminded him of a meadow he could spend hours in. And while some more…verbal and lesser men may have noted she lacked Mitsuki's build, to Hisashi, she was so beautiful no one compared.
This was Inko Midoriya, Mitsuki's childhood friend. Mitsuki had dragged her to this party just as Masaru had Hisashi and she had been avoiding the spotlight as she could while running damage control for the blonde beauty.
It was then that time resumed and Hisashi realized that Inko was staring at him in a similar shock. Both broke into blush and chuckled before Inko readied for a handshake, but Hisashi gently pecked her hand and smiled sweetly.
Mitsuki smiled at this and dragged Masaru away. Masaru was smiling in a similar way as Hisashi offered to take a walk outside with Inko, finding the party a wee bit stuffy. She accepted with a smile.
(3 years later)
"You may now kiss…hey, let me finish!" The priest joked warmly as the happy new couple's lips in a passionate lock as their friends cheered and cried happily.
The two separated for air and stared into each other's eyes, nothing short of adoration on their faces. Inko then threw her bouquet, which landed into the hands of Sumi, who glanced up at Mizu, who had grabbed Hisashi's garter. Twice and 13 were saddened they didn't get either but chuckled when Rock Lock started flirting with the flower girl.
After a year long honeymoon in San Francisco, the couple moved into the Rescue Heros HQ; after the massive surge in popularity of the TV show and in order to help the team to get to locations faster, the HPSC had repurposed an abandoned military island base for the team. They had spruced it up with a home threatre, garden warm paint job.
Inko, already adored by the team, made herself even more endeared by cooking and cleaning around the base, despite their insistence she didn't have to. Her presence brightened up the team and made Hisashi more determined than ever to always bring people back safely, so that he could go home to his beautiful and adoring wife.
(1 year later)
"WAAAAAAAH!"
12 hours of labor later, a baby boy with green, bushy hair came into the world: Izuku Midoriya. The first baby born in Rescue Hero HQ.
Fatherhood suited Hisashi just as well as marriage; he lived for playing with his son and tried to look cool for him whenever he could afford to and rushed to get home whenever he could so as to spend as much time with his family. Others took note of this.
"Some Pros are devoted to heroism first and foremost. For some, its villain catcher first, everything else second. But with Backfire?" One night show host mused. "The man is a father first, hero second."
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"Do you have to go?" 7 year old Izuku asked as he saw his father gear up for work. He already knew the answer, but this freak storm seemed…off.
Hisashi smiled softly and hugged his son.
"I'll come back. Can you take care of your mom for me until then?"
Izuku saluted his father happily. The man kissed his son and wife before heading out.
That was the last time Izuku ever saw his father. It was also the last time Jin was sane of mind and the last night the Midoriyas and Rescue Heroes stayed in HQ.
To be continued in: Speed Run Training
Next time, we return to the canon story. Izuku is granted a crash course to get ready for UA and finally meets Creati face to face. The Four Force user will appear in this chapter
What do you think of the fact that I gave Flect Turn a civilian name? Felix was the only one I could think of, and I wagered that unless they really hated him (in hindsight, very possible given the guy's nihilism), no parent would name their child Flect Turn.
Speaking of which, the leader of HumaRise and his organization will play a much bigger role in this story. There will be more flashbacks to Hisashi and Felix's past encounters, but to give you an idea of what I am aiming for; their dynamic is like that or Mr. Fantastic and Dr. Doom. In regard to his relationship with the kids, Flect will be akin to The Hood to UA's Thunderbirds (if you understand what I mean by that, good for you).
Until next time, keep warm, safe and read and review, would ye kindly?
