Cracked lips grin with glee underneath the hand that served as a mask as the white-haired teen welcomed his target's arrival. His pride began to swell when he noticed the hero's scowl in place of his signature smile.
"Have no fear…for I am here!", he heard the hero announce his presence, anger clear in his tone. It did not matter to him now that the brat near him was close to tears seeing his dear saviour arrive nor the fact that most of the students were praising him like he was their salvation; he could now put his plan into motion!
With his arms open as he cackled, he rasped an order, "It seems we have a continue on our hands!"
Bang!
A sharp pain shot through his hand, bringing his enthusiastic high to a stop. He slowly brought it closer to his face to see it…and the heroes that stood by the entrance through the bloody hole. He felt anger and pain surge, but he was met with several bullets to his arms, elbows and legs before he could have a chance at expressing any of it.
"Class 1-A rep, Iida Tenya, reporting for duty!", he heard the yelling of a bespectacled student that stood in the middle of the hero line up.
Then, before he could even think about ordering Noumu to finish off the brats near him and the teacher, All Might zipped towards the plaza and picked them all up and placed them far away from the Noumu before rushing off to maybe retrieve the other brats scattered around.
"A…a... ahh…. already?", he grunted. "We… overestimated our timer and we got a game over because we ran down the clock…"
Turning towards Kurogiri, who had never left his position since he returned to report his failure, he muttered, "I guess it's time to go back to the drawing board eh, Black Mist-?!"
His voice jumped up a few octaves for a moment as he felt his legs be swept away. It was as though they were being sucked into something and tugged at high speeds, causing his elbows to be scraped as his body was dragged across the ground. The scrapes stung—something he needed less of in addition to his gunshot wounds—and his mind stirred trying to regain his bearings.
Looking down, he saw that his feet were inside the warp gate that was part of Kurogiri. However, the warp gate itself was being sucked by an incredible force. His eyes trailed along the increasingly stretched body of the warp gate and found that it was being pulled into a vortex. At the end of it?
No.13.
All his gloves' fingertips have popped open, each fingertip creating a vortex which, when put together, became akin to a strong gravitational force. A black hole.
Before he knew it, he and Kurogiri were almost within 13's reach and his body half-consumed by Kurogiri's warp gate. While there was a sliver of hope that Kurogiri might be able to warp them back to the safety of their base of operations, it was beginning to look like there was not much Kurogiri left to complete the warp.
Then, in a desperate attempt at staving off capture, he yelled out the name of the weapon created to defeat All Might. "NOUMU!"
In an instant, the suction ceased after a loud slam was heard followed by the shattering of a visor.
"Thirteen!", he heard the heroes cried out as they saw a flash of white zip past. Thirteen's visor was gone, his head hung limp as he lay in his concrete indentation in the wall unconscious. A masked Pro Hero wielding revolvers in a cowboy-inspired costume was the first to recover from the shock and shot at Noumu, who stood there eyeing the other heroes.
As injured as he was, Shigaraki could not help but feel a slight rush of excitement watching the hero's body language go from exuding confidence to fear as bullets did nothing to the Artificial Human. This was perfect! With the Noumu's abilities, tailored specifically to counter All Might's, he might just clutch this round.
"Kurogiri, keep our distance!", he barked at the disoriented mass of warp essence. With some effort from the warp gate, he managed to place himself in an ideal position just by the bottom of the staircase leading up to the main entrance. From here, no hero should be able to find him, and he could still afford to be in range to keep Noumu receptive to orders.
"Shigaraki," he heard the warp gate whisper hoarsely, "Why aren't we taking this opportunity to escape? We have been compromised, are we not? Surely even Noumu wouldn't be able to fend off this many heroes."
"Because, Kurogiri, we shall not be leaving without taking a souvenir ourselves!"
Kurogiri hummed in amusement. "And what shall this 'souvenir' be, Shigaraki?"
The leader of the group of villains chuckled. "Any one of the students! You see what I'm getting at right? The Noumu is currently the best distraction we could hope for! Sure, we can escape now and the damage will already be done to their reputation but, why stop there when we can do so…much…more!"
Kurogiri narrowed his eyes in deliberation and peeked out of the corner of the staircase. Noumu appeared to be giving the other heroes a tough time but Thirteen's quirk was hindering the artificial being's mobility by a mile. More importantly though, All Might was nowhere in sight. At least, not for long. "Alright, we can afford a 'souvenir' but you must make it quick," he told Shigaraki. "The vast area of the facility might buy us some time as we have scattered some of the students but his speed is formidable. Furthermore, Noumu won't last long especially with Thirteen around."
Just then, the dreaded words have been uttered in triumphant joy. "We did it! We got him!"
Both villains snapped around the staircase corner and looked up where the heroes were fighting Noumu only to find that the massive mass of flesh and intimidation was currently suspended in mid-air, flailing around. "H-how?!", blurted Shigaraki. Then, he noticed a young brat in a pink spacey costume standing by Thirteen alongside other brats.
"Kurogiri…", he growled. "You didn't scatter all the brats, didn't you?"
The black mist hung his head in shame. "I'm afraid not. I only managed to get a handful of them."
Shigaraki muttered a curse under his breath and peeked around the corner to look for 'souvenirs'. A tuft of green entered his field of view just on the other end of the staircase, eliciting a grin to creep up onto his face. "I think I just found myself the perfect gift to bring back!"
Safety was a relative term. Were they free from imminent death by being mutilated and/or turned to dust? Yes. Were they free from villains? Not really but the cavalry Iida brought back certainly helped in keeping them off their position, which was a good thing because they have a teacher that was on the brink of death to take care of.
"M-man, why can't we go home?", whined the short Mineta. "All Might's here, the villains have mostly been beaten and we have the help we need, so why are we still here?"
Large eyes turned towards those quivering with tears, betraying no emotion. "That's because we still have friends scattered around the facility, ribbit. We cannot make a move until the safety of everyone is assured."
"B-b-but-!"
"Honestly, stay calm," chided Tsuyu while she tended to Aizawa's battered body. "You said so yourself, the help has arrived. I'm sure the Pros will be able to handle this. Besides, we still have some of our friends who weren't warped helping them out. Isn't that right, Midoriya?"
No response was given. Instead, she heard silent muttering coming from the boy. She turned towards him to find that Izuku was staring intently at the ground with his brows furrowed, his mouth moving as he spoke to himself. Despite having only known him for a few days, Tsuyu quickly learned that the green-haired teen had a penchant for creeping out people around him with his bouts of intense muttering. However, she felt that something had not been right with him lately. While there was nothing wrong with him in the explicit sense, the way he talked to himself felt…off.
She thought nothing of it when she caught him muttering again yesterday but she had seen him doing it more than once today. Sure, it was a force of habit for him, and that fact was true, but she noticed that the word vomit that seeped through his lips became less like a reflective analysis and more like a conversation. But with who?
"Tsuyu," she heard Mineta squeak. "What's Izuku doing? He's creeping me out…"
She turned towards the purple-haired midget and sighed. "He's muttering again, don't worry about it." Deep down, however, she was not sure she believed her own words. She walked up to him, pacing with caution to avoid detection and crouched behind him.
She was about to pat his shoulder to snap him out of his inner monologue when she heard something odd about the way he spoke.
"Just how strong is…?"
"But…could have killed…"
"Epitaph…can be used…what now…illusion…future…?"
She could barely make out what he was saying but she knew one thing was for sure. Midoriya was definitely talking to a person. But who was it? He had no communicator on him and he had no telepathy to speak of so it must be himself. But only those deemed crazy had conversations of such intensity with themselves and the class president was very much sound of mind. Then, she saw him ruffle his hair, letting it cover his eyes.
It must have something to do with his new Quirk that no one else knew because she had seen him do it when the villains began their invasion of the USJ. It had to be the case because there was no solid reason for a person to let down their hair for the sole purpose of covering their eyes and then fix it shortly after. This was usually the time when he started giving information that was a bit too accurate to their current situation to be a lucky guess or a product of study.
She might not know what Midoriya's new Quirk exactly was but she now knew in included a form of insight in addition to his weird ability with time. Come to think of it, no one in class ever approached him on the subject. Well, what better time than the present, right? Thus, her hand came into contact with the class president's shoulder with soft tap, sending said president to jump up and shriek.
"T-T-Tsuyu!", Izuku stammered. "I was muttering again, w-wasn't I?" He scratched his head with a sheepish smile.
"Yes, and you're creeping us out," stated the frog girl with a blank face. "Stop that."
He apologised for a while before sobering up. "Oh yeah, did you want to say something or was it just my muttering?"
"Yes and no."
Izuku tilted his head. "What?" He began to feel uneasy as large eyes threatened to look closely into the windows of his soul.
"I did want to ask you something and, in a way, they are related to your habit of muttering," she said.
His eyes went wide and panic weighed on his heart. "W-wait! What do you-?"
"You're not actually muttering to yourself, are you?", she questioned him. "You're talking to someone."
Crap. If it was physically possible for blood to drain from your body due to fear, this was what it would have felt like. He felt like he was sweating bullets but there was nothing but the chill that crept up on him.
'What am I going to do?!', he mentally screamed. 'She's already close to figuring out the truth about King Crimson! When that happens, Diavolo is going to be found out too! And then—wait a minute… why am I getting all worked up for? This isn't like me.'
Boy… Don't you dare do what you think you are going to do...
'But why would it matter, Diavolo? Tell me, why? You've been watching me for a while, right? You should have figured out that society views being a hero akin to that of having a highly-respected job. That means everything about them, their powers and identities, are registered into the government's database. Heroes are no longer operating on their own terms, per se, but rather under the government's employ. There are even agencies where budding youths go to get enlisted as a sidekick to work with an established hero.'
What in the blazes-?!
'Yeah, I know. It's kinda weird. Before I became a student here, Kacchan was attacked by a slime villain. Long story short, my then Quirkless-self rushed over to try and help him. All Might came and all was good. However, I got reprimanded for my recklessness by the other Heroes but Kacchan, the victim, was praised even though his Quirk was what prevented them from being able to help him to begin with. So, yeah… It's either I tell people about you now or later when I need to get registered for my Hero License.'
Like I care! I, Diavolo, am the Emperor of Fate and I demand that my identity be kept away from public knowledge!
Izuku let out a sigh. The don was being difficult. Glancing over to Mineta and Tsuyu, he could tell that he was muttering again. The unease in their eyes confirmed it. What a bother… Still, something in him was telling him that having Diavolo around was affecting him. He felt more cautious about letting others know about his Stand even when he himself acknowledged the need for transparency.
'Alright, Diavolo,' he started. 'You know what? Fine. But I'll have you know that whatever it is that is forcing you to think that it is necessary to be this paranoid is probably gone now. Centuries have passed, remember? Besides, I'll only let those who I can trust know about it and that means my classmates, my teachers and, should it come to it, my mother. Capiche?'
Don't come regretting this decision when it comes to bite you later.
'We'll cross that bridge when we get there, Diavolo.'
"All right, Tsuyu," Izuku replied. "I am talking to someone. But, it's a bit complicated so I'll just say that it's related to my-ARGH!"
Suddenly, he felt his head pounding. Hard. He began to grunt in pain as the throbbing grew more intense. Then, a sharp pain that he could imagine were knives sliding along his extremities down to the bone shot all over him. It was a torment so excruciating that he dropped to the ground and convulse, all the while clutching his head and grunt as he tried to stop himself from screaming.
"Midoriya!", Tsuyu cried, rushing to his aid.
"Is it a villain attack?!", shrieked Mineta, his eyes beginning to tear up already.
Tsuyu's face might not be the most expressive but she was without doubt feeling scared. Her homeroom teacher was beaten within an inch of his life left and now her friend was convulsing sporadically on the ground with anguish. She wanted to help. To do something. Anything. But her body froze and she did nothing but watch as Izuku Midoriya suffered.
Then, almost as sudden as how it began, it ended. The green-haired teen had ceased movement, his breathing now slow but laboured.
"HE'S DEAD!", Mineta shrieked. "Oh my god, why?! I don't wanna die! I don't wanna die! HELP—mmph?!"
"Calm down!", Tsuyu ordered while she covered Mineta's mouth, not really calm herself. "He's alive, Mineta. Look. His chest is moving, it means that he's still breathing."
"Oh."
"Indeed, 'oh'.
Both students snapped around towards Izuku's direction before feeling their guts drop into a pit. The white-haired villain and the ominous amorphous dark mass were standing over Izuku's unconscious body.
"Oh, where are my manners. I'm Shigaraki Tomura, leader of the League of Villains," the white-haired one said. "This here is Kurogiri, the warp gate."
Shigaraki fit the bill of an intimidating villain. Despite his lanky form and bullet holes, he had sunken red eyes and most of his face and head were covered in gloved hands. While his mouth was covered by a hand, the students could tell that he was grinning with malice.
"What do you want?", Tsuyu demanded, steeling herself to keep her voice from quivering. She had an idea of what Shigaraki's Quirk could do when she saw it in action during Aizawa's fight with him. His touch caused Aizawa's arm to start disintegrating. The warp gate next to him could send her elsewhere on a whim which she must be careful in making a move. They were also too close to Izuku so there was always the risk that Shigaraki might kill him.
"Me?", mocked Shigaraki. "I want nothing but All Might's destruction, brat. But you see, that plan is foiled. The other heroes who are not-All Might are here and my Noumu is now in hero custody as you can see from his floating flailing body."
Tsuyu glanced at the top of the staircase to find that he was telling the truth. Uraraka and Thirteen were using their Quirks together to keep the monster suspended. While she could now breathe easy that the monster that was about to kill her earlier was subdued, an air of unease lingered. If their trump card was gone, there's only one thing the villains could do. Her eyes grew wide.
"You're thinking of kidnapping one of us, aren't you?", she pressed, her tone stern but her expression as blank as ever.
Shigaraki whistled in amusement. "Impressive for a brat like you. Then again, the snotty midget behind you was probably hoping we'd all go home and be on our merry way," he sneered. "Am I right?"
Mineta shrunk behind Tsuyu, clamping onto her leg. He was then kicked off with little fanfare when his hand 'accidentally' made its way to her aft quarters.
"Sorry, you were saying?", said Tsuyu, ignoring Mineta's whining.
"Quite the feisty one, eh?", Shigaraki mused. "Don't you think so, Kurogiri? Never mind, don't answer that. I already know. Anyways, you're right. We will be taking one of you with us, preferably alive—ooph!"
Kurogiri helped the lanky villain up, his legs shaking. "Ah… the adrenaline rush is fading away…darn it."
Shigaraki then took a deep breath and forced himself up. "As you can see, time is not kind to me both to my health and to our safety. It's only a matter of time before your precious All Might returns so, I might as well make my move now."
Then, in a brief moment, he saw the frog girl pounce towards him. He tried lifting his arm but he noticed her move a second too late. Luckily for him, Kurogiri covered him and warped her behind them, causing her to land face first.
"Just because I said you were feisty doesn't mean I'd let you be feisty, brat," he sneered. "On the flip side, you've only proven to me that you're too much trouble bringing back so I'll just take this green tuft of grass then."
Tsuyu quickly got on her feet but was stopped from moving when the villain hovered his un-gloved hand over Izuku's face.
"Tsk, tsk. Not so fast," he threatened, his voice now gruff. "Make another move like that and I will not hesitate to change my policy in bringing in live specimen. I've made it clear that I want All Might's destruction and if I can't kill him then I can just as easily break him by doing this!"
Unbeknownst to him, however, his hostage was beginning to stir. He caught the frog girl holding her breath and followed her gaze. Then, upon feeling his hostage moving a bit, he panicked. Things got from bad to worse when he then heard the sound of heavy footsteps approaching them like a locomotive. "All Might…", he seethed.
He glared at the frog girl, removed his hand-mask and grinned. "Whoops. Sorry, girlie. Time's up for me," he declared before changing his grin to a devilish smirk. "And time's up for him."
"No!", he heard her scream, making him feel even more ecstatic as he dramatically raised his hand over the boy's face.
"Say goodbye!", he yelled and then, in one fell swoop, he slammed his hand into…himself?
"What the hell?!", he blurted. He felt his hand crash straight into soft facial tissue but, the person lying on the ground was him. But, he couldn't be the one on the ground as he was also the one standing over the body. Yet, his hand, his own hand, was smothering his own face that lay on the ground. "What is going on?!"
"What you just saw… what you just touched…", a deep voice uttered from behind him. "That was your future self!"
He snapped around, ready to kill this interloper that dared to interfere only to freeze in place. His sunken eyes grew into red marbles, his unmasked face revealing a mouth open in shock, surprise and, most notably, fear. His world was spinning around as a wave of overwhelming confusion swept him away.
What stood before him was a floating humanoid being with a face that expressed nothing but pure rage, its emerald eyes boring into his soul whilst another smaller face frowned upon him. Behind it, was the brat. But, at the same time, it was not him. The figure had green hair that, while unkempt and similar in style to the brat's, was rather long. His stature was several inches taller than the brat, making him about as tall as the bespectacled loudmouth from earlier. His musculature was noticeably bulkier yet lean, fitting snug in his school gym uniform. Most importantly, however, was his face. His eyes were a gleaming verdant hue with fragmented irises, his expression and mouth etched in a frightful scowl.
He wanted to tell the figure to stay back. To get away or he'll threaten to fight back. But, his body betrayed his mind as he stood still.
"Let me finish this," the figure declared in an ominous tone, the crimson humanoid raising its arm and clenching its hand into a solid fist. In less than a second, a loud resounding smash was heard and the villain known as Shigaraki was now knocked out cold, his head bouncing upon impact.
The figure stood over the villain's body in triumph, his posture hunching slightly forward behind the crimson humanoid. Then, the humanoid faded away, the figure's face relaxed into one that Tsuyu, Mineta and All Might, who had arrived just after the finishing blow was delivered, recognised in a heartbeat.
Izuku Midoriya.
Then, he turned around, looked at the three gawking onlookers and smiled. His eyes then fluttered shut and he collapsed to the ground.
He remembered how it was like to die. Every rapid-fire blow shattered his bones and he could feel his life slipping away and yet, when he woke up, he was in a sewer with some vagrants. One vagrant accused his of theft and proceeded to shank him several times. He tried to fend for himself but his Stand would not come and his body would not move.
Then, he woke up on a metallic bed. A nurse was standing by the bed, scalpel in hand. She took up a notepad and wrote him off as deceased. He yelled at her as loud as he could that he was alive but his words fell on deaf ears. It was not long before he felt the cold steel digging into his flesh, stinging and ripping him apart. Before his consciousness blacked out, he could see the nurse holding up his heart with fascination.
The next time he woke up, he was alone on a grassy hill. For a while, he thought he had reached the 'special' place people go to after death. It was quiet and the breeze was nice. It all came crashing when he saw a young child running towards him. Fearing for his life, he backed away, dragging himself on the ground while screaming at the child to stay away. A loud honk and an intense concussion later, he found himself staring at his own headless body…
"Uwah!"
Izuku shot straight up, sending the white sheets covering him flying. His face was damp with cold sweat as he was still shaken by his nightmare.
"Do not fear, for I am here!", he heard a familiar voice boom beside him. Turning towards it, his face lit up.
"All Might?", he beamed before dimming a bit. "Where…am I?"
"You are in the school's infirmary, my dear," came a kind, elderly voice. Approaching him with her walking stick, Recovery Girl whacked Izuku over the head with it.
"Ow!", winced the teen. "What was that for?!"
"That was for over-exerting yourself in a dangerous situation and for keeping your other Quirk a secret from the school!", she barked.
Izuku sheepishly scratched his head. "I'm sorry for that…wait. You know of my other Quirk?"
"That, Shuuzenji, would be my fault for not informing this to you sooner," All Might interjected.
The elderly woman huffed and whacked the Symbol of Peace over the head as well, causing him to deflate. "Jeez, Toshinori! No matter how many years have passed, you still haven't gotten your priorities straight!"
"All Might!", Izuku cried in panic. "Your identity!"
The deflated hero simply laughed him off and patted his shoulder. "Fear not, young Midoriya, for she is part of the few people who know of my true identity. The others include, but not limited to, the principal, yourself, and a police officer who's friends with me."
"I…see," mumbled Izuku, relieved. Then, he perked up, remembering something. "How are the others? How's Aizawa-sensei?"
"Don't you worry, my boy," All Might reassured. "All students were unharmed while Aizawa is in the hospital at the moment. If anything, some of your fellow classmates dispatched several villains on their own! Not to mention Uraraka, who was brave enough to approach that monster to make it float!"
"The monster?!"
"It's now being held in maximum security," stated the hero matter-of-factly. "The authorities have been trying to get answers out of it but it was totally unresponsive to any form of stimuli. Most disturbingly, however, is the fact that it had multiple Quirks. Or rather, the Quirks were forced into it."
Izuku's face turned to worry. "What do you mean?"
All Might sighed. "Blood tests showed that Noumu was once a petty criminal. Nothing out of the ordinary. But, he only had one Quirk. Noumu had several terrifying Quirks and none of them were his own. Whatever procedure he had gone through had completely wiped him of all personality and sense of self, meaning that he was effectively a living machine."
The teen gulped audibly, causing the blonde deflated hero to remember something.
"Oh, of course! Your other Quirk, how could I forget that?", said All Might, rubbing his head while his protégé looked on in worry. He then cleared his throat on looked at Izuku dead in the eye. "The whole school knows about it now."
"What?!", blurted Izuku, his jaw hanging open.
"Relax, relax! What I meant to say was, all your classmates and the heroes involved know of it already!"
Izuku closed his mouth and looked onto the wall in front of him, staring at it with blank eyes. "They…saw…didn't they?", he asked, defeated.
"Afraid so, my boy," the hero replied. "When you suddenly appeared behind the villain, everyone saw your second Quirk. Your Stand. More importantly, Tsuyu and Mineta saw the villain's movement to be weird, as though it skipped a few steps. Your appearance changed too. According to several heroes who were watching your fight from atop the staircase, they said you looked intimidating and you weren't hesitant to kill."
"I wouldn't!", Izuku protested. "You know I wouldn't!"
All Might looked at him, turned to Recovery Girl and looked at him again before sighing. "I know, young Midoriya, I know. But, the thing is, you did not sound like yourself at the time."
The green haired teen swallowed hard. He knew where this was going. "What do you mean?"
"Your voice, your tone and attitude, were completely different from your usual self," All Might stated. "Even your body structure was different, young Midoriya."
"In fact," he added, beckoning the elderly Recovery Girl to hand over some files. "The changes to your physique are permanent."
Upon hearing this, alarm bells rang in his head, his eyes became dinner plates and he shot out of the bed. After hurriedly asking for mirror, he checked himself. What All Might said was true. He was different.
His hair was longer, he was taller and more muscular than before, a mix of lean and bulk and his clothes were now snug. Fortunately, his face remained unaltered and his eyes were the same normal green.
"Whoa…", he muttered in fear, shock and amazement.
"Indeed, my boy," said All Might. "Which was why both Recovery Girl and I had every reason to believe that, as crazy as it sounds, that there is another person living inside you."
Izuku blinked once. Twice. Then, he looked at both All Might's and Recovery Girl's faces. Both were dead serious. Well, so much for keeping it a secret, Don. He then laughed out loud, wiping away his tears and faced them.
"Well, wouldn't you like to know?", he asked playfully, one eye normal, the other, fragmented.
A/N: Hey there! I would first like to apologise for the late upload. I've been rather busy as of late and the workload has been piling up. Fortunately, uni term ends by the end of next week so I'd be free for a month or so! Till then, I'll see you in the next upload!
