Chapter 2 – Project 4511

"I have a hard time believing this… I stand here in the aftermath of what appears to be one of the most devastating villain attack in years… As you can see, nearly the whole South-West District of Okazaki has been reduced to mere rubble, no buildings in sight, plants have withered; it's a wasteland, its desolate… Even more devastating is the astounding number of casualties that this vile attack left; four hundred and twenty-one bodies have been found... With another eight hundred and twenty-three people missing… Those numbers make this the fifth-deadliest villain incident in all of Japan's history and the worst attack in the last twenty-five years. I wish to offer my condolences to the family and friends of all the unlucky victims of this villain attack and the same for those that knew the twenty-three heroes that valiantly died while protecting us from it. It is only due to their efforts, All Might and three other heroes in the Top 10 that the city is still up… It has also been announced that the villains responsible for this incident have been apprehended and put into Tartarus. To quote President Shigeo of the hero commission "No more information will be given about the responsible for this attack, it is a matter of State security, but rest assured that those responsible have been apprehended and punished."

The camera filming the reporter turned off, and she looked around, in shock of the destruction surrounding her. How has this happened? She asked herself, but no one would answer her. No one could.

Once there was once a lively and beautiful city district now stood nothing at all, except piles of rubble, withered trees and teams of volunteers and professional searching for survivors. There would be survivors to this disaster, but she feared that there would be more, to many casualties. To rebuild this part of the city, if they even rebuilt it, would be a challenge as well, every house, apartment complex, shop… everything had collapsed on itself and been reduced to ruin.

She could almost hear cries of anguish in the distance as she strained her ear, but she told herself that it was simply her imagination. Still, she could not wait to get out of here, there was something…wrong with all of this, she felt it in her bone, like a chill permeating her entire body.

The sun shone less than it should, shadows were bigger and more menacing, it was colder than it should be. But again, she told herself it was all her imagination, This must affect me more than I thought... she deduced.

And the sheer scale of all of this was almost beyond her, the whole district was destroyed, and over a thousand people were presumed dead! And it was one of the better results that could have happened, if it had not been for that earthquake before, that prompted people to leave, the casualties would've been at least three times higher.

She turned her head to look at the now visible horizon, nothing but destruction greeting her. The strangest thing in all of this, she thought to herself, is this, the lone apartment building still standing… It was completely alone, the middle of the destruction, protected from this atrocity, like a lone, fallen guardian overlooking what was once his territory.

Wiping a tear from her eye, she steeled her resolve, put a shaky, strained smile on her lips and turned around, gesturing her team to restart the broadcast. She had a coverage to do.

All Might and several other important looking people were sitting inside a room, with grave faces and serious expressions, most of them frowning.

"All Might, what can you say to us about the villain attack of yesterday? I want to know everything you know." Someone ordered. With his tailored suit, expensive watch, and aristocratic face, he looked almost menacing, but the truly notable thing about him was the way he held himself. That is, in a manner that screamed power and influence, with as much as a glance you could tell he was not your common Joe, but rather someone with a high position, someone you didn't want to mess with.

"It wasn't a villain…" All Might started, then stopped, thinking about what he would say next, before sighing in pure exhaustion; he had a long day, first he had one of the most challenging fights in his whole life, then had to spend the rest of the night moving piles of rocks and cement to free any survivors there might've been. He just wanted to go home and sleep at this point, but the meeting he was at was too important, he needed to be here.

"It was a boy, no older than six…" He continued, "From what we know, he suffered great emotional distress that forced-awakened his quirk in the worst manner possible, and he had absolutely no control on it."

"A boy? What was his quirk? And what caused it to go haywire? I can hardly see an event that would prompt such a reaction…" Another person spoke, he was clearly doubtful and looked even more tired than All Might, which was an achievement considering the state All Might was in.

"From what the police was able to discover, he witnessed his father murder his mother in drunken rage…and his quirk is…we're not sure, that's the problem, but it's dangerous, we all saw what happened."

At this moment, All Might looked older than he ever looked before, his perpetual smile and cheery attitude nowhere to be seen. The crisis he had just delt with was a disaster on all fronts, a child with an immensely powerful, yet equally uncontrollable quirk, witnessing his dad kill his mom…What could possibly go wrong? Everything, it seemed.

And fighting the child had not been easy… because he didn't want to permanently hurt him, and even with as much control over his strength that he had, it was no easy task, considering his opponent had been six. But the truly troublesome factor was the boy's quirk…Had he been a weaker minded person, he would have probably also succumbed to it, like the twenty-three heroes, and ended like them, tearing their faces off madness-inducing pain. It had not been something he wanted to see in his life. It was not all, though, life had found a way to make it even worse, the child seemed in so much pain, it was evident he was in no control and suffering as much, maybe even more, as the crazy heroes.

As All Might reminisced the horrid fight, there were a few seconds of silence, everyone thinking about what had just been said, before someone decided to speak again.

"In fact," an old woman with grey-blue hair said, looking at All Might specifically, "from the information on his parent's quirks, and the multiple reports from the heroes present, we were able to half-guess what his quirk is, and it's not pretty."

"Go on", the aristocratic man from earlier prompted, everyone's attention now on the lady.

"As you wish, President Shigeo. I'll start with his mom's quirk, it allowed her to transform all light into an area into shadows, a variation of photokinesis, simply put, but she never particularly trained it, so it was pretty weak…Nothing particularly remarkable."

"His father's though," she continued, "was the total opposite, it was one of the most interesting and inexplicable quirks we ever saw and had the luck to study. It allowed him to open portals to random locations and his portals only worked if you were at the receiving end of them, one could only get out of them. But the interesting part was that the locations seemed to not always be on earth, we discovered he could open portals to other dimensions or something similar. Sadly, he had absolutely no control over it, and, after a certain incident, he refused to ever use it again."

Everyone in the meeting, all important figures, was hanging to her words, she was quickly asked to continue her explanation.

"I'll start with the incident…We studied his quirk for a long time, and were baffled but the sheer impossibility and illogicality of it. Although the existence of other dimensions had already been proven, being able to open portals like this was unheard of. So we tested, and tested, and tested again, in hope of being able to copy his quirk through technology or to be able to at least understand it. Well, we kind of understood it, there seemed to be a fixed number of dimensions he could open portals to, but it was random. Still, we thoroughly documented all dimensions we came across, and often saw the same dimension multiple times..."

"Until one day, he opened a portal to a dimension we had never seen. The second the portal opened, the entire lab was covered by a deep fog and a strange shadow, and lights started to flicker. Still, it was a new dimension! In our excitement, we all forgot about security protocols, all other dimensions had been harmless after all, and we rushed toward it. As we got closer, we started to feel something wrong and evil, but it was too late, we were too close to escape. This new dimension was a hostile one, the first of its kind, and it was dangerous... All researchers died except for myself and another, their blood drained and their body already rotting…

"We named it 'Underworld' and, after this incident, the man never used his quirk again, nor did he contact us, he shut himself out of our lives, but it was understandable, we were all friends, and seeing as his quirk killed most of us, even if it was not his fault, it was normal he felt guilty. I would be crushed in his place."

As she finished her story, it was obvious that she was still affected by whatever she had seen that day, her hands were shaking and her eyes wide open. Three years and the trauma of what happened was still there and strong, it would likely be stuck with her for many more years to come.

"Back to the main subject" -she took a deep breath, calming herself- "we believe the boy's quirk allows him to connect to the Underworld. All evidence points toward this: his father was found bloodless and already rotting, people spoke of a thick fog enveloping the whole district before the incident and that the shadows were bigger and brighter than usual…It is only reasonable explanation."

"Thank you Honoa," All Might thanked, "Still, that doesn't answer the question we all have, what do we do with the boy?"

Once again, quite took over the meeting room as everyone present had yet another revelation to ponder on. Finally, after a good minute without the slightest of sounds, President Shigeo spoke.

"We can't really send him to prison, he's too young and was not in control of his actions, but we can't let him in liberty either, he's simply too dangerous. Also, considering the power he showed, we can't simply put him for adoption, he would most likely be branded as a villain for his quirk, and maybe even become one because of those accusations. We all know villains are made, not born and being branded as one is the most common reason why people turn to villainy. And it would be disastrous if the boy did, I don't think anyone here wants to create another One for All or Destro," he stated firmly, letting no one even question his affirmations.

"Maybe we could send him live with some heroes? Who could then show him hero values, which would prompt him to become a hero, or at least stay on the good side of the law," someone suggested.

"Or we could dispose of him, it wouldn't be the first time we did this, although he is rather young. Still, it would prevent him from becoming a villain…" Someone else retorted.

"What! You want to kill a child, what is wrong with you?"

"It's the most logical decision, ever heard the saying, 'An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure', and I think it fits this case particularly well. We kill to boy now, and we don't have to deal with all the problems he will inevitably bring us in a couple of years."

"No! We can't kill a kid, he's innocent!"

"Innocent? He killed over a thousand people. Those were innocent...Him, no."

They continued to argue back and forth for a few minutes, both sides trying to convince the other and get their point across. Until a member, who had previously been silent, spoke for the first time.

"We could simply send him into Project 4511, couldn't we? It would prevent all issues you pointed out, and may even bring unexpected benefits…"

"Project 4511, are you crazy? He only six goddammit!" All Might shouted, firmly opposed to the idea.

"I agree, Project 4511 may be a little too much, no? Though, I would prefer sending him there than to kill him in cold blood like Hikaya here recommended..."

"I think we should send him there, as there would be no one better than him to 'test' it out."

"Don't send him there, Project 4511 was not made for a child who simply needs a loving family, a bit of counseling and to be watched… Are you all even human? We're supposed to be the good guys, y'all know?"

"Don't forget he killed more than a thousand innocents, if we don't send him there, then who should we?"

"Enough!", President Shigeo exploded, "We are not children, I should be able to trust you not to speak out of turn. Discipline yourselves. Regardless, we won't kill him, that is certain, if we did, we wouldn't be better than villains. And we won't be sending him to the heroes either, I would prefer him 'closer' and more easily controllable. In fact, I must agree with the proposition of sending him to Project 4511, he's simply too dangerous. If there is a next time, what would happen if you or Endeavor aren't fast or near enough, All Might? And his quirk will only get stronger as he grows up… My decision is made, he will be going to Project 4511. Any objections?

Silence

"None? Good. This meeting had ended – and never happened. Dismissed."

An unknown amount of time later, inside Project 4511

A little boy stirred in a bed, wearing only a hospital gown. He was inside a completely white room, empty except for the bed and a lot of medical equipment and surrounded by scientists.

"He's waking up! He's waking up! I want all medical officers here, right now, and also security! Bring Security! What are you all doing, you donkeys! My grandma is faster than y'all, and she's in a wheelchair – from the pre-quirk era!"

People started to enter and leave the room the boy was in, hurried, but still careful enough not to cause an incident.

A good twenty security guards entered to all white room, armed with various weapons, ranging from rifles to chains, all, of course, with tranquillizer darts or the equivalent, instead of anything that could cause real harm.

"What are the readings? Are the cuffs working? How are his vitals? Is he in danger? Are we in danger?

"No! Everything is clear, his vitals are stable, the cuffs are working better than expected, his quirk is completely suppressed. Everything is fine.

All of the staff let of a simultaneous sight of relief at the announcements, involuntarily relaxing a little bit. It seemed they had avoided the worse… Even though they were twenty times more and that their opponent would be a kid, no one wanted to go against the monster that had destroyed twenty-three pro-heroes and forced many more to retire…

Finally, the boy slowly opened his eyes, everything was going well, he seemed calm, though confused…This was good. His eyes, though, were completely pitch-black, it was as if one was staring into the abyss when looking at him, but no one thought anything of it at the moment, they had other things on their minds.

It was something they would regret, their biggest mistake, and it caused everything to derail at the same time, spiraling into madness.

Various alarms and monitors started to blast their shrill warnings, and the light flickered…

"The cuffs stopped working, everyone be…"

"His heart rate spiked, over 200 BPM, everyone be…"

"His body temperature is rapidly lowering!"

"Everyone, down the boy! Down the..."

But before any of them could do as much as finish their sentence or even react, darkness came again, this time even stronger than before.

And the room turned black.

Two days later, inside Project 4511

"He's waking up again, everyone. You know what to do. No one here wants a repeat of last time, those that escaped with their lives were lucky enough…

The same white room as two days ago buzzed in activity as multiple scientists, guards, nurses and doctors obeyed the commands they had all received earlier.

It was the same scene as two days ago, except this time everyone was much more tense and order, it was all perfectly organized, not even the smallest of things was overlooked. No one wanted to end up with the same fate as the guards two days ago.

The boy stirred awaked, again, and everyone held their breath as the tension in the air was palpable.

He opened his eyes… and…nothing.