Despite being only 18 years of age, Izuku Midoriya had seen more than enough for a lifetime. His father's funeral, his mother laying comatose in a hospital bed, his bank account when trying to cover the costs of all the medical bills, and his sister's concerned gaze every time he left the house to participate in a Raid on a Gate. But out of it all, the one sight he never got tired of, was the Pros in action.
Standing in a crowd near Tatooin Station, Izuku watched as the swirling mass of sparking blue energy spat out a massive beast.
Well over sixty feet tall, it was made completely of stone, and should've put the crowd into a severe state of panic, but this was the world of Heroes.
"Stupid Boss!" A woman spat. Standing a head above the Villain was Mount Lady, a Giant A-Rank Hero clad in size changing purple and white armor. "I already killed all the Villains in that Gate, couldn't you have waited just a little longer to break out?"
The stone monster roared, sending Izuku into a spiral of writing. As an E-Rank, the bottom of the barrel, Izuku had two options, study Villains until he could predict their moves like a Dark Souls game, or die.
"Gargoyle Boss Villain. B-Rank. Wings cannot be used for flight, but for defensive measures. Charges head on and attacks with his claws, does not appear to use his taloned feet." Izuku had a dozen notebooks for the Villains that humanity despised, and ironically, none for the Heroes that were adored. Simply put, Izuku would never be on the same level as his favorite Heroes and would never fight alongside them, so he figured there was no point to obsess over their strategies.
Meanwhile, Mount Lady was swinging a mace the size of a telephone pole, batting aside the gargoyle's swipes with ease. "Come on!" She said, giving a wink to the onlookers and reporters. "Let's give 'em a show!" She crouched down low, giving the "audience" a nice view of her rear as she prepared to raise to her full height, bringing the mace to bear and decapitating the Villain with pure force.
But that never happened. Instead, the crowd jumped in shock, their ears ringing from the blast of an anti-material rifle. And just as Mount Lady had planned to destroy the head of the Villain, this bullet caused it to explode from the inside out, peppering the giant Hero with shrapnel.
"Hey! That was my kill!" She shouted, looking around for the source of the shot.
"How impudent…" A voice drawled out, drawing the attention away from Mount Lady and to a nearby rooftop, where a curvy lady with dark-blue and pink hair stood, slinging her rifle over her shoulder.
"Lady Nagant!" The crowd cried out in amazement, Mount Lady now a fleeting thought in their mind.
The woman's cold exterior broke for just a moment to give a kind smile and a wave to the crowd.
"Did you hear me?!" Mount Lady cried out. "MY! KILL!"
Nagant glared at her. "Don't be stupid A-Rank, you should've finished it inside the Gate. Instead you decide to put innocent people at risk for a show."
Mount Lady glared back at the S-Rank.
The two, even amongst Heroes, were special. Not just because they had the skill to back up their arrogance, but because they had Quirks. Every now and again, you'd get an Awakened human who also manifested a Quirk, a special magical ability that augmented their power.
Mount Lady could grow to ridiculous size, making her a perfect fighter against giant-class Villains. And Nagant could create bullets from her hair, infusing them with her magical energy. Weapons with magical attributes were already rare, so to be able to produce bullets with magical infusion was just insane. It bumped the two up from their natural Awakened strength of A and B respectively to S and A and it gave them massive fanbases, Izuku among them.
He was Awakened as an E-Rank, and on top of it, he didn't even get a Quirk, making him the weakest of the weak. But even still, he fancied himself a Hero.
"Oh crap!" He muttered, glancing at his old, cracked phone that was several generations older than most had. "I'm gonna be late." He took off sprinting, barely above the speed of an average human, disappointed to miss the rest of Nagant and Mount Lady's interaction, but knowing that if he missed out on the earnings of the Gate he had signed up for, he'd be late on rent.
If there was one thing that Izuku wanted more than anything else, even a Reawakening, it was some custom made Hero armor.
Not only was it super cool, with most armors being designed as jagged and threatening with matching color combinations, but they were exceptionally useful in Gates. Augmenting strength and durability, a single piece of S-Rank armor could raise even an E-Rank to low C-Rank. And on top of it all… Izuku did not have any good Raid clothes to begin with.
He barely had the money to pay rent every month, much less clothing better than a baggy hoodie and uncomfortable and ripped jeans. They were all he could spare and afford to lose, but that didn't mean he liked it, especially since fumbling around usually got you killed in a Gate and baggy clothes did not help that.
As Izuku reached the construction site, where a small group was forming, he checked his phone once more, confirming that this was the time and place of the D-Rank Gate that he had signed up for.
Anyone 18 or older could get a permit to Raid Gates and earned access to the Hero App which monitored Raid teams and Gates. Well, anyone who could prove they could handle it. It took Izuku five attempts at different Hero Centers to become eligible, and even then, his access was limited to low D-Rank Gates, or lower. If it was up to him, he'd try to take on a C-Rank, but he wasn't allowed, no matter who he tried to ask to take him under their wing. Such a thing was illegal, as it consistently got people killed.
The only way Izuku would earn access to higher Gates would be a Reawakening or by getting into a Hero College, like UA. The schools were basically Agencies of their own, allowing most to learn the Gates with a teacher of a higher Rank guiding them. And once students graduated they could become faculty, having access to most Gates regardless of their Rank. That was just how powerful Hero Colleges were, they were basically allowed to break laws.
After learning that there was no more coffee left at the stand, Izuku went to join the group, cringing as his eyes met those of a familiar girl.
"Oh Midoriya…" She sighed.
"Hey Yaoyorozu!" He greeted, trying to offset the concern in her dark gray eyes.
But while her pupils held kindness, the rest of the group just glared at him.
"It's the weakest…"
"Can't we ban him or kick him from Raid parties?"
"My friend works on the dev team for the Hero App, he said he'd bring it up with his boss."
"Just gonna put others at risk."
"He's the only E-Rank here."
Yaoyorozu returned their glares with her own, putting some of them, who liked to be on the Healer's good side, on edge. And really, it was hard to talk back when the girl's beauty commanded more attention than some Raid Leaders. That didn't even account for the fact that she had a Quirk and was Ranked A.
"What in the world happened to your face?" She asked, noticing the giant purple blotch on his face and gingerly reaching out a hand to feel the bruise on his cheek. He winced. "Oh it's fractured." She cupped her hands together, sparks flying as Mana emerged from her hands, becoming matter as she used her Quirk. "Here, this should help."
She handed him a small bottle of green liquid. It was a healing potion, a concept that didn't normally exist despite all the fantasy going on in the world. Yaoyorozu was pretty much the only one who could make them due to her Quirk allowing her to create almost anything. Despite that, she was a healer, a backline support, rather than a fighter.
Izuku thanked her and downed the potion, the dull pain growing fainter by the second.
"So what happened?" She asked again.
Izuku shook his head, deciding not to mention the other dozen or so bruises beneath his clothes that were healing thanks to her potion. "Nothing important, just got into an argument."
She pursed her lips together and crossed her arms. "Was it Bakugo?"
"Uhh…" Izuku scratched the back of his head, ignoring the pain from the welt on his skull that was also healing. "I just wanted to see if he could take me into a higher Ranked Gate with him."
"And he punched you?!"
"He was just trying to knock some sense into me," Izuku chuckled. "He held back, otherwise I'd be dead."
"I agree that you need some sense knocked into you," Yaoyorozu agreed, "But he broke a bone! That goes beyond trying to teach you a lesson."
Izuku felt a pang of shame in his heart, knowing that even though Yaoyorozu meant well, she was looking down on him. And he couldn't blame her, she was strong, smart, and beautiful. She was leagues above him in almost every way.
"You think I'd be seen anywhere with an E-Rank?! Don't make me laugh, you waste of space!"
Izuku shook his head, trying to shake the image of Bakugo's scornful eyes.
"Alright people let's get going!" The Raid Leader declared, gathering the group in front of the swirling rift. He walked through, and the group followed.
Izuku and Yaoyorozu, at the back of the group were the last to pass into the Gate. It probably saved their lives, because once on the other side, not only did the Gate close, but the teens' eyes widened in fear.
Laid before them, drenched in a puddle of blood, was the Raid group. Not a single one was alive.