Introduction: This story is an idea I've been mulling over off and on for at least the past couple of years now. Recently I had a breakthrough with how to get it started and decided to go ahead and make this story a reality. Actually, I had originally planned to wait until the MHA manga came to an end, but with the way things are going that'll likely take a pretty long time yet. Plus since this story is essentially a prequel, I feel like there's minimal risk of doing something that might eventually end up being one giant continuity error.
I'd like to take this moment to thank Firebolt-The Blazing Saint for going over this first episode for me. He gave me some advice regarding this prologue that was pretty helpful, and I hope I successfully corrected the little problem he was talking about.
Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia.
Episode 0 - Kaoru Tsukishiro: Origin
It was a rainy afternoon as Kaoru Tsukishiro walked uphill on the sidewalk with her hands in the pockets of her black hoodie. Her hood was up to protect her from what little rain there was. It was barely sprinkling at this point, but there had been a huge downpour earlier. Kaoru could smell the rain in the air. She always liked going outside after a good rain to take in that scent.
As Kaoru traveled up the hill, she caught a view of the elite high school for future heroes, U.A. In that instant the seventeen-year-old regretted choosing this particular route for her walk. The sight of the U.A. building only reminded Kaoru of the unfortunate fact that not all people are created equal. Some people are born into wealth while others are born into poverty. Some are born with great intelligence while others are born with superior athletic ability. And ever since an event known as "The Advent of the Extraordinary", some are born with powers that once existed only in the imaginations of American comic book artists and others are born powerless.
Kaoru was born into the latter category of being powerless. Several decades ago such a thing wouldn't have been a big deal, but as more and more people were born with these superhuman abilities the extraordinary became ordinary. These amazing powers were normalized and became simply known as quirks, and those who were born "quirkless" were considered unfortunate throwbacks. Quirks had become everything, and those born without them were condemned to a mediocre future. Or at least that's how it seemed to Kaoru.
Kaoru was stirred from her thoughts by the sudden ringing of her phone. She pulled the device from her pocket and groaned when she saw the name on the Caller I.D. The call was from her mother, Mahiro Tsukishiro. Kaoru mentally debated with herself whether or not to simply ignore the call. In the end she realized her mother would simply keep calling her until she picked up, so Kaoru decided to get things over with and answered, putting the phone to her ear.
"Hi Mom," Kaoru spoke into the phone.
"Kaoru? I just got a call from your school," Mahiro spoke over the line. "Where are you?"
"Just out for a walk."
"Out for a walk? It's not even 2:30 yet! I can't believe you're skipping school again!"
Kaoru rolled her eyes. "So I'm missing one more day. So what?"
"So what? Kaoru, don't you care about your future at all?"
"What future? It's pretty clear I don't have one, or at least not much of one. We both know I'll probably spend the rest of my life working in some coffee shop or fast food joint. Or maybe I'll just take over your job as the family maid and clean up the Helios mansion here in Tokyo until I'm ninety."
Mahiro sighed over the phone. "Karou, you shouldn't sell yourself so short. There are so many options for you."
"Not according to most of my teachers. And certainly not according to Kaito."
"Your teachers are simply concerned about your behavior. And you shouldn't take Master Kaito's teasing so seriously."
"Teasing? Try bullying, Mom! Every day he goes out of his way to remind me I'm a waste of space just because I was unlucky enough to be born quirkless!"
"Okay, forget about Master Kaito. Think about Master Edward! He pulled a lot of strings to get you into that high school, you know."
"Mom, it's just us. Let's just call the man who he actually is. Edward Helios, owner of the biggest hero support item company in the world and your employer is my father! The only reason he keeps you on staff as a maid and lets us live in his home is because he doesn't want it getting out to the press that one night he got drunk, got you into bed and knocked you up with me!"
"Kaoru, Master Edward…your father really is a kind man. He cares for you a great deal."
Kaoru rolled her eyes again. "Really Mom? Is that why he treats me no better than a pet? If he really gave a damn about me, would he let his bitch of a wife keep treating me like crap whenever I happen to be in the same room with her? Meanwhile my so-called father treats my jerk half-brother, Kaito like a prince!"
Mahiro sighed. "Look Kaoru. You have to understand your father's position."
"Save it, Mom!" Kaoru snapped. "Don't even get started. Don't try and defend that bastard of a father to me, because I've had enough of it! You know, I once confronted dear old Dad about the way he treats me, and you know what he said? He called me an accident and said that because I was born quirkless, he couldn't afford to spend any special time on me! He said Kaito is his future!"
"I…I just can't believe that, Kaoru."
Kaoru let out a shuddering sigh. "Then you're delusional. Look, I…I just can't deal with you right now, so…bye."
Kaoru ended the call and stuffed the phone in her pocket. She suddenly wished it was raining harder so no one passing by would notice the tears now streaming down her cheeks. It always tore Kaoru up whenever she and her mother had these little talks. Kaoru loved her mother, but the unfortunate fact was her mother was still in love with Edward Helios. Mahiro had deluded herself into thinking old Edward loved her back, but Kaoru knew that Edward had only used her mother to satisfy his lust one night while his frosty wife was out of town.
Wiping away her tears, Kaoru ended up looking out at U.A. again. Her half-brother, Kaito was currently in his third year at the prestigious school for heroes she saw before her. Kaito had gained a previsionary license to do hero work in the field and was currently training under one of the top heroes in Japan, thanks largely to Edward's influence. It was thanks to Edward's recommendation that Kaito had managed to get into U.A. in the first place. Meanwhile Kaoru had been attending a normal run of the mill high school.
The sight of U.A. filled Kaoru with disgust. She ran up the hill as fast as she could, trying to put as much distance between her and the campus as possible. Because Kaoru's eyes were closed, she didn't see that someone was also running right towards her. A moment later the two of them collided right into one another and fell to the pavement on their butts. Kaoru opened her eyes and discovered that the person who had run into her was a kid roughly her age, wearing the same hoodie and same faded jeans she had on. Before Kaoru could say a single word, the startled kid quickly got to their feet and bolted off in the opposite direction from which they had come.
As Kaoru stood back up and cursed under her breath, she noticed that the kid who had run into her had also dropped a small bag made of black cloth. The dark-haired girl picked it up, felt the bag's weight in her hand for a moment, and stuffed it in the pocket of her hoodie. Whatever was in the bag didn't matter to her. The important thing was finding whoever ran into her so she could return the bag and also chew them out for running into her. Besides, she still needed to get away from the U.A. campus.
Kaoru reached the top of the hill and began to look for whoever had crashed into her, only to find a sight that was about as disgusting as U.A. All around her were billboards of heroes endorsing different products. In the display window of the store next to her was the cardboard cutout of a hero holding a can of an energy drink brand that had his personal seal of approval. Heroes were everything to the public, bigger than movie stars and athletes, and to Kaoru about ten times as phony. These so-called heroes claimed to use their powers to protect the public, but in the end all they were after was the glory. As far as Kaoru was concerned, most heroes were no different than her half-brother, Kaito.
Seeing the images of all those phony heroes made Kaoru decide to forget about trying to find who had bumped into her. Chances are the person was already long gone, and it made more sense to just post something online about the bag she found and let its owner come to her. Kaoru figured if it was really important, the kid who collided with her would reach out to her about it. As Kaoru turned and began to walk in another direction away from both U.A. and the shameless display of hero self-promotion, she couldn't help but overhear the people around her talking as they looked at something that had just popped up on their phones.
"Oh man! A couple of the villains who escaped from that prison transport this morning were just spotted in the area," a young man told one of his friends. "We should bolt!"
"What're you talking about?" Asked the young man's friend.
"Dude! Didn't you hear? A truck taking some villains to Tartarus Prison crashed and all of the villains escaped. One of the villains was the Oni! They're saying he's the reason the truck crashed in the first place."
"Oh crap! I didn't know that freak was involved! If the Oni is one of the villains in the area, we better get the hell out of here!"
Kaoru paid little attention to this conversation however, so she was totally surprised when a large figure suddenly leapt out from the alley she was about to pass. The figure in question was a large muscular man who stood at just over seven feet tall. He had blue-grey skin, short white hair, yellow eyes, pointed ears and a pair of short blue horns growing upward from the top of his forehead. The man had a long cord-like tail ending with a point growing from his rear, and he was clad in an orange prison jumpsuit with black shoes. Sharp blue claws grew from the man's hands, and his face was almost like that of an ogre's.
Another one of the bystanders on the street pointed at the monstrous-looking man. "It's the Oni! Run!"
All of the other bystanders began to flee, but Kaoru remained rooted in place. She had been hearing things in the news about this particular villain known simply as the Oni. Nobody knew much about him, only that he had come down from the mountains and left only destruction in his wake. Several heroes had tried to capture him and failed because of his unbelievable strength. Kaoru never thought she'd ever be in the same general vicinity as such a villain, or any villain really.
The Oni noticed Kaoru staring at him. "You. Don't look at me!"
With those words, the Oni tore a street lamp from the edge of the sidewalk out of the ground and threw it at Kaoru like a spear. Kaoru remained frozen, practically mesmerized as the thrown lamp came at her. At the very last second though, someone swooped in, picked Kaoru up bridal style and dashed out of the oncoming lamp's path. The lamp collided with the building Kaoru had been standing in front of moments before.
"Don't worry," a deep voice told Kaoru, shaking her from her daze. "You're safe, because I am here!"
Kaoru at last came to her senses and discovered she was being held bridal style in the well-muscled arms of a grinning young man with wild blond hair. He was clad in a white and grey superhero costume, complete with yellow gloves and a cape. Immediately Kaoru was grossed out because she detested being touched by men, especially the muscle-bound ones. Kaoru began to pound on the man's chest, demanding he put her down. Startled, the young hero gently set Kaoru on her feet.
Kaoru instantly backed away from the young hero and at last got a better look at his face. She recognized him as one of Kaito's classmates at U.A., Toshinori Yagi. The reason Kaoru recognized Toshinori was because he had visited the Helios home a few times. Of all of Kaito's classmates, Toshinori was one of the ones Kaoru could stand the least. He was just another dumb U.A. jock with hero aspirations, probably as obsessed with obtaining glory as Kaito was.
Toshinori blinked in recognition as he looked at Kaoru. "Oh hey! You're one of Kai's friends, right? I've seen you around whenever I've visited his place."
Suddenly running over was a young woman with long shimmering dark-blue hair and eyes like sapphires. She had skin like porcelain and a face like an angel's. Her outfit consisted of a skin-tight white bodysuit with gold armor covering her chest and shoulders, along with fingerless gold gloves and gold metal boots. Around her waist was a gold skirt that was open in the front, and covering her forehead was a golden circlet. The sight of this young woman took Kaoru's breath away. Kaoru actually knew this female hero in training quite well.
The young woman was Noriko Akizuki, and she had been Kaito's fiancé since the age of seven. Because of this, Noriko had visited the Helios household quite a bit. She, Kaoru and Kaito had practically grown up together, and somewhere along the line Kaoru had fallen madly in love with Noriko. Of course Kaoru knew Noriko would be forever out of her reach. They were both girls for one thing, and Noriko was already engaged to Kaito.
Then of course there was the fact Noriko had an extraordinary quirk of her own, while Kaoru was quirkless. The two of them may have occupied the same space, but they were from two different worlds. More than once though, Kaoru wished she could save Noriko from the world she was from. Being engaged to Kaito had never been her choice, nor was training to becoming a hero. Noriko was only following the hero path because it was what her family expected of her.
Noriko had always told Kaoru that she had a responsibility because of the quirk she was born with, and that she had to see it through no matter how difficult. Kaoru had always admired Noriko's dedication, but at the same time wished she could break those chains that bound her to this responsibility of hers, especially since she knew how Kaito actually treated Noriko when no one was around.
"Toshi-kun! Is everything okay over here?" Noriko asked as she rushed over.
"Uh, yeah. Everything's fine," Toshinori assured her as he rubbed the back of his head.
Noriko blinked in surprise when she saw who her comrade had saved. "Kaoru? What on earth are you doing here?"
"I…just sort of ended up here," Kaoru responded. "Are…are you okay?"
"That's the question I should be asking you," Noriko answered with her hands on her hips.
Suddenly jumping down from above was a tall and rather handsome-looking man with silver hair. A simple black mask covered the upper half of the man's face, and he was clad in a white bodysuit with yellow gloves, a yellow cape and two large yellow boots. A yellow belt with a silver buckle shaped like the letter G was around the man's waist.
"Toshinori! Sergeant Blackout's team can handle the Oni," the masked man told him. "If that civilian and your friend are okay, quit dawdling here and help out with the other villains in the area!"
Toshinori flinched. "Right! Sorry, Gran Torino! I'll be right there!"
The hero known as Gran Torino nodded and jumped into the air, flying away using jets of air that were shooting out the bottom of his feet.
Toshinori let out a heavy sigh and turned back to Noriko and Kaoru. "Seriously, he is one scary teacher. Anyway, I had better get back to work. Noriko, I'll catch ya later."
The blonde hero in training then jumped away in the same direction Gran Torino had gone. By this time three other heroes had shown up and surrounded the Oni. The first hero was a gruff-looking muscular man in his early forties. He had stubble covering his chin and wore an olive-green army helmet with an olive-green tank top, pants with a green and brown camouflage pattern and black army boots. A pair of dog tags hung from the man's thick neck by a thin grey chain, and he had gold sergeant stripes tattooed on his right upper arm. On his hands he wore a tick pair of olive-green metal gauntlets. Kaoru knew this man from the media as Sergeant Blackout, the Punishment Hero.
The second hero was a humanoid armadillo with a brass-colored shell. He had on a navy-blue unitard and a black and gold championship belt. On his head was a piece of white wrestling headgear with special holes for his ears, and around his eyes was a simple red mask. He was known as Kid Armadillo, the Grappling Hero. Many of his special moves involved him rolling up into a ball and hurling himself at his enemies.
The third hero was a young-looking woman with straight brown hair that went just past her neck and a pair of black sunglasses. She had fair skin with a large black spot on her right cheek, as well as similar black spots on her bare arms and legs. Atop her head was a beret styled to look like a ladybug, and she wore a black and red sailor uniform type outfit with a short red skirt with large black spots, and a red collar with black spots as well. On her chest was a large white bow with a ladybug brooch in the middle, and a large white bow on the back of her skirt. This was Ms. Ladybug, the Spotted Hero.
"Kaoru, you should get out of here," Noriko told her.
"But what about you?" Kaoru asked. "Are you going to be okay fighting that thing?"
"Don't worry. I'll be fine. This is sorta my job after all."
Noriko then rushed off to join in the battle. Kaoru knew she should leave. She didn't have a place there after all. The world of heroes and villains was a world she couldn't enter. Yet Kaoru couldn't bring herself to walk away, not when the person she cared about most in the world was risking her life.
"Of all the villains we've been chasing today, this guy's the worst," Sergeant Blackout told the others. "Show him no mercy!"
"Time for him to see spots!" Ms. Ladybug declared. "Sunspot Flare!"
The large dot on Ms. Ladybug's face fired a beam of red light that struck the Oni in the face as he charged at the heroes. The light blinded the Oni, causing him to stagger back and cover his eyes with his hands.
"He's open! Private Star Queen! Take him out!" Sergeant Blackout ordered.
"Yes sir!" Noriko responded.
Noriko the aimed her open right hand at the Oni. A ball of pink light began to form in her palm but then faded out of existence just as quickly. Her arm lowered slightly, and from where she stood Kaoru could see Noriko was unsure about firing on the villain.
"Let me have the knockout blow!" Kid Armadillo declared as he jumped into the air and rolled into a ball. "Wrecking Ball Slam!"
Kid Armadillo rolled through the air towards the Oni, but just before impact the ogre-like villain recovered his sight and knocked the rolled-up hero away. Still in his compact form, Kid Armadillo was now sailing through the air towards Noriko. As Kaoru saw all of this happening, the world suddenly seemed to go in slow motion. Her mind went blank and her body moved on its own. Kaoru rushed in, pushed Noriko out of the way, crashing into her at the same time.
Both Kaoru and Noriko hit the pavement and Kid Armadillo slammed into the front of the building that had been behind them, unrolling as he crashed through the wall. Kaoru didn't notice at the time that the little black bag she had picked up earlier had fallen out of her pocket and had spilled open on the ground as she dived to protect Noriko.
"Are you okay?" Noriko asked as both of them sat up.
"I think so," Kaoru answered. "That was pretty stupid of me, huh?"
"What the hell were you thinking?" Noriko asked with tears in her eyes.
"I didn't. I just saw you in danger and acted."
Meanwhile Sergeant Blackout charged at the Oni wrapped his arms around the villain's midsection. "Critical Overload!"
The Oni froze as several volts of yellow electricity surged throughout his body, illuminating the area. A few seconds later the electricity faded, and the Oni's eyes were blank as he fell forward.
Sergeant Blackout took out a thick cigar from his pants pocket and smirked as he clenched it between his teeth. "The amount of current I just used was enough to burn a normal man to a crisp. This guy's still alive, but I probably fried his braincells. Of course I doubt he ever used his brain much to begin with."
Ms. Ladybug sighed and shook her head. "In the end I suppose it couldn't be helped. Still, I don't like that we had to resort to such extreme measures."
Sergeant Blackout shrugged his shoulders as he lit his cigar. "As far as I'm concerned, if you break the law you deserve whatever you get." He then looked towards Noriko. "Hey private!"
"Uh, yes sir!" Noriko responded, flinching.
"Is the civilian okay?"
"She is, thankfully."
"She nearly got hurt because of your screwup!"
"Now just hold on," Kid Armadillo interjected as he walked up. "What nearly happened is on me. I was far to reckless before."
Sergeant Blackout shook his head. "It happened because this maggot of a trainee froze up when it counted! Now get this private! When we get back to the base, you're doing a hundred pushups followed by two rounds on the obstacle course! Is that clear!"
"Sir, yes sir!" Noriko responded, saluting.
"Hey! Are you really gonna take that kinda crap?" Kaoru asked as she got back to her feet.
"Well, he's the hero I'm training under, so…"
Kaoru scowled. She had read about Sergeant Blackout online. He was originally a soldier in the U.S. military who had come to Japan to work as a hero, supposedly because the Americans didn't like his more aggressive tactics when dealing with villains. Sergeant Blackout was also known as a real hard-ass who showed just as little mercy to his sidekicks as he did to the villains he captured. Kaoru thought Sergeant Blackout was the last hero Noriko should be working for.
Kaoru was about to give the brutish hero a piece of her mind when a voice cut through the crowd. "That's her! The kid who stole my diamonds!"
Kaoru looked and saw an old bald man in a suit pointing accusingly at her. He was flanked on his left and right by a pair of police officers. Kaoru wondered what the old man was talking about when she glanced down and saw the dropped bag on the ground. She saw that several tiny diamonds had spilled onto the ground from the bag. It quickly hit Kaoru that the person who had collided with her earlier was the actual thief.
"Sir, are you positive this girl's the thief?" One of the police officers asked.
The old man nodded. "She's wearing the same hood. Besides, look at what's next to her feet! There's no doubt she's the one!"
Sergeant Blackout came over and crossed his arms. "Well-well. So we have a little thief on our hands, do we? Looks like when it rains, it pours."
"Sir, there has to be some mistake!" Noriko told him.
"Was anyone asking for your opinion, private?" Sergeant Blackout barked.
Noriko flinched and looked down. "No sir."
Sergeant Blackout looked down at Kaoru. "You're just a kid. Well, you're about to learn the hard way what happens to dumb punks who go down the villain path."
"Put your hands behind your back," one of the officers told Kaoru as he pulled out his handcuff.
Sergeant Blackout raised a hand to stop him. "I'll take custody of this thief, officer. We've got a van coming to pick up the Oni anyway."
"Sir?" The police officer responded.
"Don't worry. I'll see that she's all booked nice and proper. But she should learn the hard way what being a villain gets ya."
"Now hold on just a moment!" Ms. Ladybug protested. "Don't you think you're being too harsh? Like you said, she's just a child!"
"And she's quirkless!" Noriko blurted out.
Sergeant Blackout shrugged. "So what? Don't you know how our society works? Everyone's gotta be held to the same standard, including those who break the law. Quirkless or not, she's gonna be treated just like any other villain."
Kaoru couldn't believe what was happening. She thought that perhaps she was having some sort of surreal nightmare. In fact she kept hoping she'd wake up when the prison van that had come to transport the Oni had arrived. The next thing Kaoru knew, she was being fitted into an iron maiden and loaded into the back of the van with the Oni. The entire time Kaoru kept proclaiming her innocence in a weak voice, but of course no one paid any attention to her.
Because of the unreality of what was happening, Kaoru was just barely aware of two other prisoners inside the transport she and the Oni were being loaded into. The first was a pale and slender-looking man with slightly long stringy green hair. He had beady eyes the color of sewage, and his mouth was twisted into a mocking grin as he watched Kaoru being loaded into the armored vehicle. Kaoru was only faintly aware of the man cackling at the sight.
The other prisoner, who was in an iron maiden attached to the opposite wall, was a woman who appeared to be in her early fifties. She had long stark-white hair, and her pale eyes were just as dead as Kaoru's were now. Much of her face was covered by a black metal mask. The woman paid no attention at all as Kaoru and the Oni were secured inside the van and Sergeant Blackout came in. The last thing Kaoru remembered seeing before Sergeant Blackout slammed the door shut was Noriko watching her with tears in her eyes.
Sergeant Blackout sat down on the bench across from where Kaoru was and pounded on the wall, signaling the driver to start up the van. All Kaoru could do as the van started moving was continue to hope she'd wake up. She was still in a state of disbelief of what was happening around her.
Sergeant Blackout blew some smoke from his cigar into Kaoru's face. "Know where we're going? To Tartarus Prison. It's where all the worst villains go. Of course a petty thief like you will probably only spend the night there. Still, even a minor prison will probably be too much for a quirkless girl like you. Yeah, your life's gonna be hell from this point on."
The man with the stringy green hair cackled with glee. "Ooo! You're quirkless, eh girlie? To bad for you. I was in a minimum security prison after my first offense. My buddies and I couldn't do much too him. The damn shock collars the guards made us wear kept us in line whenever we used our quirks, but we still made his life a living hell. Of course the guards were worse. You see they made the poor guy wear a collar too, and they shocked him whenever he simply looked at 'em funny. After a while it got to be too much for the poor loser, and he ended up hanging himself in his cell!"
Sergeant Blackout smirked. "Guess I should make introductions. The charming maggot you just heard from is Koichi Izumi. He has a nifty little quirk called Metamorphic Limbs. Basically he can turn his arms and legs into just about anything. Blades, lock picks, even other organs."
"I can even turn my hand into a copy of my head if I really concentrate," Izumi added, cackling. "Of course that little move is just a simple party trick."
"Originally the freak just used his quirk for petty theft," Sergeant Blackout continued. "But then one day he graduated to murder. Used his blades to cut a guy at a bar right down the middle."
"Hey! That punk had it coming! He made fun of my hair!"
Sergeant Blackout shook his head and turned his attention to the final prisoner inside the van. "Our other guest is a woman by the name of Ami Ozawa. Her quirk, Banshee allows her to make a scream strong enough to shatter a person's skull. She used that power to kill every man who dared reject her."
Izumi cackled again. "Oh yeah! That woman's a real crazy bitch."
"And of course you already know the Oni here," Sergeant Blackout finished. "Yep, this is quite a little club you joined kid."
"…Please. This is a mistake," Kaoru begged in a weak voice. "I didn't do anything. Those diamonds…they were from some kid who bumped into me."
"So you're saying you're innocent, huh?" Sergeant Blackout asked as he tossed away his cigar. "Well if you are, you can prove that at your trial. That is, if you survive long enough to get a trial."
"Oh, I doubt she will," Izumi cackled. "I bet a pretty little piece of meat like her won't last a day."
Sergeant Blackout's face became stern. "The way I see it though, I don't care if you're innocent or not. I don't care if you're quirkless or not. I can tell just by looking at ya that you're just some damn punk. Maybe you didn't cause trouble now, but you will someday. The way I see it, it's probably better if you get taken out now before you can cause me any headaches in the future."
The so-called hero's remarks had caused the words of everyone who had put Kaoru down throughout her life to echo in her head. She thought about how her father had called her an accident and said he couldn't waste any special time on her because she was born quirkless, about how her father's wife always called her a good for nothing mistake who she wished was dead, and about how Kaito always mocked her about how he would always have everything in life while she would always have nothing. She thought about how her fellow students at school would make fun of her for being quirkless from the time she was very young, and about how her teachers never did anything to help her. The only people to ever show kindness to Kaoru in her entire life were her mother and Noriko, and now they were both forever out of reach. Kaoru was now beginning to believe she really would be better off dead.
Suddenly the van was hit by a powerful force from the outside and screeched to a halt. Sergeant Blackout was nearly knocked off his feet.
The militaristic hero rushed to pick up the radio attached next to the door. "What the hell's happening?"
"Someone just attacked us," one of the officers in the van's cab responded. "We're not sure who!"
Suddenly several strange blades cut into the wall that Sergeant Blackout had been sitting against and tore a chunk of it open almost like the lid of a sardine can. The stopped just short of the woman known as Ozawa. Kaoru, Izumi and Sergeant Blackout all looked, and standing outside was a man dressed in a black suit with no tie. The van was currently inside a tunnel, so the darkness made it nearly impossible to see his face.
"Ah. I see a hero has come along to guard my prize," the man spoke, grinning. "And a third-rate hero at that."
Sergeant Blackout jumped out of the van and approached, his metal gauntlets sparking with electricity. "I don't know who you are, but you're about to have your ass pounded into the ground."
Before the hero could make a move though, the stranger rushed forward and grabbed onto Sergeant Blackout's face, knocking his helmet off in the process. Sergeant Blackout was forced to his knees as a strange red light flowed from his head into the man's hand. A few seconds later the stranger released his grip and his hand was speaking with electricity.
"What…what did you do?" Sergeant Blackout asked while flat on his back, frightened.
Grinning, the man lifted Sergeant Blackout off the ground by the neck. Kaoru watched as the hero was suddenly electrocuted by what seemed like millions of volts. It was as if the hero's own quirk was somehow being used against him. Eventually the flow of electricity stopped and the stranger let go. Sergeant Blackout's lifeless body dropped to the ground with smoke rising from his ears. Kaoru could smell the scent of burning flesh.
Suddenly the two police officers who had been in the van's cab had emerged and pointed their guns at the stranger. They ordered the stranger to freeze, but he simply raised his left had at them. Long jagged blades with glowing red lines shot from the man's fingers and penetrated the necks of the two officers, impaling them right through the back. When the stranger withdrew his blades, the officers fell to the ground dead.
Placing his hands in his pockets, the man calmly walked up to the van and jumped inside through the hole he had made. He looked at Kaoru right in the eye and reached towards her. Kaoru felt certain she was going to be impaled just like those two policemen. Instead, the stranger simply tore open her iron maiden with his bare hands, causing her to drop to the floor on her knees.
The stranger turned his attention to the Oni, who had remained unconscious the entire time. "Oh Doctor! I've secured our specimen!"
The back door of the van opened, and entering was a short and somewhat portly man in a white lab coat. He was bald and had a bushy brown mustache. Covering his eyes was a pair of thick goggles.
"As always, I am in awe of your abilities, Master," the man known as the Doctor remarked as he walked over and looked up at the Oni. "What a fine specimen we have for ourselves. Superhuman strength, superhuman durability, and even extended longevity and some limited superhuman regeneration if the rumors are true. Why a specimen such as this could easily house multiple quirks with little negative results. I'm confident that by studying this gentleman's body, we'll eventually be able to mass-produce soldiers that can soundly defeat any hero."
The man known as the Master nodded and turned his attention to Kaoru. "And you my dear, what sort of crime did you commit to end up in a place like this?"
"…If you're gonna kill me, just do it already," Kaoru spoke weakly with tears in her eyes.
The Master put a hand to his chin. "Now why would I do that? You certainly haven't done anything to get in my way like that oaf of a hero I killed, or those two fine officers. Killing you when we've only just met would simply be rude."
"You may as well. Today made it clear I don't belong in this world. I never did. I was born quirkless. My family always told me I never had a future from the start. And now because I was at the wrong place at the wrong time, I was being sent to jail for a crime I didn't even do. Everyone in this van said I probably wouldn't last a day in any prison I'd be sent to and they were probably right. So just go ahead and kill me now. An outcast like me doesn't have a place in this world."
The Master grinned. "An outcast, you say?" He turned to the Oni, who was still dead to the world. "I'd like you to consider our friend, the Oni here. He is an outcast as well. No one knows this man's true origins, but it's said he was abandoned by his parents in the mountains because his quirk was an unsightly mutation. Everywhere he went he was shunned, seen as the living embodiment of a demon. Demon was in fact the name given to his quirk, and it was because of his quirk that he was seen as an abomination. So all he could do was lash out at the society which rejected him, and thus he was branded a villain."
A little life returned to Kaoru's eyes as she looked up at the Oni. "I never thought of having a quirk as a curse. Honestly I kind of envy the big guy. Maybe if I had been born with a power like his, my life would've turned out a hell of a lot better than it is now."
The Master turned back to Kaoru. "Tell me, how do you feel about this superhuman society of ours?"
"…I hate it. I hate all of those phony heroes who are treated like gods. I hate how those without quirks like me are treated like trash. It was a sick joke that I was born into this world the way I am."
"If you were given the opportunity to destroy this society, to tear down those false heroes and remake this world, would you take it? Is your hatred for this world that strong?"
"After what I've been through today, you bet I would."
The Master grinned again. "Rise child, and step forward."
Kaoru did as instructed. There was something about the Master's voice, his very presence that had entranced her.
The Master placed a hand on the Oni's face. He then placed his hand on Kaoru's face.
The Doctor was startled. "Master! What are you…?"
"No need to be alarmed, old friend," the Master told him. "The Oni is useless to us as he is, and I think his quirk is a good match for this young woman's heart."
Kaoru saw a red light flash to life before her eyes. It took her a moment to realize it was coming from the Master's palm. Suddenly she felt something strange flowing into her. Her entire body felt as if it was on fire. Kaoru couldn't help but cry out in pain as she felt something erupt from her head and from her lower back right above her rear end. Whatever was happening felt like pure agony, but it seemed like it ended just as soon as it began and the Master pulled his hand away.
When it was over, Kaoru staggered back a couple of steps. She then noticed something was off. The iron maiden that had once housed the Oni now contained a large but mostly ordinary-looking man with fair skin, white hair and a rather monstrous-looking face. As Kaoru was trying to figure out what was happening, she suddenly realized she was moving an extra limb she didn't have before. Kaoru looked down and discovered she had a blue-grey cord-like tail with a point at the end of it. She also noticed that her hands were now blue-grey and had blue fingernails.
The Master went over to the back door of the van, closed it, and touched its surface with his fingertips, turning it into a full-length mirror. "Our good doctor thought it foolish for me to take a quirk that can turn the surface of metal into glass, but one never knows when you might need a good mirror."
Kaoru looked at her reflection in the new mirror and gasped. She blinked to check and see if the yellow eyes gazing back at her from the glass were her own. She lifted her hands and touched the two medium-sized horns that were now growing from the top of her forehead, feeling their points with her fingertips. The horns were definitely part of her. She felt under her short dark hair and discovered her ears now had points.
Stunned, Kaoru took a step back from the mirror. "How…what did you do to me?"
"I gave you the Oni's quirk," the Master answered simply. "An easy task for me."
Dazed, Kaoru looked down at her hands. She squealed in shock when her nails suddenly extended into claws and her hands and momentarily sparked with electricity.
"Also gave you the electrical quirk I stole from that third-rate hero earlier," the Master added. "Quirk's like his are a dime a dozen. I even threw in a spare strength-enhancing quirk too. And this is just the beginning. Work with me and I can make you so powerful no hero will be able to stand against you."
"Who…who are you?"
The Master's grin widened. "Just call me All For One."
"No…no way!" Izumi spoke, trembling. "This guy…is actually real?"
"Ah! The talented Mr. Izumi," the Master or rather All For One spoke, walking over to the still contained prisoner. "I've always been rather fascinated by your Metamorphic Limbs quirk. Step forward, my young outcast."
Still in a daze, Kaoru nodded. She had no reason to not do as instructed. All For One placed one hand over Izumi's face and another over Kaoru's. All the while, Izumi was begging the master villain to stop what he was doing. Once again Kaoru saw a red light before her eyes and felt something flowing into her. The sensation wasn't nearly as painful as the last time though, and once again it seemed like it had only lasted a few seconds. Kaoru was so out of it that she didn't notice when All For One sent one of his strange finger blades through Izumi's forehead.
"Now you have the Metamorphic Limbs quirk," All For One told her as he folded his hands behind his back. "Why not take it for a quick spin?"
Kaoru looked at her new tail and for some reason thought of a pair of scissors. Suddenly the tail's pointed tip morphed into a pair of crude but very sharp scissor blades. Kaoru let out a startled gasp and the tail tip morphed back to normal.
All For One nodded with approval. "A promising beginning. I'm certain you'll get better with practice."
"Channeling the ability into her tail instead of her hands or feet was a good application for the ability," the Doctor added.
"Now then, we may as well obtain the quirk of the final prisoner since we're here. After all, bargains like this don't come along every day. Who is this final prisoner again Doctor?"
"If I remember right, it's the possessor of the Banshee quirk."
"Of course. Come over here, my dear outcast."
Kaoru once again did as she was told. She still had no reason not to. All For One grabbed onto Ozawa's face and placed his other hand on Kaoru's. For the third time, Kaoru saw a red light flash before her eyes and felt something flowing into her. It again only lasted a few seconds, and when it was over Kaoru felt a strange change with her throat. She was certain she could still talk normally, yet at the same time felt like there was something more.
"I recommend not testing that quirk here," All For One suggested after putting a finger blade through Ozawa's brain. "Best to wait until we return to the good doctor's lab. His facilities should allow you to fully cut loose."
"On that note Master, perhaps we should leave now," the Doctor suggested.
"Right you are. We'll have the men torch the entire tunnel. I don't want a trace left of what went on here remaining." All For One turned again to Kaoru. "Now my dear outcast, go on outside. You'll find a limo waiting a few feet from where we are."
Kaoru simply nodded, still in a daze. She had gone back to wondering if she was having some kind of nightmare. Nothing felt real anymore. Kaoru decided to simply go along with what was happening. She certainly didn't have anything to lose. As Kaoru headed out through the hole All For One had made in the side of the van and walked towards the waiting limo, All For One and the Doctor hung back.
"Master, are you certain it was wise to give that girl the Oni's quirk?" The Doctor asked. "Not to mention all of those other quirks?"
"I could see it in her eyes, my old friend," All For One answered. "The girl has great hatred for this world in her heart. I think she shows a lot of promise. You remember how we've been talking about how I should plan for the future."
The Doctor's eyes widened behind his goggles. "You're thinking of making that girl your successor?"
"Why not? Shimura's own successor already has the makings of a formidable hero. Perhaps it's high time I do the same. And this girl has great potential."
"But are you certain?"
All For One smirked. "Well, to be honest not entirely. But if you and I make that girl strong enough, she might at least spell the end of One For All."
Author's Note: I hope the ending to this prologue has captured everyone's attention. If it has, go ahead and proceed to the next chapter. As a rule I don't usually post the prologue of a story without first having the first chapter ready to go up with it.
Please review and let me know what you think