Overseeing a Strange World
Chapter 2
Yeah so this is another story from my own comics. Just a different part of the same one my Justice series came from. You'll see what I've got in mind for this and for my two characters introduction to Izuku. So, on with the show.
(Izuku POV)
It was just another bad day for me. Ever since being labeled quirkless everyone around me did whatever they could to push me down. Today was the worst though. After Kaachan mocked my dreams again, he said the only way I would get a quirk was to die and hope for one in the next life. I still think I have a chance though. UA has dropped the rule that a person needs a quirk to apply. I might just have a chance. Then I hear something gurgling behind me.
A mass of sludge and slime comes out of the sewer pipe in the tunnel. "Perfect. A medium sized cloak to hide in." I run out into the sun a bit to get away, but the villain still grabs me. 'So, this is how it ends.'
'Not today kid.' I hear a voice ring in my head. Next thing I know there is a glow beneath me and the villain. Next thing I know the villain is frozen. My mouth may still be covered, but at least I can breathe. "You okay kid?" I hear a man say in what I English. I know a bit from heroes (especially All Might) but I'm not fluent. "Oh right. You probably can't understand me. (the character switches to Japanese. Its hard to put that in writing so I'll just keep it straightforward) You good kid?" I hear the man say in near fluent Japanese.
There is an accent but it's not too heavy. "Maldita baba. Hold still. I'll bust the part around your mouth." And with a downward fist strike he does just that. "Thank you, sir. Um who are you?" I ask quietly.
"I'm-" I AM HERE TO STOP YOU VILLL- oh he's already stopped." All of the sudden All Might comes out of sewer too. He looked like he was about to fight, but he calmed down when he saw the villain frozen in place. "I'm guessing this young man was attacked and froze the villain in self-defense. I would never blame you for reacting son but be careful with your quirk." I wince at that statement, and both seem to take notice.
"I actually don't have a quirk. If it weren't for this man, I would probably be dead." All Might seems a bit surprised though I'm not sure if its my mentioning of no quirk or something else. That is when we both take a better look at my rescuer. He is probably from America with the way he dresses. He's wearing a leather cowboy hat, has blue jeans on and with a belt that has a wide belt buckle. His shirt has a white and blue plaid pattern to it and he's wearing a tan trench coat. He has dark brown hair with yellow eyes and a very tanned skin complexion.
"I was close by and just stepped in. No big deal." All Might nods and says, "I am impressed, and I would like to thank you for catching this one. I was chasing him earlier and lost track of him in the sewers. But still, you shouldn't use your quirk too liberally." The other man lets out a sighing grunt and says, "I don't have a quirk bub. I don't work with something so stupid."
This floors both of us. Me more so. Here I was just saved by someone who claims to not have a quirk and yet he did something most would find impossible without one. "So how were you able to stop him? I know I saw some sort of flash of light before the villain froze. So how did you do that?" I ask taking out my hero notebook. He looks down at it, his eyes widening a bit.
"I take it you've been attacked more than once because of the fact you don't have one of those worthless mutations. No point lying kid. Between the singe on your clothes and the burns on that book probably someone with a fire or similar based power." All Might seems shocked at this as well and looks at me. I am of course looking down and don't want to say anything. "Son, even if you don't want to rat, or however you want to phrase it, this person out please answer: Is this true?" It's not the cowboy who is asking but All Might with a severe (though still grinning) face.
I can't really lie to my greatest hero and the one who saved me. Especially since all of this has been building up inside me for a while. I start to cry a bit before telling them most everything. All Might looks down in disappointment. "I suppose some of his mentality and fixation is my fault. He probably has only ever seen the fights I get into on tv. With how overwhelmingly strong I am, and people knowing I have been like that for years, he thinks he'll be the next me based on his power alone."
The other man though has a look of rage on his face. "This isn't on you man. It's both the bullshit warped system of heroes you all have, as well as the fact that almost everyone with a quirk is a preening asshole who wants to play with their power. And don't deny some of that is true. How many of your so-called villains are really just stupid man and or woman children who want to just use their powers however they want."
All Might coughs a bit and looks like he's about to say something but he's having trouble getting it out. The cowboy rolls his eyes and says, "oh hold still." Before setting his fist against All Might's side. With another bit of light gathering in his fist. It seems to do something to him, because he stands up with some extra pep and vigor. "Wow that felt great! What did you do?"
"It wasn't much just a light healing spell." At the word spell the two of us are even more dumbstruck. He can't mean magic right. Magic doesn't exist. "Oh, I can assure you it does young man." All Might and I hear a voice behind us the villain is gone and in his place is a woman with fox ears and four tails who is wearing a kimono. "Wait where did the villain go?!"
"You have no reason to worry Mr. Might." She creates a mirror after moving her hands around. The reflection shows him sitting outside of the police station. "I took the liberty to put that creature's frozen butt in or a least close to jail." Before All Might can question the two of them more the woman speaks up by saying, "Perhaps it would be better to talk about all of this later and at a place where you can drop the act you are putting on?"
She looks pointedly at All Might. He winces at that but the two of them just give him a disappointed or withering look. I'm not sure which. All Might takes a breath and then a cloud of smoke appears. Out of the smoke is this skeleton with blonde hair. As I'm about to freak out thinking he's an imposter, the woman suddenly grabs me in a hug. I don't know why but it calms me down. "We can all talk about a few things elsewhere. There's a café up the road. If you are trying to keep a few secrets don't worry, we can make sure no one will know them." The cowboy says before gesturing up the road. I'm of course curious about all of this and All Might seems to be thinking a bit about what has been said and what these two implied. So, we go along with it for now.
(No POV)
After they had gone to the café in question, the man surreptitiously created a circle under the four of them. Then he introduced himself. "My name is Adam Garcia. This is my partner Tomoe (The fox woman nods). What we're about to tell you is not only unusual but it's overly complicated."
"If that's the case why tell us?" Izuku asks. Adam looks to the boy and tells him that "you've got a lot of good. Even before I heard about your condition, I could see the greater compassion in you. You don't hope to be something everyone tells you that you can't for yourself. You do it for others."
All Might upon hearing this looks to the boy in a bit of respect. He thinks back to his origin and how a person who didn't even know him was willing to put their faith in him. "It's a bit of a perk to who and what I am. And before you ask; I'm getting to that." Due to the barrier, he placed under them and the illusion that Tomoe had crafted, no one could see what Adam was creating to illustrate to the other two. "Tomoe and I come from a different dimension. And get that look off your faces. You've already seen us both do some unusual things. Even by your powers perspective." The two basically have to pick their jaws up off the ground.
They shake their heads and Adam continues. "In our world there are both meta humans and magic. But they more often than not keep themselves separate. Although metas didn't appear until a very devastating event. I won't get into full details but much of the world as we knew it almost ended." All Might has a terrified look on his face. 'Is this like when quirks first awakened on our earth?'
"That isn't though where we come in. Though it did have its effects. In our world there is an entity known as the Magus. It's their duty to maintain the balance of reality. Due to the sheer number of cultures on our world alone, multiple gods and other deities awakened or were created from the collective consciousness. The Magus can't keep an eye on all of the day-to-day elements of these deities and similar. So, from ordinary people or even from other magic users, they created the Overseers."
At that, he creates shifts up a few images of humans and mythics working together to act as police and magic crime enforcement. All of this just amazes Izuku more and more. These people despite being like police were almost like the heroes of their world.
"The Overseers operate in two groups. One are the city or culture gap worlds within entire cities. Then there is what I am. I'm what is known as a Marshal or Ranger Overseer. Tomoe was I guess you could say my first case. I helped her and she became my familiar. Anyway, gaps sometimes appear in strange locations that aren't connected to a major city."
To illustrate he pulls up an image of a small town in the mountains. "From those gaps you'll get things like, say a frost giant that wandered in from Jotunheim. Or you could see one of a number of entities born from Aditi or Izanagi. It's the job of the Marshal's to track down a cause of magic mayhem and stop it. Most try to avoid anything drastic, but there are people or entities who are going to fight no matter what."
All Might while still enthralled by all that he talked about, asked the big question. "Why are you here then?" The two shared a look before bringing up the image of a woman with blonde hair. "We're trying to track down a very dangerous magical criminal and terrorist. In our world she's guilty for the deaths of over a thousand people. The two of us, as well as other Overseers have stopped her plans more than once. But she used a dangerous spell to bring herself to your world. And after much of what I've seen I know what she is after. It's more than likely she has an ally in this world."
At hearing that All Might panics even more. His injury was making it harder to work as a pro hero already. If there was someone who could do all of that and this person feared, he wasn't sure he'd ever be able to stop them. Izuku though has almost fainted at the thought of someone like that being here. Tomoe takes this moment to speak up, "we came here to stop her. But unfortunately, we don't have the same kind of luxuries and resources we used to. There is enough magic for us to work with, but we are all alone in this fight. When it came to you All Might admittedly, we were hoping to get your help in working with some higher ups or police that we could trust. The boy however is a different story."
With that stated all three of the adults looked at Izuku. To which he started to freak out until Tomoe grabbed him. "Don't swing your arms around too much. There's only so much my illusion can handle." Calming down Izuku asked what they wanted with him. Adam explained that, even though he is an accomplished Overseer, he didn't think they should place all their eggs in one basket.
When Izuku didn't get the metaphor, All Might explained he didn't want to bet that they could do it all alone. "I feel its better to have a backup plan. Or rather back up period." Adam said looking pointedly at Izuku. Who is just trying to process what he is suggesting.
"I want to train you in a few things. Magic is the obvious part. But also want you to learn more about the worlds that exist within the world. The worlds created by cultures that the cultures don't even know are there. And in the worst case, you could finish the battle we came here for. The two of us may be capable but one person or even one team can't do everything alone."
Izuku is dumbstruck by what he offered. Instead of a quirk he could learn a power that maybe no one else in the world can use. "I know it's a lot to take in. For both of you. Tomoe?" She nods and reaches into the sleeves of her kimono and pulls out a pair of talismans.
"Hold onto these. If you decide you want to learn from us or want to help us; think of our names and it will open a portal to where we are." All Might and Izuku take the talismans. Though neither is entirely sure if this is really happening. Adam stands up and goes to pay the bill at the counter.
When that is done, he tells them, "Hopefully we'll hear from you soon. Good luck." All Might walks Izuku home given it isn't very far. While they are walking All Might tells him a bit more about his injury and why he looks like he does. Just before reaching Izuku's home, he asks All Might a burning question. "Can I be a hero without a quirk?"
All Might sighs and looks up before saying, "Before meeting those two I might've said no. But when I think about it, what it means to be a hero is much more subjective than everyone else wants to admit. In this world we want so hard to believe the powers we are born with can make us money or we can show how great we are. But really…. A hero is someone who tries to save a life and is willing to risk their own. And from what they said about you…. I do think you could be a hero." Upon hearing all of that, Izuku broke down in happy tears. Not even his mother was willing to believe in his dream. But now there were three people who thought he had the potential to be something great.
Ok I know this was a huge info dump, but I wanted to get the background out of the way. What will happen next is a bit of training from a few sources. You'll see in the next chapter.