Disclaimer: I don't own My Hero Academia or Batman. If I did I'd be richer than Bill Gates and having 6 stories out running at once would be more simple.
Greed: WTF are you thinking?!
Skillet: I've had a long semester at University, I need to try something fresh and new to get my mojo for writing back, and the Host Club needs some revenue since the Funimation bullshit happened.
Kyoya: It seems that dealers and stores are less likely to sell our licensed merchandise because of the controversy. Until Skillet updates his stories and gets reviews and readership back up, we'll have to rely and hosting money for the time being.
Hikaru: Yeah, but that's hardly gonna be any easier.
Kaoru: Since both our President and our Manager have been depressed messes all year!
Renge: I wish I was never even born!
Tamaki: Remember last year when everything was nice and peaceful?
Haruhi: They've been getting worse by the day.
Ikō: Can you honestly blame them though?
Skillet: Enough of this depressing shit! Let's get to the depressing shit in the actual story!
Chapter 1: Darkest Night
It all began in Keikei, China with the news that a bioluminescent baby was born out of nowhere. Suddenly, super-powered individuals began emerging from all across the world, with these superpowers soon referred to as quirks being passed from generation to generation. While the cause remained unclear, the exceptional quickly became the norm, and the amount of those born with quirks grew to 80% of the population and rising. As a result of this, an organization led by a powerful crime lord named Ra's al Ghul emerged from Japan called the Society of Shadows.
In order to combat this new breed of criminal, countries like Japan, the United States, and Canada began to form a new profession of real life superheroes came to deal with the Society of Shadows. In the present day, the Society of Shadows and Ra's al Ghul is a mere footnote in history, and as the amount of those born with quirks rises, so does the pool for talented young heroes. From the eighth generation of quirked individuals, came one so powerful that his mere presence in the system seemed to decrease crime rates. Japan's own Symbol of Peace, All Might.
However, as another generation prepares to be entered into the system, a problem has arisen in terms of that crime rate. While many criminals can easily be taken down by heroes and their quirks, there are always those that slip to the cracks and don't get reported to agencies. As a result of this, a thriving underground of small time crooks and thugs has slipped under the watchful eyes of more popular heroes to terrorize those who are unfortunate enough to come across them.
These range from formerly powerful Yakuza families such as the Shie Hassaikai, to mere street thugs who happened to have dangerous quirks. One such example of the latter happened to come across a small set of apartments in the nicer part of Musutafu and decided to have a pay day. As the woman who happened to be leading the gang of thugs had a relatively powerful quirk, they were easily able to subdue a family living in one of the apartments.
"I looted all the valuables boss! Think we should hit the road soon?"
"That would be nice, I taxed a lot of my quirk getting them tied up. I honestly just want to go home and rest." The middle aged women yawned lazily as she looked over the technology and jewelry that the thug managed to dig out of the apartment.
"I still don't know about this you guys. Usually the dumps like this with the rich families have really powerful heroes guarding them!" One the crooks pointed out, fearing that a well known hero like Endeavor or Best Jeanist would arrive at any moment.
"Chill out man, we both know we're not big enough to end up on the radar of anyone worth worrying about. Might as well have some fun, considering no hero is gonna be here." Another thug said while staring at the family they'd tied up in the corner. Specifically at the teenage girl that was about high school aged, in a way that made her absolutely terrified.
"Damnit Christo. Fine, but make it quick." The woman groaned in response to her subordinate's request.
"Why make it quick? After all, we're gonna have a lot of fun tonight babe." The thug excitedly reached the terrified and struggling girl with malicious intent, only to stop when he felt a sudden pain course through that hand. He looked at his hand to find it now had a large gaping wound stemming from a bat shaped throwing knife that had pierced right through it.
As the thug screamed in pain from the wound, his accomplices looked at him with a look of disbelief "What the hell?!" Upon seeing the piece of metal that pierced his hand, the group glanced at the opened doorway to the apartment to find a figure dressed in black standing in it. Under the darkness of the buildings hallways, the figure seemed to have almost no human attributes except for a pair of large and piercing eyes. It seemed to have a large set of wings that hanged freely down his back, and pointed ears that protruded from the top of their head.
"Crap! I knew this would happen!"
"Shut up you idiot! Have you ever seen this freak on any news or online? He's clearly just a small timer!" Another thug snapped at them "Hey jackass, who the hell are you supposed to be?! Answer me!"
The figure was silent for a few moments, before finally speaking in a voice that was low and cold, almost as if it was coming from a machine "...your worst nightmare..." It was then that they walked in the room, appearing almost like a ghost to the villains due to the inhuman way they moved. Only the woman leading them seemed even remotely unafraid as she activated her quirk, which turned her into what resembled a large oni.
"I don't what kind of rinky dink hero prep school you graduated from tiny, but you're even dumber than you look in that cosplay of yours if you thought confronting us without a real pro would be a good idea!" The woman spoke in what was now a deep and gravely voice, the confidence of her gang having boosted the moment they saw her transform.
Not reacting in the slightest to this sudden metamorphosis, the figure spoke once again "quirk: oni. description: can transform into an oni of Japanese mythology and use that transformation to amplify strength. weaknesses..." The figure suddenly threw another knife into the third eye in the middle of the woman's forehead, causing her to scream in pain and falter her transformation. While she was momentarily weakened, the figure slid under her legs before giving her a roundhouse to the back, sending her into the wall and knocking her unconscious "the third eye holds the key to the power of your quirk, and if damaged it weakens your powers. you should have kept it better guarded, and you should have also trained your quirk better. it's a part of your body just like anything else and needs to be trained. you've relied to much on the baseline of power that it gives you, and that's made you weak."
"Why you little bastard!" Another thug tried to attack the figure from behind and avenge their boss, activating a quirk that turns his fingers into switch blades. However, the figure saw this move coming a mile away and grabbed both his hands, avoiding being cut thanks to gloves and the guards on his gloves. It was then that the figure broke his hands with little effort, causing the man to howl in pain "FUCK!"
"you suffer from a similar problem. most civilians are intimidated the moment they see your quirk, and you try to avoid fighting with heroes. not to mention the knives on your fingers are dull and unlikely to do little more than a scratch."
"TAKUO! I'll save you man!" A thug with a porcupine quirk caused multiple sharp spines emerge from his back and hair and charged at the figure. After knocking Takuo out with a hard headbutt, they turned to this villain and threw two strong metal cables at them and tied up all of their limbs in what seemed like less than a second to the robbers.
"quirk: porcupine. allows one to grow quills like a porcupine out of their hair and back, as well as recede them as well. unfortunately you have worked towards the ability to spread this ability to your other limbs. however, it wouldn't matter in this situation as your quills wouldn't be nearly strong enough to break through the metal." It was then that the figure glared down the final remaining villain, who was still clutching the wound on their hand "i saw you moving your hand that girl earlier. i know what "fun" you were planning on having. people like you are the worst kind of scum."
As the figure began slowly moving toward him, the criminal began to visibly panic, waving his uninjured hand in an attempt to save himself from the unidentified hero "No! Stay back! Stay back!" The creeper proceeded to unleash a smokescreen from his hand using his quirk, using the brief moment of cover to bolt from the room and hopefully escape their masked assailant. Glaring at the door where the villain had escaped, the figure examined his handiwork in dealing with the villains before turning his attention to the family that was bound and gagged in the corner.
Looking at them it was a typical Japanese family with a middle aged man and woman, an elderly woman, a teenaged girl who seemed to be the most shaken out of anyone due to what almost happened to her, a young boy who looked to be in the fourth grade who wasn't that dealing it with that much better. Grabbing a phone he presumed to belong to someone in the family from the left behind bag of loot, he took a small Swiss army knife and used it to cut the rope binding them, before handing the phone to the woman.
"Call the police and tell them what happened. I'll deal with smokey." The figure spoke in a more calm and younger sounding voice than he'd used when dealing the villains. With the light now in his face from the moon, the family could see he was much younger than they'd originally thought, with a plain freckled face and large green eyes. The rest of his face had been obscured by the cowl he'd worn however, making it hard to identify him.
Despite being rather stoic up to that point, he was noticeably flustered when the teenage girl suddenly pulled him into a hug "Thank you! I was so scared, that villain was going to...he was going to..."
"It's okay dearie, we're safe now." The woman then took her daughter into arms and comforted her, before facing the figure "Is there anything we can do to repay you?"
"No need ma'm, i'm a mere street sweeper. Besides, I haven't taken care of things yet..." The figure said before walking out of the room and going after the escaped thug, leaving no sign he'd even there besides the three villains he'd already beaten.
The smokescreen thug had ran all the way up to the rooftop of a nearby building, having managed to take a small bag of the family's valuables. With any offensive power their gang had being so easily beaten by such a terrifying hero, he knew he had to get as far away from the area as quickly as humanly possible before he found anymore holes in his body. Glaring at the gaping wound left in his hand, he bitterly spat "Stupid little bitch-ass hero. I was just getting excited too!"
Had he been paying any attention to what was going on behind him, he would have noticed that a winged shadow was descending onto the rooftop from another building not far from him "Honestly, how weak are those losers that they can't even take on one guy? I thought the boss would be..." As he continued to count the loot, he froze like a deer in headlights upon feeling a shadow cast over him from above, and reluctantly looked up to see the figure from before looming over him.
Letting out a scream of terror as the figure descended upon with a look of pure hatred in their eyes, he ran as fast as possible in the other direction before taking out a small pistol and unloading it onto the figure. However, to his shock and horror, the bullets bounced off the figure's suit with him only wincing slightly in pain with each shot. With his gun emptied and no other way of fighting back, the thug sprinted in the direction of the stairwell, only to find his feet suddenly tied together.
He looked behind him to find that the figure had thrown a wire and throwing knife around his legs, and was now dragging him back. Despite his best efforts to escape and crawl away from the figure, he quickly found himself held up by the collar of his shirt and staring face to face with the figure "i have to admit you picked a good spot for this. saves me getting my suit dirty with your blood. what are we, seven stories up?" The figure spoke before dangling the thug over the roof.
"NO! PLEASE DON'T KILL ME! PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!"
"i'm not going to kill you...i want you to tell all your friends about me..."
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU?"
"...i'm batman." Batman stated before dropkicking the man off the roof, with him dangling and only being saved from the fall by cable tied around his leg. He looked up to try and get another look at this Batman only to find that he'd suddenly vanished into thin air.
A group of police officers led by pro-hero Eraserhead arrived on the scene about 15 minutes later and found all four villains either knocked out or tied up, including the one left on the roof of a nearby office building. This villain in particular seemed effected by what had happened, mumbling both to himself and the officers taking him in "BIG WINGS!"
"Big wings, yeah yeah, keep moving buddy."
"All four villains are going to be taken into custody, and will be held indefinitely in Arkham Correctional Facility and Home for the Criminally Insane pending trial." Eraserhead informed the couple as they watched their assailants loaded into police vehicles and driven away "So according to your report you were saved by a young sidekick in a bat themed hero costume arrived and defeated all four of these villains?"
"Yes, that's correct." The man said before clapping his hands together in thanks "You sent that young man right in time I might add! If he hadn't arrived when he did, I don't want to think about what would have happened. Thank you for sending him, in short!"
"Ummm...what?" Naomasa rubbed the back of his head, being very confused as to what they were talking about "We didn't send any hero, or sidekick for that matter!"
"No hero registered in the Japanese Hero Association matches the description of the man you described to us. We can only assume they were a particularly effective vigilante. Luckily for him, effective Night heroes and vigilantes have been in short order since the Crawler and Pop Step retired. So we won't try to go after him for the time being." Aizawa said as he and the other police officers exited the scene, with the exception of a few officers meant to deal with clean up and questioning.
If one had gotten a good look at Aizawa's face as he left, one would have seen an evil smile spread across it 'Looks like that damn problem child has finally actually done it. He's surely gonna start shaking things up once this goes public, so I hope he's ready for it. Not all the villains he fights will be as easy as those morons.'
Batman snuck across the city in his suit, making sure to be seen as little as possible, even though he was still fully in costume. He was technically a vigilante after all, so the less anyone saw of his face the better. Having examined all the routes around the city before making his debut, he'd managed to find a way that would get him home quickly and unnoticed. This home being Wayne Manor, a recently inherited palace that he and one other had been living in for the past few months.
Due to the company's American origins, the stately mansion which formerly acted as a summer home held a British name in its title, despite the Japanese aesthetic that the architecture provided. However, the summer home had quickly become the main estate of IM Enterprises upon its relocation with the death of 108 year old CEO Tamaki Midoriya. According to the man's will, the bulk of the corporation would be inherited by the family of Inko Midoriya, his great niece who's husband had died in a villain attack 10 years earlier.
Under these conditions, the company was inherited by 14 year old Izuku Midoriya, his sole remaining family due to another tragic incident involving a villain about 6 months ago. Now 15, Izuku had taken to vigilantism due to what had happened, using the wealth of his new company to fund the creation of this new identity. However, this was the first time he'd put on the cowl and was visibly chilled as he walked back into a secret entrance in the manor, which he referred to as the Batcave.
"Welcome home, Master Midoriya." A man of British who appeared to be in his early 30s with silver hair and lavender eyes spoke to his employer as they walked in and began removing their vigilante costume, or Batsuit as a friend of Izuku's had deemed it "How was your first time out and about as the Batman? I trust it was an exhilarating experience."
"You could say that Pennyworth-san. It was awesome but at the same time it was terrifying!" Izuku said to his butler as he took off the remainder of his costume and slipped into a robe "I may or may not have dangled someone off a building."
"I see Aizawa-kun has taught you well! Let's just hope he taught you how to stay away from the media." Alfred said he opened the elevator door of the Batcave that would lead them back up to the main estate of Wayne Manor "Shall I run you a bath before you go to bed Master Midoriya?"
"Yes, thank you Pennyworth-san." Izuku said as he let out a yawn, as he'd been patrolling the streets of Musutafu since around 10 PM, and it was currently 4 AM. It was then that he looked at himself in the reflective surface of the elevator door, feeling a sense of sadness as they ascended "I can't believe how much has changed in so little time Pennyworth-san. And I still can't accept that she's gone..."
"Your mother would be very proud of the man you've become Master Midoriya. I have no doubt of that."
Six months before the debut of Batman as a vigilante, Izuku Midoriya was having a very bad day. And that's not just because he was bullied and humiliated in front of his class for the umpteenth time on Career Day by one Katsuki Bakugo for his plans to attend UA High School. Nor was it because he was told to kill himself by jumping off the roof of the school not but two hours later. But he was now being put in a chokehold by a villain who was made entirely of sludge.
"You look like you'd be an easy body to take over gaki. Don't worry, it'll only hurt for about a minute, then everything will stop. It's a good thing you showed up you know, I never expected a hero like that would ever show up in a backwater dump like this." The Sludge Villain said as he tried constricting and seeping into Izuku, who continued to resist his efforts "Quit your struggling! My quirk makes my body fluid so there's no point in trying to-
"FEAR NOT YOUNG MAN, FOR I AM HERE!" All Might said as he suddenly burst from a nearby manhole, and reared his fist back in preparation to defeat the villain.
"What the-?"
"Texas Smash"
With a single blast from his fist, All Might had removed the now unconscious Sludge Villain from his intended victim, who had himself passed out from the physical strain of nearly being killed. It took the boy about 3 minutes to wake up "Hey. Hey. Young man, are you alright?" All Might prodded at the boy until he saw his eyes move, and he was sure that he was awake and safe from any harm "Thank goodness, I was worried you were seriously hurt!"
"ALL MIGHT?!" Izuku squealed in response to the sudden appearance of his idol.
"Sorry you were caught up in my investigation like that. I usually try not to make mistakes like that, even when I'm off camera." All Might said before showing off the captured Sludge Villain, who was now trapped in a 2 liter soda bottle "But you were a great help in capturing this miscreant villain."
"Iii, wait an autograph! Where's my notebook, where did I drop it?" Izuku picked up his notebook, and opened it to find the Pro had already signed it "THANK YOU SO MUCH! I'LL TREASURE IT FOREVER!"
"Now then, it's best I go to have him dealt with by the proper authorities! After all, a hero battles time as often as they do evil." All Might said as he prepared to leap away from the scene "You can catch me again on tv! Until next time!"
"Wait, I have to ask you-" Izuku tried to grab All Might's wrist before he could fly away, only to grab on right at take off, leaving him flying in the air hanging on by All Might's ankle "OH CRAAAAAAAP!"
"Hey now, I know you're enthusiastic but this is a bit much! Release me!"
"If I let go right now I'll die!"
"Fair enough!" All Might said before noticing the small amount of blood leaking from his mouth 'Damnit, I'm already at my limit!'
Thankfully for Izuku, it only took them a few short minutes to land on the roof of a nearby building, though he was still visibly shaken by the experience. Meanwhile, All Might examined the height of the building and growled in frustration "This just isn't my day! Hopefully those people downstairs will help us get down from here. I still don't have much time though..."
"Wait, I have to ask you something before you go!" Izuku swallowed the lump in his throat and asked the question he'd been waiting ten years for "Without a quirk, is it possible for me to become a hero? A hero like you? I've always been picked on because I'm quirkless...I feel like can save people because of that. I want people to see my fearless smile and know their safe, just like how you-WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!"
While he was asking his question, he didn't notice that All Might had literally been deflating and was now a gawky, scrawny, harrowed looking skeleton of a man "You're all shriveled up! Were-were you an impostor all this time! There's no way someone so skinny could be All Might!"
"You have no room to talk young man. But yes, I am All Might." All Might sat down, resigned to having been caught in his true form "The form most people are familiar with is my appearance when I use my quirk, which used to be empowered at all times of the day. However, five years ago I faced a powerful enemy." All Might lifted his shirt to reveal an ugly scar on his left side that took up most of his chest "My respiratory system was severely damaged, and my digestive system needed a complete overhaul. Because of the massive strain it puts on my body, I can only manage to do hero work 3 hours of the day until my quirk gives out and I revert to this state."
"Five years ago? It must have been your fight with Toxic Chainsaw then! Or maybe Black Mask?"
"Heh, you sure know your stuff fanboy. But no, neither of them were involved in this injury. It was a villain you've probably heard about in your history books, but I can't actually say their codename without breaking federal law." All Might said before he stood up and cracked his back "Besides, I think you've heard enough details. This can't be made public, as a Symbol of Peace must face any danger presented by evil completely undaunted. And all pro heroes have to be willing to put their life on the line for others. A younger, more idealistic me probably would have given you a different answer, but I don't think you can become a hero without power."
If All Might had looked a bit closer at the student, he would have seen his eyes go blank "You brought up wanting to help people? Without a quirk I'd say your best bet is being a police officer. It doesn't pay as much nowadays and those in villain custody are usually the butt of jokes, but it's an honorable position if you ask me." Before exiting the building, All Might gave Izuku one last look and said.
"It's alright to dream kid, but you should still be realistic."
Izuku was then left alone on the rooftop, frozen as a statue as he tried to comprehend what he was just told, before taking his burnt notebook labeled Hero Research for the Future #13 and blankly staring at the autograph All Might had left inside 'That settles it I guess...Even the Number One hero said it was impossible...Even he doesn't believe in me...' It was then his thoughts turned to exactly how he was going to get down from the ten story building. Unfortunately that reminded him of something else that one Katsuki Bakugo had told him about an hour ago.
"If you really want a quirk so bad, take a swan dive off the roof and hope you get a quirk in your next life!"
Then without realizing it, Izuku began to walk towards to the edge of the building, only stopping when he was inches away from the safety railing meant to prevent any accidental falls. Izuku looked down over the edge of the building and the people in the streets going about their day, most with not a care in the world 'Most of them probably have really great quirks I bet...I was just lucky to make it this far...' Izuku set his backpack on the top of the roof below before grabbing hold of the safety railings. However, he suddenly stopped when he remembered his mother. She may have not believed in him, but she had done her best to keep him happy, in spite of almost everyone else's best efforts.
"No...I can't do that to her. I should go home." Izuku stepped away from the edge of the building and picked up his backpack, before heading back downstairs and to the direction of his home.
Little did he know his day was about to get much, much worse.
The walk home took Izuku about 30 minutes from the middle of town, something that would have normally made him anxious enough to sprint his way there, as his mother would likely be in a panic. However, he didn't even have the energy to think about such things and trudged home at a snail's pace. The depressed boy didn't even notice the hero fight occurring on not far from his path home, which had been causing quite the commotion in the streets.
As per normal, things seemed quiet and dull in the area around their apartment complex, which was enough out of the way that almost nothing of note happened there most days. Not caring about the colder weather or the fact that the sun was quickly making its way down, Izuku moved up the stairs to the front door of his apartment "Mom, I'm-..."Izuku almost immediately paused when he noticed that the door was unlocked, but it was left creaking open. Izuku knew this was very out of character for his mother, who had a habit of compulsively checking the lock.
Now extremely frightened at the idea of what awaited him inside his apartment, Izuku slowly opened the door to take a look inside, finding that it had been ransacked. Any and all furniture had been overturned, and most of the household appliances were missing from their original positions, or strewn about the apartment in what resembled a room destroyed by a hurricane "No no no no no no no..." Izuku immediately realized that his apartment had somehow been broken into by a villain.
Without thinking about anything else, he immediately began looking around the apartment for Inko "Mom? Mom?! Pleasebealright! Pleasebealright! Pleasebealright!" Izuku rushed everywhere he could think of before he noticed her tied up in the living room, bound, gagged, and scared out of her mind "Mom! You're okay! Don't worry, I'll get you out of here!" Izuku removed the gag around her mouth, allowing her to speak after catching her breath.
"Izuku, you have to get out of here immediately! That villain has some sort of illusion quirk that he used to trick me into letting him in, and he's got a gun!"
"I don't care, I'm going to leave you here!" Izuku told her as he tried untying the ropes that bound her to the wooden kitchen chair.
"No! You don't understand, he's-" Inko felt her heart skip a beat when the villain came out of her bedroom, and cocked a gun at the back of her son's head "He's still in our apartment..."
"You're either really brave or really stupid to try coming to the rescue kid, especially against someone like me. You touch those ropes one more time or try using your quirk, then I'll blow both your brains out and ruin that nice wall you got there." The man spoke in a cold and sadistic tone, pressing the barrel of the gun further against Izuku's head for good measure. Izuku used his peripheral vision to see that the man was of American descent with green hair similar to his, and was wearing a purple suit with a greenish corsage on the chest "Now here's what you're going to do. You're going to drop all your valuables into this bag, and I'm going to be leaving. Then you won't call the police or nothing till I'm fifteen minutes away. Got it?"
"Yyou won't get away this! Someone will have heard you by now, and they'll call-"
"A hero? Yeah, never heard that one before. Lemme tell you something, I'm wanted in 7 different countries in 3 different continents and not once has a hero ever come to stop me personally. That's because they and their big powerful agencies only care about two things: buzz and money. Even if I did get reported, I'd be filtered out in favor of a villain with a flashy quirk that would elicit more publicity." The man said before pressing the gun further against the back of his head "Now drop your shit or I'll turn your fucking head into a Picasso painting!"
"Izuku, just do what he says. Everything he's taking is easily replaceable. We can't stand up to someone with power like his."
"Mom..."
"I know you want to be a hero dearie, but we have to be realistic right now. He's got a deadly weapon and a terrifying quirk, something neither of us have. You don't even have a quirk to begin with. So please, I'm begging you to just stand down." Inko pleaded with her son, fearful of what the pistol-wielding villain might do to him if he showed any further resistance. While this seemed to get through to Izuku briefly, something else had changed for the villain.
Namely in that he was laughing and leering at Izuku "You're quirkless? Holy shit, you couldn't even stand against me if you tried! Honestly, I thought you were pathetic looking before but this takes the cake. Izuku was it? Well Zuzu, I have had to use this gun a few other times today, so I've only got one bullet left. And I just hate to waste." He said evilly as he pulled the safety off his gun and wrapped his finger around the trigger "I mean you're a waste of space after all! Not as if anybody will miss you!"
"NO!" Inko let out a scream of utter rage as she used her remaining strength to break free of her bonds, and used her quirk send a stray nail lying on the cluttered floor right into the villain's face "STAY AWAY FROM MY BABY!"
"AAAAAAAAAARRRRRGH!" The villain screamed in pain as he clutched the cut in his face before angrily pointing the gun at Inko "YOU STUPID BITCH!"
"NO!"
*BANG*
A shot rang out across the entire apartment building as the villain shot Inko right in the chest, causing her to collapse to the floor as she coughed blood "MOM!" Izuku panicked and grabbed his mother's limp body, which seemed to be growing colder by the second.
"Your lucky your mother is an ungrateful idiot kid, now you get to live another day. Honestly, I try to take a quirkless mouth to feed off her hands and that's how she repays me? I thought the Japanese considered hospitality a virtue." The villain looked Izuku dead in the eye with an evil grin on his face. This enraged Izuku to the very core of his being, as he now tried to tackle the man in a fit of rage.
"I'LL KILL YOU!"
However, the man collapsed into mist the moment Izuku made contact with him, being nothing more than an illusion stemming from the man's quirk. Izuku realized this and ran outside his apartment to see that the man had already ran out onto the street with a bag of the valuables he'd stolen from their household "Let that be a lesson to you kid! Quirkless people should know their place!" The man laughed as he ran further into the street and far away from the apartment.
Izuku just stared at him as he sprinted off into the distance, as everything around him slowed to a stop and he couldn't even bring himself to move. Then someone broke his trance by speaking to him "Hey kid, what's going on?" He turned to see one of his neighbors had exited their apartment and was talking to him, likely to see what had made the loud noise about a minute ago "We heard some weird noises like a firework from your apartment!"
"A villain broke in and he shot my mom! Please help us!" Izuku panicked and started pleading with the man, fearful for his mother's life.
"I'll call the police and they should have an ambulance over soon. Hopefully they'll send a pro hero after that villain too. In the meantime, go check your mother's wounds, and make sure they're not dangerous." The old woman said to him before rushing back into her apartment, while Izuku followed suit to check on Inko
Needless to say, Inko had been in much better shape as she was now barely conscious and bleeding heavily through her bullet wound. In spite of this, Izuku spoke to her and tried to keep her calm "Mom, don't worry, our neighbors are calling an ambulance for you. You're going to be alright!"
"No...Izuku...I was hit in the heart..." Inko painfully informed her son as she took more shallow breaths, causing a look of horror to spread across his face. He desperately looked at the area of the wound for any hint that she was mistaken, only to find a hole right above where her heart would be. It was then Inko took his hand and looked him in the eyes "Izuku, you have to listen to me...I'm sorry I was a poor excuse for a mother...you deserved someone else...someone who would believe in you...I know it will be hard, but please...become the hero you always wanted..."
"Mom? MOM?!" Izuku felt his entire world crashing around him as the light in Inko's eyes dulled and her grip on his hand loosened to nothing. By this point the only thing he could do was scream in utter agony "NO! NO! NOOOOOOOOOO! NOOOOOOOOO! PLEASE DON'T GO! PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME ALL ALONE!...please don't leave me..."
For the next five minutes, Izuku didn't move an inch and merely cradled his mother's body, stewing in his despair and self-loathing after all the events 'Damnit...If I had just been born with a powerful quirk I could have fought that villain and saved her...No, if I had just ended things back there then she wouldn't have died trying to save me...Why am I so useless...'
"Why did you tell that kid a her would track down that guy?" Izuku's attention turned to outside his apartment where some of his neighbors were talking, specifically a young man and the old woman who'd called the police "Maybe if they were more noticeable, but not a common street punk like that."
"Don't say things like that!"
"What, it's true! A friend of mine is a sidekick and most hero agencies don't bother going after guys like him when they get more attention fighting villains with flashier quirks." The young man said "Tell you the truth, I've heard a guy with his description shot some other kid earlier this morning and still no hero in the area went to stop him."
"Strange, Musutafu has dozens of talented young heroes?"
"Guess they just didn't think he was worth it."
'They knew about that villain the entire time?...And they didn't go after him? But that can't be! Heroes are...I know All Might would...' Izuku tried to justify to himself any reason why the pro heroes in his area wouldn't have gone after that villain, but only found himself getting angrier by the second 'They didn't go after him...because it wouldn't make them popular...He's just gonna keep killing and hurting people, and no one's gonna care?!'
It was then Izuku got a notification on his phone from his local news app, which brought up a story about how All Might had just saved a young middle school student from a rampaging Sludge Villain. While Izuku would ordinarily be very interested in a story like this, he felt himself angry at the mere thought of All Might and went into his menu to get rid of the notification. However, when he did he noticed a certain app on his phone, specifically the Find a Phone app. That's when he realized that Inko's phone was likely one of the valuables that the thug had taken from the house before he'd arrived.
From that moment, Izuku couldn't remember much of anything that happened in the next few minutes. The next thing he remember was running through the street, tracking the villain down using his phone with a kitchen knife in his hand. The old woman from earlier saw him and tried calling out "What are you doing? Just let the heroes handle it!" But he didn't care. He didn't care whether he lived or died anymore at this point. The only thing he cared about at this moment was bringing in the villain who'd killed his mother and stopping him from killing anyone else.
"We live in a society..." A young man in his early twenties with wrinkled skin and scraggly blue hair spoke to his limo driver "..that is so boring, Kurogiri. Always filled with the same old NPCs and meaningless quests day in and day out. I'd kill for something exciting to happen for once!"
"Just be patient Tomura, I'm sure that Sensei's preparations will be complete sooner than later!" Kurogiri said to Shigaraki as he drove across the town, having taken a small trip away from their hideout in the Kamino ward to go buy a game that the young villain had wanted to buy, which would be available in a specific store in Musutafu "Besides, I'm sure you'd be less bored if you stopped rage quitting and disintegrating the controller with your quirk."
"What's that supposed to mean?!" Shigaraki got indignant with his caretaker, before looking out the window like a pouty child "It's not like I drop out of the servers or anything, I just let go of my reflexes from time to time is all...Who is that?"
"Why, whatever do you mean Tomura?" Kurogiri briefly stopped the limousine as they reached a red light, while Shigaraki pointed towards a jogger not behind them. However, unlike most people one would find running along the street, this one had something different about them. They were a middle school student in a bloody uniform, with a look of utter rage and hatred in their eyes.
"Don't move the car an inch. I need to talk to someone." Shigaraki ordered Kurogiri, feeling a sense of familiarity with the look in his eyes and liking it. Opening the door, Shigaraki asked the approaching Izuku "Hey kid, need a ride?"
Being surprised by this sudden offer and panting from running all this way, Izuku gave a half hearted reply "Huh?"
"I like that look in your eye! You look like you're ready to take revenge on someone! If you're looking to go somewhere specific, we can take you there!" Shigaraki said with a grin, very excited to see where this was going to go. While Izuku seemed very suspicious of this, logic and reason were something he wasn't exactly keen on at the moment and stepped into the limousine.
"he's at this factory. i'm either going to make a citizen's arrest or die trying." Izuku said with a blank expression on his face and a tone that would chill most people to their very core. However, Shigaraki and Kurogiri were definitely not like most people and instead followed the directions set by the boy's phone. While it was dark by the time they had arrived at the factory, the phone app still showed that the villain was hiding out there.
"Thank you for taking me here...Tenko was it?"
"That's what they used to call me...Just do me one favor after this kid. Make this society more interesting!" Shigaraki said with a large grin on his face before having Kurogiri drive away from the scene "You know Kurogiri...I have a feeling that kid is going to cause something big in the future!"
With his ride gone in the distance and the decaying factory in front of him, Izuku once again armed himself with the kitchen knife and tiptoed his way inside, not wanting to give his target any indication that he was coming or risk damaging the fragile structure of the building. Following the signal of Inko's stolen phone, Izuku eventually found himself in what appeared to be a long dead chemical mixing room, which was covered in rust and limestone from years of rest. The only noise made in the room was from a platform above Izuku, who looked up to see the silhouette of someone looting through a bag of stolen valuables. Knowing exactly who it was, Deku made his way to the staircase and silently crept up it.
"Well, today was certainly lucrative in terms of business. Even got to use a few of my bullets! If it weren't for that damn kid making me lose my gun. I'll have to rely on my quirk to do jobs until I can get a new one. Not like anyone's coming for me anyway!" The thug laughed before he heard a noise not far from where he was sitting. But before he could react, he already felt a skinny arm around his waist and the flat of a knife pressed against his throat.
"Don't move. You're coming with me to the police station, right now." Izuku said to the villain in a stern voice, knowing that this was a long shot attempt and would likely get him into trouble.
"I thought I told you that quirkless people should know their place Zuzu, and here you are trying to play hero again. I have a much better idea for how this is gonna go down!" The villain said with a smirk, recognizing the voice of the quirkless middle schooler, before suddenly grabbing hold of Izuku's hand and switching the knife around to slit his own throat. Izuku panicked as the villain's blood covered his hand, only to suddenly get socked in the stomach and sent flying into a control panel, dropping the knife below the platform.
"Fun fact about my quirk, I can cause hallucinations in all 5 senses, including the senses caused by another person's quirk. I can make you see enemies, hear noises, and feel pain that's not even there." The villain taunted his young victim as he used his quirk to create multiple versions of himself on the platform. Izuku tried to stand back up, pulling a lever on the control panel to do so and accidentally activating the rusted old chemical mixers.
"Tell me kid...Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?" One of the villain's copies said before pulling out a gun and shooting Izuku right in the chest. The quirkless boy screamed in pain before the wound suddenly healed, and he fell back onto the knife of another hallucination "We could do this all night you know. I just have to get bored of torturing you before I send you back to your mommy!"
Knowing the wound in his chest more than likely wasn't real, Izuku turned around and tried giving the villain a weak uppercut which revealed him to be nothing more than a copy. It was then another version of the villain kicked him in the side, before he a group of the clones began kicking and punching at him while he was down "You actually thought you stood a chance against me Zuzu? It might not be very destructive, but my quirk makes me the most devastating villain you'll ever come across! Not that you'll come across anymore."
Izuku was then lifted up by the collar of his shirt and given a sadistic sneer by the villain who then stuck the knife in his throat "We'll keep doing this until you're either batshit crazy or dead, whatever comes first kid!" The villain said with an evil chuckle while Izuku noticed something through the pain of his fake injuries that distinguished the fakes from the original, namely how the original was opaque while the fakes were see through. And that while the fatal injury he had just been given was fake, the villain holding up was indeed the real one.
Examining his surroundings as the villain began using the fake knife to cause painful hallucinations of being stabbed in the chest, Izuku saw above the metal wall that he was being held against was a set of loosely pinned wires held by a rusty bar, which were now burning red due to the mixers having been switched on for the first time in over a decade. Thinking quickly Izuku grabbed ahold of the villain's head and slammed both of them into the rusty wall breaking the clip and sending the heated wires tumbling down onto the villains hands causing him to scream in agony and break his hallucination.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGH!"
Using the opportunity as his opponent clutches his second degree burns, Izuku used the last of his strength to rear back his fist and send a punch right across the villain's face. While this normally wouldn't have done as much damage due to Izuku's lack of upper body strength, the timing of the blow factored in with the slippery chemicals covering the floor caused the villain to stumble back over the railings. He barely had seconds to grab on to the railing to prevent a fall down into the chemical mixer.
Seeing the villain struggling and dangling from the safety rail of the platform, Izuku reluctantly knew what he had to do and reached over to him "Take my hand! I'll pull you up!" While he was visibly surprised by this apparent act of kindness from the boy who's mother he'd murdered, he knew from his eyes he was being honest. Despite this, he knew that his professional reputation in the underground would be destroyed if he was saved by a quirkless, the absolute scum of society.
With a glare the villain growled "Go fuck yourself kid." Before letting go of the railing and dropping into the chemical mixer to his doom, being lost to either the blades of the mixer or the pipes that it would lead to. Seeing the man sink into the chemicals, Izuku felt the full weight of his awful day hit him like a ton of bricks. No one, not even the Symbol of Peace believed in his goals. His mother was dead because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. And he was now responsible for the death of another person, even if that person was a villain.
In utter despair he collapsed against the wall, not feeling a single thing as he curled into a ball and waited for the police to inevitably arrive and arrest him. He only looked up when he saw two familiar men looking up at him after arriving at the scene. One was an obscure hero that he only knew of because of extensive knowledge of heroes, Shouta Aizawa: Eraserhead. The other was the man he'd met earlier that day, the Symbol of Peace, All Might.
"My God..."
After finally managing to get away from the press in the aftermath of the Sludge Villain incident, All Might began making his way back home to his apartment on a lonely street, this time in the form of his now secret identity Toshinori Yagi. He was happy he managed to bring in the villain and stop his rampage, and he was happy he managed the strong, albeit irritable, middle school student it was attempting to kill. But something felt very wrong in spite of all that.
He still hadn't been able to shake the feeling from when he had to be honest with that quirkless fan from before. The look of pain in his eyes was something all too familiar to the man, and it made him reconsider what he had said 'Maybe I was to cynical with that young man. With the right materials, it would be hard but not impossible for quirkless people to be heroes in this day and age...No. Being a hero is dangerous work. I couldn't risk happened to me happening to me. Without power, he couldn't fight villains with more devastating quirks without getting himself killed.'
He was distracted from his thoughts when he heard the footsteps of someone running across the rooftops of nearby houses, someone with long black hair and a scratchy beard, wearing a long gray scarf and yellow goggles. All Might immediately panicked at the thought of one of his colleagues catching him in his true form, and tried sneaking away down a nearby alleyway to avoid being seen. This didn't pan out though as Aizawa turned his head in that direction, forcing All Might to transform into his muscle form to avoid blowing his cover.
"Good evening Eraserhead! I was just taking a small walk to catch some fresh air now that my rounds over!" All Might tried to explain why he was out so late to the night hero, who didn't seem very interested, being more focused on the information currently posted on his smart phone.
"That's nice All Might, but I'm on my shift right now and I've got more important things to do than worry about a little evening stroll. I'm tracking down an American villain who's been on the run in Japan over the past few weeks. He's armed and dangerous, and his quirk is something can cause massive psychological scars." Aizawa said, as he looked in the direction this villain was supposed to have gone.
All Might was surprised that he hadn't heard of such a villain yet, especially considering the length of time he'd been on the run being insane for a villain with an apparently devastating ability "I'm afraid I haven't heard of such a villain! Tell me Eraserhead, what information do you have on him?"
"Damnit, this will be much more troublesome with you involved. Fine, I'll tell you all the information I have on him, but only because it's smarter to have backup in a fight, no matter how annoying that backup is." Aizawa cleared his throat before looking at his phone to go over the notes he'd been taking on his target "His name is Jack Napier, born 2356 in Athens, Texas. As a teenager he bounced around the gangs of several notorious United States and Mexican villains and kingpins like Underminer VIII, Rupert Thorne, Carl Grissom, Sartana of the Dead, and Salvatore Valestra. Then he started a solo career on the streets, and became wanted in multiple different countries: The United States, Canada, Mexico, Panama, Haiti, Jamaica, Peru, Great Britain, Scotland, Ireland, France, Spain, Russia, China, Korea, and Japan. He got into the country using a fake work visa a couple weeks ago, and since then he's been responsible for multiple deaths and robberies. In the past five days alone he's been suspected in the assault of at least 15 people, and today he's broken into upwards of seven houses, shooting and killing two people: One an eight year old boy around 9 AM, the other a 41 year old woman around 5:45 PM."
"What?! H-how is it that I'm only just now hearing of this?!" All Might said in shock, enraged that such a villain had been allowed to rampage throughout the country without being stopped for so long.
"I don't know. Maybe the people who send out these reports feel like the Symbol of Peace has more important things to worry about than a common street thug with a quirk that can't do any structural damage." Aizawa said, his bitterness with the current system plain in his voice.
"Nonsense! No villain is too big or too small for the Symbol of Peace! I can't let such evil go unstopped any longer now that I know of this Jack Napier character!" All Might flexed in a pose before turning back to Aizawa "Tell me Eraserhead, what is this nefarious villain's quirk? I want to be prepared when I face him!"
"His quirk is something called Party Trick, and it causes hallucinations in all five senses which are limited by Napier's knowledge of the person at hand. Something else we've figured out is that the hallucinations are linked to the victims quirk as well, meaning those born without quirks will have an easier time seeing through his hallucinations." Aizawa said before stretching his legs in preparation for the rest of his run to the factory "He was last sighted sneaking into an outsourced factory called Axis Chemicals which shut down after the hero system was legalized in Japan."
"Well then, what are we waiting for? We've got a villain to catch!" All Might grabbed jumped up to roof to meet Aizawa and began following him in the direction of the factory where Napier was last sighted. This caught the attention of three other heroes who happened to walking across a busy street in Musutafu's restaurant district not far away from there.
Specifically Death Arms, Kamui Woods, and Mt Lady "Man boys I am beat, who knew being in the spot light could be so much work. By the Kamui, you looked really buff out there earlier when you were fighting that Sludge Villain." Mt Lady tried to get the attention of her coworker.
"Why thank you, I...wait what?"
"Quit your flirting you two, we've got more important issues to worry about. Look." Death Arms pointed to All Might and Eraserhead rushing across rooftops to the outskirts of town "It's All Might, and he looks like he's in a big hurry. Normally he just appears out of nowhere, so this is serious. It could be another villain like the giant one or the Sludge Villain."
"So you think we should supply back up?" Kamui Woods asked, a bit nervous as to where this was going to go "We might want to get some higher ranking heroes like Edgeshot or Endeavor in on this too, not to mention emergency services, especially considering All Might and Eraserhead are working together for once. So it must be an emergency."
"True, but none of us can supply much backup...but then again, they looked like they were going out of town so I might be able to use my quirk without causing damage. This could be our chance to get noticed boys, especially if someone like All Might is on the case." Mt Lady said excitedly with yen signs in her eyes.
"We might want to call for more help though, especially considering All Might himself feels the need to have a partner in this case." Kamui Woods suggested, only to have it ignored as Death Arms and Mt Lady ran after All Might and Eraserhead.
"No time, the situation could get worse if more heroes don't arrive on the scene in a timely manner."
"Okay, so we're doing this." Kamui Woods sighed before following them.
Along the way, they caught the attention of another pro hero who was even more than interested in the idea of getting attention for a major villain fight or rescue, this hero being Private Proud, who's position on heroism was much like the name implied. Upon seeing All Might and the rest of the group, he ran after them hoping them hoping to get a piece of the pie. Of course, he was a massive pervert and his attention was immediately brought to Mt Lady.
"So you're that new girl who's been getting popular? Certainly have a nice capture move!" Private Proud said with a wink, succeeding at creeping out the other heroes.
'Just when Captain Celebrity went back to America, we have to deal with this guy? I hope he's not as dumb at least.' Aizawa groaned at the thought of having to deal with yet another egotistical rookie, before noticing they were right up onto the factory "Listen up, I know you people are accustomed to flashy villains who cause massive destruction. Jack Napier is not one of these villains. His quirk can rewrite the reality of one's head if used correctly, so not many pros will stand a chance against him."
"If he's not flashy then why did we come?" Private Proud groaned, only to get elbowed in his side by Kamui Woods, who stepped up to the plate.
"Eraserhead-san, your quirk can erase that of others with eye contact, correct? Assuming this Napier individual is as dangerous as you say he is, I believe you and All Might should go in first, while you erase his quirk immediately before either of you are spotted. Then All Might will finish things before they can go south again. The rest of us will stay hidden in case you need back up."
"That...is actually a very good plan." Aizawa said with a shocked expression, before turning to face All Might "He may be dangerous, but he's a normal human otherwise. Hit him hard enough to where he won't get back up, but don't kill him."
"Right! Let's go capture that evil doer!" All Might said in his usual as he followed Aizawa into the abandoned factory.
Both men snuck in as quietly as possible so as not alert the villain who was potentially there, Aizawa putting his goggles on and mentally preparing himself to not blink for a period of time. As they made it further into the factory, noises resembling that of a struggle became more and more evident "I think we've found our guy Eraserhead, it sounds like it's coming from that catwalk over there!" All Might pointed to where he traced the sounds coming from and saw two shadows on the platform.
It seemed that the larger of the two figures had the other pinned to the metal wall behind the catwalk, and was strangling the life out of them from their position. While Aizawa didn't recognize the victim, he used his impressive eyesight to tell that the other man was Jack Napier "I see Jack Napier, he's got what looks like a middle school student hostage."
"What is with villains and middle school hostages today? I mean, we have to save that young person!" All Might declared, only for the apparent hostage to grab their captor and bang both their heads against the rusted wall, breaking some loose, heated wires from their place and sending down onto Napier's hands.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGH!" Napier screamed in pain as he let go of the boy, who took the opportunity to give the villain a well landed punch across the face. He reeled from blow for the briefest of moments, only to slip on some leftover chemical residue on the catwalk and flip right over the safety railings, only barely grabbing hold of the bar.
What happened next surprised the two heroes, as the middle schooler moved to the railing and offered Napier assistance "Take my hand! I'll pull you up!" All Might got a closer look at the boy, and found him eerily familiar for some reason. He didn't have much more time to consider it though, when Napier suddenly let go of the railing and dropped down into the vat of chemicals below with a sickening splash. All Might immediately moved to try and dig Napier out, only to be restricted by Aizawa's scarf.
"Let me go Aizawa, I can't just let someone perish like that even if they are a villain!"
"Those chemicals are over a century old idiot! They might be acidic or toxic, meaning he's likely already dead!" Aizawa said to the much stronger man as he struggled to keep him away from the vat "I may not like you all that much, but we can't risk the Symbol of Peace for a villain who's already killed who knows how many people! Besides, whoever that kid is they were just involved an incident that may have killed someone. He'll need support."
"...You're right." All Might looked up onto the catwalk to see the middle school student curled up into a fetal position against the wall, most likely blaming himself. He and Aizawa walked up the catwalk to check on the kid, being able to tell he was under serious distress simply by looking at him. However upon getting closer, All Might realized why this middle school student seemed so familiar before 'The quirkless boy from earlier...'
"My God...How did you..."
"I don't know what happened here, but I'm going to presume Jack Napier's death was an accident and go from there. Now then, what was your name?" Aizawa asked the green haired boy, while pulling out a small notepad, while the boy looked up with a vacant look in his eyes.
"...izuku midoriya..." Izuku briefly glanced at All Might and Eraserhead before looking back down "i'm sorry."
Aizawa looked at the notepad and saw the name of Napier's final victim written down as Inko Midoriya, under which was multiple details about her life including the name of her son "Would you be the son of Inko Midoriya? If so I imagine your connection to the villain in the chemical vat and exactly why you're here." Aizawa then proceeded to give him a light smack upside the head before handing the notes over to All Might "Look over the facts of the case and manage the press that's probably built up outside by your mere presence; I'll take our little vigilante back home. As for you, your lucky you're listed as quirkless, otherwise this actually would count as an act of illegal vigilantism."
"Uh sure?" All Might looked over the notes Aizawa had given him and felt what was left of his stomach sink, realizing why Izuku had come to this place and what exactly Napier had done to this family. Seeing Eraserhead leave with the boy, he noticed him slumped over in utter defeat and despair in his eyes, a look he'd become all too familiar with upon the death of his mentor and surrogate mother Nana Shimura. While he'd already felt guilty about his prior words to the boy, he now felt utterly awful as the full weight of what he'd said to Izuku on a day such as this.
"Wait!"
Hearing his former idol's desperate cry to him, Izuku could only muster a somber glare as he turned his head to look at All Might "you should have just let the sludge villain kill me earlier." All Might felt his heart break when he heard the tone of the boy's voice, before he and Aizawa left the factory through a side emergency exit. It was at this point All Might turned off One For All and went back to his true form with a sigh of exhaustion.
"I'd better get ready for press control. Heaven knows I've taxed my powers enough as it is for one day. And I have to work harder tomorrow." All Might said with guilt as he'd looked at the vat which was to be Jack Napier's grave 'I could have stopped Napier before, if I'd only known. I can't ever forgive myself for this.'
With that, the Symbol of Peace made his way to the building's exit preparing to deal with the press and take on his muscle form once again. However, if he'd looked at the chemical tub for just a second longer, he would have seen a chalk white hand emerge from the substance.
Luckily for the legs of both Midoriya and Aizawa, the latter had an electric motorcycle that he used to get around long distances and was thankfully not parked too far from there. As such the rest of the ride to Izuku's apartment building only took about 15 minutes. However, neither of them were prepared for what they'd see when they got there. While Izuku's apartment was officially listed as a crime scene it seemed like many of his family's belongings were now strewn around below the apartment building and had been marked down with price tags and the like.
Izuku was broken out of his exhausted state by the surprise of this, while Aizawa seemed to be just as shocked by this blatant disrespect towards a murder "Uh...Do you have any idea what's going on here kid?"
"There you are little Midoriya, I was wondering where you scurried off to after all this. Scrubbing your mom's guts off the floors is gonna cost me a fortune you know. But I guess it doesn't really matter to you now." An older man in a white collar business suit came up to Izuku with a clipboard in hand and an unsympathetic look on his face, before handing him the contents of the clipboard.
"And who would you be sir?" Aizawa asked, already not liking the attitude he had been getting from this man.
"I'm Nobuhiro Sabato, the proprietor of this apartment complex and former landlord of this unfortunate family. As it turns out, quirkless people like you can drive down rates! And considering you're a middle school student, I seriously doubt that you can afford to pay the rent that comes with this apartment. Of course, I'll be taking all of your's and the later Ms. Inko's belongings as collateral and to pay for cleaning. " The landlord said with a smug grin as he outlined the eviction notice he'd just handed Izuku, who looked up from the clipboard while trying to resist the urge to burst into tears again.
Seeing the look on Izuku's face, Sabato sneered and snatched the clipboard from his hands "Don't give me that pathetic look you little waste of space. You should be grateful I'm letting you walk out of here with a blanket and toothbrush. Now why don't you be a good little boy and find a hole to sleep in before you start finding work that's more suited for people like you." Sabato said before beginning to walk in the other direction only for Aizawa to place an angry hand on his shoulder.
"I'm going to stop you right there, because it seems I'll have to explain a few things to you. Regardless of whether or not he has a quirk, as a minor he is legally allowed to take base necessities as well as any and all educational materials. In short, Izuku Midoriya is entitled to his clothes, medications, hygienic materials, public documents, and school supplies." Aizawa said with a glare as he gripped the man's shoulder tightly "You also seem to be forgetting that he is a minor with no close family or place to go, and that I am indeed a licensed hero who can have you arrested for what you're doing, as Quirkless laws do not allow discrimination to this extent."
Despite the much more powerful's threats, Sabato didn't lose his smug demeanor in the slightest and pulled another form out of his pocket "That's where your wrong Snape, I've done my homework. Musutafu Renter's Code of Conduct Chapter 8 Section C Paragraph 12: "With suspicion of being a danger to others due to their physical or mental disability and/or allotted weapons, those living without sufficient parent or guardian are liable for eviction immediately and without warning". Also, Chapter 4 Section D Paragraph 6: "Damages caused to the apartment may require renters to offer up collateral in form of personal belongings to pay off damages, regardless of whether damages were caused by renter or not". You can't touch me ugly, so why don't you do society a favor. Stop riding on the coattails of real heroes like All Might or Endeavor and get a real job!"
Seeing the landlord strut off to go appraise what he'd pilfered from the former Midoriya household, Aizawa growled in anger before bringing his attention back to Izuku, who seemed to have gone back into a state of shock "Hey, kid." Izuku came back to reality and faced Aizawa "You got any sort of emergency contact you could use to find a place to stay for now? I'll explain the situation to them before I settle things with the geezer here."
"There's one person you could probably call...but I'm not sure if it would be very good for my health." Izuku said before giving Aizawa the number on a small piece of paper. Aizawa then took the boy off to the side before putting the number into his phone and calling, with a woman on the other line answering after a few seconds of dial tone.
"Hello, this is the Bakugo residence. This is Mitsuki, what are you calling about? Also, if this is a phone scammer I'll hunt you down and make you look at the Twitter accounts of American seiyuu."
"This is not a phone scammer. My name is Shota Aizawa, otherwise codenamed Eraserhead as a professional hero. I'm afraid I have some bad news."
Katsuki Bakugo was having a mixed day to say the least. On the one hand, briefly meeting one's idol and being praised by several heroes for your quirk was nothing to sneeze at. But he'd still been humiliated in his first real encounter with a villain, on live television no less. Plus, washing what remained of the Sludge Villain's joyride out of his hair was very difficult, and he'd been stuck in the shower for 30 minutes trying to get the muck off.
"Damn villain...he fucking stank too." Bakugo growled as he slipped on a plain white shirt, exhausted from the day and ready to pass out for a long nap. However the moment he stepped out of the bathroom, Bakugo heard crying coming from his kitchen that sounded like his mother. While he and his mother's personalities' frequently grated on one another, he was still very protective of the woman and knew it was out of character for her to be crying like that.
"What's going on?!" Bakugo asked in a harsh tone.
"Well...you see son, something happened earlier-"
"Let me explain Masaru...Katsuki, a few hours ago an American villain with a gun broke into Inko and Izuku's apartment. A hero who arrived on the scene just called us and...Inko was shot." Mitsuki managed to get out before continuing to mourn her best friend.
"WHAT?" Bakugo practically screamed in horror when he heard his mother say this, his brain having to process exactly what he was just told. After having a few seconds to comprehend the news, the explosive boy said "That's bullshit! A hero should have been there to stop anything like that from happening! She's at least okay now though, right?!" While Mitsuki would normally reprimand her son for his tone, she sadly looked down and began to cry again.
This was all the answer Katsuki needed as he realized exactly what had happened, and he subconsciously activated his quirk from a mixture of rage and grief "Where is he? Where's the villain who killed Auntie Inko?! I'LL BLOW HIM TO FUCKING PIECES!"
"That's the other thing Katsuki, the villain was killed in an accident when a group of heroes tried to capture him in a chemical factory off the edge of town. We're still waiting for all the info on what exactly happened." Masaru explained, though much like his wife he was clearly having a lot of trouble talking without getting choked up. Hearing all of this so suddenly proved to be too much for Bakugo as he ran from the house before blowing his way down the street using his quirk.
"FUCKING VILLAINS! I'LL NEVER FORGET THIS DAMNIT! I'LL DESTROY YOU ALL!"
Mitsuki was going to go after her son to prevent him from getting considered a public nuisance on account of the noise, but she was distracted when Eraserhead began speaking from the phone again 'If I may have your attention again, there's something else I needed to call you about. It concerns Izuku Midoriya.' Aizawa explained the situation to the woman, who's mood turned from despair to fury immediately afterward.
She then walked over to the open door of her house and yelled loud enough for the neighborhood to hear "GET IN THE FUCKING CAR KATSUKI!"
"Sorry our house isn't ready for any visitors Izuku, but be sure to tell us if you need anything Izuku." Mitsuki said as she brought Izuku into their home, having dealt with the situation at the apartment complex. As it turns out, pissing off a pro hero is not a good idea when it leaves you at the mercy of an angry housewife who kicks you in the balls and takes back everything you were planning to use as collateral. Of course, Sabato had already thrown away most of Izuku's documentation meaning he'd have to get new copies sometime in the future, and most of the items from the apartment were being put into storage.
"Thank you." Izuku said in a monotone voice to Mitsuki, being both physically and mentally exhausted after this nightmare of a day.
"Hey, kid." Aizawa called to Izuku, having followed behind to make sure they made it to the house okay "Stay out of trouble from now on, you got lucky this time but you'll need to train if you want to be able to fight like that in the future. Don't do anything stupid again, is what I'm trying to say. Have a good night."
With that, Aizawa drove off into the night on his bike, leaving Izuku and the Bakugo family alone to wonder what their next move should be. Being the adult between the three of them, Mitsuki spoke up.
"I'll be honest if I may, there's going to be a lot of changes from here on in. Izuku, I hope you know that you're free to stay in our guest room for as long as you like, and don't be shy if you need anything. Katsuki, you'll be a good host even if I have to tape your eyelids open and make you watch videos on it. There's a lot more things we need to discuss than just that, but I think we should all probably crash for tonight and get some rest for tomorrow. It will be a new day after all."
"Yeah, sure." Bakugo muttered while Izuku turned around and began making his way up the stairs to the guest bedroom where he'd be staying for now. Katsuki wanted to say something to the nerd, but for once nothing came out; the only thing he could seem to do was stare at the ground and growl to himself "Damn idiot."
Late at night on the outskirts of town, a figure in sopping wet and filthy clothes trudged along the side of the road in a daze, looking for any sign of civilization after his near death experience not long ago. Having clawed his way out of a chemical mixer, all of the man's senses and memories were foggy and misplaced, not even seeming to remember his own name or what his quirk was. However, he did remember the events preceding his brush with death in the factory, as well as the face of the quirkless brat who had nearly done him in. The fact that such a pathetic individual bested him through pure luck was almost enough to make him laugh.
Though he didn't really remember how he managed to escape the factory or how he'd made it to the expressway, the man quickly felt his senses come back to him when he saw a light in the distance as he walked further and further along the road. But the next thing he knew, he was somehow in front of an Eneos gas station on the side of the road that seemed to be a good mile away just a few minutes ago. Ignoring this new gap in his memories, the figure went inside.
"Hello sir, how may I help-HOLY!" The teenager manning the counter briefly panicked when he got a good look at the figure's face.
"What?! What's so funny?!" The figure growled, not noticing that his voice was now higher pitched than it used to be "Forget it, where's the bathroom, I need to wash up!"
"Um, it's right over there sir!"
Giving the teenager at the counter another evil glare, the man stumbled into the single person bathroom a few feet away, knocking over a few shelves on the way due to his erratic movements. Once he'd made it into the bathroom, the man immediately dove for the sink, washing whatever remained of the muck off his skin. Looking at his face to make sure he'd washed off the dirt and chemicals, he growled in annoyance to find that the colors had run on his suit, leaving the purple suit a bright red with his corsage having been bleached white.
"Damnit! With this lame ass color I look like a clown!" The man growled in anger as he angrily hit the sink, only to realize something was off about his face. Namely that it had been bleached as white as chalk, with deep blue bags around his eyes that almost resembled diamonds, while his lips were now a deep shade of red which stretched out across his cheeks. His veins were also much more noticeable, with many of them spreading out like cracks along his skin.
Now fully realizing the effect of the chemicals on his body the man looked at his hands and opened his shirt to find that his entire body had been bleached, and that he now looked exactly like a clown. Despite this humiliating change, the man didn't feel too angry about it anymore. In fact, the only thing he thought to do was laugh.
"Hehehehe. HehehehehahahahahahahahahahHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAahahahahHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHhahahahHAHAHAHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAḨ̵͔͉̲̳͕̈̿͆͆̈͌̒̌͗̕͝͝Á̶̢̹̘̣͉͓̯͌̉͗H̷̨̡̞̥̺̭͙͈͍̣̟̮̝̪̩͌̓͂̈́̈́͂̇̾͛͊̈A̴̘͕͖̐̽̋͂̔̐̑̒̾͘͠H̶̛̪̟̯̹̹̦͍̞̳̫̥̹̠̹̑̂̀͗̑̓̏̇̚̕͝͠͝ͅĀ̷̟̻̟̯̺̪̩̖͙͍͙̻̺͓͆H̸̡̥͕̺͚̹̟̥̩̤̙͑̐̆̿̀̕̚͘A̴͚͉̟͖̳̟̲̠̺͍͋̽̌̍̓̏̀̀͋̓̐̑H̶̨̡̡̡̻̜̖̟̟̻̥̲̳͗̾̇̊̿͛͋̈̀̃̍̌͠A̶̬͍̫̣̮̯̻̯̱̎͠H̸̺̟̳͚̰̼̟͓͕͍̣̗̟̾̆͝Ǎ̶͖̞̣̲̘͉͍̪͚̻͖͆̄̉̆͋̀́H̴̠͊͋̇̉͑͊͌̒̀̉̕͘͠͝Â̷̡̛̛̱̪̲̼̻͚̝̚͝Ĥ̷̡̛̫̣̭̺̣̈́̃̽̈́̉̄̒̓̐͂̌͘̕͜A̷̳͈͎̠̫͆́̃͑̍͊͛H̶̡̦͔̞̱̹̪͎͔̺̏͛̀͊̓͐̈́̓͌̉̕̕͜͠͠͝ͅA̵͚͓̞̣̪̘̱̗̹͖̔́͆̓̇̑̍͊͜H̵̼͉̳͙̪̹͛̈́͑̆̃͑̈́̀̈́̑͑͊͝Ä̴̧̨̳͇̖͎͍͚̗͙͍́̈́ͅH̵̥̖̮̖̭̋̾͑̕͘À̷͔͎͉̼̝͍̰̱̣̂̄̐̚H̵̦̞͉̫̣̘͙̤̦̊̂̆̊A̷̟̠̮̹̘͊̈́̀̑̔̒̈́̈͛̆̊͠H̵̡̦̲̐̄͑̿̇͜͜A̴̧̻͕̭̬̝̦͊̓̚H̷̹͇̼̯̤͙̓̓͒̀́͊͌͊͌̀̆͛̊͘͠A̸̼̎̀̔̃̊̔̈́͒̈́͝Ḧ̵̦́̂͜ͅA̶͈̪̝͊͘̚ͅḨ̸͓͕͙͉͙̼̼͖̖̣̻̭̃̀͒͒͆͊̕͜ͅÃ̵̮͓͍̠̭̹̜̠͖͊̀̍̏͂͠Ĥ̶̨̛̘̤͉̱̰̙̞̣̝̈́̏͐͐͑͐͒́͑͜͠͠ͅͅA̴̭̭̫̝͋̌͒̈́̅̂͐̇̀̐̀͠
(A/N): Yes I know I said I'd be done with this much sooner. But as it turns out, life happens and it really wants me not to write anything. On top of all the school stuff I normally have to deal with, I am also very deep into a move which has been taking place since late January. The only reason I've been able to write as of late would be the fact that I am literally incapable of leaving my house, as most of my plans for Spring have been cancelled. Considering the move is almost over though, and classes will be online for the rest of the semester, that might give me a bit more time to write.
On a less depressing note, which rogue are you most looking forward to seeing Izuku face off with in the future? As a rule of thumb, some villains in the rogues gallery will be canon to My Hero Academia, and others will come from Batman. And considering Batman has quite the gallery of bad guys to punch, you have quite the options to choose. Also, I am well aware about the regulations of heroism in canon that would make a vigilante like Batman much harder to fit in the story's universe. However, I've figured out a loophole for that which will be discussed at a later date.
One last thing. While the story will take queues from just about all forms of Batman media, in particular it will be inspired by Batman: The Animated Series from the 90s, because that was awesome. I'll try to update this story along with my others ASAP, but if you know me that will be difficult. Have a wonderful quarantine and I'll hopefully see you all again soon!
. . .