Chapter 2: Icarus' Wings
"Deku," Ochako called out, drawing Izuku's attention away from his notebook.
"What's up, Ochako?" Izuku asked, wincing slightly and setting aside the notebook where he'd been drawing out a scene from the battle they'd just watched. Aizawa and Vlad had decided they'd be doing a joint battle training exercise with the addition of Shinsou Hitoshi. Though, Shinsou was a part of it just to see how he'd fit in with the hero classes and as a final test before he was allowed to officially join them.
Ochako laughed at his question. "It's our turn to battle, Deku."
"Oh!" Izuku said, looking around to see his teammates waiting by the observation door for them, a couple of their classmates and 1-B snickering. Izuku could feel his whole face turn red as he quickly stashed his notebook and hurried over to his teammates. They left the room and headed down the stairs to the testing grounds that was set up like an old factory block.
They started at their assigned jail cell at the edge of the factory block. Izuku's team consisted of Mina, Ochako, and Mineta while the other team consisted of Monoma, Shinsou, Shoda, Yanagi, and Kodai.
Izuku and his team had already come up with a semi-plan when they found out who was on their team and who they'd be set against. As soon as the timer buzzed, he shot off with One for All and made his way through the maze of pipes and buildings, leaving his teammates behind. It took no time at all to find Monoma standing on one of the pipes alone, which was a surprise to him as he'd expected to pull more of them as the bait. A scream sounded just as they made eye contact and his head whipped towards it, though Izuku couldn't be sure whether it was Uraraka or Shinsou's voice modifier that he'd used in the first round.
"I wasn't expecting you to spot me so early," Monoma stated, rolling his three stopwatches between his fingers. "Though, after watching Bakugou's performance, it's only those of us clever enough to realize that we must guard ourselves against someone as strong and agile as you, Midoriya. Though it might be even more clever of us to realize that it was the other three who amplified Bakugou's strength and that it is the necessary evil to crush them."
Izuku could barely hold back his eye roll at Monoma's statement. "You're a true showman, you know? While you're saying all this, it is only right to believe that my teammates have already found yours as well."
"And yet it would still be three against four. How well will your team truly fair in such a fight?" Monoma asked, smirking up at Izuku even as he jumped across the pipes to get closer.
Izuku deemed to not reply as he rushed towards Monoma, propelling himself off of pipes and buildings to gain speed as he came closer, and yet the boy continued to monologue. Izuku was honestly getting sick of it and tuning it out until…
"I had a little chat with Shinsou. 'The gifted will break this world.' Tell me. Your pal Bakugou… how is it that he can still smile without a care when he's the one that brought about the downfall of the Symbol of Peace?"
Izuku snapped. It was one thing to talk smack about him and his planning, but to once again bring up something that traumatized his friend without a care in the world and a smile on his face? Izuku aimed his hand to flick a powerful air force snap at Monoma… and black vines shot from his body.
What the fuck was happening? This wasn't One for All, was it? Izuku didn't know where the vines were coming from, or even how they'd manifested. He was useless in trying to stop them as they started breaking apart the structure of the arena. Pipes went flying. Buildings had chunks torn out of them. Izuku was somehow floating in the air with the vines suspending him. One shot straight for Monoma and all Izuku could do was scream. "RUN!"
Monoma jumped away just for another vine to shoot towards him. He jumped again and as he landed he shouted out for Shinsou. This was not supposed to be happening. Everything had been fine. Sure, Monoma had touched a nerve, but One for All had never acted like this. It had never manifested like this. He needed to talk to All Might…. First, he needed to stop whatever the hell these vines were though. He tried reeling them back in as he finally caught sight of Shinsou as he jumped up onto a pipe nearby.
"Shinsou! Just run! I can't control it!" Izuku shouted. He fell to his knees on solid ground, the impact jolting his bones, as he tried to find where within One for All the vines were coming from. "It's exploding out of me… run!" His control over his quirk was slipping through his fingers like sand. He couldn't even feel his connection to One for All anymore.
The more that he fought against the vines, the more it hurt. "Stop it!"
Actually, it hurt from every point that they came out of. "Stop it!"
What the hell was going on? "It hurts!"
He didn't even realize he was speaking aloud as he shouted again. "Stop it!"
He had just finally started getting One for All under control. "Stop it!"
It was finally truly becoming his quirk. "Stop it!"
No one was supposed to be worrying about him anymore. "Stop it!"
His quirk wasn't supposed to be hurting him anymore. "Stop it!"
A body slammed onto him and he could tell they were gripping onto him for dear life, yet he couldn't open his screwed shut eyes even as he heard Ochako's voice. "Deku! You have to calm down!"
Izuku's eyes jolted open. Couldn't she see that he was trying? It hurt too much to think. "I can't control it," he cried out.
"Shinsou!" Ochako screamed, turning to look at the boy who was still on the pipe watching the whole show. "Brainwash him!"
Shinsou was silent and Izuku could barely register the conflicting emotions through the boy's eyes before he had to shut his own again against the pain.
"Midoriya!" Shinsou shouted, making Izuku open his eyes once more to look at the boy. The vines were still devastating the arena. It was a miracle that they had yet to attack Shinsou or Ochako. "Let's fight!"
Izuku tilted his head at the odd request and had to bite back a scream of pain as he tried pushing down the vines once more. "Okay!" He finally shouted in response to Shinsou.
The effect was immediate. Izuku's world went all black until he finally blinked through to see a vague fog floating around him.
"You! You've got it all wrong!" Shouted a man who appeared out of the fog. Was he back in One for All again? Was this one of the vestiges? They were much more clear than he'd seen them at the Sports Festival. "You've got it all wrong! Weren't you listening? We told you that you weren't alone!"
The man was bald with goggles resting on his forehead. Izuku spent the time analyzing the man's look and tuning out the rest of his yelling. He was wearing a bandolier of bullets across his bare chest with a jacket thrown over it. Who was he? A mercenary? How could the bullets being under his jacket be efficient? And it was a leather jacket as well. Izuku wondered how that'd feel against his bare skin. Especially if it got all hot and he started sweating. It couldn't be comfortable. And were his pants leather as well?
"This power in you!" The man shouted, poking at Izuku and pulling him out of his thoughts. "It's not something you use casually, all distracted. Not anymore!"
This man must be one of the vestiges. Izuku tried to respond to him and found he couldn't, which made him start to panic. He couldn't even feel his body. His eyes dropped down and he could just barely see that black fog was covering his entire body, all the way up to his mouth. What even was this quirk? Why was he being haunted by dead people?
"Yeah, I know you can't talk. Don't sweat it!" The bald man said with a booming laugh. "Huh. Looks like we're short on time. Let me just say one last thing. As for that power that just exploded out of you, that's my quirk! It's called Black Whip. It was honestly the perfect quirk. But understand this! This quirk has been building up in One for All. All of our quirks were stored in the core of the quirk as we held it. This quirk is bound to be much stronger than it was back in my day." The black fog around them started engulfing the man and Izuku's eyes widened in surprise. "Sheesh. Looks like I'm vanishing. Listen, when you use the quirk in anger, it'll truly work the best for you. What really matters is controlling the heart. It's okay to be angry. It's okay to rage. You just need to learn control. One for All's grown crazy strong, so be ready because you're about to gain 6 new quirks! Control your heart!"
And with that the vestige vanished and Izuku's vision returned to blackness.
"Deku! Hey Deku!"
Izuku's eyes shot open to find Ochako still gripping onto them with them floating in the air, Shinsou still standing on the pipe he'd been on before.
"Are you okay? Deku!" Ochako was screaming in his face as he turned to look back up at her.
"Ochako! Get back, it's dangerous!" Izuku screamed, his head whipping around as he remembered Black Whip exploding out of his body.
Ochako just laughed as she gently landed them on the building. "Shinsou's Brainwashing calmed you down. You're fine now right?"
Izuku looked around once more, sighing in relief that Black Whip was finally secured again. Before he could fully remember how he knew the name of the quirk that'd manifested, he felt the air move behind him.
"I'm afraid this test isn't over yet!" Monoma shouted as Izuku ducked and rolled away as Monoma tried swiping at him. Right. They were in the middle of a test. They had to put their all into it. It was only fair to Shinsou, who was aiming for the hero course and who had saved them all from Izuku's weird quirk bullshit.
Before he could delve into his thoughts again, something wrapped around his wrist and threw him from the roof they'd been resting on. He hit the side of the wall, which he knew would form a nasty bruise, before dropping to ground level.
Ochako joined him shortly after.
"I don't know if I can use my quirk for the rest of the test. I might not be able to control it," Izuku admitted to her as they watched where Shinsou and Monoma had been.
"I think it's best we retreat now," Ochako agreed. "Let's rally with our teammates and come up with a new plan."
Izuku shook his head. "Our teammates can handle the other three. These two are the biggest targets of the test. Besides, retreating now would be admitting defeat."
"Are you saying you're going to fight quirkless?" Ochako asked, fear tinting her voice and causing him more pain than he'd like to admit.
"No, but I have a plan…"
Izuku and Ochako flew over the side of a roof and Izuku slammed into Monoma. Izuku rolled away from the boy, but was just too slow to stop him from getting skin to skin contact as Ochako reared up a kick she'd learned from Gunhead.
"No! Don't use my quirk!" Izuku shouted. "It's too dangerous!"
Monoma didn't listen as he cackled and aimed a punch at Ochako. Izuku could only watch, momentarily forgetting his part of the plan, as Monoma aimed a punch at his friend just for Ochako to kick him and send him rolling.
"I drew a blank?" Monoma cried as Ochako pinned him down.
"Go!" Ochako yelled. "I got him!"
Izuku snapped back to attention and zeroed in on Shinsou who was standing on a pipe just above them, shooting his capture weapon out to presumably help his teammate. Izuku kicked off the ground, grabbing the end of the capture weapon and coming up to Shinsou's face just as Ochako released her quirk on him and sent both him and Shinsou tumbling down to the next level.
Shinsou held a grin on his face as they fell. "Last time we tangled like this was at the Sports Festival."
Izuku kept his mouth shut, knowing he couldn't risk going under Shinsou's Brainwashing again. The boy grabbed two empty barrels with his capture weapon and flung them into the air. "I'm not the same as before, Midoriya!"
Izuku focused on what he remembered from seeing the vestige and what little he had said about his quirk. He pulled on what he could remember it feeling like and felt the whips encompass his arms just as Shinsou twisted his hands, bringing the barrels swinging towards him. Izuku shot out Black Whip and grabbed the barrels himself, throwing them back at Shinsou.
Shinsou shrieked as he dodged the first barrel, but caught the second one in the stomach, making him skid across the roof they were on. Izuku jumped forward off the pipe he'd been on to in front of Shinsou. Shinsou grunted as he threw the barrel off of him, just to find Izuku standing there, Black Whip waving in the air around him.
"Sorry, Shinsou," Izuku said right before wrapping the boy up in Black Whip and using One for All to jump around the testing grounds back to his team's jail cell.
When he arrived, he found his teammates had captured the rest of the enemy team, tied up and already in the jail cell, just waiting for him to capture Shinsou. Mina opened the jail door and Izuku put Shinsou in the cell before she closed it once more and the depiction of Nedzu on top of the jail lit up and announced their win.
Izuku hurried to open the door and offered a hand to Shinsou who just scoffed and whacked his hand away as he stood on his own. "I really am sorry," Izuku offered, moving his previously offered hand to rub the back of his neck. "I don't know what happened earlier, truly. But, I had to at least give a fair fight."
"Yeah, because all you super powered students fighting against those with 'weak' or 'villainous' quirks is a fair fight," Shinsou mocked as he exited the jail cell. The other 1-B students also exited the cell, grumbling about their loss.
"Even if you lost, and again, I'm sorry," Izuku said, following after Shinsou as they left the training grounds. "You're definitely getting into one of the heroics classes. You more than proved your skills to the staff, not to mention all your personal training with Aizawa-sensei! You've truly mastered the capture weapon! You have amazing control over it!"
"How many times do I have to say this?" Shinsou groaned. "I'm not here to make friends. You don't have to talk my ear off and give me fake praise when I know you despise me for my quirk."
Izuku stopped in his tracks. "Why would I despise you for your quirk? I thought we talked about this after the Sports Festival…"
Shinsou sighed and stopped to turn to Izuku. "Everyone despises me. Why wouldn't they? Why wouldn't you? I have a villainous quirk."
"Yeah, he won't be buying that," Mina said as she passed by them, continuing on to the observation room.
"Really, the guy's a freak. He probably knows every detail about you already," Mineta huffed.
Izuku flinched at that, unable to stop himself at the common insult from Junior High. He looked down at the ground and pulled at the gloves of his hero costume.
"Why are you even so insistent on being my friend?" Shinsou asked.
Izuku looked up just in time to catch him sending a glare at Mineta as he walked away as well. "I just think that everyone deserves a chance. No matter their quirk status or past. You clearly want to be a hero, and I have yet to witness you using your quirk for villainy. So, why would I call you or your quirk villainous?"
Shinsou sighed and shook his head. "You're not going to let this go, are you?"
Ochako threw an arm around Izuku's shoulders. "Oh, trust me. You'll have friends by the next horizon."
"Come sit with my table! We can be pretty loud sometimes, but I'm sure you'll get along with Shouto!" Izuku said, pulling Shinsou's arm as they walked through the cafeteria with trays in their hands.
"I almost wish that Aizawa-sensei let me go in 1-B," Shinsou grumbled.
Izuku chuckled. "You're his personal student. It was practically set in stone when you agreed to train with him that you'd be put in 1-A."
Shinsou sighed. "I guess you're right."
"Hello Izuku, Shinsou," Shouto greeted, sitting alone at their claimed table.
"Hi Shouto!" Izuku greeted, sitting down across from him, Shinsou moving to sit next to Shouto. "Where's everyone else?"
Shouto winced and tilted his head to the side. "Over there."
Izuku and Shinsou both looked to the side where they saw Tenya pushing Ochako towards a different table where Tsuyu was already sitting with Hagakure and Aoyoma.
"Why are they going over there?" Shinsou asked. "I got the impression that you all always sat together."
"It seems that people are under the assumption that Izuku is connected to All for One given his recent quirk development," Shouto explained, narrowing his eyes as a couple of them glanced over to their table.
Izuku's head snapped towards Shouto. "What do you mean? How did they even come up with that?"
"Who's All for One?" Shinsou asked at the same time.
"The boogieman of the Underworld essentially. He's like the #1 supervillain and he's been around for about two centuries. We've run into him before at Kamino. He's the one that ended All Might's hero career," Shouto explained. "It seems that they believe that when Izuku snuck out to save Bakugou, that he really went to meet up with the League of Villains and All for One himself."
"They think that I work with the League of Villains?" Izuku whisper-shouted.
Shouto waved a hand in the air, dismissing the idea. "And I thought I was the only conspiracy theorist in the school. This theory is ridiculous. You've gone through too much pain and trouble to be working with them. Besides, they should all know by now that you're really All Might's secret love child."
Izuku couldn't help his groan as Shinsou spluttered. "Shouto, I've already explained this too many times. You've seen pictures of my dad! We look too much alike!"
"I mean the quirk matches up pretty well," Shinsou chuckled.
Izuku groaned and dropped his head on the table, aware that they were changing the subject and glad for it even if it was an exhausting topic.
A tray slammed down next to Izuku's head causing him to jerk up even as he recognized the familiar huff of annoyance. "Kacchan?"
"Shut up, nerd," Kacchan huffed, picking at his food.
"Since when does Bakugou sit with you?" Shinsou asked, tilting his head like a cat.
"I don't, Eyebags," Kacchan snapped. "I didn't," he corrected. "Fucking extras are spreading the most bullshit rumors that I couldn't stand to sit with them anymore."
"Does the whole school assume I'm the traitor?" Izuku groaned, dropping his head into his hands.
"Yeah pretty much. They're all stupid if you ask me though. How could a quirkless Deku like you have the courage to team up with the biggest villain in history?" Kacchan asked, rolling his eyes.
"He's not quirkless," Shouto countered.
"Er-" Izuku started, trying to come up with something to say to that.
"You never even told your friends?" Kacchan laughed. "How did I get that level of knowledge?"
"Because you ambushed me! And it's not like I could lie to you! You've known me since we were born!" Izuku huffed, crossing his arms.
"Damn right," Kacchan said with a smirk.
"Uh, can we go back to the whole quirkless thing?" Shinsou asked, clearly lost in the conversation.
"Izuku! Just the subject I was looking for!" Mei shouted, plopping down in the seat next to Izuku and leaning into his personal space. "Can you test one of my babies for me?"
Shouto chuckled at the interaction as Shinsou looked even more confused and leaned back in his seat even though he was sitting across from the girl.
"Can we do it sometime tomorrow, Mei?" Izuku asked. "I'm kind of busy with rumors and getting interrogated."
"Oh?" Mei asked, looking around the table. "What are we interrogating him about?"
"Being quirkless," Shouto answered.
"You're not quirkless," Mei said, tilting her head as she returned her gaze to Izuku.
"Yeah, not anymore," Kacchan said, clearly enjoying the chaos he created.
Izuku sighed. "I got my quirk the day of the UA entrance exams. I grew up quirkless."
"Did All for One give you the quirk then? 'Cause people keep saying you're the UA traitor. I thought it was pretty stupid," Mei pondered.
Izuku groaned once more. "No!" He winced as he noticed several heads turn his way as he shouted his answer before returning back to a whisper. "It's kind of a National Secret as to how I got my quirk though, can we go back to the dorms or something?"
Kacchan huffed in annoyance. "Given we've only really been here a couple minutes, we still have most of our lunch period left. Why don't we go to one of those meeting rooms instead so we don't end up late for class after."
"Oh! Good idea Kacchan!" Izuku said, standing from the table. "Come on, I know one that's pretty close to our classroom that Nedzu lets us use."
"This could not possibly get any weirder," Shinsou grumbled standing and following after them.
Izuku led them down a couple hallways with Kacchan glaring at anyone that gave them a second glance or watched for too long from his side. When they finally reached the meeting room, Izuku couldn't help but sigh in relief as the tension dropped from his shoulders.
"The rooms are soundproof which is pretty cool, I guess," Kacchan said as he closed the door after everyone had entered.
"Do we get the Izuku lore now?" Shinsou asked, taking a seat on one of the couches in the room.
Izuku sat in one of the armchairs with Kacchan sitting in the one next to him, Shouto and Mei sitting next to Shinsou on the couch. "Okay, so I wasn't lying when I said this was a National secret. My quirk originally wasn't mine, it was All Might's."
"How does that even work?" Shinsou asked.
"So you are All Might's secret love child!" Shouto cheered.
"That's not what he means, dumbass," Kacchan huffed, rolling his eyes. "Trust me, I know Uncle Hisashi, and he's not All Might." Shouto deflated and Shinsou and Mei chuckled at the outright denial.
"I'll just give you all the speedrun of things and hope that All Might doesn't hate me for telling more people the secret," Izuku said with a sigh. "My quirk is called One for All-"
"Like All for One?" Mei asked.
"Yeah," Izuku nodded. "So, apparently the first holder of it was Shigaraki Yoichi-"
"Like the leader of the League of Villains?" Shouto asked.
"Oh my Kami, just let him finish, holy shit," Kacchan groaned.
"Okay, yes, like the leader, Shigaraki Tomura. I have a feeling that's not his real name and that All for One just renamed him with his own family name. Anyways, the first holder was Yoichi, he's All for One's kid brother. All for One apparently forced a quirk on him, which was Stockpiling, because he thought he was quirkless. News flash, he wasn't. He had some sort of Inheritance quirk which let him pass down a quirk, but the two quirks merged together to become One for All. The quirk has since been passed down 8 more times, making me the ninth holder," Izuku explained.
"What the fuck," Shinsou whispered.
"Yeah," Kacchan grumbled. "Imagine my surprise when the quirkless nerd from my childhood showed up in Class 1-A on the first day of school and was using a quirk so strong it broke his fingers."
"Is that why you were so angry at him during the quirk assessment?" Shouto asked.
"Part of it," Kacchan said with a shrug. "I made him confess the status of his quirk that day after school."
"He literally ambushed me as soon as we got out of class and no one was around," Izuku chuckled.
"Okay, so everyone's an idiot and you didn't get your quirk from All for One," Mei said.
"Yeah, no." Izuku shook his head. "Apparently I'll be getting all the quirks from the past users in the near future. That's what Black Whip was. Apparently it was the fifth user's quirk."
"What, so you'll have 8 quirks?" Kacchan asked. "That's bullshit!"
Izuku rubbed the back of his neck. "Well. Okay, so… there's the original quirk that passes down quirks, the stockpiling quirk, and then the next six quirks."
"So, a total of 8 quirks?" Shinsou asked, gaping. "You're fucking OP."
"Wait, but there's 9 holders. You were quirkless, so shouldn't there be 9 quirks with Yoichi having two?" Shouto asked.
"In theory, yes. But, All Might was quirkless as well," Izuku explained. "So, there's only 9 quirks."
"That just means that I'll be able to make more babies for you since there's more quirks for you to test them on!" Mei shouted, excitedly.
"Of course that's where your mind goes, Goggles," Kacchan laughed.
"Where else was it supposed to go?" Mei asked. "It's not too hard to dispel the rumors that the school's cinnamon roll is secretly an evil mastermind villain that infiltrated the school."
"Wait, so you only got your quirk the day of the entrance exam?" Shouto asked. "Is that why you break your bones so much?"
"Yeah, the quirk is too powerful for me. Or, well it was for the most part. I still can't use 100% of the power, but I've found a happy medium of power to use," Izuku explained.
"Well, it definitely got crazier," Shinsou huffed. "But, I have to agree with Mei. I feel like you're too nice to be a secret villain."
"Wouldn't that be the point?" Izuku asked, earning concerned and shocked looks from the group. He raised his hands in surrender. "I'm just saying! If someone's the traitor, they probably act like just any random student to fit in and not get caught."
Kacchan shook his head. "Don't analyze traitors when you're being suspected of being one, nerd."
"It was a valid observation!" Izuku defended.
The bell rang then, cutting off any further conversation and the group left the room, agreeing to meet up for lunch in the same room the next day.