Izuku spent a few days getting accustomed to his new living quarters, as well as his supposed position as second in command of the league of villains. The boy had not made any changes yet, after all he hardly knew the goals of the organization.
That was until he asked Shigaraki and Kurogiri about it.
"I know I'm like second in command in all, but I can't quite make decisions if I don't understand the league's intentions... After all, I only joined to push this organization further towards success and reap the benefits of such success."
Izuku longwindedly asked, staring at Kurogiri, who thoroughly dried a wet cup with a rag. Though unexpectedly, Shigaraki was the one to answer.
"We plan to tear down the symbol of peace, All Might."
He concluded, bluntly, his tone almost seeming eager to answer like a teacher's pet.
"Hm? Like literally? Good luck with that... Even though he's not in his prime he is still damn near invincible."
Izuku said, resting the weight of his head on the palm of his hand, his elbow propped against the table as he shifted his attention towards the uncharacteristically compliant villain.
"No of course not literally. We just need to tear down people's faith in him. Basically we need the symbol of peace removed so that it can be overrun by chaos and destruction. Though we need more members suited for the job."
Shigaraki replied.
"Master informed me thusly that we would need someone who can act and preform on similar level to him, without him having to do much. He needed talent present that wasn't here before. Makes me wonder what he sees in you though..."
Shigaraki then added, pointing a finger at Izuku.
"Well.. I guess I'm pretty smart, no way he'd know that from rumors though. The only reason I killed those people in such succession was because I was filled with bloodlust and malice. Plus I didn't fully have a plan for my new aspirations, so I was put at death's door till you guys stepped in."
Izuku replied, looking at his un used hand, remembering the bloodshed he had caused that night. He truly reflected upon his actions at that moment. While he didn't regret doing what he did, he still questioned it.
Was he truly killing those people for the goal of becoming more powerful? Or did his emotions of rage simply take over, and becoming well known was merely a byproduct of his actions? Was he just looking for some reason to kill them outside of his personal vendetta against them?
It confused Izuku and he concluded he needed more time to think about his opinions on killing, and the worth of human lives. When should he truly draw the line and kill someone?
"Seems you don't even think too highly of yourself. Hell, you barely fought back against me when I tried fighting you."
Shigaraki replied, almost smugly and in an immature tone, acting like he was better because he managed to hit Izuku who was merely defending himself and not fighting back.
"You are pretty fast I will say, both physically and mentally. You made use of how limited your quirk is and managed to throw me off quite a bit. Contact based abilities are pretty hard to work with y'know. You're really strong."
Izuku said with a forced smile. He simply didn't want to get into an argument. If Izuku wanted to he probably could have ended Shigaraki's life in an instant. But seeing as he would only lose out on an opportunity for power, he held back, only defending against his assault, with Shigaraki getting a lucky shot due to a underestimation on Kurogiri's behalf.
"Oh stop lying... You're only saying that to make yourself feel better... Egotistical fuckers like you are all the same."
Shigaraki said, opening a palm in an act of frustration, the desperate urge to destroy Izuku bubbling to the surface once more.
He knew Izuku wasn't going to take over his position as the number one, but his guts still pissed Shigaraki off. He hated how Izuku carried himself.
"It seems you two still have some conflict between one another."
Spoke a familiar voice. Izuku and Shigaraki both glanced at the screen.
"How about an unrestrained duel? To settle the argument of who is truly stronger than the other. With that being said, me and Kurogiri will be overlooking the fight, if one of us feels it is appropriate to stop the fight, we will do so accordingly."
The man over the screen spoke, his tone reflecting that of an announcer at a boxing tournament or something.
"Sounds good to me."
Shigaraki agreed, eagerly standing up from his seat, staring at Izuku with malice in his eyes. Izuku sighed and stood up, he wasn't fully motivated but if it would calm the man child down, then he'll throw a few hands with him.
Izuku put his hands up in front of him in a defensive manner, his hands opened rather than closed like usual. He didn't feel the need to inflict a ton of pain, just enough to establish who of the two was stronger. Not to mention, it was better for deflecting those speedy swipes of his.
"On a count of three..."
"Three..."
"Two..."
"One..."
The two were at it. As Izuku anticipated Shigaraki went on the full offensive, speedily flailing his hands about, hoping one would connect, so his quirk could activate. Izuku deflected the attacks, delivering counters whenever he could, the initial palm strikes weren't too painful but they added up over time and took a toll on Izuku's opponent.
Shigaraki reached for a stool like last time, hoping to go for the same projectile attack from their last fight. Izuku anticipated it though and grabbed the stool before him, smacking him to the side with it, knocking the blue haired man child off balance briefly.
Once Shigaraki recovered he lunged foward at Izuku again, successfully grasping ahold of one of the legs of the chair. It started decaying like last time, but before it reached the top, Izuku bawled his fist and smashed it, shattering the wood and sending shards of the chair flying at Shigaraki, tearing away small chunks of his skin.
Shigaraki, too stunned from the assault was left motionless, as Izuku continued to barrage him with palm strikes, until the fight was called, with Izuku as the winner.
"Just because I don't see myself as strong enough to be a competent leader yet, doesn't mean I'm not strong. I just need to learn. You need to as well, Shigaraki."
Izuku said, putting his hands down, staring at the beaten and cut up villain as he stared at the ground in defeat.
"So that means neither of us will be fighting like this again, understand? From now on, we tolerate eachother as co workers and stand on neutral grounds."
Izuku then added, sitting down on the only stool that had not been destroyed by Shigaraki. The blue haired villain sat there, speechless for a few minutes.
"What am I missing? Why are you so much stronger than me? It has to be a quirk right? No way you're naturally that strong..."
Shigaraki uttered out, scratching his neck, standing up and looking at Izuku, not even with hate or disrespect at this point, but rather straight up confusion.
"Believe it or not no... I'm quirkless... Just chalk it up to me being dedicated to getting stronger."
Izuku replied, looking back at Shigaraki respectfully. The man over the screen spoke up once more, seemingly interested in the revelation that Izuku was quirkless.
"You're quirkless? Oh my... That truly is a stunning revelation."
The voice over the screen spoke in an amused tone. Izuku face palmed, assuming that the fact he was quirkless eliminated Izuku's chances of staying in the league.
"If power is what you're looking for, I can provide you a quirk."
The man proposed, the proposal confused Izuku. Never in his life had he heard of someone possessing the ability to give quirks.
"That's impossible! How could you give someone a quirk?? That information is instilled in their DNA, you'd have to change that code entirely, right?"
Izuku questioned the man, who laughed in response.
"It allows me to steal and transfer quirks upon contact, think of me like some big quirk bank of sorts. The code holding the quirk is simply stolen or added on depending on wether I give or take a quirk."
The man replied, the response only made Izuku ask more questions.
"W-wait.. This is a lot to take in even for me... If you have so many quirks, how has it not totally messed you up? Like... Pouring too much water into a glass. You'd overflow right?? In theory, you can overflood someone with quirks and destroy their DNA as a whole!"
Izuku stated, preparing for a long awaited trance, where he'd eventually find himself muttering quietly about the mechanics of a quirk. Though, he only muttered to himself because nobody ever cared to answer his questions like the man did.
"You would think that, but no. My quirk has a specific adaptation that allows me to contain an upper limit of quirks within my body. Think of like how a fire quirk user will have natural resistance to fire, for a simple comparison."
The man answered Izuku's first question, the boy listened intently as he began regretting not getting his notebook so he could write all of this down.
"While I could overflood someone with quirks and kill them that way, it would simply be far more inefficient than just killing said someone using the powers I have already amassed. But that's enough of that... Do you want a quirk or not?"
The man asked his question once more, not forgetting about the main topic at hand.
"Mm... No. I don't want a quirk. I've honestly become quite prideful of the progress I've made as someone who has been quirkless his whole life. I'm a solid fighter with decent strength to boot, I'm resourceful and considerate of my opponent's strengths and weaknesses. I think having no quirk has simply made me stronger."
Izuku replied, sure of himself. That sureness ticked Shigaraki off but he tried his damndest to not lash out like before. The man over the screen laughed once more in amusement as to Izuku's self analysis.
"Very well. I'm glad to have someone as smart and strong as yourself. And seeing how good you are with understanding quirks, you'd honestly be valuable for a certain quirk related project me and another friend are working on..."
The man proposed, somewhat sparking Izuku's interest as he did have a somewhat fondness for quirk functionality and a talent at quirk analysis.
"Well what is this project per say?"
Izuku asked the man who didn't hesitate to answer.
"We're trying to create a race of sorts, zombies that can hold multiple quirks inside of them, as well as a strong sense of obedience. We call them Nomu."
Izuku's interest was further sparked. This wasn't even a matter of gain at this point for Izuku, but rather an opportunity for discovery. He was a natural born scientist at heart, alongside a powerful fighter through hard work and dedication.
Izuku of course agreed to assisting on the project, later in the day he made way to the warehouse that the operation was taking place at.
As Izuku approached the warehouse, mask over his head and gloves over his hands as to prevent any possible evidence of his presence during the project. This place was secretive enough but Izuku wanted to take caution for the worst case scenario of this place getting raided and ransacked for evidence in the future.
An old man on a swivel chair greeted Izuku, introducing himself as Dr. Ujiko.
"I take it you're the one who's assisting me on the Nomu project now."
Ujiko said rhetorically, before turning around and leading Izuku inside to see the Nomu project first hand.
Izuku stared inside the many churning tanks of fluid as preserved dead bodies lay dormant within them, their brains were exposed. The sight was slightly disturbing, like something you'd see in a horror movie, But Izuku shrugged the feeling off.
The whole time the two traveled through the warehouse, Ujiko monologued about all of the machines and their mechanics, what they contributed to the process of turning a dead human into a Nomu.
As they reached the tail end of the warehouse, a large tube hosting a large black nomu was present, the inanimate figure floating in the fluid as many tubes connected to his body.
"Hey what's up with this Nomu? Why does it look so vastly different?"
Izuku asked Ujiko, looking over at him. The doctor smiled and replied.
"This here is a mid end nomu, created with the function and intent to counter All Might. This is what we believe has the power to defeat him. Those lackey nomu are a fith as strong as this one."
Izuku stared back up at the Nomu in awe, wondering if that thing truly had the ability to fare against the symbol of peace. Though, Izuku wondered what exactly he'd be doing to help out in this project, so he asked Ujiko.
"Hm... Well All For One said that you'd be scoping out new quirks that could be used for our Nomu project. While our assumption that All Might will have a seventy percent chance of losing to this Nomu, things aren't certain. We need to perfect the Nomu so that nobody can stop them."
Ujiko stated.
"Seventy percent chance of All Might losing..."
Izuku uttered to himself as he asked another question.
"If you two are uncapable of acting on your own and taking quirks yourself, what do you suppose I do? Like how can I take quirks?"
Ujiko unexpectedly began moving elsewhere, attatched to his chair as always. Izuku followed the doctor to a new area, it was a storage container holding several supplies used for operation, Ujiko grabbed some empty and cleaned shot needles.
"We'll be extracting the quirk factor found in one's cells. That being their blood. Stick one of these needles into a person's skin, extract some blood and turn the needles into me. I will be the one extracting the quirks and putting them into the Nomu's."
Ujiko stated, handing three shot needles to Izuku, who took them and put the needles in his pocket.
"I suppose that makes enough sense... I'm still contributing to the project and witnessing the developments first hand, just not being directly involved like you. And I'm getting more experience in espionage as well as combat if need be from forcefully extracting one's blood. A perfect in between of getting stronger and smarter."
Izuku stated with an eager smile under his baklava. As the plan was settled, Izuku was sent off by Ujiko, the boy's role in the league of villains having been cemented as a physical and intellectual force.
Izuku had begun researching quirks that could be of use to the Nomu. It probably had to be simple to use, but deadly in practice, akin to Endeavor's hellfire quirk. Other useful abilities like Eraser Head's quirk erasure would be great as well. Though, seeing as he hardly stood a chance at fighting either of them and stealing their blood, he probably had to set his eyes at weaker prey.
Students at UA were possible but could Izuku even fare up against some of those? Sure Izuku was smart and strong, but there isn't a lot he could do about a massive fire blast sending him to the stratosphere. He still had limits.
Izuku was sure he could take on some low class heroes and crooks, but they're low class for a reason...
The boy sighed as pressure weighed on his shoulders. After a few hours of having no clue who to pick, he just decided to give up for the night. His mind was tired and he needed a more clear brain to make his desicions. After all, the result of the Nomu project was dependent on Izuku's own brain and choices...
Author's note: Well that's chapter five! Izuku finds himself a true place in the league of villains as a primary contributor to the Nomu's development. Tomura and Izuku's conflict, while not fully settled has been put on cooldown as they have come to tolerate eachother, despite their negative emotions towards eachother.
Also I enjoy the reason for Izuku wanting to stay quirkless, rather him rejecting a quirk because it "shows the world quirkless people can become strong too" or "I'm too nice to take a quirk from you" He takes pride in his growth and thinks his growth would only be stunted if he got a quirk.
That's about it for this chapter, tune in for next chapter to see what happens!