Chapter 1: At Any Costs

"Sniper get down!"

*Teammate peaks the widow like a dumbass* *Dies*

Not the Angelic Hero update you guys were probably hoping for, but I wanted to get something out since I'm busy this week. I've been cooking up this story for a while now since I like Ramattra and I think Izuku could reasonably adopt a similar mindset. The idea was also inspired by DriftingFlowers "Iris" which has Izuku having a healing quirk and learning under Zenyatta.

So I figured why not do the opposite since Ramattra is the parallel to Zen. Though unlike DriftingFlowers' story there isn't going to be a crossover, just adding some elements from Overwatch. Hope you guys find the idea interesting, especially when I show off Izuku's new personality in the coming chapters. I have some very interesting interactions in store for you.

Otherwise enjoy this brief prologue.


"I learned at a very young age that not all men were created equal."

Izuku Midoriya stared blankly at the piece of paper, the voices of the doctor and his mom becoming nothing more than white noise. The four year old could only hear the rushing thoughts that had begun to flood his mind. He may not have understood the entirety of what he was just told, but he was smart enough to figure it out.

Quirkless.

That single word was all Izuku needed to understand why the doctor looked at him with pity. It explained why his mom embraced him in a tearful hug. Or why the ride back home was a quiet one with Inko holding his hand the entire time. The tears had stopped flowing after a certain point. Becoming nothing more than a constant stream of wetness that flowed down his pale cheeks. Izuku's green eyes simply stared aimlessly, contrasting with his mind that was racing a mile a minute.

Quirkless, how could one simple word bring about so much mental turmoil–how could it invoke such a feeling of helplessness? Izuku wanted to be a hero, it was his dream to be a symbol like All Might. Maybe he was being overdramatic, maybe he was overthinking this like he usually did with most things. He didn't need a quirk to be a hero, Izuku's dream was still attainable, he just had to work a little extra harder to achieve it. He could definitely become a great hero without a quirk.

Right?

"Some are born extraordinary while others are lucky to even be born at all. In this world where everyone has a unique power that they can call their own, those without one cannot even begin to compare."

"Ack!"

Izuku let out a pained gasp as his back collided with the ground, knocking the breath out of the four year old. However, the sudden lack of air hurt far less than the burning sensation that bloomed across his chest. The area of his light blue shirt was stained in a light brown color, smoke still rising from the burn. Despite the sensation, Izuku's mind could only focus on the one who injured him. His green eyes wide with tears streaming down his face and his mouth agape in shock.

Never did he imagine that he would ever feel fear and sadness towards Katsuki of all people. They were supposed to be the best of friends, the greatest heroes in the making, the ones who will be just like All Might. Yet in one moment that dream shattered like glass, rapidly being replaced by an unimaginable nightmare. The way Katsuki's red eyes stared down at Izuku with such anger burned away any lingering hope of remedying the situation.

"Those with quirks stand at the top of society, running every single aspect of the world. They remind us quirkless where our place is…at the bottom of the food chain."

"What do you think you're doing, Izuku?!" Katsuki shouted, his hands crackling with micro explosions.

"I-I w-wa-w-was just helping!" Izuku stuttered, matching his shuddering body.

"Helping?! Why would you want to help a weakling?!" The blonde growled, glaring towards the direction where his previous target ran off.

"B-b-be-because it's the r-r-right thing to do!" Izuku sat up straighter, gaining a bit of confidence.

"Right thing to do?" Katsuki briefly looked down at the greenette in confusion. It was quickly replaced by a look of pure rage. "The right thing is for the weak to get out of the damn way and let those with strong quirks lead like they're meant to. Those-those–extras should be grateful that someone like me is using them as a steppingstone so I can become the greatest hero!"

"B-but Kaachan that isn't what a hero should do!" Izuku cried out.

'What would you know?!" Katsuki roared with anger, causing the two kids next to him to step back in surprise. "You're quirkless, you could never understand what it's like! You're not even useful like any of the other extras! At least I can use them as steppingstones! You–you're just a useless deku!"

With each passing word, the stabbing pain in Izuku's heart grew stronger. The familiar feeling of despair and hopelessness set in, the same feeling as when he found out he was quirkless. However, the feeling burned with a new intensity as the words he so told himself were said by the same one Izuku looked up too. The friend that he made a promise with to become the next greatest hero just like All Might. A friend that the greenette would dare say may have been a brother to him.

And in the blink of an eye all of it shattered before Izuku like glass.

"And for a time, I believed in such lies. I saw myself as nothing more than a weakling. Someone who would have been better off simply not existing. I foolishly believed that the quirkless served no purpose."

"Izuku…" Inko hesitantly opened the door to the four year old's room. Her chest immediately tightened when she saw him simply staring at his All Might poster. "Izuku honey." The mother tried again but all she received was silence.

To say that Inko was worried would be an understatement, the woman was borderline terrified. Ever since her son had come home he had been nothing but silent, never uttering a word other than thanking Inko for dinner. She was not blind; something must have happened to put her optimistic Izuku into such a melancholic state. Her first thought was to immediately think of the incident a few days ago, where she essentially crushed Izuku's dream. The tear stained face of her son would forever be burned into her memory.

Yet, the more she took in the boy's downtrodden demeanor the more she realized that it couldn't have been her. At least not entirely, Inko couldn't say what specifically, but her maternal instincts guided her to believe that something else happened today. However, despite her curiosity the mother knew better than to push her son. After his quirkless diagnosis coupled with her heartlessly stomping on his dreams, Inko was afraid what would happen if any more traumatic events persisted.

"Mom." Izuku's voice was like sandpaper when he spoke. Dry, rough, and only barely heard since it was the only sound in the room.

"Yes, Izu?" The woman could feel her spirits lift ever so slightly as she heard her son speak for the first time tonight.

"I…I–I don't want to be a hero anymore…" The small boy confessed sadly. He turned to look at his mother, his green eyes filled with so many emotions, but one stood out more than any.

Defeat.

Inko Midoriya would have never expected to see such a look within the usual bright eyed stare of Izuku. The boy was cheery and optimistic to a fault, surely her eyes must be playing tricks on her, right? Of course, even though Inko tried to delude herself, she knew deep down that this was inevitable. All the talk about Pro Heroes and becoming just like All Might, the dream of becoming a hero that will save the day, it all vanished in the blink of an eye. What more could Inko do but embrace Izuku while she shed sympathetic tears for her son's destroyed dream.

And not a single droplet came from Izuku.

"But I learned better, we quirkless are so much more. The fact that we exist in this world is a miracle unto itself. We have built marvelous creations, studied the way of peace and harmony. We have meditated on the universe and our place within it."

Upon entering the Shambali temple for the first time, the green haired child was faced with overwhelming apprehension. Frankly Izuku would have never given the place a chance in the first place. Alas, the four year old boy's love for his mother outweighed his own feelings on the matter, so he reluctantly gave it a chance.

And that day changed Midoriya Izuku's life.

Meeting the Mondatta, the head of the monastery, opened the boy's eyes to a world that he never knew existed. The old monk showed Izuku the residents of the temple, all who were quirkless just like himself. Yet, what Izuku saw was not defeat nor despair within their eyes, no it was something greater. A palpable feeling of peace and tranquility could be felt all around the monastery. It was a bit unbelievable to Izuku at first, but with each day he returned the quirkless boy grew to accept it more.

"Hah." A seven year old Izuku let out a sigh as he adopted the meditation pose taught to him since he was four.

He, and many other quirkless like him, were currently dressed in the typical monk clothing that was given to all newcomers. In front of them their own personal orb, which was also given upon being accepted to the monastery. Izuku could not see but he could feel his own orb floating a few inches above his head, though he knew better than to question it. Upon being given the orb after his first week, the boy spent hours trying to discover how it functioned. Though after a few months he gave up, accepting his mentor's answer that was given when Izuku first asked.

"Sometimes science we don't understand is the universe's way of telling us to cherish our gifts rather than question them."

A statement that Izuku eventually learned to accept, becoming far more relaxed and happy because of it. Rather than focus on the negatives that plagued his life, the greenette instead turned his attention to the positives. His mom, the temple, and Mondatta were what mattered to Izuku nothing else. He didn't need a quirk to prove his usefulness, nor did he need to become the next big Pro Hero. The dream of heroism and saving the day was forgotten, replaced by the desire to live a peaceful life with the ones Izuku cares most about. Nothing could possibly interfere with such a dream.

"We have tried to coexist with quirk users–but quirk users are not interested in sharing their world. How many more quirkless must perish to fuel the rest of mankind's dreams? Quirkless make up 20% of the population but with each passing day our numbers lessen. We are finite…and dying all too quickly."

The state of the Shambali temple could only be described as absolute chaos.

Izuku couldn't process the sheer amount of stimulus that was flooding his system, overloading his senses to the point where he basically froze in place. Fire, ash, and falling debris all blended together into a picture of true anarchy. The sirens from the police vehicles on scene wailed insistently, fueling the confusion even further.

Screams from both the residents of the temple and the crowd that had formed outside of it were jumbled together in an incomprehensible mess. Those within the latter tried to break past the police line that had been erected in order to contain the mayhem. While those of the former were quickly rushed to ambulances or armored trucks. Izuku was 'lucky' enough to be sent to one of the armored vehicles. The seven year old was quickly ushered inside along with several other quirkless.

'Why is this happening?' Izuku thought with wide eyes. His chest ached with his heart rapidly beating against his ribcage.

The green eyed boy looked down at his hands, the entire limb being covered in a deep crimson color. He could still feel Mondatta's weight in his arms, the old man coughing up blood as Izuku desperately called for help. He could feel how his mentor, his fellow quirkless, took his last breath before the life faded from his eyes.

'What did we do to deserve this?' The greenette desperately wished he would receive some kind of an answer. Any so that this despicable act of hate could be justified, so that Izuku could still believe that the world had some good in it.

But none came.

And Izuku realized how the rest of the world truly saw the quirkless, weak, disposable, barely even human. Quirkless did not receive love nor acceptance, they would never see justice for the countless atrocities committed against them. The world tried to deny this with empty policies and talk of equality. But Izuku now knew better, he knew that people like him were nothing more than second class citizens. And that realization made the greenette angry, a fierce fire burning within his green orbs.

'Never again.' Izuku clenched his bloody hands tightly until his knuckles turned white.

"No more! We can find our own place and we must! Join me and together we will make a better future for all quirkless!"

Fifteen year old Izuku stared resolutely from atop what was once the Shambali temple. Below him hundreds of robots moved rhythmically in preparation for the coming battle. Some carried crates of supplies, others held weapons as they formed their battalion. With each group of machines, a quirkless person could be seen giving orders for them to follow.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" A voice from behind him brought Izuku from his thoughts.

"You know as well as I do Mina that I must." The quirkless teen turned around to face the pink skinned girl he had grown close to. "We've lived under oppression for too long, it is time we break free."

"Hey, I get it, you don't need to explain anything to me." The acid quirk user replied softly. She stood beside the other teen, reaching out and interlocking her hand with his. "I know how much this means to you."

"Your support only strengthens my resolve." Izuku answered, squeezing her hand firmly. "I am glad you are here with me."

Together the two made their way through the ruined temple turned base of operations. Reaching the entrance, Izuku stood up at the top of the stairs. His Void Accelerator staff materialized in his right hand with a flash of green light. Slamming the end of the weapon down onto the ground, an echo sounded across the base. Immediately the chatter and movement stopped as everyone turned their attention towards their leader.

"Soldiers of Null Sector today is a day for retribution. For too long we have allowed ourselves and our fellow quirkless brothers and sisters to be oppressed. That ends today" Izuku began, his voice loud and commanding. "We have tried to use reason–tried to convince the rest of the world we are people to…but they will not listen. They insist on maintaining the status quo of quirk users at the top and quirkless at the bottom."

"They will use any means necessary in order to keep this inequality, extortion, blackmail, threats, or even violence. However, today we shall show them we are no longer afraid!" The crowd began to cheer as Izuku continued his speech. "Today we show the world that we will not be subjugated any longer! Today is the day that we break free the chains placed on us by quirk users!"

A thunderous sound overcame the entire area as everyone joined together in a rallying cry.

"We will have peace at any costs!"


I'll either do a back and forth or release chapters from An Angelic Hero and this at the same time, can't decide which right now. Hope you guys liked the brief glimpse into this story I gave you. I'll be expanding on a lot of it so don't worry about the vagueness of some areas.

Next Chapter: Izuku Origin