It's time for the second chapter of Project Velocity. But first a small announcement, the update day for this story as switched to Wednesday/Thursday. Last chapter was to show the relationship of Kaina and Inko Tsutsumi and how Kaina's life as Lady Nagant will not allow her to be a mother for Izuku.
I do not own any rights to MY HERO ACADEMIA or any of their characters.
With that, let's go off with a bang
Izuku was four years old when it happened. His mother Inko was taking him to the local park to start the weekend off right. As they walked into the general area of the park, Inko's phone went off. Inko pulled her phone out and saw she was getting a call from Kaina. Curious about what her sister might want to talk about, Inko answered the call and held the phone up to her ear,
However, before she could say a word, Kaina yelled, "Inko! Thank god you picked up."
"What's wrong Kaina, why are you calling?" Inko asked, immediately noticing the stress of worry in Kaina's voice. Inko felt herself begin to worry about her sister worrying, so she had to take a few deep breaths.
"Inko I need you to listen to me. What I'm about to say is going to be confusing, but I need you to listen to me." Kaina said, sounding out of breath. That made Inko extremely worried, as she hadn't heard Kaina lose her breath. Not after training with the HPSC. Kaina wasn't out of breath because she was tired, no she was stressed.
Inko could feel herself start using the training she got alongside Kaina on how to deal with stressful situations, "Alright what do you need to tell me."
"You're going to see my hero name in the news in the coming days. It will probably be about a fight I had between some other pro heroes. Just know that whatever they say isn't the truth." Kaina said in an anxious tone, as the wind rushed by, making it hard for Inko to hear her sister.
"Then what is the truth?" Inko asked, hearing gravel being moved from Kaina's end of the call. That told Inko that her sister was being chased, but from who and why.
"Is that Aunt Kaina?" Izuku asked, tugging on Inko's pant leg.
"It is honey. We're in a serious conversation right now and she needs to tell me something." Inko said, then just heard Kaina sigh a sad breath of air, "What is the truth Kaina?"
"I'm sorry, but it's better if you don't know the whole story. Just now I'm going somewhere and I'm gone for a while." Kaina said. Inko's mind deciphered the code as Kaina was going to get arrested.
"My god Kaina, what did you do?" Inko asked, looking around as if someone was hunting her and Izuku. She scanned the crowd, a new couple walking their dog around the park. A street vendor selling snow cones. Just other people doing normal daily tasks, none gave off malicious intent.
"I'm sorry I can't tell you that. But there's something you can promise? Do you know how we talked about the future when Izuku starts to ask specific kinds of questions? Do you remember that conversation?" Kaina asked as she caught her breath.
" I do." Inko asked, grabbing Izuku's hand and pulling him over to a park bench. Her eyes are still scanning the crowd around her. A few new people had shown up, but still, none seem to have the intent to harm Inko or Izuku.
"You remember how we would bring up our situation and explain the truth to him. About everything." Kaina said, her voice was still stressed but it seemed to be calming down a bit. Talking to her sister always calmed Kaina down, no matter what was stressing her out.
"I do." Inko said as she looked down at Izuku.
"I need you to promise that doesn't happen. Whenever Izuku starts asking those questions, tell him whatever lies will convince him the most. Anything but the truth, it would be best if he knows. It will save him from a world of pain and hurt. A legacy he doesn't need to be a part of. Can you promise me that?" Kaina asked.
Inko took in a sharp breath and then asked, "Why? Why are you asking me to do all that?"
"I know right now that this all sounds confusing, but when you hear the lies of the media you'll start to understand. For now, all I can tell you is it would be for the best if you and your family didn't have any connection to the name of Kaina Tsutsumi or Lady Nagant. As my younger sister, can you do that?" Kaina said, her voice sounded like metal being sharpened.
"Just tell me why. Why do I have to promise this? And I'll agree." Inko said.
Yet Kaina didn't answer for a bit. Inko could feel her heart rate skyrocket as she waited for her older sister to answer. Inko looked around the crowd, it was clear her sister was hunting. Maybe she was too. Their relationship wasn't publicly known, only those from their childhood knew Kaina and Inko were sisters.
Inko never really wanted to become a hero, that's why she married Hisashi and quickly told his last name. She just wasn't meant for the limelight, but both sisters loved each other too much just to leave each other behind.
Finally, Kaina answered Inko's request. Just a single sentence, "I'm sorry I won't be around lil sis, but we trusted the wrong people."
Inko's world shattered as she heard her sister say those words then to hear the phone call disconnect. Her sister was being hunted by someone from their past. Someone they had once trusted, and if they were hunting Kaina chances were they would start to hunt Inko and her family.
Inko looked down at Izuku, Kaina's son. The little boy who she was given to protect from the world. She wasn't going to let him be hunted too.
Over the next year, Inko kept her promise and never mentioned her sister or her pro-hero persona. After seeing the new broadcast and seeing that Lady Nagant had been arrested for killing two pro-heroes, Inko understood why Kaina didn't want Izuku to learn the truth. Her sister had been branded as a terrorist and an S-grade villain, if people knew that she was Lady Nagant's sister or Izuku was her biological son, they would view them differently. Inko didn't want to have that on Izuku's consciousness, it would make him question who he truly was.
With Hisashi's connections, it was easy to erase Inko's connection to her sister. Her having Hisashi's last name and Izuku being born under the Midoriya name streamlined everything. But that was never going to be the easy part. Izuku was a smart kid and when he realized how different his quirk was from Inko and Hisahi's quirk, he would begin to ask questions.
At first, it was easy to answer Izuku's question about where Aunt Kaina was and why she wasn't visiting anymore. A simple lie of how she was too busy to visit was enough to satisfy Izuku's curiosity, but Inko knew that wasn't going to last for very long. She worked every day to mentally prepare herself for the day she had to tell the biggest lie in her life.
Inko thought she was ready for that day, but when it happened she wasn't.
It had started out like any other day with Inko waking Izuku up for kindergarten. Izuku was slowly waking up, brushing his purple hair out of his face. After a few minutes, he was awake enough to get out of bed and get dressed. Walking down the hallway Izuku began scratching his right arm.
When Inko noticed she asked, "Is there something wrong with your arm Izuku?"
Izuku continued to scratch his arm, "It feels sore and itchy."
"Oh, you just probably slept on it weird. It can happen to anyone. Let's focus on breakfast and getting you to school." Inko said, in a lullaby tone of voice, she used whenever she wanted Izuku to do something without arguing.
Despite the constant tingly feeling in his arm, Izuku focused on his and his mother's routine to get him ready for school. After a quick breakfast and brushing of teeth, Inko drove Izuku to kindergarten. Walking him up to the front door, Inko noticed that Izuku was still scratching his arm.
"Is your arm still sore honey?" Inko said crouching to be at eye level with her son.
"Yeah but it's not as bad as it was before." Izuku said, putting on a cute 'tough guy' face. This caused Inko to laugh and hug Izuku.
"Well try not to think about it too much. If it still feels weird after school we'll take it to the doctor and see what's wrong with it." Inko said. Izuku nodded, then walked into school.
Throughout the day Izuku did his best to ignore how sore and irritated his arm was. Yet the feeling only got stronger and stronger through the day. Until after lunch when everyone headed outside to play in the yard. At that point, Izuku couldn't withstand the feeling in his arm anymore. Once he was outside, he stepped aside and attacked his arm. Yet the feeling never went away, even after his arm was red.
As he continued to scratch his arm, he watched as the other kids kicked a ball around. They were enjoying themselves until Izuku's best friend Katsuki Bakugo got a hold of the ball and accidentally kicked it a little too hard. It bounded out of the play set and ricocheted into a nearby tree. All the kids walked over to the tree and took turns jumping up and trying to knock the ball out of the tree.
"Maybe we should get one of the teachers to help." A kid suggested as another kid attempted and failed to retrieve the ball. None of them were getting close.
"Nah, we don't need their help." Bakugo said confidently as he was the only one that was even getting remotely close to the branch that the ball was resting in. Though he was still a good few centimetres away.
"But none of us can jump high enough to get it." Another kid pointed out. Izuku pushed himself off of the building and began walking over, thinking he could help.
Bakugo noticed Izuku and smiled, as despite being one of the shorter students Izuku was the most alethic. "Why don't we let Izuku give it a try? He's sure to get it down and then we won't have to ask the adults for help."
Izuku looked up at the tree. He was a good jumper, but even then he didn't think he would be able to reach up that high. "I don't know Kacchan. I agree with the others, it would be better to get one of the teachers. Besides, why don't you use your quirk to knock it down." Izuku said looking at his best friend
Bakugo scoffed and said, "Yeah then I'll get in trouble for using my quirks. I guess you're just afraid that you can't jump that high."
Izuku knew that Bakugo was just baiting him and honestly, he didn't care. To Izuku it was Bakugo's way of saying that he really thought Izuku would be able to do it. Izuku judged the height he would have to jump again then said, "I guess it won't hurt to try. But if I can't get it then we should ask one of the teachers to get it for us."
All the kids nodded in agreement, while Bakugo just clicked his tongue at how easily Izuku could make people agree with him. Izuku backed up a bit to get a running start, signalling to everyone to give him a clear path.
Once everyone had taken a big step away from the tree then Izuku took off. As he got close to the tree he pulled his arms back and then swung them up as he launched himself upwards. As he rose up through the air he reached his hands up aiming for the ball. As he began to reach the apex of his jump it looked like he would be able to get the ball.
But as it turned out he was still a few millimetres too short. As he began to fall he tried to force his arm to stretch off, to knock the ball out of the tree. Suddenly his right arm screamed out in pain and steam started to appear around it.
Izuku felt his right forearm expand and bugled, increasing in size, while his hand stretched out in length as it became narrow. His hand shot out, knocking the ball from the tree. Together Izuku and the ball fell to the ground.
As Izuku landed he fell to his knees holding his right arm tight against his chest. Pain exploded through his arm, just to disappear, only then to reappear. As he held his transformed arm against his chest, the pain began to slowly decrease. At that moment the principal of the school noticed all the kids standing by the tree. As she walked over she asked, "Is everything alright?"
The kids looked at Izuku watching as his dark purple hair began to change. It was no longer a single color, patches and strips of green were spread through Izuku's hair. Bakugo looked at Principal Nozomi and said, "I think Izuku just got his quirk."
Being an old friend of Inko from the middle, Principal Aneko Nozomi knew Inko and Kaina. They had both been bridesmaids at Inko and Hisahi's wedding. Meaning she was one of the few people Inko told about Izuku's situation. Knowing that it needed to be kept a secret, Principal Nozomi quickly knelt down in front of Izuku and whispered, "Midoriya, I need to see your arm."
Izuku slowly nodded and revealed his hand to her. While Inko and Kaina always believed Izuku would inherit Kaina's quirk, there was a small chance Izuku inherited the quirk of whoever his father was. If he had then life for him would have been much simpler going forever.
Yet once Principal Nozomi saw Izuku's right arm, she knew that no one else could see it.
"Izuku can you transform it back?" She whispered. Izuku shook his head, the feeling in his arm was completely new and he couldn't control it. Principal Nozomi knew she needed to act fast, so she slipped her suit jacket off and put it over Izuku, then she looked to Bakugo and said, "Can you please inform Mr. Bashira that he'll need to come out? I need to take Midoriya to my office."
Bakugo nodded and took off while Principal Nozomi helped Izuku to his feet. She walked him through the yard and inside the building. Quickly walking through the schoolhouse to her office, Principal Nozomi locked the door as she and Izuku were in. She instructed Izuku to sit in one of the chairs as she walked over to her desk and dialled Inko's phone number.
Once the line connected Principal Nozomi said, "Hello Inko, I hope you're having a good day." "That's good to hear. I'm calling because Izuku's quirk appeared." "Sadly It's Kaina. Nearly a perfect match, even down to the hair changing." "No one else had seen his arm, not even the other kids. You came to me because you trusted me." "It's okay for now. We're in my office right now. However, there is an issue. He doesn't know how to transform it back. I think it would be best if you got here as soon as possible. I won't be able to hold him in my office all day without some questions being asked."
APrincipal Nozomi was quiet for a second then said, "Okay, I'll let the front desk know. See you in a few."
She ended the phone call and then walked over to Izuku. She crouched down and looked Izuku in the eye then said, "Your mom is going to be here in a few minutes, okay. How are you feeling?"
Izuku suddenly smirked for some reason then held out his left hand and said, "I know how my arm was so itchy." He opened his left hand and inside his palm was a small glass marble, "This got inside."
Principal Nozomi looked at the marble extremely confused. A question that won't be answered until Inko arrived. Luckily it was in a timely manner.
Her arrival was announced when a knock came on the door. Principal Nozomi walked over and opened the door. She hustled Inko inside then closed and locked the door. Principal Nozomi quickly explained how Izuku was trying to get a ball out of a tree.
With that information Inko knelt in front of her son and with a smile said, "Izuku I'm going to need to take a look at your arm. Can you show it to me?"
Izuku slowly nodded and extended his right arm from within the jacket. Inko was surprised to see Izuku's arm, then she looked had her friend. Principal Nozomi had said that it was almost a perfect match but Izuku's arm looked nothing like Kaina's
While Kaina's rifle extended out of her elbow, contorting her lower arm against her shoulder. An aspect of her sister's quirk Inko honestly found disgusting. Yet instead of that Izuku's entire forearm had transformed into the rifle. His forearm had transformed into the stock and main body of a long-range rifle, while his entire hand had stretched and narrowed into the barrel.
It looked like a streamlined version of Kaina's quirk, meaning it had evolved and was more powerful. But now was not the time for testing Izuku's quirk.
"Would be fine if I took Izuku home for the rest of the day." Inko asked, looking over at her old friend.
Principal Nozomi nodded and said, "It's standard practice for a kid to go home early when their quirk first comes in. And between you and me, if you need the rest of the week, take it."
Inko nodded, then looked back at her son. She could help him learn his quirk later, for right now he needed to transform his arm back. Having trained with Kaina with the HPSC, Inko and her sister learned a lot about each other's quirks. Kaina has talked about how it was hard to keep her quirk from forming when she was stressed.
For something like this to happen must have been really stressful for Izuku. Using the only method Inko and Kaina used to calm each other down, Inko gently pressed her index finger against Izuku's chest and said, "Izuku I want you to close your eyes and breathe slowly as you listen to my voice."
Izuku nodded and closed his eyes, "Emotion starts in the heart, the core of a person's soul. It flows through the lungs and swells with power." Inko traced her finger down to Izuku's midsection, "Then it flows through veins and moves the body." Inko brought her finger back up Izuku's chest and towards his shoulder, "It goes from a person's feet to the end of the hand." Inko's finger slowly went to Izuku's shoulder then down his arm.
As Inko's finger slowly approached Izuku's elbow, steam began to appear around Izuku's lower arm. His arm slowly transformed back into a normal arm, as Inko's finger travelled down. Ending by slipping off of Izuku's middle finger. Izuku took a deep breath and felt his entire body relax.
"Everything is going to be okay sweetie." Inko said, wrapping Izuku in a tight hug. They continue to hug each other for a few minutes. After they were done, Inko gave her friend her jacket back and thanked her.
Inko walked Izuku out to the car and together they went home. At home Inko made Izuku a small snack of rice then they sat down at the kitchen table. As Izuku slowly ate his rice he looked at his mother and asked, "Why weren't others allowed to see my quirk. Is there something wrong with it?"
Inko wanted to kick herself for her luck. Of course, Izuku would ask the question that got to the heart of the issue. Inko had to think of something quickly then her eyes fell on Izuku's All Might shirt. A lie that would be believed and easy to remember formed in her mind.
"Izuku, you know how the world is protected by All Might." Inko began and Izuku nodded his head, "Well it wasn't always like that. Bad people were hidden in the world's shadows and they craved power. Imagine if someone bad got ahold of All Might when he was young and taught him to hate the world."
Izuku shook his head and said, "No no I want to."
Inko panicked and hugged Izuku, "It's okay the world isn't like that, but I worry about you a lot. Your father and I have always known you would have a powerful quirk, but you gonna have to learn how to control it, to use it to protect others. But until then it's best not everyone knew about your quirk. Can you do that for me?" Inko asked, holding back a grimace. She knew that probably wasn't the best way to explain everything but she couldn't take back anything she said. This was the lie she was going to have to live with for her life.
Izuku thought about it for a second. The world was filled with powerful quirks, heroes that used them to protect others. What would happen if one of those heroes was raised to be a villain, how different would the world be? If he had a powerful and amazing quirk then he needed to choose the path of hero.
But there was one thing he wanted to do. "Can I at least show it to Kacchan?"
Inko had to stop herself from bursting out laughing. Of all the things Izuku was going to say, asking to share his quirk with his best friends should have been the first thing she expected to hear. She gave a light chuckle then rubbed Izuku's hair, "How about you learn how to control your quirk before you show it Katsuki, okay."
Izuku nodded with an understanding of his mother's words. Izuku spent the rest of the day playing in his room while Inko figured out how to test her son on how to use his quirk without making her seem too knowledgeable. It began with taking Aneko's offer to take the rest of the week off.
The next day Inko began teaching Izuku to control his quirk. It started with Izuku learning just what his quirk was. Inko explained to him that his quirk allowed him to transform his right arm into a long-range rifle with the ability to fire a bullet. Inko worked with Izuku to learn how to control his quirk's transformation and only be active when he wanted it to. Something Izuku picked up unnaturally quickly and had a good handle on by the time Inko served lunch.
Inko spent the afternoon subtly giving clues that Izuku was supposed to use his dual-colored hair to weave bullets to use. By the time dinner rolled around Inko was about to spell everything out for her son, but as he sat down he brushed some hair out of his face. He commented how his hair somehow weaved in on itself.
It took Izuku a bit more for him to figure out how to weave his hair into a bullet; he needed to twirl it around his finger a couple of times. Once he figured it out, he slipped the bullet through the small opening that was on the side of his forearm. Izuku felt the bullet slip into place and he excitedly jumped out of his chair and point his arm at the wall
Without much of a warning, Izuku flexed his arm and a gunshot rang through the house.
"Izuku!" Inko screamed as she reached out and grabbed the speeding bullet with her quirk. The bullet glowed green as it slowed down then stopped in mid-air. The next moment it flew straight into Inko's out-straight hand. As the bullet landed in her hand Inko had to catch her breath. That was a use of her quirk she hadn't used in a long time. She flashed a stern look at Izuku then in a calm voice said, "Alright rule number 1: no firing your quirk inside."
"Sorry mom." Izuku said, transforming his arm back into its normal form.
Inko sighed as she walked over to hug Izuku and say, "It's okay Honey. When I first figured out my quirk I wanted to see what I could do with it. I accidentally pulled a hot piece of metal into my hand. Let's just be careful of how we use our quirks."
Izuku nodded as he hugged his mother back. Inko and Izuku spent the evening resting from working on Izuku's quirk. Once the sun went down together Izuku went to bed while Inko went looking through her closet for a vanilla folder. Once she found what she was looking for she pulled out a vanilla folder that had Project Velocity stamped on the front.
Inko walked back to the kitchen table and sat down. She put the vanilla folder on the table and then opened it. Inside were summaries of the different training she and Kaina did as teenagers. She then came across a photo of them trying out their new hero suits, testing to see if they like them.
Lady Nagant was written over Kaina's photo while Summoner was written over Inko's. But that wasn't what Inko was looking for, moving to the back of the folder Inko located a business card of her and Kaina's old HPSC handler. Inko knew she could teach Izuku how to use his quirk, but that was about it. For the skills for Izuku to effectively use his quirk, She was going to need some extra help about that.
And that chapter two. The title is Long Forgotten but Fateful day, but you could add Learning the Basics. I wanted to have the conversation between sisters longer, but for what I have planed in the future, it didn't feel right. So I added Izuku's quirk coming in for the main chunk of the chapter.
Next Chapter, we see who Izuku calls to get some extra help and if their willing to do so. Will they see Izuku as another Lady Nagant, or a possibility to make up for some past mistakes.
Next Time: Depends How You Look.
Review and me what you think.
