I spent the next few hours working with my allies, who had decided on calling themselves the League of Villains. A little on the nose, but hey, I was calling myself Maestro.
My time was spent off-sight, working in a lonely facility by myself, the machines whirring to life the only company I had, until finally, it wasn't.
"It's about time. I called for you to show up for a fitting hours ago." I complained, my back turned, but I'd already learned the soft whooshing of Kurogiri making warp gates.
Turning to see my ally, expecting a full-grown man, I found a teenage girl.
"Toga... well, I do need sizing for your costume, and since Twice is late, you'll do." I muttered, grabbing a tape measurer and walking over slowly, ready to take her measurements and be done with her.
"I'm not gonna wear that. It doesn't look cute." She told me, crossing her arms and making a face at the designs on screen.
It was practical, covering her most vulnerable areas while letting her use the gear I'd made with her quirk in mind.
I was upset, confused by why my gear didn't suit her needs.
"What do you mean? The design is basically just your school uniform, which you need to wash, by the way, It smells. It must be the color... you do seem like kawaii clothes would fit your need for cuteness... ah, I see, we can't cover your cute face, can we?"
The more I spoke, looking at her, the more I understood what she needed. She was cute, objectively, and wanted to feel that way in battle.
"Not just that, it looks like I'm wearing battle armor. Can't you do anything about how bulky it is?" She asked as I searched through the types of clothing that I could make with the tools at hand.
"You... yes... I can make something beautiful for you. I'll show off your cuteness, and you'll still be able to use your gear properly." I muttered, already lost in my own world, as I thought.
"You know, for someone who slaps women, you're able to flatter them just fine." She remarked, causing me to turn my head to look at her.
"You've forever scared my cheek because you came up and made me uncomfortable. I admit, I could have gone without pushing you away, but before you even learned my name, you made me into an object for your desires." I told her, turning back to my monitor and thinking.
"But enough of shared mistakes. We're a team now, yeah? If so, come look and help me make a suit that you like."
She seemed hesitant for a moment, like I was playing a trick on her, before moving over and picking out clothing options while I put in for them to be as strong as they could be, with the materials at my disposal. She wasn't getting Kevlar skirts and blouses, but she'd be as protected as I could make her.
"Ooh~, it's gonna look so cute~ I can't wait until Mr. Stainy sees it!" She cooed, my ears perking at the name.
"Stainy... as in Stain, the hero killer? You know him?" I questioned, and I could see now that she smiled that her canines were much longer and wider than most.
"No, but he kills, and rumor is he likes to taste blood, just like me." She gushed, and for a moment, I could forget she was murderous and willing to drink my blood, and just think about how cute her enthusiasm was, how contagious it felt.
"I admire his work. Heroes are weak and self-serving, perpetuating the notion that quirks are what power is." I tried to relate to her and keep the conversation going.
"Isn't it?" She asked, her words urging me to step forward, to put my hand on her hips and look into her eyes.
"Power isn't a quirk. It's manipulation of emotion. It's knowing that others will bend to your will. Right now, you're excited, curious, and a bit afraid. You're so lost that you haven't even noticed that I'm holding you hostage with only my touch. My voice. With natural charisma that simply oozes out of me." I whispered, chucking in her ear.
"I'm not your hostage, I want to be here. I want to be closer to you." She replied softly, he body trembling with anticipation, her fear gone in a sea of excitement.
"Willing or not, you are mine to play with. What's worse is you don't want me to stop having this power over you, do you, Himiko?" I pulled away, simply turning back to my screens and tools, already focused on the next task at hand.
A frustrated sound came from behind me before she was warped away, and I had solitude for a moment I had to deal with Muscular. Both the tank in terms of strength and the fact that he was roughly the size of barge, like that guy from the animated movie.
"I'm not going to wear any stupid armor like a sissy."
"Good. Because I made you no armor. Your quirk should handle that, and your natural muscles will make destroying things easier for you. But you can't kill the students, unfortunately. In fact, you're so strong, I didn't bother doing shit for you, so... why are you in my lab? I didn't call you."
"Shigaraki wanted to make sure you remember why you're here, and I wasn't doing nothin'."
"So you're his lapdog, obeying his every command? I expect that from the others, but being the strongest, I thought you'd tell him where to shove it." I told him, lighting embers in his pride, stoking his ego.
"I ain't nobody's lapdog, boy! Say that again, and I'll kill ya!" He threatened, my hands raising as I tried to placate him.
"We're all lapdogs. Shigaraki, his master, society. But not you. You do as you please, and I admire that, Muscular. But as you can see, I know my place in our little club. I make gear and suits, use my mind when Shigaraki won't use his." I told him, picking up the phone and texting Kurogiri.
"My next appointment will be here soon, and with due respect, it's not a very big lab."
Without warning, Muscular was warped away while giving me another large canvas in which to work.
"Magne, how are you?" I asked, turning and seeing a lizard man with a hachimaki mask and a sword made of swords tied together.
"You aren't Magne. I assume they're just sending me who they want when they want, but that's fine."
It didn't matter who they sent, I'd play them like the pawns they were.
He said nothing yet, only eyeing me warily.
"Nothing to say, Spinner? I'm not even going to ask how Shigaraki managed to convince you to join. You're a mutant and not one of those marketable ones either. Ridicule, bullying, pain, suffering. In that regard, as different as we are, we're the same. It's all any of us have in common. We're others in a society of the same."
Still nothing, and I handed him a cut resistant long sleeve and a belt with dozens of blades of varying sizes.
"You're the last I'm doing today. The others won't be made for a few hours, and I need sleep to make top-notch suits and gear. Well, as top-notch as I can make with the tools as my disposal." I told him, picking up the phone for a second time and requesting Spinner and I be transported.
Black mist, and I was in the bar, wiping grease off my hands on my pants before sitting and looking at Shigaraki.
"The big one, he doesn't like taking orders. Keep an eye on him." I whispered, a bottled drink being handed to me, Kurogiri standing just behind the bar, listening to me.
"This isn't my Shirley Temple. What gives, tall, dark, and mist-erious?" I joked, looking at the bottle curiously.
"Boo! That stinks!" Twice called before holding his stomach and laughing.
"You're so funny. Do you do stand-up?!" He asked, two different reactions to the same situation. Interesting.
I heard murmurs of how much my joked sucked, and I had to agree. That's why I made it after all.
"Still, this is... beer. Wow, you switched up your stance on serving alcohol to minors quickly. Unfortunately, so did I." I spoke, the bottle heavy in my hand.
"We're celebrating, raise your drink." Twice told me, and I couldn't see why I wouldn't. After all, I was just as deep as they were in our conspiracy.
"Then, to the death of All Might, and to the end of hero society!" I cheered, clinking the bottle against Magnes' taking a swig and grimacing.
"This is awful! People drink this for fun!?" I questioned with disgust, my face wrinkling as the others laughed, even Toga, who took the bottle bottle from and took a swig, grinning at me.
"People don't drink for fun. They drink to forget, Midoriya." A younger man, maybe late teens, early twenties, told me, a can of cola in his hand. He was smart, clearly wanting to keep his wits about him.
"Then I want my usual, so I can remember that even a rag-tag group of nobody villains are more human than the heroes I've met." I told them, a glass of Shirley Temple handed to me. How approachable I must have seemed, how non-threatening.
As the night went on, I was the first to head to my sleeping quarters, the room small, but it was where I would wonder if I was doing the right thing.
Sure, I was a villain, but we were planning to kill All Might, to destroy the symbol that meant some humans were just worth more. To remove the man who had slighted me. He had taken my future from me twice.
But my mother, would she understand? Would she see a revolutionary or a terrorist? Would the world get that we were the cure to the poison they were peddling?
Then there was Jiro. My Jiro. The one who I had told I loved, confessed my love for, who had said she would love me, slowly, yes, but she would love me. She would have to handle loving a copy. A separate version of me.
And my friends. Hatsume. Denki. Yaoyorozu. Would they think I was a monster? Well, it didn't matter. I knew that. I couldn't keep worrying what others thought.
Sleep seemed impossible, wired from my first day with the people who understood me, and I found myself tossing and turning until I couldn't stand it, needing a distraction from my guilt and worry, walking back into the bar and finding one in the corner booth, talking excitedly with Twice.
Sliding into the booth, I turned my head to the blonde, who was staring at me with confusion, maybe even apprehension.
"Midoriya, good of you to join us." Twice told me, sounding upbeat.
"Ah, not this guy." He then complained.
"Toga, do you happen to have a syringe on yo -" I began to ask, Toga pulling one out from God knows where and handing it to me.
"How about a clean syringe?" I asked, and she looked at me for the second time with frustration in her eyes.
"No. I've never had someone be so picky about the kinds of needles I give them." She spat, looking all too angry with me.
"Aww, don't fret." I told her softly, turning so I could look into her eyes, golden I noticed now, and leaned in.
"You'll have your chance to taste my blood soon. Right now, however, I think blood is the last thing on your mind." I muttered, so close now I could see where her iris and pupil met, my hand on her hip again.
"Is this another lesson of power?" She asked me, curious, watching me like I might pull back again.
"Do you want it to be?" I asked back, moving my hand to her neck and watching her smile.
"No."
I closed the distance, kissing her, feeling strange as she pulled me closer, her hand on the back of my head, Twice gagging and making kissing sounds before turning and pretending like he couldn't see us.
I'd never kissed a girl before, and I thought I should have felt fireworks, but all I felt was a strange need pooling in my stomach at the taste of alcohol and something sweeter, not wanting to stop, only doing so when I needed to breathe.
"My room." I told her, sliding out of the booth and walking away, already planning things I wasn't sure I could do.
"Wait."
I stopped, turning to her, seeing her look unsure and nervous.
"Can you sing?" I asked, already pushing crazier thoughts from my head.
"What?"
"Can you sing? I've had a great idea, and I need female vocals." I replied, looking at her with a smile.
"I-I don't know? Ooh, but I can try!" She excitedly proclaimed, following me as I walked up to Kurogiri.
"I make music. It's my passion. Certainly, our mysterious leader anticipated this?"
Kurogiri looked at me, nodding slowly.
"Of course he did. You will find it in your workshop, plenty of supplies to do just that." He spoke before misting the two of us away.
"So, what kinda idea did you have? More pop music?" Toga teased, a scowl forming before I stopped myself.
"One thing at a time, my vampiress, one thing at a time. Then... well, you'll see." I told her, practically giddy at the thought, my fingers moving quickly as I booted up software on the computer.
"One thing at a time, my vampiress, one thing at a time."
The following days were spent no longer alone, surrounded by people who needed gear, while working on my own, and my little side project with Toga, learning that for someone with oversized canines, she could sing beautifully, hauntingly, like death itself was singing a lullaby, until the night before, It was ready.
"You did such a good job, Himiko." I complimented as I set down the headphones I was using, picking up a sleek helmet instead.
"Thanks! I had lots of fun making it," She told me, leaning dramatically on my shoulder. "But I still don't know what it's for."
"To send a message, my countess, and let the world know what we are doing." I replied, connecting my helmet to a wire and downloading something.
"Aww, I wanna know now. But I guess waiting is kind of exciting, too."
Setting down the helmet, I leaned my head on her, closing my eyes.
"This is weird, right? We're the bad guys, and I'm kind of happy? Is that strange?" I asked, Himiko giggling as she bit my ear playfully.
"It's not weird. You're happy because you're finally free from the idea of being normal. You can do anything you want, and it's liberating. You're able to be who you want to be when you're with us."
It made sense, and even though it could all come crashing down tomorrow, I didn't mind, simply enjoying the calm before the storm.
The morning before, we were ready. We'd gone over the plan so many times I couldn't imagine forgetting it. No fighting students. The street tier villains were made for that, not us. All Might. The man, the myth, the legend himself was our only objective.
As we warped into the USJ, I sent my plan into action, a low-level villain plugging a USB into the communication center for me, my suit connecting to the sound system.
"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls! Please direct your attention to the main event, Mr. Tomura Shigarki, leader of the League of Villains!" I announced, my mask distorting my voice, giving it a robotic quality.
The lights flickered briefly, and music began to play.
"I am a nation, I am a million faces
Formed together, made for elevation
I am a soldier, I won't surrender
Faith is like a fire that never burns to embers
(Who's gonna stand up? Who's gonna fight?)
The voice of the unheard
(Who's gonna break these chains and lies?)
Love is the answer
I gotta speak it, believe it, that's how I feel inside
(I) I (I) can't, can't sit here quiet
You can take my heart, you can take my breath
When you pry it from my cold, dead chest."
No one, not even Toga, could have guessed that I'd planned this, the music dimming a bit so Shigaraki could speak.
"Where is he? We went through all this trouble and rustled up so many of us to bring along. You can't tell me... the symbol of peace... isn't here..."
He paused, then looked at a midget with purple balls for hair.
"I wonder if he'll show up if we kill the kids?"
A hero, one using a scarf and goggles, jumped down the stairs, using his scarf to grab two of our villains and crash them together.
The song Toga and I worked so hard on played in the background as eleven of us stayed where we were, Kurogiri using his quirk to warp himself up the stairs to the students and speaking.
"Greetings. We are the League of Villains. Forgive our audacity, but today, we've come to U.A. High School, this bastion of heroism, to end the life of All Might, the symbol of peace. We were under the impression that All Might would be here today, but it seems his schedule has been revised? Well, no matter. My role remains unchanged."
Katsuki and his redheaded friend attacked, narrowly missing the most vital part of Kurogiri, before he warped them all away to different parts at random.
"I don't know how to fight!" A voice called from the flood zone, and I could see my own face, struggling to swim. Why on earth was my copy here?
"Shigaraki, look." I spoke, pointing to the struggling boy, who was pulled underwater by one of our aquatic villains.
"I should deal with this, maybe even save a life." I mused, walking towards the water and watching. Drown. Don't drown. Either way, I couldn't care less for my copy.
A frog girl leaped out of the water, onto a ship, my copy, and the midget in her grasp.
"Midoriya Izuku! You, my friend, are what's wrong with quirkless people! You have it all! Money, fame, and power, and you still forget the little people! No one fights for the little man, and here you are!"
I motioned for a villain to come closer, stepping on his head, being carried to the boat.
"You let me and every other quirkless person down when you stay silent on our struggles."
Climbing up onto the side of the boat, I turned a switch on my suit, electricity cackling around me, an oni face on my helmets screen.
"I wasn't supposed to leave my post, but you're kind of my biggest opponent. Just like me. Except weak. So face the Maestro. I will enjoy making music with your screams!"
"Meastro!" Shigaraki screamed, and I turned, the screen on my helmet turning into a goofy smile.
"I know, I know. We don't kill kids. But look at him. I want to be the one to kill the pop star. Unfortunately, you're all supposed to live, I can see your quirks in action, so consider yourselves lucky."
I fell into the water with a laugh, my suit insulated, the water roaring with electricity as I swam to shore, our villains resuming their activities once they weren't being shocked any longer, even more angry now.
"This is a waste of time. Without All Might here, it doesn't matter if we kill them or not." I complained, turning my suits electricity off.
"This was your plan. Don't backtrack on it now! Magne chastised, getting waved off impatiently, already reworking my plan.
"Shigaraki... let the one with engines on his legs out. He can bring us All Might." I decided, looking at him as he thought about it.
"And if he brings other heroes?" My hand-covered creep of a companion questioned.
"Then we kill them, obviously. We're the god dammed League of Villains. Or we could continue to watch the students kick our forces assess. I am getting valuable information on their quirks." I told him, watching him weigh out options.
"Kurogiri! That one with glasses! Let him out!" Shigaraki yelled, our faithful transportation doing as he was told.
"If you're wrong..." Shigaraki threatened, a four fingers on my neck.
"If I'm wrong, you and the rest of the League evacuate while I buy you time." I spoke, waiting with a hum, a smile on my screen.
The students and Eraserhead did their best, but they were simply outnumbered, our villains able to keep coming until it happened, Eraserhead breaking through our defenses, approaching Shigaraki before I stepped forward, taking the blow he delivered to my stomach and being knocked back against Magne.
"Activate combat protocal." I spoke, getting pushed to my feet, rushing back at Eraserhead, my suit moving for me, dodging his next blow before being wrapped in that damn scarf and tossed aside, getting back to my feet with a laugh.
"Oh, Eraserhead. My suit will keep me moving, and even if I get knocked out, I've identified you as a threat. You'll be fighting me until after I die! I'll keep fighting until this suit is broken, like my body will be!" I laughed, rushing at him again, refusing to stay down, determined to protect my friend.
"Stay down, kid!" He yelled, using his quirk, but it didn't matter, two blades popping out of my wrist as I slashed at him.
"Give up?! Give up!? Do you understand the struggles I've faced to get here!? The pain I endured, having no power in this world!? I am quirkless in a world of quirks! A minority in my country, because I was born, nothing! No one!" I screamed, my slashes coming close, but he was just too fast, and I was just too inexperienced.
"When All Might is dead, one by one, heroes will fall! A new world will be made, where I can live and love as I please! I can be free! So don't you act like you know me, Eraserhead!"
Twice and Compress took one arm, and Dabi and Magne took the other, with Toga and Spinner taking his legs.
"Don't you see? They care about the world I will make. The world you have to die for." I told him, screaming as I plunged my blade into his shoulder before suddenly, the world went white hot, an explosion rocking me, my helmet broken on the left side, before flames licked at my exposed skin, leaving me screaming in agony, holding my face in excruciating pain, bits of metal and plastic only furthering the melting of my flesh, withering in torment.
I could hear yelling and screaming, but still, my suit wasn't broken, charging forward as I began to swim in and out of consciousness before suddenly I woke up laying on the bar, my head covered in bandages, the pain immediate upon my waking.
"Good, you're awake." Compress told me, sitting next to me, his mask sitting next to him.
"What happened?" I tried to ask, but I couldn't speak, my voice so muffled by wrappings that covered God knows what.
"Don't try to speak. You've been out of it for a few days now." He told me, and I sat up, my body screaming at me to stop, Compress trying to cease my movements, but I fought my way up.
"Get in here! He's awake, and I can't keep him down!" Compress yelled, others rushing into the room, but I simply stopped in front of a mirror, finding where my bandages started, slowly unwrapping them from face, layer by layer.
"No, you're not healed yet!" Magne told me, but no one stopped me, Toga simply walking over and standing next to me, helping me when the bandages got too long by cutting them, until finally, I was almost done. I could see the right side of my face. A little bruised and cut up, minor damages.
"You could impair any healing you may do, should you take your bandages off now." Kurogiri warned, but I ignored him, simply closing my eyes and pulling the last of it off, opening them to see myself.
But it didn't look like me.
All I saw was a raw, crimson horror, skin blistered and peeling, with patches of exposed flesh that oozed serous fluid.
My nose, once normal and straight, was now horribly misshapen, cartilage scorched and bent, the tip nearly gone, leaving it unnaturally flat.
Even my lips, which had once been soft and could curl properly into a smile, was now split and bleeding, the edges curled and charred.
I could see bits of melted plastic and metal still stuck in my flesh, unable to be removed by whatever makeshift surgery they did to me.
I did not speak for a moment before I screamed, raw and hateful, slamming my fist against the mirror, over and over, until I couldn't see my reflection anymore, breathing heavily, each breath painful as I turned to Kurogiri.
"My lab." I spoke, my voice hoarse, warped away so I could work in solitude, and booting up my computer. I couldn't stand the sight of me. I was no longer Izuku. I was someone else.
Days passed in that lab, refusing food, refusing sleep, refusing to speak, but I wasn't alone. Toga and Twice stayed by my side until I had a new helmet.
This one was stronger, unable to melt, or even reach the temperature it would need to do so, made of a tungsten-steel alloy. Stronger. Blast resistant. I was still able to connect with my suit and project goofy faces.
Putting it on, I felt whole, finally turning to the two who had kept me company these last few days.
"Meastro lives." I spoke, my voice coming out deeper, gravelly, a mix of my still healing vocal cords and the speech software.
"I can't see your cute face in that." Toga told me, repeating something she'd mentioned several times over the past few days, her hands cupping the edges sadly.
"It looks good!" Twice told me, no extra comment for once. He seemed to understand what the helmet was doing. That it was keeping me together.
I texted Kurogiri that I was finally able to come back, the three of us warped into the bar, the glass of the mirror, and my bandages having been cleaned up.
"What happened after I lost consciousness. Did we succeed in killing All Might?" I questioned, and my companions, my new family, none of them met the eyes on my screen.
"No. All Might defeated Nomu, and Eraserhead, despite his multiple wounds and broken bones, is expected to make a full recovery. All we succeeded in was retreating." Shigaraki told me, but he couldn't he more wrong.
"We have become a symbol. The world knows All Might can be contested and that not even hero students are safe now. And we uncovered a glaring weakness in our defense."
I stopped a moment, each breath raspy and robotic.
"We have exposed the weakness of myself. I can't fight, not without my suit. So until that weakness is resolved, I will not be accompanying you on any more field missions." I told them, my helmet blank, no face. I was too tired to care.
"I require sleep and access to better materials. And, if I may, get in contact with the hero killer. He may be a valuable asset to our cause, as well as a resource to being a more skilled asset myself." I turned, the lack of sleep catching up, my body hardly moving as I made my way to my room, plopping down onto the bed and falling into a deep sleep.
I slept for fifteen hours, waking to something cold and wet on my face, opening my eyes to see Toga washing my burns with antiseptic, the stinging from her cleaning less than the pain of my burns.
"You should be doing something else." I told her, my voice a little stronger now.
She shushed me gently, completely focused as she made sure to clean out any crevices in my skin.
"Even though I look like this?" I asked her when she finished, grief falling from my eyes.
"You accept me for all I am. Why wouldn't I want you, and your super cute face?" She answered, wiping away my tears.
I couldn't handle it, sobbing as I wrapped my arms around her, my face buried in her shoulder, until I couldn't cry anymore and had to pull away.
"Come on." She told me, pecking my lips, before taking my hands and helping me to my feet before I pulled away, grabbing my helmet and hiding away.
"Hiding that cute face, so cruel." She told me, smiling as red patches appeared where my cheeks would be.
"You flatter me." I told her, less gravelly and less threatening than I had before, walking out into the bar, spotting Kurogiri and Shigaraki at counter, the rest of the bar empty.
"Where is everyone?" I asked, both men looking at me.
"We can't always be here, plotting away." Shigaraki spoke, not looking at me.
"Any word on Stain?"
I could see him glance over, considering his words for a moment.
"We're working on it. For the time being, we'll have an opportunity to watch the hero course, all of them. The U.A. sports festival is going to be packed with heroes, so we can't attack then, bu-"
"We need my copy here." I decided, interrupting Shigaraki.
"First, we'll get Dabi to reburn me a bit. Then, the copy dies, and I take his place. A new copy is kept here, while I participate in the sports festival and work on gear for the heroes. I want to implement my own code into their gear and eventually be able to control it from my suit." I told him, and Shigaraki seemed to like that, nodding as he thought about it.
"What do you think, master?" He asked, and I could see the screen on. I'd missed it before, but I couldn't miss the laughter now.
"This is exactly why we recruited him. He's willing to take such risk for our goal. But, Shigaraki, I will leave the decision to you. After all, this is all for you." He told his protégé, who wasted no time.
"Make his kidnapping public, Kurogiri." He decided, as I sat up on the bar, the four of us hammering out details, until the sun rose, and it became time to put our plan into action.
Kurogiri warped himself, watching and making sure to warp my copy from a very public train station before he returned himself.
"Report." I demanded, my copy looking at me and crossing his arms.
"Well, I've mostly been working on writing down the quirks and gear I've seen and created while also maintaining a positive relationship with the hero students. Oh, we've gotten closer to Jiro and her hero friends, which now include Ashido Mina, Ejiro Kirishima, Sero Hanta, and Kacchan. But you wouldn't bring me back just for that, would you?" He asked, just as smart as I was.
"Toga, drain him of his blood. I'm a universal donor, in case we need a transplant. Plus, I know how much you want to." I told her, turning and calling out to Dabi, who had arrived back while we planned the swap,
I took off my helmet and prepared myself, swapping clothes with my copy.
"I need you to burn me, on the same place I've already been burned. Just make them fresh, y'know? And don't stop, even if I beg you."
He shrugged, pushing off the wall he had leaned on and coming closer.
"Don't know if this is some weird fetish, or if you really went off the deep end. Either way, I don't care."
"It's simple, really. They burned one of ours. Now we burn one of theirs." I told him, not prepared for the pain, but willing to push through, needing to be held down by Twice and a copy of Dabi.
The real Dabi put his hand close to my burns and blasted small, deliberate flames, gradually turning up the heat until I had to have my mouth stuffed with a bar rag to keep quiet, Toga gently stroking my hair, trying to soothe me.
I stayed awake this time, just barely, and managed to crawl over to Kurogiri, passing out as I was warped back to the train station my copy had been taken from.
My eyes shot open, like I'd been fighting sleep, but I wasn't in the same place I'd passed out in, a needle in my hand, bandages on my head again.
I spotted my mother sitting in a chair to my right, looking tired and worried, and I wanted to call out, instead, but I realized it wasn't really my mother, because I was no longer really her son.
Sitting up, I felt pain in my neck and shoulder. The flames had burned a little further this time, but I'd be fine, sooner or later.
My mother cried a lot. She cried when she was happy. She cried when she was sad. She often cried just because. But now, I couldn't see a single tear in her eye as she called for the doctor, clearly worried.
"Mom?" I asked, my bandages mostly covering my burns, my mouth free for me to speak this time, doctors rushing in.
"All this for little old me?" I joked, trying to smile, to pretend to be a good son, putting on a show for her.
"You're very lucky to still be able to see out of your left eye. You have third-degree burns on the left side of your face, your nose, and your lips. You have second - and first-degree burns down your neck and shoulder."
I stopped listening after he explained what happened, letting them test me, talk to me, do what they needed, until a man in a long trench coat came in, sitting next to me.
"Hello. I am Detective Tsukauchi, hear to interview you about your recent kidnapping." He explained, looking me in the eyes.
"I'm Midoriya Izuku." I replied, not liking the vibe he gave off, deciding to hurry this along.
They took me from the train station, held me down, and said something about how we burned one of theirs, so they were burning one of ours before putting a mask of some sort and, well, burning me. A man with burns on his body already did it, using his quirk. A masked man, a teen girl, and another man with burns held me down, stuffed a rag in my mouth, and as I crawled away, sent me back to the train station." I explained, closing my eyes.
"You had this ready?" He asked, writing quickly.
"I knew someone would come. So I thought about what I knew." I replied, hearing his chair scrape the ground.
"Have a good day, detective." I told him, hearing his footsteps get quieter until I couldn't hear them anymore.
I spent a few days in the hospital, being told I'd need a skin graph and heavy reconstructive surgery to ever look the same again. I didn't care. I knew that already. But I thought of Toga, who didn't see my scars, and I cried again, just for show, to pretend I was still the same person I'd always been.
"Mom?" I asked, packing up my things and looking at my school uniform, dirty, torn, burnt. If I had my way, I'd never wear it again. But I had to.
"Yes, Izuku?" She answered, looking at me, but not enough. She couldn't see who I'd become.
"I'm going to school tomorrow, with my head held high. I can't let fear have control over me. So tomorrow, I'm going to go to school and pretend like I'm still the same person I was days ago." I told her, seeing her heart breaking for me, but I didn't want her pity. I never wanted anyone's pity.
"Okay." She spoke, her voice full of emotions she kept locked up, shaken more than I was by this point, but I simply pulled the curtain and dresses myself, walking out the door without another word.
Meastro had the privilege to hide away, but Izuku Midoriya, he was too famous. That's why cameras followed me from the second I walked out of the hospital. But how many teens were pop stars who survived a villain attack not once but twice?
"You are hungry vultures, feasting on the ruins of a man's life. A boys life. What awful creatures you are." I told them, my head head held high, looking into cameras of all sorts.
"Any words?!" A woman with flowers for hair and a camera asked, standing next to me as she shoved a microphone in my face.
"Who are you?" I asked, watching her look at my face and look uneasy.
"Hana Sato from the Tokyo Times."
"Ah. Well, I am Midoriya Izuku. Hmm... maybe you want me to cry. Or is it confidence you want? Whatever it is... I don't care. I am not going to stop making music. I won't stop my studies. All the people responsible did was make an enemy of someone who just wants to make a better world. Interview over, you exploitative bitch."
I could hear my mother gasp in the back, but as pushed a camera out of my face, I felt more comfortable. Midoriya was just another costume for me. A character I played. Someone who I kept until he wasn't worth being anymore.
Once home, I went to my room, getting a little sleep before my alarm, starting my old routine, now careful with my face as I washed up and left, pulling a hood up and taking a different train to school, getting there as late as I could, the bell ringing as I walked into class, my jacket stuffed into my locker as silence filled the room.
"What? I got something in my teeth?" I asked, checking my teeth in the reflection of my phone.
"Dude, what the hell happened to your face!?" Tiny Hands asked, and I realized I hadn't learned most of the names of my classmates.
"Oh, you noticed my new skincare routine? Thanks. It's foreign." I joked as I walked to my seat and tried to get through the first half of lunch. I only had one chance to milk this, and I couldn't let this go to waste.
"Holy shit, Midoriya! I mean, I saw the news, but still, holy shit!" Denki cried, the few that weren't on me moving to me quickly.
"I know. I can't believe they cut me calling that reporter a bitch." I replied, grinning wide as I took a seat at a round table, a few hero course students sitting around it too.
"Izuku, are you, I mean, how are you feeling?" Jiro asked, reaching for my hand, moving it to grab my chopsticks before she could.
"I feel great, if I'm honest." I started to shovel food in my mouth, even if the corners of my lips bled a little as I did, wiping them while I chewed.
"But, if you meant emotionally, all it did was open my eyes to what's wrong." I set my bowl down and stood.
"That helmet guy, he was right about one thing. I'm not speaking up enough to help the quirkless. I'm not using my voice for anything useful. So, I'll be the mouthpiece of a people who need me."
"You've been famous for a month! No one expects you to start crusading for anything! You're only fifteen!" Katsuki told me, surprising not just me, but those who knew him from their classes.
"You've known how to help the world since you were four years old. I'll make gear, keep heroes safe, and work on making this world kinder to the every powerless person pining for people to please, just please, not pop up and use their quirks on them."
Pausing, I felt my body shaking before I stopped myself, not sure if it was fear or anger.
"But how could you understand what it's like to be the one with no power? How could you know what it's like to be on the receiving end of an explosion and never once in eleven years hear "I'm sorry, Izuku! I'm sorry I've mutilated your body!"
I screamed, pushing him back, watching his eyes go from understanding to surprised, his hands not even making a little pop, not this time.
"So tell me, hero. What will you do now that all these lovely people are recording? Now that the world knows what you've done to someone whose first sin was being born?"
I felt arms pull me back, but I'd been restrained long enough. It was time for me to break free. To be who I was always meant to be, stepping up onto a table and kicking food into the floor with a laugh.
"I am Midoriya Izuku! I am Midoriya Izuku, and I'm asking you to rise up! The League exist because of people who turn their heads down and ignore the suffering of others because they believe heroes will save them instead! My scars are on all who turned me away as a child seeking support, seeking safety!"
God, I had them in the palm of my hands, eating like the sheep they were.
"Rise up! Heroes failed me! All Might failed me! But I will not fail you! I am Midoriya Izuku, and I will love your broken hearts! Rise up, and bring a more understanding and loving tomorrow for all! Rise up!"
I laughed as I danced in a mix of rice and sauce, seeing the guilt on some of their faces, a few of them completely confused, and others looking like I was insane.
"Midoriya Izuku, Principal Nezu will see you now."
I could hear someone speaking, turning to see Midnight, who was looking at my mess and my behavior, and I could only laugh as I jumped down, a new chapter starting for me as my place in this world was finally solidified.
(Song used was The Resistance by Skillet. One more chapter, and I'm going to spend some time on a few other fics for a little while. Anyway, bye!)