A/N: Important: This story does involve a "Carnage" character, but there will be clear differences between Marvel's canon Carnage and this Carnage. Truthfully, it's more of a Carnage inspired character. If you were looking for a story solely based on Izuku/Carnage going on killing sprees, you'll probably be disappointed. There will be some violence and possible blood, but chances are it won't be too severe.
Also, any other MCU characters I mention in this story will likely also deviate from the actual canon, if not just be inserted as an easter egg for fun.
With that said, I do not own MHA or Marvel, nor do I own any characters from the mentioned universes.
I hope you enjoy.
"Ka-Kacchan! You're being mean! He didn't do anything to deserve this!"
Izuku Midoriya, the local quirkless loser, did his best to stand tall in front of Katsuki "Kacchan" Bakugo's most recent target.
His body was visibly trembling and his eyes were wide with panic.
Some kid on the playground had accidentally angered the blonde, and quickly learned the hard way that that was a bad idea.
"Oh? The little Deku thinks he can fight against the big boys? Well, you're wrong!" Bakugo flexed his fingers and let loose a quick series of sparkling pops from his palms. Each miniature explosion sent a ripple of fear through Izuku, who had received more than his fair share of punishments from the bully.
"Tell you what. If you can beat me, I'll let you and him go, scot-free. But when you lose, I'll make sure to show you again why a quirkless loser like you can't hope to be anything more than a useless, little Deku!"
Izuku ran home crying that day, covered in burns and bruises. He cried into his mother's shoulder; she was the only person he trusted enough to see how weak he truly felt.
"I-I said I'm sorry! I didn't me-mean anything by it!"
Izuku Midoriya, one of a mere handful of quirkless students at the school, all but cowered under Bakugo's glare.
"Did you actually think you could make it into U.A.? I'd laugh if I wasn't so disgusted!" He placed his hand on Izuku's chest and used a small explosion to push the boy into a wall. It would leave a mark, but none of the teachers dared to punish him. After all, he was going to be the first student from this garbage heap to make it into U.A., and a worthless loser like Deku wasn't going to ruin it for him.
"I-I mean, it's worth a shot. Even if I don't make it in, I can at least see what I can do," the green-headed teen weakly replied. As soon as the words left his mouth, he could feel Bakugo's anger rise.
"You're not capable of anything! You don't have a quirk, you don't train or even work out, and you think you can so much as step foot into U.A.'s entrance exam?" the blonde shouted, more of his signature pops going off in his palms.
"Honestly, I can't believe you haven't killed yourself yet. I know I would if I was quirkless."
Izuku's blood froze in his veins. Evidently, Bakugo had his fill of tormenting his former friend, because he stormed out of the room with a laugh with his lackeys on his heels. But Izuku just stood there, staring at the door Katsuki had walked out of.
His first friend, the person he looked up to for so long, just implied that he should kill himself.
Finally, his feet moved. His steps were heavy as he made the short trip down the halls and out the front door. No one else was around; everybody had left as soon as possible.
Once he was far away enough from the school, he pulled his bag and dug through the contents. Still walking, he pulled out a pencil and a standard notebook labeled Hero Analysis for the Future and flipped through the pages. Eventually he stopped at a page with a sketch of Bakugo. He brought the pencil tip to the drawing and dragged the lead back and forth. Quickly, the scratching became faster and more violent until the entire page was reduced to a mess of dark grey scribbles and tiny rips in the paper.
He hadn't realized he started crying, but quickly wiped away the tears and shoved the book back into his bag. He didn't need anyone, especially Bakugo, seeing him in such a sorry state.
Something in his chest twinged. He grasped the pained area and did his best to rub it out. It only got worse. Izuku fell to his knees as the pain rose. He started coughing. It hurt his throat. His chest hurt. He coughed more and more. Something red flew out of his mouth.
More coughs came with red specks littering the sidewalk below.
"Hey, are you okay?" Some stranger had heard the sudden coughing fit and went over to help. The child didn't respond; only coughed more and more with an unsettling amount of blood coming from his mouth. Despite the struggle to breathe, Izuku managed to raise his head and made eye contact with the stranger.
His eyes yelled, Help me.
The man quickly pulled out his phone and dialed 119. After two and a half rings, he heard the sound of someone answering.
"119, what's your emergency?"
"Some kid is having a terrible coughing fit. He can't answer me and he's coughing up some blood. I'm probably only a few minutes from Aldera Junior High, between the school and the nearby residential area," the man frantically explained to the woman on the other end.
"An ambulance will be there soon. If he can breathe without coughing, keep him there until help arrives."
"I will. Just hurry."
The other line went dead as the responder hung up, likely proceeding with the emergency situation process.
"Hey kid, just keep coughing. You're going to be fine, you're going to be fine," the man assured. Izuku couldn't really stop coughing for another minute and a half. After what felt like an eternity, he felt the pain in his chest subside enough to breathe without forcibly expelling the air again.
The man started patting his back as if to help clear whatever was in his lungs. "It's okay, it's okay. Help is on the way. You're going to be fine."
Izuku took as many deep breaths as he could, savoring each gulp of air as if it would be his last.
"Th-thank you, sir." The man nodded and backed away a little to give him some space now that he could actually breathe again.
"I'm Akio. Akio Tanaka. And you are?"
"Izuku Midoriya."
The sounds of sirens cut through the air, and Akio jumped up and waved his arms to get the driver's attention. The ambulance came to a stop and the back doors opened for a stretcher.
"Can you stand?" the man with the stretcher asked. Izuku nodded and slowly stood up so he could climb into the rolling bed, which was expertly maneuvered back into the vehicle as various tests were run on the boy. Akio jumped in the back with the team and the doors slammed shut behind him. Izuku felt a jerk as the ambulance took off to the nearest hospital.
"Are you feeling better? Can you talk?" one of the paramedics asked. She had light red skin with opposingly blue eyes. She gently placed her left pointer and middle finger against the boy's throat and awaited his answer.
"A... a little."
"Good. Do you have anyone you can call? Mother, father, older sibling or guardian?"
"Yes, I can call my mom if you want me to."
"I would recommend it. Tell her you're being taken to the local hospital." As instructed, Izuku dialed her number and waited for her to pick up.
"Hey sweetie. Is everything okay? Normally you're home by now."
"Hi mom. I had a coughing fit on the way home. It got pretty nasty, so I'm being taken to the local hospital right now."
"Are you okay? How bad was it? Oh, it must've been really bad if you're being taken to the hospital." Her nervousness was evident in the tone of voice she used, along with how fast she spoke.
"I did cough up a little blood, but it's over for now. I was really scared, but there should be a simple explanation," Izuku assured her, trying to convince himself as much as he was trying to convince her.
"You coughed up blood?" she practically screamed on the other end. "I'll be there as soon as I can. Please, just let me know if anything like that happens on the way."
"I promise. I'll see you there."
The line went dead, and Izuku was quiet for the rest of the ride. The paramedics professionally took what assessments they could and prepared to hop out.
The bed was soft. Much softer than the one at home. And the pillows were fluffy. He had been moved to this room shortly after arriving at the hospital and undergoing more tests. Thankfully, there was an intern with a quirk that allowed her to produce brief flashes of radiation within the x-ray frequency. With her on hand, the tests went by much faster than if they had to hook him up to an actual machine.
Just outside the room, the sound of footsteps rapidly increased as the source got closer and closer.
"Izuku!" his mom cried as she nearly tore the door off the hinges. The woman rushed over and gave Izuku a bone-crushing hug.
"Are you okay? What happened?"
"It's like I said on the phone. I just started coughing really bad. Someone noticed and called emergency services."
"That would be me." The green-haired mother and son turned to the door, where the man from earlier stood.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Midoriya. I'm Akio Tanaka. Is he feeling better?"
The man was strangely calm for barging in on a stranger's hospital room, but Inko wasn't about to let this pass.
"Thank you so much for helping my boy! I don't know what I would do if something really bad happened."
"It's nothing to thank me for, I was just doing what any decent person would."
Izuku started coughing again, gaining the attention of both grown-ups. The two hurried to his side, his mother preparing to hand him the glass of water from the table next to his bed.
The coughing was bad, but not as bad as before. However, his throat was still raw from earlier, and having two adults stare him down did little to help the situation. Finally, the coughing died down and Izuku took a sip of water.
"Hello? I'm here with the results," a nurse declared from just outside the door. She quickly opened a folder which projected a holographic display of the boy's internals. A handful of small, faint white spots were visible between the ribs. Another display emerged, which highlighted shallow cut-like lines along his respiratory organs.
"I'm sorry to tell you, but he has both lung cancer and notable lesions along the inner tissue."
Inko stared at the woman in silence. This couldn't be right. But the woman showed no signs of realizing she made a mistake.
"But...how? He doesn't smoke or breathe in harmful chemicals, and there's no history of lung disease in the family," Inko desperately asked. Surely there was a mistake. Izuku wasn't fit, but he was healthy. He was a good boy who would never take toxic substances behind her back.
"Kacchan," Izuku whispered, already putting a few of the pieces together.
"Smoke is a byproduct of his quirk. I've hung around him for years, so I've probably inhaled dangerous amounts of smoke," Izuku reasoned aloud.
"The worst part is, it's terminal. We estimate he has half a year left," the nurse gloomily added. She had been forced to be the bearer of bad news far too many times for her taste.
"But-but there has to be someone with a healing quirk, right? Someone can help him, can't they?" Inko demanded, eyes threatening to let loose a barrage of tears.
"That's the problem. Healing quirks only work on what isn't already healed. For the most part, tumors aren't injuries or damaged tissue. Just the opposite, in fact. They're collections of cells that shouldn't be there; that're reproducing faster than they should. It's like trying to put a new engine in a car that still has the old engine in. Until it's removed, there's nothing you can do," the nurse calmly explained.
"Then remove it! Get them out of him so he can be healed!" Inko shouted, getting up in the nurse's face. Desperation leaked from her being. Izuku, the only family she had left, was going to be taken from her in half a year, and apparently there was nothing anybody could do about it.
"I'm sorry, but we can't. The tumors are attached to the bronchi. If the slightest thing goes wrong, his life would be in more peril than it is now. I'm sorry, but we just can't help him." The woman looked down in shame.
Much like the heroes everyone looked up to, nurses, surgeons, and doctors were expected to be able to cure any medical issue. But, just like the heroes outside, even they couldn't always win. There were times where patients died under their watch or were sent out to enjoy what little time they had left with those they loved.
"I... I might be able to help," Akio suddenly offered from Izuku's side. Inko turned to him so fast that her head could have twisted off her neck.
"What do you mean? Can you really help him?"
"It's not guaranteed, but I work at a lab currently developing more organic means of fighting instances like this. We haven't made any breakthroughs yet, but your son could be the key. When he was questioned by the paramedics, he mentioned he was quirkless. Is this true?"
"Yes, he's been quirkless for his entire life. But, what does that have to do with anything?"
Akio turned his face to the boy, who also awaited the explanation.
"See, most subjects' bodies reject the… biomass of sorts. The organic substance is driven out by the quirks. However, your son may be the first person whose body accepts the cure. With no quirk to interfere, he may prove to be a valuable test subject."
"I-I don't know. It sounds expensive. I'd pay any amount if there was a chance to save my little Izuku, but I don't want to get our hopes up just to find out we can't afford the procedure. And there's so much we don't know about this. What kind of 'biomass' even is this? What would happen if his body still rejects it? If it works, are you going to keep him locked up to experiment with?" Inko rattled the questions off in quick succession. She ever so desperately wanted to help her son, but there were too many unknowns.
"Don't worry about finances; it'll all be covered. In fact, I'm sure my higher ups would be willing to pay you to let us treat Izuku. As for the biomass, it's easiest to describe as a living bundle of nanobots. A natural nanomedicine, if you will. And so far, anyone whose body has rejected the treatment came out just like they were before. No better, but no worse either. But as for if he proves successful, I truthfully can't say. All I can say is this is a potential win-win for both of us," Akio replied.
The man was clearly eager to treat Izuku; maybe too eager to be comfortable.
"I'll do it," Izuku strongly stated from the bed.
"But Izuku, what if-" his mother started, only to be cut off by her son.
"I know there's a lot riding on this, but I'd be glad to be of help. If by testing on me, this 'biomass' is proven to be worth further development, who knows how many will be helped in the future. Fully curing cancer is something modern medicine can't do even after so many years. If Mister Tanaka's company were to come out with a breakthrough like this, I'm sure more and more research will be put into curing other ailments."
That was the son she knew and loved. Always willing to do what he could to help others, even if he could get hurt in the process.
But this wasn't just standing up to his bully of a friend. His life was actually on the line this time. She wanted to back him up; tell him he was doing the right thing, but she just couldn't agree right now.
"Can I have a few days to think about it? I don't want to rush right into this," Inko requested, to which Akio smiled.
"Of course. Here, take my card. I'll be waiting for your decision." While speaking, he reached into his pocket and handed her a standard looking business card. Inko inspected the affiliation, rather startled upon finding out he was part of Life Foundation, one of the leading names in scientific advancement.
"I hope you feel better, kid," he kindly offered with a pat to Izuku's shoulder before heading for the door.
"Thank you for being there for me," the green-haired teen blurted out. Akio looked over his shoulder and smiled, then left the mother and son with the nurse.
"Is there anything I can do for you?" she offered, which was turned down by Inko. The woman also left, leaving Inko with her little boy.
It wasn't fair. First, he had to befriend Katsuki of all people. While she wouldn't openly complain about his choice in friends, Bakugo had always been a little too high of a horse for her tastes. But then he had to find out he was quirkless. So many hours' worth of time watching heroes, trying to use her or his father's quirks, and coming up with hero names had been washed down the drain with one x-ray.
To top it off, Bakugo, and a fair chunk of society for that matter, suddenly started treating Izuku less than poorly, and now he was going to die because of it.
But now she finally had a chance to really help him. He was willing to risk what was left of his health in the name of science. And what kind of a mother would she be if she kept putting him down. Like that one day he pleaded with her to know if he could still be a hero.
"Okay everyone! Class has started, so sit down and let's go through attendance." As requested, the group of middle schoolers dispersed and took their assigned seats, some sitting more respectfully than others.
Bakugo just sneered as the teacher read out each name and awaited a response. Shouldn't this guy already be able to tell who was and wasn't present just by seeing which seats were filled?
"Katsuki Bakugo?"
"Here," the explosive teen annoyedly replied. More names, more extras replying "Here" or "Present" to the teacher. Seriously, he couldn't wait until he was in U.A. and far away from this dump.
"Izuku Midoriya?"
"..."
"Izuku Midoriya?" The teacher looked up from his clipboard and scanned the room. The teen's seat was empty, so he marked the child as absent and simply continued down the list.
'Why the hell isn't Deku here? That nerd never skips class,' Bakugo thought to himself. Sure, there was what he said yesterday, but not even Deku would be that stupid. The blonde scoffed and put the question out of mind just in time for the teacher to start going over the day's lesson.
"I know I've already asked so many times, but are you really sure you're willing to do this, honey?" Inko held Izuku's hand and felt his grip match hers.
"Yes, mom. If I can get treated while helping those in the future, I think it'll be more than worth it. And Mister Tanaka already mentioned you could get paid as well."
She had asked him the same question at least five times ever since he ended up in the hospital the previous day, and every time he answered with a resounding, 'Yes".
Inko sighed, and pulled her phone from her purse. "Then, I'll call him and let him know we're willing to do this. I just want you to know that whether or not this works, I love you, Izuku."
"I love you too, Mom."
Inko gave a nervous smile before letting go of his hand and stepping into the hallway. Her other hand retrieved the card from her pocket, and she dialed the number on it. A short while later, the dialing tone was replaced by a man's voice.
"Akio speaking," the man answered.
"H-hello? This is Inko Midoriya. We met yesterday?"
"Ah, Mrs. Midoriya! What a pleasant surprise! Have you come to a decision yet, or are there more questions you wanted to ask?"
"We're willing to go through with it. Is there any paperwork or meetings involved beforehand?"
"There will be a few signatures needed, but everything else is already prepared. I was hoping for you to say yes, after all. Drop by my office this Saturday at noon, if you can. Is there anything else?"
"No, I don't believe so. Thank you, Mister Tanaka."
"Certainly. I hope you two have a good day."
Inko hung up and returned to the room, where Izuku still rested in the bed.
"Well, how'd it go?" a man whose ID tag read "Drake" asked.
"Luck is on our side. She agreed to the treatment. If all goes well, we may be taking the first step into a grand future."
Akio and the man next to him looked down from the observatory into the bustling laboratory below. Several dozen people, all wearing protective gear, scurried from station to station. Some carried little test tubes filled with liquid, while others brought digital readouts of data and analytics to those who needed it. A few transported equipment to and from tables, and one was giving instructions to a team.
Akio and his assistant made their way down a flight of stairs and approached a rack of lab coats, goggles, gloves, and facemasks. After carefully donning one of each item, the two entered the lab and made their way to a certain station.
"Any progress on quirk-compatibility?"
The worker in question quickly turned away from a screen filled with readouts and figures upon being asked.
"I'm sorry sir, but still nothing. It's as if this… thing is intentionally avoiding prolonged interaction with quirked individuals. More so, nothing we've done has been able to change its physiology or anatomy."
The researcher returned to the screen and scrolled to another page. The two walked away, one rather disappointed and the other curious.
"Pardon me for asking, but what if this experiment doesn't work? What if this 'Midoriya' kid just turns out like the rest?"
"Then we keep trying. This is just too valuable to give up on. Imagine, pairing anyone with this would be more than enough to gain funding. And from there, we may learn how to alter this creature's genetics to a more quirk-friendly state."
His tone was confident, but those who knew him well enough would know he was actually much more conflicted than he appeared. After all, he was throwing generous amounts of cash to keep this project going, yet was met with little to no success.
Akio fell silent as he approached a heavy-duty door and entered a seven-digit passcode, then swiped a card that was in his shirt pocket. A small, red light flickered to green and the door slowly slid open.
The room was small; just large enough for a group of the scientists to collect around a table in the center. On the table was a box made of thick glass on four sides with a locked hatch on the top. It was only three quarters of a foot in each direction.
Inside the box was a red substance. Almost like an illusion, the puddle of crimson shimmered like a gasoline spill. However, the most notable feature was its movement. Small tendrils, only a few hair's breadths thick, would stretch forward and grab the slick glass floor before pulling the rest of the sludge with it. It repeated this process to move in a circle around the inside of its cage, occasionally climbing a few inches up the glass.
"You are admittedly getting on my nerves, but I believe I will have a suitable… 'host'... for you soon." Akio muttered as he bent low enough to look at the substance at eye level.
If the thing in the box could hear Akio, it either didn't care enough to show anything resembling a response or simply ignored him.
After a day and a half at the hospital, Izuku was cleared to leave. He was prescribed a painkiller for his lungs and was given a portable nebulizer for if he experienced another fit. His mother kept a close eye on him throughout the drive home, and insisted he leaned against her while ascending the stairs to their apartment.
Even though his bed wasn't as comfortable as the one in the hospital, it felt good to be in his own room, surrounded by his All Might merchandise.
His mother had told him that she would have to head to Akio's office within a few days, and that she wanted him to go too. He was okay with that. Akio had been there and stayed by his side until someone else was there, so he could at least be there to thank the man again.
But on the other hand, he had school again tomorrow. That meant Bakugo would probably be demanding to know where he had been, if he didn't start throwing more explosions first.
That brought up another issue. The whole fact that he now had cancerous growths and cuts in his lungs came up out of the blue, but how much worse would it get if he was suddenly exposed to more of the smoke that likely caused his health issues in the first place?
Izuku sighed as he sat up in his bed and planted his feet on the ground. Careful not to suddenly jar anything in his body, he walked over to his desk and sat down at his computer. After two hours of catching up on hero-related news, Izuku found an interesting article.
Apparently, All Might had actually been near the middle school the same day Izuku met Akio. Some sludge villain had led him on a wild goose chase, but was obviously caught by the Symbol of Peace.
'Ah man, I could have met All Might! There's so much I could have asked him!' Izuku complained internally, but decided to let it go when he realized meeting his idol could have been at the cost of being attacked by the villain.
"Izuku! Dinner's ready!" Inko called from the kitchen. Izuku quickly turned off his computer and walked to the door. When he opened it, his mom was already there to help him walk to the table. It was clear she was afraid the slightest physical strain could cause another coughing fit.
Then again, Izuku himself wasn't quite sure how much his body would allow before his lungs decided enough was enough. So he allowed her to be her slightly-overprotective self and let her hold him all the way to the kitchen, where the two ate and talked.
Izuku sent his third blessing to All Might that his first day back at school was a Friday, so he would have a full weekend to catch up on schoolwork and avoid any classmates who were actually interested enough to ask about his absence.
He felt a familiar pain rising in his lungs, so he pulled out a medicine bottle from his backpack and unscrewed the cap. When he carefully tilted the bottle, two pills landed in his open palm, which he quickly chased with water.
A few coughs escaped his mouth, which only grew in intensity. While one hand covered his mouth, the other fished in his left pocket and pulled out his nebulizer. Fighting the urge to keep coughing, he placed the device in his mouth and switched it on. Relief immediately overwhelmed him as the medication travelled into his lungs, and he let out a quick exhale from the ordeal.
Minutes later, he could feel the painkillers take effect in his chest. Luckily, class was starting, so no one could bother him without interrupting the teacher. Most of the material was reviewing old stuff, with only a little being related to the material from the day before.
Classes started and ended, with no one bothering to ask Izuku why he had skipped. Part of him felt relieved that he didn't have to explain his new condition, but another part of him was upset that no one actually cared enough to ask.
"Well, that concludes today's class. Have a good day, students. See you all on Monday!" the teacher announced. Most of the students excitedly packed their bags and ran off to go home, while others, like Izuku, stayed behind for their own reasons.
Izuku had read the bottle's label earlier in the day, and each dose lasted a little shorter than the school day. Deciding to take another two pills just in case, he pulled the container from his bag and dumped three into his palm. When he tried to put the third one back in, it slipped from his fingers and rolled on the ground.
It stopped at a shoe, and was picked up by the owner's hand. Bakugo just stood there, inspecting the dropped capsule.
"What's this shit?" he demanded, somewhat less angry than usual.
"J-just a painkiller," Izuku nervously replied with an outstretched hand. He had a feeling things were not going to go smoothly, yet he hoped Bakugo would be reasonable enough to return the pill.
Evidently, he was. Izuku quickly dropped the pill in the bottle and popped the other two into his mouth, which he swallowed with some water.
"Whatsa matter? You trip and fall? Is that why you were out yesterday?" The blonde sneered upon implying Izuku's frailty like usual. Instead of clamming up like usual, though, the green-haired teen just looked down and mumbled incoherently.
"What's that?" Bakugo shouted. Damn it, he needed to learn to speak up.
"I said, I have lung cancer," Izuku replied, much more venomously than anyone would have expected. He grabbed his backpack and stood up, turning his back on his classmate. "Thanks for that, by the way."
Before any more could be said, Izuku ran out to the hall and through the main doors. He completely ignored the possibility of another coughing fit. All he wanted to do was get home where it was safe. His mom pulled up by the school, and he eagerly threw himself into the car.
A/N: One thing I need to point out is I have no experience with lung disease myself. I did a little research beforehand, but nothing substantial, so there will likely be inaccuracies in the story. The reason I didn't put this at the beginning was because I didn't want to give away part of the plot.
If you liked this, please leave a review. Seeing that kind of interaction is a huge motivator for me to actually continue my stories, so I would greatly appreciate it. Have a good day, everyone! Be safe!