TheRedeemer1995: Greetings, prospective readers, and welcome to my latest creation! I recently came across the concept of having a completely and utterly Quirkless Izuku "Deku" Midoriya of My Hero Academia fame become the host of the Venom Symbiote, and as a Venom fan, I thought I'd throw my hat in the ring, just for fun. Only one teeny-tiny little problem: my knowledge of My Hero Academia is severely lacking, to the point I've only memorized like, four characters, including Deku, and I haven't read a single page of the manga or seen any of the anime, something I intend to correct as soon as possible. So, since I'm super excited about this concept, I've enlisted the aid of someone with a bit more knowledge about MHA. Wanna introduce yourself?

LegionnaireBlaze: Hi everyone!

TheRedeemer1995: Yeah, me and Legionnaire go way back as far as writing fanfics go, and they're also helping me with Age of Calamity: Tears of the Kingdom, so look forward to that. Moving on, we should probably go into detail about what we got planned for this thing. First things first, Izuku is actually quite a bit taller than in canon, more specifically he's about the right height for his age, rather than being short for his age. Also, he's not gonna be getting One for All in this fic, the Venom Symbiote is gonna be Deku's only actual "Quirk," so to speak. All Might's quirk is gonna be going to someone else in the main cast. Don't worry, it ain't going to Bakugou, God Almighty, no. We got someone else in mind for this AU's version of the ninth wielder of One for All: Ochako Uraraka.

As far as the Venom Symbiote of this AU goes, my plan for it is to have this version be an amalgamation of the three currently most popular versions of Venom, with the other Symbiotes following a similar template. My version of Venom (and by proxy, the other Symbiotes) are weak to sound and only sound ala the version of Venom from the new Spider-Man 2 video game from Insomniac.

Additionally, Venom's physical appearance will be a blend between his movie appearance and his comic book counterpart, which means yes, I can indeed confirm that Venom will eventually gain the iconic white spider symbol before long, but until he does, he'll be rocking his movie appearance on the dot, although his physical build will be closer to the comic book version of Carnage, although he will still be bigger and bulkier than a normal person, and can bulk up to his more common lumbering brute form.

Also, the Venom Symbiote's voice claim for this fic is Tony Todd, the guy who voiced him in Insomniac's Spider-Man 2.

In terms of the powers given to Izuku by becoming Venom's host, he has access to the full set of the abilities and powers of the comic book version and the Marvel's Spider-Man 2 version of Venom, including all of Spider-Man's powers, shapeshifting, and disguising himself as literally anything Izuku can imagine, even making himself practically invisible if he so desires, in addition to having the tentacle/tendril attacks used by the movie version of Venom and the attacks used by Black Suit Spider-Man/Venom/Anti-Venom Spider-Man in Insomniac's Spider-Man 2.

Now, while it might seem like I'm making the symbiotes and their hosts overpowered, I have a very good reason for this. By making the Symbiotes so powerful, All Might and the Pro Heroes will need the help of Venom in order to stop them, especially when the more villainous symbiotes like Riot or Carnage or whatever symbiote becomes bonded to a villain or criminal, are running loose.

Additionally, we have plans for Ochako Uraraka to not only become Deku's love interest, but to have her become She-Venom. While Ochako and Izuku will officially become an item fairly early on overall, Ochako will not become She-Venom until much later in the story.

Anyways, I think that's enough for me. Legionnaire, do you have anything you wanna add?

LegionnaireBlaze: Yeah… YOU DIDN'T LET ME SAY ANYTHING! T-T

TheRedeemer1995: All right, let's get this show on the road.

LegionnaireBlaze: He ignored me!? 0.0

UPDATE: The cover art used for this story was created by DNCSamsonArt, who can be found on deviantart, Twitter, and Bluesky, the link to which can be found on my profile page here.

"Sometimes, the world doesn't need another hero. Sometimes, what the world really needs, is a monster."

-Vlad the Impaler

Chapter I

Knock Knock, Let The Devil In

As the first rumblings of a thunderstorm began to form over the city of Mustafu, a young boy of around fourteen with messy green hair clad in a school uniform comprised of a black gakuran uniform with yellow buttons and a pair of large red boots with a cane to support his ruined right leg limped back to the apartment his mother had gotten him for when the school year began at the top-of-the-line school he had been selected to attend, Yasojin High, kicked off in a few days.

Izuku Midoriya heaved a heavy sigh. His mother's love was really the only thing he still had going for him these days. His dream was dead, and with it, his faith in the people he'd looked up to ever since he was a small boy, particularly the number one hero, All Might. Ugh, even thinking about that showoff made him feel a spike of anger and hatred after what happened…

Hospital-Six Weeks Ago

Izuku groaned as he lay against something soft… where was he? How did he get here? Last thing he remembered was entering the simulated city where the Physical Exam for entrance to U.A. was supposed to take place…

Izuku struggled to open his eyes as he tossed and turned on whatever he was laying on, only to experience agonizing pain. Why did everything hurt? His right leg in particular felt like it was being cut open with a knife.

As he writhed in agony, he began to hear voices, and they sounded like they were nearby.

"...holding up?" said a familiar voice. All Might! But, what was he doing here? Where even was here?

"We've done all we can for him, but his leg... not even my Healing Quirk can fix that..." a nearby female voice that Izuku didn't recognize said.

"Perhaps that's for the best, then. I admire the boy's determination, but he needs to understand that without a practical Quirk that he can use to defend himself, he's going to get himself killed. This time, he got lucky, he was in a simulated environment and we were on hand, but if he keeps going like this, eventually that luck is going to run out. He needs to understand that, as hard as reality is, not all of us can be heroes. The truth is, that while it's not bad to dream, you also have to consider what's realistic."

Izuku's blood ran cold at those words. What…?

A memory surfaced in his mind's eye, one of his fondest memories of All Might, one of him proudly declaring that "Anyone can be a hero!" that shattered like glass and was replaced with emptiness that echoed the words that All Might had just spoken. Like a rising thunder, a surge of anger and outrage began to grow within him.

It wasn't long before Izuku's eyes flew open, a look of pure anger on his face as he, painfully, sat up and glared daggers in the direction of the number one hero and what he now realized was a Recovery Girl, which meant that he was in the hospital, both of which became alarmed as Izuku screamed out, "LIAR!"

"O-oh! You're awake! Um… how much of that did you hear?" Recovery Girl said nervously.

"All of it," hissed Izuku in anger as tears began running down his face as he glared at All Might. "What happened to 'anyone can be a hero?' Huh?! Huh?! Was that just a PR statement?! I wonder how many other people took those words to heart like I did? I worshiped you! I worshiped all you heroes! But, big surprise, can't be a hero if you don't have a Quirk! I should have known better than to take you at your word! Get out of here! Now! I hate you! I hate all you heroes! Building us up so you can tear us down when we want to be like you! When we want to stand beside you!"

Too overwhelmed by the pain of his greatest and most closely held dream crumbling to ashes in his hands was Izuku to notice the troubled look on All Might's face, or to hear the voice in the hallway. But, at least he felt marginally better when he felt his mother enter the room and embrace him in a tight hug.

Present Day

'Guess it's true what they say: never meet your heroes,' thought Izuku as he looked down at his ruined leg with a scowl on his face as he continued to walk back towards his apartment. Still, it wasn't all bad. At least with his newfound sense of clarity in regards to heroes and villains, he had attained clarity in other places in his life, namely where Bakugou was concerned.

School always had been his least favorite place to be, mainly because of Katsuki Bakugou, but ever since the boy had loudly announced that he had been accepted into U.A. he had become even more insufferable. Which led to something that was as painful as it was, admittedly, satisfying.

Junior High School Courtyard-One Week Earlier

"Heh, I'm telling you, no way I wasn't gonna get in. Give it two years, maybe three, and I'll be the top hero around," Bakugou boasted loudly for everyone within listening distance to hear, much to Izuku's annoyance. The green-haired boy was just about done listening to his former friend brag on and on about how easily he got in, and how awesome he and his Quirk were.

As Bakugou continued his boasting, he caught sight of Izuku. "Well, look who it is. How's it going, Deku?" said Bakugou as he and his flunkies surrounded Izuku. "I still can't believe they actually let someone Quirkless into the Physical Exam. Kinda a bummer you only wrecked the one leg. Part of me was hoping that you'd get yourself killed, but I guess you can't have everything."

Something inside Izuku snapped as he looked up and gave Bakugou a look that actually made the blonde boy's face fall a little. "Y'know what I can't believe? After all the things you did, after all the bullying you've done, not just to me, but to other Quirkless people like me, you still got into U.A. High School and make a disgrace of the true heroes who go there, while I get stuck in a high school with other Quirkless people and my dream dies. But, I can see one benefit of all this, at least I will be rid of you!"

And with that, Izuku balled up his fist, reached way back, and asserted himself by landing a solid left hook on Bakugou's face, sending the blonde boy sprawling to the ground, having been caught completely by surprise by Izuku's sudden punch.

Immediately, Izuku felt the release of something heavy on his shoulders lift. For ten years, he had had to put up with Kaach-no, he wasn't Kaachan anymore. Kacchan had died the second Katsuki Bakugou had developed his Quirk while he remained as Quirkless as ever. This person was not his friend, and never would be again. This person was someone he despised, and what he'd just done, was something he'd been waiting a long time to do.

"I didn't realize how much I've been wanting to do that before now," Izuku said aloud, only for Bakugou's hate filled glare to bore into directly into him, as the grass on the ground started to smoke, a clear indication that he was about to use his Quirk…

Present Day

'Even if that blast had been painful, I don't regret a thing. Bakugou had that coming,' thought Izuku as the subway train he was sitting on began to slow to a stop and the doors opened, allowing Izuku into the station.

Izuku slowly limped from the subway station to the nearby church. The old building had seen better days, its dilapidated state was roughly how Izuku felt after these past few weeks. As he slowly hobbled up the steps he passed by a girl around his age with vines for hair who was walking down.

Izuku gave a quick 'Good day', which the girl returned followed by a 'and God Bless', before they continued on their separate ways. Izuku pushed open the doors to the main area of the church, slowly approaching the large crucifix. When he was directly before it, Izuku knelt down on his good leg, put his hands together and began to pray.

"Dear Father, I know I haven't really been a believer, but there are stories of people who've reached their lowest and…" Izuku sighs, "If You're really there, I just want to prove to All Might, to society, that they're wrong about me. Wrong about everyone that's Quirkless…" Izuku pauses, thinking about his words. "No, I want to prove that they're wrong about everything. That anyone, no matter the power they have, can be a real hero."

Meanwhile…

Unknown to Izuku, a large meteor was making its way to Earth, and on that meteor was the One Above All's answer. As the meteor drew near the Earth, it began to swerve erratically, in a way that no natural meteor should be able to do, almost as though it were alive and confused somehow.

As the meteor fell lower into the planet's atmosphere, it broke apart into several pieces. Two of the pieces were breaking apart faster than the rest as they fell through the planet's atmosphere, the largest bits heading towards Japan along with the rest, all except one that was heading towards the artificial landmass known as I-Island.

Back on Earth…

Izuku finished his prayer, and had made his way to Dagobah Beach which he had painstakingly cleaned to prepare himself for the U.A. Entrance Exam, for all the good that did. Izuku looked at the pristine sand, and crystal clear water and smiled, remembering the words a kind old man said to him as he finished cleaning the beach.

"'I guess one man can make a difference' is right. Now if only the rest of the world saw it that way." Izuku said sadly. He turned to walk away, but before he could, something large crash landed halfway down the beach startling him greatly.

"What the heck was that!?" cried Izuku as he took deep breaths to calm his nerves. Looking around, it didn't seem like anyone else had noticed it landing, so it probably wasn't from a villain attack. He began trudging cautiously in the direction of the impact sight to see what it was.

Once he finally reached the impact site, he noticed what appeared to be a fragment of a meteor. An excited gleam in his eye that hadn't been there for these last few weeks glistened in his eye as he observed it. Izuku slowly reached down and found that it was cool enough to touch. Not only that, but upon closer examination there was something funny about it that he couldn't quite put his finger on. Still, though, he was the first one on the scene, and nobody else seemed interested in it.

'Well, you know what they say, finders keepers,' thought Izuku as he picked up the meteor piece and tucked it under his left arm before limping away towards the subway to catch his train back to his apartment.

Izuku's Apartment-Later That Evening…

After the annoying series of events that turned a normal hour and ten minutes into two hours and fifteen, God did Izuku hate traffic and his landlord, the greenette finally entered his apartment completely and utterly exhausted.

Setting the meteorite fragment on his bedroom's desk, Izuku wandered back into his small kitchen and opened up a bag of frozen tater tots and a box of instant ramen and began preparing them. Once they were ready, Izuku sat down and began to eat, totally unaware that the meteor piece had begun rocking, gaining several small cracks, only for it to stop once Izuku had finished eating.

After taking a shower and changing into some more comfortable clothes, Izuku flopped down on his bed and turned on his small TV and began flicking through the channels, growing increasingly irritated at the sight of report, after report, after report of heroes battling villains, hero ranking changes, advertisements for new All Might merchandise! Izuku shut off the television before his anger got the better of him and turned onto his back.

Izuku fumed as he stared up at the ceiling. All his life, he had looked up to All Might, only to discover that his hero was a fraud. That realization helped Izuku see many other flaws in the Hero System that he'd have otherwise ignored.

"If only I could prove him wrong. If… only…" Izuku said sluggishly as he finally drifted to sleep.

Meanwhile, the meteor piece began shaking violently and started to crack open like an egg, and from it emerged what appeared to be a living mass of black tar that hovered above the meteor fragment it had been encased in. The mass of black goo made noises that didn't sound like the noise of moving slime, but rather guttural growlings, perhaps it was speaking in its native tongue, before it made movements akin to those of a snake's head looking around, before it finally seemed to gaze in Izuku's sleeping form.

The sentient slime made more growling noises, as though it sounded disappointed somehow. Making a noise that sounded like a sigh, the slime made more reluctant sounding growling noises before it stretched its way over to Izuku's sleeping form, and began to sink deeply into his chest and meld itself into his body, before spreading over his arms and legs, similarly melding itself into his body.

As the slime snaked its way towards Izuku's face and begane to meld with it, the young boy began writhing in agony, as though he were gripped in a terrible nightmare, before his eyes shot open to behold what was going before him in horror.

"Sleep now, Izuku Midoriya," a haunting, raspy voice said to Izuku. "For tomorrow, we begin to spin our web… this world ain't gonna know what hit 'em... heh heh heh heh..."

A surge of panic gripped hold of Izuku, only for his vision to suddenly clear as Izuku shot up from his bed, panting in the sunlight, as he looked around in a panic not noticing the broken meteorite.

…?

"We only found one living specimen." The man made of shadows said to the two-way television in the bar, a large transparent container filled with a writhing green fluid inside was close by.

"I am aware. The remains of the other two have been given to Dr. Garaki for study." the unseen man replied. The shadow man shifted slightly. "You have a question?"

"I do." the living shadow paused to think about how to word his query. "Why did you leave the living one with us, wouldn't it be better for Dr. Garaki to have it as well?"

"No, it would not. I am already aware of the capabilities of these creatures. They require a host to survive for extended periods, in exchange they can empower even the weakest human to superhuman levels, and I am hoping it would give my protege a… 'buff', as he would say, during our debut."

"I see, and you believe Tomura-san would be reasonable towards this… gift?"

"He would have no reason not to. After all, I am his Sensei."

TheRedeemer1995: And cut! Well, since I hogged up the beginning author's note, how about you take this one?

LegionnaireBlaze: At last! One second. *Pulls out a paper fan* I suggest you run.

TheRedeemer: Uh-oh! *starts running!*

LegionnaireBlaze: Well, now that's he's gone. I'd like to specify some things he got wrong, or forgot, rarely a Symbiote will be able to heighten their immunity to sonic waves, or ignore it completely. One of the Symbiotes we are using in this story is one of those, but they won't be around until I think the second season… or the second half of season one. We don't know yet. For those of you wondering, yes the fragments we mentioned breaking apart faster had Symbiotes in them. Most of those two died from the atmospheric re-entry temperature because while they aren't weakened by fire they can still die from a high, or low, enough temperature. Their remains will be important later, and their names were Phage and Agony.

TheRedeemer1995: *from very far away, plays a G-note on a piano* Closest thing we got to an F to pay respects.

LegionnaireBlaze: That's because you can't play the piano! Now get back over here.

TheRedeemer1995: *heads back to the stage* In any case, if you liked what you saw here, then please be sure to fave, follow, review, and join us next time as Izuku realizes something is wrong with him, and he gets himself into a little trouble with the Yakuza. See you then!