A/N: I don't own MHA or Marvel.
GiantPsychoGecko: Something I asked a friend once was along the line of "Can Stain and Toga contract bloodborne diseases?" As for Tokoyami, I'm not sure if Tokoyami himself would suffer from light sensitivity, but Id be willing to bet he at least used to have troubles sleeping with a Demon thing always hanging around at night.
Omnipotent X: Probably, but who know? (Everyone. Everyone who's so much as paid attention to the title and has a basic understanding of Marvel knows.)
Lord Terronus: Okay, the first three chapters were done when I had time, but now with college and all, I might rush to get through it instead of making sure the chapters fit and have enough detail. But thanks still!
As for wheat will happen, I'm actually going to take a different approach. If you've seen Venom, (Spoilers if you haven't), Venom's existence in Eddie is hinted at really quickly, along with his actual appearances. I'm going for a slower pace that I'll try to explain later.
JustAnAverageGuy101: I know. However, this version of Carnage likely won't be all bloody-murderery-psychopath-hellbent-on-chaos. He won't be quickly swayed into being a hero, though, so don't worry. And I'm still not sure how to do the first encounter between Bakugo and Izuku/Carnage.
Hope you all enjoy!
"Izuku? What are you doing?" Inko watched as her son did a funny little bounce on his feet while watching television. Sure, she knew he got antsy when heroes were the focus, but right now he was just watching a movie from the pre-quirk ages.
"I don't know. Ever since I got home, I've felt more energetic than usual. I don't know why, but I think it's because my muscles and organs have more fuel to burn now that my lungs are in a better state, but I don't know how much that would…"
Anything after that point was lost to Inko. Even with her years of learning to decipher his habitual muttering, he still sped up too much for her to understand.
"Honey, honey. If you have so much energy, why don't you go for a run?" She gently pushed down on his shoulders to temporarily keep him still.
"Are you sure? I guess that could help burn energy though, see you later," Izuku replied before jogging to, and then out the door.
Inko, now alone, let the laugh she had been suppressing come to the surface. He, like any other person, had certain triggers that got him hyped up, but this was entirely new. But if he was willing to get a little fresh air and exercise his legs, she wouldn't complain.
The softly blowing wind felt great in his hair. As he ran down the sidewalk, he let the feeling of his pumping legs take him away from everything around him.
When was the last time he felt this great?
He came upon the staircase that led to the beach. Taking a minute to rest, he gazed at the collection of garbage that had been there for as long as he could remember.
'Somebody should do something about that,' he thought to himself before turning around and running back home.
When he finally climbed the last stair, something in him wanted to keep on moving. So, he walked down the stairs and ran back to the beach. This time, instead of turning back at the staircase, he hopped down them and ran alongside the shore when he could and alongside the mounds of trash when he had too.
"Come on, if we pull here, we should be able to dislodge this."
Not too far from where he was, a group of teens had gathered by one of the many piles and were trying to wedge something out.
"Hey, what's going on?" Izuku asked once he got to the group. A quick look told him enough; they were trying to get a newer looking car dislodged.
"Well, my friend here says this is an AE-86. It's not in the best condition, but we think if we can get it out and make a few repairs, it would be street drivable," one of the guys explained with a tug on the frame.
"And even if it doesn't work, we could take it apart and make some good money selling the scrap," another guy added.
"Could you use another set of hands?"
"Sure thing, man."
Izuku walked to the passenger's side and braced his hands against the window frame.
"One! Two! Three! Push!" the first guy shouted. Many arms and legs strained in an attempt to budge the car, and managed to move it half a foot.
"Again! One! Two! Three!" In unison, all four teens pushed, managing to get the car another two inches before three of them gave up.
Izuku, not realizing the other three had stopped, continued applying pressure on the vehicle. Little by little, the hunk of metal rolled out, broken toasters and televisions tumbling to the ground as the supporting frame moved.
"Hey bud, why don't you take a-"
A loud, thundering avalanche of trashed appliances and furniture threw everyone aside as the car that so much junk had been balanced on shot a full two feet back in one go.
The three teens, wide eyed and open jawed, turned to Izuku, who was leaning on the car and taking deep, heavy breaths.
"Hey man, you good?" the first teen asked as he approached the green-haired one.
"Yeah, I'm fine," he replied between gasps. "Just pushed harder than I have in a long time."
"Here, drink this." A water bottle was held in front of the teen, who gratefully took it and downed half of the contents in one swallow.
"Thanks. I think I'll be heading out. Good luck with this."
The three wished Izuku well before pushing the freed car to a parking lot.
"Sorry I took so long. I got caught up helping a few guys at the beach," Izuku said once he stepped into the apartment.
The first thing Inko noticed was his filthy clothes. His shirt had large grease and dirt stains, which matched the sand and mud stuck to his jeans.
But the second thing she noticed was a shallow, bleeding cut on his hand.
"Are you okay? How did this happen?" she worriedly asked. Careful not to aggravate the wound, she cradled the hand in hers as if it would make it heal faster.
"Oh. I don't know, actually. I think it may have happened when I helped some guys pull a car out. But I don't recall feeling anything like this."
"Well, wash it out to be safe. And if you ever feel the need to go messing around on the beach like that again, make sure you take a pair of gloves with you."
"I will. Sorry about that," Izuku apologized before heading to the bathroom.
If there was one thing Inko had more than enough of, it was triple antibiotic. It was a necessity when her son insisted on hanging around someone like Bakugo. Without needing to look, Izuku pulled the top right drawer open and grabbed the tube of ointment.
As he rubbed the ointment into the wound, he could have sworn he saw something red in his eyes. He leaned forward and squinted, waiting for something to happen.
A minute and a half later, he gave up and went back to cleansing his injury.
Then his hair started changing. A narrow streak of his emerald hair slowly turned to a blood-like red. It was a full half an inch thick.
Izuku ran from the bathroom and into his room. The paper Akio had given him was in the main drawer of his desk, so it did not take him too long to find it.
He scanned the list of potential side effects, and found "Pigment alteration in hair and/or eyes" halfway down the list.
Okay, so this wasn't something bad.
Yet.
Why was that even listed? What would his mom think?
"Hey Mom?" he called out from his bedroom.
"Yes, Izuku?"
"I think I'm starting to see one of the unintended consequences of that treatment." He stepped into the kitchen and played with the red lock of hair. His mother practically materialized in front of him and also inspected it.
"It doesn't hurt, does it? Maybe we should call Mister Akio. I'm sure he'd want to know about this," Inko rambled.
"Well, the list does mention this, so maybe we should wait and see if it becomes a problem," Izuku replied.
"If you insist. Just let me know if anything else unusual happens."
"I will. Don't worry."
Izuku returned to his bedroom and inspected his hand. Looking back, he actually did feel something cut his hand when he…
Pushed the car by himself.
He quickly got off his bed and opened a fresh notebook. Once again reviewing the sheet, he discovered that increased strength was not one of the mentioned possibilities. He jotted down Change in hair color - expected and Maybe increased strength - unexpected into the first page and shut it with the list inside.
He could experiment a little tomorrow after school.
"Hey sweetie, how's your hand?" Inko watched as Izuku wolfed down his breakfast at record speed, even filling another plateful before appearing satisfied.
"It's good, actually," he offered. He showed her his hand, which was healed to the point of a mild scar remaining. He had already jotted faster healing - unexpected in the notebook.
"And your hair?" She ruffled his locks, not finding any more red strands.
"Same as yesterday. Maybe the pigmentation will go back to normal when it grows out. I better get going. See you later!"
The green and red-haired teen grabbed his backpack and dashed out the door, leaving his mother to clean up what was left of the mess.
'He even licked the plate clean,' Inko chuckled as she loaded the dishes into the sink.
Surprisingly, it felt good to be back in school. Maybe it was because he was tired of being stuck in small rooms with glass walls. Maybe it was just getting back into the routine.
"Hey Deku!" a familiar voice called out. Izuku instinctively turned towards the culprit and felt the usual fear overtake his being.
"Where'd you-what's with your hair?"
"Oh, this? I-I guess the treatment had a few side effects," Izuku replied.
"So, you're back to the same old Deku but with a bit of red hair?" Izuku tensed and waited for the more physical bullying to happen, but was only pushed to the side when Katsuki less than gently shoved past him.
That was unexpected.
(Spanish Inquisition in the background)
Now that he thought about it, Izuku realized that Bakugo had been unusually gentle with him. Or, as gentle as Bakugo could be. He hadn't used his explosions recently, and anytime he did search out Izuku, which had become less frequent, the torment lasted much shorter than usual.
'Maybe he's finally maturing?'
The jitteriness returned to Izuku minutes into his first class, which he dealt with by bouncing his knee as fast as he could without making a lot of noise.
For the first time that year, he actually actively participated in gym class, much to his classmates' shocks.
"Hey Midoriya? What's up with you recently? First you don't show up, only to have an inhaler thingy, then you're called out to ride in some kind of VIP ride, just to disappear for a few days, and now you're back with a red streak and a lot more energy than usual," one of the more neutral classmates asked as the two changed after gym.
"Uh, I got diagnosed with cancer and underwent some kind of experimental treatment that had a bunch of after effects."
"Sounds like a movie where the main character slowly develops some kind of superpower. Like 'Toxicant'. Ever see that one?"
"No, I haven't."
The two went their ways to their next classes, which was also the last class of the day.
On the way home, Izuku took a quick detour to the beach.
'Nope... not yet… maybe… I could start there… probably after half a year… perfect!'
A small pile of anything imaginable stood before the teen, who grabbed an old wooden chair. Two of the legs fell off when he pulled, and the entire back snapped in half the moment he freed it from the pile.
The nearest junkyard was a full two miles away, so he'd need to find a wheelbarrow or something to transport the heavier objects.
But for now, he could manage prying smaller pieces of garbage and separating them from the main pile. A toaster, two more chairs, a portable television. One by one the teen removed appliances until a new pile had formed.
He scooped up two chairs and a toaster and took off. His legs burned and his chest was sore from the effort, but it also felt good. It reminded him that he had always taken physical activity for granted before he found out about his lung issues.
By the time he finally dropped everything at the junkyard, it was way past when he usually arrived home. He knew his mother must be worried sick about him.
"Mom! Mom? I'm back! I just got a bit distracted on the way home!" he called out.
"I had a feeling. You've been acting a bit different as of late, so I guess I just assumed you were doing something."
She looked upset, but also relieved for some reason.
"I'm sorry that I worried you. Are you going to be okay?"
"I'll be fine. It's just good seeing you finally coming out of your shell. For so long, you mostly stayed indoors and only hung around Katsuki. But now you're going for runs and helping strangers. I guess I was just waiting for something like this."
Izuku was left speechless. Truthfully, he had expected his mother to be afraid of the idea of him going out more often. But here she was, telling him she was glad he was finally "growing up" in a way.
Eight months; that's how long he had until the U.A. entrance exam. He had already spent three working at the beach. In that short amount of time, he had cleaned out plenty of spots where the dark and grimy garbage heaps now gave way to the beautiful shoreline. More than once, he found himself just staring out at the water. The rippling waves had a way of just stealing attention.
His body, once frail and weak, had filled out a little over three months of labor. He was already slightly above the average strength for his age, but he was willing to pin that on the treatment from a few months ago.
Of course, there was the one time he pushed a half-buried car by himself, but nothing like that had happened since.
But that wasn't the only change. The red streak in his hair had more than doubled in width, and it seemed to stretch all the way to the roots. Every now and then he would catch glimpses of crimson irises instead of his usual green when he looked in the mirror. But aside from those, nothing unusual had occurred, so he pushed the occurrences aside in his mind and went about his day to the best of his abilities.
"Look out!" someone called out. Izuku quickly turned and saw a baseball flying towards him. Instinct took over and he brought his arms up to protect his face.
What he didn't plan on was a bloody red tendril emerging from his arm and catching the ball, smothering it in the tip of the tentacle.
The elongated, or extra, depending on how he looked at it, appendage shot back into his arm, dropping the ball to leave a small indent on the sandy floor.
"Nice quirk. Mind tossing it back?" one of the boys said with a punch to his catcher's mitt. Izuku grabbed the ball and tossed it over.
"Thanks!" the kid shouted before running off to a group of children.
Izuku stared at his arm, completely and utterly dumbfounded. He wanted to tell himself that whatever just happened didn't just happen, but whatever just happened did in fact happen and he couldn't deny it.
Turning back to the pile, he raised his arm and tried to recreate what had just happened. His fingers wriggled as he attempted to summon the tendril, but nothing came from his arm.
"Was it a fluke?" Izuku asked himself aloud.
All of these changes were starting to get out of hand.
"Well well, I take it you're the mystery kid that's been cleaning up?" a man's voice asked from behind.
The teen turned around and nearly fainted.
"Kamui Woods!"
The famous rank ten hero, one of Izuku's personal favorites, only beaten by All Might, was standing RIGHT THERE!
Where was his notebook when he really needed it?
"Yep, that's me. Could you use a branch? I have some free time and you look like you could use some help."
"Yes! Absolutely!" Izuku shouted, then embarrassedly covered his mouth. "Uh, I mean, if you don't mind."
Woods gave a hearty laugh and patted the teen on the back.
"Don't worry about it. I get a lot of loud fans."
The Arbor user extended his arm and morphed the wood in his hand to cover many times its original surface area. With his altered limb, he grabbed a large pile from the top and dropped it beside Izuku.
"How do you do that?"
"Hmm?" Kamui replied as his hand returned to a more human appearance.
"Shapeshifting. How do you do it? I don't think you've actually spoken about the intricacies of your powers before."
"Ah, I understand. It actually took me a while to find out I could do that. Throughout most of my childhood, I thought I didn't have the ability to change my shape."
The hero held his hand palm-up and sprouted small, root-like extensions from his fingers.
"One day, I was watching a superhero show. One of the main characters was a shapeshifter, and in one episode he stretched his fingers to impossible lengths to ensnare a villain. I figured I would give it a try."
"And it worked?" Izuku expectantly asked.
"Not really. My fingers just grew a bit longer. But it was a sign. At that moment, I realized my shape wasn't fully restricted. Ever hear of proprioception?"
Izuku shook his head. He would need to look this up later.
"I figured. I never heard it until I looked up other quirks with shape altering abilities. Simply put, proprioception is a basic understanding of where certain parts of your body are. Like when you walk up stairs without looking. Your mind can approximate how much your foot is raised, so you don't need to watch your feet every time you walk up or down a flight of stairs."
"I think I get where you're going. You trained yourself to manipulate your proprioception to a state that would match if your limbs were different shapes?"
Kamui chuckled and gave the kid a friendly hand wave.
"Yes, and no. That was a big part of it, but there's also spatial awareness and orientation, kinesthesia, and a few other factors. You literally have to predict how your body would respond if it had an entirely different shape, and then deal with it once it changes. Why do you ask? Having trouble with your quirk?"
Izuku opened his mouth to answer, but hesitated when he recalled that his potential abilities weren't technically quirk-based.
"Kind of. It's actually like you; I think I might be able to change my appendages. Or at least slightly," Izuku muttered. He looked down at the arm that birthed the tendril and turned it around as if waiting for something to happen.
"I have some books and notes from when I started practicing. Are you going to be here tomorrow? If so, I can drop them off to you," the hero offered.
"Really? Don't you need them anymore?"
"Nah, it becomes second nature after a while."
"Thank you!" Izuku shouted while vigorously shaking Kamui's hand. Once again, he realized his over eagerness and jumped back.
"Sorry."
"Like I said, no worries." A phone buzzed in the wooden hero's pocket, which he retrieved and unlocked.
"I have to go. Duty calls. Same time tomorrow?"
"Yes, I'll be here," Izuku quickly answered.
"Great. Have a good day." The hero ran off and quickly used his branched fingers to lift himself to a roof, where he picked up the pace and soon disappeared from view.
Once he was sure no one was around, Izuku started excitedly dancing in place. Not only did he get to meet Kamui Woods, but he was going to get handwritten notes on his powers.
Even if he couldn't get the hang of using the tendrils, he'd get one hell of a souvenir.
'Predict how your body would respond…'
The select phrase echoed in Izuku's memory when he stopped his celebration.
How would it feel if his arm was instead a tendril? He closed his eyes and focused intently.
'It feels like I have a different appendage. It's blunt, but long. I can feel it past where my fingers are. It feels like I have a different appendage. It's blunt, but long. I can feel it past where my fingers are.'
He opened his eyes after half a minute, and gasped.
Right there was a vermillion stump with faint black vein-like patterns. It ended just half an inch or so beyond his fingertips. There were no markings of a palm or knuckles; just a round, smooth lump.
But it worked. He dropped his focus and the red goo receded and reshaped into his hand.
He… had a superpower now. Maybe not a strong one, but it was there.
"Mom! Mom! Guess what?" Izuku shouted moments after walking through the apartment door.
Inko stopped stirring the contents of the pot and turned over her shoulder. He was really excited right now.
"I met Kamui Woods and he even helped me take apart a small batch from the beach! He might even stop by again tomorrow!"
It took him all of two seconds and one deep breath to say everything, quite possibly a new personal record for speed talking.
"That's great, honey! What'd you talk about?"
"I asked him a few questions about his powers and stuff like that."
"Well, that's amazing. Dinner will be ready in fifteen minutes."
"Thanks," Izuku said, then ran to his room.
Inside his room, he pulled his personal notebook off a shelf and opened it to the first page.
Change in hair color - expected
Maybe increased strength - unexpected
Faster healing - unexpected
Occasional change in eye color (brief) - expected
Not even needing to check the list, Izuku scribbled Limited shifting abilities/tendrils - unexpected.
The next thing he wrote were potential applications of these… gifts. He already saw that the growths could grab objects, but the maximum weight and flexibility while doing so were unknown. More so, he hadn't the slightest whether or not the changes were created by using spare fat and materials in his body or somehow spontaneously generated, like Kamui's Lacquered Chains Prison.
He had so many questions, but not even he could answer them. Maybe tomorrow would shed a little light on his capabilities.
Classes the next day seemed like a blur. Izuku hardly paid attention to anything, only waiting to meet Kamui later in the day. He had already prepared a list of questions both related and unrelated to their similar power, along with a hand drawn picture he hoped to get signed.
"Well, that's all the time we have today. See you tomorrow, children."
Izuku quite literally took off and ran straight to the beach, not even noticing how fast he was actually moving. People, lampposts, fire hydrants, all of them became a blur as he focused solely on his destination.
Of course, it was still early when he arrived. To pass the time, he tried to practice summoning more of the tendril, or getting it longer and more defined. At one point, he got it to grow a full foot and keep it for twelve seconds before letting it return to his body.
After what felt like hours, a man with wooden skin and a dark blue suit approached the lone teen.
"Hey kid. As promised." He held out three thick, paperback books and a composition notebook.
"So, have you tried practicing?" the pro-hero asked once Izuku stuffed the books into his bag.
"I have, actually. I can't get it to extend that far, but I also found out about this just yesterday. It's actually incredible; the odds of finding out about my power and then immediately meeting someone who can teach me how to use it more effectively are ridiculously low. Oh wait, I'm getting off topic again."
Izuku shut his mouth and did his best to summon another tentacle. His lower forearm and below changed to a dark red as his hand seemed to melt outwards with the change. Within seconds, he had morphed his lower left arm into a sprouting stump that reached for nearly a foot.
"Not bad for someone who apparently just learned about this yesterday. But let me give you a few pointers."
Izuku listened to Kamui's advice with deep interest. Every word was stored in his memory and taken to heart.
"So, this time, try it again. But instead of just feeling it, also try to picture what it would look like in your mind," the hero suggested with a pointing gesture to his own head.
Izuku nodded and closed his eyes. He could feel the new shape he wanted his arm to take. He could see the new outline in his mind; palm, knuckles, digits and all.
"Not bad."
Izuku opened his eyes, only to be completely taken aback.
He had a completely new arm. The dark red material he had come to associate with this new ability stretched out just as long as he had imagined, with an oversized, fully formed hand at the end.
"Wriggle your fingers," Kamui ordered, to which Izuku complied.
The digits moved on command, but the movement looked unnatural, like shaking jello rather than flesh and bone.
"You're progressing. Keep practicing like that, and see if you can't do both arms at the same time. Or maybe sprout those from different parts of your body."
Izuku nodded and turned his focus to the mound of discarded objects in front of him. With his new hand, he grabbed a handful of loose rubble from the top and carefully lowered it to the ground.
"Whaddya say we pick up the pace a little?" Kamui asked as he cracked his wooden knuckles.
The green-haired teen eagerly replied by reshaping his other hand and repeatedly grabbing handfuls of whatever was at the top of the pile and dropping them by his feet.
Five minutes later, Kamui came to a realization of sorts once the entire pile had been turned into a new pile just a few feet away.
"So, we just moved it to a new spot?"
"Oh, actually, I stop about ten minutes in and take what I have to the scrapyard down the road. Follow me," Izuku explained. He grabbed as much trash as he could with his crimson appendages and led the hero to where he discarded what he could, then to the landfill, where he tossed the rest.
"So, this is what you've been doing for the past few months?"
"Yep. Gather, dump, repeat."
"Odd way of training, but I can see the benefits. What say we head back, get one more load, then I'll treat you to dinner?" the pro offered.
"Actually, my mother's already cooking, but I'll take up the rest of that deal."
The hero and student duo made the short walk back to the beach, and ended up making three more trips before finally calling it a night.
A/N: Here we come to the close of yet another chapter. I hope you found it satisfactory. Leave a review and have a great day!