New story time!
Izuku is...
... unstoppable?
... unbreakable?
... impossible?
No, he is Invincible!
Or rather, he will be if he survives to that point.
For as long as he could remember, Izuku wanted nothing more than to be a superhero. And although he didn't have a Quirk, he was sure that he would figure out a way to achieve that dream.
Quirks weren't the only superpowers out there.
"The hell are you scribbling there, Deku?"
"W-Wait!"
His notebook was snatched before he could close it.
"Magic and potions?" he sneered. "Chakra and chi techniques?"
Izuku felt the blood rush to his cheeks as Kacchan continued to list all the ideas he had collected in his notebooks.
The quiet snickering from other kids only added to his embarrassment.
"Again with this shit?" Kacchan rolled his eyes. "Are you sill fantasizing about becoming a hero?"
He could feel their eyes on him, watching with quiet amusement.
"...I don't need a Quirk to be a hero."
His voice was unsure, though. As if he was trying to convince himself more than the others.
"Sure," Kacchan rolled his eyes. "Care to prove it?"
He threw his notebook at the open window. Izuku rushed past the blonde but he wasn't fast enough.
As he watched it sink into the water, he could only wonder just why Kacchan would do this. What did he ever do to make Kacchan act like this?
"You got something to say, Deku?"
He wanted to say something - anything at all. But he knew just how little he could actually do.
He didn't have the power to stand up to him. He didn't have cunning to outsmart him. He didn't even have friends who could help him.
He would only embarrass himself.
"That's what I thought."
He kept his back turned and his eyes down as Kacchan left the classroom laughing. The rest of the class muttered among themselves as they returned to their own things. Nobody asked him if he was alright. Nobody came to salt the wound, either. Once Kacchan left, the show was over.
As he walked the streets of Musutafu, his mind was occupied with considering all the alternatives he could go for. He knew that there were superheroes out there that didn't rely on Quirks. Instead, they used magic, technology or superpowers originating from other sources.
Some, like Immortal, gained their power through accidents - encounters with the factors that defied logic. Then there were those like Red Rush, whose powers came from science experiments conducted by the governments. And, finally, there were the likes of Darkwing.
The Cowled Crimefighter was one of the heroes Izuku admired the most growing up. In no small part because he gave Izuku hope that he could become a hero even without a Quirk.
He had good genetics from his mom. Even though she was in her early forties, many of their neighbours commented about how young and fit she was her age. Despite her being Quirkless, some jokingly suggested that being so attractive must have been her Quirk.
He hoped that, if he trained hard enough, he could level the field. In elementary school, he begged mom and dad to sign him up for the martial arts training. And while he picked up some moves, none of them stopped Kacchan from beating him in a fight. He quit without even a year under his belt.
It was a bitter thought to swallow. Sad one, too.
That he didn't have the discipline or the drive to train his body the same way Darkwing had done. That he was still clinging onto hope that the universe would just drop superpowers into his lap.
He bit back the the bitter tears burning at the corners of his eyes.
Like dad always said, crying wouldn't solve anything. It never did.
I don't care what anyone says.
He didn't care if everyone else thought that he could never become a hero. As long as he didn't give up on himself, he would find a way to achieve his dream. He knew that there was a chance.
There has to be.
Izuku's head hung low as he kept repeating the same thing to himself. There was no use in beating himself over the past. If nothing else, he could always restart his training. The past didn't matter. His actions and choices now would.
I can make it. I know I can make it into U.A.
He was too distracted by his inner turmoil to notice the sound of fight in the distance.
Too lost in his thought to notice the people fleeing in the opposite direction.
And when he saw the car descend down on him from the air, it was already too late.
-CRASH-
He didn't feel the wind or the light when he ran. He didn't feel the ground or water under his feet as he crossed miles in seconds. In a certain sense of things, he felt nothing as he ran. Or rather, he didn't remember feeling anything.
His perception was sped up to match his body. It was crucial that the two were equal or he would have been running in blind all the time. It was the combination of the two that allowed him to save lives.
Still, there were times when Josef wished he could slow himself down. Relax and enjoy the life at the pace it was meant to be perceived.
Maybe after this mission, he and Olga could go out for a date at the park.
"Sorry, I am late."
Nobody laughed.
Then again, he most have told the same joke over a thousand times by now.
"Red Rush, focus on the evac," Immortal stared the Maulers down. "We can deal with these two once the area is clear."
He rushed into action, zipping around the place as he picked up the civilians and carried them off to safety. There were a lot of them, though.
Where were they again? He knew that the mission was in Japan but he couldn't quite place the city or which area he was in right now. Whatever was here, it had to be important.
The Maulers were the scientists.
They didn't care about the money. What they cared about was their own work and respect. This place didn't seem like some politician's house so they must have been after some piece of technology or materials for their next experiment.
He could check the area and figure out what they were planning. Just a quick run around every floor of every building and he could-
No.
Сосредоточься, Йосеф.
Right now, his priority was getting everyone safely out of here. The detective work could be done later.
"I am sorry," he said softly as the man sank to his knees. "Normally, I don't move so fast but there were so many of you."
Carrying people at superspeeds was hard. His teammates were built tougher than normal people and handled the super-sonic transportation without much issues. But regular civilians?
There was always a risk of someone getting-
"Blerghh!"
...sick.
Оуу, черт.
It always started with one and spread to the rest of the group.
"Blurtch!"
"Gurgth!"
And now he was getting sick, too.
Better run before he got his suit dirty.
Olga had the most sensitive of noses.
-WHOOOOSH-
Alana was still getting used to her life as an honest-to-god superhero. Even though she was already six years in, every single mission felt like her first. She was nervous, jumpy and felt like she didn't belong.
Uncle Scott, her team and Ghost Gemstone itself trusted her with this job. But when lives depended on whether you were good enough, it was only natural for Alana to question her worth.
"Oh God!"
"Help us!"
All her doubts and anxieties took the backseat when she saw people in danger, though.
"Grab onto me," she commanded the group as the debris descended down on them. "Don't let go!"
She felt the power form in her stomach before spreading through her entire body. It wasn't electric or burning. It was cool and soothing, almost weightless in its feeling. She enjoyed the lightness of this state.
She hoped that the people focused on that feeling, too. Better that than them panicking over rocks and metal crashing around and through them.
As she led them out of the pile of debris, she spotted Red Rush coming to pick them up. Letting the speedster carry them away, Alana focused on further evacuation of the civilians. The Maulers' machines and guns really did a number on the nearby structures. One wrong move and people on the higher floors would start falling.
She flew towards any civilians stuck on the higher floors and gently carried them down. It was only once the area was cleared that she noticed a few men loading up their truck with various appliances and even a few cash registers.
"Seriously?" she drew their attention to herself. "You are seriously looting the place while it is under attack?"
Then again, it was a pretty good opportunity. The chaos was a perfect cover to go for an easy score.
"S-Stay where you are!" the man's hand turned into a thick metal spike. "I am warning you, stay back!"
His three partners all circled around her. One of them was unnaturally large with his arms as big as his torso. The second one summoned flames to his hands. And the final one didn't have any obvious tells of her Quirk but she did adjust her sunglasses.
Some kind of visual Quirk, then?
"Look, guys, I really wouldn't do this if I were you," she tried to reason with them. "This whole area is still an active combat zone."
Was that a correct term? A combat zone?
"You are just putting yourselves at risk. Follow me to safety and I promise you, I will make sure that you don't get too lengthy of a sentence."
Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say.
"Go to hell!"
The ringleader charged at her, his spike-arm aimed at her head. She let out a small gasp of shock as it passed right through her skull.
"What the-"
No matter how many times she did this, she still couldn't get used to this.
Maybe she never would be.
"Why! Can't! I! Stab! You?!"
She just stood there, floating inches above the ground as the man tried to hurt her. Her uncle would have already phased all four into the ground and left them waiting for someone to dig them out. But she didn't want to put them in danger.
"Are you done?"
The man took a few moments to catch his breath before nodding with a small whimper.
"Great, now follow me!"
She wasn't the fighter her uncle was. But she didn't have to be.
Every life counted.
Even the life of a criminal.
-BANG!-
In his life, Immortal had made many mistakes. More mistakes than any man alive, in fact.
He killed people for his own ego.
He led his own men into battles where they died while he lived.
He fell for deceit and manipulations, allowing corruption to spread.
And just a few seconds ago, he threw several of the police officers into the air in an attempt to get them away from danger. He planned to fly right after them but one of the twins was keeping him grounded.
"We came here for some parts. But crushing the Guardians of the Globe? This just makes things easier for us in the future!"
He didn't have time for quips. Punching the man out of his way, Immortal took to the skies. He was strong and fast enough to catch these men. But he still had only four limbs. Caught two. The other five were heading to the ground. Damn it, where was-
"Hahaha! Never fear!"
Oh God.
The reserve member.
"Why? For I am here!"
The two men landed with the officers scurrying off to safety.
"I had them," Immortal scoffed.
"Of course you did," All Might grinned.
They quickly return to the battle area just in time for the rest of the team to arrive.
"Evacuation complete," War Woman smiled. "Now we can cut loose and focus on taking these brutes down."
She rushed at one of them, striking him in the head. Mauler tried to run only to get bombarded with Darkwing's explosive daggers. Which led him right into the water blast from Aquarus.
The other Mauler came at Immortal. Even if he wasn't running in blind, he would never notice Red Rush run to trip him up. That left him open for Immortal to punch him into the air. Martian Man didn't let him go too far, grabbing his entire body with one giant hand and tossing him into his brother.
All Might jumped into the air, somersaulting right above the twins.
"California... SMASH!"
With a deafening boom, the twins were punched right into the ground.
They were too weak and out of it to resist when Green Ghost phased them softly into the ground.
The day was saved. But it could've been saved sooner.
"You were late."
"Ah, apologies, my friend," All Might smiled. "I got caught up handling an escape attempt at Tartarus on the way here."
"I am just glad you joined us for the fight," War Woman stepped forth with a smile of her own. "As this country's Top Hero, your schedule must be quite full."
Immortal had little interest in or respect for the Unified Hero System. Although he was a President in one of his lives, Immortal had no particular desire to work with the government. The politics and bureaucracy of the processes were among the reasons why he joined the Guardians of the Globe.
Even if they cooperated with the governments, they didn't obey anyone.
Not everyone liked that, of course. War Woman and Darkwing were better at handling these matters than him, though.
While the two engaged in idle conversation, Immortal scoffed and left to check the area with the others. Fights like this always had the risk of someone getting hurt before they arrived.
Today was no exception.
"Immortal! Immortal, please help!"
He saw a small growd gathered around the wrecked minibus. Someone was buried under it.
"I- I saw it crash him!" a girl said between the sobs. "And I- I wanted to call for help but..."
She broke down in tears.
"This wasn't your fault, child," he passed by her. "The men responsible for this are in our custody."
He tried to sound comforting. Empathetic.
But the centuries have desensetized him. In certain ways, his long life stunted him emotionally.
And though he recognized it, he had little interest in fixing himself.
"Step away, everyone," he commanded. "It's best that you don't see this."
When you live for as long as he did, death became a norm. It had to or you would break.
He was burned, drowned and crushed. He saw other people get burned, drowned and crushed.
So when he lifted the minibus away, he was prepared to see the boy's clothes torn and his body mangled.
He got the former.
The latter? Not so much.
"Ugh... What happened?"
The people around them gasped.
The girl that was previously sobbing pushed past the others to see the boy.
"Someone dropped a minibus on you," Immortal informed the kid. The boy paled. "You have some kind of invulnerability Quirk?"
"N-No, I- I don't have such Quirk. Or any Quirk, really."
He watched the boy get back onto his feet.
And then he saw those feet and the rest of the boy rise from the ground.
"Doesn't look like that to me."
The kid gasped as he realized he was floating in the air.
"Oh my God..."
Slowly, joy and excitement replaced shock and disbelief on his face. It didn't seem like the kid was lying about being Quirkless. He might have been a master actor but who would he be performing for here? His emotions were too sincere, otherwise.
A late bloomer, then?
"I can fly? I can fly!" he cried out. "I- I gotta tell my parents!"
He picked up his bag and rummaged through it. His phone was smashed.
He didn't seem particularly upset about it, though.
"I should head home," he whispered. "Man, they are going to be so-"
Immortal watched the buy mutter to himself for a full minute before he decided to stop him.
"Kid."
"Yes, sir?"
"We should first get you checked by the doctors in case you sustained some form of trauma," He might have looked unharmed but it was better to check it here and now. "And while we are at it, you might wanna get some new clothes."
The boy looked down at himself. His face burned red as he realised just how torn his clothes were.
And then he realised just how many people there were around them.
"Y-Yeah... That's a good idea."
[I]
Dinner time at Midoriya household was always a relatively quiet affair. It wasn't out of any unfortunate or tense situation. Rather, it was simply the nature of all three of them.
Still, with how busy she and Hisashi were with their jobs, Inko believed that it was important that they spent their free time with Izuku. Their boy was growing up fast and would be entering his high school soon.
It was important that he knew that they would always be there for him.
"It's getting late," Inko said as she snuggled against her husband in their living room. "Did Izuku text you anything?"
"No," he shook his head. "I am sure he is fine, though. I heard there was a fight with Guardians of the Globe in the city. He must have run there to meet them."
"Don't even joke about it."
She knew about Izuku's interest in superheroes. And like any mother should, she tried to support it.
She drew the line at him putting himself in danger, though.
"Sorry," Hisashi kissed her cheek. "Do you want me to cheer you up?"
"Oh?" she felt Hisashi bring her closer to himself. She giggled at his touch. "And what did you have in mind?"
"Well," he played coy as his fingers slowly undid the buttons on her blouse. "I did want to try out this new position that you brought up."
Oh, that?
"You have my attention~" she smirked as she took off his sweater. Then his shirt. "But can you really take it?"
"Oh, Inko, I think I should be asking you tha-"
The door slammed open.
"Mom! Dad!"
Their son, alive and healthy, burst right in with the biggest smile on his face.
"You won't believe what just... happened..."
That smile slowly fell off his face as he found both of them half-naked.
Her cheeks burned as she hurriedly buttoned herself back up. She felt like a teen in one of those movies.
"Uh, I can come back later?"
"Sounds like a great idea, son!" She gave her husband a glare. "I mean, we weren't doing anything at all. Yet."
He winked at Inko, which earned him a quick jab in the side.
"Ow! What? We weren't doing anything yet. And it's not like Izuku doesn't- Uh... Inko?"
"What?"
"Since when can Izuku fly?"
Confused, she turned around to see what he meant by that. She gasped when she saw Izuku floating inches away from the ground.
"Oh my God..." Hisashi whispered, eyes wide in shock. "How is this possible?"
"I know, right?" He was just as shocked as they are. "Must be a Quirk that skipped generation or something. I can fly! And I was hit by a minibus so I am invulnerable, too!"
"You were hit by a bus?"
"A minibus," he winced. When he saw that they were just as horrified, he was quick to show off his arms and face. "See? Not even a scratch!"
This was impossible.
It should have been impossible.
"Do you know what this means?" he grinned. "I can be a hero! This is amazing!"
Her heart sank. She should be happy that her son's dream was becoming a reality.
And yet she wasn't.
"This is amazing," Hisashi stepped forth and gently brought Izuku down to the ground. "But how about we pick this up tomorrow? We have a whole weekend to figure things out. For now, though, let's have dinner."
The dinner passed in awkward but not unpleasant silence. Izuku was too excited to notice any of their worry and Inko was glad that he did. She wasn't in the state to hide her emotions and thoughts. And the last thing she wanted was to upset him by saying something wrong.
Once he went to sleep, the two of them were back in the kitchen. Izuku getting his powers was something neither of them expected. And now neither knew what they should do about them.
"I never expected him to get a Quirk at this point," she rested her head on his shoulder. "Honestly, I kind of hoped that he wouldn't."
"Hisashi?"
"I mean," he ran fingers through his hair. He was nervous. "I am happy that he got it now. It's just... I have no idea what I should do now."
She placed her hand on top of his.
"Remember when we first met?"
"Yeah," he chuckled. "You asked me for directions to the library. Except that you didn't know the name of the street it was on."
"I just came to Japan," she slapped his hand jokingy. "And you got us both lost because you wanted to impress me by not using an app."
He blushed.
"W-Well, it did work, didn't it?"
It certainly did.
"Yes, it did," she gave him a peck on the cheek. She sighed softly. "I am worried, too. About what this means for our family."
She closed her eyes, reminiscing about all the things she loved about her husband and son.
"But just like we eventually found that library, I am sure we can figure it out with this, too."
"You really think we can?"
"I know we can," they held each other close. "As long as we are there for each other, there is nothing we can't do."
They spent another two hours in the kitchen, further discussing what they could do to support Izuku now. He would need training and equipment. Hisashi said that he would ask around at work if anyone could recommend some good training facilities. Inko, in turn, would take him to the Quirk assessment center and check the exact nature of his powers.
It was just when they agreed on the schedule that Hisashi received a call from work. She was used to him riding off into the night to handle some secret business for his company. Some of the other moms asked her if she ever suspected him of cheating or some other unsavory behavior.
She would laugh their words off.
She knew that Hisashi was a good father and a loyal husband. He loved her and Izuku more than life itself. He held no secrets from her or Izuku. Because he loved them too much to let suspicion or distrust into their lives.
Which is why Inko hated herself for not being able to do the same.
With her son asleep and her husband off to work, Inko back to their bedroom.
She pulled out a small metallic box from under their bed.
"As long as we are there for each other, there is nothing we can't do."
She loved Hisashi. She loved Izuku.
But that was full extent of her love for this world.
The box scanned her fingerprints. As well as her gript strength.
[Identity Confirmed]
It clicked open, revealing the familiar circle of platinum white metal with the three coluns covering the front.
Viltrumites didn't have Gods.
But she still prayed that her son would remain powerless. If he had, she would be able to keep being Inko Midoriya, the loving mother and caring wife. And while it would have hurt to watch them grow old and eventually die, she would bear with it for their sake.
But now Izuku awakened his Viltrumite heritage.
The decision was out of her hands now.
The course of action was clear.
The Earth would join the Viltrumite Empire.
"As long as we are there for each other, there is nothing we can't do."
And she prayed that Hisashi and Izuku would stay by her side.
Aaaand boom! Shoutout to Infamous Man for the stimulating discussion that really helped bring this thing from a draft to an actual story.
Hope you enjoyed the first chapter and the twist.
Stay tuned for more!