Chapter XIII: Midoriya Izuku 13

A/N: And here we are, four years after the last chapter. Izuku's fourteen, and certain events (I'm all sure that you know which ones) will be occurring soon. So, begin your preparations, we're canon-bound!

[I AM HERE! I AM HERE! I AM—]

Izuku groans, wiping away at the weariness of the night that plagues his eyes. Once again the early morning light peeks through his half-drawn blinds, dancing dark shadows across the ceiling and the walls.

[I AM HERE! I AM HERE—]

His hand slams — gently of course, lest he cause damage — against the top of his alarm clock, ceasing the all-familiar catchphrase from echoing throughout the confines of his room.

He gets up, makes his bed, opens his blinds, and finally makes his way to his laptop. His eyes glance upon the screen, a content sigh of relief escaping his mouth as he discovers nothing is amiss.

The loading bars, the rising percentages, and the multiple windows open on the device are a common sight at this point. Hacking into secure databases and observing prime convergence points of hero work are taxing tasks after all, even for the limited A.I. that Izuku had acquired and spent the last four years gradually tweaking into its current form.

What was once a mediocre intelligence network at best had evolved into a country-wide surveillance system that would impress most government institutions. It's this system that allows Izuku to undergo his routine of filling in his notebooks remotely, learning of the things normally not caught on camera.

But it isn't flawless, of course. The A.I. is a fledgling in its role, all things considered. With it not being able to reliably comb through the information it gathers for more complex tasks, Izuku still needs to manually check in every now and then. Which he does now.

As he sits in front of the busy screen, one of the first things he notices is a camera watching the Fukuoka skyline. He only catches a glimpse of an overhead shadow zooming past, but its shape is enough to confirm the identity of the flyer. Unfortunately, the discovery ends up reminding him of perhaps the biggest break he's had from his laptop's searches.

It was three years ago when it occurred, but the details are imported in his memory even to this day. Izuku was caught a bit off guard when he learned about the Lady Nagant's expansive role in preemptively culling 'problematic roots' in society before they became a problem to the social order — all to the command of the Hero Public Safety Commision. Finding out that former hero's career culminated with her direct hand in the H.P.S.C. President's death alongside the well-known death of the pro hero Night Sparrow caught him by surprise even moreso.

And it made him dig deeper.

Night Sparrow was found dead in a warehouse with a bullet wound straight through his skull — Nagant was the killer, no doubt about that. But looking into Night Sparrow's activities before his death revealed hours spent committing nighttime maritime smuggling and heavy regulation and retaliation towards rival drug operations.

Aside from making Izuku less sympathetic to his cause, it did give ample evidence that the hero was likely Nagant's last target. All in all, it makes sense that the Commission used it to cover up the death of their President, considering the proximity of the two events.

And then there was Lady Nagant herself. The uncharacteristic, stand-offish attitude that she had during the week before her arrest was an abrupt departure from her carefree and upbeat tune. Fidgeting around children, frequent instances of baggy eyes, and late night coffee breaks… It was clear that she'd come to some sort of epiphany. Likely, her own loss of faith in the system. One that just ended up being a lot more bloody and messy than most.

If anything, Izuku can respect her for it. After all, she was misled — indoctrinated at an early and vulnerable age. He discovered that little tidbit along with the rest of the information, but it stuck out more than the rest for some reason he couldn't exactly fathom at the time. It was only a few days later when he was visiting Crimson Riot's orphanage that it clicked. And it sickened him to his core.

If anything, Izuku's irritated that there's nothing that he can do to help Nagant out. As long as she's in Tartarus, she's out of his influence. So for now, all he can do is keep a wary eye on her replacement. Whether or not Hawks follows in her footsteps is ultimately up to the Wing Hero himself, but that doesn't mean that Izuku won't try to lead him along the path of realization. It's just a matter of finding an opportunity to do so. And even then...

Izuku stops himself from going further. The years have been filled with similar discoveries and revelations, their natures varying in levels that ranged from Izuku's disgust to his horror. With an emphasis on the latter.

Thinking in the morning… unfortunately leads to that more often than not. So, finding himself falling victim to such a thing again, Izuku derails his own thoughts. He drifts towards more… accommodating things. Aiming to review something related to the topic at hand, but far less grim as things go. Like…

Ah. Yes.

Izuku enlarges one of his open windows: a camera that catches a glimpse of a familiar figure walking onto the grounds of Sanaruko Park.

The time he's spent with Todoroki Shtoto over the years have proven fruitful. In fact, the boy had even turned out to be a surprisingly abundant and accurate source of useful information.

Izuku knows that Endeavor continues to be the brash and loud-mouthed individual that he is even in the confines of his own home. What he didn't know — but does now thanks to Todoroki — is how that loudness and brashness extends to his phone calls.

Whether he was talking to other pros or even officials from the Commision, he'd be shouting and yelling with that fiery attitude of his and getting away with it. If those conversations ended up involving things like confidential information regarding planned raids or meetups, well… It's his own fault that he wasn't keeping a lid on things while around his children. The same goes with not telling his children not to talk about such things.

But of course, such benefits had to come with their own downsides. Todoroki isn't someone who'd just go out spreading such stuff around, after all. He isn't much of a social butterfly in the first case, willing to scowl and keep to himself more than anything. And he isn't dumb enough to not know the importance of such things being kept secret.

As such, it took a bit of coaxing to get the information out of the boy.

In return for helping him regulate and gain mastery over his fire, Todoroki would give Izuku little tidbits of information. Nothing too incriminating of course — not that Izuku has a lack of such things from all the evidence he's gathered over the years — but enough to help supplement his watch over things around the country.

Unfortunately, such a request hasn't helped with the overarching situation at hand. As it turns out, Todoroki is an avid conspiracy theorist. Izuku isn't one to judge — everyone is free to do whatever they please after all. But such a hobby has made Todoroki more inquisitive than most. And Izuku's certain that Todoroki has caught on to the more unsavory sides of his character… at least in some aspects.

It doesn't help that Izuku sometimes lets slip his obvious disdain for Endeavor. Or that he expresses some rather heated opinions regarding certain heroes. Or shares his general disdain for the functions of society and wishes to see them uprooted and evaluated.

But something about knowing what Todoroki has gone through just made him open up from time to time. It was during these instances that he'd catch Todoroki staring. Whenever Izuku's rants would go on for too long, the boy's mind visibly worked through the details, evidenced by narrowed eyes and a scrunched up forehead.

Izuku knows that he should be worried about the potential breach of information. He knows that he should do something about Todoroki Shoto. But he's held off from doing anything of the sort.

After all, Todoroki doesn't seem keen on snitching anytime soon. Izuku had asked directly, and Shoto had told the truth when he said as such... Or the boy had figured out how to steady his heartbeat despite telling a lie, which would have been a whole different problem for Izuku.

One small but healthy dose of paranoia later, and Izuku cemented in his brain to stop broadcasting his capabilities just in case. The matter isn't too far gone; aside from the Kamino Bar Trio, the only others who were in the know are Ibara and Todoroki. So he's willing to keep things as is.

A sudden creaking of the floorboards shoots Izuku out of his thoughts. He realizes the lack of a threat immediately once he settles, but can't help but scowl in return. He couldn't help but do so whenever his mother came to mind nowadays.

After all, when you come home one day with a device in your ear obviously meant to ward off damage, you'd expect your parents to worry. Then, said parents would piece together that all those days of you coming home with injuries weren't just coincidence. And said parents would then remember a brash, blond boy who had grown more and more aggressive as he grew older. Well, normally, that's what one would think.

Izuku himself only had fever dreams of such things occuring.

With his expectations so low, he didn't feel much of anything when his mother saw the device, didn't say anything, and merely scampered off to her room. True, she did begin to cry in private. Because of his quirk Izuku could hear it no matter how muffled or restrained the action was. He supposed that he could have appreciated the gesture… but he couldn't. Too little too late, and all that.

But Izuku came to several conclusions on that day.

Does his mother care in some way shape or form? Izuku is certain of that.

To what extent does that care reach? Plainly, not enough to confront him about it. Or to yell about it. Or to strive for well earned vengeance for whoever had done such damage to her boy. She cares, but the way she shows it was altogether is cold and distant.

All in all, she's resigned. Resigned to do nothing but to leave things as they are. That enough makes Izuku wish that he doesn't have to see her, lest he be reminded of her neglect.

The occasional time over at Ibara's does quell that distaste, true. But he can't sleep over in Yokohama forever. The Shiozakis would get suspicious after all. So of course he has to be at his apartment more often than not. And despite him trying at his best to at least not fall into the same room as his mother, it's near impossible.

When he gets down to it he still lives under the same roof as her, and thus has to interact with her at least on a semi-regular basis. It's hard not to run into someone in such a cramped two bedroom apartment, after all.

So here he is, preparing his own breakfast as his mother sits across from him at the dining room table. Silence reigns supreme as it always does, the atmosphere filled with just the crunching of food and cutlery clashing with the dishware.

The minutes fly by, and soon Izuku's done with his breakfast. He gets up to leave, only for him to sense Inko's mouth moving. He pauses momentarily, waiting for whatever his mother has to say.

"How is... school?" she mutters.

He hesitates. Izuku looks over. She looks fine. She had bedhead, and it's clear that she's still somewhat groggy. But otherwise she's fine. A far cry from how devastated she looked years before, when his father's death was still fresh on the mind. It only drives home the fact that she's overcome a part of her past, but still refuses to interact with him at the level she did when he was younger. It just makes him all the more disinterested from drawing out the conversation.

"Same as always," he says.

"Oh."

She knows what that means. Hard not to, with the added frequency of his injuries in the years prior. Her expression shows it. And her voice expresses it. But she still doesn't do anything about it.

So he walks off to his room, intent to be ready for school.

And that's that.

Once again Izuku finds his school day moving by at a crawl. For years, day by day, it's the same routine with only slight variations sprinkled in between.

If anything, the most disruptive thing to the constant cycle was Tsubasa's abrupt departure from school. Two years ago Izuku's sort-of-friend had left Shizuoka altogether and moved to Jaku City in Kyoto to live with one of his relatives. Apparently, said relative is pretty well-off due to his running of the area's main hospital. Izuku wished Tsubasa well of course — even if at the end of the day he was left void of one of his main outlets of support in Aldera.

Izuku couldn't quite count on Kaze Takahashi of all people after all. Not that the boy had gone against his word; he still truly held off on engaging in any activities that led to Izuku's misfortune. But the past year had seen a change of demeanor in the boy, Takahashi losing his usual mischievousness in place of short temper.

It isn't Izuku's place to pry, so he doesn't. Especially not if it risks breaking the agreement they have between one another. And who knows with Takahashi's fluctuating moods? After all, while the two had come to a sort of understanding of the other over the years, they were still at best merely acquaintances. Just two boys trying to survive in the hellish school landscape, willing to abide by a pact of neutrality between the other.

As such, Izuku's left to squander his days as an outlet to the bullies of Aldera Junior High. And it's not as if things have gotten any better; if anything, everything has gotten worse.

That verbal retort that gifted Izuku his damaged ear wasn't the last he had gone toe to toe against his tormentors. From fights behind the school, to thrown punches, lasting bruises, and everything in between... And he hasn't even gotten caught since he can always tell when the teachers are nearby. All in all, the only person Izuku hasn't involved in his crusades is Bakugou himself for obvious reasons (which Izuku willfully ignores).

Of course, that doesn't stop the bullies from retreating to the faculty and crying the words of the victim. But their plans had run into a little snag. The fact that the school's star pupil hasn't been the one making the complaints has made the school lose interest. Thankfully, for once, things seemed to be working in Izuku's favor. But of course, that wasn't true for long.

With a lack of evidence and only the secondhand words of schoolchildren to go by, there were never any repercussions. But the faculty didn't seem lax in the face of a potential threat to their livelihoods. Whether driven by proactiveness in protecting their jobs or maybe even to simply discredit Izuku, the end result of these affairs were marks of delinquency on his records. anyways. And that's where all the upsides met their balance in his unlucky life.

By now, chances of him being admitted to prestigious hero schools like Yuuei and Shiketsu didn't bode all too well with a record like his, no matter how fabricated and/or biased the facts are. Izuku has nobody to back him up aside from kids his own age, a small coalition of villains — not the most reliable bunch if he wanted to gain the sympathy of the police.

It's a hurdle in his planned future, for sure. But Izuku isn't all too worried, as he takes solace in the fact that there are still schools like Ketsubutsu Academy with a much more lax disposition towards application restrictions.

But of course, that wasn't where the complications ended.

As if things weren't bad enough already, the failed attempts to get Izuku in trouble with the faculty only resulted in harsher comebacks by his tormentors, plans and schemes in the nature of more forceful 'pranks' upon his being. While Izuku considered himself lucky before surviving through Takahashi's more practical applications of trapped lockers and tripped feet, the many newfound things he was subjected to were of a whole other level.

Izuku admits the monthly defacing of his desk to be a rather bold move, with it being in full sight of teachers. Well, unless you considered the teachers' purposeful obliviousness. And while the graffiti has filled his mind with harsh and blunt words and insults, they don't bother him all too much. He can work past them. Yup. Definitely.

And perhaps the most over the top of these incidents involved an upper year girl and a trio of guys who believed they had been lying completely unnoticed with their bucket full of pig blood, courtesy of one of the boy's parents owning the local butchery.

The whole incident reminded him of a pre-quirk era book that he had read once, long ago. Of course, without the whole 'destroy the school' part. He has a pretty good handle on himself that prevents him from going that far. Barely.

At the end of the day, what drives Izuku forward is the fact that because of his ramped up aggression, most of the focus of torment has been drawn to him. The other students in similar headspaces as him are let off the hook to a greater degree than usual as a result, and Izuku can live with that. Of course, he's neglected to tell Ibara of his increased activities; what she doesn't know won't worry her, after all.

His thoughts are suddenly interrupted, the lull of his class period breaking out of its stupor.

It's a small explosion that pops up a little ways away that jolts him out of his mind. He very nearly jumps out from his desk, but just barely holds the reflex in. The source is, of course, Bakugou. Finding the reasoning of the blond's outburst takes a little bit of mental backtracking of his surroundings and the teacher's mutterings, but when he begins to recall the topic of hero schools his mind can't help but yearn for his pessimistic side.

Heroes? As if. Half of the class alone shouldn't even be considered plausible applicants in such programs considering their actions against the student body at large, let alone their normal demeanors..

He ignores the upcoming rant that spews from Bakugou's mouth, making sure to keep his profile low to keep attention away from himself. The resulting reactions of disdain over and impudence over from the class Bakugou's self-imposed narcissistic superiority drags on until the end of the period.

Izuku sits at his desk, waiting for the foot traffic to thinnen. Presently, most days Bakugou and his two cronies are willing to ignore him. Today seems to be one of the few times that isn't true.

Makoto Tabito, the boy who had taken up the free spot among Bakugou's tag-alongs when Tsubasa left, is the first to show up at his desk. His quirk is rather average; an elongating nose that grants him enhanced smell. He uses it whenever he interacts with Izuku. Izuku thinks it as some sort of intimidation tactic — a widely ineffective one, at that.

It's not long before the man of the hour appears, however.

"Yo, Deku."

Izuku's not able to lift his head up from where he's looking at his notes in time before it's unceremoniously pushed down flat against his notebook.

"What the hell do you want Bakugou?" Izuku asks, struggling to enunciate the words considering his position. But that doesn't stop him from enacting his newly adopted confrontation plan.

His verbal backtalk has become more extreme when talking to the blond, with Bakugou seemingly accepting the change as a challenge. Still, Izuku makes sure that he doesn't go too far, lest he get a repeat of the last time. "I highly doubt that you just want to see me."

Bakugou stands before him for a moment, hand against his skull. Probably trying to think up something to use against him, no doubt spurned by the teacher's mention of Yuuei. His eyes glance down to the desk. Izuku already knows what he's looking at.

Shit. Not this again.

"The hell is this?" Bakugou lifts Izuku's head up, just to swipe the notebook off Izuku's desk, eyes glancing at the cover. "Analysis for the Future #87?"

Izuku sighs. "Look—"

"This that shit about you becoming a hero, huh?" Bakugou interrupts."Well, you better take a long look at it then, 'cause that's going to be the closest you'll ever be to being a hero, you hear?"

He watches as the notebook is engulfed in a small explosion before it is thrown out the window. Izuku allows himself a small bit of relief as he hears it land in the koi pond outside — he can deal with waterlogged pages after all. Much better likely to be recoverable than a pile of ashes.

Still, he can't help but feel the fury bubbling under the surface.

Deep breaths, Izuku. Deep breaths. His fists clench just under the desk, where neither of the trio can see. But he holds back.

Bakugou suddenly slams his hand down on the desk, lowering himself to meet Izuku's eyes. "So, you're still aiming to be a hero, Deku?"

Izuku scoffs, turning his head to the side. "Not like I can even apply to Yuuei at this point," he mutters.

"Huh?!" Bakugou exclaims, cupping one of his ears. "What was that?! Didn't hear you!"

Izuku turns his head back, meeting Bakugou's eyes. "I'm not even planning on even trying to apply to Yuuei, Bakugou," he says. Not if it means that you'll be there. Not when it means that they accept people like you in.

Bakugou blinks, no doubt stupefied by the admission. It's the first he hears about it, after all. "Huh." He backs away, almost feebly.

Uh… Bakugou?" Makoto utters.

That snaps Bakugou from whatever thoughts had been keeping him occupied. His normal anger-filled expression comes back into play. A smirk becomes adorned on his mouth, a low chuckle moving out past his lips.

"Looks like you finally know your place…" A glint enters his eye. "Tell you what; I'm feeling generous today. There's a way out of this situation, you know. Out of you being such a useless and worthless Deku?"

"Oh?" Izuku decides to play along. "And what's that?"

Bakugou turns, and starts walking out the classroom. But his words are loud enough to hear, of course. And Bakugou knows that. "Take a swan dive off the roof. Maybe then you'll get a better quirk in your next life."

Once the three leave, out of his immediate vicinity, Izuku snorts. "Yeah right. Like I'd give him the satisfaction… Might be a valid way to sabotage him, though."

But it would be a waste of life; you have much to offer the world.

Yeah… I know.

The water damage was a lot less severe than he thought it would be. The same even went for the burns.

The charring didn't even extend past the cover of the notebook, and most of the wet pages weren't even filled in yet, the notebook having fallen into the water on its back end. He's been doing his best to dry it all out during his walk, however.

He's doing a rather quick job of doing so when he hears it.

He's walking under an overpass, in an out-of-the-way place that doesn't receive much traffic during this time of the day. But that's not what matters. What does is that Izuku can clearly hear the approaching liquid-like form moving through the sewers at quite a high rate of speed, using the damp and slimy environment to traverse the underground maze with ease.

Call it his bad luck and misfortune, or some tested actions of the gods, but the unknown entity chooses the manhole just in front of him as their exit. Izuku carefully eyes the sludge flowing up and out, slowly backing away as he notices the two eyes that pop up from its midst.

Transformation or Mutation quirk then. Mud-like, green sludge. Smiling, like malicious in nature. Teeth, but no tongue.

He listens.

No discernable heartbeat. Or any other organs despite his eyes. More likely the nature of a transformation quirk then.

He takes a sniff of the air.

And he reeks. Unsure if it's a result of traveling the sewers or part of his quirk; doesn't matter, possibly debilitating.

Up next...

Size ratio is larger in comparison to a normal human — result of his quirk or has he been subsuming the gunk and trash of the sewer? Likely to have enhanced speed and strength, with durability and the capacity to ignore most physical attacks… Main source of attack might involve overwhelming an underpowered target, considering the way he's looking at me… Suffocation via engulfing his victims with his body?

"Ohoho!" The sludge laughs. "What do we have here? A nice little puppet for me to take! You'll be the prime escape plan!"

Puppet — key word. Hints to potential body snatching capabilities. Makes sense if he's being chased, which he hinted at. I'm unlikely to beat him as is — no ears present that I can overwhelm to disable him. And normal grappling and CQC would only get me into his grasp. Wonder if—

Izuku side steps to the left, using the aid of his quirk to avoid and predict the direction of the sludge's attack altogether. He jumps backwards as he hears the sludge reconverging, lunging towards his form once again.

The sludge is fast — faster than you would normally expect from something his size and estimated weight — but Izuku's fast enough to dodge.

Thank you, Tomura.

"Stay still, punk! The longer you draw this out the more it'll hurt!"

He dodges again. He takes the time he has to formulate a plan. Eyes and teeth are the only normal human elements present. Unlikely to be positioned or choked. Leaves the eyes. Likely still soft and fragile; have a few things in my bag. Pencils, paper, my knife. I can punch them itf it gets to that point—

He hears something else. Another figure speeding through the sewers. But the individual is much faster, with a normal human shape. Heart isn't even straining, and very muscular if the displacement of the air is anything to go by.

There's a small list of people that he can think of that fit the limited list of criteria he's discovered. He looks at the exposed entry into the sewers, and he nearly faints due to what he sees.

It's—

"Don't worry citizen, for I AM HERE!"

A/N: And here it is: the fateful encounter. What's to change when a vastly different izuku from canon talks to the Symbol of Peace? Well… that's for next time. Till then!