Chapter 14: Midoriya Izuku XIV

A/N: And here we all go! A life changing confrontation of the ages is just on the brink of its commencement — just how will it go?

P.S. Not sure if I'm satisfied with the way this confrontation played out, but… Oh well. Guess I'll just have to see.

A blast of wind races past Izuku's form. Globs of stray sewage and muck are blended into the flurry, splattering all over his face and clothes. But Izuku doesn't notice this; doesn't perceive the inherent wetness that now stains his garments or the awful stench filling his nostrils. He's too busy watching, gawking — eyes entranced and locked onto the fabled Symbol of Peace.

The villain splatters easily enough, pieces of him careening all over the walls and floor of the underpass due to the force of All Might's punch alone. The sheer power displayed is exactly what Izuku had expected from the hero; indomitable and as renowned as he is.

Though… the effect is somewhat undone by the careful and squeamish way All Might begins to zoom around, gathering the remains of the villain within some clear plastic bottles that he had found lying around on the street.

Still, that doesn't change the fact that the hero before Izuku is All Might. He has questions, and he won't get answers if he just sits there gawking in awe. So he puts an enclosed fist up to his mouth and clears his throat — best to look proper while catching the man's attention, after all.

"Oh!" All Might yelps, nearly dropping the sudge-infested bottles in his hands. "Apologies, young man! But please, just give me a moment more to capture this villain! Then I'll—" All Might coughs, his hand moving to cover his mouth.

–Shit–

Izuku very nearly yells in surprise — not for the use of foul language, but something else. He represses the urge to do so, of course, but he can't help but reel at what he heard.

All Might clears his throat, continuing from where he left off as if nothing had occurred. "Then I'll be right over!"

Izuku misses the last part. He's too busy mulling over the fact that All Might is missing a lung.

But true to his word, it really did take one more moment. Two seconds of running around as a blur and the sludge is tightly packed into three bottles, now firmly attached to All Might's waist. Another burst of speed later and he's standing right before Izuku, an action that breaks the boy away from his wandering thoughts.

"I must say, young man, you did quite a profound job in evading this villain's attacks!" All Might bends down and grabs for Izuku's notebook, which had fallen to the ground due to the past minutes' chaos. "Yours, I presume?"

Izuku nods rather frantically.

"An autograph it is, then!" All Might exclaims as he flips open the notebook. His eyes skim the pages, looking for an open page to write on. "I must say, this is some impressive work, young man! Info on upcoming heroes like Kamui Woods and Mt. Lady, and even villains like Habit Headgear and Thousand Eyes — if I didn't know any better I'd call you a professional quirk analyst!"

"You really think so?" Izuku asks.

"Mhm," All Might hums in affirmation. His hand reaches into his pockets, taking out a pen. With a swirl of his hand, his signature is implanted over two whole pages of Izuku's notebook. "And there you are, my boy!"

"Whoa." Izuku gently takes the notebook in his hands. "You have no idea how much this is making my day. Especially with everything I've been going through lately."

"I'm glad to hear that, young man!" All Might pats Izuku in the back — rather forcefully — nearly making Izuku fall over. Izuku recovers rather quickly, though.

"I have some questions for you if you don't mind!" Izuku spouts. All his pent up thoughts and questions and near bursting out from their metaphorical seams. "For example, I was wondering about your opinion on—"

"Ah, no time for that."

Lie.

Izuku's mind halts. What? He blinks a few times before looking towards All Might. That can't be right… I… I need to double check. He reiterates his thoughts into words this time. "What?"

"I don't have the time, my boy! I'd love to stay and chat, but I have lots of work to do!"

Lie.

It was a lie; the entire sentence and all of its parts. The heightened heart rate and respiration, plus the sweaty palms gives credence to that. None of those are a result of exertion; not with the ease that All Might has in taking down villains.

But there's got to be a reason. He's a busy guy after all… Except he isn't, because he inferred that he has work to do — and that was a lie. I need more informati—

"Now, if you'll excuse me!" All Might does a mock salute. He turns and bends his knees, aiming skyward.

Shit! He's preparing to jump! I— I won't get another chance at this!

He doesn't think; he just acts. For a moment he finds himself mentally thanking Tomura again for all the speed training over the years.

But then he finds himself cursing Tomura, because if it wasn't for him Izuku wouldn't have been able to make it to All Might in time. And thus he wouldn't be traveling hundreds of kilometers per hour hundreds of meters above the ground.

Oh fuck!

He can barely open his eyes with all of the air brushing past his face, and he can feel his grip lessening ever so slightly for every second he precariously hangs on to All Might's leg.

"Whoa there!" All Might exclaims, making light swats at his unintended passenger. "There's such a thing as being too clingy, you know! I have personal space too! Let go please!"

Izuku's momentarily surprised that All Might is able to open his mouth to talk at such speeds, but he dispels the fascination for later and activates one of the more manual uses of his quirk.

"Let go?! Do you want me to die?!"

All Might is visibly stunned for a second. "Oh."

Much to Izuku's relief, he can sense the gradual descent slowly begin. The sounds of cars and people grow closer and closer, and eventually he hears the collision of feet upon concrete as All Might lands on a rooftop.

Izuku's clinging grasp loses its hold, and he falls to the ground in a heap. Yup. Never again.

"That was highly irresponsible, young man!" All Might instantly chides as he turns to look down onto Izuku. "If not for your commendable grip strength — which I do applaud, by the way — you could have died!"

Izuku takes a deep breath pushing himself off the ground. "Sorry, All Might. But I just really, really want to ask you some questions; they're too important to be left unanswered. I know that I won't get another chance at doing so and—"

"Alright, alright!" All Might interrupts rather curtly. "I'll answer your questions. Just make them quick please. I have somewhere that I need to go soon."

Lie — But Izuku ignores it for now. I need to build up to it; can't just go with the main topic straight out the bat. So I'll start with something else…

"Uh." Izuku clears his throat. And ends up going off in a spiel. "What are your opinions on the quirkless? For example, the most widely accepted fact about them is that they make up twenty percent of the current population. But that's actually a slight misconception and generalization. A majority of that twenty percent consists of the elderly and those of past generations — people who grew up with less prejudice and by now already have support systems. In truth, 0.2% of the current quirkless population are people eighteen and under — that's just over twenty-two million people. And over 15% of those people — that's over three million — commit suicide before they reach maturity. I've been going through the records of your agency and I haven't seen any form of awareness for these people — victims of the prejudice our society perpetuates. In fact—"

"Whoa whoa whoa!" All Might interrupts. "I believe that I got the gist of it!" —Lie— "So, um… Er… Back in my day, I never heard of such a thing. I mean, sure, there was some bullying. But it wasn't all too bad." —Lie— "Are you sure that you've fact checked your sources? I mean—"

"I've checked," Izuku interrupts, eyes narrowing. "So you didn't know any of that?"

"I'll admit that I… haven't bothered with overlooking such topics."

Truth

"Would you mind… looking into it?" Izuku asks. "It's a bit hard getting this information out there because of—" active government-lead interference, widespread prejudice, massive societal surveillance "—certain… heroes not caring for this stuff; thinking it beneath their abilities. Also, similar situations exist for people with 'weak' or 'villainous' quirks, as society calls them — just a little bit less severe. You wouldn't mind raising some awareness for this stuff, would you?"

All Might smiles. "But of course, my boy! I'll get right on it!"

Truth. Izuku lets out a relieved sigh.

"Now," All Might says, "if that's all—"

"Wait!" Izuku exclaims. He's really insistent. I'll have to go for the main question or risk losing him. "What's your opinion on Endeavor?"

All Might raises an eyebrow. "Endeavor?" He takes a moment to mull over the topic. "Well, I suppose that he's a rather dutiful hero. Did you know that despite being just below me in the rankings, he's closed almost double the amount of cases than I have?"

"I do," Izuku nods, somewhat disgruntled. But he pushes away the irritation; he has a way of turning All Might's fun fact around.

"But are you aware that the reasoning behind such an achievement is because of his harsh methods out on the field?" Izuku asks.

"Harsh?" All Might questions.

"Mhm. Highest recorded statistical collateral damage of all 'heroes' since the Quirk War, an abnormally large amount of critically injured captures, and several civilian deaths?"

"My boy, you can't go around making baseless accusations like that."

One of Izuku's eyes twitches. "Baseless?"

"Yes! Endeavor's a fellow hero like myself!" All Might exclaims with a grin. "He isn't anything at all like you described! A little rough around the edges sure, but nothing to the likes that you're telling me!"

Truth… Lie… Both… Which parts? His breathing was acting up all throughout that tirade.

"Surely you've seen the way he treats his kids?" Izuku pushes on. "How he treated his wife; how his actions led to where his wife currently is now?"

All Might frowns. "I'll admit that I have noticed in the past that relations between himself and his children are rather... strained. But really—" All Might coughs again and his single lung rattles, a small trail of blood then leaking from his mouth. "Look my boy, I really need to go."

All Might begins towards the door, only for Izuku to block his way. "No; I won't let you. What were you going to say?"

"I really— My boy—"

Izuku glares. "Talk."

All Might grimaces. Suddenly, a cloud of smoke engulfs him. With the way the wind is colliding with the hero's body, Izuku doesn't even need to wait for the smoke to disperse before he knows what has happened. All Might's smaller — gaunt in his features and nowhere near as muscular as he usually is.

Thoughts race through Izuku's mind — A time limit? Transformation quirk? Imposter? — but it's not long before he refocuses on the topic at hand.

A sheepish looking man is all that's left as the smoke disappears. His expression tells all, and he immediately starts talking in an attempt to control the situation. "My boy, I can explain! You see, five years ago—"

"You're actually All Might, correct?" Izuku asks. "And does this have to do with your missing lung?" Izuku interrupts.

All Might stares, surprised. He takes a moment before he nods in affirmation. "Yes; for both questions. I promise! Even if I don't know how you know about my condition!"

Truth.

And with that, Izuku already knows what had happened. Corroborating evidence with his missing lung and the connected bloody coughs — no doubt a past injury — plus All Might's admission to the injury being five years ago, and only one answer makes sense. Sensei; the infamous All For One.

"My quirk is how I know. But that doesn't matter," Izuku continues, filing away the thought for later. "What were you going to say a while ago? I need to know."

All Might rubs the back of his head. "You really are serious about this, are you?" He gulps at Izuku's expression. "Right, alright. I was just going to say that… Well, Endeavor is a swell guy, you know? I know that he's a good person at heart, and that what he's going through right now—"

Truth… and Lie again. What is it he's giving me conflicting information? He can't— Izuku's eyes widen in realization. No... Is he really? No… No fucking way.

"You're lying to yourself," Izuku announces. "You don't want to believe that it's true; that Endeavor's not fit to be a hero."

All Might shakes his head. "I very much believe the words that I am saying."

Lie. And that does it.

Izuku growls. "You mean that you actually believe that bullshit you spout? That everyone is a good person at heart; that given enough time they'll dig up their hidden qualities of goodness and compassion!? You're kidding me! How long have you known that Endeavor's been abusing his family?!"

"I don't know that!" All Might retorts. "I've only suspected! And just ever so slightly! And even then I can't just—"

"So?!" Izuku can feel fury rising from the depths. "What's stopping you from checking?! Calling child services?!"

"I don't want to raise trouble where it's not due."

Izuku feels his hands curling into fists. "You're willing to stand by while injustice continues to occur? Just like that?!"

"It's not my place to pry."

"You're a hero. The hero. Even the police work by the standard of 'reasonable suspicion!' Why the hell can't you?! You're not in a position to flaunt your shallow and naive ideals of righteousness and justice."

"Young man, that is enough!" All Might yells. "You aren't in the same position as I am. You have no right, no partial understanding—"

Izulu snarls to interject. "Stop. Talking."

"No! You listen here! I've known Enji since my years at Yuuei! There is a delicate—"

All he can hear is lies. Excuses. His reality crumbling down. "Stop talking!"

All Might looks as if he's choking with the way his face is strained and the speed his hand reaches for his throat. He isn't, of course. But his reaction is a predictable thing to foresee when one suddenly loses their ability to speak out of nowhere.

"Guess what they say is true, huh?" Izuku muses with a laugh. "Never meet your heroes, hmm? Because you'd only be setting yourself up to disappointment."

Izuku walks over to the edge of the building, peering over the edge. He dispels the dampening field around All Might's head, and jumps.

All Might speedily runs over to the edge, his buff form ready to burst into existence. That stops though, and he sighs in relief as he finds Izuku not having jumped to his death, but merely to the safe boundaries of the fire escape below. "My boy—"

And All Might finds his voice gone again.

"Don't follow me, All Might," Izuku demands. "I don't need you mucking up my life even more."

Izuku's day had gone from bad to worse. Not only had Bakugou and his goons suicide-baited him, but All Might had to top it all off with the revelation that he's just another willfully complacent contributor to the current corrupt system.

Izuku's current stroll through the streets is aimless in all actuality, his feet taking him wherever as he stoops in his thoughts. He doesn't realize that he's subconsciously flexing his quirk, following the trail towards familiar sounds, until he's close enough to the incident to hear it with his own ears.

He looks up, gauging the scene playing out across the street from him.

The sludge villain from before is causing quite a havoc. Izuku has no doubt that it's the same individual from before — which means that it must have somehow escaped All Might's custody. Likely during Izuku's impromptu flight, from which he himself would have been too preoccupied to notice, and which had All Might jostled up enough that the bottles falling from his waistline didn't seem like an impossibility.

A variety of heroes were watching the scene — observing, but not interfering. There were five in total: Mt. Lady, Death Arms, Kamui Woods, Backdraft, and All Might.

Mt. Lady seems content to sit back and relax — understandable in some sense, considering her quirk might do more damage than good if she attempted to apprehend the villain. Of course, that trail of thinking is undermined if you consider that her increased size could blow out the fires that were keeping Backdraft busy. But from what little Izuku's seen of her, she doesn't seem like someone to think that intrinsically towards a solution. If anything, she's more of a glory hound; content to pick up the spotlight, no matter how it sways to others as long as she hits the ratings.

As for the others… Death Arms could attempt throwing projectiles instead of standing there uselessly. And Kamui Woods could at the very least try attacking from the rooftops — though Izuku's willing to blame his inexperience for the lack of foresight. After all, he at the very least seemed calm and calculating about the ordeal, and that gives him points.

And All Might… Izuku's not sure why the man was just watching from the crowd in his weakened form. But he could care less.

But what really catches Izuku's attention is the victim caught in the sludge's form. Because it's none other than Bakugou Katsuki.

He watches as Bakugou flails uselessly, his explosions working for naught from inside the sludge that encompasses his form. His eyes are filled with fury, and he's lashing out every which way. In fact, Izuku's certain that he's the cause of the fires, and thus is indirectly at fault for causing a delay for the heroes in rescuing him.

Izuku cites karma, if anything.

But something else is plaguing his mind. Something deeply rooted that has sprung back to the surface.

He knows that the sludge villain's likely weakness are his eyes. He could relay the information. Tell the heroes. He could do something to help.

But the back of his mind is whispering, pleading: Leave him alone. Let him suffer. See how he likes it.

He's almost afraid of how quickly his mind decides for him, but he complies nonetheless.

He turns around and starts to walk away.

He needs to reflect upon these thoughts.

He wants — needs — to talk to Ibara.

The moment Honmoku City Park enters his range, Izuku takes note of the absence of Ibara anywhere within its premises.

It's not a surprising revelation; he can't expect his friend to be at the park whenever he needs her, after all. But Izuku knows about her reliability, knows that she always somehow ends up meeting up with him whenever he needs her.

As such, he's content to wait for as long as she needs to arrive, because the things on his mind are too important to leave for another day.

So there Izuku is, eyes to the floor, mind churning his thoughts, and his quirk guiding his way for him. It's not a surprise that he only notices the hand once it has descended onto his shoulder. His negligence over awareness has become a common thing for him today.

Still, that doesn't stop him from reacting. He moves in an instant, grappling the hand on his shoulder and the attached arm, moving to neutralize the assailant. It's only when Izuku takes a glimpse at his supposed attacker's face that he halts.

"Hazuki-san?"

"The one and only!" The man otherwise known as Crimson Riot laughs. "You really got me there, you know. Didn't even see you move! Looks like those self defense lessons haven't gone to waste, hmm?"

"Ah!" Izuku lets go of Hazuki's arm, moving to bow in apology. "I'm sorry! I didn't know it was you!"

"No need, Midoriya. I probably should've called out to 'ya anyways. I got what was coming for me."

"Right—" Izuku shoots back up. "Wait, what are you doing here? What about your place?"

"Bah! I have a friend of mine watching the kids." He frowns. "Well… friend is stretching it. But I trust them."

Izuku blinks. "So you're just here for a stroll then?"

Hazuki's expression darkens. "Ah… Not… quite."

Izuku frowns in return. "What's wrong?"

Hazuki clears his throat. "I, uh… The Shiozakis asked me to come by just in case you showed up." He shakes his head. "Didn't think you'd actually show, though. Now I—" He cuts himself off, shaking his head once more.

Dread begins to swell within Izuku. "Why… Why would they do that?"

Hazuki sighs. Izuku spots the despair hidden in his eyes. And the words that come from his mouth confirm his worst fears.

"It's Ibara. She—"

It's ludicrous. A battle between an E-ranking villain named Invisible Wall and some newbie hero calling himself Amber Aspect devolved into a fight that stretched for blocks.

The villain's quirk to shift the color of his skin to match his surroundings had irritated the hero so much that he thought it was a good idea to start randomly firing his lasers until he hit the villain.

Not only had Invisible Wall escaped, but Amber Aspect was getting off scot free despite the hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage he had done.

True, his beams don't pack too much of a punch. And they aren't deadly by themselves. But his barrage of attacks was enough to cause pieces of buildings to crumble all over. And that falling debris is exactly what had happened to land on Ibara.

But at the very least, Izuku's relieved that his friend is still alive. The first wave of rubble that had fallen onto her had hit her head, giving her a concussion. The second wave fell on to her leg, nearly crushing it.

Izuku knew that Ibara was lucky. If the rubble were to have fallen just a little faster, or just a little left, or even to the right, Ibara could have died. And what would have become of it?

He would have been devastated, of course. So would her parents. As would Hazuki and his kids.

But to the greater world? She would have just been another statistic, and 'unfortunate' casualty to the 'righteous' fight against society's scum. And worst of all? Amber Aspect would have faced no repercussions at all. The Commission would cover up the whole incident, and everyone would have been on their merry way, like nothing had ever occurred.

As if somebody hadn't died.

Even now as he thinks these thoughts, the steady beeping of the heart monitor stabs at his ears, invades his mind. One of the few pieces of solace he has now is that she'll make a full recovery as time permits.

She's peacefully asleep. But he can still hear her words echoing in his head.

You should find your own path.

Follow what you believe in.

Follow what you think is right.

Be yourself.

"I'm sorry, Ibara. I… I…"

His hands ball up in fists, tears escaping his eyes. He reaches into his bag and takes out his notebook. He flips through to find an empty page. When the large, flamboyant signature of All Might stares back at him, his resolve only hardens ever more.

He trudges on. He flips again — to a true empty page. He pours his heart out onto the paper, writing, writing, writing. But still keeping things under wraps, still concealing enough to keep Ibara safe.

He leaves it; the entire notebook. He set it on her bedside in plain view for all to see — he doesn't need it anymore.

"Goodbye."

He takes one last look at Ibara before he leaves the room, closing the door with a final click. He walks; down the hall, left, and right.

He enters the restroom; enters a stall. He takes out his phone, and scrolls through his sparse contact list until he finds the one number he's looking for. He only hesitates for a moment before he presses down.

And the phone rings.

And it is answered.

"Ah. Hello again, Izuku. It's been awhile. Tell me: how fares the outside world, hmm?"

Arc One: Revelations - END

A/N: And that's the end of this fic's first arc. With this the story's in the streams of canon now, but that doesn't mean that any of you should get comfortable with all the facts you know — there are changes abound, after all.

Also, the next chapter will be a bit... different than usual. I'm sure that some of you can guess in what way (Hint: The chapters have been named the way they are for a reason). But if not… You'll just have to wait then, no?