Chapter 18: Excelsior!
These streets are so narrow...! Izuku thought as he attempted to take in as much of Greenwich Village as the crowd would allow. He wasn't tightly packed in the crowd like a can of sardines, but there was no fighting against this current. The throngs of excitedly chattering people all seemed to have a single destination in mind: Washington Square Park. Wide open, and extremely popular to boot, Izuku should have figured most of the people would flock to where the nearest cluster of vendors were likely located.
Still, Izuku couldn't deny the charm of this neighborhood as the crowd moved him right on by. The bricked mid-rise apartments, the numerous row houses that seemed remarkably maintained given the sheer age and history of the Village, and the walk-ups that dotted the vista all coalesced into a warm yet sturdy portrait of a community that defied the odds and stood the test of time, refusing to fall.
The growth of Bohemia, anti-war movements, the Stonewall Riots, the Dark Ages of Quirks—the Village has seen it all. Izuku couldn't blame an insider's perspective that the world seemingly revolved around Greenwich, given all the historical events that have taken place here across the centuries. Small wonder that Doctor Strange's own Sanctum Sanctorum would be located in such a neighborhood.
Geez, Izuku thought, trembling slightly in spite of his cloak's otherworldly warmth. The more I think about this place, the more I feel as if I almost don't belong.
Izuku Midoriya was a worrywart. It was a weakness he could admit to himself, that his overly analytical nature over things such as Quirks and Pro Heroes inadvertently transferred over into other areas of his life, such as his worries and fears. It was almost paralyzing, how easily he could get lost in the sea of thoughts and possibilities from time to time.
You have a hero's heart, Izuku, Strange's words echoed in his head. He gazed downward and slid his palm against his chest. Both Strange and All Might seemed convinced of his potential and had an unshakeable faith in the brightness of his future as both sorcerer and hero, but would the heart of a hero suffice? Would it be enough to quell the doubt Ikiji had inflicted on him? Or was his path set in stone, his parallels with the rogue sorcerer dooming him to a descent into zealotry?
He hated the thought of being corrupted down a villainous path and standing with Ikiji against Strange, Wong, and the other sorcerers. It evoked images of his face twisted into a sneer, eyes cracked and forehead defiled by the crimson symbol of Dormammu. But most of all, he hated how often he would get stuck on these thoughts in the first place...!
"Oof! My back...!"
Izuku, lost in a labyrinth of dispiriting thoughts, unwittingly walked right into an elderly passerby, knocking them onto the ground.
"Oh my gosh!" Izuku snapped out of his thoughts in a panic, rushing to help the elderly turtle necked man up off his hindquarters lest he find himself victim to a ceaseless crowd of jubilant civilians. "I'm so sorry sir! Here, let me help—"
Izuku froze as he brought the aged gentleman to his feet. The perpetual stream of people practically melted away as Izuku focused on the man's wrinkly face and grayed, combed back hair and shades. One by one, every detail clicked into place and the hand Izuku had used to help the man to his feet began shaking.
"You-you-you—!" Izuku stammered with barely restrained excitement. "You're the legendary retired Pro Hero Generalissimo! The Comic Hero: Stan Lee!"
Stan Lee had one hand gripping Izuku's as he was helped up, his other hand rubbing the soreness on his lower back where he had landed. He stopped rubbing and gave Izuku a surprised stare for a few moments, both wholeheartedly ignorant of the swarm of people pushing around them.
"Gee, I'm surprised you recognized me!" Stan Lee finally said, sporting that trademark grin of his that you just couldn't hate no matter how hard you tried. "I'm even wearing my shades!"
"How could I NOT recognize someone hailed as a Grandfather of all modern day Pro Heroes!?" Izuku exclaimed, although the pitch in his voice seemed barely audible in the middle of the ever-moving crowd.
"What's that?" Stan asked, putting his hand to his ear. "I can hardly hear you, True Believer! Let's move out of these peoples' way!"
Squirming through the sea of bodies and faces, Izuku and the retired Pro made their way to the nearest set of concrete steps where they weren't in any danger of being swept away or being obstructive to the people current.
"I would've thought that whippersnappers your age would be more into heroes like All Might!" Stan said as he gingerly took a seat on the steps. "It just goes to show that someone my age should never underestimate the up and coming generation!"
"I'm a huge fan!" Izuku suddenly blurted out before offering a sheepish, embarrassed smile.
"I can tell!" Stan chuckled. "It warms my heart to see that at least one from your generation hasn't entirely forgotten mine." He ended with a sigh.
"I am so sorry for not paying attention earlier and knocking you down!" Izuku bowed his head venerably for forgiveness.
"Oh, don't beat yourself up too hard for a simple mishap, young man," Stan said encouragingly. "A few moments of rest will pep me back into shape! Though while we're sitting here, perhaps I can help you in turn?"
"H-huh?" Izuku blinked.
"I got a good look at your face before you bumped into me," Stan said with a perceptive look in his eye. "You, young man, had the face of someone deeply troubled by something. Anything I can do to help you?"
"O-oh, you don't have to worry about that Generalissimo—" Izuku said, visibly deflated as his concerns rushed back to the forefront of his mind.
"Retired or not, a true Hero never hesitates to meddle wherever and whenever they can!" Stan beamed proudly.
Izuku sat beside Stan and lowered his head in thought. The retired Pro Hero Generalissimo himself was offering to help in any way he could. He certainly couldn't deny the advice of a venerated veteran, could he? Although, he also couldn't spill the beans on his repertoire of magical skills, per Strange's instructions. But maybe...maybe the man could still offer some insight, if Izuku stayed ambiguous enough.
"Well...I've been training for U.A's Hero Course for the better part of a year now," Izuku began. "And I've been having trouble lately in the sessions I've been having with my teacher. Rather, I've been having troubling thoughts. I met someone not too long ago, someone with power similar to but far greater than my own and he was...well, evil. Twisted. Corrupted."
"Ever since I met him, I've had a harder time focusing and truly giving it my all in training," Izuku continued. "I've hesitated—held back—because I began to fear that I'd end up like him if I continued growing at the pace I was at before. My sensei told me that I had nothing to fear because I had 'a hero's heart' but...I've been worried if that's truly enough. Can I remain a hero if I continue like this? Or will the chance of me succumbing only increase as my strength does?"
A restive silence fell between Izuku and Stan as the boy left his question hanging in the air. Stan was giving the youth a focused stare, likely processing and compiling his answer before going forward with this conversation. Finally, after what felt like several minutes, he spoke.
"You know," Stan began with a sigh. "There was a time in my life where I was...less than thrilled with my Quirk. In fact, I was outright embarrassed by it in my youth."
That certainly caught Izuku off guard. He snapped his head towards Stan, shocked by the admission. Generalissimo? Ashamed of his own Quirk!?
"Embarrassed!?" Izuku exclaimed. "B-but your Quirk is—!"
Stan had already slipped a piece of scrap paper out his pocket and a pen from the other. On the torn piece he wrote out the word 'light' and snapped his fingers. Izuku watched in awe as he saw something he had previously only seen in old videos of the man: the word literally peeled off the page and began shining radiantly before seemingly snuffing itself out moments later, the letters fading along with the light it emitted.
"My Quirk: Written Reality," Stan said with a soft smile. "The power to transform written words into the actual object or thing."
Izuku frowned in confusion, furrowing his brows. "But you have such a unique Quirk! Why would you feel ashamed to use it?"
"I used to be embarrassed because all I had was a writing Quirk and a writing gig when I wasn't working as a Pro," Stan explained. "Some of my other peers had flashy, muscular Quirks and others were innovating medicine or other fields of science with their own powers. I felt lacking by comparison. But then I began to realize: entertainment is one of the most important things in peoples' lives. People might go off the deep end without it! And so I decided that even if I didn't have the flashiest Quirk as a Pro Hero, I could still entertain people as well as save them. I felt that even if entertaining was the only thing I could do in that moment...that I was still doing a good thing."
"I think there is an innate desire for superpowers in all of us," Stan continued. "Or rather, a desire to do more than we can already do, for better or worse. I think it's almost fitting that Quirks have become so prevalent: they allow people to rise up and achieve these dreams. But not everyone gets what they perceive to be a useful power. Some...don't receive any powers at all."
Izuku was instantly reminded of Kacchan, how he'd received a perfect blend between his parents' Quirks, resulting in a terrifyingly strong power well suited for Heroics while he himself was deemed Quirkless, his dream of being a hero seen as an outright fantasy.
"But despite that, there's no such thing as a truly powerless person," Stan quickly added, surprising Izuku. "Because flash or no flash, strength or no strength, Quirk or no Quirk, one person can always make a difference."
There will always be something one such as you can do to be a hero, All Might's words of advice flashed through Izuku's head.
"And people—heroes, civilians, and even villains—press onward, not because they have no fear or doubt, but rather they stride to stay ahead of it, to not be dominated by it."
Izuku recalled the lesson Strange had given not even an hour beforehand on pain, how it defines everyone and the importance of not allowing it to dominate oneself. Izuku realized then that his hesitation—his reluctance to grow in fear of ending up like Ikiji—was his pain stunting his growth and was slowly beginning to dominate him rather than simply define him. There was a wicked irony in the realization: Izuku's festering pessimism posed a far greater threat than any magical growth ever did. Generalissimo was right! He can't hesitate because of doubt alone! Rather, let it propel him forward, onward and onward, until he was finally ready to take on the Entrance Exam and earn his way into U.A!
"Now that," Stan said, admiring the sheer determination that sprouted on Izuku's face. "Is a look that screams Excelsior!"
"I—thank you, Generalissimo!" Izuku exclaimed as he sprang to his feet, feeling pumped and energetic from the retired Pro's pep talk. "I feel like I know what to do now!"
"Then before you head off," Stan said, quickly whipping out a small piece of paper and thrusting it toward Izuku. "Let me give you this!"
"O-oh no, I couldn't—!" Izuku resisted, trying to stay humble, but Stan was persistent, pushing it into the boy's hand.
"Trust me, that coupon better suits you than me, especially given my age," Stan said. "Just take it with the promise you'll not let this evening go to waste! Now face front, True Believer! And if you ever feel bogged by doubt or hesitation ever again, it always helps to keep your spirits up with a motto! Like 'Excelsior'!"
"Excelsior? That's—" Izuku began.
"'Excelsior' is an old motto of mine," Stan elaborated. "It's an old word—old even by my standards—that means 'upward and onward to greater glory,' to keep moving forward even in the face of the fact that nothing lasts forever."
Izuku smiled earnestly, brimming with resoluteness. "I have a motto to keep me going, too."
"Then let me hear it," Stan said with an equally bright grin. "Let me hear your 'Excelsior'!"
Izuku raised his left arm high in the sky, mimicking the man he'd admired since childhood before dashing back into the sea of people steadily marching towards Washington Square Park.
"Plus Ultra!"
"Now now, Marcus," A portly and baldheaded Dr. Croit uttered fearfully as he beheld the state of his fellow scientist, one that he had belittled ever since he joined Project Pegasus. Where once he looked down upon the pitiful, Quirkless Marcus Daniels with little more than disdain and contempt, he now gazed upon a crepuscular nightmare with trepidation and fright.
Croit stood in the laboratory doorway, bathed in the light of the hallway as he peered at the carnage within the room. All of their computers and equipment had been ripped asunder. Electrical components, some still sparking with electricity, were strewn about the floor like confetti or worse, embedded into the walls and ceiling from an unfathomable force. Some of the windows were cracked, others completely shattered, and others still remained untouched and undamaged for reasons Croit couldn't comprehend. Much of what remained of Project Pegasus's lab was cloaked in shadow, as many of the lights had been utterly obliterated by the same entity that had laid waste to the computers. Said entity—the new Marcus Daniels—stood contemplatively in the center of the lab.
Marcus huffed raggedly as he observed the new power emanating from his body. He let loose in a fit of excitement the moment the sigil made contact with his body, and when his senses returned to him moments later the robed man had vanished and...well, the results of his carnage was crystal clear. No one would be able to deny the primal strength his new body possessed! No more Quirked individuals would be allowed to look down on him anymore! No more would they keep him under the heel of their boots!
"More..." Marcus muttered to himself as he admired the waves of tangible darkness undulating off his body. "I have become so much more...!" Much more than a mere human, Marcus decided!
A glint of scattered lights on the floor caught his attention. It was a shattered window pane and Marcus was able to see his splintered visage on the various shards on the ground before him. The tiredness in his grey eyes had dissipated. He gingerly touched his cheeks, noting a slightly darker skin tone that wasn't present before. But most obvious of all was the shimmering crimson sigil adorned in the center of his forehead—the same sigil that he embraced just moments ago. Marcus grinned malevolently; the stranger truly had granted him his deepest desire. This was a symbol that denoted true, undeniable power!
Marcus raised his arms, watching studiously as the darkness his body now freely conjured seemed to ooze from his limbs before dropping to the floor, producing sizzling wisps of stygian smoke as they impacted. The darkness came and went all over his being, robbing himself of any bodily sensation wherever it emerged, though it returned whenever the black substance faded or moved on. Stumbling forward, Marcus looked down and saw that his very footprints left oozing puddles of the dark force in his wake, which soon evaporated moments later.
A dark force... Marcus pondered as he flexed his hands, watching in amazement as he began giving the darkness real tangible shape and form with his very mind and will. This power had truly turned him into a force of darkness.
"Darkforce..." Marcus croaked as he clenched and unclenched his hands, solidifying and liquefying the shadows repeatedly. "Yes...has a nice ring to it."
Marcus gritted his teeth and slammed his hands into the floor, spreading his bodily shadows all around him. The swirling dark pit encompassed what remained of the laboratory's demolished hardware, pulling the fragmented bits of metal, glass, and wiring into its unknown depths, leaving absolutely no trace of their existence.
Croit jumped in surprise, shaking at the terrible display of never-before-seen might by the once unimpressive, meek Marcus.
Marcus turned his head to his former coworker, shooting him a murderous grin. The status quo was defiled. The oppressed, now the oppressor. Marcus Daniels now had power...and what better way to use it than to impose it on those who'd dared step on him before?
"Anything to say, Croit?" Marcus asked, his voice laced with venom as he flexed his hands, readying himself for the beginning of his vengeance.
"N-now Marcus," Croit stammered, raising his hands defensively. "L-let's not do anything hasty, alright? You've obviously...unlocked your Quirk! That's it! And so late in life, but better late than never, ah! That is to say! There's nothing wrong with never having a Quirk! Aha..."
"That's one foot you've put in your fat mouth, you pompous oaf," Marcus snarled. "Got enough room for the other?"
"Please don't...!" Croit whimpered pathetically. "There's still time to fix this! We can get you a suit to contain your powers, and—!"
"Fix? Fix!? There's nothing here that needs fixing!" Marcus roared, raising a wall of shadow in the lab's doorway before Croit could scamper out the room and the down the hall to safety. "And contain my powers!? My powers cannot be contained!"
Baring his teeth in a deranged snarl, Marcus flexed his hand, the sinister wall of shadow latching out and seizing Croit's arm, pulling him slowly into its dark depths. Croit dropped all pretense and screamed bloody murder, desperately trying to yank his arm free, but his efforts were fruitless. His screams only intensified as Marcus violently clenched his hand, crushing the squealing man's arm as it sprayed blood and viscera that was also absorbed into the dark mass.
"Marcus!" Croit howled as the shadows pulled his stubby legs in next, crushing them with a bloodcurdling 'squish'. "Forgive me! Forgive me!"
"NEVER AGAIN WILL MARCUS DANIELS BE SHACKLED BY THE QUIRKED!" Marcus bellowed as he summarily finished his bloody, vengeful deed, ending Croit's horrid misery with one final, sickening squelch.
However, Marcus applied far too much pressure into the black vortex than he realized he could handle. He unclenched his hands all at once and the conjured Darkforce burst outward, spraying him in a geyser of blood as the force of the blast sent him careening through an undamaged window pane. The lab was located fairly high off the ground, ten floors up to be precise, sending him plummeting to the quickly approaching ground in a shower of blood, glass, and whirling shadow.
Damn it...! Marcus cursed his seemingly doomed fate. I'd only just begun! No! No...! I won't accept this! I WON'T!
Marcus shut his eyes and stretched his hands outward, nearly hurling as his accelerated descent came to a halt. Shakily taking a peek, Marcus saw that the Darkforce his body produced seemingly acted on its own, conjuring an inky black platform that slowed and then stopped his fall. He felt tingly all over, unable to feel any sensations throughout his body for a moment.
Marcus stayed silent aside from his rough panting before exploding into a giggling fit as the feeling in his body slowly returned and the platform gently lowered him to the plaza ground below—he was about twenty feet from a bloody impact before his Darkforce had caught him.
"Unstoppable..." Marcus muttered to himself, shivering with glee. "I am truly unstoppable..."
"Halt!" A shaky voice yelled out as Marcus's feet reached the ground. Before he'd even realized it, he was surrounded by a dozen armed guards, separating him from the rest of the brightly lit plaza. The plaza itself was filled to the brim with vendors, advertisements, and hundreds of now fearful spectators. All movement had ceased, all music subsided, all eyes were on Marcus...who shivered uneasily.
What was this? Why was he shivering all of a sudden? Why was his body tingling all over again, tingling so bad it felt like prickly needles stabbing every fiber of muscle and blood vessel beneath his skin?
...Is it them? Marcus dementedly wondered as he stared out across all the wide-eyed passerby. Are they, the damned Quirked, causing this feeling...?
"Don't move!" One guard ordered as he pulled a radio to his lips. "Requesting backup at Madison Square—!"
"Stop staring at me...!" Marcus growled as he took a sudden step forward, prompting the jittery officers to open fire on him. Marcus was immediately shielded beneath a shadowy dome, effortlessly deflecting all projectiles sent his way.
"What the hell!?" Another officer yelled out. "Contact Mr. Stark immediately—!"
"I said..." Marcus rumbled from beneath his dome, flexing and clenching his hands crazily. His shadows seemed to pulse with life anew and every light in and around the plaza was suddenly sucked into the dark mass, rendering the entire area dimmed, illuminated only by what light remained in the evening sky. The dome suddenly burst, knocking every armed officer away from him with the same unfathomable force that rent the laboratory to pieces. "STOP STARING AT ME!"
The plaza erupted into screams of terror and a mass of fleeing bodies as Marcus Daniels commenced his rampage, barreling straight through the plaza and due south—right in the direction of Washington Square Park.
"Wow..." Izuku whispered with wonderment in his voice as he walked beneath the Washington Square Park Archway, admiring the architecture and the fact that it has remained standing since the twentieth century, before even the dawn of Quirks.
He could definitely see the appeal this park possessed: wide open spaces, lovely fountains, plenty of foliage and greenery, and an abundance of benches and other seating places for resting and people-watching. Throw in ostentatiously decorated Stark Expo vendors and hundreds of spending onlookers flocking to and fro like hapless pigeons, and it all added up to an environment that practically spelled excitement.
"Now then," Izuku spoke to himself as he pulled out the coupon Generalissimo had gifted to him. "Where can I find this vendor...?"
Izuku could hardly believe his eyes when he first read the coupon. "E-eh? A coupon for pork-stuffed pretzel rolls!? Why are Americans so weird with their food!?" Although, he began to wonder how it would compare to his mother's beloved katsudon...
Hmm, Izuku thought as he looked the coupon over. There aren't any specific directions besides saying it's located somewhere at this park.
It was decided: it'd be better to ask at the nearest vendor instead of wandering aimlessly around such a heavily crowded park he'd never been to before.
Unfortunately, the nearest vendor was an unusually elongated truck parked off the pathway with many stools lined up before the counter. A...bar truck? Izuku paled as the scent of ales and booze reached his nose. I've heard of food trucks, but bar trucks? America sure is bizarre...
"Hey!" The gruff bartender barked at Izuku as the boy approached apprehensively. "No minors allowed at this truck!"
"I-I'm not here for a drink, I swear!" Izuku stammered as he waved his hands. "I was actually wondering if you could—oh, you're ignoring me..."
True enough, the bartender was already focused on the crowd of patrons seated before his odd truck. He wasn't even sparing Izuku a second glance: out of sight, out of mind. If the bartender wouldn't help, then the next best bet would be to hope a local was here that could point him in the right direction. Couldn't hurt, right?
"Excuse me," Izuku approached the nearest seated man at the truck's counter. "I was wondering if you could—"
"Buzz off," The jacketed man grunted none too kindly, promptly downing the bottle he had in a single go before tapping it on the counter, signaling the bartender to bring another.
"I-I'm sorry for bothering you, sir," Izuku tried again. "I was wondering if you could help me find—"
"I said buzz off!" The man growled as he whirled toward Izuku before suddenly halting, allowing Izuku to get a good look at the man's face (after he jumped from fright, of course). The man at the counter was downright buff and grizzly, the hair on his head buzzed and nearly as thin and white as the hair on his cheeks, chin, and jawline. His jacket was brown and grungy, his pants only slightly more presentable. The man narrowed his eyes as he looked over Izuku's nervously trembling form. "What are you doing here?"
Izuku thought for a second that the man was speaking to him in a personal manner, before ultimately chalking it up to him simply being a minor.
"I'm not here to try and sneak a drink from the bar, I promise!" Izuku pleaded. "I'm just a little lost and was wondering if you could help me find a certain vendor."
"That's not what I meant—" The man groaned and turned his back to Izuku, guzzling down his alcoholic beverage in a single go yet again, tapping the counter for another drink. How many had he downed by this point?
"I see," The wild-looking man muttered, seemingly more to himself than to Izuku. "This must be you from before that time..."
Before that time? What was this man talking about? Sighing in defeat and deeming his time here wasted, Izuku turned to move on to the nearest vendor.
"Hold up kid," The man stopped Izuku before he could leave, his tone remarkably softer than moments prior. "Where you trying to get to?"
"Oh! Uh, here," Izuku handed him the wrinkled coupon and the man studied it for barely a moment before pointing off into the crowd.
"Other side of the fountains," The man said. "Next to the where the dog park is located."
"Thank you very much!" Izuku said with a complimentary bow of courtesy as he took back the coupon. "Sorry again for bothering you sir!"
And with that, Izuku bounded back off into the crowd, narrowing in on his pork-pretzel destination as the man watched him disappear into the horde of passerby.
Izuku Midoriya, huh? The man thought as he finally turned back toward the outdoor bar counter, gripping his ice cold beer in his palm. So this is the time you came from...
Pork-stuffed pretzels, huh? Izuku wondered to himself as he walked absentmindedly toward the desired booth. I like my katsudon with a bit of salt, but I hope these aren't too salty. Plus, I wonder what kind of sauce is put in it? Knowing American sensibilities, probably barbecue sauce, but I also wonder if I could get—
"Watch out!" A voice called out to Izuku, cutting off his inner ramblings of pork and pretzels but not in time to stop himself from being knocked into by another figure.
"Whoa!" Izuku yelped as he suddenly felt himself falling backwards toward the ground...only to have his fall stopped short by his trusty Cloak of Levitation, keeping him parallel to the ground for only a moment before reverting him into an upright position.
"D-did I walk into someone again?" Izuku shakily asked as the adrenaline continued to pump through his chest. "I've been rather clumsy today, I apologize if—"
"That's an interesting baby you've got there!" The voice sounded again, only much closer this time.
Izuku squealed as his vision was suddenly filled with cross-haired pupils and pink tube-like hair. S-she's way too close to me...!
"I'm Mei Hatsume!" The girl assertively introduced herself to a paralyzed Midoriya, encroaching on the poor boy's personal space. "Mind telling me how you made that baby of yours on your back?"
Chapter 19: A Blackout Commences
Why is she so close!? Izuku mentally screamed as the pink-haired girl kept leaning in close to him with that excited grin plastered all over her face. Being stuck in the middle of a bustling crowd was one thing, but this girl's shameless assertiveness on top of that cranked the level of discomfort practically to a ten or even higher!
It certainly didn't help that for every step back he took, she would respond in kind by stepping forward again, leaning her face in with her peculiarly wide cross-haired eyes. Stepping back, Izuku only had a second or two to register her appearance before she stepped forward again, filling his vision with naught but her ecstatic face. She sported a blue tank top and wore dark baggy work pants that were tucked into lengthy lab boots. Some metallic object was strapped to her backside and she had a jacket tied around her waist.
She isn't bothered by the chill in the slightest!? Izuku gaped at how little clothing she wore on her upper body.
"Hey, hey!" The girl beamed directly and enthusiastically in Izuku's face before placing her hands onto his shoulders, causing the boy to tense up considerably at the sudden touch. "Let me have a good look at your baby!"
A-a girl is touching me! Izuku twitched as Mei kneaded her fingers into his shoulders before sliding them across his chest where his cloak was clasped together above his sternum. And why does she keep using the word 'baby'!?
"How interesting!" Mei exclaimed, blinking rapidly as her eyes seemed to study every fiber woven into Izuku's cloak. "The way your baby propelled you back up without any visible propulsion, it's almost like it emitted gravitons! Yet I can't find any noticeable electronic components in your baby whatsoever!"
"U-uh, that's actually because—" Izuku stammered, trying to offer an answer that would satisfy this shameless busybody while simultaneously preserving his secret, but his voice once again lodged in his throat as Mei circled behind him, rubbing her palms against his backside as she felt up his cloak to study it further.
"This baby is exemplary!" Mei remarked. "I can definitely see why you'd want to show it off at one of the expositions being held around the city!"
"Actually, I'm not really—"
"Well then!" Mei interrupted Izuku, actually taking a step back for once. "Since I took a peek at yours...how about you take a peek at mine?"
Izuku's face became visibly flushed as the poor boy did his best to resist falling over right where he stood. He didn't think even his cloak could keep him on his feet this time!
W-what is this girl talking about!? She couldn't possibly mean...!?
"Ta-da!" Mei twirled around, giving Izuku a good glimpse at the mechanical contraption strapped to her backside while also pulling out a smaller, multi-pronged object from one of her many pockets. "Featuring two of the newest babies constructed by yours truly, Mei Hatsume! All for the viewing pleasure of my superior!"
Izuku practically sweatdropped; had Mei mistaken him as some avid inventor and was now trying to show off her own inventions to court some kind of favor with him?
"The first baby I have: my proto jet pack!" Mei said, pointing to the cylindrical booster strapped to her back. "A single turbine thruster allowing for a quick getaway, and halving the power output grants the user limited sustained hovering capabilities!"
"Is that based off the Pro Hero Air Jet's debut design!?" Izuku clamored excitedly. He was pretty familiar with the Buster Hero, even over other Pros, since the hero's office was located in his old neighborhood. "It looks really impressive!"
"But of course!" Mei said with a grin, flipping several pink locks over her shoulder. "And then there's my other baby: the ionic torch!" Mei wielded the diminutive item proudly in her grasp. "With this torch, one will never find themselves stuck in total darkness ever again! With the flip of a switch, the ionic torch electrically charges the air around it and draws in ions to sustain a neverending source of light! At least, that's what it was supposed to do..."
She angled the device slightly, showing Izuku a series of charred electrical bits on the top half of the device, right above where the activation switch was located.
"Seems I hadn't calibrated it properly, so continued use or turning it to max power right from the start will cause it to overcharge!" Mei explained, her smile faltering for a fraction of a second. "A shame, I really wanted to show off my absolute best with my absolute best babies here at the Stark Expo of all places..."
"You seem rather...disappointed, Mei," Izuku said, picking up on the traces of despondency leaking through Mei's otherwise exuberant face.
"Yeah, I suppose I am," Mei admitted while she looked over her malfunctioned torch. "My proto jet pack won first place at my junior high's tech fair, which earned me an invitation to this year's Stark Expo. I wanted to really pull out all the stops and create something ingenious yet practical for a hero to use, yet...I really botched it up in front of all the judges at the Junior's Exposition. I really wanted to show off an invention of mine to my idol, Mr. Stark, too..."
Izuku felt a twang of empathy in his chest; Mei looked up to Iron Man in much the same way he had looked up to All Might when he was a child. And Tony Stark was as much an inventor as he was a Pro Hero, meaning his appeal stretched widely between Pro Hero fans and Support Tech fans alike.
"But all is not lost this day!" Mei dramatically exclaimed, catching Izuku off guard as she pointed a finger squarely at him. "My trip here has led me to discover one with a superior baby-making mind! You will make for a suitable inventing rival!"
"W-wait! Hold up!" Izuku waved his arms defensively when he saw Mei sport a devilish grin as she pointed at him. "You've got it all wrong! I'm not actually an inventor!"
"Oh?" Mei asked, blinking in surprise.
"I'm actually training to become a hero at U.A!" Izuku explained. "What you saw my cloak do is really the result of—"
Izuku paused. Crap. He couldn't tell her what his Cloak of Levitation really was, and if he told her that it was a support item for his future hero costume (technically the truth) then she'd just hound him to know who really invented it, which would just lead him to feed her an actual lie. So he decided to take the path of least resistance.
"What you saw my cloak do is just a result of...my Quirk!" Izuku gave the best excuse that came to mind, laughing sheepishly all the while. "Yeah! My Quirk!"
Mei gave Izuku a silent, pensive stare for several silent moments, drawing the tension out so thin it could've snapped at any given second. As if trying to help corroborate its master's story, Izuku's cloak unclasped itself from his shoulders and levitated to Mei's backside, equipping itself onto her instead.
"Yeah! My Quirk is, uh, Sentient Fabric!" Izuku said with the straightest face he could possibly muster. "I can give sentience to any article of clothing I desire!"
"Well, that's a relief!" Mei seemed to visibly relax when the cloak attached itself to her; seems it wasn't just Izuku that could be gifted its ethereal warmth. "That means less competition for me! Not that I wouldn't have welcomed it otherwise."
"Yeah, sorry for confusing you earlier!" Izuku nervously chuckled and rubbed the back of his head.
"Ooh, it's so warm..." Mei snuggled into the cloak before suddenly popping out of her trance and rushing into Midoriya's personal space again. "I know! I got an idea!" She reached into another one of her pockets and retrieved a small card to present to Izuku. "Take this!"
Izuku accepted the card and looked it over once he managed to put some space between himself and Mei. The card was decorated simply, with a posing Mei on the front with her name adorned on a symbol of a wrench of some sort. The card was emblazoned by the words "Hatsume Industries" followed by a variety of contact information.
"Uh, thanks?" Izuku paled at the prospect of a girl giving him their number.
"Don't mention it," Mei said with that mischievous grin of hers. "Never let it be said that Mei Hatsume doesn't keep a look out for prospective clients. I'm aiming for U.A as well, the Support Course to be specific. You just keep that card on you and put a good word in for me to the rest of your classmates, okay? I'll ultimately be the sole provider for all your heroic needs!"
Ah...she's only doing this for her own benefit, huh? Izuku bemoaned to himself.
Izuku was about to open his mouth to reassure Mei when a sudden chill rocketed up his spine. He immediately snapped to attention, looking all around him with a jittery expression, trying to ascertain its approaching source. That was no wind chill, it was...something with a tinge of darkness to it. Something foul. Something malignant.
Something familiar.
No, Izuku thought in a panic. It can't be...!
The last time he'd sensed something akin to this contaminated presence, he'd stood face-to-face against the zealot, Ikiji, at Kamar-Taj. And now here he was today, feeling a faint yet rapidly growing malignance that pulsed with nearly the same level of ill will.
Izuku instinctively slipped a hand into his back pocket, shakily pulling out Doctor Strange's calling card as he suddenly sprinted off through the crowd, leaving a bewildered Mei behind.
"Hey, where you running off to!?" She called out to him.
"I'm sorry...!" Izuku retorted, not sparing her a glance back whatsoever. "I have something important to do really quickly!"
And with that, Izuku had vanished into the crowd. Mei stood still, staring out in the direction of where he'd run off to before turning her attention entirely toward the cloak Izuku had unceremoniously left with her.
"Oh well!" Mei said resignedly. "Guess that just means I have your warmth all to myself for now, little guy!"
Sensei has to know! Izuku internally panicked as he dashed through throngs of people, pushing through more than a few ill-tempered individuals who didn't appreciate his shoving and darting. Ikiji might be here!
Pushing through the outer shell of the crowd with a stressed grunt, Izuku finally found himself free of the claustrophobic nightmare and on the boundaries of some of the more secluded greenery of the park.
Perfect! Izuku thought as he dashed forward, putting himself far from the prying eyes of any curious passerby. Now I can summon sensei!
Izuku wasted no time in thumbing the symbol on the card; hardly a minute had passed before a brightly sizzling portal appeared before Izuku's very eyes. Meticulous timing on Strange's part, as usual.
"Izuku?" Strange asked warily as he stepped into the secluded garden where his apprentice had called him to. "What seems to be the—"
Strange immediately bristled, his posture becoming defensive as his eyes darted all around himself suspiciously.
"You sense it as well, right?" Izuku asked fearfully. "This sensation...this aura...it's a lot like Ikiji's back from when he attacked Kamar-Taj!"
"Correct Izuku, and yet..." Strange became eerily quiet as he shut his eyes, trying to focus on the dark presence that was steadily growing, indicating either a continuous surge in strength or a nearing to their location—or, more terrifyingly, both. However, try as he might, Strange was unable to properly tune in on the growing dark presence's precise location, although he could pinpoint smaller, fading vectors of the dark energy dotted around the city to the north of Washington Square Park.
This is a dark magic, indeed, Strange bemoaned, for it to be obstructing my efforts to locate it so readily.
"Izuku," Strange spoke without turning toward his student. "I want you to get yourself to safety immediately. If this is Ikiji, then it would be best if you were nowhere near this location. You are not yet ready to confront him again. Either return to the Sanctum or return home posthaste."
"That is an order, Izuku," Strange sternly added when he sensed that the boy was about to object in some way. Strange briskly opened another portal and promptly entered through, closing it behind him and leaving a fearful yet equally determined Izuku in his wake.
"But...!" Izuku piped up, though a bit too late as Strange's portal had already closed. "I can help..."
I may not have been a match against Ikiji on my own, but together we would definitely be able to beat him! Izuku pondered to himself. Why won't you let me help?
Izuku shivered and rubbed his arms as another chill—a definitively windy chill this time—swept through the area. Izuku suddenly ceased his rubbing as a realization sprang to life in his brain.
In his panic, he had ran off without his trusted relic. Mei still had his Cloak of Levitation.
Marcus soared through the air, landing on the side of a nearby skyscraper as he headed steadily southbound. His lab coat fluttered in the breeze, tainted in horrific red and black hues from a constant use of his newfound powers and also the blood of that wretched Croit whom he dispatched moments ago.
His arms had morphed into dark, amorphous blade-like appendages, digging into the side of the building he had latched onto, keeping him propped up as he surveyed his surroundings.
Light, He grumbled to himself irritably. Far too much light...
New York wasn't called The City That Never Sleeps for nothing, after all. Even as the last vestiges of the sun were dipping beneath the already obstructed horizon and night began its routine domination of the sky, brightness still permeated the Burroughs of New York like a virulent plague.
Luckily, he possessed the cure for this bothersome contagion.
Marcus inhaled a deep breath, tightening his focus on the swelling Darkforce that was now pulsing through every vein and capillary within his body. He hissed as it erupted from his backside, a throbbing mass of shadows that hungered perpetually.
Reaching out almost reflexively, Marcus suddenly and violently yanked his hand back, pulling nearly every bit of light around him into the writhing dark mass that he now wielded. He wasn't stingy, either: every skyscraper and mid-rise building in sight went dark in an instant, as if they were merely flipped off by a simple switch, and the streets below were plunged into sudden darkness as the bulbs of the street lights exploded in a shower of rapidly fading sparks and car and traffic lights alike inexplicably lost all luminosity. That panic down below set in immediately as people stumbled fearfully through the untimely darkness, their screams compounded by the crashing of vehicles and the grinding of steel against steel.
Marcus tuned out the chaotic clamoring that echoed all around him, focusing entirely on the darkness that consumed any and all light insatiably, rumbling for more even after this generous feeding. He allowed the Darkforce free reign all across his mortal body, relishing in the numbness that ceaselessly followed every rapid rush of darkness that washed over his limbs and torso, seemingly drowning his flesh in the bottomless pools that radiated out of him.
That sensation of drowning—the numbness—was practically blissful for Marcus. Numbness meant he couldn't feel anything anymore, especially not the pain he was so accustomed to in life. It was also more than his body that he couldn't feel anymore; his heart, too, had succumbed to the numbness and he was more than happy for it. His newfound powers made every noticeable pulse seem cold. Lifeless. Painless.
He wouldn't ever go back—couldn't go back—to his former pitiable self, capable of little more than simply existing day by day, slowly rotting from the pain inflicted by all those around him. No, he had to stay numb, he had to stay cold and unfeeling, and he could only do that by constantly using his powers, forcing it to perpetually encompass as much of his body as possible.
Every few minutes or so, that dreadful tingling would reemerge somewhere on his body and Marcus would grit his teeth and bury whatever inch of warm, exposed skin and flesh dared to feel again beneath a deluge of darkness, each one deeper and colder than the one before.
The sound of police sirens caused his ears to perk. Marcus casually cast a glance back in the direction he'd came from. None of those pesky officers had been able to keep track of his movements and keep tabs on his location once he'd submerged that plaza into blackness and knocked them all back and sprang away. No, they were of no consequence. No one was of any consequence to Marcus now, Quirked or otherwise.
And yet... Marcus grumbled to himself. Those 'Lights'. The further south he rampaged, absorbing any and all light from his surroundings as he went, he could faintly detect two particularly strong 'Lights' way in the distance, getting closer and closer the more he went. He could feel these Lights, just a little. There was a warmth to them he couldn't even begin to describe. It was almost as if they were alive. Of course, that just made him want to extinguish these 'Lights' as quickly as possible. How dare they penetrate through the coldness of his new being and make him feel!?
Marcus was about to launch himself from the building and continue his way southward, but he paused; two more Lights suddenly manifested in the direction he was heading, and barely a minute or two had passed before they suddenly disappeared...and then reappeared behind him, in the direction of the Project Pegasus Labs that he had decimated minutes ago.
"What the hell is going on?" Marcus growled aloud. He now had two options: continue southward and extinguish the Lights he had initially sensed or swing back toward his old laboratory and try to snuff out the Lights that manifested over there.
After a moment of internal debate, Marcus kicked off the skyscraper and landed on a platform of shadow that materialized out of his body. The platform zoomed southward without hesitation, with Marcus deciding to stick with the Lights he'd detected first. He would deal with the other two later; security and police had already gathered in that direction anyhow and he wanted to avoid those annoyances for as long as possible.
Marcus leaned forward as his levitating platform zoomed onward, urging it to go faster and faster still as the Washington Square Park Archway soon came into view. With a malevolent grin, Marcus sped right towards it, sending a cloud of dust and rubble into the evening sky as he crashed atop the ancient arch, looking out across the stunned sea of people before him.
All eyes were on him once again as he narrowed his search for the nearest Light that caused his new body to quiver so irritably. There were a few shouts of surprise as he landed with a crash, but the crowd didn't descend into mayhem until he leaped off the arch, over the fountain, and onto the ground below.
As before, the screams and thunderous stampeding of frightened bodies became little more than white noise in Marcus's ears as he finally managed to corner his target: a pink-haired girl wrapped in a dark green fabric.
The girl was shuddering, her wide-eyed face full of fear as she collapsed to the ground and scooted backwards until she was pressed against the fountain wall, with nowhere else to go.
No, it's not the girl, Marcus suddenly came to realize. The Light vexing him so thoroughly was not the girl...but the cloak she was wearing? Marcus could hardly begin to comprehend how the garb was part of the source of his aggravation, but that wasn't going to stop him from ripping it to shreds and extinguishing its Light!
"Girl," Marcus rasped venomously. "Hand over that cloak you have there."
"The cloak...?" The crosshair eyed girl asked. The cloak seemed to shudder and the girl hugged it closer to her body. "I-it's not yours!"
"Give me the cloak, girl, and no harm will come to you!" Marcus growled, his patience dwindling to zero.
"I'm holding onto this for someone else!" The girl said defiantly as the cloak seemingly attached itself to her backside without any movement from the girl. Marcus nearly recoiled from a surge in Light emanating from the fabric, which flowed freely into the girl's body and kept her resolve and defiance steeled.
"Then I will extinguish you along with that wretched Light you wield!" Marcus roared, his arms bursting into amorphous bludgeons that he raised above the girl's head, making her flinch in terror.
"Get away from her!" A voice exclaimed from behind him. Before Marcus could even turn to face this newest annoyance and obstacle, a lash of blazing fire soared through the air and ensnared his arms. Marcus found himself being pulled back and yanked to the ground from a forceful tug. "Hatsume! Run!" The pink-haired girl wasted no time and sprinted out of view.
With a pained hiss, Marcus worked fervently to rid his arms of the lashes that constricted him. It was painstaking agony, but he managed to overwhelm the restrictive fire by drowning it in a torrent of renewed shadows. It hurt, it hurt, it hurt! Marcus turned around quickly, seething to himself how this Light was now inflicting pain on him rather than simply being an irritant.
Marcus nearly took a step back in fear when he saw the one who'd gotten in his way. It was a messy green-haired boy, whose eyes were placed squarely on his own. His gaze was filled with equal parts fear and determination and the boy had taken a fighting stance, despite the obvious dread he was showing.
But there was an even more obvious fact about this enigmatic boy, one that was only amplified when the green cloak flew to his backside, attaching itself to him and amplifying the Light twofold.
"Boy..." Marcus rumbled, narrowing his eyes. "You and the cloak are the two Lights I first sensed."
"And you must be the dark presence I sensed!" The boy retorted, trembling where he stood.
Marcus did take a step back this time. He sensed the boy's presence, and he was sensed in turn!? Not only that, but the boy's Quirk, whatever it was, seemed to counter his power perfectly, his Light being somehow able to pierce straight through the comforting cocoon of his newfound darkness and actually cause him pain where people with guns could not.
Quivering with rage, Marcus bared his teeth as the pressure within his form skyrocketed, the shadows within swirling tempestuously. This boy's very existence...was a blight against his own! He swore back in the lab that no one would ever stomp Quirkless Marcus beneath their heels ever again! He would make every Quirked individual that dared to get in his way suffer his wrath! He'll start with this boy before him—his slaughtered corpse will suffice as a warning against all Quirked!
Letting loose a fierce, bestial yell, Marcus's body began drawing in all light from Washington Square Park and the surrounding buildings: street lights, neon vendor signs, decorative bulbs, etc.. All luminescence was dragged into his bodily abyss, gobbled up by the dark, incessant hunger lurking within him. Soon, the entire park was shrouded in a nearly impenetrable darkness. The boy's cloak seemed to wrap around his body, preemptively shielding him from what came next.
The pressure reached its limit and Marcus unleashed it all at once in the form of a mighty shockwave, blasting it outward in all directions around him. The boy was seemingly hit pointblank and sent flying. The dark tremor absolutely laid waste to the park, busting through the fountain walls and forcing the water to erupt high into the sky. Street lamps and telephone poles were snapped and bent like toothpicks, dangling precariously above the ground. The greenery was rent asunder, roots and chunks of wood sent careening into the crowded vendors, most of which were blasted onto their sides or collapsed where they stood; some even burst into flames.
Marcus panted heavily as he surveyed his latest carnage. The mostly evacuated park was thoroughly destroyed and laid to waste...but he hadn't accomplished his goal. A brilliantly bothersome incandescence shone through the cloud of dust, causing Marcus to shield his eyes momentarily. Much to his dismay, he saw that the boy and his cloak remained relatively unharmed...and they were levitating. The cloak was fluttering outward, seemingly stopping the boy from flying too far back while the impact of the attack appeared to be mostly absorbed by a shimmering shield of some sort conjured by his very hands.
Before Marcus could muster even a snarl, the sound of scraping metal and other debris filled both of their ears. Both Marcus and the boy looked over at the source of the noise, watching as a grizzly old man calmly pushed his way out of the flaming wreckage of one of the vendors. His jacket and pants were scorched in various areas. In one hand he held the body of another person, and in the other, he held the remains of a shattered beer bottle.
He gently settled the body he had pulled from the wreckage off to the side before leveling a murderous glare directly at Marcus.
"Hey, asshole," The man spoke directly to Marcus as he raised the shattered top half of his beer bottle before abruptly dropping it, letting it shatter completely upon impact. Three metallic, elongated claws slowly emerged from between the man's knuckles on both his hands with a soft shiiiiing, as if they were unsheathed swords. "I was drinking that."
Chapter 20: From Izuku to Marcus
"Izuku," Strange spoke without turning toward his student. "I want you to get yourself to safety immediately. If this is Ikiji then it would be best if you were nowhere near this location. You are not ready to confront him again. Either return to the Sanctum or return home posthaste."
"That is an order, Izuku," Strange sternly added when he sensed that the boy was about to object in some way. Strange briskly opened another portal and promptly entered through, closing it behind him.
Forgive me, my student, Strange thought as the fizzling of his closing portal left him enclosed in a dimly lit wreckage. Your safety is absolutely paramount to me.
When Strange strode into the remains of Project Pegasus's laboratories he bristled with caution, unsure of what to expect. The destruction wrought upon the room was not surprising to him in the least, with glass panels and flickering lights hanging from the ceiling and ominous claw marks etched on the walls. A pungent odor of blood also hung in the still air, and Strange quickly found the corresponding bloodied stains on the wall and floor that birthed the foul smell. He very well might have gagged if his years of experience as a surgeon were not so thoroughly ingrained in his brain.
What was surprising, however, was the complete lack of debris to be found. The floor was completely clear of any rent pieces of metal from the torn walls and ceilings. There were no shards of glass on the floor despite the obvious fact that all of the lab's windows had been blown out from a terrible force. The room seemed stripped of any electronic components or equipment, though Strange could see indentations on the floor that indicated they were present before. And to top it all off, there wasn't a speck of dust to be found. Aside from the remnants of damage and blood, it was as if the entire room had undergone a deep cleaning of sorts. Thoroughly perplexing.
But aside from the blood, there was another foulness lingering on the floor and in the air of the room. It was something Strange recognized almost instantly. This lingering malignance carried a familiarity with it that Strange did not savor in the slightest. It was imprinted all over the room, and Strange followed a particularly thick trail until he came across the first oozing puddle of shadows hidden away in a darkened corner.
Energy from the Dark Dimension, Strange thought worriedly as he gazed down at the slowly shrinking pool. Ikiji...what have you done?
This was clearly a premeditated strike, Strange could see as much. The attack on Kamar-Taj was proof enough that Ikiji operated on planning rather than impulse. But what was Ikiji attempting to accomplish by unleashing Dormammu's ritual upon a laboratory owned by Project Pegasus? The group was renowned for experimenting on and researching with theoretical energies. Their mission statement, as far as Strange could remember, was to discover increasingly renewable sources of power with different kinds of energy. Was this an ideological attack by Ikiji then? Had he assaulted the labs to make some kind of statement?
No, I'm definitely missing something here, Strange thought as he summarily zapped the shrinking dark puddle with a few weak bolts, watching with disdain as it evaporated into a sickly miasma. There was a deeper purpose to this attack, no doubt about it.
Strange glanced over as another fledgling pool crawled out of another corner of the room. It slithered silently across the bloodstained wall toward the ground, leaving a perfectly spotless trail in its wake.
"I see!" Strange said aloud. "These pools are not just remnants of energy from the Dark Dimension, they are literal conduits, temporary and diminutive passageways from our dimension to his..."
Not wide enough for Dormammu or any creation of his to forcefully enter through, but more than enough for his corruptive influence to seep in. That also explained why they were shrinking on their own and why his bolts obliterated one in an instant—the White Magic that formed the base of his powers and the Seal of the Vishanti that protected the planet were a direct counter to Dormammu's dark magic. The sheer amount of White Magic on this planet and at his disposal was more than enough to passively eat away at the shriveling apertures until they were no more.
But conduits of this energy could not be simply conjured by the stolen ritual. A medium—usually a host body—must exist in order for the darkness to materialize.
Strange froze where he stood; this wasn't merely an ideological attack by Ikiji at all.
He used the ritual on another! Strange thought in horror at the prospect of a rebirth of the zealots. He infected someone from Project Pegasus and set them loose on the Expo!
Strange rushed to a shattered window pane and looked out across the city blocks, darkened entirely except for the shimmering of police cruisers down below. The trail was faint, but it definitely originated here. Following the trail from here gave Strange a clear vantage point he lacked at the park. Whoever Ikiji had corrupted was heading due south, toward where he initially was. But if not towards him, then they were most certainly headed towards—
"Izuku!" Strange muttered in fright as he hastily erected a portal straight back to Washington Square Park. Dashing through, Strange halted as he was met with the smell of smoke and blood, a previously packed park now devoid of light aside from a few flickering flames and people aside from three.
Strange locked eyes with a listless Izuku and ashamedly resigned himself to the fact that the battle was already over.
T-that's the old man from the bar that I encountered earlier!Izuku thought as he watched the grizzly old man shrug his scorched jacket off to the ground in a smoldering heap. I'm glad he's okay!
The man's physique was certainly impressive for his seemingly advanced age, and his jacket seemed to hide the bulk of it. He rolled his head from side to side, cracking his neck loudly as he brandished those huge, menacing claws directly toward the villain before them.
With a beastly snarl, the man surprised both Izuku and Marcus by suddenly leaping forward, swinging those fearsome claws of his in an animalistic frenzy.
Is he planning on fighting!? Izuku thought as he stood his ground, fighting off the instinct to step away from the tumult. The man carried a bloodlust within him that reminded him a lot of Kacchan. I guess this old man must be a Pro! I don't recognize him, though...
The sudden rush into battle caught Marcus off guard, and he quickly leaped back to keep some distance between him and the clawed man. The aura he was giving off as he swung his claws with reckless abandon was incredibly intimidating, and Marcus felt endangered without even knowing the full capabilities of this new foe.
Marcus was put squarely on the defense as he continually jumped back to avoid the savage man's brutal slicing swings, his Darkforce erupting forth and covering his torso and arms to mount a defense for its host. Unfortunately, the grizzly man proved to be the quicker of the two of them as he suddenly closed the gap with a sudden burst of speed and sank his mighty claws into Marcus's chest with a loud roar.
Marcus gasped, flinching out of instinct as the man buried his claws deep into the swirling shadows of his body, pushing them down until his bare knuckles were pressed against his pectoral muscles. The man had ran the entire lengths of his claws into the dark depths. Izuku looked on in amazement at how quickly the man had landed such a devastating attack.
The three were silent for but a moment before the old man frowned and cursed under his breath, followed by Marcus laughing uncontrollably.
"What a frightening oldster you are!" Marcus laughed derisively as the older man struggled to pull his claws out of the shadowy depths of Marcus's chest, growling and swearing all the while. "You've got an intimidating bark, but your bite leaves much to be desired!"
"Such a shame..." Marcus sneered as his Darkforce pulsed and began pulling the older man into its depths, arms first. The man's thrashing and snarling only intensified as his hands soon disappeared into the shadowy vastness, followed by his forearms, and then his elbows. "Perish along with your wretched Quirk!"
A sickening squelch resounded throughout the park and the old man roared in agony, blood spilling out and staining his shirt and dribbling out only to be reabsorbed back into the darkness. It had been quite a long while since he'd experienced pain of this sort, but the man could feel the adamantium in his arms holding up just fine, despite his skin and flesh going through a metaphorical meat presser.
Although I'll really be in trouble if my entire body gets sucked in there...!
The grizzly man's worries were soon assuaged as two fiery lashes were suddenly wrapped around his bulgy biceps. Glancing back, the man saw Izuku pulling back as hard as he could to free him from the absorptive shadows.
Marcus's cocky laughs soon gave way to a cacophony of pained screeching, the close proximity of Izuku's magic whips piercing through the Darkness and causing his body actual pain again. He stopped drawing the older man in and swiftly repelled him with as much force as he could immediately muster before his Darkforce faded entirely, sending him and the boy flying back while he put some distance between them to recuperate.
"M-mister, are you okay—!?" Izuku came to the man's aid, only to recoil in revulsion as he saw the state of his arms. While his claws were perfectly intact, the skin and sinewy muscles of his arms seemed bloody and smushed beyond recognition. "Oh my God, your arms...!"
"Ngh, don't worry about that..." The man groaned as Izuku helped him sit right back up. He grit his teeth and grunted, forcing himself through the pain as his second power began to work its magic.
His arms are regenerating!? Izuku thought in bewilderment as he watched the man's mutilated arms repair themselves back into seemingly perfect condition. Not a drop of blood could be seen on his restored flesh and not a single scar remained.
His regeneration capabilities are impressive! Izuku gawked over the man's powers. But I thought those metal claws of his was his Quirk? What correlation could there be between metal claws and enhanced healing...?
Meanwhile, Marcus was panting as he pressed his own hands against his chest, inspecting what damage there was. That green-haired brat—that damned Light—used his Quirk to harm him again! He glared daggers at the boy as his exposed chest was eventually submerged once more beneath his splendid Darkforce. He wouldn't settle until that boy was dead by his hands; what a blight he and his Quirk were, to counter his newfound powers so easily!
"Uh, sir?" Izuku asked anxiously as the older man got back up on his feet. "A-are you sure you're ready to—"
"I'm fine, kid," The man grunted. "I know what my limits are. But maybe you can catch me up to speed on yours: just how much magic training you got under your belt right now?"
Izuku was about to respond until the man's words registered completely. He turned and stared up at him, dumbfounded that the man knew his secret.
"...You know about magic?" Izuku asked, feeling just a tad bit defensive and suspicious.
"Don't get skeptical with me, kid," The man said. "Just tell me how long you've been training with Strange already."
Strange? This man knows of sensei, too? I guess he must be one of the few Pros that All Might said sensei had dealings with in the past, Izuku thought as he decided this man was worth trusting, given the situation.
"...A little less than a year and a half," Izuku answered honestly but vaguely.
"Tch," Izuku heard the man click his tongue. "Well, any bright ideas for this guy? I skewered that chump in one fell swoop but it had no effect. And I don't feel like having my limbs crushed to bits again."
Bright ideas, huh? Izuku asked himself as he turned his attention to their enemy, darkness pouring from his torso and covering nearly the entirety of his body in a blackness that stood out even amongst the dimness of the evening's fading light. Only the man's head and hands were visible amongst the pulsing dark energy.
Given what I'm looking at right now, the energy his body is giving off seems incredibly fluid, Izuku analyzed. But he can also harden it, as when he trapped this old guy's claws and arms in his chest. So this darkness of his can have both fluid and solid-like properties, and when covering his body, it renders him nearly invulnerable to most conventional forms of harm. And his shadows seem to have some unknown depth to them, as he tried absorbing that man with little effort!
But... Izuku clenched his hands. His physical body still has to be under there somewhere, right? My magic is somehow extremely effective and cuts through his defenses with ease. In that case...!
Izuku crouched and used his Cloak of Levitation to soar straight up into the air. "My power works against him for some reason, so you stay down here and wait for me to find an opening!" Izuku exclaimed.
"Damn it, kid, wait—!" The man tried to protest.
"As if I'd give you an opportunity!" Marcus screeched and took to the air after Izuku, his malleable shadows forming a platform that carried him into the air and after his prey.
So he uses his shadows to levitate himself through the air much like how I use my cloak to do the same, huh? Izuku thought as he soared around the plaza, keeping his distance as he observed his foe's tactics.
"I won't let you escape from me!" Marcus snarled and outstretched his hands. "I'll drown you in a sea of suffocating shadows you damned Quirked!"
His body abruptly exploded upward as a pulsating, umbratic geyser that towered high into the sky, far above Izuku's head and taller than any of the surrounding buildings. The geyser seemed to slow its ascent before it toppled over and raced back toward the ground, bearing down on Izuku as a caliginous tidal wave.
This is familiar... Izuku was reminded of the eerily similar attack he'd attempted to dodge back in the Mirror Dimension with Master Strange.
"Are you ready?" Izuku yelled at his cloak, which seemed to flitter in confirmation. "Then let's try this for real this time!"
Izuku and his cloak soared parallel to the dark wave as it twisted and crashed over them, forming an ominous tunnel with the end barely in sight from how obscured it was. Izuku kept his flying as straight as he possibly could before a glancing blow from the side of the tunnel sent him spinning wildly.
"T-take over!" Izuku groaned, letting his cloak control their flight as he shrugged off the stunning blow.
Don't fight for control, Izuku reminded himself of the lesson Strange had taught him earlier. Be in sync with the cloak! Let my intentions be felt clearly!
Izuku eased back into control of their combined flight as they soared through the end of the tunnel, emerging nearly unscathed as the shadowy mass crashed, twisted, and shrank back into a somewhat humanoid shape, the man's face budding out of the writhing mass. Izuku beamed triumphantly as he finally synced with his Cloak of Levitation to successfully avoid an attack of that stature.
"We did it!" Izuku laughed as he circled his enemy at a reasonable distance. "I can't believe we pulled that off—!" Izuku's mind hardly had enough time to register a sense of sudden, impending danger before his body suddenly seized up in midair, a tight constriction slithering around his torso and limbs. "Damn it...!"
"Got you," Marcus sneered as the dark tendril he'd detached from his body before morphing into a giant wave got the drop on the unsuspecting boy.
He can separate this dark energy from his physical body and control it remotely as well!? Izuku thought, appalled by the terrifying level of versatility this enemy was showing with his powers. Izuku felt his head yank backward as the blackened stranglehold that kept his body prisoner suddenly zoomed back toward its master, reconnecting to his body where his arm used to be. He disconnected his entire arm and used it to trap me!
"Just as you were analyzing me, I was observing you all the same, boy," Marcus sneered. "Oh, and why wouldn't I? Your damn Quirk can do the one thing that all others, even that brutish ally of yours, cannot: you can hurt me."
So he can't tell that I'm actually using magic! Izuku thought as he struggled in vain against his bonds, which only caused his opponent to tighten his grip, causing Izuku to yell out in pain.
"Yes..." Marcus grinned maliciously as he gave Izuku multiple squeezes, watching him with delirious eyes as the boy screamed in pain with each clench of his fist. "Feels painful, doesn't it? Perhaps now you can understand an iota of the pain I've had to endure my entire life: the pain that comes with being a Quirkless nobody in this world."
Izuku stopped his pained wriggling and merely gaped at his attacker with wide eyes and open mouth. H-he's...Quirkless?
"Maybe you don't believe me..." Marcus whispered, his mad grin faltering, crumbling away into a more grim expression. "I can hardly believe it myself: I've lived my entire life wondering what it would be like to have a bit of power for myself—power over others—for once, just like how all you rotten Quirked have had power over me."
Izuku felt pangs of remorse and empathy for the man. Ikiji...you used the forbidden ritual on a Quirkless person?Izuku wished he could tell the man that he really didunderstand that pain, since he was technically still Quirkless just like him. But he couldn't. This man thought Izuku was using a Quirk this whole time. He didn't recognize it as magic. Did he even know what power he was using? Or did he just find himself swept up in the chaos he'd caused and decided not to question it? Either way, if Izuku told the man he understood...his anger would most assuredly escalate.
"But with this," Marcus gestured at the symbol of Dormammu emblazoned on his forehead, practically identical to Ikiji, "I'm going to show all you detestable Quirked—nay, the world—that just because one is Quirkless...doesn't mean they're powerless!"
Marcus leaned his head back and let loose another raucous round of deranged laughter as he squeezed Izuku's body again. However, upon looking back at his captive, he nearly dropped him out of surprise: the boy had his eyes shut tight with a few tears leaking through.
"You're...crying...?" Marcus asked dumbfounded. "Are you crying because you don't want to die? Or because you pity poor, pitiful, Quirkless Marcus Daniels that damn much?"
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you the truth," Izuku croaked, barely restraining his sadness after hearing the very words he'd told All Might all those months ago repeated by a villain of all people. It disheartened him terribly how much in common he and this man had, yet he wouldn't be able to tell him lest his rage be stoked further. No, he'd have to power through this. He had to stop this man no matter what. He couldn't let him use his new power to fuel his vengeance against people with Quirks!
Marcus, stunned from Izuku's abrupt deluge of tears and studying him too closely, failed to notice a burly form barreling down on him until it was too late. The grizzly man had leaped up from a pile of debris towards them and slashed Marcus across his cheek, slicing his flesh open and drawing plenty of blood. Marcus squealed in horror and loosened his hold on Izuku just enough for the boy's cloak to wriggle them to freedom. The old man landed squarely on his boots as Izuku's cloak whisked him to safety, leaving Marcus to writhe in pain.
"He cut me! He cut me!" Marcus howled as the shadows wrapped around him defensively, absorbing the blood pouring down his split cheek.
"Saved you right in the nick of—kid, are you crying?" The old man shook some blood off his claws and blinked at Izuku.
"No!" Izuku quickly responded, wiping his tears away and forcing his mind into overdrive to find a way to beat this opponent as fast as possible. The time for tears was over. "But I think you gave me a vital clue to defeating him, Mister—"
"Logan," The man responded brusquely. "Just Logan, kid."
"Well, uh, Logan," Izuku spoke sheepishly, feeling a tad awkward at referring to the man by name alone without any honorific. "I think I figured out the crux of his powers!"
"Let's hear it then, kid," Logan grunted.
"I don't think that dark energy of his is simply covering his body," Izuku explained. "I think it's actually replacing it instead."
"Replacing it?" Logan scrunched his brow in confusion."What do you mean?"
"Those shadows of his, I'm pretty sure it's not something his body is actually producing," Izuku continued. "Rather, I think his body is just a medium between this realm and the realm that the shadows come from!"
"So more magic mumbo jumbo then," Logan grumbled, brandishing his claws again. "Always something with you sorcerers, huh? So the gist of it is that every part of his body not visible is actually in that other dimension, correct?"
"And that's why you couldn't hurt him with your claws earlier," Izuku confirmed. "Your attack struck pure energy and not his body!"
"But your attacks can pierce straight through and harm his body," Logan said with an adamant grin. "Yeah, I understand now."
"His head is a weak point," Izuku added. "He won't cover his face or head in his darkness or else he wouldn't be able to see or coordinate with the rest of his body in this dimension."
"A head shot, huh?" Logan crouched, preparing for the next attack. "I think I can do that, kid."
"You...bastard!" Marcus roared as his rage finally overcame his pain. He rocketed straight towards Logan, whipping many sharp, pointed dark tendrils in his direction. Logan jumped back as Izuku's hands blazed with magic, constructing fiery whips in both hands to lash right back at Marcus. In spite of his rage, Marcus still recognized the danger Izuku's power posed, causing him to skid to a halt and leap back of the whips' range. Izuku pressed on with his attack, jumping toward Marcus and lashing his whips at him at every opportunity, but Marcus managed to dodge every assault.
Tch, Izuku ruminated. If he stays out of range from my whips, then I won't be able to create any sort of opening with my magic! I only have one choice then...!
Izuku would have to swallow his fears like he did his tears just a moment ago and use the Bolts of Bedevilment.
"I'll crush you both!" Marcus roared as his body began swelling and bulging outward as if it were about to pop. "Grind you into nothingness!"
Marcus's body burst into many dark globules that splattered all across the plaza. Several smacked directly into Izuku and Logan; Izuku tried to deflect them away with his whips but they proved too numerous, and the globs couldn't be skewered by Logan's claws. Both Izuku and Logan were soon immobilized by Marcus's attack and were completely ensnared by the absorptive force of the shadows. Not even Izuku's cloak could wriggle itself to safety.
"My patience has been thoroughly squandered!" Marcus shouted as the remaining globules assimilated back together, reforming Marcus's humanoid shape as his leering head peeked out from beneath its defenses. "I'll squeeze you both to death! But this time I'll keep my distance, just in case..."
Marcus mercilessly clenched his hands shut, slowly constricting both Izuku and Logan in an iron vice. Marcus's cruel laughter mixed with Logan's pained grunts and Izuku's cries of agony, combining into a cacophonic racket that echoed into the desolate night. Logan tried slashing his way out to no avail, while Izuku was left unable to conjure any magic with his hands bound so tightly.
I-I can't...breathe...! Izuku gasped for breath when he suddenly saw a familiar figure zooming through the air toward Marcus. Is that—!?
"Hey, you creep!" Mei shouted at Marcus as she barreled towards him with her cylindrical jet pack, thick plumes of vapor trailing behind her as she flew. "Release them or suffer the wrath of my baby!"
Mei brandished a baton-like object in her hands and took aim with her Quirk, the crosshairs in her eyes narrowing and focusing directly on Marcus's face. She flipped a switch on the object she carried and deftly chucked it straight at Marcus, who summarily snatched it in midair and brought it close up to study it. The item Mei had thrown whirred to life as its components moved around, a bright sizzling light blazing out between the prongs on the end, causing Marcus to recoil slightly.
Is that...her ionic torch? Izuku wondered as he helplessly watched the scene unfold through squinted eyes.
Marcus inspected the seemingly innocuous torch for several moments before laughing condescendingly. The bright light was little more than a mild irritant compared to Izuku's magic. "You thought a fancy flashlight would do anything to me, girl!?" He laughed derisively.
"It's not a flashlight, it's an ionic torch!" Mei retorted as she abruptly turned tail and began flying away. "One that tends to blow up when you turn it all the way to max power right away!"
Marcus didn't even have enough time to properly register Mei's words before the torch he held to his face abruptly exploded, scorching his exposed head in a rush of incendiary heat and flame. He jerked about wildly, screaming from the intense pain that blindsided him. Marcus's frenzied movements gave Izuku and Logan the opportunity they needs to jostle themselves loose of his tight bonds.
"Alright, just what we needed!" Izuku yelled as he flexed his hands, preparing to weave his next spell. "I'll get you another opening—!"
"No!" Logan growled, dashing forward with his eyes dead set on Marcus's writhing body. "I'll get you your opening! You just prepare to finish it!"
Izuku opened his mouth to protest, but any words would've been drowned out by the ferocious roar Logan let loose when he launched himself at Marcus, claws poised perfectly to strike. Marcus locked eyes with his assailant right as Logan swung his left arm, driving his claws through Marcus's cheeks, skewering his mouth and slamming him down on the ground. Marcus's cries of agony and thrashing only escalated as Logan kept him pinned.
"Now, kid!" Logan roared as he twisted the claws harpooned in Marcus's mouth, digging them into the ground beneath them.
Izuku flew up above them both, cloak billowing majestically behind him as his fingers cackled with resplendent electricity. He looked down and saw Logan refusing to budge from his spot.
"I need you to get out of the way!" Izuku cried out.
"It's fine, kid!" Logan yelled back. "I can handle any spell you throw at me—gak!" Logan bit his cheeks to suppress the surging pain he was assailed with. He glanced down and saw that Marcus had impaled his abdomen with several wickedly sharp dark spikes, the bloodied appendages flailing madly as they tried to pry Logan off their conjurer.
"Logan...!" Izuku gasped fearfully as he watched the spikes run his ally through.
"END IT!" Logan roared as he coughed up a significant amount of blood.
"NO!" Marcus roared right back, his flails becoming more and more desperate as he saw past Logan and saw the lightning building in Izuku's hands. "I won't let it end here...! I won't allow myself to fall to your damned Quirks...!"
Izuku slowly inhaled as he locked eyes with Marcus, swallowing whatever regret and remorse remained and allowing his resolve to fully blossom along with his lightning.
"I'm not using a Quirk," Izuku said softly before unleashing the full torrent of his spell directly upon Logan and Marcus's bodies. "BOLTS OF BEDEVILMENT!"
The crackling of lightning and the dying screams of Marcus dominated the night air. The park and the surrounding blocks were briefly illuminated white and yellow before the light inevitably faded along with Izuku's spell, leaving two sizzling bodies in its wake.
Only one of the bodies got back up to his feet. Logan stumbled back over to Izuku's side as his wounds slowly but surely dissipated, his impaled abdomen closing shut and the burns all over his arms and backside from the bolts fading out of existence. Both Izuku and Logan observed Marcus lying squarely on his back, breathing raggedly as his once shadowy body seemed to flake and crumble away into numerous sizzling embers.
"What do you know..." Marcus rasped, chuckling lightly as he kept his grey eyes locked on the sky above him. "I can't...feel anything anymore..."
Izuku winced as his pity and remorse reemerged.
"Ah..." Marcus sighed as his torso and legs fully crumbled away, his ashy remains carried away into the Manhattan sky by the November breeze. "Painless...exactly what I wanted..."
"Marcus," Izuku spoke as he cautiously stepped toward the fading man. "I know you'll never believe me, but...I really dounderstand your pain. The injustice of having people with Quirks trying to keep you down at seemingly every opportunity...so much of what you've had to endure was undeserved, I know. But the pain we live with and carry in our hearts—even if its pain we'd rather live without—we should always allow it to help define us, instead of letting it dominate and corrupt us. People are more than their pain...don't you remember?"
Marcus tilted his head up just enough to look at Izuku, the rage in his eyes having melted away into a look of serenity and calm...and the symbol of Dormammu on his forehead had burned away as well.
"Unfortunately," Marcus murmured with one final, weak smile. "I don't..."
Marcus's head collapsed into a sooty pile along with the rest of his body, the wind collecting and scattering what was left of his ashen remains across the park.
Izuku fell to his knees, choking back a sob just as a portal opened up across the park, a pale Doctor Strange rushing through, swiveling his head until he caught sight of his student. Panicked eyes met listless ones and Strange seemed to understand the situation immediately.
"Strange," Logan grunted as he walked forward, giving Izuku a consolatory pat on the shoulder as he passed by. "Nice of you to join us, Houdini."
"Logan," Strange spoke softly, a hint of surprise evident in his voice. "You...helped my student?"
"You got a problem with that, bub?" Logan glowered as he strode past Strange.
"No," Strange replied, turning to watch the man retrieve his scorched jacket from where he'd left it. "It's just a bit surprising since, like me, you aren't a legal Pro Hero."
That certainly caused Izuku's ears to perk. The boy raised his head and stared at the man's retreating backside with confusion etched on his face.
"Wait!" Izuku called out. Logan stopped in his tracks. "If you aren't a Pro Hero, then...why?"
Logan was silent for a few moments before he reached into one of the pockets of his ruined jacket. He pulled out an obnoxiously large Cuban cigar and approached the still flaming wreckage of one of the destroyed vendors. He brushed the tip of the cigar against the flaming metal and promptly stuck it in his mouth, puffing out smoke.
"Well, kid," Logan said with a barely visible grin. "Just consider it payment for a few things you did...or rather, for a few things you've yet to do."
Both Strange and Izuku gave Logan curious stares as he stalked off into the night.
"My name's Izuku Midoriya!" Izuku called out to Logan before he fully disappeared from view. "Not just 'kid'!"
"Yeah, I know!" Logan barked back before the darkness of the night removed him from view entirely.
You are quite an anomaly, Logan, Strange furrowed his brow and pondered as he stared off toward where that man just was. The first widely reported Quirk in the world was from the city of Qingqing, China, and yet...you were born way before that incident, weren't you?
"Back to the drawing board for you, huh...?" Izuku heard Mei's lamentable voice. He turned his head and saw that she had landed a fair distance away and was cradling several broken components in her hands—her ionic torch.
"Hatsume!" Izuku yelled as he bolted towards her, sliding to her side as she picked up what remained of her torch's singed prongs. "A-are you okay?"
"'Sentient Fabric', huh?" Mei glanced at Izuku with narrowed, teasing eyes. "I didn't know that animating clothes involved flaming whips or bolts of lightning."
"Eh?" Izuku blinked before laughing apologetically. "G-guess I should at least be honest with how that was a complete lie, huh? Still...thank you. You really saved me back there."
"You're welcome!" Mei beamed and punched Izuku in the arm. "Although you definitely owe me now! I expect you to come to me and only me for your Support tech for at least the entirety of your first year at U.A!"
"Yeah, I will, promise!" Izuku said embarrassedly.
"One thing I don't understand, though," Mei said, casting a curious glance at Izuku. "Why did you lie about your Quirk?"
Oh crap. "Well, you see—" Izuku began, carefully considering how to best explain his lie with his teacher present in the plaza, before he found his backside and cloak suddenly embroiled in a sticky substance of some kind. Mei let out a startled yell as she was likewise tangled in the sticky webbing.
Wait, Izuku realized. Webbing...?
"I got two of them, Mr. Stark!" An excited voice rang out across the night sky as a figure landed silently before them.
"You really shouldn't call me by my real name when we're on duty, kid," Another voice, more casual this time, rang out. "It's not professional!"
Izuku and Mei turned their heads as a metallic, armored man landed flew toward them, his repulsors slowing him to a halt as he landed with a 'clunk'.
"Oh my God..." Izuku gawked at the red-and-blue spider costume that emerged into view.
"I can't believe it..." Mei stared dumbstruck at the gold-and-red armored suit striding towards them.
"It's Spider-Man!"
"It's Iron Man!"