5: Reposition
Izuku should have known better. At the time, he'd been too wrapped up in that sensation that Shigaraki had stirred up in his gut, and he hadn't really thought about the implications of what he was doing. Spending whole months with super-human strength, speed and resistance has apparently dulled his idea of what danger is, because what he's facing now is so much more terrifying than getting attacked by Shigaraki and the League of Villains.
Tachibana's eyes are blood red and smoldering. Beside her, Kābā looks ready to turn him into a sculpture for fun, like he doesn't know if skin and bone probably won't transmute without a mess but he's more than willing to find out. And of course, behind his two friends, are the incredulous stares of Tachibana's group of friends, whom he'd unwittingly blown off the day before.
When he bows to that little group and apologizes for being rude, only to get swatted on the head, squawking indignantly and rubbing his curls when the blow actually stings some, the stares only get even more shocked.
"Tachibana-san, I said I'm sorry!" Izuku whines.
"You think that matters!" Tachibana's shouts already chased every other student from the rooftop for lunch, leaving the group of four to stare at the two continuously abuse Izuku for his error the day before. "You left us behind! When we got everyone together to prove you're not an idiot!"
"I thought I was proving that I wasn't a delinquent…" Izuku mutters.
Kābā snorts, "That's today. Yesterday was to prove you weren't a delinquent."
"At least they don't think…"
"I'm pretty much convinced that you're a serial killer." The single boy pipes up from the group behind Tachibana. Izuku winces as Tachibana whirls on him, and the boy's eyes drop to the rooftop. Apparently Izuku is right to be afraid of Tachibana's wrath. "I mean, who runs off to chase down a villain who attacked All Might? That's a dumb excuse. That's all, Tachi-chan."
Izuku frowns, trying to ignore the way the other boy grumbles.
Well, I guess there's no one else who would know that All Might is… Izuku looks at the roof and sighs. Not like I can blame them for thinking I'm crazy.
"Forget all that!" Izuku blinked when Tachibana whirls on him again, eyes still full of bloody wrath. "You chased a supervillain! What were you thinking!"
"I couldn't just let him wander around, what if he'd attacked someone…?" Izuku tries, barely able to raise his voice from 'pathetic' to 'kind of lame'.
"You always say you're not a hero, but that's what heroes are for, you idiot!" Tachibana growls. "One day you're running into a burning building, the next you're chasing a supervillain! I don't care if you're bulletproof, if you have super speed and strength! Hell, I wouldn't care if you were All Might's apprentice!"
Izuku winces, because that one stings. All Might wouldn't have chosen someone like him in the first place, but even then, if the hero could, he needed to, which… wasn't a nice thought.
"What if he'd caught you and attacked you? You don't know if he could've killed you!" Tachibana pokes him in the arm hard enough to snap his attention back up. "What about the rest of us, huh? What are we supposed to do if you go and die?"
"I didn't even fight him, Tachibana-san." Izuku sighs. Before she can start in on him again, he continues, "Look, a friend of mine is in the class that got attacked. When I heard that all that happened, I got a hold of the reports and… What that villain did, I can't forgive him. At first, I just followed him around the mall, but those kids were there too! I watched him stalk them and I realized that if I just left him alone, he could really hurt someone. It wouldn't have even been a challenge, just a quick swipe to activate his quirk and leave the mall in chaos. It's not… It's not about me, or even about spending time with other people. No one else would have noticed. No one else could have kept an eye on him. And if I'd called the pros?"
"That's what normal people do!" Tachibana growled, stomping a foot like a kid throwing a tantrum. Izuku sighed.
"I've been scolded by the same hero five times, twice for getting shot and once for walking out of a hostage situation where I was the hostage. I really, really doubt that they could've done more to help unless I'd picked the right one, and I don't exactly have them on speed dial." He sighs again, because none of this really matters. "Look, I'm really sorry, Tachibana-san, but I wouldn't do it any different. Even if everyone wants to yell and scream at me, I think I did the right thing."
"No one is saying you didn't do the right thing, dummy." Kābā snorts, then chops Izuku on the head playfully. "What we're trying to say is that you put yourself in danger again. And this wasn't something like a fire or a bullet or a knife. Villains are dangerous, the real ones at least. Tachibana-chan is worried about you."
Izuku slumps a little more, but he chuckles when the girl's ire turns on Kābā.
"Who said you could call me that?!" Kābā yelps as her foot slams down on his, leaving him floundering for a moment until he can cradle the injured limb. Her eyes aren't nearly as angry when she turns back to him, but they're sad now too and that hurts just as much. "He's right, though. Stop throwing yourself around like this before you end up hurting yourself."
Izuku sighs again, this time for a different reason, and nods.
"I'll… do my best, Tachibana-san." She nods once, then sits and starts eating, which is apparently the cue for all of them. Izuku blinks when her friends look at him with a bit les… distaste than before. The tall one, he notes, stares at him intently for a few moments before they all fall into a rhythm that Izuku is sure must have started during the previous day.
He's a little too envious of how easy it seems, with Kābā and Tachibana and the rest, whose names he still doesn't have the pleasure of knowing.
"Yo, Midoriya, what are you doing for summer break anyways?" Kābā calls through a mouthful of his lunch. Izuku frowns.
"Um… working out and doing my projects I guess?"
Something about the way he says it catches everyone's eye, and Izuku suddenly wishes he'd kept that last bit to himself.
"Projects?"
"Oh, yeah, you never did show me all those spots you cleaned up!" Kābā grins, glancing at their little group one by one. "Midoriya here is a bit of a local legend, actually."
"Wait, wait, what's he even talking about?" Tachibana's eyes flush green and blue, mixing and changing across both eyes as she turns to look at him.
"I just… I try to help out where I can." Izuku blushes at the glint in Kābā's eye.
"You're trying not to call it community service, aren't you?"
"They think I'm a serial killer!" Izuku squawks. "I… It's not really service anyways, I just went and did stuff as part of my jogging route. People ask sometimes, and it just… kept going."
Kābā just rolls his eyes.
"What he means is," The others, Tachibana included, turn to look at him with wide and curious eyes as he keeps picking through his lunch, "While he was on his journey of self-discovery, Midoriya started cleaning up Musutafu as a side gig. And helping shop owners with things. I actually found an article from a couple months ago about him cleaning up a local river and how much it helped the community."
"The only problem is…" Izuku flinches as Kābā rolls his eyes at him and pokes his chopsticks towards Izuku's chest. "Midoriya does everything anonymously, and he's basically a vigilante at this point. Between the police using his bad luck to save people in hostage situations and him rescuing folks out of burning buildings, he's got a ton of little restoration projects and part time jobs."
"Look, it's not really that big of a deal." Izuku sighs. Tachibana's eyes flash indigo, the color he's come to recognize as disbelief from how often she looks at him with that particular shade, and she snaps at him with a pouting expression.
"You walk into burning buildings for fun. Your opinion doesn't count."
Kābā's agreed that he could use more fresh air and offered to join Izuku on his run, if only to see the overzealous routine Izuku built up. Izuku isn't sure if he's glad that Tachibana's friends don't want to show up when he offers for them to join, or if he's let Tachibana down. Knowing that the feelings of guilt aren't going away doesn't help much, so he heads home and tries to help cook dinner instead of dwelling on everything.
Dinner is nice that night, if only because his mother smiles more widely when she hears about his new friends. All two of them, and the four who still aren't entirely sure he's not a murderer.
Summer, though brings Izuku to a new problem. Without classes, his study time is cut almost in half unless he looks ahead (which he does, despite how odd it all looks) and he's lost his after-class time with Kurobayashi-sensei.
Part of him puts of it off, if only because Tachibana and Kābā will definitely think he's crazy. But later that night, when he can't sleep, he ends up looking for a new project to 'help' on.
"You know," Kābā stares at him with a bit of fear in his eyes as Izuku gets up after his usual routine the next morning. "I thought you were joking about that whole… three hundred a day thing."
Izuku snorts and brushes the sand from his clothes. Dagobah is a hot spot, but early enough in the mornings there isn't a soul in sight.
"Whatever this is, I'm not going to risk losing it now that people expect me to stay bulletproof." He mutters.
"Actually, I have a question. I asked you about your punches before and you said something about a wake." Kābā glances out towards the surf. "You didn't mean…"
"I only tried once or twice." Izuku says, opening and closing his fingers experimentally. "And that was months ago. Before high school."
Kābā grins like crazy and hops to his feet. Izuku rolls his eyes.
"C'mon, let's see it!"
"You're not going to be so excited when someone comes down here asking about quirk usage." Izuku sighs, tossing off his jacket and heading down towards the waterline. He frowns at his fist for a second, imagining what All Might had looked like during the Mud-man incident. Then he shakes himself and settles into his stance, the one that he's spent months learning to fall back on and pulls his arm back. "Full power."
For the first time in a long time, he punches through the mental dummy he's created, throwing his entire body behind the punch. A roar fills the air as the water parts down the line of his punch. The trough easily reaches out to the horizon, as if a truck had taken off along the surface at supersonic speeds. When he pulls back and sighs, a manic laugh starts up behind him.
"Kābā…"
"Midoriya, holy… you just parted the freaking ocean! With a PUNCH!"
"Kābā!"
"Dude, you're… I mean, this is…"
"Can we just…" Izuku motions weakly for them to leave. Kābā snorts.
"One day, Midoriya, you're not going to be able to avoid people's reactions. But yeah, sure."
They start jogging again, and Kābā gives him a bit of time before he says anything else.
"So, you're working on those community service things today?" He eventually asks. Izuku grunts in affirmation. "Do you ever… I don't know, Midoriya, do things just for fun?"
"I'm… I mean," Izuku stops and stares at the street as he thinks back on the past year and a half. "Honestly, I haven't done much other than work on stuff and work out since my third year of junior high school."
"I figured as much. You said you were a big hero nerd before, right?" Kābā slaps him on the shoulder. "Aren't there any old hobbies or something that you can pick up again?"
"I… I don't really want much to do with heroes anymore. It's one thing to know about quirks. I like quirks. But I'm not super big on heroes. No more than the news and rankings." Izuku sighs.
"Well, that's fine. But we should try and find some time to enjoy summer, you know? It sucks we don't have a school trip, but we can always hang out!" Kābā pushes Izuku along somewhat until Izuku shakes himself and starts walking on his own.
"Y-yeah… that would be fun?"
"Why does everything you say sound like a question? I'm offering!"
"I just… I dunno. I've got a bad feeling I guess."
"Midoriya, I seriously doubt we've got anything to worry about while you're around."
"Maybe you're happy taunting the universe, but could you leave me out of it? I've got enough on my plate just trying to be normal."
"Normal is overrated!" Kābā snickers, resuming their jog. Izuku huffs, but he's smiling when he starts jogging to catch up.
Izuku stares at the television screen in shock.
"That… Is that a mole person?" His mother asks quietly. Izuku nods. "Is that a quirk?"
"I… I don't know. I assume so." Izuku sighs. "What else could it be?"
The look she gives him makes him want to cry, but he giggles instead.
"Honey you know I'll support you in whatever I can but… You know firsthand that quirks aren't everything." Inko shakes her head. For a little while, they watch as the mole villain fights a pair of heroes, Kamui Woods and Death Arms (those two again…?), and eventually Inko frowns. "Should you…?"
"Mom, I'm not a vigilante." He grumbles. A sinking feeling begins to grow in his chest until his leg is bouncing up and down. Inko leans back a bit and frowns at him.
"Izuku."
"Hmm?"
"Just go, honey. I'll make lunch while you're gone."
"But…"
"They don't look like things are going to get any better any time soon. Just go ahead." Inko gives him a smile. "You won't feel right just leaving it, will you?"
"I…" Izuku sighs and grabs two handfuls of his hair before he groans and stands up. "I'll be back in a bit…"
"Come home safe, oh, and grab some green onions, would you?"
"Sure, mom!"
By the time he arrives, the mole person is fighting off three heroes, including a rather frustrated group of police. Izuku watches from a nearby rooftop for a little bit before he sighs and looks at his watch.
"If the time is right then… Why haven't they called him, though?" He groans as Death Arms takes a blow to the gut and goes flying. Calling the villain a 'mole person' wasn't very accurate now that Izuku is looking at him. The villain stands at least twelve feet tall, probably taller, and he's got four arms and multiple eyes. "Probably some type of insect quirk? Or… definitely a metamorphic one, but it's not the same…"
When Izuku hops off the rooftop and lands in the police line, just about everyone screams before realizing who he is. A few who don't know try pushing him out towards the edge until he crosses his arms and frowns.
"Why haven't you called Present Mic? He's the best hero for the job if that thing came from underground." Izuku calls out, ignoring the quaking ground. The police look around, all confused by his question until he groans and pushes through to the front of the police line. "Do you guys even know who this guy is?"
"He called himself the subterranean king, or something like that." One of the officers Izuku recognizes says with a frown. Behind them, a small row starts up between the officers who know Izuku and the ones who don't. Izuku chooses to ignore it.
"How long has this even been going on?" Izuku sighs.
"Twenty minutes? We're in deep if it keeps up. Traffic is frozen for three blocks around." The officer glances at him. "Are you…?"
"I mean… My mom said I could." Izuku shrugs. The officer raises his eyebrows, then makes a little noise. "But Death Arms won't appreciate it."
For a little bit, Izuku watches as Death Arms goes in after the Subterranean King person, getting taken out with two of the villains' arms tied behind his back. There are purple sashes tied around the man's torso (carapace?) with four handles that Izuku really doesn't like. On the edges of the hole, he thinks he can see movement, but that's not something he really wants to think about either, so he focuses on Kamui Woods and Death Arms getting beat into the ground.
"I'm tired of you! If these are your champions, then the surface dwellers stand no chance against me!" The four handles are drawn from the villain's body and blades of orange energy pour out in a way that earns a bit of Izuku's attention. At least until they turn Kamui Woods' branches into charcoal and nearly turn Death Arms into mincemeat. When the hero trips and finds himself helpless again the third blade, Izuku moves.
Even moving at half second speeds, Izuku can see the blades simmering and moving. He grimaces as he slams a foot down and tosses the hero into the air back the way he'd come. For a moment he stares at the oversized man crawling through the air in the direction Izuku had tossed him, before he shrugs and glances up at the Subterranean King. All four eyes are starting to narrow as he sidesteps the blades and frowns at the hulking villain.
"You are not my opponent, human child!" The King roars. Izuku shrugs.
"Does it really matter?" He asks. "By the way, what's your quirk? Metamorphic, or is it those blades? Maybe a mix of gigantification and the…"
(Two blades carve through the pavement like butter where he'd first landed, but Izuku is already striding around the villain in a circle. A glance down into the hole confirms that, yes, those are in fact things moving down there in the walls of the massive hole and nope nope NOPE Izuku doesn't like that.)
"-insect metamorphic? Like, I don't know, a compound quirk? That's the only real explanation, I feel like you'd be hard to miss-"
A growl leaves the villain's throat as he misses the horizontal swipe with two more blades. Izuku pauses beside the ones he didn't use and grimaces at the heat.
"Are these things made of flaming metal or something? Did you make them?"
"WHAT ARE YOU?! If you came to save your kind, then FIGHT ME LIKE A CHAMPION SHOULD! I AM THE SUBTERRANEAN KING!" The villain roars.
"Yeah, I got that. I'm just curious I guess." Izuku hums. "All right, fine, let's go then."
A sound, almost like pleased gurgling, comes out of the villain's mouth parts and Izuku shivers as he slips a foot back into his stance.
"I won't hold back against a child, so…"
Izuku's first blow hits hard enough that the villain bends over and earns a very different gurgling noise. He frowns as the creature swings his blades again. Moving at half second speed, he dodges around the blades relatively easily, moving to the villain's side and throwing another punch at his second gear. The villain stumbles forward, then speeds up some and swings his blades in quick succession.
The heat coming off those things is serious… I better end this quickly. Everyone is just going to get more worried the longer this goes on. Izuku frowns. Gotta end it before the heroes get involved again.
"You're powerful for a child, but you puny surface dwellers will never break my armURGh!" A quiet scream splits the air as Izuku's fist slams into the villain's side and leaves a spiderweb of cracks across the carapace.
"Man, you're tough… it takes my third gear to do that, huh?" Izuku mutters. "All right, let's settle this then."
"W-wait…!"
"You had a chance to stop." Izuku frowns as the four eyes turn to him, wider than he thought an insect quirk should have been able to manage. "But I don't have long to finish this up, so just go down quietly, please!"
A cry escapes the air as Izuku's fifth combo lands and 'The Subterranean King' collapses onto the ground, dead blades falling to the pavement from lifeless limbs. Izuku sighs and bounces on the balls of his feet a couple times.
He startles some when Kamui Woods lands on the ground beside the villain.
"You… you're that boy who gets kidnapped all the time." The hero's eyes narrow. Izuku frowns, then sighs and reaches down to grab one of the dead sword handles.
"Would it kill you guys to be grateful just once…?" Izuku mutters as he wanders towards the police line, ignoring Kamui Woods noise of disbelief. Death Arms is red in the face as he stalks over to the line and hops over the barrier, stuffing the blade handle in the back of his shorts. Before the hero can comment, the police force are swarming him. Eventually, the hero gets angry enough to push through the group and push a finger against Izuku's chest.
"Kid, you don't have a license! You can't just get involved without consequences!" Death Arms crosses his arms and glares down at him. "This time you broke the law, and I'm not…"
"Would you rather I sat back and watch you die?" Izuku sighs, staring the hero dead in the eye. "Are you going to arrest me, sir?"
"You know…" The officer beside Izuku is grinning when he taps his chin 'thoughtfully'. "I'm pretty sure I saw him jump in to help you, then get attacked. Wouldn't that count as self-defense, Death Arms?"
"Not if he leapt the police line!" Death Arms gapes at the man, watching a wave of muttering run through the police. Izuku swallows a grin, then bites his lip till it truly passes. "He got himself involved, you can't just ignore that!"
"At worst, he crossed a police line." The police officer hums. "But considering he leapt in to save a hero from a powerful villain, and only reacted in self-defense, I'd be hard pressed to find a judge who would give him more than a fine, sir. And, honestly, I didn't even see him actually cross the line, nor did I order him to stay put. Midoriya just appeared out there and saved you."
"You're willing to break your oath to keep him safe?" Death Arms scoffed.
"He really didn't, I just asked him a few questions and then I lost control. But, Death Arms, if you want to take me to the station that's fine." Izuku blinked. "Oh, wait. I need to pick up green onions. Can we stop by a market on the way there?"
"You…" Death Arms' jaw drops as Izuku stares up at him with a neutral expression.
"What? My mom asked me to get them when I left the house!"
The next day, he gets a text from Kābā, inviting Tachibana and Izuku to come meet at his place. When Tachibana finds out that Izuku made the news again, she agrees a little too readily for Izuku to feel comfortable with it, but he can't say no.
It's the first time he's been invited out since… since grade school, isn't it?
When he's halfway to Kābā's apartment from the station, his phone rings.
"Hey, Midoriya… uh, we've got a bit of a problem." Izuku frowns.
"Is everything okay? Should I head home, or do I need to pick something up?" He pushes out of the foot traffic and pauses under an awning, glancing at the high-rise apartment building down on the next block.
"Well, there's a hold up in the lobby. It seems like everything's handled, but could you just… Not use the front doors? That way you can surprise the villains."
"Kābā, are the police…"
"Someone called them, apparently, but it's not like you need to be worried about it. Look, my place is on the tenth floor, and I opened up the patio. West side, the opposite side of the front doors. Just hop up here and then we'll work something out, all right?"
"Tenth floor? Isn't that kind of extreme?"
"Do you think you can make it?" Izuku pauses, then sighs.
"Probably."
"Great. I know you're gonna blame yourself but it's really not a big deal, okay? Let's just hang out, don't go rushing in and getting involved or anything."
"Fine, fine. I'll be there in a bit." Izuku sighs and continues down the street, shoving his phone in his bag. As it happens, there's a limo parked out front and a couple guys Izuku really doesn't think are on the payroll. Looking around finds him standing in a back alley between Kābā's building and another, shorter one.
"All right, Izuku, no big deal, just… ten stories." Izuku sighs, then crouches and grunts as he jumps. He counts five stories before he lands, trying to keep his feet light as he hits the ground. The next one gets him all the way up to the eighth floor, but his landing cracks the ground some. With a groan, he shakes his head and counts five different balconies spanning the floor. Pulling out his phone, he dials his friend again.
"Hey, are you almost here?"
"Uh, yeah, but… which balcony is it?"
"Oh, shit, of course… Fourth one from the street."
"Okay. I'm coming up now." Izuku pockets the phone again and moves down, crouching and focusing on the power that had taken him up to the eighth floor. After a couple experimental bounces, he leaps up with a little more force, glad he doesn't hear the sound of shattered pavement as he flies up and just makes it over the rail of Kābā's balcony. When he touches down, Tachibana, Kābā and the tall girl from Tachibana's friends all stare at him with wide eyes.
"Uh… hey. So, villains?" Izuku tries a shaky smile, and Kābā breaks out in a storm of cackling.
"You… You actually did it?!" Kābā half chokes on his laughter. "You jumped ten stories?!"
"Uh…"
"You climbed up, right?" The tall girl chirps, looking at him with a face full of disbelief. Tachibana's eyes are wide, light blue and too stunned to even speak, apparently. Izuku shrugs.
"I… no, I jumped. It just took a couple tries to make sure I didn't crack the pavement… Oh no." Izuku turns a hurt look on Kābā. "There's no villain, is there?"
"N-no!" Kābā wheezes, slapping the floor with one hand as he rolls onto his other side. "My sides, M-Midoriya, my sides…!"
"You really just… jumped ten stories?" The girl mutters. "That's a great quirk, I guess. Like Miruko?"
"Oh, I'm quirkless, actually."
Izuku is getting used to the beat of silence that passes when he tells people that. When she continues staring at him, he pulls his wallet from his pocket and hands her the doctor's confirmation. She reads it once, twice, then glances up at him and reads it a third time before handing it back to him.
"So… you climbed up, right?"
"No, I jumped."
"Do it again."
Izuku sighs, then shoots another hurt look at Kābā, who's barely calmed down enough to wipe his eyes and is wheezing something about 'too pure for his own good' (which Izuku doesn't appreciate at all, he's socially awkward not stupid), before he walks to the balcony. The girl follows him, then glances over the drop.
"Here goes, I guess." Izuku hops over the railing without a thought, ignoring the choked cry of fright from the girl when he drops off the rail. Touching down burns his calves some, but he avoided breaking the street still, so he considers it a win. When he looks up at the tenth floor and sees three heads poking out, he sighs and pulls out his phone. Kābā picks up after a second, then steps back some to make room.
They're back before he can jump again, so he resigns himself to figuring it out on the fly and jumps again. His friends (he's handed this girl the doctor's notice, he might as well call her a friend, right?) gape as he lands on the lip of the balcony in a crouch, correcting his overbalanced perch some before his feet hop down onto the balcony again.
"Are you sure you can't fly?" Kābā asks quietly. Izuku shrugs.
"I haven't really tried, but if I jumped at top speed it could work? I don't know how I'd maneuver, though." Izuku turns to the third person and manages a weak smile. "Um… yeah, this is kinda… the whole thing. The police kept picking me up because I get caught up in attacks all the time, not because I was in trouble. I was a witness."
"…Mhmm," She hums, eyes wide as she stares at him over Tachibana, and he can't help noticing that her eyes aren't actually black but a very dark shade of blue.
"Midoriya-kun." Tachibana says suddenly, eyes still wide and entirely light blue. "Lets… How about you don't jump off buildings anymore? I think I almost died for a second there."
"Sorry Tachibana-san." Izuku mutters. "I didn't really think about it."
The response to that is more laughter from Kābā and more staring from the new girl, as well as a heavy sigh from Tachibana.
Kābā's apartment, as it happens, is a lot bigger than Izuku's. The living room itself is easily as big as his own and then some, and there's a whole attached kitchen instead of a joined kitchenette. When Kābā throws himself onto the couch Izuku pales a bit.
"Make yourself at home, bunny rabbit!" Kābā giggles. Both girls take the loveseat beside Kābā's couch, so Izuku pulls a stool out from the bar and pushes it up beside the couch (Kābā is sprawled across the whole thing, which doesn't exactly leave him much choice).
"Um… obviously you know, but, I'm Midoriya Izuku." Izuku bows slightly in his seat then flinches as Tachibana's eyes flash bright yellow/pink and his friend begins to panic.
"Oh my god I never got to introduce everyone to Midoriya!"
"Oh yeah, you were getting lost while I was making the introductions…" Kābā mutters. "Whoops."
"Sokuchi Ruby." The woman mutters.
"Oh… Uh," Izuku chokes back a shout as his internal fanboy rises up and gets (metaphorically) shoved back off the balcony. "N-nice to m-meet you."
"You okay there Midoriya?" Kābā cocks an eyebrow at him. Izuku grimaces and slams a fist down on his bouncing leg.
"Fine."
"Good. So, remember how I said you were famous before?" Kābā sits up and whips out his phone before tossing it to Tachibana. "You're, like, easily one of the biggest things in Musutafu ward now. And you're in the top ten news stories across the country. The only things more popular than you are the failed takeover on I-island and the failed raid on the League."
Izuku almost asks for the phone when Tachibana frowns at the screen and starts reading it out loud.
"A villain attack randomly yesterday morning had the crowd of onlookers and police worried for half an hour before the event was finally put to rest by a very unlikely source. Witnesses report that while pro heroes Death Arms and Kamui Woods were having trouble with the villain for a majority of the time and eventually were defeated. Death Arms, who denied an interview, is rumored to have been saved by the timely intervention of a green haired youth. The young man with green hair, who was caught on camera saving people from an apartment complex fire a few weeks ago, arrived on scene and defeated the villain with a stunning display of speed and strength, enough to end the villain attack in two attacks. This video, slowed down as far as we could given the quality, proves that the boy's speed far exceeds anything we'd thought possible from the young vigilante. This seems to be his second media report, but the rumors of people being saved by this person over the past year have been pouring through the phones ever since the reports of the Subterranean King went public…"
Izuku groans as she trails off.
"I haven't helped that many people…!"
"Weren't you just telling us that you weren't going to put yourself in danger like this?!" Izuku flinches as she leaps up and glares at him. "What were you thinking!"
"Tachi-chan!" Izuku's eyes go wide when Kābā calls her that, but somehow their friend gets her attention with it. "Before you give Midoriya that rant, I think you should see something."
"Why are you on his side all of a sudden?!" Tachibana shouts. Kābā just grins.
"You just watched him jump ten stories. Have you seen him punch something yet?" Kābā grins. Izuku slumps into his chair.
"Can we go a day without our friendship revolving around my…" Izuku trails off because he isn't sure what to call it. He frowns as he fumbles for the words.
"Maybe if you want this to stop being about you," Tachibana growls, glaring at him with eyes turning orange and black and yellow (colors Izuku isn't entirely sure about yet), "You should stop being… this."
"You just pointed to all of me." Izuku stares at her blankly. Kābā snickers.
"Yes." Tachibana crosses her arms and nods, smirking triumphantly. "You need to stop being all of you."
"Hey, Midoriya." Ruby's voice catches him off guard. Tachibana flops onto the couch beside Kābā, whisper-muttering something as the boy scrolls through his phone, and Izuku turns to Ruby as the tall girl stretches out on her loveseat. For a second, his brain short circuits. "Midoriya."
"Huh?"
"How'd you even stumble across that fight with the villain, anyway?" Ruby asks. Something about her is quiet, compared to everyone else Izuku has known. It reminds him of Kurobayashi-Sensei, but it isn't the same. When she speaks, it's measured and nearly empty. Her eyes are dark, and there's no tell there. The feeling of being under her eye leaves him sweating somewhat.
"Oh, um… I was watching the news with my mom, actually, and I uh… I tried not to. Go and fight, I mean. Because getting involved was gonna be messy. But then, I saw it going badly and…" Izuku frowns as his leg continues bouncing on the chair. "Watching them get beat like that made me nervous. My mom told me to go."
"Your mom gave you the ok to go and fight a villain?" Ruby's eyebrow rises. Izuku chuckled weakly.
"She's… We had a talk. She knows everything I get involved with. Almost everything." Izuku frowns. "There's some stuff that's just. Too much."
"That makes sense." Izuku blinks at the easy smile on Ruby's face. "You just walked in and took care of it?"
"Oh, well Death Arms and I have a long… history, I guess. He doesn't like me." Izuku rubs a hand through his curls and grins, despite himself. "Saving him kinda made it worse. But the Police Force likes me well enough. They usually don't mind if I get involved, as long as no one else gets hurt, and they've… Uh, I doubt it's entirely legal, but they let me get involved."
"Like the time you saved us." Ruby nods. Izuku offers a nervous 'yes' when Tachibana shrieks.
"He can what?!"
Izuku sighs when the black mist appears in front of him. Considering it's just before dawn and he's running one of his newer jogging routes, Izuku can't complain about the timing. There's no better time for something like this to happen, even if he'd prefer it not happen at all. Now that people are talking about him, he's not terribly surprised that someone went to the trouble of actually finding him.
When the two men (one wears a dress shirt, waistcoat and slacks, despite being made of black mist, while the other has a full suit and an ominous black mask covered in pipes) step out, Izuku frowns. The one made of mist is carrying a small bag
"Uh… Hi." The pair stare at him for a second as he starts talking. He thinks that the yellow eyes on the mist guy are a little wider, as if he's raising eyebrows he doesn't have. Looking at people from a sideways plank is a bit awkward and being shirtless doesn't help. "You look important. Should I stand up? You kinda caught me in the middle of my routine, so…"
A chuckle radiated from the man in the mask.
"No, by all means. We're the ones coming to you, after all. Do you mind talking with me for a bit?" The way he says it is odd. As if he's amused, or maybe as if he's off balance. Whatever he was expecting, Izuku isn't surprised that it's not quite what he found.
"Well, I'll be here for a while. But if you're looking to kidnap me, I would prefer if we fought it out in a less populated area." Izuku mutters.
"Not at all. Kidnapping a child is beneath me." The man says. He waves a hand, and a chair appears beneath him. Izuku frowns as the mist man continues standing behind them, and the portal closes with a quiet woosh.
"What exactly does the leader of the League of Villains want with me, then." Izuku says, focusing on the where the man's eyes should be under the mask.
"I would be a fool if I wasn't scoping out All Might's apprentice early. Call it a personal interest," Izuku really wants to interrupt but the man raises his voice and speaks over him, so he waits, "in the boy who's quietly turned the city on its head over the past few months. Frankly, I never imagined that blonde buffoon would ever pick a successor who knew what the words stealth meant. Part of me imagined he would be picking from UA. It's a fresh change of pace to be proven wrong, and I wonder if you're the reason that I was proven wrong in the first place."
"Uh…" Izuku pauses as his alarm goes off. He blinks down at the phone, then stands up and pockets it. All of a sudden, he's very aware that he's standing in front of a murderous supervillain without a shirt and he's not sure how to feel about that. "Well, that's all… flattering?"
"I should hope so. Not everyone manages to prove the king of the underworld wrong even once in their lifetime." The man says. Several things try to come out all at once, and it leaves Izuku speechless in the end. He blinks at the man not unlike a shark, then frowns as several things click together in his head.
"You're the one who hurt All Might six years ago."
"I am." The man crosses a leg over his knee, then extends a hand casually to the side. Izuku can hear the smirk on his face. "Call me All for One."
Izuku frowns hard enough that it carves lines all the way to his teeth.
"And… even though I'm the one who found your hideout and called the cops, you're… not here to kill me?"
"Well, I was surprised at first. And I don't typically enjoy surprises, mind you." Izuku nods, because that sounds reasonable for a super villain, especially when the man says it as if he had originally intended to kill Izuku (which is also reasonable for a supervillain), "But then I looked at things more carefully and noticed a trend. You've been active since around the start of the school year, maybe a little before. Between that little incident, the small time criminal last year, and your time dealing with the Police recently, you've been treated rather harshly. Which is curious. Then I heard that you're not well liked by the local heroes, and I've been wondering why there wasn't a larger reaction to you discovering our hideout."
The man chuckles softly.
"Honestly, I'd imagined things would happen much faster. But I'd love to know, was it that blonde buffoon or the police who held off on that operation?" Izuku blinks at the cheery tone.
"Uh… I wasn't involved in that, actually. Beyond calling it in. I didn't know who would get to go on the raid, or that there would be a raid." Izuku shrugs, then reaches down and pulls on his jacket, leaving it unzipped just in case the man decides to attack. "And I don't have any connection to All Might."
The man pauses.
"I might be curious about you, but I don't enjoy lies." A murderous tension fills All for One. Izuku frowns as the villain leans forward and peers at Izuku. "Who else would chase me? Who else would go out of their way to stop these attacks, with that kind of power and speed? You are the ninth wielder of One for All, boy. I am not a fool. I would recognize the power I created anywhere."
"Power you…" Izuku's eyes widen as several things begin flying through his brain.
A creature with multiple quirks.
Reports under the 'confidential' status hidden behind several times more security than normal.
Someone who injured All Might, and apparently was important enough to be kept from the public.
Villains attacking UA for the first time ever, trying to kill All Might.
'King of the Underworld'.
'All Might's successor'.
'One for All'.
'All for One'.
A hand runs up, wiping across his forehead and then down his nose, pinching the bridge of his nose. Izuku takes a few deep breaths, then lets out a deep sigh that rattles a couple of his ribs.
"All Might can pass down his quirk?" Izuku mutters quietly. Something about the way he says it seems to make All for One hesitate. "And you injured him, so then… you're the one who caused all that. Him coming to Musutafu. To UA."
"Of course. But that idiot teaching, well, even I had to laugh at the idea." All for One settles back in his chair. There's no amusement in his tone this time. "If you're worried about divulging secrets, you've no reason to be. I know everything about One for All, even more than your mentor, perhaps. I'd prefer if we were both candid, after I came all the way out here. My patience is running thin as it is."
There's a lot of things Izuku wants to do. Normally, he'd probably be wanting to run around or punch something or scream. But there's the added pressure of standing in a relatively populated area with a literal super villain staring at him. While he's internally processing the chaos running through his brain, his mouth starts running, as usual.
"You… You have a way to take quirks. Or put make those monsters from that USJ incident, right?" Izuku mutters. All for One hums quietly.
"So, he really didn't tell you about me? About your power?" The villain sighs, as if he's disappointed. "I'm not terribly surprised. All Might was never very bright outside of combat. My quirk is the power to take and give quirks, young man. I am the leader of the world, or I was. Before your lineage took it on themselves to stand in my way."
"You were trying to take over the world." Izuku says. The man shrugs.
"Semantics." All for One waves a hand, then settles it back over his leg casually. "Now, I've answered enough of your questions. I'm rather tired of this… ignorance. What exactly is your plan, I wonder? Become another All Might, coming up from nowhere and suddenly taking over the hero industry? That's a foolish…"
"I'm quirkless." Izuku says, crossing his arms. There's a pause in the air that terrifies Izuku because he just interrupted a super villain's monologue so he decides to roll with it just because he may not get the chance to say it all before All for One actually gets over the fact that he was just interrupted. "All Might and I only ever met once, and he told me that I couldn't ever be a hero. I just happened to see Shigaraki and wanted to keep him from attacking anyone. Honestly, all those attacks I just got caught up in everything and had to walk out, but there's no… I'm not trying anything, there's no plan."
Izuku barely finishes when the man's hand twitches and black vines sprout from his fingers. On a whim, Izuku tosses off the jacket and takes the vines straight to his chest, staring at the man when they shatter weakly against his chest.
"Yeah, that only works if I want you to draw blood." Izuku hums. All for One doesn't move. "Look. We can do this all day. No one believes it. Seriously, you're not the first person who's thought I'm some kind of… prodigy. I'm just a quirkless kid with bad luck, and you're wasting your time here talking to me if you think there's some master plan out to stop your plotting."
"…Kurogiri." The mist man steps forward at All for One's call. "Give it to him."
Izuku frowns as misty portal man drops the sack at his feet. When All for One tips a finger and his mask towards the bag, Izuku drops to a knee and opens it. His eyes widen as he reaches in and pulls the small, unconscious child to his chest. All for One stands, buttons his coat once, and turns towards his subordinate. Before he leaves, he turns and regards Izuku through the mask, hands in his pockets.
"I came to find you because I wondered why the successor to One for All was being treated in such a way. As it stands, this changes a few things, but not my reason for bringing that. Regardless, leaving it with you will stir things up. Soon, villains everywhere will be after that, and they won't be playing nice. I think I'll watch you a bit longer. You're playing both sides now, young man. If, perhaps, you ever decide that the heroes aren't worth your time… Well, I might find you interesting for a little while longer, at least." All for One turns and steps into the portal, followed by the mist man barely a second later. Izuku growls, wishing that he was confident enough to fight the person who'd treated this little girl that way, then grabs his jacket and wraps her up in it.
As he pulls his phone from his pocket, a list pieces together in his brain.
There are plenty of people Izuku should probably talk to about the little girl in his care. Someone in the Police Force, a hero, Child Services…
Instead, he goes home. He drops the little girl in his mother's arms, tells her to pack a bag and that he needs her to trust him. For a few minutes, they stare at one another. Eventually she agrees, and she takes the little girl with her to her bedroom to do just that.
Maybe it helps that the girl whimpers and sweats through her rags in her sleep.
First, he calls the detective. The one who has been worming his way into Izuku's case, the lead detective on the USJ investigation, the only person on the Force that Izuku guesses isn't on All for One's payroll. Leaving a quirk like Lie Detection in the hands of the police doesn't seem like All for One's style.
His plan isn't actually a plan. There's a lot in his head that he isn't sure what to do with, a lot of guesses and ideas that leave him entirely unsure of how to proceed. At the top of his list is a little girl covered in bandages, but his mother is a better bet on that than he is. Which leaves the second and third things on his list: All Might and the Police Force.
Izuku decides not to sweat the details. He's out of time, patience, and self-preservation. Ever mindful of his mother and the little girl trailing behind him, Izuku stalks out of the train station towards UA. A brief instruction to follow when he reaches the front doors is the only warning he gives her.
When the barrier around UA slams up to keep Izuku out, he punches a hole through the metal and stalks up the front walk. The turrets that pop up shoot darts with quirk suppressants and tranquilizers and rubber bullets. At his top speed, Izuku rips them apart and reaches the front steps just before the sound barrier shatters at the front gate, wreathing him in a gale when he pushes into the school.
All Might, of course, is already there in the front entrance with Present Mic when he walks through the doors. Power Loader, Snipe, Thirteen and Hound Dog are all sprinting down the halls towards the front entrance when Izuku crosses his arms and locks eyes with All Might.
"You." Izuku can feel the anger in his cheeks and his ears when he sees All Might frown at him.
"Ah… Midoriya, if I remember correctly?" All Might pauses.
"Drop the charade." Izuku snarls. "You're wasting your time like that. Shut it down."
All Might's expression hardens.
"Young man, I'm afraid that you are in no position to make demands." For a second, he's not the crippled skeleton of a man that Izuku knows. He's the symbol of peace, and Izuku is the villain in his sights. Izuku takes a breath, then lets it out slowly and drops the bullets he'd caught up on his way in.
"I got a visit from a dead man this morning, All Might. He threatened to put a hole in my side, just like yours." Izuku growls, walking forward as if the hero isn't twice his size and more powerful than he'll probably ever be. The man's expressions twists in shock as Izuku glares up at him. "He was asking why your student wasn't going to UA, and he didn't like finding out I'm quirkless. See what I mean?"
Not five seconds later, All Might collapses into the coughing skeleton that Izuku had prayed he'd never see again. When the heroes around him gape at them, Izuku turns on his heel and walks to the door. His mother is just reaching the steps, staring at the heroes with fright plain on her face.
"Izuku, what exactly are you…"
"Mom." She takes a breath when he reminds her, quietly, of what he'd told her before. Then he turns and looks at the growing crowd of heroes. "We need your protection. There's a traitor on the Police Force, and this little girl is being hunted by villains."
"Kid, who are you?" Present Mic scratches his head, staring at him in disbelief. Izuku frowns.
"Just a kid trying to save people." Izuku stares at All Might as he says it. Despite himself, pat of him still aches when he remembers that day.
After his entrance, it takes ten minutes to get Tsukauchi, All Might and his mother into Nezu's office. Finding out that the detective-hero pair know one another is a punch to the gut that Izuku really wishes he didn't need to deal with. None of them dare to stop his pacing, apparently, so they stare at him with worried expressions and talk about the little girl while everyone gets the alarms and his mother's situation sorted out. Eventually, Recovery Girl takes them both. Izuku stands in front of the three men with a frown set deep on his face when the door closes behind them, gravitating towards All Might despite everything.
"So, Midoriya-kun. I take it you're the vigilante we've heard so much about?" Nezu asks cordially. Izuku narrows his eyes at the detective.
"No one told you that was me?" Tsukauchi takes off his hat and slumps into a chair, looking utterly defeated by Izuku's tone.
"Midoriya-kun, I can understand…"
"I really don't think you can." Izuku snaps. After a moment to reign himself in, Izuku lets out a long sigh and turns back to Nezu. "Yes, Principal Nezu, that was all me."
"I see. Now, why don't you explain why you felt the need to break into UA to make a point?" Nezu folds his paws and stares at Izuku with black eyes.
"All for One showed up on my morning run." Izuku says, ignoring the way Tsukauchi's eyes widen. "He thought I was All Might's successor, and he told me a few things about One for All before I managed to tell him about my quirklessness. Then he tossed that little girl at me and said that villains would be coming after her soon. The problem is, the only people who know about my jogging routes are the Police and my mother. I'm required to tell them because I get into so much trouble just by running around. Especially since they let me walk into a hostage situation and got me shot."
Izuku ignores the way All Might chokes. He won't ever let them forget that. Regardless of the fact that he has friends now, Izuku doesn't appreciate that incident.
"I see. That still doesn't explain your… reactions to All Might. Care to explain?" Nezu says carefully, sparing a glance at both of them. Izuku turns his eyes to the floor.
"I met All Might by chance over a year ago. I… I was… I accidentally latched onto his leg as he was leaving and saw his true form by mistake." Izuku says, sighing the whole thing in a rapid-fire sentence. "He told me someone quirkless couldn't be a hero. I gave up on my dream after that, but things… things haven't really given me much choice."
For almost a full minute, silence dominates the room.
"You said you're…" The principal pauses as the worn, folded papers with Izuku's diagnosis hit the desk. When he reads over it, he lays the paper on the desk and folds his paws again. "I see."
"Look. I'm not…" Izuku glanced at All Might, then back at Nezu. "I don't want anything to do with All Might. But All for One found me, and that little girl is going to be pursued by villains, and someone who knows my morning route gave that info away."
"You're ignoring the chance that someone tracked you there." Nezu said patiently.
"I changed to that route two days ago, and I haven't had a single incident." Izuku groans. "Even you didn't know who I was before today, sir. No one outside the police know who I am, or how involved I am, or… Anything, actually."
"I see. Well, it's not a horrible assumption. We've had some information leaks here as well, and that would support the idea that there's a network for the villains to track everyone involved." Nezu murmured. "So, Midoriya-kun, what are you looking for? Why come here?"
"Because of him." Izuku met All Might's eyes, then looked back to Nezu. "Because All Might was here, and because this place is full of heroes. Because there's a little girl involved, and my mom might not have been safe if the police gave out my route, and because…"
Izuku hesitates, then swallows the knot in his throat.
"I came to you because I don't know what to do, sir. My mom is everything I have, and I can't… I'm not even legally allowed to fight villains! And now I'm stuck with… with all THIS!" Izuku tosses himself into a chair as the tears start leaking from his eyes. "I'm supposed to be quirkless! I already gave up everything I had and now I'm getting attacked by supervillains who put a hole in the Symbol of peace and I… I can't just…! This is too much…!"
He hates that he breaks down in tears right there. Nezu, Tsukauchi and All Might are the absolute last people in the world who he wants to break down in front of. One is the reason for everything that's happened, the other is a variable Izuku doesn't like and Nezu… He just met Nezu. This probably looks really bad.
"I… need h-help." Izuku chokes, wiping the tears from his face even though he's still barely able to breathe through the sobs. "I can't do this myself. Even I know that. I'm sorry, I shouldn't… I can't stop, I'm really sorry…"
"No need to apologize, Midoriya-kun." Izuku is a bit surprised that it's Nezu who speaks first. "This seems to have been a stressful morning. Maybe we should talk later."
"I… But my mom…" Izuku stammers.
"We'll keep you all here for the time being. And when we've checked your house, you'll be allowed to return. Moving might draw more attention, and that would be unnecessary. For the moment, we'll keep watch on you three unofficially." Nezu says quietly. "All for One isn't something that we can let out into the world, nor is this something we can ignore. But you should go and see your mother and rest. I'd advise against telling her about…"
"I didn't." Izuku says weakly. "I never… Not that. She doesn't even know about…"
The way he looks at All Might must say it all, because Nezu nods.
"Right. That's good, then. We should keep her knowledge of that man limited for now." Izuku nods, then stands up.
"Um… I'm sorry. For breaking in and… I'm not… I didn't mean to cause trouble, but I…" Nezu chuckles as Izuku trails off.
"Midoriya-kun, I won't say that you did the right thing, but you certainly got our attention. And I can't say that we'd have believed you if I hadn't seen you disarm our security at supersonic speed." The principal smiles, and Izuku manages something weakly similar. "For now, you should return to your mother and try to relax. Having that sort of responsibility forced on you… I'm not surprised that you were wound up."
"…wound up… Yeah." Izuku mutters. He's not sure when he left the office, or what Recovery Girl said when he wandered in, but soon he's lying on a hospital bed cradling the little girl in his arms and dozing off.
Nezu stares at Toshinori for a moment after the door clicks shut behind Midoriya. When Toshinori finally looks up at him, Nezu claps his paws together and gives Toshinori a look that makes every pro within Tokyo flinch.
"You said you killed him, All Might." Even Tsukauchi shudders a bit when he speaks. "Now he's back, and we've got a pair of children to worry about."
"For what it's worth," Tsukauchi sighs in his chair, looking at least five years older than he should, "Midoriya is probably the only thing we don't have to worry about."
Nezu hums, then glances at Toshinori, who looks confused. Quietly, he sends the footage from Midoriya's entrance up to the monitors in the wall, along with footage from his fight against the Subterranean King. When the hero watches the sonic boom tear through the entrance, and the green blur streaking whole meters between frames, and the burst of punches on the horrible footage of the King takedown, his jaw drops some.
"I… What happened to him…?" Toshinori mutters.
"He's quirkless." Tsukauchi sighed. "I've confirmed it with his doctor, but the kid catches bullets out of midair and moves too fast for cameras to follow. Whatever is happening to Midoriya is… one of those cases."
"An anomaly." Nezu sighs. "We're lucky he's not chaotic as Hatsume, then. But regardless, he's the strongest I've seen. This needs to be kept under wraps as best we can."
"You can't contain him, Nezu-san." Tsukauchi says quietly. "Even if… Look, this kid is a magnet for trouble. Beyond Toshinori, beyond anything I've ever seen. We're just lucky that he's strong enough to handle himself and everything he gets involved in."
"Then we do what we've been doing." Nezu sighs, despite himself. "We monitor him, and we try to figure out the cause. For now, we've got two in our hands. Two who have heroic tendencies. When things escalate any further, we'll get involved. For now, we check the girl and make sure that the Midoriyas are clean."
Nezu paused as Tsukauchi tensed.
"Something else, detective?"
"Well. It's not… You'd have to ask Midoriya," Tsukauchi frowns and toys with his hat nervously. "But there's reports of a boy dropping off Native, a pro hero local to Hosu, on a night when Native claims he was attacked by Stain."
Nezu and Toshinori share a look.
"I wouldn't hurry passing down One for All, Toshinori. Midoriya seems to have things handled." Nezu chirps, grinning despite the ice in his tone. Toshinori coughs up some blood, enough for Nezu to feel he's made his point, and Tsukauchi drags a hand over his face. "For now, let's talk about this traitor."