Quirkless

Chapter 11

"Heroes have shaped and inspired our society, pushing us forward into a dawn of peace and prosperity admits the rise of villains! They drive our society, keep our peace, and ensure humanities future. In remembrance of these heroes, the heroes that started it all those decades ago, I proudly present to you the Quartz Mask!"

The crowd applauded, men and women alike, dressed in fine silk and satin, wine in hand, bejeweled like brides at their weeding's. Their claps were sophisticated and out of pleasantry, a sort of façade to frame their uncaring nature with genuine looking smiles and cheers. The waiters flooded in, moving in sync, hands elegantly holding platters of fine food. It was the epitome of a rich event. It was there for the sake of it. Why? It was just a show of power, to make known those who really held the world in their hands, those who really lead the world. It was not the heroes, it was in the hands of those hosting this event itself. The Equaliser knew this.

There was nothing flashy. Izuku simply strode in garnering attention instantly with his villain outfit, clashing admits the formal garments of the guests. In one hand was a simple gun, in the other a remote, while Foam followed behind him in nervous step. The Head Treasurer of the Heroes Association only noticed when his personal guard tapped his chest. The balding man, pushed up his tight pants around his gaping mid-section, before turning to look at the figure who dare enter. It was a small figure, draped in a black lab-coat.

Saionji Ikki, despite being the Head Treasurer of the Heroes Association had not been in the presence of a villain first hand. By all means, the figure of a child playing in a villains costume, should not have frightened him. It should not have frightened any of the security personal either. But there was something different- different about the way the boy moved, how he seemed unaffected by the security all pointing Quirk suppressors at him. The man decided that he would have to assert his dominance in this situation, despite the gnawing dread rising in his chest.

"State your business!" he called from behind his guards.

The boy tilted his head, green eyes piercing through him with a gleeful look.

"I'm here to take the mask," the boy replied, leaning forward, hands behind his back in a dramatic show of curiosity.

"Are you insane?! You can't come in here and demand that! I have forty men trained on you with quirk suppressants. Guards get him!"

"Ah, ah, ah," Izuku chastised as he held out a remote.

"A bomb," Saionji Ikki scoffed. "We can just evacuate!"

Izuku actually had to sigh in real exasperation at the man. "A bomb in the premise? Really? Nope that's way too cliché and I've had bad experiences with bombs in buildings. No this is far more nefarious. You see the bomb is in you."

"Shoot him!"

In that moment dozens of needles hit his person. Izuku grunted in irritation, thankful that most of the infamous quirk suppressant needles bounced of his costumes material. It would have been a pain trying to pull them all out. He simply pulled the one needle that stuck in his neck out and rolled his head in boredom.

"Those are useless. You see I'm quirkless but try that again and the bombs will go off. Of course, I wouldn't want to kill these poor people Mr Ikki. I don't like the idea of killing civilians but your choices will determine that."

As if to prove his point a civilian who had tried to sneak out found himself trapped and unable to open the door. Izuku found it at least elevating of his worries that Roach knew how to do his job. He turned back to the Director of Treasury.

"You go boom and they go boom," he said like he was explaining it to a five year old. "Now that you have that threat over you I'd also like to point out that there are bombs inside of Noda Shunji and your secretary Mochizuki Robun. And before you kill me I'd also like to say that my death will result in an associate of mine pressing his own buttons."

The room broke out in worried murmurs as the mentioned people jumped up in fright. The civilians flooded away from them in fear. Izuku knew this crowd, the way they would react, and exactly what choices they would make. People were predictable like that, and even more so when they feared death.

"What do you want?" Ikki asked, voice cracking in fear.

"I've already told you what I want. I want the mask. Can I tell you a secret though?" Izuku asked, coming closer to the Director.

The man backed away in fear and his guards came to protect him but one show of the button in his hands they reluctantly backed off. Even guards were payed men with families and self-preservation instincts. Izuku found it in his great pleasure to get up close and personal with this pig and scare him. Oh he would enjoy it a lot. He moved his face closer to the sweating man's face, bringing his mouth to the man's ears and whispered…

"This is all being televised."

The Equaliser couldn't help but laugh as he backed away. Saionji Ikki had given him a look of horror. In that moment he had made it very apparent that the mask wasn't all that he wanted. He wanted these men exposed, stripped of all their dignity, of their proud attire and wealthy suits. He wanted them bare for the world to see.

"My men can still take you down in an instant," Ikki pointed out, stumbling backwards.

"Oh I have no doubt that they can kill me before I even push the button. I'm not as physically strong as they are, you see. I have to make do with what I have," Equaliser replied unfazed before he turned to the crowd. "Let's play a game shall we? I won't blow any of those three men I mentioned, and all of you won't have to die, if you kill them for me."

That was enough to send the audience into a frenzy. Men and women alike clambered to the exits trying to pry them open but Roach had reinforced them. If there was one thing that Roach was good at it was tinkering silently, crawling under everyone's watch as he meddled in the background. Apparently cockroaches were good for something. Once the civilian's realised that there was no way out, that they were trapped to do what they had to do, they went silent.

"Are you crazy?!" Ikki screamed in terror. "You blow us up and you go along with us too!"

"Oh but I won't have to blow you up," Izuku said knowingly. "You're precious guests will do it for me."

He was right. There wasn't much one wouldn't do when faced with the fear of death. It bought out ones true character. No doubt there would have been a few untainted souls, even within the confines of such a privileged rich crowd, which would deny abusing their morals. For them Izuku would die but most people were inherently corrupted. Men and women had scrambled up, the most violent, and often times the ones Izuku knew were the strongest, stabbed both Noda Shunji and Mochizuki Robun to death. It wasn't a pretty sight as they had used blunt cutlery to do so however it panned out just how he imagined. Not even the security made a move to help.

Foam vomited out her contents next to him which he responded to with a reassuring pat to the back. Death was brutal but he had seen enough of it to be desensitised but Foam had not. He didn't have time to dwell on her right now. Izuku quickly moved onto Saionji Ikki. The man was begging beneath him in fear of his death and even wetted himself as the once richly dressed and prestigious crowd had proved their animalistic nature. Izuku turned to look where he knew the camera was, broadcasting the event to the whole of Tokyo.

"I would like you to know that men show who they truly are in their deaths! This, this man that you praised as a long-term supporting member of the Heroes Association was in fact the man who raped a woman! Sakura Hino, a 24 year old med-student. Very pretty. Did she beg like you?" he asked turning to the man. "As you killed her, violated her? I hope she sees what I'm about to do to you in heaven."

Izuku took out and loaded his gun and shot. One for each leg, arm and joint. He didn't find the joy he expected from getting justice for the girl and whatever illegal things the man had done before. He had expected some form of satisfaction but even that didn't come to him. He hadn't found that satisfaction from killing Tamon Tatsuki either, so it didn't really come as a surprise now. When the man cried, begged for mercy, he didn't feel a thing but he knew he was right. Who would bring the people who ordered for justice to justice but him? When enough was enough he ended the man's suffering with a bullet through the head.

"Foam, do your job," he ordered.

The reluctant villain clambered past him with a sickly expression as she moved to the metal casing beneath the fortified encasing holding the Quartz Mask. She turned the metal into Styrofoam before breaking it and catching the mask. Izuku took the mask and turned to the cameras before taking a bow.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, level 1 is complete."

With that said the two villains disappeared in a flash of smoke.

Japan was in an uproar. Footage of the monumental villain victory flooded every social media site. It was the hot topic like Izuku had intended it to be. It was his debut after all. Helping the League of Villains had been a secondary objective, a side mission, but his ultimate goal had always been to push the truth. He wanted the world to know what broke a good man like Akiyoshi, what kind of world pushed people to the edge and killed them, twisted them into what defined a true villain and a true hero. Heroes and Villains… that was simply a façade created by those in power to keep the masses calm and easily in their grip. When he was done Akiyoshi would be known as the hero he was and the world would have been turned upside down.

"The mission was a success," Izuku said with a lighter tone. The adrenaline had worn off and he was back to being Izuku again… just that he happened to be in his costume and in front of the people who followed him.

"You should have seen the masses," Techno laughed. "Oh god they were going crazy! Kid you've really put yourself out there. You do realise that after the stunt you just pulled the big leagues will be after you right? I mean we just killed three important members of the Heroes Association."

"It was a job well-done," Roach admitted. "A risky job nonetheless."

Izuku turned to Foam but she had said nothing, opting to remain in the background with what looked like a guilty expression. He felt a twinge of sympathy for her. She had chosen the path of villainy when he had given her an out, but no doubt the League wouldn't want her. She would be killed… and he didn't need that on his conscious. He already had the lives of 214 people on the list.

"We can celebrate later, for now stay here. I will be talking debriefing."

Izuku couldn't help but pop another pill. He felt tired from the adrenaline crash but he needed the boost, to keep up and play it safe. It was one thing to follow the mission objective but it was another to twist the cause of the mission itself. He was meant to take the Quartz mask as a simple test to see if he could be a part of the team. He was playing a dangerous game by adding his own personal vendetta into it. The League would no doubt identify him as a rouge member but in the long term what he did would play better to his own goals. Overachieving was sometimes threatening. Of course his threat to the League was much more hushed than his threat to the world.

He pushed open the bar door and was received by Kurogiri, Giran and Tomura. They waited idly talking as the news station behind them recounted the events of the night. It was painfully obvious how the media was trying to make the three men killed martyrs but Izuku knew that news stations hardly held public sway anymore, at least not when online committees would present the truth for him. People tended to be more honest behind a screen and yet so manipulative. Regardless they would no doubt show the actual footage which also involved his public display of all the three men's illegal crimes, hushed by their positions of power.

"Good job on a successful mission," Kurogiri congratulated.

"There was no doubt in my mind that it would work," Izuku replied taking of his mask. "Here's the mask."

Tomura caught the Quartz Mask and laughed. "Your performance was beautiful!" he cackled.

"It was amusing," Giran grunted reluctantly.

Izuku noted the way both Kurogiri and Giran eyed him with that calculative glint and he knew, in that moment, that they didn't trust him. It was easy to trust a mindless pawn, no matter how godly powerful their quirk was, but to trust someone who could as easily be their weakness was plain foolish. Tomura struck him as the childish sort so Izuku wasn't as concerned that the blue haired man would doubt his allegiance. Kurogiri and Giran on the other hand were far more cautious and intellectually inclined to instantly trust his motives.

"I don't like putting on a show," Izuku said truthfully. "I have stage fright. Large crowds scare me but it's different with the mask on. Plus I figured we have the same goals… I just went about it in a roundabout way. Destroying the symbol of peace can show the world how weak heroes are, but to completely break the worlds trust in heroes, that- that is something else."

Izuku let his motives settle into them for a while. Yes he was twisting his motives around a little but he spoke nothing but the truth. He wanted to destroy the world's perception of heroes. They were being deceived by this sugar-coated image presented by the Association. Heroism was something to be admired in the past, something selfless in nature, but now it was done all for selfish reasons.

"He is ready," Tomura exclaimed. "You beat the bonus objective. You got the mask without any villain casualties so I'll give you the prise."

The blank TV screen turned on revealing a scarred man's face. Izuku blinked in surprise but otherwise felt the man's presence overcome him instantly. It was twisted in nature. There was something evil about this man, but even more than that, there was something dangerous. It was one thing to be simply evil. Even idiots could be evil. It was when someone was both evil and smart about it that things really became dangerous. Playing the League of Villains didn't seem so easy anymore.

"My name is Sensei"

Izuku really had the urge to ask 'what do you teach' but thankfully even with the adrenaline he didn't say something so stupid. He simply nodded his understanding before something dawned on him.

"You're the one who knows how to redistribute quirks," he concluded.

"…You are right and must I say quite brilliant for someone so young. I have the quirk All For One, the direct inversion of All Might's One For All. You Midoriya I have seen befit to be gifted a quirk."

Izuku mulled over what he had been offered. His heart skipped a beat, jumping in anticipation but falling just as quickly. This was his real test. This was his test of value.

"You wanted me to take the power from the Quartz hero. That's why you had me steal the Quarts mask," he concluded.

"Very good insight boy," Sensei complimented.

"No"

Now it was the Villains' turn to be shocked. They looked at Izuku like he had grown a second head but it didn't stop the teen from continuing his daring line of thought. He so desperately wanted that quirk but it would defeat Akiyoshi's legacy, and his faith in himself.

"When I topple society to its knees I want them to know a quirkless boy did it," Izuku replied evenly.

Sensei laughed. It was the sort of laugh that sent chills down ones spine. Izuku couldn't tell whether the man wanted him dead or found him genuinely amusing. It set him on edge.

"You are quite an interesting boy, Midoriya Izuku. I accept your decline."

With that the screen turned off. Tomura wrapped an arm around Izuku's neck, pulling the boy to the bar counter and seating himself down next to him.

"I like you," Tomura said with a wide grin.

This was the first time Izuku saw Tomura without the hand on his face. The man's face was covered in wrinkles, eyes drawn up wide, smile taking most of the faces surface area and somehow still managing to look disconcerting. Tomura then ordered alcohol.

"What would you like to drink?" Kurogiri asked.

"Um… orange juice?" Izuku asked.

This time it was Giran who laughed. "Get the kid some Margarita," the man ordered.

"I-I can't drink," Izuku replied with a frown.

Giran sent the teen an incredulous look. "You can kill people but you can't drink?"

"Fair point," Izuku relented.

With that said Izuku ended up drinking more than his fair share before passing out.

Ok another chap done! I loved writing this chap! Oh god this is going to deviate from MHA plot so much in the future. I'm sorry guys but sure there'll be the whole USJ arc, as well as the Sports Carnival one but beyond that I'm just going to make up my own story. You'll find that in this one I'm not going to cop out and make Izuku good in the end or something. No way man, that's just a cheap cop out of a good character progression arc. I'm going to personally make sure this sweet cinnamon bun is turned into a rotten apple before the final conclusion. If you think he's sort of twisted now wait until the end!

Also poor Izuku's going to have a hang-over next chapter. It'll be more light-hearted as we explore all the random, stupid things he did while he was drunk of his rockers. Thanks to anyone that reviewed! So... guys review! Freaking follow or something too while you're at it so you get my updates when it comes out. Just give me your thoughts!

PPS- Merry Christmas!