Disclaimer: I do not own anything from My Hero Academia, nor do I own concepts of any other anime, manga, videogame or TV shows used in this story.
Author's note: This story is simply written for fun, I expect I would make plenty of amateur mistakes.
Texts like this are Izuku's voluntary thoughts from his perspective.
[Texts like this] represents thoughts that comes from his subconscious, where the majority of his quirk manifests. All of Izuku's subconscious thoughts are not actually verbal. To Izuku, they're merely flashes of notions that happen in very short moments. After all, they come from his intuition.
Chapter 13: Masquerade
Musutafu City, Downtown
The sky above was a deep black, like a television tuned to a dead signal. The stars from beyond were drowned out by the city's light pollution, save for the brilliance of a few shining beacons that managed to peek through the obsidian veil. And beneath them, a skyline glowed with a faint violet hue, trailing over the dazzling cityscape, the break of dawn yet to be seen.
Dangling his feet over the roof ledge above a five floor office building, Izuku could see the city was beginning to rouse. The green haired teen was wearing an All Might hoodie over a black JAXA t-shirt, along with a pair of grey cargo shorts and his new velvet sneakers. The two yellow flaps of cloth on the rim of his hood designed to resemble All Might's hairstyle wobbled in the cold morning wind, as he sipped from a warm can of hot chocolate in his hands.
Izuku had just finished his morning run, or at least, that's what he wrote in the note for his mother before he left home, though one could argue he didn't exactly lie. He had woken up particularly early this morning to test out his new mutation quirks. From the suburbs of his apartment, he had traveled all the way here on foot, by freerunning and leaping across rooftops. He tried to avoid being seen by staying above street level, as quirk use in public is technically illegal without a pro hero license.
Just as Izuku was about to take another sip of his drink, he noticed something strange in the corner of his eye. It was a street light by an alleyway dimming and flickering erratically. As his eyes focused on it, he could see a van parked inside the alley, with a few moving figures near the vehicle.
Something fishy is going on here, that doesn't look like a faulty light…
[Analyzing target…]
Looks like something is draining its power away…
Better take a closer look, can't see any details from here...
Izuku stood up from his perch, and chugged down the rest of his hot chocolate, before making his way towards the rooftop overlooking the van. As he made one last leap to a vantage point directly above the alley, he overheard a muffled whimper from down below and reflexively ducked down behind cover.
"What? You see anything?"
"I-I thought I saw All Might..."
"I didn't see shit. I told you to stop using that stuff, it's messing with your head. The heroes and cops got their hands full from that school attack yesterday, nobody's gonna be patrolling here at this hour."
"H-how can you be so sure?"
"Cause the boss man said so, that's how. Now shut up and keep an eye out. And remember, no witnesses."
Izuku could just barely hear the strained whispers from three storeys above. He peeked his head a little over the railing, and saw four figures in total, standing near the side door of this office building. Two were looking out each end of the alley, one broad shouldered muscular figure with four arms and a craggy rock-like appearance across his grey and black skin; and the other wore a metal helmet covering the top half of his head, the tips of his fingers also visibly metallic. The third was wearing a dirty yellow tracksuit, his hand held against an electronic keypad panel; and beside him, a bald man in a leather jacket, was fiddling with the mechanical lock of the side door. The van near them was parked facing the only entrance to the alley, with its engines still running.
[Analyzing situation…]
This place doesn't look like a bank, security's too lax here…
There's some sort of keycard panel for the door, I'm getting a fuzzy glitchy feeling from it, is that guy causing it? I can't tell from this distance...
That yellow jacket guy probably has some sort of technopath quirk? I guess he's here to disable the alarms and digital security, then the other one must be the lock picker...
The other two as lookouts, both look like mutant types, most likely they're the fighters for when the plan goes wrong…
Whatever they're here for, this looks like a break-and-enter, and quite a well-planned one at that…
Izuku ducked back down, and used his phone to call the police. "Hello? I think I just saw some shady looking people trying to break into a building. I'm at…"
Any second now...
Three minutes after finishing his call, Izuku peeked over the railing again. The door they were fiddling with had been opened, and now the four-armed thug was hauling out an armored safe that just barely fit through the doorway, all on his own. Just as the safe was about to be loaded into the back of the van, a voice called out from the entrance of the alley.
"HALT!"
The hero Kamui Woods swung into the scene with great momentum. Using his Lumber quirk, tree branches whipped out from his arms and latched onto nearby buildings as he rapidly approached the four suspects from midair. With a quick assessing glance, he wound back an arm and yelled out his signature move: "LACQUERED CHAIN PRI-"
*B-B-B-B-BANG!*
A burst of gunshots filled the air, and Kamui Woods arched backwards and fell to the ground. The thug with the helmet had his metal tipped fingers outstretched towards the pro hero, which Izuku can now see are hollow barrels, with smoke fizzling out of them.
The bald one with the leather jacket slapped the helmeted thug over the head. "What the fuck man?! I said you're supposed to let the big guy handle it first! Now the whole block knows we're here! Dammit, all of you get in the van, now!"
The four thugs were about to get into their escape vehicle, when the bald man noticed that Kamui Woods was still moving and groaning on the ground. He pointed to the thug with the metal helmet and said: "Hey, he's still kicking, finish him off."
The thug pointed his fingers at the hero, and fired.
In a split second, Izuku's body moved on its own and leapt off the building, one hand releasing a burst of Explosion towards the skies to propel him downward. Simultaneously, in his descent, he also Created a flu mask over his face and pulled his hood over his head. He nimbly landed right between the wounded hero and the shooter, his Shock Absorption muffling the impact of the fall, then he immediately Hardened his entire body.
[Analyzing projectile trajectory…]
With a quick glance at the shooter's finger-barrels, Izuku held up his arms in anticipation, making sure no stray bullets would meet its intended target. A thunderclap of five gunshots echoed through the alley, and five bullets pierced through his beloved t-shirt, bouncing off his armored skin.
"What the-"
They're surprised! Now's my chance!
[Analyzing optimal course of action…]
Remember… tone down the air pressure...
Seizing the element of surprise, a vortex of air sparked with Electricity swirled around Izuku's right arm as he fired Plasma Cannon shots at the three villains outside of the van. The helmeted thug and the bald one both spasmed from electrocution as they fell to the ground unconscious. However, the third one in the yellow jacket simply stumbled back with a baffled look.
Huh?
The shock didn't even faze him?
The thug then lunged at Izuku with a knife as he exclaimed: "Hah! Your electric quirk won't work on me, kid! Go to hell!" To which Izuku responded by grabbing the blade itself with a Hardened hand and slapping the thug across the face with the other, knocking him out before he even hit the ground.
Idiot. Did he really not notice how I took those bullets...?
[Analyzing target physiology…]
[Quirk: Electric Siphon; Assimilation complete]
Oh, so that's how he disabled the keypad. Too bad it's not a technopath quirk, bummer...
Whatever… There's still another in the van, that four-armed boulder looking guy…
I can hear him getting out from the back of the van, I better move quick...
The instant Izuku rushed to the back of the van, he was met with the sight of the four-armed thug raising the metal safe over his head, then the thug violently slammed it downwards.
Caught off his guard, Izuku was smacked by the entire weight of the armored safe, and was slammed to the ground on his back with a heavy WHUMP. A brief flash of panic rang across his mind as he recalled the horrific beatdown he took at USJ, then he realized it didn't hurt one bit.
Much to the four-armed villain's surprise, and also to Izuku himself, the masked boy in the All Might hoodie merely pushed aside the massive armored safe off his body like a cardboard box. Confusion and fear instantly spread across the villains face and he tried to run away on foot, but Izuku immediately leapt to his feet, grabbed onto one of his craggy arms and released a dose of Electricity.
The villain turned around in a panic and tried to shove Izuku away with his three other arms, unfazed by the shock meant to incapacitate him. "L-let me go, man! Who the fuck are you?!"
[Analyzing target physiology…]
[Mutation quirk detected; Analysis complete]
Can't shock him through this thick hide…
Guess I'll have to knock him out the hard way like that other guy...
Using his free hand, Izuku grabbed onto another craggy arm and started to twist the villain's two arms downwards, his Amplified Strength easily overpowering the villain's. The villain tried to retaliate by repeatedly bashing Izuku with his two remaining hands, but to no avail.
C'mon man, stop struggling already!
Then, as the villain was forced onto his knees, one of his free hands reached down into his pocket and pulled out a syringe.
What the heck is tha-
[Analyzing target object…]
That's a… quirk enhancer drug?!
Before Izuku could react, the villain stabbed the syringe into his own thigh. Within seconds, the villain seemed to enlarge by a few meters, his skin became increasingly more coarse and rugged, and his arms started to bulk up with increased strength. Yet Izuku could still hold him back, though with greater difficulty than before.
"Fuck! Who the hell are you?! All Might's kid?!" screamed the struggling villain. Then, with a violent swing, the villain lifted Izuku up and tossed Izuku away like a ragdoll. Despite Izuku's superior strength, their difference in body mass was far too great. The world spun into a giant blur around Izuku as he felt himself bounce off a wall, then another, and finally smacking against the side of a trash container, denting the metal.
Izuku heard the sound of a loud thud against the ground as he scrambled to his feet, and when he looked up, the four-armed villain was gone, and there were some cracks in the ground where he last stood.
Dammit, he must've jumped away…
Looks like the coast is clear for now… I gotta check on Kamui quick!
"Kamui Woods, hold on!" Izuku called out as he rushed to tend to the wounded man. The pro hero was not responding, and blood was now pooling beneath him. Izuku immediately kneeled down beside him, and ripped off the hero's helmet, mask and shirt to examine the injuries. A splatter of red could be seen spread across the poor man's neck and upper left torso, and his shallow breathing was becoming weaker by the second.
[Analyzing target physiology…]
Crap, he's bleeding out fast…
He won't even last two minutes at this rate…
[Assessing optimal course of action…]
Taking a deep breath, Izuku examined the wounds with an uncanny intensity. Using his quirk to sense where the bullets lodged among the torn muscles and tendons, he reached out with Puppet String towards the metallic pellets, and gently pulled them out one by one, making sure he didn't cause any further damage. Right as all five bullets were removed, his laid his hands beside the gushing wounds as they pulsed with the green soothing glow from his Healing. In seconds, the wounds closed on their own, and left a few faint scars across the unconscious hero's neck, chest and shoulder.
[Analyzing target physiology…]
Alright… Looks like he's stable…
Lost quite a bit of blood, but he'll be fine, at least he's not as drained as I was yesterday…
Other heroes and the police should arrive pretty soon, I should secure the scene before I leave…
Izuku went to tie up the three unconscious thugs with Lumber while making sure the color of the wood resembled Kamui's, and while doing so, he examined them to find out what their quirks were.
[Analyzing target physiologies…]
Hmm, so Mr. Metal-head's a mutant type eh…
Hmm, won't be getting this one unless I crack his skull open…
Lucky for you I'm not as bloodthirsty as you are, punk. Now let's see what tricks your bald friend has…
[Transformation quirk detected; Assimilating…]
[Quirk: Gadget Finger; Assimilation complete]
Izuku held up his hand, and watched as the tips of his fingers morphed into various metal tools that he'd seen before: his index finger a scalpel, the middle a flathead screwdriver, his ring finger an audio jack, and the little finger a lockpick, then they all changed back to normal.
Well, that explains how he picked the lock, not a bad find...
Alright, I should go now, wouldn't want to get caught for public quirk misuse...
*KABLAM* *KRRRRSSSH*
A heavy earth-shaking impact came from a few blocks away, then the ear-piercing sounds of glass shattering followed right after.
Oh no, that doesn't sound good…
This can't be from the guy that escaped, can it…?
[Analyzing memory data…]
I've seen reports about a drug like that a few years ago…
Its most common side effects upon use were violent outbursts and psychosis...
If that was the same stuff, then it's likely that loud bang was that guy going berserk…
Dammit, getting involved like this is already risky enough, but I can't just walk away from this now…
[Assessing situation…]
[Analyzing optimal course of action…]
Izuku carried Kamui Woods to the side of the alley, and sat the unconscious man against the wall. "Sorry about this, Kamui. But it looks like I might need your help with that other incident over there. You just sit tight, yeah?"
"Mount Lady, are you alright?!" yelled the pro hero Death Arms.
"Yeah! I'm fine! It just grazed me!" replied the 20 meter tall gargantuan heroine as she grappled against a four-armed villain half her current size, her strength just barely able to keep the villain at bay despite their size difference. "Where the hell is Kamui?! He should've been here already!"
"I don't know! Something must've happened, he's usually the first to arrive!" Death Arms said as he struggled to restrain the villain with Mt. Lady.
A police car could be seen embedded right into the side of a building. Mt. Lady, in her giant form, had just narrowly evaded the vehicle that was thrown at her by the three-storey tall villain. The police and the two heroes were on their way towards the sounds of gunfire when they spotted this giant villain running away from their destination, and what ensued was their efforts to apprehend him.
Fallen trees and street signs lay alongside the road, and a few giant chunks of asphalt and concrete slabs were strewn throughout the scene, as the two heroes could be seen with scrapes and tears on their costumes. Two against one, yet the fight was at an impasse, and they could only prevent the villain from escaping while they waited for backup; the other police cars could only set up roadblocks at a safe distance, unable to provide any more support without being a liability.
The police car that was partially impaled into the building started to slide out slowly from its crevice. A panicked voice could be heard through the shattered windows of the vehicle. "H-help! We can't get out!"
"There's still people in that car! You're the only one here that can reach them! Go, I'll hold him off!" yelled Death Arms as he attempted to bring down the villain by forcibly bending its knee.
"I… I can't! If I let go he'll-"
Then, from her vantage point, Mount Lady recognised something in the distance and called out: "Kamui! Quick, get those officers out of that wreckage!"
Kamui Woods swung into the scene with a duffle bag slung across his back, and maneuvered himself to hang above the wreckage; his left arm attached to a long wooden tendril anchored to the edge of the roof, while his right extended a branch through the broken windshield to coil around the officer in the driver's seat.
Just as the driver was carried out of the car, the vehicle lurched outward again, and the officer in the passenger seat began to panic, as her seat belt seemed to be jammed in its buckle. "Its stuck! I can't get it out! Help!"
Before Kamui Woods could react, the car finally gave away and slid out from the opening, and began its plummet to the ground.
In an instant, Kamui Woods released his grasp on the building, and dove toward the falling car with the other officer still in his grasp. His free arm lashed out a giant network of branches to envelop the vehicle, then he simply held the car above his head during the fall, and braced his feet for the ground. "Wh-what are you doing?! WE'RE GONNA DIEEEEE!" screamed the policeman in his arm.
*whump*
Kamui Woods landed on the ground with a muffled thud, seemingly unaffected by the weight he was carrying, then he gently placed both the policeman and the wrecked car on the ground beside him, with its passenger unharmed. Before the policeman could stammer a word, Kamui Woods rushed off towards the villain in sight.
At this point, Mount Lady and Death Arms were both still in a deadlock with the villain. In one swift movement, Kamui Woods swung onto the back of the large villain, lashed out four massive tree trunks that wrapped around each of the villain's arms, and yanked them all back with a violent jerk. Mount Lady seized the opening and gave the villain a titanic punch across his face, knocking him out cold.
As the tension subsided, Mount Lady shrunk back to her normal size and walked up to Kamui Woods. "Hey, Kamui! What took you so long? It's not like you to be late to the-"
Ignoring her, Kamui Woods immediately took off and swung away, with the duffle bag still on his back.
"...whuh-HEY! You can't even say hi now?!" Mount Lady called after him with a puzzled frown. "Hey, Death Arms, is it just me or did he seem a bit taller than usual?"
A few hours later
Izuku arrived at the U.A. school gates just in time. He had his All Might hoodie now zipped up, to hide the bullet holes on his JAXA t-shirt underneath.
Three figures turned to him as he entered the conference room. At the head of the meeting table was Principal Nezu, to his left was a tall man with short black hair wearing a black suit, his beige trench coat hung on the back of his seat, and beside him was All Might in his skinny form.
Izuku greeted and bowed to them as he closed the door. "Good morning, Principal Nezu. Good morning All-uh… Toshinori-sensei… This is…" Izuku's eyes darted between All Might and the stranger in the room, unsure if he should mention All Might's hero name in front of them.
"It's alright, young Midoriya. He knows about all of my secrets that I've told you. This is Detective Tsukauchi Naomasa, a trusted associate of mine."
Tsukauchi briefly glanced at some paperwork and put them aside, then he clicked his pen and opened up his notebook. "You can skip the formalities with me. If you don't mind, I'd like to take your statement before we discuss anything else. Can you try to describe everything that happened during the incident? With as much detail as you can remember, if you can."
Izuku nodded and took a seat across the table. "Alright, then I'll just start from when we first entered the USJ facility. Thirteen sensei was giving us a briefing on quirks at first, then…"
"I can't believe it… To think he somehow survived after those wounds…" All Might muttered under his breath.
"It's hard to believe, but with the likelihood that this Nomu is a result of quirk transference, it is a strong possibility that All For One is back again." Nezu added.
"It's a good thing your presence provoked this Shigaraki into revealing who his benefactor might be. Otherwise, it might have taken us much longer to uncover that info. Nice work." Tsukauchi commented with a straight face as he wrote down the final touches for his notes.
"Wait, you guys aren't mad that I actually killed someone?" Izuku said with a raised eyebrow.
Tsukauchi slipped his notebook into his shirt pocket and replied: "Officially, I'd have to reprimand you for your actions, and give you a warning about the severity of such a decision and its repercussions. But otherwise, regardless of your intentions, you had ample reason to take down that Nomu; without your intervention, this incident would likely have ended up much worse."
"It's rare, but casualties do happen when heroes and villains battle. Especially when powerful quirks are involved, and even more so when there are innocent lives at stake." All Might said with a tinge of sadness in his voice.
"Hypothetically, even if we did decide the worst case scenario for you, and have you arrested, we would only be throwing you to the wolves, and leave you more vulnerable to All for One. Letting someone of your potential and quirk fall into his hands would be disastrous." Nezu remarked with a smirk.
"Speaking of All for One, if this is truly him behind this, then he would know about me by now, and he would most definitely come for my quirk… I don't know if I'll be able to prevent that when the time comes… What if he gets a hold of me?" Izuku asked with a worried face.
"I believe I have a few ideas in mind, but we'll have to thoroughly explore our options first. You have my word that we will do everything in our power to keep you safe. For now, you should get back home, Midoriya. We still have other security matters to discuss with the police." Nezu concluded.
The next day
Just as Izuku opened the door to class 1-A, almost half of the class rushed to him, practically clamouring around him as they tried to talk over one another. "Midoriya! Holy crap, you're really okay!" "Dude, that fight with that brain guy was insane!"
"Wait, wasn't Midoriya all beaten up? Should he be even coming to class today?" asked Jirou Kyouka, a short haired girl with wire-like earphone jacks on each of her earlobes, as she twirled her earjacks at her seat.
Izuku was snapped out from his usual morning sleepiness as he stammered: "Guys, guys! C-calm down! We can chat about it at lunch! Everyone to your seats! Homeroom's about to begin!"
Moments later, Aizawa walked into class with dark circles under his eyes, along with one bandaged arm in a sling. "Morning…"
"You're already back too, Aizawa-sensei?!" The entire class almost exclaimed in unison.
"Glad to see you doing well, sensei! How are you feeling?!" asked Iida.
"Still a little exhausted, but I'm fine. Nevermind me, my welfare isn't important. Your fight is far from over…"
"…because U.A's sports festival is approaching soon!"
Chapters 1 to 12 have been rewritten on 27th October 2019.
Overall, this chapter was very spontaneous and sporadic, a lot of different parts jumbled into this one, but it felt fun to write, so here it is. The opening line was a Neuromancer reference just because I felt like it.
For those who are/were looking for a coherent story, purposeful writing and *insert fancy writing jargon here*, I'm afraid there is none here, this whole story is literally just me doodling.
The next chapter may or may not include the Anime Festa OVA episode, I've not decided yet. However, the Sports Festival Arc is definitely coming next. Again, I have no release schedule, this story is just something I write for fun occasionally. There's been quite a few big (and positive) changes in my life for the past year or so, can't promise when the next chapter will be out, but it's not going to be abandoned, unless I specifically say so in the story description.
Feel free to leave a review. Thanks for reading!