Chapter 1: Origin Stories

Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia

Enjoy!

-]-[-

For a while, everything was going as usual.

It was a brisk afternoon, and a few pedestrians lined the streets, going about their daily life. But Endeavor took no notice of them, instead focusing all his attention on the worn-down warehouse ten stories below him.

A voice spoke through his ear-mounted radio:

"Any sign of Psychokiller?"

"Negative, Tsukauchi," he answered, sighing. "If anything happens, you'll be the first to know."

He shivered. It wasn't because of the cold— his quirk, Hellflame, allowed him to subconsciously keep his body warm in any weather condition.

Endeavor was shivering because he was anxious. Along with the police, the Number Two Hero had been tracking down the villain Psychokiller for months as part of a larger operation targeting Japan's largest crime syndicate. The metropolitan police believed that Psychokiller had been supplying the syndicate with various chemicals and drugs. With the money he made from brokering, Psychokiller had managed to pay off the right people and elude the pro-hero and the police.

Until now.

From an adjacent rooftop, Endeavor was staking out the supposed location of Psychokiller's base. It didn't look like much— it was a derelict old warehouse that took up half a city block.

Endeavor didn't like reconnaissance one bit. He'd rather break into the warehouse and immediately take out the enemy, but, as the police told him, they needed to observe Psychokiller if they wanted to catch the man on the other end of the transaction.

Villains like Psychokiller shouldn't be allowed to roam free, Endeavor thought.

In his debut as a villain, Psychokiller had stabbed three people in broad daylight and left all the onlookers permanently brain-dead. The man had the power to put his victims into a coma after maintaining eye-contact for six seconds, and so he was considered by the police to be an extremely high-level threat. But now, the police were content with following him and letting him roam free.

It just didn't sit right with Endeavor.

This man needs to be put into his place. Justice needs to be swift and resolute.

His train of thought was interrupted when one of the warehouse's bay doors creaked open. A lone truck came out. Its trailer held some sort of cylindrical gas tank, and a man sat in the driver's seat with one arm on the wheel.

The man had short, blonde hair and large, pronounced cheekbones. There was no mistaking him.

"Psychokiller," Endeavor growled. To the untrained eye, the villain could easily be mistaken as a normal truck driver, but Endeavor had studied enough crime scene footage to recognise the man's face and build.

"Is he there?" asked Tsukauchi.

"Affirmative. He's heading North in a tanker truck."

"Follow him, but do not engage until we say so."

The flame hero stayed silent as he started to run across the rooftop after the truck. When he got to the end of the roof, he leaped for the next one, firing flame jets through his legs to slow his descent. He repeated this process for a few more blocks until Psychokiller's truck stopped at an intersection. A few civilians ambled across the road, unaware of the monster that was watching them.

Endeavor's blood went cold.

There was Psychokiller, within his grasp, among civilians. If the man decided to look at any one of them for too long, he would be able to effectively kill that person, and nobody would be any wiser.

Gritting his teeth, Endeavor ripped the communication device from his ear and dropped it to the ground.

"Endeavor?" Tsukauchi called out. "Endeavor!"

We're doing it my way. This man cannot be allowed to roam free any longer.

He leaped from the top of his building and quickly glided down, landing on softly on the roof of Psychokiller's truck. The villain looked up through his window, surprised.

"Psychokiller. Close your eyes and surrender now. Nobody needs to be hurt."

A maniacal smile started to widen on the villain's face. Endeavor realized he had been staring at the man for too long and he quickly shut his eyes before the villain could use his power.

"No."

Endeavor heard a bang and suddenly felt a searing pain in his left shoulder. Eyes still closed, he fell to the ground, stunned.

Psychokiller returned the pistol to his jacket pocket and stepped on the gas, ignoring the crossing pedestrians. Clutching his shoulder, Endeavor gave chase, shooting a fireball at the truck. A tire went out, and the truck rolled over onto the sidewalk, scattering the onlookers.

"Endeavor!" the villain shouted, stumbling out of the tractor. "I'm not dying until I take some of you down with me!"

The flame hero prepared another fireball while Psychokiller cocked his pistol.

BANG.

This time, the bullet hit the hero's right shoulder and the fireball hit the tank of the truck, which promptly exploded.

-]-[-

Quirkless.

The word went through four year-old Izuku's mind again and again as he followed his mother out of the doctor's office. Before today, Izuku was certain he'd have superpowers. After all, everyone had them. Even his mother. Even his father.

He suddenly stopped.

"Mom?" he called out. His mother stopped and turned around.

"What is it, sweetie?"

"Can I still be a hero?"

It was the question that Inko Midoriya was expecting, and it was a question she did not want to answer. The truth was, quirkless people simply could not become heroes. There was too much danger in the job. A powerless person wouldn't survive for long fighting against villains and natural disasters.

"I don't know, honey." She sighed. "Come on. Let's get you home."

Inko continued walking, but her son remained rooted to the spot.

"Mom?"

"What's the matter?" Inko turned around, crossing her arms.

"Look out."

Hearing screams, Inko looked up just in time to see the tanker truck barrel into the sidewalk. It slid closer to the mother-son pair, scattering pedestrians. Some screamed and ran, while others stood still with shock. The once-calm sidewalk had quickly dissolved into chaos.

As she swooped down to pick up her son, Inko noticed something bright in the corner of her eye. Her ingrained maternal instincts kicked in, and she tackled her son, sheltering the whimpering boy with her body.

"Izuku, be brave."

Those were her last words to her son before they were consumed by the explosion.

-]-[-

Knocked back by the force of the blast, Psychokiller groggily rose to his feet.

That explosion had to have killed some people, he thought. And it's all Endeavor's fault!

He giggled at the thought.

Ironic. Sometimes, 'heroes' are more dangerous than villains.

His thoughts shifted to the contents of his truck's gas tank, and his spirits fell. The heavy gas was concentrated around the crash site, but it had started to diffuse throughout the street.

Boss is going to kill me for this.

He noticed a few onlookers, frozen in shock.

"Is that... Psychokiller?" one asked, trembling.

Oh well. If I'm going to die anyway, I might as well have some fun.

"Anyone wanna have a staring contest?" he asked.

"Mommy?" a voice called out.

Psychokiller felt his ankle brush against something. He looked down. It was the burnt corpse of a woman, no doubt killed by the explosion. But when he looked closer, he noticed something in the woman's arms. It was a small boy with green hair. The boy looked severely burned, but he was looking back up at the villain inquisitively.

Psychokiller grinned. Someone to use his quirk on.

"Ooh, look who mommy saved from the fire." He crouched down. "Look at me."

"Don't hurt her," was all the boy said.

"Idiot." He kicked aside the woman's body. "Mommy is already dead."

"No!" Izuku wailed. Eyes stinging from the mysterious gas, he blinked a few times, cancelling the effect of the villain's power.

"Come on," the villain growled, leaning closer to the boy and gritting his teeth. "I need you to keep your eyes open."

As he reached for Izuku's face, the boy grabbed the man's wrist, eyes burning.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!"

"Huh?" Psychokiller felt his body suddenly go weak. "What are you doing? Let go of me!"

But Izuku held on, and Psychokiller slowly felt pain creep through his arm.

"You're scared, aren't you?" the boy asked in a sudden rush of understanding. "And I'm feeling better now."

Psychokiller could not say a word as the searing pain continued to creep up his arm. The heavy burns on Izuku's body started to fade as the villain's skin started to bubble.

"What the hell!"

After a minute of torture, Psychokiller collapsed onto the ground next to Izuku.

-]-[-

"Dammit!"

The moment Endeavor's comms went dark, Tsukauchi left the nearby police van and ran for the flame hero's last known location. He knew Endeavor had a history of uncooperativeness, but this was far beyond what the detective had imagined.

When he heard screams followed by an explosion, Tsukauchi had roughly pieced together what was going on.

If Endeavor is fighting Psychokiller in broad daylight, people will surely die.

Tsukauchi rounded a corner and his eyes were met with something out of an apocalyptic hellscape:

People were running in every direction. A thin, black haze spread over the street, drifting away from the scattered remains of the overturned tanker. Endeavor was leaning against an overturned car, bleeding from a few gunshot wounds. The immediate area around the tanker was scorched black, and Tsukauchi noticed a few charred bodies.

And in the middle of it all stood a whimpering young toddler with dark green hair.

There was not a mark on his body.

-]-[-

24 hours later...

Crouched into a ball, Toshinori Yagi, a man more commonly known as All Might, soared over Japan's urbanised landscape. Entire neighborhoods flashed by. When he finally noticed his target on the horizon, the No.1 hero fired a well-aimed punch into the air above him and rocketed towards the ground, landing safely behind the UA gate.

He strode into the main building, drawing many astonished looks. As the Number One hero, All Might's reputation preceeded him. He keenly noticed a few similarities and differences in the building's architecture since his time as a student.

It had been over twenty years.

Unfortunate that I'm returning under such somber circumstances, he thought.

He stepped into an elevator, pressing a button labeled "basement," and waited as the capsule led him deep into the bedrock under the school. The basement of UA almost never needed to be used. There were no classrooms or teachers' lounges down here. In fact, there was only one room of importance.

The elevator doors opened, and All Might stepped through, reading a sign hanging from the hallway ceiling:

PANIC ROOM

At the other end of the hall were Principal Nezu, Endeavor, Tsukauchi, and Recovery Girl. They all turned to face All Might as he walked towards them. Endeavor stared straight at the ground.

"I'm here." All Might lacked the usual enthusiasm behind his catchphrase. He was emotionally drained after reading the report of the 'incident.' He could only imagine how Endeavor and Tsukauchi felt. They were there to witness it in person.

"Toshinori," called out Recovery Girl. "Good to see you again."

All Might nodded.

"I just finished chewing out Enji. I was telling him that the five civilian deaths were completely his fault, including the death of this boy's mother."

She gestured through a pane of one-way glass and into the Panic Room, where Izuku Midoriya sat, surrounded by toys.

"Not to mention, twelve more people were injured. I even considered refusing to heal your wounds, in order to teach you a lesson."

Endeavor remained quiet and simply stared at the floor.

"Anything to add, Toshinori?"

"The HPSC is considering revoking your heroics license," All Might added. "But the media is painting you as a hero who bravely fought off a dangerous villain. Us insiders have been ordered to keep all info under wrap so the Police Department and the Hero Association can save face. No offence to you, Tsukauchi."

"None taken," answered the officer. His face was gaunt. He had just witnessed a tragedy.

Endeavor spoke up: "I have no excuses, and I understand I'm getting off too easily. I will need to take some time to reevaluate myself and my life choices."

All Might nodded, impressed at his colleague's unusual bout of humbleness.

"Understood. But if your ego causes any more unneeded deaths, I'll hunt you down like a villain."

Endeavor looked up at All Might. The fire in Endeavor's eyes had calmed. It was like he was a completely different man.

"I would deserve no less, All Might."

All Might nodded. He made eye-contact with Tsukauchi, who shrugged. Before the 'incident,' Endeavor had been relentless in his pursuit of the Number One Hero position. He was standoffish, thinking of himself above all others. Maybe the explosion had knocked him too hard on the head, or maybe the flame hero was starting to feel remorse for his foolish actions. Either way, the entire demeanor of the once-proud man had changed. For the better.

"Okay," Principal Nezu started. "Now that we have that business out of the way, I'll show you why I brought you all here."

"Why are we down here?" asked All Might. "Wouldn't the Principal's Office be a better place for a meeting?" He shuddered at the prospect of listening to Nezu's rambling over a cup of tea.

"We are here because of him." He pointed at the boy behind the one-way glass.

"Izuku Midoriya, aged four. This boy was closest to the site of the crash, and he lost his mother, who raised him alone before her untimely death."

Endeavor cringed.

"Hold on," began All Might. "If he was at the crash site, how is he not severely injured? There was an explosion, right?"

"Right," Nezu answered. "The media is saying that the explosion killed five civilians and the villain Psychokiller. But Psychokiller was spared by the explosion. We are covering up young Midoriya's involvement in all of this."

"What happened?"

Tsukauchi answered. "The boy killed Psychokiller, that's what happened. His medical files say he's quirkless, but he somehow fatally wounded the man while completely healing his own injuries."

"And that's why I brought you here," Nezu explained. "All Might, you've been a part of the All For One investigation for quite some time now. I'm sure you know that All For One has been experimenting with the transfer of quirks. The truck that Endeavor destroyed contained a chemical gas that we believe was used in one of his experiments. The gas has dispersed, but Izuku Midoriya breathed a lot of it in. And something happened."

He continued: "Remember how I said five people died in the explosion?" The others nodded. Nezu held up a medical file with a picture of a silver-haired woman. "Well, one of those five had the quirk Sacrifice, which allowed her to heal others by draining her own life force. Sacrifice has another, darker aspect, which allowed her to do the opposite, to heal herself by draining another's life force."

"And that's what young Midoriya did to Psychokiller," Recovery Girl added. "We believe he somehow inherited this woman's quirk."

"Hold on," Endeavor began. "If he could gain her power when she died, does that mean…"

"Yes. Izuku Midoriya has inherited five quirks. One from each person who died in the explosion."

All Might frowned thoughtfully as Endeavor raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"I'll show you."

Recovery Girl pressed a button on the wall and the lights in the panic room went dim.

"I've already explained Sacrifice. His second quirk is called Glow-In-The-Dark. The name is self-explanatory."

Sure enough, as the lights darkened, Midoriya's skin started to glow mint green, like a glowstick.

"The intensity of his glow depends on the level of darkness. Daylight does not trigger the quirk at all, and dim lighting only causes him to glow slightly. In pitch darkness, he shines as brightly as a 60-watt bulb. Strangely enough, the man who had it before Midoriya glew bright orange, while Midoriya glows green."

All Might nodded. Its not at all practical, but it's a cool party trick! The boy might have trouble sleeping since he's a permanent nightlight. Not to mention anyone who might want to sleep with him in the distant future…

"The next quirk is slightly more interesting. Wait and watch." Recovery girl returned the lights to normal as five sets of eyes fixated on the boy.

Izuku made a grab for a toy train, but it was slightly out of reach. Rather than take the effort to get up, he stretched out his arm and willed it to come to him. The onlookers watched as the toy seemingly flew into the boy's outstretched hand.

"This is Attraction. It belonged to his mother, Inko, before she passed. Inko was able to attract small objects to her body, but she never really honed her power. Chances are, this boy could attract even larger objects if he wanted to use his quirk to the maximum potential."

Seemingly bored with the toy, he let go and sent it flying like a like a bullet across the room. The toy embedded itself in the far wall as Izuku continued to play.

"Ironically, Izuku's next quirk, Reject, is almost the exact opposite. In addition to attracting objects, he can propel them from his body. But, as we've learned from the previous owner, there's a limit. If he tries to propel too big of an object, his body will be damaged by recoil."

These two quirks will work very well together, All Might thought. He imagined the boy summoning a knife and launching it at the speed of a bullet. But he's dangerous. We need to be careful.

His train of thought was interrupted by Tsukauchi. "That's the fourth quirk. What's his last power?"

"This last one is harder to show," Recovery Girl explained. "Here, let me demonstrate." She leaned back and slapped Endeavor across the face.

"Oww! What was that for?"

"Watch."

Izuku looked up from his toys, turning to the glass.

"Is someone out there?" he asked.

Endeavor turned to Recovery Girl. "Did he hear me shout?"

"No." She shook her head. "The room is soundproof. He felt you."

She continued: "Midoriya's fifth and final quirk is called Empathy. The previous user could sense people's strong feelings. Like fear, or lust. In your case, it was pain. Very useful for social situations, but it might be used in combat as well."

"With all his powers, Midoriya would make an excellent pro hero," Nezu noted.

"But also a terrible villain. He has the potential to do great harm." All Might shuddered to think about fighting a villain who could read minds and transfer pain.

Sacrifice. Glow-In-The-Dark. Attraction. Reject. Empathy.

An impressive superpower arsenal.

"We will need to make sure he's properly train-"

"Nobody's going to be 'training' my boy."

The group turned to face a newcomer as he walked down the hall. The man was tall and lanky, dressed up in an immaculate navy blue suit. He had curly green hair, just like his son's, and he wore an expression of impatience, as if he had somewhere he needed to be.

"Hisashi," Recovery Girl began. "You made it."

"Damn right I did. I'm here to pick up my son." Hisashi Midoriya had left his family three years ago in favor of a high-paying foreign job. Even his own son had no idea who the man was.

Recovery Girl took out a bunch of papers. "Your son's condition is complicated…"

Hisashi listened as she explained Izuku's newfound powers.

"Understood. As if one quirk weren't enough to deal with..."

Nezu laughed out loud, but he stifled it when he realized the man was completely serious.

"Well, thank you." The man checked his watch. "Shit. I need to go now if I want to make the early flight back. Let me take Izuku..."

As Hisashi reached for the door to the Panic Room, All Might tried to intervene.

"Mr. Midoriya, it's imperative that Izuku learns how to properly manage his multiple quirks. I'm not kidding when I say he has the potential to destroy entire cities. He'll make a fine hero, though."

Hisashi brushed it off. "He'll be fine. Besides, there aren't any 'heroes' in America, and I don't think any son of mine will have what it takes to join the National Militia."

Nezu tried to help. "Mr. Midoriya, please reconsid-"

But the man had already opened the door to the Panic Room. All Might facepalmed. The little boy looked up from his toys and at the man.

"Izuku, do you remember me?"

"No."

"Well I'm your Daddy, and I'm here to take you home. How are you feeling?"

"You're stressed," was all the boy said. A vein bulged in Hisashi forehead.

"Come on." He picked up the boy, who dropped his toys. His son on his shoulder, Hisashi walked towards the door.

"Have you ever heard of a place called San Francisco? Well that's where we're going!"

As they left, Endeavor couldn't help but notice Izuku's confused expression.

A boy needs a strong father figure, especially after what just happened. He shook his head.

"I guess that's all," Nezu said gloomily. "It's been a long day. How about we all head home?"

"Sure." Tsukauchi donned his fedora. "I will continue to pursue any new leads on the substance that gave Izuku his quirks."

All Might smiled weakly, no doubt because he was thinking of the boy and his impatient father. If Hisashi couldn't even stop for a conversation, how would he raise a four-year-old kid?

Speaking of father figures…

The boy had reminded Endeavor of his own son, Shoto, who was around Izuku's age. Like Izuku, Shoto had the potential to become a great hero.

But am I pushing the boy too hard?

Crushed by the guilt of the five civilian lives he ended, Endeavor was no longer as fixated on the Number One Hero position. Better to focus on the people around him than the goal ahead, he reasoned. Which made him feel guilty again when he remembered his wife and children at home.

I've neglected them, haven't I?

When Shoto's quirk had manifested, he'd poured all of his attention on the boy, and not enough on the other people that mattered.

It was time to set things straight.

What kind of flowers did Rei say she liked, again? I'll get her some of those.

-]-[-

That's Chapter 1! Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it!

I'm working on my writing skills, so I'd really appreciate suggestions, praise, or constructive criticism in the form of a review.

As for what to expect from this story in the future... I plan on updating fairly regularly (at least once a week) during the summer. I also fully intend on seeing this story to it's end (unless it completely bombs).

If you enjoyed it, stick around! The best is yet to come!