The Octopus

Disclaimer: I don't own BNHA

Chapter 1: Ambition

Izuku Midoriya was a smart kid, smarter than anyone else his age. He was a genius, it wasn't a matter of narcism, it was a simple indisputable fact, the kid had something that no one else did. The children said it, the teachers said it, and just about every adult that came in contact with him said the exact same thing. His intellect was the source of his fame within the school he attended, but in a way it was also the source of his isolation. If it weren't for circumstance then Izuku would have had a much easier path in life.

There was no doubt that he was a smart person, but he was a Quirkless person as well. For this reason it was of utmost priority for everyone to avoid him at all possible cost. Even if people desired help from him academically they chose to stay clear of him fearing that his Quirkless nature would spread over to them, at least that is the reason that a few people gave. The rest of the school didn't even bother to give him a reason, he was just a Quirkless boy, that was reason enough. This isolated him at school, but it grew worse at home, much worse.

The one place where he thought he would be safe was the place where his only living parent did everything to remind him that he wasn't wanted. His father did everything short of physical abuse in order to destroy the little self-confidence that Izuku had. It was always an insult about his Quirkless nature, that was when he was in a good mood. When he received a call from the school his dad's eyes would twitch and he would go on and say that Izuku was a killer. When he grew angry he would go on about how it was solely Izuku's fault that this home was broken. It only got worse when he drank, when Hisashi Midoriya drank Izuku had to run out of the house before his dad could call upon the flames from within. It was always one thing or another, there was never a break in between the abuse, so he knew that the only way of getting out of his situation was by using his brain. He had no other option or he wouldn't be able to get out of the situation alive.

His mind had been his one tool when going through school, the courses were so simple for him, so he tinkered around in class while everyone else did some type of school work. During breaks in school he went to the school library and pushed himself in the subjects that would help him most. His grasp on mathematics and engineering seemed to be unmatched, though he refused to show his skill to anyone just yet. If he was going to show anyone what he had accomplished then he would have to show everyone at once that he was a genius who wasn't just a Quirkless boy.

Thus he had been making something, something big that would surely impress everyone and land him into a school where his skills could be put to the most use. Here he was waiting for his chance to shine, but it would never come if he didn't step out into the light where everyone could see him. Where everyone could see that he was worthy of their time, that they had always been wrong about him.

For these reasons Izuku worked in the late at night every night long after his father had fallen asleep. During the day he would tinker around with the design in theory, but at night is when the magic occured. At night he was the only person awake, he was the only one who was able to see what he was doing, he was the only one who didn't judge him. That's why he liked the night sky the best.

He would pull climb out of his room through the window with ease gained from countless times doing so and would head to the Dagobah Municipal Beach Park, a complete and total dump. The funny part about this place was that Izuku actually liked it better this way, with all this junk thrown haphazardly he was able to take it and repurpose it for his own needs. It gave him a small workout each time that he had to move heavy pieces of trash in order to get to something else that he wanted for his "prized cow".

This one invention was different than any other that he had made before so it obviously required more protection. He couldn't bring it back home with him as that would be easily discovered by his father, so he was forced to leave it here, a dump. Under inside a large case, partially buried in the sand, hidden under large pieces of metal, that's where he placed it every night before heading back home.

He would work on it as if it he were handling a child. He was weary of his movements around it, making sure no wire was labeled wrongly, that every link was secure. He tripled checked, and quadrupled checked that every single piece was where it should be, everything had to be secure. The process of construction was a slow one, but the process of testing was even slower. In comparison, it would seem as if the construction period happened overnight for the testing period was simply taking forever.

Whenever one problem went away two or three more would simply walk down and take its place. The thing about all of it was that Izuku didn't care about the time it took, he was a patient person and he knew that the fruit of his efforts would show up soon enough. That's why late into the school year he was simply over the moon when his machine did work, just a little, then more, till …..one night…. it was fully operational.

Izuku Midoriya was emotionless on most days, that was a simple fact that most people accepted as fact. No one could remember the last time that they had seen him smile, not many really cared about him all that much though. For that reason it came as a surprise to everyone when one day the green-haired boy showed up to school with heavy bags under his eyes and a faint smile on his face. If it had been anyone else then this minuscule thing could have been ignored, but some people just had to know why is was that the Quirkless boy was smiling.

"Fucking DEKU, why the hell do you have a smile on your face? What do you have to be happy over?" It was Bakugou of course who was asking the question, he simply couldn't stand Deku of all people being happy for some reason. Maybe it was because at some point in their friendship both had wanted to be heroes, maybe it was because of pride.

The question didn't even register with the inventor as he stared blankly ahead, last night's experiment replaying in his head. He obviously couldn't have cared less about what Bakugou wanted, he was just another one of those people who believed themselves to be hero material when they themselves didn't know what true heroism was.

This proved to be a problem when Bakugou began to get annoyed that his question wasn't being answered. At first his face made itself into an obvious frown which indicated to everyone that they should step away. Following this, his hands began to spark with the nitroglycerin-like sweat igniting just a small amount to get Izuku's attention. The only problem with this was that Izuku didn't want to pay any attention to Bakugou, so he kept staring forward deep in thought. This was when the blonde decided that he didn't like being ignored and so he used his quirk on poor Izuku's desk.

"You do realize that the behavior you are displaying would be classified as bullying and is probably the most unheroic thing an aspiring hero could do?" The question was asked so plainly that Bakugou had to consider it for a second before he once again let a larger explosion go off in front of Izuku.

The desk in front of the tinkerer was blown away and slammed against the back of the room, but Izuku remained seated in his original position. His eyes were still empty and his faint smile was gone now, it didn't tend to stay for long, especially in this environment. There was no way out of this but to confront the bull and take it by the horns, so Izuku did what was most logical and asked Bakugou a question that he himself would be asking himself.

"What makes you a hero and not a villain? Who's to say that everything you've been doing isn't exactly what a villain would do? Why do you act like a villain?" The last one managed to get to Bakugou as he jumped from his seat and grabbed the shorter boy by the collar before pushing him against the wall and putting his face as close as possible without actually kissing the other boy. The anger in Bakugou's eyes was seen by everyone in the class within a second, so they knew that Midoriya had been successful in pissing off the one person that you weren't supposed to piss off in this class.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU SAY YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF QUIRKLESS TRASH!?" His tone made it clear to everyone in the room that he had been pushed a little too far. The only person who didn't seem to care at all was the one person who should've felt the most fear at that moment. During the entire time there was only been small flinches that were barely noticeable. Most of them had been caused by the large and sudden explosions, but Izuku didn't feel any fear in these moments, he felt anger.

"I'll repeat myself once more, in your words you say you wish to be a hero but in your actions you are nothing more than a villain." The words that he said were full on neutrality in order to get Bakugou to that point where he could realize that Izuku didn't care, but of course the boy took it as something else entirely.

"A villain would have destroyed you for saying that to him, you better be glad I'm not one." The temper of Bakugou seemed to have gone down a little, but it wasn't enough to resolve the conflict completely. "But as a hero I'll give you the chance to apologize and you can get off scot free just this once."

"Apologize for what? Mildly sassing you?" The eye contact was maintained as he said this in order to show that he wasn't the same little kid as before. No, now he was a fully grown inventor who would use what he had made in order to finally put an end to all of this behavior that had been exhibited by his former friend. "If you want an apology I'll give you a time and a place. You can wait for me there."

This behavior from Izuku was one that surprised everyone in the room. Not once, not ever, had Izuku ever been one to start a fight. Why would he? He was a simple Quirkless boy who had no shot at all going up against the one person in their class who was aiming to go to UA. Then again, he was the smartest kid their age, there was something up his sleeve that everyone wanted to see.

"Well then, it looks like little Deku finally grew a pair and decided to stand up to the big mean 'bully' isn't that right? Now tell me where this place is." The taller teen released Izuku and watched as the other teen straightened his black school uniform. He pulled out a wad of paper from him pocket and shoved it into the other boy's hand.

"Read it and destroy it. I don't feel like making this for an audience, just you and me. That is if you feel up to the challenge…" Izuku's face showed the slightest smile before the end of the day was signaled by a bell that rang clear and loud. "I'll see you there…."

Before anyone else could say anything, Izuku walked out the classroom with his backpack and the project that he had been working on that day. While everyone looked in the green-haired boy's direction Bakugou unclumped the ball of paper and read the contents of the page.

Dagobah Municipal Beach Park

Tonight 2:30 am

There was a large explosion originating from Bakugou's hand and everyone turned in his direction. The paper was now gone, but Bakugou's anger was still very much present and quite visible to all. His smug expression wasn't in its usual place which made the rest of the students, even Bakugou's lackeys, all but run out of the room.

Bakugou was never one to back out of a fight, but now, in this one occasion, he felt as if something was going to go horribly wrong for all the parties present. The small voice in his head that told him to stop it all before things went sideways was quickly pushed deep into his mind when he thought of the pleasure he would get in showing Deku that the Quirkless had no chance of beating the Quirked.

That night, long before Bakugou was expected to show up, Izuku Midoriya stood in a green hoodie looking down at the case that contained the solution to his current problem, maybe even his future problems. It all seemed so silly that all of it was in one box, one measly box, but it wasn't silly. His future depended on the contents within the box, and he wasn't ready to throw it all away in this one fight.

This fight was the first true test, it would show him what he needed to change to improve his invention. Katsuki Bakugou had always been a born fighter, so it might have been a bad choice for the field run. Then again it wasn't every day that a fourteen year old boy made a harness connecting to his spinal cord that had four metallic arms coming out of its back. As an added bonus, these arms heeded his every command without the use of words, just thoughts….

I think that the time has come for the Quirkless to show the Quirked that we are even better than they are. Even with enhanced abilities, even with the social power, even when everything goes right for them, I will prove that we are worthy.

He opened the case and stared down at its contents. A pair of goggles to monitor the readings, a trench coat to hide the arms in future field runs, and the harness itself. Tonight was the last time that he would allow Bakugou to act like he did, there would be no more of his usual behavior allowed, Izuku Midoriya would make sure of that.

AN: Hope you enjoyed the first chapter, there will be more soon.