Chapter 83 - 3-5

Chapter 3: Izuku Midoriya: Birthright (3)

"WOW! That's an amazing story, Midoriya, my boy! To think that kids these days could be so cool under pressure is astounding!"

"Y-Yeah," Midoriya said, scratching the back of his head. Truth be told, the entire situation was one of the scariest things Midoriya ever had to deal with in his life, but there was no way he was going to let that show. This was All Might, after all. Everyone's Hero. His Hero. And he'd been holding an actual conversation with him that the man was actually enjoying.

This was the stuff of dreams. Like he'd died and gone to heaven.

"Come on, be a little prouder of yourself!. You did great for someone without even an ounce of training. Wish I had that kind of natural born talent when I was your age." All Might said, slapping Midoriya on the back. Much to his surprise, he had to fight to keep on his feet.

"Wh-What do you mean?"

"Well, I mean, you don't think I was born as this pinnacle of muscular heroism, do you?"

All Might started flexing his body left and right, his biceps stretching the fabric of his shirt.

"Would it be too embarrassing to say that I did?"

"Anyway, the point is that I had to work my ass off seven times to get to be who I am. If someone like you did the same, well, there's no telling how far you'd go."

"R-Really?!" Midoriya shouted.

"Really! Midoriya, my boy, you're going to make a fine Hero, someday!"

"Really?! Thank you! Thank you!"

Midoriya started bowing so low and so rapidly that he started carving away at the pavement. If Midoriya was happy before, now he was being propelled all the way to Oa with excitement. Meeting your Hero was one thing. Holding a conversation with them was another. Said Hero telling you that you have a bright future ahead of you? Priceless.

Priceless until you remembered the immeasurable cost of it.

Wait. What am I doing? Midoriya asked himself, his bowing coming to a sudden halt. This isn't something I should be happy about. The idea of being a Hero… even if it's coming from All Might, I can't do it. I just can't do it.

Memories flashed before Midoriya's eyes. A memory of him throwing Bakugou into a building. A memory of learning that Bakugou would have died if it took a minute longer to get him to the hospital. A memory of being told that it happened all because he was born the exact kind of thing that would do that.

Someone like him didn't deserve to be a Hero. Midoriya knew that, yet he let himself forget in the excitement of meeting All Might.

Kacchan's right, I am a hypocrite, Midoriya told himself. I keep trying to put Hero stuff behind me, but I can't get myself to fully commit. One way or another, I always find myself falling back into it, only to start running away again when I remember how much I don't deserve it.

Midoriya knew that he couldn't keep doing this. He couldn't keep floundering between ideals and resolutions, like he'd always been. He needed to commit to something, but he couldn't. Thinking about becoming a Hero always brought him back to what he did to Bakugou and how, and he knew he shouldn't aspire for anything other than a normal life. Thinking about living a normal life always brought him back to his childhood dreams of Heroism and made him remember how badly he wanted it. It was an ouroboros of contradictory thoughts.

Childhood. Childhood dreams. All Might. ALL MIGHT! I'm talking to All Might! Midoriya screamed in his head. All Might's my idol! The best Hero, there is! He knows more about being a Hero than anyone else in the world! If I tell him about this and ask for some advice, he'll be able to tell me what to do!

"Well, I'm off! Gotta take this guy to the authorities, you know. See you in the big leagues, kid!" All Might exclaimed.

All Might bent his body into a crouching position before jumping up and propelling himself far into the air, the pavement cracking as an after effect.

"Ah, no! Wait!"

Midoriya could feel his chance slipping away from him. Not wanting to lose anything, he did the one thing that would be sensible at the moment: he performed a similarly superhuman jump into the air at the same angle as All Might and grabbed onto his leg, taking extra care to not accidentally break it in two.

"Hey, what gives?!" All Might shouted the picosecond Midoriya latched onto him. "Midoriya, my boy, as much fun as it was talking with you, I really need to get going!"

"I know, and I'm really sorry, but I've gotta ask you one more question!"

"I'm sure you have a million questions for me, but now isn't the time! You need to let me be!"

"But if I let go now, I'll fall and, well, I don't know if I'd die from this height, but-"

"FINE, FINE! I'll set us down somewhere!"

"Thank you!" Midoriya shouted.

Midoriya had succeeded in getting more time to talk with All Might. He felt so happy about that that he didn't even question why a drop of blood had flown out of All Might's mouth.

Another day, another fight with Midoriya that fell apart before it could even become anything. If there was one thing Bakugou could be happy about, it was that a year from now, he'd never have to deal with that headache again. The more he thought about that, though, the more he thought about the slew of additional problems that that would just end up creating. Thus the birth of a whole new headache.

"Man, you really pissed Midoriya off, Bakugou!"

"I thought he was gonna kick your ass, for sure!"

The two peons following him around certainly didn't help dealing with it.

"Seriously, the guy could probably stop a train with his bare hands, and you keep starting shit with him. It's like you're a masochist, or something," Peon #1 laughed as Peon #2 handed him a cigarette.

"The hell I am. I just can't stand that piece of shit Deku acting like he's better than me all the time, just so he can run away with his tail between his legs whenever someone tries to make him put his money where his mouth is," Bakugou said.

Bakugou turned around, grabbed the cigarettes from Peons #1 and 2, and disintegrated them with his Quirk.

"Hey!" Peon #2 shouted.

"I told you morons not to smoke when I'm around! If you're caught, it'll go on my record, too, dipshits!

The peons' mouths dropped. Their bodies started shaking. Weird. These two had clung to Bakugou's sides long enough to not get like that when he went off on them, so that didn't make any sense.

Bakugou turned back around and saw a giant mass of sludge with jagged teeth glaring at him. Now it made sense.

"A body with a good Quirk."

After being in the air for several more seconds, All Might landed on top of a nearby building. Midoriya never knew he could feel so thankful to be on solid ground.

"So, All Might-" Looking over to his Hero, Midoriya saw that All Might had his back completely turned away from him.

"I wasn't lying when I said I was in a hurry, so what's so important?" All Might asked. "Do you want more autographs, or something? Which people who definitely aren't you should I make them out to?"

"No, it's not that! I wouldn't waste your time with something like that! I mean, it's not that I didn't believe you when you said you were busy, so I'm only still bothering you because I have something really important to talk to you about. That being said, I wouldn't object to getting more autographs, but now isn't the time or place for that, and it's not really something that will kill me if I don't get it-"

"Okay, okay, you're sorry and this is important, I get it! Just come out with it, already!"

"Right, sorry!"

Midoriya took in a breath, then let it go. He took it back in, he let it back out. Now or never.

"Earlier, you said that I can be a Hero, but what I want to ask you is, well, um, should I be a Hero?"

"Huh? Should you be a Hero? That's rather subjective, isn't it? But the fact that you would ask the question at all… why do you think you shouldn't be a Hero?"

"It's, It's my powers. I'm really happy that you praised the way I used them before, but I wasn't always able to use them like that. When I was a kid, and I just got them, I wasn't that good or careful with them, and they aren't the kind of powers that are fine to not have a handle on…"

"Yes, but now you can handle them. No one's an expert with their Quirks from day one, that's why we have Power Counseling. If you ask me, you're being too hard on yourself. Just because you did something a little stupid when you were younger doesn't mean you need to give up on being a Hero-"

"Almost killing my friend isn't a little stupid!" Midoriya shouted. Losing himself, Midoriya stomped on the ground so hard that a small hole formed under his heel.

All Might finally turned around to face him, his trademark smile nowhere to be found.

"What happened?"

"I, I just got my powers after everyone else in my class had theirs for months. Everyone kept saying that I was going to be Quirkless, even the doctor told me I'd never have a Quirk, but then I ripped the door to my apartment off its hinges. That meant everyone was wrong and I did have a Quirk, right? That's what I was thinking.

"After that, I got it in my head that even though I was still a kid, I needed to be more proactive to play catch up. One day, I saw my friend picking on another kid, so I got into a fight with him to get him to stop. He jumped onto my back, so I thought it'd be cool if I tried using one of your moves on him, and I, I, I sent him flying into a building! They had to put screws all over his arm, his chest is covered in scars, he couldn't go to school for a month, he, he, he almost died! My best friend was nearly killed, and it was all my fault!"

Midoriya could feel tears welling up as he forced himself to remember everything. All the pain he caused, all the turmoil he induced, all the revelations thrown in his face. He didn't hear any tears hitting the ground, however, as before they could, All Might was in front of him, wiping each one off his face.

"Midoriya, my boy, I need you to be honest with me," All Might said. "When I first entered the Top Ten ranking, I was told that in the summer of 20XX, an alien pod crash landed near the base of Mt. Fuji. It contained a humanoid child, and four years later, that child was involved in an incident where a human child nearly lost his life. Are you that alien?"

Midoriya jumped back, getting out of arm's length of All Might. A cold sweat was shooting out of his pores. His hands were shaking, his pupils dilating. He wanted to engage in flight without even thinking about fight.

"CALM DOWN!"

And he did. Very slowly.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to send you into a panic," All Might said. "I just wanted a full understanding of the situation. Please don't think for a second that I, or anyone else who knows the truth about you, would want to put you in danger. Do you understand?"

Midoriya nodded his head, his breathing becoming slightly more steady.

"So. You're an alien. If it was just an accident caused by misusing your powers, that'd be one thing. But being an alien, well, that adds a whole other layer to it."

"Yeah," Midoriya said, eyes glued to the ground. "After my parents told me that, it made sense why I was able to hurt my friend even without a Quirk: because I'm the same kind of terrible Monster they always say aliens are in school. I almost killed him when I was just four years old, and I'm getting stronger and stronger every year, without even trying. Someone like me doesn't deserve the right to be a Hero. By the time I'm old enough, I'd just destroy everything around me! Just like a Monster!

"But even though that much is obvious, I can't stop myself from dreaming about becoming a Hero. I still watch the U.A. Sports Festival every year, I record every piece of Hero-related news, I even take notes on my classmates and Pro Heroes so I can analyze them for future reference. I keep getting drawn back to Heroes, even though I know that I shouldn't try to have anything to do with them.

"So, so that's why I'm still bothering you, All Might. You're the best Hero in the world, so I want you to be honest with me: even though I'm an alien who's probably only good at hurting people, should I try to be a Hero?"

Midoriya started crying again, but this time, he held in his tears and stared at All Might. The expression on Midoriya's face was part fearful, part hopeful, and everything in-between. With heavy anticipation, he waited for All Might's answer.

Before All Might could say anything, however, a cloud of steam exploded out of his body.

"A-All Might?!"

"SHIT! I really was out of time!" Midoriya heard All Might shout.

"Wh-What's going on?! Are you alright, All Mighhhhhaaaaa?!"

When the smoke cleared, Midoriya found himself screaming, for All Might was gone. Standing in his place was a man who stood at the same height, but had so little muscle mass that his clothes looked three sizes too big. The hair was the same color, but this man's hair made it look like he hadn't gotten out of bed in a week. The eyes were the same blue covered in shadows, but the bags under this man's eyes gave an implication of fatigue, rather than mystique. The face lacked All Might's trademark chiseled appearance, instead possessing a sunken, angular look far more suited for a man with some sort of disease than the Symbol of Peace. There was a very simple explanation.

"You're not All Might!"

"Yes, I am," the man said whilst simultaneously coughing up blood.

"There's no way! How?!"

"Um, well, you know how the members of the Shazam Family all get really buff when they use their powers? It's like that!"

"Seriously?!"

At this point, Midoriya had forced himself to accept that this was, in fact, All Might, even if it made no sense for that to be the case.

"Now you see why I was in such a hurry," All Might said, sitting down on the ground with a sigh. "Since we've gotten here, I might as well tell you the truth; might even be relevant for your problem. Just don't go telling anyone about this, okay?"

Without realizing it, Midoriya must have stammered out some form of agreement, for All Might then started pulling up his shirt as if it was important to do so.

It was. Underneath his shirt was an utterly ugly mess of skin. The left half of his torso was rough and scarred and covered in stitches, with all the damage converging onto a circular patch of skin around where his heart would be. Midoriya hated how looking at such ugly scarring made him remember what Bakugou looked like under his shirt.

"Five years ago, I got this wound from a powerful Villain. My respiratory system was destroyed, and they had to remove my entire stomach. The aftereffects of dozens of surgeries have caused my body to waste away to the point where I can only fight for three hours a day."

"No way… Was, was that from when you fought the Atomic Skull?"

"Hmph! As if a punk like that could do me in like this. No, the guy who did this to me was way above him, and I only got away with my life because I managed to hit him as hard as he hit me."

"Wh-What?! So, so the guy who did that to you got it just as bad?"

"Probably worse. There were, well, other factors at play that I won't get into, but even though it's been five years, that guy shouldn't be moving around any time soon."

"No way…"

Midoriya put a hand over his mouth. He felt sick. He felt short of breath. He felt like vomiting, but he couldn't make anything come out.

"This is what they don't teach you about being a Hero. The public acts like it's all a squeaky clean business, like all you do is strap on your tights, punch some people trying to rob a bank, get the key to the city, and go back home while shooting a sly wink to the fans. But even back in the Golden Age, it was never that simple. Sometimes, you can't just play it safe. Sometimes, the bad guys won't go down in just a few punches, and when you're too naive to realise that, they'll start hitting you and everyone around you hard. When that happens, you can't be afraid to do the same to them. A Hero should never go out of their way to kill or severely hurt someone, but they can't be afraid to do so if there aren't any other options."

Midoriya couldn't form any form of response. Every ounce of power he put into thinking was focused on trying to make sense out of everything. He had no idea what his face looked like at that moment, but if All Might expression was any help, it couldn't have been anything good.

"That's what I thought," All Might said, standing up.

"What? What's what you thought?" Midoriya asked.

"After hearing all of that, your expression didn't change for the better; if anything, it just got worse. You're so wracked with guilt and fear over repeating what you did ten years ago that the idea of being forced to do just that leaves you shaking in your boots, even if the target would be a Villain."

"Wh-What's so crazy about that? If someone like you suddenly says that I need to be ready to tear people apart, how am I supposed to-"

"And that's the other problem!" All Might cut in, dashing right in front of Midoriya and making his spindly form tower over him. "The other reason you're taking this so poorly is because of your own confirmation bias. You weren't really looking for my honest opinion, you just wanted me to tell you exactly what you wanted to hear so you could stop having doubts about your future. Life doesn't work that way, though. It's good to go to others for help, but in the end, you need to decide on how your life will go, all by yourself.

"Midoriya, my boy, I still think you can be a Hero, but whether or not you should be one? I honestly can't say, and it's not because you're an alien, it's because of a shortcoming you could've had, even if you were human."

All Might stepped away from Midoriya, asked him one more time not to tell anyone about his injury, and exited the rooftop via the connecting stairwell. Midoriya just stood there, looking at nothing. Listening to nothing. Thinking about nothing.

Then he cried once more, and no one was able to stop his tears from flowing.

Some minutes later, Midoriya left the rooftop. Not because he was feeling better, though. There was no point in standing there petrified, and he needed to get home before his mom started worrying. If it wasn't for that, he had no idea where he'd be going, right now.

So much for All Might being able to help me, Midoriya thought to himself. It's not like he was wrong, though. I was just hoping that he'd just give me another one of his big smiles and say 'Who cares if you're an alien? Go be a Hero!' I never even thought about him saying anything I didn't want to hear. That was stupid. So, so stupid.

Midoriya was at a loss. Meeting with All Might did nothing to help with his conflicting ideals and motivations; if anything, the meeting simply served to exasperate them. After all, if someone like All Might was calling him a hypocrite, it was hard to try and argue with that. If someone like All Might told you to figure things out on your own, there was really no choice in the matter. If making this kind of decision was easy for Midoriya, though, he wouldn't need to have talked to All Might, in the first place.

I need to take my mind off this. I was having a bad day, then I was having a good day, now I'm having a bad day, again. Need to do something to bring this back to a good day.

As the thought went through Midoriya's head, he heard an explosion sound off through the air. There was a large crowd of people across the street, it must have come from over there. The crowd kept getting larger, and with his enhanced sight, it looked like a lot of people were smiling.

There must have been Heroes and Villains fighting over there.

Midoriya gave a solemn shrug and started crossing the street. Something like this probably wouldn't do much, but he did make it a habit of watching Heroes fight whenever it happened near him. Not only that, but it could be fun to see what Villain was being taken down.

It wasn't fun. It wasn't fun in any way, shape, or form.

The Villain causing a ruckus was, without a doubt, the Sludge Villain All Might had apprehended earlier. Midoriya couldn't forget that slimy body of his, and the roaring flames only served to make it look even more threatening.

Back when I grabbed All Might's leg, I must have knocked the bottle loose! It must have fallen out of his pants, and the Villain got free! Midoriya thought to himself.

Listening in on the chatter of the other onlookers, Midoriya learned that the Sludge Villain had taken someone hostage and was manipulating their body. The hostage must have had a fire-based Quirk, and that was where the flames had come from.

There were Heroes on the scene, of course, but they were all useless. The plant-based Hero Kamui Woods could barely move around, unless he wanted his body to catch fire and turn to ash. Because of said fire, Rescue Specialist Backdraft was too busy putting them out with his Hydrokinesis Quirk to deal with the Sludge Villain. Newbie Hero Mt. Lady had a Quirk that turned her body into a giant, but only a giant, so in that crowded street, she couldn't move around. The only Hero not being inhibited by the environment was Desutegoro, but he was a strictly physical fighter, so he couldn't do anything without hurting the hostage.

The most disheartening reality, though, was the lack of All Might's presence. People were talking about how they saw All Might chasing the Sludge Villain earlier, and now they were confused as to why he was nowhere to be seen. Only Midoriya knew why All Might wasn't around: he couldn't be around. Because he reached the limit of his Quirk for the day. Because Midoriya bugged him with useless questioning. And it was because he set out to do that that the Sludge Villain was using someone to cause chaos and wasn't sitting in a jail cell, right now.

This is all my fault! All of this is happening because I was so stupid. Because of me, innocent people are going to get hurt! Again! All because of me!

Midoriya felt like his heart was going to fly out of his chest. It felt like he was having a heart attack. Could whatever he was even have a heart attack? It was probably psychosomatic, but either way, he hated this. Hated that people were getting hurt. Hated that All Might told him he shouldn't be a Hero. Hated that people were suffering because of his carelessness, just like Bakugou did.

In an incredible moment of happenstance, the Sludge Villain's body shifted around just slightly enough for Midoriya to see that the hostage was Bakugou. He looked like he was going to cry.

Before Midoriya knew what he was doing, he had jumped away from the crowd and was running towards the Sludge Villain.

"Hey, kid! What the hell are you doing?! Get back here!" Desutegoro was yelling at Midoriya to stop, but he didn't listen. He couldn't listen. Nothing in his body was allowing him to listen.

"You, again?!" The Sludge Villain, a hint of panic in his voice.

Before the Sludge Villain could make any sort of move, Midoriya had jumped on top of him and Bakugou. He grabbed onto Bakugou's arm as soon as he found it among the sludge and started pulling on it with all of his might.

Izuku, you gotta stop, a voice in the back of his head told him. You know what you can do. You can tear his arm off. You nearly killed him once, and now you're going to do it, again.

I know what I did! Midoriya shouted back at it. I know what I can do, too! I know that I can tear his arm off! I know that I can rip his organs out of his body! I know that I can throw him up into the clouds and make him a pancake on a sidewalk three towns over! That's not important, though! Nothing that pops up in my head is important!

"What's important is making sure no one dies!"

Simultaneous with Midoriya's shout of triumph, he pulled Bakugou completely free of the Sludge Villain and threw him in the air in Mt. Lady's direction. With the timing of a true Pro, she activated her Quirk and caught him like an outfielder at Koshien. The crowd went wild.

"Goddammit! Why you do keep getting in my way, brat?!" The Sludge Villain shouted. "Not this time! I'm taking you out, for good! And this time! This time, you won't have All Might to… save your…"

"What won't he have me to do?!" A new, familiar voice shouted.

Midoriya turned around. He didn't want to believe. He couldn't believe it. Even now, with him looking right at it, he could still barely believe it, but there he was. There was All Might, looking just like people expected him to look, making the Sludge Villain stammer in fear.

"It's just like I told you, before: if you want to be a Hero, you can't be afraid to go all out!" All Might shouted, blood spurting out of his mouth.

"Detroit SMASH!"

Before the Sludge Villain could even move, All Might hit him with a downward punch with so much force that three things happened as a result: the Sludge Villain's body was completely broken apart, the resulting air pressure extinguished all of the fires on the street, and that same air pressure created a rising air current so powerful that it started raining.

Midoriya smiled as the crowd cheered. This was exactly what the Number One Hero was capable of: a lot more than him.

All Might left as soon as everyone was sure that the Villain was defeated. Everyone thought he was just going off to fight somewhere else, but I knew that that was far from the case.

The remaining Heroes collected the scattered pieces of the Sludge Villain's body and handed him over to the police so he could be put into custody. I was scolded for interfering in Hero business and putting myself in danger. Kacchan, meanwhile, was praised for being so brave in the face of danger. Neither of those statements were true, though: anyone who looked at Kacchan back there would have known that he was scared out of his mind, and anyone who knew me would have known that I put everyone except myself in danger. I could have hurt Kacchan all over again, I knew that, yet I still went in to save him. What did that say about me, then?

After the Heroes and police were done talking to Midoriya, he went back on his way home. The day started out bad, then it got good, then it became bad again, and it finally evolved into something he couldn't really recognize. Either way, all he wanted to do was go home, go to sleep, and put everything behind him.

"DEKU!" He'd have to put a pin in that.

"Kacchan?" Midoriya asked, turning around to see Bakugou standing near him.

"This doesn't change anything, Deku, you know that?! I could've beaten that guy by myself. I didn't need help from a fucking coward, like you! Don't go around thinking I'm gonna start kissing your ass, because of this! You haven't done anything to earn that, and you never will when you're just gonna be a hypocrite all your life! You stupid nerd!"

Bakugou kicked a trash can over before turning around and walking away, muttering obscenities under his breath.

Even though he didn't want to show, Midoriya could tell that, in his own way, Bakugou actually was thanking him. At the same time, though, he was just repeating what he always said: he didn't deserve Bakugou's respect if he couldn't commit to anything.

"Not like that's changed, at all," Midoriya told himself as he continued his walk home.

"I am here!" Before he could make even one step forward, All Might ran in front of him, smiling in his muscular form.

"A-All Might?! What are you doing here?!"

"Surprised, aren't you? I would've talked to you back at the scene of the crime, but I needed to get away from all those reporters. Wasn't hard to do, though. After all, I'm All Mi-"

All Might started coughing up blood and reverted to his powerless form. He was really pushing himself, and Midoriya knew that he was partly responsible for that.

"All Might, I, I'm really sorry! If I hadn't tried to bug you with my problems, that Villain wouldn't have gotten free, and then you wouldn't have had to push yourself past your time limit, and-"

"Actually, young Midoriya, it's I who owe you an apology," All Might interjected.

"What?"

"Ever since I received my injury, there had been too many incidents like the one today, situations where I forced myself to the sidelines because I was scared of going over my limits and hurting myself further. But you, who told me how scared you were of taking action and putting other people at risk, you cast aside all of your doubts and moved to save your friend. That selflessness made me remember that a Hero can't be slowed down by their personal hang ups! All that matters is that they go out and save people who need help; their own crap can be dealt with, later! That's how I need to start acting again, and it's clearly how you want to act!"

"Even if you say that, though, I'm just, I'm still just-"

"You're still just someone who has the resolve to save a life!"

Even though All Might's form looked nowhere near as strong as usual, Midoriya still found himself being moved by his words, absorbing every syllable into his body. Like a weight was being lifted off his shoulders that even his incredible strength couldn't move.

"Today, I gave you the wrong answers, and you asked me the wrong questions. It's not about whether or not you can be a Hero, and it's not about whether or not you should be a Hero. Midoriya, my boy, there's only one question that matters: do you want to be a Hero?"

It was a question Midoriya had been putting out of his mind for ten years. Ever since that day, it never felt like it was what mattered compared to the question of whether or not it was actually right. That might have been wrong, though. If today was worth anything, it meant that he had been going about things the wrong way for ten years.

"I, I almost killed my friend because I was so reckless with my powers. His body's always going to be messed up because of that. No matter how much good I do, I can't ever fix that."

"Yes, that's true. No matter how good a person you are, you can't change the past."

"I don't have a Quirk, I don't have the Metagene, I can't use magic, I didn't fall in a vat of toxic waste. My powers aren't anything that belong on Earth. I'm not anything that belongs on Earth."

"A lot of people would agree with that. Ever since the Lantern War, people haven't been very kind to aliens. Renegade, Starfire, Martian Manhunter, we lost a lot of great Heroes at the height of the paranoia."

"It's not like that's even over. Look! Up in the sky! The sun's setting, so if you look closely, you can see the light of Alan Scott's Green Palace! The space station he's been living in for almost a century to shoot down anyone like me who comes anywhere near here! And everyone's okay with that!"

"That's true. If anyone ever found out about you being an alien, you'd probably get a Hero or two sent to capture you. If that happened, you'd need to pray that Alan Scott doesn't personally go after you."

"Even still, I want to prove that one mistake shouldn't define who I am!"

"As you should."

"Even still, I want to prove that I have the right to be here, even if I wasn't born here!"

"Everyone should have that right."

"Even still, I want to prove that I'm not like the aliens they talk about in the history books and in the propaganda films!"

"No one would want to be like that."

"I want to prove this to everyone, but most of all, I want to prove it to myself! I… Even still, I…"

With watery eyes, Midoriya turned his head up to the sky, looking straight in the direction of the Green Palace.

"I WANT TO BE A HERO!"

"Then be one, and don't let anyone stop you."

That was when it all truly started for me. That was the day I stopped wavering and strengthened my resolve. From that day onward, I reclaimed my childhood dream of becoming a Hero, and thanks to that, I started walking the path towards becoming the greatest Hero of all time. Despite what a lot of people think, though, the next step for me wasn't going to a Hero school.

The next step for me was figuring out who I really was.

Chapter 4: STAR Labs Interlude

America. April, 20XX, present day.

People always asked Harrison Wells why he founded S.T.A.R. Labs. Some thought it was to secure lucrative patents for all of his inventions. It wasn't, he was smart enough to get those without starting a giant laboratory. Some thought it was to conduct experiments on Quirk users and Metahumans that the government couldn't be linked to. It wasn't, he was no Niles Caulder, despite the wheelchair. No, the reason Harrison Wells founded S.T.A.R. Labs was simple: he wanted to use science to help people. Whether it was through a new invention that furthered people's understanding of reality or providing occasional assistance to the Flash Family, Wells was driven by nothing more than a desire to help his fellow man.

Tonight was a good example of this trait of his, in action. As Wells was getting ready to go home after a full day of work, he ran into the night security guard in the hallway and noticed the sad expression on his purple face. Wells asked him what was wrong, and the security guard lamented that he forgot to buy his daughter a birthday present, and the toy store was going to close in an hour. Wells, understanding perfectly well how hard it was to try and balance a job with being a parent, told him that he'd keep watch for an hour so he could buy the present.

The look on his face was exactly why Wells got into this business. Some people might call him naive, including some he worked with on a regular basis, but making others happy was all that really counted.

"Even so, this is pretty boring," Wells said as he zipped around the labs. All he was doing was going into one room after the other, making sure that no one was there, and then starting over once he reached the end. It was mind numbing. If the security guard came back a little later than an hour, he honestly wouldn't be upset.

At the start of his fifth rollaround, Wells heard a loud rattling coming from the Weapons Development Lab.

"Hello?" No response. It'd make sense if it was a rat, but that was far too loud a sound for a rat. There also would never be a rat in S.T.A.R. Labs, he'd never allow for it.

"Mr. Jones?" Still no response. Very suspect. As Wells rolled towards the door, he put the thumb, index finger, and middle finger of his left hand into the shape of a gun, and a small blue flame appeared at the tip of his fingers. Welding wasn't much of a Quirk when it came to offense, but it was good enough for a surprise attack.

The surprise, though, was on him. As Wells reached for the door handle to the lab, the door slid open. Standing in the doorway was a large man with a bald head, a light-colored body, and a wicked grin on his face.

Wells barely had time to form even a single thought before he was hit in the head and lost consciousness.

When Wells woke up, he wasn't at all surprised to find himself in the Medical Ward. He also wasn't surprised to see his own face staring back at him. Another head of short, brown hair, another set of eyes hidden behind circular-rimmed glasses, it was a perfect reflection. Except for the baseball cap on top of the head. And the fact that it wasn't a reflection.

"I'm guessing you're mad at me, Harry," Wells said.

"What was your first clue?" The man, now identified as Harry, asked.

"Well, I have enough experience with being me to know what I look like when I'm mad. Being a version of me from an alternate reality means that there'll always be some little idiosyncrasies that we'll both share, no matter how different we may act."

"Then you know that, just like you, I don't take kindly to people acting like idiots!" Harry shouted.

"That is true."

"What were you thinking, Wells? You could have gotten killed. Thank God whoever broke in here didn't know that the alarm was programmed to go off whenever a Wells lost consciousness, otherwise he would have finished you on the spot."

"Don't berate me like I'm a child who needs to be told why they're on timeout, Harry. I know I screwed up, but we won't fix anything if you waste time simply reminding me."

"Heeyo!" A new voice said, one that was identical to Wells and Harry's. Into the Medical Ward entered another person sharing Wells' face, this one holding a six pack of beer and wearing a fedora, a black and white striped scarf, and a large grin on his face.

"H.R., what are you doing?" Harry asked.

"I got your text. You said it was urgent, so let's rock!"

"Can't believe I included you in the group text, by mistake," Harry muttered under his breath.

"H.R., when Harry said it was urgent, he meant 'Danger to Central City' urgent, not 'Emergency game night' urgent."

"Aw, man! So I brought beer and Secret Hitler for nothing?"

Wells and Harry shot H.R. a glare and he backed up a step.

"Sorry, sorry, not cool. Switching to serious mode, now! Hello there, fellow Councilmen! I heard there was an emergency. What happened?"

"There was a break in," Harry said. "One of the security guards, a man by the name of Rudy Jones, was paid to use his clearance codes to let a Villain into S.T.A.R. Labs, an action he got away with because our fearless leader over here fell for a sob story about him needing to buy a present for his kid."

"Not one of my proudest moments, I'll give you that," Wells said as he pushed himself off the medical bed and back into his wheelchair.

"If it makes you feel better, I probably would have fallen for it," H.R. said.

"Yes, but you're an idiot," Harry said.

Before anything else could be said, a red blur flew into the room faster than anyone could blink. The blur quickly materialized into a man wearing red spandex and yellow boots, a lightning bolt inside of a white circle adorning his chest.

"Hope you have good news for us, Flash," Harry said.

"And bad news, unfortunately," Flash said, taking off his cowl to reveal a handsome face with a full head of blonde hair. "The bad news is that I couldn't find the Villain. I searched S.T.A.R. Labs with my Forensic Analysis Quirk, but I couldn't find anything to go off of. He must have been using something that allowed him to mask his presence, either a Quirk or some advanced technology. Speaking of, what did he steal, anyway?"

"Some laser cannons, some plasma grenades, a skeleton key, and some blueprints for various projects. Nothing world ending, but still dangerous," Harry said.

"There is some good news, though. I was able to find Rudy, no problem. Didn't put up much of a fight, though not from lack of trying, and CCPD took him in. It didn't take much to get him to talk, either. He didn't give me the name of his partner, but he did say that he was planning on heading to Japan?"

"Why Japan?"

"Maybe he's gonna make a Godzilla?" H.R. asked. Everyone looked at him with skepticism. "What? It's what I'd do."

"Of course it is."

"The main point, of course, is that we know where to catch him," Wells said. "We need to have the authorities lock down the roads, airport, and docks, if they haven't already. Then, as an extra precaution, we need to alert all the major Hero Agencies in Japan that a bald Villain with a light-skinned body and probable supergenius intellect is fleeing there with stolen S.T.A.R. Labs technology."

"Dr. Wells, I'll head over to Japan if you need me to, but between Black Hole and the Rogues' newest scheme, the Wallys and I are stretched pretty thin, right now," Flash said.

"Don't worry about it, Mr. Allen, we all know how much Central City needs you. Japan's Heroes can handle this, and if they can't? Well, it's a good thing that one of our associates is already over there."

Flash nodded his head at Wells before putting his cowl back on and zipping out of the room.

Wells knew he screwed up, but this didn't change anything. He maintained a sense of pride in seeing the good in people, and it was thanks to that that he earned the trust of people who would be able to fix this.

"Sooooo, Secret Hitler?" H.R. asked.

"Only because you brought beer."

Chapter 5: The Übermenschen (1)

Hello there, citizens! I am the man who needs no introduction, but here it is, anyway! I am All Might! The Number One Hero in the world! I'm the guy that everyone can count on to help them out of a jam. House burning down? I'm there! Royal Flush Gang robbing a bank? I'm there! Cute kitty cat caught in a tree? You better believe I'm there! 

Though, if I'm being honest, underneath all this bravado is something a little less than glamorous. Five years ago, I had a fight with the most dangerous and vile Villain in the entire world. I defeated him, but I was nearly killed, in the process. It's not like I've never had a bad fight, but this one was definitely the worst of the worst. Even though I survived, the aftermath of the battle still hasn't faded from me. To this day, I'm only able to harness my power for a few hours a day, and the rest of the time, I can do nothing else but stand aside and hope that other people can pick up my slack.

What a load of croc! An even bigger load is that it took me five years to realise that, and I have one Izuku Midoriya to thank for that. The boy's lived his whole life afraid of hurting people with his powers, but when push came to shove, he put all of his fears aside to save his friend. Just like the Hero everyone thinks I am. Just like the Hero I need to get back to being!

I don't remember the last time I was so grateful towards someone. Young Midoriya's re-committed himself to becoming a Hero, and I'm going to do whatever I can to help him. That starts with his latest mission in life: finding out who he is.

Golden Week. A week of assorted holidays that gives everyone a chance to relax, a little. Schools and businesses are closed for most of the week, families take their children out on vacations, Heroes get to take some time off to go to festivals. Even Villain activity is noticeably lower during the week, showing that some bad guys are human enough to need a break, every once in a while. Midoriya would like to believe that he was human enough to go along with the festivities, just like everybody else.

A few weeks had passed since Midoriya's meeting with All Might. Thanks to All Might's brutal honesty, Midoriya was able to put his fears behind him just enough to fully fall back into his old desires of wanting to become a Hero. Obviously, that meant he'd be applying to U.A., because why wouldn't he try to go to All Might's alma mater? Of course, Midoriya had only just started ninth grade, so all of that was a year away. No need to rush anything. In the meantime, Midoriya knew he had to put his effort into something else.

He had to find the spaceship that brought him to Earth.

Technically, it wasn't something that was really necessary. Everything that had to do with him being an alien was a problem only he was aware of. But when it came down to it, that was the point. Midoriya was who he was today because he was an alien and had all the things that came with whatever sort of being he was, warts and all. He could make an attempt to just ignore it, but if he wanted any sort of closure, he needed to at least try and figure out where he came from and why.

When Midoriya told All Might that he wanted to find his spaceship after they finished discussing another matter, he didn't hesitate to offer his assistance. All Might had a busy schedule, though, and Midoriya, himself, still had school to worry about, so they agreed to meet up again at the start of Golden Week to discuss it; it would also give All Might a chance to gather up any information on the matter that only someone in his position could gain access to.

A few weeks went by after the incident with the Sludge Villain. Even with the attention he got from his involvement, Midoriya just kept his head down, acting the same as always, even if no one knew that things were different. Once Golden Week officially started, Midoriya bought a ticket for the first train out to Roppongi and headed out the door. Fortunately, he didn't have to stammer out a terrible lie to his mother, as when he mentioned he was going to Roppongi, she made an assumption that was highly convenient for him.

Of all the expensive, high-rise buildings in the expensively trendy neighborhood of Roppongi Hills, none stood out more than All Might's Hero Agency, Might Tower. The building stood 56 storeys above the street, even more if you counted the large, planet-like structure that sat atop the roof of the building. The inside of the building was just as impressive to look at, with each floor containing things like high intensity training rooms, cafeterias stocked with food befitting the class of Roppongi Hills, Big Belly Burger, as per the sponsorship deal, daycare centers for the children of the hundreds of employees, and a small museum chronicling some of All Might's greatest achievements in his career, dating all the way back to when he set the record for most points obtained in the U.A. entrance exam that still had yet to be broken.

On any given holiday, Midoriya would have loved to do what his mother thought he was doing and go there for a guided tour, as he had done so many times in the past that he had nearly memorized the tour guides' script, word for word. He wasn't there for that, though. It was just business. Business with All Might, of course, but still business.

That still makes it great, though! Midoriya thought to himself as he stood in the elevator. Because of all the work All Might does, he's hardly ever at Might Tower, and when he is here, he locks himself in his office and never leaves. In all the years that I've come here on birthdays and holidays and just when I try to get away from people, I've never been able to see him, but now I get to be the first civilian to actually hang out with All Might inside Might Tower! Even though this is actually really serious, I'm so happy!

The elevator door opened up at the top floor, where All Might's office was naturally located. Compared to the spectacle of the lower levels, the top floor was very lowkey, very much a standard office, aside from the giant statue of All Might, obviously. Because it was still All Might's boring-looking office space, though, Midoriya still found himself walking around in awe.

Even as he ended up bumping into the reception desk.

"Can I help you, kid? Are you looking for the tour?" The receptionist asked.

"Ah, no!" Midoriya said. "I'm actually looking for an employee. His name is, what was it again? Oh, right, Toshinori Yagi."

"You're here to see Mr. Yagi? Are you his son?"

"No, he's, um, a friend of my dad, and I wanted to talk to him about possibly getting a job here."

"Oh, okay. Just give me a second to call him over," the receptionist said, picking up the phone at her desk.

In all honesty, Midoriya didn't know who this Toshinori Yagi person was, either. All Might just told Midoriya to ask for him when he came to Might Tower, but all of the emotional beats of their meeting and the awkwardness of their other conversation made him forget to ask before All Might took off. If All Might was getting a third party involved, then Toshinori must be someone he trusted enough to tell about this. Maybe he was an alien, too. Probably not, though. What would be the odds of All Might being friends with an alien?

"Mr. Yagi, he's over here!" The receptionist called out, interrupting Midoriya's thoughts.

"I see him, thank you!" A new speaker said. It had to be Toshinori Yagi.

Midoriya turned to greet the mysterious new face only to discover that it was neither mysterious nor new. It was, as it turned out, a very familiar, sunken face holding a laptop case and wearing a yellow suit that looked a few sizes too big.

"ALL MIGHT?!" Midoriya shouted, putting a hand over his mouth immediately after.

"Did he just say 'All Might'?" The receptionist asked.

"Er, no! He said, um, 'Alright!' As in, 'Alright, Mr. Yagi! Let's get this party planning session started!' Isn't that right?"

Midoriya just nodded his head, afraid of saying something even stupider.

"Wait, I thought he was here to-"

"Well, we best be going! Cars don't get practice driven by themselves, you know! Unless they're self-driving cars, but, again, goodbye!"

Toshinori, actually All Might, grabbed Midoriya by the arm and dragged them both into the elevator, the doors closing behind them a second later.

All Might brought Midoriya to a small cafe overlooking the street and sat them at a booth in the back corner. Midoriya was initially surprised that he brought them somewhere so mundane, but then All Might said that it's easy to keep an eye on the street, so it made sense.

"Sorry I forgot to tell you about this, Midoriya; it just completely slipped my mind at our last meeting," All Might said. "Must have been quite a shock to see your Hero working a nine to five, right?"

"Well, no, not really," Midoriya said. "If you can only use your Quirk for a few hours a day, then you have to be doing something with the rest of your time. You probably make enough money to not have to work, but considering how much Hero work you do in a day, you probably wouldn't want to just sit around doing nothing. But 'Toshinori Yagi'? Your real name is supposed to be Hikaru Hinata, so are you using a fake name here?"

"Actually, the name I use here is my real one. When I first started my training, my master advised me to create a new identity for myself, as it would make certain things easier, later in life. After receiving my injury five years ago, however, I needed someone to be associated with both of my forms. So as far as the world is concerned, Toshinori Yagi is a normal secretary who manages All Might's private affairs, and Hikaru Hinata is his boss, the Number One Hero nobly protecting innocents, day in and day out!"

"That's so cool! It's like how Heroes disguised themselves as normal people before the Golden Age Act was passed!"

"I know, right?! That was the only thing on my mind when I came up with it! Who doesn't love a bit of nostalgia, right?"

"Right! Ah, wait, this isn't why we're here."

"That's true."

All Might put his laptop case on the table and pulled out a Wayne-Powers-brand laptop. That must be where it was being stored, Midoriya surmised. Any information All Might had gathered on the ship that brought him to Earth must have been on that laptop.

"So what's on the laptop?" Midoriya asked, taking a sip of a cup of tea.

"Nothing," All Might stated.

Midoriya tried his hardest not to engage in a spit take, but a little bit of liquid still ended up on his lower lip.

"No, that's not really accurate. It's not that there's nothing so much as it is there's nothing that you were looking for."

"What do you mean?" Midoriya asked.

"Best if you see for yourself."

All Might turned the laptop around so it was facing Midoriya. On the screen was a paused video. Behind the "paused" icon was a message that Midoriya's limited English told him read "CLASSIFIED INFORMATION. VIEWING IS PERMITTED ONLY FOR DEPARTMENT OF EXTRANORMAL OPERATIONS OPERATIVES AND SPECIAL PERSONNEL."

With an anxious gulp, Midoriya plugged in his Beats by Canary headphones and started the video.

The video started off with a shot of a forested area. Dozens of adults were either standing around or shuffling about, some dressed in JSDF uniforms, some dressed in black suits and sunglasses. A few people were lifting a large metal object into the back of a military truck. They were having a conversation that wasn't fully captured by the recording, but Midoriya was able to pick up fragments along the lines of "crash," "search party," "Maad," "Director Bones," and "spaceman." The timestamp on the bottom of the screen was the last confirmation Midoriya needed. The timestamp was July 15th., 20XX. The day he landed on Earth. This was the aftermath.

The pod was fully loaded into the back of a truck. One of the men shouted to the rest that they had to move out and head back to base, and everyone shuffled into different vehicles. They all started driving out of the campsite in single file, the truck containing the spaceship in the center of the line.

Out of nowhere, a giant dent emerged in the roof of the truck containing the spaceship.

"What the hell was that?" Someone asked before another dent appeared.

"Everyone stop!" Another person shouted. A third dent appeared as all the vehicles came to a halt. About a dozen people stepped out and walked over to the source of the problem. One man cautiously approached the vehicle, gun pointed straight ahead.

A split second later, a giant metal claw shot through the truck, grabbed the man, and tossed him into the air in an arc until he landed in Lake Kawaguchi with a plop.

"Holy shi-" The same claw cut off the next speaker as it knocked him into a tree. Suddenly, the truck is filled with dents all over before exploding in a fiery blaze. The metal claw shot out of the flames, followed by another, then another, then two more. The ends of the five claws shot upward into the air, revealing that they were, in fact, attached to the spaceship.

"CHAIODH KHUHP W KAOAHJAH," came a mechanical voice from the ship in an unknown language.

Whatever it was trying to say didn't mean anything as the soldiers and black suits started attacking it. Some with guns that fired bullets that instantly bounced off of its shell. some with Quirks that, for all of the enhanced punching and energy-based attacks, only moved the ship ever so slightly.

"CHAIODH KHUHP W KAOAHJAH. SOKAOTHRONIVODH RRAOP."

A tiny ball of green light appeared at the tip of the spaceship. It started getting bigger. And bigger. And bigger. In a few seconds, the ball was twice the size of the ship. In a panic, everyone started running back to their vehicles, but it was too late. The ball was launched towards the ground and engulfed the entire area in a green explosion. When the light faded, all of the vehicles were destroyed and everyone had lost consciousness. At the very least.

"AHVRIG KHUHP W TIV SHEHD GEVAHJAH. THRONIVU W KAL-ELOSH."

The ship ran away from the wreckage on its claws, never turning back once. The video ended there.

As Midoriya removed his headphones, he didn't know what sort of expression he was making, and he honestly didn't want to know.

"Crazy stuff, right?" All Might asked.

"That's putting it lightly," Midoriya said. "Those people, did they-"

"No one gave me a straight answer when I asked."

Midoriya's crest did an excellent job of falling.

"After I watched the video the first time, naturally, I inquired about the ship's current whereabouts. Sadly, by the time local Heroes and law enforcement arrived at the campground, there was no trace of it anywhere. Even after searching the area for a week, they found nothing, and there haven't been any reports of anything like it in the fifteen years since that night. If this isn't a dead end, I don't know what is."

Midoriya stared down at the table, lost in thought from everything he just saw and everything he just heard. As quickly as that happened, though, he found markings on a trail leading to an answer.

"Shouldn't we go to Mt. Fuji, then?" Midoriya asked.

"What?"

"If that's the last place anyone saw the ship, then we should at least look there, right? It's not like we could look anywhere else. Plus, since it's the ship that brought me here, maybe me going back there will trigger some sort of beacon that will lead me to it."

"I guess that's not too crazy an idea. But are you okay with that? Do you really want to go to Mt. Fuji, of all places?" All Might asked.

"I-I'd like it if I could avoid something like that, but I don't think that I have a choice. I don't know if I can actually find the ship, but if I'm going try and be a Hero, I know that I have to at least try."

"If that's your answer, then I'm still with you, all the way!" All Might exclaimed, giving a thumbs up and flashing a smile.

The next day, Midoriya had a harder time lying to his mother about what he was doing. He told her that he was going camping until at least the end of the holiday season, but he stammered through so much of it, there was no reason for anyone to believe him. Midoriya could tell just by looking at her that she didn't, yet in spite of that, she still let him out the door under the promise that he try not to have a repeat of the incident with the Sludge Villain.

Walking ten minutes away from his apartment, Midoriya saw All Might waiting for him outside a convenience store. He was standing next to a yellow car that was definitely showing signs of age in not all the wrong places, but certainly ones that warranted concern.

"Sorry we have to go there like this, young Midoriya. We could get there in a few minutes if I was powered up, but that'd draw too much attention," All Might said.

"No, it's fine," Midoriya said.

"On the plus side, this gives me a chance to show off my car! Manufactured only in 198X, built in GPS, and three cupholders! No Batmobile, but she's still a real beaut, ain't she?" All Might asked, hitting the hood of the car and laughing.

One of the rearview mirrors came detached from the car.

"A-A little wear and tear is manageable! Just look at me!" All Might laughed as he popped the mirror back into place. "We should go now."

"Okay," Midoriya said.

It was about a two hour drive to Mt. Fuji, so Midoriya and All Might had a lot of time to kill. Midoriya played around with the beat up CD player and put on whatever All Might had lying around, which was mainly Beatles, Savage Garden, Music Meister, and the assorted arrangements of Hoyt S. Curtin. The two also shared various anecdotes about their lives with one another, also taking care not to bring up their other conversation. Midoriya old stories of him and his parents, All Might various stories about Villains he'd fought and accidents he'd prevented. At some point, probably around the time All Might finished his story about the time he worked with the Doom Patrol to stop the Brotherhood of Evil from destroying London, Midoriya started liking that this could have been a normal vacation under different circumstances.

"Whoa, that's a lot of traffic!" Now it really felt like a vacation.

"We must be really close," Midoriya said.

"GPS says we'll be there in ten minutes. I think. Screen's kind of fuzzy," All Might said, tapping against it with his finger.

"It's fine, I know we're close. It's pretty obvious."

"It is? How do you-Oh."

"Alien Beating Stick! Get your Alien Beating Stick, right here! Only 500 yen, guaranteed to smash any alien's head in!" A man carrying a box of sticks shouted from the side of the road.

"Trust me, ma'am, these spices are specially designed to lure out any and all aliens in the area, and you and only you are getting a special deal on them," a person at a makeshift stand was saying.

"Mommy, if we see the alien, is All Might gonna come and beat it up?" A kid in the neighboring car innocently asked his parents.

"Man, when I see that little green dude, I'm gonna go all 'Welcome ta Earf' on his ass! Just you wait, man!" A punk-looking kid said to his friend as they both laughed.

It was the same all around them. People selling novelty alien goods. People selling alleged alien traps and weapons. People going on about how they were going to take down the alien if they managed to find it.

Midoriya really didn't want to go to Mt. Fuji.

When an alien comes to Earth for the first time in decades, people don't just forget about it, the next day. It was big. Super big. And like all super big things, people started making a super big joke about it. For the last decade and a half, Mt. Fuji has been nothing but a tourist trap, drawing in anyone interested in finding the alien. From bogus maps to doctored photos, even all sorts of low-grade weapons that people can use in the hopes of beating up the alien, themselves. I don't know what makes me more sick, the fact that people are doing this, or the fact that they're allowed to do this, without any sort of repercussions! No wonder my friend doesn't like talking about this place. What decent person would enjoy this?!

If this was the only hurdle Young Midoriya and I had to pass through, though, that would have been more than manageable.

After getting through all the traffic, All Might was able to pull into the Lake Kawaguchi campgrounds, bringing their long drive to an end. The two exited the vehicle, Midoriya's eyes locked on the dirt.

"I'm sorry you had to see all of that," All Might said.

"I-It's fine," Midoriya said. "Really, it is! I already knew what Mt. Fuji was going to be like during the holidays, so I knew what I was getting into. It's just a little shocking actually seeing it, in person. I'll get over, so it's not worth talking about."

All Might could tell that Midoriya was trying to put on a brave face, but he had a point. There were more important things going on that needed attention, and they needed to give it to them.

"Okay, Midoriya, my boy. Let's get started!"

With a smile on his face, All Might slammed his door shut, only for it to reopen, immediately after. It took five more comedic tries for the door to actually stay shut. Batmobile, it was not.

"Now, let's get started!" All Might shouted.

"O-Okay!" Midoriya shouted.

The two ran off from the car towards the most obvious place to start: where the ship first landed. The crater was as deep and the surrounding trees were as broken up as they looked in the video file. There was also, obviously, no multi-clawed, metal spacecraft lying in the middle of the dirt. There was, however, a massive crowd of people gawking around it. That was also obvious. If they could see people making fools of themselves over alien business simply on the way over to Lake Kawaguchi, then the actual site would be swarming with them. The two of them had people bumping into them from every angle, and All Might couldn't stop thinking about how weird it was for something like this to happen to him when he wasn't using his Quirk.

"Al-Mr. Yagi! This way!" Midoriya shouted, reaching an arm around a rather fat tourist. All Might grabbed hold of Midoriya, and a second later, he put all of his effort into keeping his lunch down as Midoriya leapt high into the air, dragging All Might along with him, all the way up until they landed outside of the crowd on the opposite side of the crater. Thankfully, everyone was so absorbed by the crash site that they didn't notice any of that.

"I owe you one, Midoriya, my boy," All Might said. "The crater's as empty as it was the day you came here. We're not going to get anything done staying here. There might be something that the government people missed in the crater, but we'll never get over there like this. Let's come back here at night and just try and search around the other parts of the area, until then. That sound good to you? I'm only asking because I've been talking for a while, and you haven't said a single word to me."

This was true. What was also true was that Midoriya wasn't even standing near All Might. When he looked around for the boy, he saw that he was walking off in what seemed like a random direction.

"I know what this seems like, but it's not a random direction," Midoriya said, stopping and turning back towards All Might. "When I said 'This way,' I didn't just want you to grab onto me, I meant that I figured out which way to go."

"What? How?"

"Well, I knew that there wouldn't be anything out in the open, so I started thinking that I needed to look at things in a different way. When I did, I noticed a trail of radiation all through the air and the grass that isn't on our electromagnetic spectrum; I know because it's the same kind of radiation that my body gives off. The ship has to be from whatever world I'm from, so this radiation must be traces of it. We can follow it and figure out where the ship is."

"That's… That's amazing! Not just that revelation, but that power of yours!"

"Y-You think so?" Midoriya asked, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. "I've had this electromagnetic vision since I was nine, but I never really found anything useful for it. Hearing you talk about it so highly is pretty great, if I'm being honest."

"No need to be so modest, my boy! Having two different kinds of visions is definitely something to be proud of!"

"Well, it's more like five. Or six. Or seven? Eight? No, not eight, definitely seven, at most."

All Might felt his jaw hit the ground.

"GREAT CAESAR'S GHOST! Now that's incredible!"

"Y-You really think so?!"

"You better believe it! I can't even begin to imagine how many times One for All would need to be wielded to gain something like that!"

"Ah."

"Ah."

There it was. The revival of the conversation they were trying to avoid. All Might shouldn't have let himself get caught up in his excitement.

"Look, All Might, I'm really sorry that I let you down," Midoriya said.

"No, no, you're not letting me down!" All Might countered. "There's no rush for me to pass my Quirk onto anyone, so getting turned down isn't the worst thing in the world."

"But you seemed so happy when you were telling me about One for All."

"Well, how could I not be? I mean, One for All is a Quirk that can be transferred from one person to the next, granting its owner the combined power of everyone who came before them. It's a Quirk that's been contributing to a peaceful society ever since Quirks first appeared. It's a Quirk that allowed me to become the Symbol of Peace."

"And when you asked me to inherit it, I said no."

"Well, maybe if you weren't so quick to the draw," All Might said, scratching his head.

"Well, as great an offer it was, and it really was a great offer, I'm still really, really, really, really, really thankful for it, receiving a Quirk like that would be kind of redundant when I'm already really strong, right?"

"Redundancy isn't the issue, even if it's a good point."

"But more than that, I want to try and get a full handle on the powers I already have, and I don't think I'll be able to do that if I have another power to work on. So like I said before, I don't think I can accept your offer. Not yet, anyway. Maybe. I don't know. Let's just get back to this, please?"

"Yes, of course."

All Might was glad that Midoriya chose his own path, he really was. The last thing he wanted to do was force a responsibility onto him that he didn't want to take. There were other people who would surely be worthy, it didn't have to be Midoriya.

Hopefully he'd have enough time to find someone else.

All Might continued following Midoriya around as he followed the radiation trail. As they kept walking further and further away from the crater, the number of tourists and gawkers started decreasing further and further. After what seemed like hours of walking, most likely because it was hours of walking, there was no one around them. Nothing but trees and the wind.

"Midoriya, my boy, are you sure we're going the right way?" All Might asked.

"I'm pretty sure," Midoriya said. "I'm still picking up the same radiation, so we have to be going the right way."

"I'll trust you on that, but still, it's getting dark out, you know. If we wanna finish this up in time for dinner and a good night's sleep, we need to pick up the pace."

"Huh? You-You mean?!" Midoriya stopped in place and turned to All Might. All Might couldn't tell if the stars in his eyes were from admiration or a side effect of his electromagnetic vision.

"We haven't seen any nosey tourists for over two hours, so I don't think I need to worry about calling attention to myself!"

Smoke started shooting out of All Might's body. His muscles began to grow, his face started becoming chiseled. In an instant, he would be back in the muscular form everyone knew him to possess.

Then, as quickly as he started, he stopped.

"Someone's coming!" All Might shouted.

"Wh-What?!" Midoriya shouted.

"When my ears powered up, I heard someone approaching from the air!"

"Really?! If I was using my own super hearing-"

"Never mind that! Just act natural. They'll be here any second."

Any second turned out to be five seconds. Five seconds later, the new person dropped out of the air right in front of the two of them.

"I know who it is, just let me handle it," the new arrival said to no one. "You two. You're pretty far away from the crash site. Care to explain?"

The new arrival spoke with authority, but he hardly looked like a police officer. His eyes were white and without pupils or irises, and his dress consisted of a red body suit that even wrapped around his head, a head that appeared to be on fire. Over the body suit were yellow gloves, yellow boots, and a yellow vest with three white lines that were intersecting at a red circle on his left breast. Now that he thought about it, All Might recognized this man.

"You! You-You-You're Firestorm!" Midoriya shouted, confirming All Might's suspicions.

"Oh, you know who I am?" Firestorm asked.

"How could I not?! Nine years ago, an explosion at the Hudson University Nuclear Plant in New Carthage, New York caused two scientists to gain the ability to fuse together into a single person: the Nuclear Man, Firestorm! With the powers of pyrokinesis, energy manipulation, and transmutation, you're a super powerful Hero who wins basically every fight he goes in! Like the time you stopped Multiplex from stealing a nuclear warhead! Or the time you took down the first Killer Frost after she froze downtown Brooklyn because you wouldn't marry her! Or the time when-"

"Okay, I get it… kid! I've done a lot of impressive stuff, just settle down!" Firestorm cut in.

"S-Sorry! I'm just a really big fan, especially since there aren't that many Japanese Heroes who work internationally. Not even All Might goes out of the country, that often."

Midoriya glanced over at All Might and his face went red.

"N-Not that there's anything wrong with that! It doesn't make y-him less of a Hero, in any way!"

"I'm sure it doesn't. And I'm sure that if All Might could fly, he'd be fighting crime around the world, nonstop. No need to bring up stuff that I… am sure he already knows!" All Might said.

"I don't know what they're doing, either," Firestorm said to no one. "Anyway, back to business: what are you two doing out here? The crash site is a long way away from here, and this isn't anything close to a hiking trail."

"W-Well, we're, um, actually looking for the alien, somewhere else. I've been doing some research, and I think I have a good idea of where it might be, or at least might have gone," Midoriya said. That was sort of a lie, All Might knew, but it was good enough. It's not like they were doing anything illegal.

"Even so, you shouldn't be out here; it's not safe."

"What do you mean?" All Might asked.

"A few days ago, my associates at the main S.T.A.R. Labs branch in Central City informed me that they were robbed by an unknown Villain. That Villain made off to Japan for unknown reasons, and my investigations have led me to believe that they're somewhere in this area. I don't know where, exactly, so this entire area needs to be off limits, and you need to leave."

"We can't!" All Might said.

"Why not?"

All Might didn't think that far ahead. In his current form, he was nothing more than an ordinary citizen, and nothing he could say would change a Hero's mind. He could say that he was also investigating the apparent robbery on All Might's behalf, but then that would raise the question of where All Might was. He could say that he was All Might, but while that might be useful in the short term, it was too risky to tell that to someone he was meeting for the first time.

"U-Um, I think I can actually help," Midoriya said, interrupting All Might's thoughts.

"You do?" Firestorm asked.

"Y-You see, my eyes are able to pick up radiation, that's actually what I've been doing to try and find the alien, following a really weird level, but I've noticed bits of radiation that are completely different from what I've been following. I didn't pay much attention at first, but then I noticed that there was more and more of it the further along Mr. Yagi and I went. If a Villain is hiding out here with stolen S.T.A.R. Labs technology, they might have gone in the same direction."

"Now that you mention it, I did pick up bits of radiation while I was surveying the area, but none of it was all that clear. If you can see radiation that clearly, though, then that means you'd be able to help me track this guy down. That's what you're getting at, am I right?"

"Well, I don't want to impose."

Midoriya acted modest, but All Might could tell that there was more to it than that. What quick thinking he used. What an impressive turnaround he made. It seemed like there was definitely more to Midoriya than just incredible raw power.

"I don't like it, either, but we don't really have a choice," Firestorm said to no one. "Okay, then, kid. What's your name?"

"I-Izuku Midoriya, sir!"

"Alright, Midoriya, it appears that I'm going to be needing your unique set of skills, today. Use your eyes to lead me to the end of the radiation trail, and after the Villain is apprehended, you and your older friend here can go back to your business."

"R-R-Really?! Y-You want me to help you?!"

"That's right. Consider yourself deputized."

"Th-Thank you very much, Firestorm! Please, follow me!"

After giving a set of rapid bows in Firestorm's direction, Midoriya jumped in an arc high above the treetops and landed hundreds of meters away.

"Sorry about him. The kid gets really excited about Heroes," All Might said.

"I know the type," Firestorm said with a grin. "Do you have a power that can keep up with him?"

"N-No."

"Alright, then. Just get on my back while I follow him."

"Thank you."

Firestorm bent down towards the ground, allowing All Might to get situated on his back and prepared for take off.

"Wow, you're toasty!"

"They don't call me 'Coldstorm,' you know."

Twin flames shot out of Firestorm's feet, and he, along with one passenger, was in the air following Midoriya's lead.

With Midoriya free to move at full speed, and Firestorm following closely behind him, the three of them reached the apparent end of the trail in just a few minutes.

"Midoriya, my boy, are you sure this is the place?" All Might asked as he climbed off of Firestorm's back.

"This is where the trail ends. Both of them, actually," Midoriya said.

"This can't be right, though."

"I'm getting a huge spike in radiation. This has to be it," Firestorm said.

"But there's just no way!"

All Might had every right to be skeptical. When Midoriya and Firestorm finally stopped, they ended up at none other than Mt. Fuji, itself. But that didn't make sense. Even if most people nowadays only came to the area to see the crash site at Lake Kawaguchi, Mt. Fuji was still a national treasure that drew in hundreds of thousands of people every year. Something like an alien spacecraft couldn't be there and not go unnoticed, and someone like a Villain couldn't hide out there without immediately drawing attention to themself.

"Even if it doesn't make sense, that's what it's looking like, right now," Firestorm said.

"Maybe this Villain has some sort of lair inside the lava of Mt. Fuji. Wouldn't be too out of the question," All Might said.

"No, he couldn't have built something like that so fast, and I doubt something like that could've already been here. Midoriya, what do you think?"

"I think I have the answer," Midoriya said, kneeling directly in front of the mountain. "Come over here and look at this."

All Might and Firestorm headed over to Midoriya's side to see what he was looking at. It was dirt.

"It's not just the dirt," Midoriya said. "If you look closely, the dirt and the grass is being pushed back, almost like something is being unnaturally forced against it. The radiation trails also seem to be centering around this part of the mountainside, so-"

"There must be a hidden door! Great thinking, Midoriya, my boy!" All Might exclaimed.

"He is smart, isn't he?" Firestorm asked no one.

"Going by the shape, the door should be around here," Midoriya said, feeling up the mountainside at random. After a few seconds, a section of the mountain was pushed in, like Midoriya had pressed a button. A rectangle of green light at All Might's height formed in the mountainside, and the rocks inside flew out in a perfect rectangle nearly too fast for Midoriya to get out of the way. The rectangle reached the part of the dirt Midoriya had discovered before stopping, floating up into the air, and flying back into Mt. Fuji, melting into the mountainside. Not exactly the kind of thing you see every day.

"Look, there's a staircase inside," All Might said. "The alien or the Villain, one of them has to be at the top of it."

"The radiation keeps flowing up there, so that has to be it," Midoriya said. "Firestorm, can we still go with you?"

"Well, it looks like our two goals are on the same path, so you might as well," Firestorm said. "Both of you need to stay behind me, though. I'm the Hero, here, so I'm the only one allowed to get hurt. Got it?"

""Got it!"" All Might and Midoriya both said, the latter giving a salute while doing so.

With that being concluded, the three of them walked inside the mountain, the hole instantly repairing itself a second after they were all inside.

All Might truly hoped that this trap was a manageable one.

Midoriya didn't like how at ease he was feeling. Here he was, climbing up through a mysterious stairwell in the side of a mountain, the only light source coming from Firestorm's head, yet he didn't feel nervous in the slightest. Whatever this was, it was probably the lair of whatever Villain robbed S.T.A.R. Labs, plotting some crazy scheme for Japan with whatever powers he had and whatever technology he stole, yet he felt oddly calm. He shouldn't, though. With how obviously dangerous the situation was, there was no way to justify how relaxed he felt. Was it because All Might was here? Because Firestorm was also here? Because he was finally going to get some answers about his past?

If he had to guess, it was probably the last one.

"The stairs are levelling out. Whatever's in here's going to be at the top," Firestorm said.

"Midoriya, my boy, are you ready?" All Might asked.

"I don't know, but I don't have a choice, anymore," Midoriya said.

Following right behind Firestorm and All Might, Midoriya climbed to the top of the staircase, entering an entirely different space. Just like the staircase, there were no lights present outside of the one on Firestorm's head. There was also no Villain maniacally concocting a wicked plan, nor was there a spaceship hopefully holding all the answers he was seeking. Instead, all that was before him was a large, open space as long and as wide as a baseball field, and the ceiling being about the same length above them. Another staircase ominously stood in the corner as it fed into the wall, multiple tunnels stretched out from all corners of the area, but there was nothing around that Midoriya was interested in.

Except one thing, perhaps.

"Look at all these markings," All Might said.

"They're like cave paintings. From a technical standpoint, at least," Firestorm said. Sure enough, there were, indeed, strange markings scattered all around the area. They weren't pictures of any kind, just various assortments of circles, squares, and lines displayed in various ways. Rubbing his hands against the ones on the wall, Midoriya could tell that they were carved into the stone, and not at all recently. If he had to guess, the carvings had to have been at least a decade old. There was something else to them, though.

"They seem familiar," Midoriya said, surprising even himself. "That's, that's really weird. I've never seen these markings before in my life, so why would they look familiar. Does this mean that-"

There was a tapping on his shoulder.

"Hold on, I think I'm onto something."

There was a tapping on his shoulder.

"Um, do you think you could stop that, please?"

""Stop what?"" All Might and Firestorm asked.

Midoriya stopped moving.

There was a tapping on his shoulder. Very slowly, Midoriya turned around to see what was there.

It was a robot. It came up to about his height and was very clunky in design, with a can-shaped torso, big arms and legs, and a head that was completely spherical. It had no mouth, yet it still screamed as it threw a punch at Midoriya.

"Look out!" The punch, however, never connected, for Firestorm shot a ball of fire at the robot, blasting it into the wall and leaving it a smoldering pile of ash.

"Are you alright?!" Firestorm asked, a look of heavy concern on his face.

"Y-Yeah, it didn't even touch me. Thanks," Midoriya said.

"Can't believe there was a robot here, if you could even call it that" All Might said.

"That thing wouldn't hold a candle to Red Tornado or any of the Robotmen, but it still proves that the Villain's here," Firestorm said. "Change of plans: you two are leaving."

"What?!"

"We can't leave! The alien could still be in here!" Midoriya shouted.

"That robot shows that the Villain's gained access to enough materials to start constructing weapons; if I had known they could do that, I wouldn't have allowed you two in here."

"Please, Firestorm, I have to see this through!"

"No! I'm not letting you get hurt just so you can chase after some stupid alien crap!"

"It's not stupid to me! It's-"

"It's my whole life!" was what Midoriya wanted to shout in his face, but he stopped himself short of doing so.

"I know what I'm doing, just let me handle this," Firestorm said to no one. "I'm not going to argue about this. You two are marching back down those stairs. End of discussion."

The discussion did end, but no one marched back down those stairs. No one marched back down those stairs because a laser beam shot the wall behind the three of them and sent a massive pile of rocks down to block the path. All three of them whipped their heads around to see another robot identical to the first one standing at the mouth of a tunnel, only with a laser gun in place of a right arm.

"Another one. I'll take care of-"

Before Firestorm could finish, the robot screamed and music started playing from nowhere.

"What the hell?"

This song sounds familiar, Midoriya thought to himself. Isn't this-

Midoriya never got the chance to finish his thought. Before he could, a multitude of robots started filing out of the tunnels. Some were short with stubby limbs and chainsaws on their torsos. Some were quadrupeds with wire cutters at the ends of their legs. Some were taller than even All Might with massive arms or massive legs that were attached on a sort of rail system and wrapped in electricity. There were other variations, but the main point was that they didn't look friendly and they were coming after the three of them.

"OH MY GOODNESS!" All Might shouted.

"You don't have to tell me twice!" Firestorm shouted at no one before grabbing Midoriya by his collar and picking him off the ground.

"Wh-What are you-" Midoriya found himself screaming before he could finish the question he already knew the answer to, the answer being that Firestorm was tossing him into the air onto the second staircase.

"Okay, Mr. Yagi, your turn-"

As Firestorm motioned to throw All Might, a small machine brandishing a knife leapt over and stabbed him in the thigh. Firestorm cursed as he fell to one knee and let out a wave of fire, destroying about a dozen robots, although about a dozen more immediately came in.

"Firestorm!" Midoriya cried.

"He'll be fine; you need to keep going!" All Might shouted. "Don't forget why we came here, Young Midoriya. I'll make sure nothing happens to Firestorm and that we can join you as soon as possible, so don't worry about us and finish what you've started!"

All Midoriya wanted to do was jump back down from the stairs and join back up with them, even as the number of robots Firestorm was pummeling reached ever closer to a hundred strong. But that wasn't the right choice. Firestorm was still more than capable of fighting, and if the situation truly worsened, All Might would activate his Quirk and take care of everything. A novice like himself would just slow the professionals down. He didn't like it, but he needed to take advantage of this chance they were giving him.

With hesitation, Midoriya turned away from the scene and ran up the stairs.

The second staircase wasn't any larger than the first, but the stress of Midoriya's situation made it feel as if it was stretching endlessly. It didn't help that the absence of Firestorm meant that there was no light surrounding him; even if his eyes could work around that, it was still rather unsettling. Nevertheless, he kept running and running and running some more.

"They'll be fine," Midoriya told himself. "Firestorm's a great Hero, so they'll be fine. All Might's there, too, and he's the greatest Hero there is, so they'll be fine. Rather than slow down people who have a handle on things, I need to at finish what I started and try to get help as soon as possible. As long as I do that, they'll be fine-"

A metallic claw snapped Midoriya out of his rambling as it threw him against a wall, a wall belonging to an area nearly identical to the previous one. The claw was attached to a large robot that had a feminine upper body, but a lower body that was more spider-like. It laughed as it brought its visored face in close and began charging a laser from its mouth.

Midoriya wasted no time in firing a blast of heat vision at its arm, detaching the limb from the body and allowing him to get away from the wall before the laser hit him. When the attack subsided, the robot screamed and swiped its other claw at Midoriya. Midoriya ducked just in time and ran away, the robot wasting no time in chasing after him. Even with Midoriya's superhuman speed, the metallic footsteps of the enemy were never too far behind him. Still, he felt that he could get away.

At least until a tail knocked him onto the ground.

What?! Midoriya thought to himself as a metallic foot slammed into his body, pinning him to the dirt. When did-there's a hole in the ceiling. It, it must have dropped down from there when I wasn't looking! That was how Midoriya justified the large, T-rex-like robot being able to get the drop on him.

"I'm not done yet!" Midoriya shouted as the female robot charged another laser and smoke bellowed out of the T-rex robot's mouth. "I came here for a reason, and I'm not going to let you, or your friends, or any little foxes stop me!" Midoriya grabbed onto the T-rex robot's foot and started pushing up against it, a struggle surfacing from the robot increasing the pressure.

"Stop," came a voice from nowhere. In an instant, both robots did just that. Midoriya stopped moving out of confusion, and the foot of the T-rex robot fell back onto him.

"Wh-Who's there?!" Midoriya shouted.

"You. Boy," the voice from nowhere said once more. "Just now, you said that you weren't going to let any little foxes stop you. Why say something like that?"

"Well, because of the music. This is The Cunning Little Vixen, isn't it?"

There wasn't a reply for several seconds.

"Indeed, it is. Someone like you is familiar with the works of Leoš Janáček?"

"Um, yeah, some of them. Wait, what do you mean 'someone like me'?"

"I mean someone who exhibits no signs of culture and refinement, whatsoever. Just from taking one look at you, I'd be hard-pressed to think you'd know any music that wasn't featured in a, bleh, podcast naming the most 'schway' drops of the month."

"'Schway'?" Midoriya whispered. He knew that word. It was a slang word that meant "cool," most commonly used in Gotham City and other parts of the United States. Most people in Japan didn't even know the word, though, so if this person was using it, there was a strong likelihood that he was American, and given the way he controlled the robots, he had to be the Villain.

Lights from nowhere lit up the room, getting rid of every trace of darkness. Footsteps started sounding through the cavern. They got louder and louder until Midoriya saw a figure emerge from one of the tunnels: a bald, albino gorilla standing with perfect, human posture that was wearing a red metal harness on his body.

"You're clearly a cut above the rest of your generation, so allow me to give you a more proper death. A death more fitting for those who try to cross the Ultra-Humanite!"

Woo! Got this done in time for the boy in blue's big birthday next week. Go me! 

I'd like to give a quick shoutout to one of my readers named reppuzan. Not only does he always leave great comments, but he basically single-handedly created the TV Tropes page for this story, and I am just so thankful for that. If you appreciate that, too, you can show it by adding anything appropriate to the page at your leisure. Give it a shot!