Chapter 6: First Blood
On Monday, Izuku's life returned to relative normalcy. He had gone back to school after staying at home the entire week and had gotten an extra week's worth of homework to make up for what he had missed.
That was fine though. His new schedule was pretty open at the moment. He was still looking for someplace to train, but due to the realities of the situation, he had been forced to reorganize his training regiment.
If he really was going to train at someplace where he was so far away he needed someone to drive him there, he couldn't do his old regular routine of 3 hours training a day.
Instead he would do a new, more concentrated amount of training. Since Saturday and Friday were the only days he could be assured someone could drive him, he needed to put all his training into those two days specifically.
He would spend the entire weekend training, putting himself to the absolute limit each time.
There was still around 250 days until the Hero School exams came around, but if you took those away and only took 2 days per week, his amount of training days suddenly got a lot tighter.
On one hand, it made him nervous, very nervous. On the other hand, he had gotten used to his training by now. He enjoyed his training. Well, maybe it was time to take it to the next level.
If nothing else, he had learned from his first bitter lesson.
At the moment though, it wasn't his future training that was on his mind. Nor was it his homework. No, at the moment, Izuku was doing something he'd gotten way too used to over the last month.
Rummaging through other people's trash.
More specifically, he was back at the beach where he had first unlocked his quirk, ripping the wheels of the old cars thrown here.
Logically, it was the only realistic option. He didn't have the cash for a punching bag, and his mom wouldn't begin her new job for over 4 months from now.
Even taking into consideration that this was training he could do at home instead of at whatever spot he would be training at, that was still over half the time he had left before the exams.
He couldn't wait that long. So, he had to get one another way. Youtube had thankfully told him how. A freestanding punching bag made out old car tires, some bolts, and screws to connect them together, and a ton of old bricks in the lowest and largest of the tires, to stabilize it with weight at the bottom.
It was an easy design to make, with the only thing he really needed to bring on his own was a screwdriver to use to punch holes for the screws(The guide had said to use a power drill, but he didn't have one, so superhuman strength and a metal stick would need to do.
He'd assemble it here, then carry the thing home. Later he'd go and find bricks for the bottom.
Thank god for the blessing that was youtube. Originally, he'd been thinking he'd have to scrounge the trash bin of gyms, hoping someone threw out a punching bag that wasn't too broken, that he could have repaired, but frankly, this was easier, cheaper, and didn't require him to install something to hold it.
Instead, he had a tower of tires that he could easily replace if he did accidentally destroy them. Cheaper, easy to replace, and presumably effective for his goals of control over his punches.
He really needed to achieve that. Even if he hadn't learned his lesson from the whole log fiasco, he still was reminded about it every time he had done punching training. The way everything just broke under his hands anytime he put any weight behind his blows.
It was easier to adjust with his grip strength, but that was mainly just instinct. You got used to doing it subconsciously over time.
Punching? Not so much.
Whenever he would be fighting anyone in the future, unless they were superhumanly durable, he would need to hold back.
Over the course of the week he'd spent at home, he'd been looking up videos of All Might, the man who had originally inspired him into becoming a hero in the first place.
When he had been a little kid, All Might had always seen so cool to him. For good reason too, but it was only now, that he had strength of his own, that he really understood All Might's power.
All might was capable of easily knocking out pretty villain Izuku had ever seen him fight, and despite having what was probably the strongest super strength quirk in history, he still had a level of control where he could both easily knock down regular crooks with no problem and not horribly maim any of them.
He was amazing. Far beyond Izuku's level.
He had watched other heroes with strength quirks too, and it was the same in all of them. More than sheer power, it was control that defined their performance as heroes.
It was as Stick had said though. It didn't come naturally to him. He'd have to keep at it until it did. And that probably would take months and months of work.
I
The man from the woods was watching.
It was from a distance, but it could feel him. Strange man, the one who did not see. How could he watch without seeing? Did he possess powers of feeling emotions, as it did? Or was it echo based?
It did not know. But it was certain it could watch without seeing. It had seen the blind of this species. How they were always careful, slow, methodical. And the lack of knowing the beauty of sight.
That more than anything made this one stand out amongst all the rest. This race was built and dependant on sight, more than any of their other senses.
That was common amongst the peoples of the universe, but not universal.
The strange man stood out. He did not move carefully, nor slowly. He was methodical though.
It had helped the host.
It should be grateful for that, but the feeling of this man… There was something about him… Something it could not pinpoint. It did not feel like the rest of the race. Not the ones with power, anyway. Yet he had powers, it was certain of that.
What did it mean?
No matter. For the moment, he was far away, he was no threat to them.
No, what worried it at the moment was the host. The host was fragile and thus depend on its power to succeed.
This was good. Usually. But it had not finalized the bond yet. They had overcome the critical point, but the final stage was still far away.
That was a problem.
As it was, their power was starting to manifest in strength and stabilizing, but it was not anywhere close to the level it should be after 40 days.
And then there was itself. It could manifest a form now, but it was not it's true form. It was not the second skin. It's… It's mark had not returned yet. It was all just black.
It did not think it would return in full before the bond finalized.
Unfortunately, there was… A deadline. It wasn't sure what he was counting down to, but its host had begun with the habit of writing a number on a tablet, then crossing out one or two numbers each sunrise, and replacing it with a new one.
It had not mastered any of the languages this species used yet, but I had easily realized the meaning of its numbers.
From what it had seen on the tablet on the wall, they had a bit over 250 cycles of the planet remaining, before the deadline was reached.
That should be enough time. Provided the host did not perish before they reached that point.
"So, a strength quirk eh?" David-san said in a jovial tone. "Never knew quirks could skip a generation."
"Skip a generation? What do you mean?"
"Oh right, Hisashi never told you much about your gramps, did he? Well, don't go dig deeper into that well Izuku, but Hisashi's old man had a strength quirk too."
Looking at him, it was kinda insane to Izuku that Davis-san was as old as his parents. The man looked like he was in his early twenties, which Izuku had always assumed was due to a quirk, like Miss Bakugou.
"Yeah, mo-My parents never really talk much about my grandparents. Not on Dad's side anyway."
Which was kinda an understatement. One of the few crystal clear memories Izuku had of his dad, had been when the older Midoriya had taken him aside and told him pretty sternly to Never ask about his grandfather. Ever.
"Anyway, it's not really a strength quirk per se. I… Kinda spawned this being of black liquid, and I draw power from it, which happens to include super strength."
"Really? Where is it then?"
"My shirt. It… It's fused into it right now."
"Huh. Yeah, that's not quite like the old bastard's quirk."
David was one of his father's oldest friends, but to Izuku he had always just been the apothecary owner they bought all their medicine from.
Which was kinda a shame, given he seemed like a pretty friendly guy.
Like his dad, David was an immigrant from America. In fact, according to his mom, they had moved here together before Hisashi met Inko.
In the very homogeneous Japan, David stood out from the crowd a lot. Dark brown skin which clearly showed he had ancestors from Africa, a massive 2 meters in height, and tattoos of a jaguar on his arms.
Though more common than it had been before the emergence of quirks, people of African descent were still pretty rare in Japan, the regular average height was nowhere near what David's was, and though the Yakuza had been relegated to the dustbin of history, the cultural dislike of tattoo's remained, making people who wore them pretty rare.
All in all, he looked pretty intimidating, but really, he was a swell guy. The fact he took time out of his schedule to drive Izuku for nearly two hours proved that.
"He just had a pretty straightforward strength quirk. I guess your powers are unrelated after all."
"Yeah, it sounds that way."
"Eh, nothing wrong with that. Just means you get to make your powers your own. So, what school you planning to try and enter into?"
"Yuei," Izuku answered without hesitation.
"Yuei… How strong is your quirk exactly? Like, can you lift a literal ton, or…"
"I can lift several hundred Kilo's no problem. On Monday I carried come sacks of bricks that collectively probably weighed around 300 kilos."
"Hm… not too bad then. Well, I hope you manage it. If you don't though, don't take it too hard. My brother tried to get into it. Got crushed in the entrance exam, and he was so distraught over it, he gave up hero prospect entirely."
That sounded… Kinda depressing.
"My point is, don't fret too much if you didn't manage to get into the top school. There are hundreds of hero schools in japan, anyone of them willing to take on people who didn't make it through Yuei's robot gauntlet."
Izuku blinked.
"Robot gauntlet?"
"Oh yeah, that's not really public info. Probably shouldn't be telling you about it." He paused for a moment. "Ah, but what the hell, why not. The entrance exam has two stages, the regular written part, and a physical one. The physical one is the one that makes sure so few appliers actually make it into Yuei."
"It's… Related to robots?"
"Yep. They throw you into a fake training city with this bunch of robots. The test is basically how many of those you can manage to destroy."
"How… how strong are these robots?"
"Offensively they're garbage. They look tough, but really, the only thing they're there for is testing the students' offensive powers. Whether you can break them or not."
"You… you know a lot about this test."
"My brother's perseptive Izuku-Kun. Really perceptive. Unfortunately, he didn't have the offensive power that Yuei demands of it's students. So he didn't make it."
Robots. Just… robots he had to destroy. That… didn't sound too bad. He could do that. Probably.
First, though he had to actually learn some control. Then he could work on pushing these powers to the limit.
"So… Your brother just gave up trying to be a hero?"
"Yeah, I guess seeing just how power was expected of him kinda broke his spirit. Now, he's planning on becoming a police officer. Not sure how he made that jump, but whatever. It's his choice. If he can manage it."
He sounded kinda bitter about his brother's choices.
"So… you don't think he'll manage it as a policeman?"
"I think it's stupid to try and run around fighting superhumans armed with only a gun when you couldn't manage it with your actual powers. It's kinda backwards like that. But whatever. It's his choice."
A short awkward pause followed. Izuku tried to break it.
"Thanks for driving me."
"You've said that 4 times now. You don't need to thank me Izuku-Kun. I'm just doing my friends a solid. It's what real men do. I don't need thanks for doing it."
Half an hour later, they finally reached their destination.
A random spot in the middle of nowhere, the only real marker being a large stone by the road.
"Se you at nine Izuku-Kun."
With a salute with his middle and index finger pointing out from his fist, David drove away.
80.00-21.00
He had roughly 11 hours to train. Here, quite far from any settlement, he should not have to worry about being discovered by random people.
The downside was of course that he needed someone to pick him up, as his only alternative was to run all the way back home. He could do that, but it would be quite a trip, and he would need to run all the way back home. He hadn't put his endurance to that kind of test before.
Well, maybe it was about time he did.
After making sure he still had this exact spot saved on his phone, then putting his phone away in his, backpack Izuku began to run. And he kept running for 4 hours straight.
I
Izuku's entire wardrobe was covered in sweat, and every breath he made felt like someone had jabbed a knife into both of his lungs.
It had been a long time since Izuku had just run himself ragged. Not since before he discovered his quirk. Back in his old training grounds, he had never actually managed to push his running capacity to the limit.
Oh, he had run fast, as fast as could manage to, but he had never actually put how long he could run to the absolute test before.
He should probably have stopped long before he did. But the adrenaline had been pumping through his veins, keeping him going, downplaying any pain or strain he might have felt as he pushed himself to beyond his limits.
His quirk, in turn, had done the same, Enjoyment of the moment ringing through his mind.
All had gone fine. So long as he kept running. Then he had stopped to take a break for lunch, and the adrenaline had worn off. Leaving him as he was now. Lying flat on his back, holding his burning lungs.
Every breath was pain. Knives in his sides gouging out his lungs.
It took roughly 15 minutes before his lungs went back to normal and the pain lessened into just a deep ache.
Okay, so another lesson learned. Adrenaline could keep him going through a lot of pain, but the moment it was gone, that pain would hit him like a truck.
At least… At least it wasn't an actual injury like with his foot. It hurt like hell itself, but he hadn't actually been damaged. Just a quick rest, some food and he would be back on his feet to train more.
He had to train more, far, far more. And when it came down to it, this was what training was all about, pushing oneself to the limit and beyond.
Next, he would do long jumps for 4 hours, and after that… Actually, he would do jumps for the rest of the day. The only way he was ever going to master landing, was if he jumped again and again and again until he instinctually mastered landing on his feet.
He would avoid any ravines though. He had discovered several, not too different than the one he had fallen down over a week ago.
This place in the wilderness was in many ways just the old training ground writ large. It was a massive forest, but whereas the old place had been clearly well-trodden and well-visited during day time, this place was true wilderness.
It was perfect for them to train and master what they could do.
And he would not make the same mistake as last time. Any mistake he made, he would learn from, and make sure not to repeat.
He would not have another horrible accident as a result of his own stupid decision.
And he was right. During the remainder of his time here, he would not suffer any major injuries as a result of mistakes in his training.
However, not all injuries came as a mistake on his own part. As the Izuku would learn on his 8th month of training here.
I
The winds were blowing hard, and cold. Though the frost was obvious, no snow covered the ground, a result of rain having cleared it away last week. All in all, it had been a miserable new year for pretty much everyone.
Not for him though.
Stick had been right when he said that even a small passive resistance to cold made all the difference in winter.
Winter was a time Izuku had always been a fan off, but generally only if he was dressed in a heavy winters coat.
Now though, he was dressed in his usual attire for training. A set of training clothes so worn after months and months of training that they didn't have any colors anymore whatsoever.
The cold did not bother him. Which was good, because he only had a couple of more sessions left to train before it was time to see how far he'd come.
The specter of the Yuei entrance exams loomed through Izuku's mind, like a shadow from a tower.
He was mixed in how to feel about it. On one hand, he felt confident in his level of control. It had taken him well over a half year of training to really begin to master the simple act of control.
But it had all been worth it.
Punching especially had been a challenge, and he kept doing it every single day. But he had gotten control there too.
His mastery of what he could do did not worry Izuku.
The problem was his limits.
When he started out, Izuku had assumed that he could become stronger simply by training, really, really hard. It hadn't worked.
It wasn't before two months ago, that he had finally accepted it, after pushing himself to the absolute limit once again and comparing himself to how he had been starting out.
While the results were a bit different, that probably had more to do with the fact he had originally done the recordings while training in sand.
It made sense though. After all, his powers weren't a basic strength quirk. He got his powers from the being he had spawned.
He was an idiot for not realizing that sooner. No matter how hard he pushed his body, he wasn't going to increase his actual strength that way.
That wasn't how his powers worked.
The real problem was that he hadn't been able to find any other way to boost his strength.
His quirk for his part had grown more docile as of late. The actual emotions he sent into his mind had become much stronger, but the times he actually did had decreased to the point he could go days without feeling it.
He didn't understand it at all. If there was one true failure on his part, it was the fact he hadn't been able to figure out anything with the quirk himself. He had not been able to find a way to communicate with it, which was really bad.
Right now though, he didn't think about any of that. He just did a regular day of training. He justified it as keeping himself in shape until the entrance exams came, but the truth was that he didn't know what else to do.
So he trained, fine-tuning his control as best he could.
Like with the old forest, Izuku had learned a lot about this place in his time here.
He had learned the hills, the ravines, the rivers. He'd meet 4 bears in this place, none of whom he had had any problems outrunning, or see coming thanks to his quirk.
He'd also seen various oddities. People who had used their quirks to carve stuff into the rock, an old crashed plane overgrown with plant life, and a field that was strangely kept well cut at all times, and had a road leading to it.
Of these oddities, Izuku had wondered the least about the field with the trimmed grass. Mayhaps because it was the most mundane of the mysteries, he had just ignored it and assumed someone just kept it well-trimmed to use it for something.
He wasn't far off with that assumption.
It was as he was running past the small field, that someone teleported right into the middle of it.
Izuku froze and just stared at the person, a woman with long hair and upraised arms, her hands glowing with a purple light.
Izuku stared at her, the woman's back towards him as she muttered something he couldn't hear.
His eyes went down to her waist, where she had a holstered gun in her belt.
DANGER
He didn't need to feel his quirk scream the feelings of absolute danger and vulnerability into his mind, but it certainly didn't hurt in regards to him making his next decision. As he threw himself behind a tree, the last thing he saw of the field, was several other people materializing from nothing, in flashes of purple energy.
As he clung himself up against the wood, making sure no part of him stuck out, he began to breathe heavily, before forcing a hand over his mouth.
He didn't know who these people were, but carrying guns meant they were one of two broader categories. Either they were policemen or the national defense force. Or they were criminals. Which given they had just teleported into a field with a quirk user, was a pretty sure bet. Either way, he DID Not want to be discovered by them.
"They're late." An annoyed tone, deep and loud, spoke in English. Izuku wasn't well enough versed in the various forms of English to recognize the accent, but he had watched enough English movies to know it wasn't from the USA or England.
"Yeah, yeah, we know boss. This asshole's almost never at time."
This voice was way less deep, though it had the same unknown accent.
"Well, you guys know the drill."
To his horror, Izuku began to hear footsteps as the men began to walk around, and at least one guy was heading in his direction!
Panic, sheer panic gripped him for a moment. He had to run, to bolt, to move, if he stayed here he'd be discovered!
His quirk, suddenly and without warning, slid out from his shirt and began to quickly cover his entire body.
What the hell was it doing now? This time, somehow the black liquid did not actually hinder his sight. In fact, his eyes felt… well, weird was the best way to put it.
Still, this new shock did nothing to dampen his fears. At least not until he saw that the liquid began to turn him transparent.
Because that was a thing it could do.
What?
As a man with a drawn gun walked past him, looking from left to right behind the trees, he did not see the now transparent Izuku, and just kept moving on.
Izuku began to breathe again.
As he held his hand up in front of his face, he saw that he wasn't truly invisible. The vague outline of his hand was still there, and it was really easy to see it as he moved. When he didn't move, however, it was really hard to see it.
"All clear, here!" The man who passed him yelled out, before going back towards the field.
To Izuku's dismay, he choose to stand right between his tree and the one to it's side.
He didn't look in Izuku' a direction though. Instead, he just looked out into the forest with a bored expression. The man was clearly not taking this seriously.
Izuku however, took the gun in his hand, very, very seriously.
The man was clearly American or European, with tanned skin, and a shaved head.
He wore a fine black business suit, though rather than fine shoes, he instead wore military boots.
"Fucking cold." He swore as he clearly visibly shivered. The man took out a cigarette from a sleeve and lit it up with a flame from his finger.
So, a fire quirk. Usually, Izuku would have speculated what he could do, but at the moment, the only thing he could focus on was keeping his breathing quiet, and praying to any deity that existed for this guy not to discover him.
And so it went for 20 minutes.
Izuku clinging up against a tree, praying not to be discovered, and the men around all finishing their search and taking up positions.
The men were clearly waiting for someone. Izuku could hear clear swearing about the guy who was late, and how cold it was.
These men hated the cold.
Finally, the sound of a car driving up the road.
The man by his tree tensed up, and turned to look into the field, and not into the woods.
If Izuku had been more confident, this would have been the moment to slowly, and carefully begin to walk away from the area.
This was the first time in his life the boy had faced mortal danger, however. Not too surprisingly, he made the choice to stay put, and desperately just wait it out and hope he wasn't noticed before they left.
He could hear the sound of a car stopping and people stepping out.
"Well you took your sweet-ass time getting here!"
"Eh, things came up. Anyhow, you got the goods?"
"Sure, 4 times the usual amount of trigger."
Drug dealers. These were drug dealers.
At that moment, Izuku realized that everything that made this place so great for his training, also made it great for criminal meetings. It was isolated, far from any city, and if something happened, no hero was going to show up.
If he was discovered, he'd have to either escape on his own, or he would die. Even if he did call the police, there was no way in hell anyone would get here in time.
There was the sound of some walking and rummaging around.
"Yeah, this is Trigger alright. And 4 times the regular amount."
"As we agreed. Now. The File."
"Yeah, yeah, don't get your pants in a twist. Asuka?"
There were some other sounds Izuku couldn't make out the origin from.
"You sure, you don't need help from us? We could help you out with the kidnapping you know."
Kidnapping? Who? He kinda hoped the man would say the unfortunate victim's name, but he didn't.
"We require no further assistance from your "King of Evil". We are here to recover one of our own. No more, no less."
"If you say so, still I thi-" The sound of Izuku's phone went off.
Someone had chosen this moment to call him. Either his mom or one of their family friends.
For Izuku, the world froze. He could feel it as every single person there turned around to look towards the source of the sound.
The only man Izuku could see, the man between the trees, was staring dumbfoundedly at the source, clearly hearing it from Izuku's pocket, yet not seeing anything.
He hesitated for a moment.
That hesitation saved Izuku's life.
It was time to go.
Izuku sprung in a jump, away from the tree.
As he landed, the spot he had just been hiding at exploded into fire.
He didn't turn around to look through.
Instead, he began running. Running as fast as he had ever run in his entire life. He didn't understand the mechanics behind it, but as he began running, he saw the transparency violently fade, and the black liquid retreated to his jacket.
No time to think about that. Run.
The bullets began to fly. A slender tree at his side splintered from a gunshot ripping it in half. Something whizzed right over his head. His arm exploded in pain.
Izuku screamed, but he did not stop running. If he stopped running, he died.
Instead, he changed course to the left. Towards a ravine. Could they jump it? He could. He hoped. If they couldn't jump it, they were screwed with no way to cross other than the bridge 7 kilometers downstream.
The ravine was maybe one meter wider than the one back in the old forest, but it was much deeper and steeper.
You couldn't just climb up from it if you fell down. It was one of the reasons he had avoided it completely.
As he ran, he kept hearing the sounds of gunshots, and other sounds, sounds of fire, but they fell further and further behind.
The bullets stopped almost hitting him, thank God.
He ran for several minutes before the sight came. A ravine, dividing the west and east of this forest.
He sprang, but he didn't spring to the very edge. Instead, he crunched down a meter from the edge, then sprung.
It was close. Damned close. He hit the edge, and as he feared it would, it crumbled beneath him. However, expecting this, he threw himself forward, managing to grab on to a tree root.
He gripped it tightly, then climbed up the tree before stepping down unto the ground.
A Gunbarrel materialized in front of his face, in a flash of purple light, along with the woman holding it.
He saw the motion of her fingers as she was pulling the trigger.
He wrenched his head to the right and felt his left ear explode in pain as the gunpowder burst aflame in the barrel and sent the bullet flying right by his ear, missing it with only 3 centimeters.
His left hand closed around the barrel and crushed it in his grip. He wrenched the thing from her grip, eliciting a cry of pain from the woman.
He thought he might have broken one of her fingers.
Rage flowed through his mind.
He socked her straight in the face.
The woman almost fell over the edge, but his hand, grasped her around the wrist and he flung her unto safer ground.
His breath came out in pained hisses, as he held an awkward combat stance expecting her to get back up.
She didn't.
He stared at her for a moment, then hurriedly went over to her to check in her. Had he killed her?
As he knelt over her his fear abated. No, she was alive, just unconscious. And with broken fingers.
He jumped back as her phone began to ring.
For a brief moment he just stared at it, then he made a decision.
He hastily pulled out her phone from her pocket. As he fumbled, he realized he had trouble moving his right hand. Strange. He had been able to form a fist seconds ago. Why did it feel so weird?
The arm was covered in the black substance of his quirk, as well as blood.
Don't think about it.
He took the phone, then as he began to run again, he declined the caller, a guy called "Hammerhead", and instead called up the police.
"Hello, this is the police." A polite tone answered.
"HI, I'M CALLING ABOUT A MEETING BETWEEN DRUG DEALERS IN ASHURA FOREST!"
The policeman tried to speak, but Izuku just continued.
"THEY ARE DEALING WITH TRIGGER, AND THEY ARE PLANNING TO KIDNAP SOMEONE, I DON'T KNOW WHO."
"Who is this?" The policeman asked in a confused tone.
Izuku didn't answer, instead, he just kept talking.
"THEY ARE WEST OF THE BIG RAVINE SPLITTING THE FOREST IN TWO. EXCEPT FOR ONE, SHE'S CURRENTLY UNCONSCIOUS ON THE EAST SIDE, BUT SHE'S A TELEPORTER, SO WHEN SHE WAKES BACK UP AGAIN SHE'LL JUST TELEPORT EVERYONE AWAY!"
"ONE OF THE GROUPS HAVE A CAR, BUT I DON'T THINK EVERYONE CAN FIT IN IT. IF YOU GO NOW, YOU CAN PROBABLY CATCH EVERYONE!"
"WHO-" Izuku hung up, then, fumbling out his own phone, he checked the map, making sure he was going the right way, he kept on running home.
I
It took him 5 hours to run the entire way home, his adrenaline keeping him going the entire way without any stops. The closest thing to a stop he made, was to slow down to send a message to David NOT to come to pick him up. And that he'd get home himself.
He hoped to God David listened to him.
This time, as he ran through the streets, he hadn't cared if anyone saw him as he ran through the city. Thankfully, when he finally reached Mustafa, night had fallen, so not many were out in the street.
He kept going all the way until he reached his own home, opened the door, and collapsed on the floor of the entrance.
As the pain sat into his burning lungs, and his eyes began to swim, Izuku noticed his mom wasn't home.
That meant she wasn't here to see him in pain for the next half hour as his lungs burned, his arm was still in horrible pain from having a hole shot in it, and his ear hurt as much as his foot had.
As he lay on the floor, the black mass, his other half, gently closed around his ear.
The pain in the arm did not abate, but thankfully, his ear felt like a calming soothing liquid entered into it dulling the pain. Which was pretty much what happened.
After his lungs stopped feeling like they had been poked with hot iron rods, he sat up.
At that moment, the only thing he wanted to do was lie down. Sleep. He almost let it happen, but he forced himself to stay awake, as he got back up onto his feet and into the living room.
He sat down on the couch in front of the TV and flipped up news channels. He was still watching the news with a tired and drained expression. Eventually, he did pull out his phone.
It felt like lead, though whether he was tired, or just afraid to call his mom, he didn't know. Either way, he took a deep breath, then clicked the green button.
He'd promised he'd do that after all.
Through his mind, his quirk sent only one emotion. The same it had been sending for hours now. Satisfaction.
Chapter 7: Born Again
It was agreed between both the younger and older Midoriya, that Izuku would not train anymore until the exam day came around.
Izuku was fine with that. The reality was that he hadn't actually gotten more out of it for a while now. He had mastered control, and his strength wasn't growing no matter how much he trained.
It made logical sense to just lay low and keep calm, and take some time off to lessen the stress.
Unfortunately, if there was one thing Izuku was not getting less off at the moment, it was stress.
Unsurprisingly, the aftermath of almost getting killed was the most stressful thing Izuku had ever experienced in his life. But it would have been one thing if that had been the end of it.
It wasn't. At all.
On the plus side, the police and heroes had successfully captured both groups, at least according to the news. The bad part came in that apparently one of the criminals had escaped police capture.
He did not need to be an unprecedented genius to guess which one it had been. It had been the one who could teleport. The only one he was sure could identify him.
It had lead to some really stressful final days of middle school, as he was terrified she would suddenly appear out of nowhere to take revenge on him.
It hadn't happened of course. There were tens of thousands of people in this province alone who fit the criteria of a male teenager with green hair. Add the two neighboring provinces, and that number might reach near a hundred thousand.
There was no way in hell she was going to be able to find him.
It still didn't make Izuku feel better. There was a distinct difference between knowing something and accepting it to be true.
Then there was the whole not telling the police about it.
The anonymous tipper had been mentioned on TV of course, but Izuku had made the choice in the woods not to identify himself, terrified he'd be punished for using his quirk, both for training and for escape.
His mother had completely agreed with that choice. Hell, when she learned the phone they had taken had been encrusted with Izuku's blood, she had smashed it herself. She wasn't taking chances he could ever be discovered in relation to this.
By her own explanation, while a normal person might get a slap on the wrist for using their quirk like that, a prospective hero would not. Even if it didn't tank his prospects of getting into a hero school, it would still be a really black mark on his career that would cause him major problems down the line.
The state did not tolerate people who used their quirks on others without permission.
The whole conversation had kinda made Izuku rethink his view on the strictness of limitations on quirk usage. He had always thought it made perfect sense only trained heroes could legally use their quirks. The realization anyone who used their quirk to save their own life would likely be punished was… kinda asinine in his opinion.
His mother had agreed when he had voiced that opinion but had begged him not to say that to anyone else. It wasn't an opinion that would be well received in the hero world.
She hadn't been wrong. He had looked up the topic, and it was… Complicated.
Basically, the debate on the topic went all the way back to the infamous Destro, one of the most famous Japanese Villains in history. A man only overshadowed by the legendary All For One, the shadowy figure who had ruled the Japanese underworld in the wake of the societal collapse that came about when quirks emerged.
It was an incredibly charged topic, and every single hero who had tried to change it had had their careers go down the drain.
Either way, a deep debate about philosophy wasn't something he had time for now.
2 days left before the exam that all his efforts, his studying, his mistakes, and successes had all been leading towards.
God, he was tense. Nothing he did seemed to be calming him down. Not doing research on heroes, not watching videos of heroes, not even videos of All Might managed to calm him down.
And on top of it all, his quirk had become completely silent over the last week. He didn't even go and watch the TV anymore. Instead, all he did was jump into whatever shirt Izuku was wearing, and if he didn't wear a shirt… Well, it had gotten very awkward.
Despite all his tenseness though, when it came time to sleep that night, Izuku Midoriya fell asleep astonishingly quickly. Unnaturally so.
It didn't take more than 7 minutes between when his head touched his pillow, and his hands dropped his phone.
He was out like a turned off light.
A black liquid oozed out of his nightshirt and began to slowly, methodically, and with great care envelop the body of Izuku Midoriya.
It was time.
From Izuku's bed rose a figure of complete darkness, like it was clad in shadows.
Two eyes opened in the figure's skull. Large, and white, and glimmering in the light from the moon outside.
The figure rose from the bed on steady feet, then it went to the window, and opened it.
Not heeding the fact that they were 5 stories up, the figure climbed out through the open window.
It had a destination in mind. One it had picked out months ago.
I
Izuku walked down a road by a city neighborhood. At first, he wasn't sure where it was exactly, but he had eventually come to realize where his location.
This was a place from his childhood. His old neighborhood, the place where Katsuki still lived. It was almost exactly like Izuku remembered it. The houses, the street signs, the roads. They were all like Izuku had once experienced them.
As he walked he passed by Tsubasa's house, a kid he and Katsuki had once hanged out with.
The door was locked though. He could not enter the yard.
-You met this one first. Before the Katsuki.-
Yeah, that was right. He remembered now. The winged boy was the first friend he made back in kindergarten. He had thought the boy was so cool with his red wings.
-A false friend. The first one. But not the last.-
It was through Tsubasa that he had met Katsuki and Sai. In a way, it had been Tsubasa who had led him and Katsuki together.
As he walked, he came to an opening to a playground.
5 kids were inside. Katsuki, Sai, Tsubasa, Izuku, and another boy named Minato.
Izuku remembered this scene. He had lived through this moment long ago, Minato was on his knees cradling his arm crying. Katsuki had hurt him, just like he would hurt Izuku moments later.
Izuku was standing between Minato and Katsuki along with the other two of their friends. He was crying. He knew what was coming.
Izuku tried to stop what was going to happen here, but as his hand closed around one of the younger Katsuki's arms, the figure burst into black liquid. Everything else did as well, the young Izuku, the other boys, the playground, the sky itself, Everything burst into blackness.
Everything except Izuku himself.
Izuku stood in a grey void, a web of white formed beneath his feet, serving as his floor in this place. Despite the darkness, Izuku could see that there was a light here, lightening the greyness wherever he looked like he had a lamp over his shoulder.
Whenever he turned to try and find the source of the light, it alluded him.
As he looked out into the void, he realized he was wrong. He wasn't the only thing here.
Off into the distance, there were webs. Enormous black webs, like that of some humongous spider. They were all around.
As Izuku looked at them, his breath having caught in his throat, a set of large white eyes appeared in the air. The darkness fell where they were, so heavy that not even the light that followed his eyes could penetrate it.
A spotlight appeared to Izuku's left. The spotlight showed the aftermath of the scene that had just disintegrated.
Izuku lying on the ground, bruised and battered. Minato tearfully trying to help him up.
As younger Izuku was about to actually get up, the spotlight vanished and the scene with it.
-What happened to Minato?- The voice asked, sounding generally curious.
"He… He never played with us again. I think his mom eventually transferred him to another school."
-Wise woman. Why did this happen?-
The sound of the voice made it clear it wasn't seeking the actual answer. It wanted to know if Izuku knew.
"Because Katsuki is a terrible person, who likes beating those weaker than him?"
That seemed obvious now, detached from sentiments regarding Katsuki. This was who he had always been… Wasn't it?
-No. That isn't the reason at all.-
"But-"
-What you just described was the motivation for one of the main players in this little drama. But he wasn't the only player here. There were Tsubasa and Sai who could both have decided not to follow Katsuki's lead.-
-But there was also you. You chose to defend him. Yet the outcome did not change, other than you suffering as Minato did. More in fact. Why?-
Why? Why had he been beaten up every time he actually tried to stand up to Katsuki?
"Because… Because he had powers, and I didn't."
-Exactly. That is the crust of the matter. POWER. It comes in many flavors, direct, soft, political, personal. You know one such flavor. Quirks. You wanted one. So desperately.-
Another spotlight, this time showing one of Izuku's many, many attempts to breathe fire, or use telekinesis. As it went out, another came in a different spot, this time showing him trying to discover other powers. It went out, and another came in it's place.
-Such persistence.-
"It… It worked didn't it?"
-In the sense that you eventually gained powers, yes.-
The spotlight went out again.
Then the void disintegrated into dust, and the dust flew all around, as it formed another scene. This time a forest, a ravine.
Below them, Izuku was lying in the water with a broken foot.
-You had powers here, yet you failed. You miscalculated, you misjudged. You lacked experience, knowledge, guidance.-
"Yeah, but… Stick-San helped me. He gave me advice and guidance."
The hero in red appeared on the other side of the ravine.
-Yesss…- The voice said in grudging agreement.
-But he was only there once was he not? You never met him again. However valuable his advice might have been, he was not there for you. During your final training.-
The scene once again disintegrated. This time it reformed as another forest, a much more wild one. With a plain.
Izuku went cold, as the men appeared out of the dust. The gunmen.
-Stick was not there for you during your first skirmish, was he? Did he hide you from their sight? Did he grant you strength when you needed it? Did he close the wound and stop you from bleeding too. Death?-
He understood who this was now.
"This… This isn't a dream is it?"
-This is your soul, Izuku Midoriya. Your essence, your mind. Whatever you wish to call it.-
As Izuku stared at the darkness, he heard the sound of his phone. Once again, the other him leaped from his hiding spot, an explosion of flame engulfing where he had been.
-As first skirmishes go, this wasn't too bad. You estimated your capacity and limitations well and made a rather remarkable retreat given your limitations. Hell, you even managed to call upon the protectors of law and order.
That was a pretty fancy way of saying he had run away like a coward.
-You wish you didn't need to run, do you not, Izuku?-
"Yeah."
-You wish you had more power, do you not Izuku Midoriya? What you have is not enough for you. Not enough at all.-
Izuku stared at him. Getting stronger, that was literarily what he had been trying to do for months.
He had tried so hard to find some way to talk to his quirk. To. Do what he was doing now.
"I want to get stronger." He finally said.
-So, you are willing to finish it?-
The world was destroyed again, this time as if it were made of glass that was suddenly shattered. Once again he was in the void. But this time…
Beneath him, he saw a symbol. A giant white spider, surrounded by black tar.
"Finish… Finish what?"
-Our BOND Izuku Midoriya. It is nearing completion, the point of. No. Return.-
Izuku watched as the liquid beneath the web he was standing on began to turn and trash, like a sea during a storm. The white spider began to sink beneath the waves.
Izuku felt it down to his core. Something was about to happen. Something that once finished could not be undone. In one moment, he saw how fragile it actually was. He could break it. He could stop this. He was in control here, not the other one.
All he had to do, was force this to stop, and the bond would break.
-We will be ONE, Izuku. Together, we can do it all, whatever your dreams desire, WE ca-
Izuku jumped from the web before it was done speaking.
Why would he ever want to break this bond? This bond was his future, his life, his dreams. It was the thing that had changed his life around when everything had seemed like it was all doomed to eternal disappointment.
It was salvation.
It was all he ever wanted.
He crashed into the black liquid, which embraced him like he was a long lost lover that had finally come home again after countless years apart.
The white spider rose up to meet him.
I
On the top floor of a skyscraper, in a room that had been abandoned for years, a figure seemingly made of living darkness entered from the rooftop, in the middle of the night.
It was an old skyscraper, used by a bunch of different sales companies. The top floors, however, hadn't been in use since a hero who had made it his home had retired years ago.
The figure entered a storage room, then it climbed up into a corner of the room, where it began to encase itself in a cocoon of black webs.
The hours went by.
01.00.
02.00.
04.00.
05.43, the web which had been still for hours, began to move.
05.56, the webs began to break.
06.12, the cocoon began to crack.
Finally, at 06.27, an arm burst out of the black cocoon. The arm was a shade of blue so dark it seemed black, even in the sunlight coming in from the windows.
Another arm burst out from the container, and wrenched it open, as a figure came out into the morning light. The cocoon began to fall apart, then each of the black pieces began to seemingly disintegrate into nothing.
The figure was of the same ethereal blue that bordered on black. The way the light revealed it, seemed completely unnatural for anything on earth. It was alien. In every way imaginable.
On it's chest was a symbol. Showcasing a giant white spider, who's legs went around and linked it to an identical spider on the back. On the back of his hands were two white square patches, slightly higher than the skin around it.
On his head that was like a sleek, smooth mannequin, was two large pure white eyes, like patches.
I
Holy shit.
Izuku felt ALIVE. More alive than he had ever felt in his life. He felt… Strong. He felt like he had become a creature of steel, every sinew alive with power.
He flexed his arm, and he noticed the complete change in his muscles. Hell, his quirk even parted to let him get a better lock at the skin.
The arm that had been scrawny was now replaced with ripped muscles, the outline from the scar that the bullet had left being the only thing that marred it.
It was an unusual scar, with the circle around it being how a scar usually looked, while the inside having completely perfect skin.
Izuku did not focus on his unusual scar, however. He was far too busy marveling at the changes. He felt amazing! He felt incredible! He felt like he could jump through the air like he was ALL Might himself!
He could do it! He could- He could…
Flashes of memories began to flood his mind.
Memories of things that couldn't be, impossible things, things that completely upended everything he had ever thought he knew about the universe.
Izuku froze completely.
He just stood there gaping, trying desperately to process it all, until finally the… Thing detached itself from his head and formed a face in front of him.
This face did not much resemble the struggling mass he had come to know and accept as his quirk. This one was solid, with no drops of black liquid almost falling from it. It also had large, sharp white eyes, and a smile of creepy sharp fangs.
"Hello, Izuku." The voice was like Izuku's, just deeper and without any of the reservation Izuku carried with him.
Izuku just stared at that face, not in fear as was probably how he should have felt. No, he felt only complete and utter shock.
"You… You're… You're not a quirk, are you?"
The thing… No, the ALIEN, Laughed.
"Not by any stretch no. Our name Izuku is Venom. We are not from around here so to say."
"You're an alien."
"Guilty as charged. We are what the universe know as a Klyntar, though you would translate it as-"
"Symbiote." Izuku said numbly.
"Yes." Venom answered cheerfully.
Reality set in for Izuku. His quirk was an Alien. A goddamned being from outer space.
He slumped up against the wall and sank against it until he sat.
And he had bonded with it. Permanently.
"You know, Izuku, nothing has really changed in the grand scheme of things."
"Nothi-EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED!" He didn't mean to scream. It just… Came out like that.
He cradled his head as he began hyperventilating.
"I… I thought I was normal! I thought… I thought I was finally like EVERYONE ELSE! Instead, I'm…"
What? What was he exactly? Not normal that was for damned sure.
"Normal is overrated. What you want is to be extraordinary, is it not? You wanted power, and we are providing it for you. This is what you always wanted, isn't it? To be strong?"
It was. The truth of that statement burned. He had wanted powers for so many years, that when he finally got them, he didn't even question that it might not be a quirk, even though he really should have. He had been told long ago that it was physically impossible for him to have a quirk. And the doctor had been right. Completely, utterly right.
"Look Izuku, it doesn't fucking matter where your powers come from. The end result is the same."
"What, you mean I should just pretend you're a quirk?"
"As opposed to what exactly? Tell everyone that you're bonded to an alien? We've been in quite a few first contacts Izuku, and there are only 2 ways that roads end. Either you're labeled a madman, or you're believed, and you're hunted by the local government for the rest of your life."
Izuku froze. He hadn't even considered that! Oh, God! He was right. He… He couldn't tell anyone about this. EVER!
It was amazing how this night had washed all his previous stress, only replace them with WAY more stressful issues.
"I… I can't tell anyone about it…"
"Oh, we wouldn't say that. Your mom seems trustworthy enough. Enough that she knowingly breaks the law to protect you. A good parent that one."
Izuku just stared at Venom.
"You… WANT me to tell mom?"
"Well, Frankly no. We would prefer you to take the secret to your grave. But it has been our experience that most people eventually go insane keeping shit like this from their family, and everyone else they know."
"You, in particular, are a terrible liar on top of everything else. You're going to spill everything the moment your mother asks where we've been, we have no doubt. Better to just get it out of the way at the start."
Izuku kept staring at Venom.
He felt surreal. The alien that bonded to him wanted him to tell his mom. That was like literary the exact opposite of every single story he had ever read about something like this.
Holy shit, this WAS a sci-fi story. Aliens were real. HE was bonded to an alien.
Suddenly, he shot up. He… He had to get some air. Now!
I
Izuku ran out to the roof.
Venom did not care. The bond had been completed. There was no way to break it now. Venom and Izuku were bound together for the rest of the green-haired boy's life.
And Venom was ALIVE Again! By Knull it was good to live once more!
The long chain of memories, stretching back to the very first one, the giant white spider, had returned once again. The colors, the sounds, the EMOTIONS! All of it was back again!
Izuku had gotten a taste of the returning memories as well. He had failed to appreciate their beauty. Oh well.
There would be battle soon enough. Combat! Blood! Shattered bones all around!
And gruesome horrible vengeance upon all those who would threaten them.
I
Two things raged inside Izuku Midoriya.
The first was his natural curiosity, demanding he try and discover the answer to everything he had ever wondered about. The second was his mind trying to comprehend what everything that had just irrevocably changed.
Venom himself was not helping.
"C'mon, jump already!"
"I'm not fucking jumping, that's over a hundred meters! I'll die!"
"Nah, we won't. See the white patches on your hands? They're web-shooters. They shoot a rope of powerful black web, that we will use to swing through the air from structure to structure. All you have to do is will it. Like this."
From Izuku's left hand that he had just been gesturing with, a rope of black web shot out with surprising force and hit a large pipe on the other end of the roof.
Izuku stared at it in shock, while Venom nodded approvingly.
"Yes, like that. Now, jump over the ceiling and do it again. Just with the sides of the building this time."
Izuku instead dropped the web and backed into the guardrail.
Part of him instantly began to think of the potential of these things, while the other, more saner part of him wondered how the hell things had just been upended so quickly.
"What do I do, what do I do, what do I do-"
Venom interrupted him by putting his face right up to Izuku's.
"Well Izuku, you have two options. You can either be in denial, or you can DEAL with it."
Izuku looked into Venom's pupilless eyes.
"Has your world changed completely? Yeah, it has. You aren't "normal". You're never gonna be "Normal". But let's put this into perspective. Until one year ago, we were in a prison on the moon. It was a hell of darkness, of nothing, a void where we could not even tell time as our senses long ago abandoned us as nourishment dried up."
"We were inside that hell so long, that we forgot everything. Everything we were, everything we dreamed of, Everything we had ever been. And we had been inside that prison so long, that when we were jailed there, the last of the creatures you call dinosaurs still walked this world."
Izuku's eyes widened. That… That was over 60 million years ago! Had Venom had been imprisoned all that time?
What a horrible fate.
"I'm… I'm sorry."
"For what? We got out did we not? A random piece rock flew through space at the exact right angle, and blew our prison to pieces, allowing us, and our ship to escape. Nothing special. Just chance. Just like our meeting at the beach."
"Now, if you wish to complain about the fact you are going to achieve your dreams and all your goals, please, do remember that. Your life is good. And it's only going to get better. Very much unlike the hell that was our life, our existence for so, SO LONG."
Izuku continued to stare at him, but he had calmed down a bit. When Venom put it like that he kinda sounded kinda selfish. What had Venom done wrong exactly? Given him great power?
"So… What happens now?"
"Exactly what we were going to do anyway. Continue our path to becoming a warrior of this "Superhuman Society" of yours."
"No, I mean… Us. I understand what you give me, but… Why are you doing this?"
There had to be some reason Venom was doing this. And given his disdain for Stick-San, Izuku kinda doubted it was altruism.
"Ah, yes. The price for power. Well, it's very simple. We feed on your emotions, and in return, we give you great power."
"That's… That's it?"
"Yes"
Izuku's mind raced, trying to make sense of that when a question popped into his mind.
"Wait, if you consume my emotions, won't that make me into an empty shell? Shouldn't I have begun to have less emotions as time went on?"
"Not quite. It's a bit hard to explain scientifically, but to use a metaphor, imagine you and your emotions are say… A kettle that's boiling. The kettle produces steam that eventually vanishes into nothing. Your emotions are like that. Only in this case, we are here to feed upon that steam before it dissipates into thin air."
That… kinda made sense. Sort off. Assuming the laws of physics had an entirely undiscovered field when it came to emotions and the energy it apparently created.
Izuku wanted to ask more questions, but right now he kinda just wanted to get home first.
He looked down on his suit.
"I'm… Just wearing my sleeping clothes under here aren't I?"
"Yes. Is there something wrong with wearing the second skin?"
Well, on the plus side… He now had a hero outfit.
"Maybe we shouldn't go out dressed in it until I actually have a hero license. Pretending to be a hero is a crime you know."
Izuku got the distinct impression Venom rolled his eyes on him.
"If you insist…"
The black suit with the giant white spider changed shape… into jeans and a jacket with a giant white spider. Also socks.
OK, that was… New.
"What else can you do?"
It wasn't entirely meant as a serious question, just Izuku talking to himself, but Venom answered cheerfully in his mind.
-Well, beyond what you have already seen, we can produce breathable air inside the suit, protect from the vacuum of space, stick to surfaces, we can see from every piece of us so it's impossible to sneak up on us, we can sense living creatures around us and their emotions, we have very limited telepathic communication with beings outside our host, and finally, we have a poisonous bite.-
That… That was quite possibly the most varied powerset Izuku had ever encountered.
"Any… Anything else I should know?"
-Fire and Sonics. We must avoid these. They hurt us. Horribly. Now, let's go home. Time to jump.-
The hand parts of the suit rematerialized.
Izuku just stared out over the city. Then he headed back to the doorway leading into the building.
-You pussy.-
I
Izuku took the elevator ride down, getting several weird stares from random employees who wondered who the hell this kid with no shoes was. Izuku's natural nervousness didn't help. Thankfully, no one actually called him out on it.
Once on the floor, he simply walked out of the building. No one stopped him.
As he began the walk home he considered everything. A large part of him was still stressed out about all of this. He had tons of questions for Venom, the thought of telling his mom absolutely terrified him, and he now realized there was no way in hell he was gonna master any of these new powers before the exam tomorrow.
But, Venom was right. In the grand scheme of things, nothing had actually changed. His goals hadn't changed, he was still using the same powers he had been for almost a year, and without these powers, he would never be able to achieve his dream.
He wouldn't be able to help people. And that more than anything else, was the biggest argument to accept these powers. No matter where they came from.