Chapter Text
Bakugou Katsuki sneered, taking his hand off. "Pray for a quirk in your next life, and take a swan dive off the roof!"
Midoriya Izumi just stood there, frozen from his words and the cruel laughter that followed.
Following that debacle, Izumi felt... oddly detached. Maybe it was because she was holding out hope before that Kac- Bakugou would have returned to how he was before he got his Quirk, and today he made it painfully clear how impossible having her best friend back was, now.
Her best friend, Kacchan, was gone.
She took an alternate route back home, not wanting to run into Bakugou- not Kacchan never again- on her way back. She was too lost in her thoughts to pick on the smell of rotting garbage getting too close, even with her enhanced sense of smell (She always wondered why she had oddly enhanced senses and why Bakugou's explosions never hurt and instead made her feel empowered, even with her lack of a Quirk. Maybe that in itself was a Quirk? She never brought it up, though, too scared to be called a liar on top of everything else-).
Being not on alert at the moment because of her preoccupied mind, she didn't hear the manhole cover open.
She became entirely too aware of the threat when she felt something slimy and gross wrapping around her ankle and the smell of the sewers getting too fucking close for her liking.
'What the fu-'
Before that thought even finished, suddenly there was slime forcing its way inside her mouth and into her goddamn lungs.
She hadn't even had enough time to even get a fresh breath of air before her airway became blocked and suddenly, she was drowning.
Was this how it ends? Drowning in sewer waste- No, fuck that. Midoriya Izumi chooses how she wants to die, and she isn't going down without a fight.
The voice of the villain reverberated throughout the slime, so it definitely wasn't a emitter quirk, but a mutant or transformation one. The villain had bound her arms and legs and keeping its eyes away from her, definitely a weak point. But her nest of a hairdo wasn't going to reach that.
"... Don't worry, it's just gonna hurt for 45 seconds- ow!"
While the Villain had been busy ranting about how she was going to die, Izumi had closed her eyes, forcefully pushed aside all of her panic, and had focused on slowly wiggling out her hand.
Her left hand came free after a while, and she had used it to poke the Villain's eye.
It succeeded in getting the slime's body out of her mouth, at least. "No."
"Shut up and let me take over- AAAAHHH!"
Instead of poking it this time, she full on punched the eye with all the force she could muster, making the eye pop out of the slime and drop on the ground.
"Again, I said no."
The Villain became enraged. "You little bitch, I was going to peacefully take over, but now I'll have some fun with your little fuckhole while you choke on-" Just then, the manhole cover shot up and clattered on the ground.
"HAVE NO FEAR! FOR I AM HERE!" An incredibly familiar, booming voice shouts out.
"Oh shi-"
"TEXAS... SMASH!" The air pressure literally tore the sludge apart, and ripped the last of the remaining oxygen rushing out as her lungs were forced closed.
Izumi blacked out.
When Izumi's consciousness returned, she felt someone placing a finger to the side of her neck, with a faint whisper of "Oh god please don't be dead-"
She opened her eyes, seeing sunken blue eyes staring at her with... concern? fear? She didn't know, she was too out of it to read faces right now. Blond hair framed the face with twin... rabbit ears? jutting out above, making a V-shape...
She immediately started hacking up leftover slime- Holy hell, that was the Number One hero- All Might- in front of her oh god-
"Ah, you're awake. You sure do know how to give someone a heart attack, kid!" All Might- Oh god she really was saved by The All Might- patted her back as the rest of the slime left her lungs.
"...um. Hello?" Ah, cue her social awkwardness. In front of her second favorite hero, too. (Her first was Eraserhead for your kind information-)
All Might just chuckled.
"Young... Midoriya, was it? How much do you remember about before you hit your head?"
Oh right, the villain attack. And on her safe route, too. That was annoying, to say the least. Can't she have at least one safe place outside her home?
"Uh, Villain attack? Getting attacked by slime or something? Dear god it was sewer waste water- ugh- Oh and I almost drowned too, fun. Dunno why the guy was trying to drown me though." She said, lacking her usual filter.
"Oh, so at least there is no brain damage here. How are you feeling right now? Are you lightheaded? Any numbness in your limbs?" All Might asked. Izumi just realised that All Might's voice was sounding soft. Since when was he capable of that?
Izumi thought for a second. Not lightheaded. Limbs were fine. Okay. "No." She said in pitifully weak voice.
All Might heard it anyway. "Okay, can you stand?"
Izumi nodded. At least she thought so. She stood up, using the bricks of the wall behind her for balance. She felt a bit dizzy, but it passed quickly.
"All right then, young lady. I must be going now. Crime doesn't wait for anybody!" With that, All might started walking out of the under bridge.
"Wait!" Izumi shouted, her voice regaining its strength slightly. She had to ask. She wouldn't get another chance like this. The Number One Hero surely would know better than high school kids, right?
All Might turned around, a hint of urgency on his face. "Yes?"
"Can... Can someone without a Quirk... be a hero? Can I be a hero?" Almost immediately Izumi regretted asking the question. Everyone else has said no, what would make All Might any different? She doesn't think she can handle All Might crushing what little hope she has left-
"I'd assume so."
Izumi's head immediately snapped up to stare at All Might. He continued.
"Now, this isn't a definite yes. Because I don't think it has happened before. But it may be possible." Tears filled Izumi's eyes. Yes! All Might said it was possible!
All might paused, then asked. "But first, tell me- Why do you want to be a Hero?"
"I- I've always wanted to save as many people I can with a smile... And show everyone that Quirks aren't everything. I want to make the world better for others like me- those who've been wronged for their Quirk or the lack of one."
"Then you've already got the right state of mind!"
All Might gained a much more serious look. "But it won't be easy. I can see that you have been training, but you would have to work twice, even thrice as hard as your Quirked peers for half the effect. Others will try to push you down just because your lack of a tool, even when there are pros like Sir Nighteye who don't even use their Quirk most of the time. You would have to overcome all of those obstacles to be even considered as a worthy hero student. I know this sounds harsh, but it is the reality."
Izumi knew this. It was why she had worked hard since she was eight. She had joined gymnastics classes and practiced parkour on rooftops (Her mother didn't know that. She definitely would have stopped her from jumping rooftops if she even caught a hint of it). She had joined dojos and learnt martial arts. She had built up muscle and increased her stamina from her visits to the gyms and daily jogs and exercises.
Hell, she had committed vigilantism a couple of times (per week), not that it qualified as such because she didn't have a Quirk, since the definition contained illegal Quirk usage for it to be vigilantism, but still, it gave her actual experience in actually fighting criminals, which was important.
And her mother had supported her every step of the way (She didn't need to know about the vigilantism). She had even made a meal plan and taught her about first aid to somewhat satiate her worries about Izumi's training and career path.
She really was the best mother Izumi could ask for.
Back to the present, All Might wasn't finished. "I could just punch my problems away because of my Quirk, but you would have to rely on support items, dirty fighting, and every trick in your sleeve. It would be an unyielding and gruesome road ahead of you. But with enough determination and a heroic spirit..."
"I believe that yes, you can be a hero!" All Might finished.
And Izumi burst out crying.
"Oh no did I say something wrong-" All Might panicked this time.
Izumi sobbed, but managed to get something out. "No, No... It- It's just that e- everyone said that I can't be a hero- and y- you are the one of the only ones who believe in me... y- you have no idea how much I needed to hear that..." Izumi's crying got a bit quieter, her sobs slowing down.
"I see... well then! I must be off! Get home safely, Young Midoriya! And if at any point you feel sick, do call the ambulance- That Villain was made out of sludge, there's no telling what kind of things he picked up!" And the Number One Hero was off into the sky.
The street was covered in fire. It would've looked mesmerizing to Izumi at any other time when she could walk into the comfortable warmth and escape from how cold the rest of the world was for her... but right now, someone was dying at the hands of the Sludge Villain she had encountered barely 20 minutes ago.
Why the hell were the heroes not doing anything!? What did they mean that their Quirks weren't compatible!? Izumi could see multiple ways to take down the slime villain and she wasn't even a pro hero! She had gone to Death Arms and tried to suggest to him to make a slingshot with the wood and elastic pieces just laying by his feet, but he brushed her off.
Suddenly she caught a glimpse of blonde hair red eyes widened in fear, calling out for help as the person- Bakugou- suffocated in sewer gunk.
Goddammit, her legs were moving again weren't they? Even when she could have done this standing where she was.
Well then, she'll just have to do this on the run.
~Quirk, Sludge body(?). Current exploitable weaknesses: eyes, water (Diluting agent), electricity (Not accessible, too far).~
Izumi rummaged through her bag as she crossed the civilian line, catching the attention of the sludge villain. She pulled out a hard textbook and threw it right at the sludge villain's eyeball. It made the villain's eyes recoil as they tried to regain composure.
~Eye damage stuns villain (duh). Stronger eyeballs than normal. (Eyeball did not rupture from the force + speed of the book.)~
She pulled out her water bottle, which was full because she liked to kidnap smaller fishes from the koi pond. She felt bad sacrificing fish to sludge but this was important dammit.
"YOU AGAIN, BRAT!?"
~Stun duration is around 5 seconds. More time required.~
Izumi pulled out another textbook and threw it at the other eyeball, stunning the villain again and making the sludge lose its grip on Bakugou's mouth for a second. She opened the water bottle and emptied it where she thought Bakugou's hands to be. It made resisting slightly easier, and it was all she needed.
She spotted Bakugou's fingers poking out and grabbed hold of them. She pulled them till the entire hand was out and grabbed hold of the hand, pulling it hard. She probably dislocated his shoulder, but at least she got the whole hand out.
The villain decided to take that moment to swivel their eye towards her. She was ready.
~Quick takedown: keep sharp object at the ready and wait for the eyeball.~
Izumi adjusted her hold on the mechanical pencil in her hand and pushed it through the fucking eyeball, rupturing it. The villain howled in pain as she pulled out the pencil.
~Painful enough to stun the villain and rescue hostage.~
"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING, YOU DAMN DEKU!? WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU HERE!?" Bakugou screamed at her.
"Because you looked like you needed help!" She yelled back as she pulled Bakugou out of the sludge by his hand and clothes.
Then she ran like hell.
The sludge villain recovered after a long minute of getting Bakugou out of the sludge. "I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU AND I'LL ENJOY IT! FUCKING BITCH! GET OVER HERE!" The villain rushed towards Izumi, who had deposited the blonde on the civilian line and had turned around to stare at the Villain.
"I told you no." She said blandly, like a parent telling a child for the nth time that they weren't getting ice cream.
Before the villain could even move more than a few feet in his enraged frenzy, there was a gust of wind and suddenly there was a large, familiar figure standing in front of them.
All Might pulled back his arm.
"DETROIT SMASH!"
Death Arms crossed his arms and yelled, "Do you have any idea how reckless that was? That boy could have died because of you! You’re lucky All Might was here to save the day. What were you thinking running out like that?"
And just like that, Izumi decided that she was done with this day. From the moment she forgot her morning coffee, she knew this would happen sooner or later. Her patience had had enough. She never thought that this was how she was going to use her mother's teachings.
So she smiled. A smile that showed just a hint of teeth and looked so sweet and comforting at first glance.
"Yup. We're lucky that All Might was here to save the day." Death Arms smiled, thinking that he was getting away with this- "Because you sure as hell weren't doing that."
But her father and anyone who had faced Midoriya Inko in court knew it definitely wasn't.
Death arms opened his mouth, looking flabbergasted.
Too bad Izumi was not finished.
"You think you can just lecture me after you just stood there when a kid was dying?" She continued in the tone her mother used when destroying someone. "At least Backdraft was putting out the fires that this idiot right here started. And Kamui Woods was trying to control the crowd. But what the hell were you doing here?" She paused, seeming to think for a moment. "Oh, right- ranting about how your Quirks weren't a good match."
Izumi didn't notice how the people were recording her and a news crew was filming her. Even All Might was looking at her with awe.
Death arms tried to refute. "It was a hostage si-"
"A hostage situation?" She tilted her head, and for the first time her tone showed her rising anger. "What hero university did you go to that didn't even teach you the difference between a hostage situation and a goddamn murder attempt!?"
Death arms was starting to look like a toddler throwing the tantrum because of not getting what he wanted. "Stop spinning the topic! You were reckless and could have caused that boy to die!"
The crowd watched as the calm and composed girl started to lose herself in a rant. "Yes, my feet moved on their goddamn own, but he was dying and you weren't doing anything to help him! It would have taken at most 30 more seconds, and you sure as hell weren't going to do anything with that time. You do have a lot of nerve, calling me reckless- too bad this nerve fucked off into the sunset when there someone choking to death in front of you."
"Our quirks were a bad matchup, we needed to wait for backup!" Death Arms said, raising his voice so the crowd can hear, because of course they would understand-
"Oh, of course! 'Our Quirks were a bad matchup.'" Izumi said, crudely imitating Death Arms' tone. "So that gives you an excuse to sit out while a life is on a line? Oh and since we are having that discussion, I was a civilian standing here and I knew at least three different ways you could have saved him."
She pointed out to Kamui Woods and Backdraft. "One- Backdraft could have sprayed Kamui Woods' Arms with water to protect him from fires, which he could have elongated to get Bakugou out of the villain's hold."
She put up another finger. "Two- Instead of Backdraft focusing on fires which were affecting empty buildings, he could have done something useful, which is diluting the sludge villain's body to make it more liquid, which would have made it easier to get Bakugou out even with your arm strength Quirk."
A third finger was held up. "Three- Oh and here's the kicker, I had actually tried to let you know that you could have made a goddamn slingshot out of this wood piece," She pointed out a V-shaped wood piece and an off-white strip of elastic lying on the ground. "and torn elastic right here and used it to shoot at the villain's eye, and then taken Bakugou while the villain was out of it." She paused, "But you had the audacity to shove me back and think that I wanted an autograph from you." Izumi finished, looking at Death Arms with the most unimpressed face she could make.
"So really, the only thing I can say to your argument is that you are just another wannabe Hero who believes that Heroes are just glorified Quirks and someone who scored winter room temperature on the IQ test."
Death Arms could only whimper.
Yagi Toshinori was a single breath away from bursting into wheezing laughs. But he held himself back, which was fairly easy considering he was also in absolute fucking awe over this green-haired child.
He himself was going to admonish those heroes after hearing from the civilians that they didn't do a single damn thing to rescue the child who was drowning in front of them, but this was definitely much better than whatever he had planned to say. (And much more entertaining to watch for him.)
'She reminds me so much of Nana...'
He could see no flaws in her analysis, and goddamn was she proving to be a hero already. And she had asked his pathetic self, who couldn't even keep the sludge villain secure- really, why did he put those bottles in his pockets when doing a superpowered jump- if she could be a hero!
And those words were so familiar. Her feet had moved on their own. He could remember himself saying those exact same words.
His gaze wandered to the book lying on the ground. Midoriya Izumi.
...This Quirkless girl, who acted so much like himself, and reminded him so much of his mentor, someone who was the perfect candidate for One for All, now also suddenly reminded him of Midoriya Inko.
Toshinori didn't know if he was triggering Murphy's Law, but if he were to pass One for All to Young Midoriya, then he had a strong suspicion he would have to face that woman. And he'd rather not cross that demon in human skin today, or any day really.
...Yes, maybe now was not the time to pass on One for All. Young Midoriya would no doubt be applying for Yuuei, since it was the only university which accepted Quirkless applicants for its Hero course.
With that said, he also had no doubt that Young Midoriya would make it into Yuuei, if not in the Hero track then definitely in any other track. It had taken only one look at her analysis to determine that she was smarter than most others her age, and that was definitely a plus.
'I wish you the best of luck, Young Midoriya.'
He had searched for a successor for 6 years, and he definitely could wait for a measly 8 months if it means he could have a worthy successor. (And hopefully get over his fear of short green-haired women in the process.)
Midoriya Inko was absolutely fucking proud of her baby girl. She should stop giving Izumi her morning coffee if she has this much confidence without it! Maybe then she will grow taller too- oh wait no that was probably in their genes instead of the coffee.
She had done good on teaching her daughter how to call someone out on their bullshit.
She was also extremely concerned about her self-preservation instincts because who in their right mind runs straight at a villain when having a ranged option at hand!?
Inko looked at the calendar on the wall. Saturday was just two days away.
'I am so going to rant to Hisashi about this when he calls next.'
Midoriya Hisashi was elated. He had been fighting against the corrupt system for far too long, and it had finally started bearing fruits a few years ago.
He had been getting old too, and he just wanted to live out the rest of his days at home with his family.
He was finally leaving this life behind to start anew back in Japan. All of the loose ends were tied and done away with. He had spent 2 years finishing up everything for this moment. His criminal empire was dismantled, and now he also had a clean slate.
Hisashi should have expected that his daughter- he was so proud of the kid- knew that he was a villain. Alas, he was surprised last week when Izumi casually mentioned it during his phone call with her. (Inko was of course, not around Izumi when that happened.) Even his own co-workers in America had not suspected him!
Honestly, he was surprised that she cared so little about that fact that he was a villain.
And then again, she exceeded his expectations by making a full analysis on his career to show how he was slowing down and after rambling a bit more about the American underworld and his affects on it, reaching the correct conclusion that he was retiring.
Did he say how proud he was of the little terror he brought into this world?
Really, he should thank her for this idea on how to get a clean slate. The heroes had tried to stop him from leaving the country. They really did, but...
"If you even try to stop me, I will burn this entire airport to ashes. That's not a threat, but a promise."
"After all, you've seen me burn your precious little government buildings down before, haven't you?"
It only takes so many threats to make the government realize that their losses would be too big even if they capture him. The Japanese government was also informed about this development, and they were smart enough to not take any action against him.
It also helped that his reputation made his retirement much more believable.
The SS-rank villain: Akantor had never had any reason to lie, after all.
Bakugou Katsuki was pissed.
How dare this absolute bitch even try and outshine him, in public, no less!? He had it perfectly in fucking control (He wasn't in control he was just going to die he was suffocating-)! He told her to take a fucking swan-dive off the roof, not into a hero situation.
He would just have to make her do it, then. The bitch will beg for him to just kill her by the time he was done with her worthless, pathetic self.
He didn't need the shitty goddamn Deku to fucking save him. He was the best! He didn't need anyone goddammit. The bitch was looking down on him again! Why the fuck wouldn't she just give up? She kept following him everywhere like a goddamn stalker with her creepy notebooks and dumb smile- She was probably having a laugh behind his back like always!
He would make the Deku realize that she is only good for being an extra fucking whore in his perfect origin story, one way or another. He didn't even need her in it, but she had already been sabotaging it since the beginning!
...Wait.
Hah, he was a genius! His origin story will won't be sabotaged by Deku and he would get stress relief out of it too!
He just needed to figure out how to do it.
Izumi was finally on the path that lead back to her home, curiously flipping through her Hero Analysis No. 21 to see if any of it was legible.
.
.
.
"OH MY GOD ALL MIGHT SIGNED MY NOTEBOOK!"