Chapter Text
In the middle of a playground, a group of bullies were attacking a younger kid. Their fun, however, would soon be stopped by two youths about their age. They were well-known in the district, with one having viridian hair, and the other pure white hair.
"Oh snap!," one of the bullies said, his tongue turning out to be forked, "It's Midoriya and Bakugo!"
Izuku Midoriya was the viridian head, and Katsuki Bakugo the blonde head.
"Big deal," the leader of the bullies said dismissively, "They won't be so tough against my Quirk."
His nerves started popping out of his arms and sparking with electricity.
"My Shock System can make anyone paralyzed!"
He ran forward and struck the Midoriya, but nothing happened. The blonde boy smirked.
"Idiot. Don't you know Deku's Quirk? It's probably the strongest Quirk of them all."
Sure enough, Midoriya had been paralyzed, but only for one second, due to his muscles quickly recovering from the shock. Now he was smirking.
"When me and Kacchan work together, we're an unstoppable tank. My Quirk is Regeneration, and Kacchan..."
Bakugo demonstrated by slamming his fist into his palm, causing a small explosion to go off.
"My Quirk is Explosion. We're the perfect offense and defense. So leave that kid alone. I don't care if his Quirk is nothing special. We're future heroes, and heroes never let the innocent suffer."
The bully leader tried to rally his minions, but Midoriya and Bakugo were already rushing at them like a steamroller. Or a freight train. Either way, the bullies were reeling by the end of it, as Midoriya helped their would-be victim to his feet.
"You guys were so awesome," he said, "I wish I had my own Quirk, so I could fight back against those bullies..."
"So that's the problem," Midoriya said, "It's hard in this world for a person to not have a Quirk."
"Maybe when you're old enough you could try obtaining an Object of Power," Bakugo suggested, "Anomalous items like them have helped otherwise Quirkless people become great heroes."
Midoriya nodded.
"Yeah. You don't need to have powers like we do to be a hero. Sometimes, just being able to help others makes one a hero."
The world in which the two boys lived in was full of strange and anomalous powers. Some were bizarre world events, such as a televised game show that interacted directly with the viewer, and produced instant prizes for those that won. Others were altered items, like a movie that could spontaneously manifest on a turned-off TV thousands of miles from the film reel. Still others were locations that defied logic, such as an underground city that perfectly resembled the one directly above it. Then there were anomalies that manifested as something normally only seen in comic books. Superpowers. There were two kinds of such powers in existence.
The first were Quirks, anomalies that manifested in an individual, granting them amazing powers. These people often became real-life superheroes, or supervillains. Even if someone wasn't born with such an anomaly, they could still gain one, through Objects of Power. These were a type of altered item with a special power that would transfer to a bonded owner. They typically only responded to, and bonded with, individuals that had not been born with a Quirk. Heroes and villains with both Quirks and Objects of Power tended to battle each other, the heroes protecting the people while the villains fought for their own self-interests.
A Quirk would tend to manifest at around age 4, and most could be picked up with a standard medical examination. Aiding in this process was a global foundation called SCP, the Superhero Central Protectorate. They sought out youths with Quirks and tried to steer them on the path to becoming superheroes, or scouted notable individuals and offered them an Object of Power to become a hero. Right now, Midoriya and Bakugo, currently in junior high, were watching as a giant villain was rampaging through the city. Already, heroes were on the scene.
The first one to arrive was Death Arms, who possessed an Object of Power called the Coat of Many Arms, a trench coat which could manifest numerous arms from any opening. The arms had incredible strength, letting Death Arms catch a falling radio tower the giant villain had knocked over. Helping to keep civilians out of the line of fire was Backdraft, a fire rescue hero whose Quirk, Water Pump, could create an endless supply of water from the spigots growing from his hands, and manipulate that water at will. Some of the people noted that the giant villain was just an amateur purse thief who got cornered, and it wasn't long before they found out by whom.
Two heroes leapt down, one looking something like a horror-movie monster, with gray skin, long sharp claws, and a mouthful of pointed teeth, and the other looking like he was wearing wood for armor. The former was Vigorshy, and he had the Quirk Personal Radar. This let him zero in on any villain that saw his face, even if it was just a photograph. Pictures of him were often posted along his normal patrol route to facilitate this. From there he could corral the villain using his mutated physiology. The latter was Kamui Woods, with his Quirk Arbor. This was a simpler Quirk that let him generate and control wood.
The two leapt at the giant villain, who spouted the usual threats and swatted at them.
"How thick do you think his skin is at this size?," Vigorshy asked.
"Thick enough that anti-tank rifles would be hard-pressed to pierce it," Kamui Woods suggested, "But he'd still feel the pain."
Vigorshy smirked.
"All I need to know..."
He leapt at the giant, claws fully extended.
"Frenzy Rush!"
With great speed, he slashed at the villain over and over, the giant barely managing to put up a guard as he winced from the nails scraping against his skin, forcing him back.
"Nice work, Vigorshy!," Kamui Woods called out as he ran along the train bridge, "Just keep him busy a little longer! Lacquered Chain Prison!"
He extended wooden tendril that wrapped around the villain's limbs.
"You're charged with assault, robbery, and illegal use of superpowers!"
Vigorshy landed next to him.
"Looks like we're not the only ones coming. Over there."
He pointed, and Kamui Woods sighed, seeing a large young woman in a skin-tight leotard, a few feet taller than the giant villain, leaping in Kamen Rider style.
"Canyon Cannon!"
She immediately dropkicked the villain, knocking him off the bridge. Cameramen suddenly appeared in droves, trying to get a picture as the attractive woman was bent over while tying up the villain.
"Piece of cake for the world's hottest new superhero. Hello there, everyone. Name's Mount Lady, and my Quirk is Gigantification."
As Mount Lady began to shrink to normal size, Midoriya thought on how this was their world now. Every street looked like a scene from a comic book. As superpowers became available, villains started rising. And while world governments had their hands tied trying to rework laws with superpowers in mind, courageous men and women stepped up to contain the chaos. Bakugo noticed Midoriya muttering to himself about Mount Lady's appearance while writing in his notebook.
"Again, Deku?"
But he could see why Midoriya would be taking notes. After all, Mount Lady's entrance had caused a giant dent in the pavement, showing that her power did have its drawbacks.
The two friends were third-years students as Aldera Middle School.
"Right about now you all should be considering your future careers," said the homeroom teacher, "And I know many of you would be eager to use your Quirks to become heroes. However... Midoriya, what would you say the two most important attributes of a hero are?"
"A willingness to do what is right," Midoriya said, "And the ability to use your power in a way that can help people."
The teacher nodded.
"Indeed. Most of you only want to be heroes for the money or fame, and not necessarily for altruistic reasons. Not to mention most of you have Quirks that are gimmicky at best."
"Yeah, not gonna lie," Bakugo said, "I can't see the ability to stretch your fingers or the ability to safely remove your eyes while still attached to the ocular nerve as anything but a hindrance. I'm sure our old friend with the bat wings might have some potential, but..."
"But we haven't seen him since he disappeared during elementary," Midoriya finished.
The teacher cleared his throat.
"The point is, right now our class only has two students, Midoriya and Bakugo, with all the qualifications to enter any high school specializing in training heroes. Especially since both of them recently aced the mock exam for UA High School."
"Hell yeah, we did," Bakugo said, "Every one knows Midoriya knows everything about heroes, and I'm pretty damn smart in my own right. I'm betting one of us will be the next All Might."
The two friends smiled as the slammed their hands together, one of Bakugo's explosions going off. There was a grizzly sight of Midoriya's bony hand before the flesh instantly grew back, good as new.
"I wish they wouldn't show off like that," one of the students said, "It was cool at first, but now it makes me nauseous to look at."
Meanwhile, a sludge villain was running from a store, cash stuffed into his body. Quickly running him was another amorphous being, the superhero Elle-Ate. Elle-Ate's Quirk was called Jubilation, which allowed her amorphous body to release dopamine in any living being she touched. The mutation that came with her Quirk also came in handy for chasing villains like this one. As the chase occurred, another figure, a stick of a man, came out of a convenience store and spotted the chase.
"Might want to help her out," he noted.
He focused, and his body instantly grew into a more muscled form.
"Man," one guy on the street said, "It's like there's no stopping these villains."
"Yes, there is," the now enlarged man said.
The people turned and gasped in delight, the man smiling.
"Because I am here!"
As Midoriya put the finishing touches on his thirteenth analysis journal for heroes, he thought back to when his Quirk first manifested. He was just about to turn four, watching his favorite hero All Might save a hundred people from a bus crash. He was running around with his All Might action figure when he accidentally slammed his head into a wall. However, while there was pain, there was no skull fracture detected in spite of the high impact. He was quickly transferred to an SCP doctor, who explained everything.
"We've finished our analysis, Missus Midoriya," Doctor Amelia Buck said, "And we've confirmed your son's Quirk. It's a high-level regenerator, capable of restoring your son to perfect health within a few seconds. Not just injuries, but illnesses, temporary ailments, anything that would cause harm to the body. I can say with no exaggeration that Izuku is, essentially, invincible."
"So why did Izuku's skull not get a fracture?," Inko Midoriya asked, "Was that healed as well?"
"Actually, from what we've determined," Doctor Buck said, "It was never damaged to begin with. Our studies have shown that Izuku's regeneration stems from his brain and spinal cord, which are still very vulnerable. To compensate, his skull and spinal column are perfectly indestructible. He could be hit by a nuclear blast, and still be able to recover completely."
Later that day, Midoriya was excited. He had a Quirk that made him invincible, able to recover from anything villains could throw at him. All he needed was to improve his physical capabilities. That night, he watched a television interview, where All Might was declaring that anyone could be a hero.
"Isn't this amazing, Mom?," Izuku asked, "If I train my hardest, I know I can be a hero just like All Might!"
Inko smiled happily, grateful that her son would never have to worry about being hurt physically, and could pursue his dream to his fullest. She hugged Midoriya tightly, saying how proud she was of him. Ever since that day, Midoriya and Bakugo trained their Quirks together. Bakugo learned how to use his Explosion for more than just blasting things, and Midoriya learned that he could stockpile strength overtime as he took damage and healed from it. Best of all, the increase in strength stuck. Midoriya was snapped out of his flashback as he entered an alleyway and heard a gurgling sound. It was the sludge villain Elle-Ate had been tracking.
"Hey there, kid," he said, "I need to borrow your body for a moment."
He tried to force his way down Midoriya's throat, but got a shock when something started forcing him out.
"Hey, what gives!? Why can't I enter your body!?"
What he didn't know was that Midoriya's esophagus and windpipe were contracting and pushing, keeping the foreign body out of his lungs and stomach. Already his instincts were letting his Quirk react to the invader, preventing him from body-snatching Midoriya. Just as the sludge villain was about to try something else, he heard the sound of a nearby manhole cover fly off.
"Have no fear, young man," came a deep, booming voice, equal parts friendly and angry, "You are safe... For I am here!"
Midoriya's eyes got stars in them. Even without the costume, he recognized the blonde muscleman.
"Holy moly, it's All Might! Wait, why is he holding a convenience store grocery bag?"
"I was making a lunch run when I spotted this villain running past," All Might explained, "We kinda lost Elle-Ate on the way, though. Slippery bastard managed to evade her at the last minute. But no evil can get away once I catch whiff of it!"
"I knew I should have risked taking a shower this morning...," the sludge villain muttered.
He tried to attack All Might with his amorphous body, but the mighty hero was as fast as he was strong. He launched a powerful shockwave with his right arm.
"Texas Smash!"
The sludge villain found himself blown apart by the resulting tornado.
"Can't... Hold... Together...!"
Midoriya also felt himself blown back, right into the concrete wall.
"Oh, shit!," All Might said.
He quickly ran over to Midoriya's unconscious form and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness. He doesn't seem injured."
He started patting Midoriya's cheek.
"Hey, are you alright, young man?"
Midoriya woke up, then freaked out.
"No way! Did I just get blown away by one of All Might's signature smashes!? That was a rush! It's a good thing I don't get damaged easily."
"Ah, yes, sorry about that," All Might said, "I didn't realize you were right behind him. It's good to see you're unhurt and able to move around. Anyway, good work keeping that villain at bay. I was able to capture him as a result."
He showed the sludge villain, now sealed in an empty soda bottle. Midoriya was practically speechless. By the time he realized he had to get an autograph, scrambling to find something to write with, he found that All Might had already signed his notebook.
"Thank you so much for this!," Midoriya said, bowing in gratitude.
All Might gave a thumbs up in response.
"Well, I should get this evil-doer over to the proper authorities. You stay out of trouble now."
He leapt off, but was a bit shocked when Midoriya wound up grabbing onto his leg for some reason.
"If you wanted a day to hang out, you could have just asked!"
"There's something important I need to ask you first!," Midoriya explained.
All Might could sense the boy was serious, and decided to land on a nearby rooftop. Once he did, he shocked Midoriya by shrinking back into the stick man he had been before.
"Sorry about that," he said, his voice now a much more normal tone, "So what did you want to ask me?"