Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Midoriya Izuku was four years old and lost in the woods.

It wasn’t his fault that he was lost though. He’d been playing a game with Kacchan and his friends after a bit of exploring in the woods. They’d gotten bored however, and started playing hide-and-seek, with Izuku as the seeker since he didn’t have his quirk yet, the idea being that whoever he found would have the type of quirk he would get.

Everyone in class had a quirk so far, Kacchan’s being the best, and Izuku was sure he would have a great quirk too, one that would help him become a hero as amazing as All Might, the number one hero!

It was proving more difficult than he thought to find anyone though, and after searching for a long time he’d wandered further into the woods than intended. The game had gotten a lot less fun then, especially when the sky darkened to show the passage of time.

“Kacchan!” Izuku cried out, long having abandoned the game in favor of finding his friends and going home to his loving mom and warm home with a plate of katsudon surely waiting for him. “Tsubasa! Kimura! Where are you guys!?!”

On any other night, in any other timeline, Midoriya Izuku would have fruitlessly searched for his friends, who had left him behind and all gone home themselves, until a search party found him. His mother would have tearfully hugged him and a tired Izuku would have only been able to eat a few bites of his food before passing out at the table and being taken to bed.

This was not that universe.

The sound of a snapping twig alerted Izuku to a presence behind him. Nervous and caught off guard, he spun around to peer into the twilight shadows cast by his surroundings. Could it be Kacchan? Except Kacchan was a lot louder than that, he would have heard him from much farther. He was rather deep in the woods, could it be a wild animal? Oh no, what if it was a bear!?! What if the bear wanted to EAT him!?!

There was more shuffling in the dark and Izuku tried to run, but tripped and fell to the leaf-strewn ground. The sounds in the wood paused and Izuku froze, only for whatever was out there to start making its way purposefully towards him. Izuku panicked and tried to crawl away, but it was too late! It was coming out from behind the trees now!

A child stood there, roughly the same size as Izuku. Their face was covered by the smooth vizor of a futuristic helmet, a circular mouthpiece forming its chin and strips of metal lining the sides. What may have been some kind of hood rested on their shoulders, framing their thin neck. Their body was all covered up as well, keeping to the futuristic astronaut theme with a mix of skin-tight fabric and pieces of dull metal.

“Tion gar shaadi?” The person asked with a tilt of their head. What little light remained gleamed off of their helmet with an otherworldly glow while the circular mouthpiece flashed as they spoke.

“W-what?” Izuku could only stutter.

“Bashur non gallida don.” The person, who Izuku could only assume was a girl from the feminine lilt to their voice despite the electronic filter that distorted her voice slightly, spoke again, reaching out with her hand as if to help him. Idly, Izuku noted how her hand had only two fingers and a thumb rather than the standard four. Could that be a part of their quirk alongside the space-suit? It appeared to be some kind of mutation.

“Essali?” The girl asked and Izuku realized he had yet to respond. Reaching up to take her hand, she lifted him up much easier than to be expected for her thin frame. Now that he was standing, Izuku could see that she was a bit shorter than him, her helmet tilted up slightly to look him in the eyes. Looking closer, he could almost see the outline of a face through her shaded visor, a pair of glowing eyes peering back at him.

They were really pretty to look at.

“H-hi.” Izuku managed to get out, feeling oddly nervous at meeting another child he had never seen before. “My- my name is Izuku. I’m sorry I can’t understand what you are saying. Do you know Japanese?”

“Praya?” The girl asked, her head tilting in confusion.

“I don’t know what that means. I’m sorry.” Izuku repeated.”

“Ah!” The girl seemed to have a moment of realization. She pointed to herself. “Tali.”

“Tali?” Izuku repeated.

“Mm! Tali.” The girl nodded, then pointed at Izuku. “Et gar?”

Oh, oh , she was introducing herself and now wanted his name! “Izuku.” he introduced himself, placing his hand over his chest and smiling.

“Iiiizu’ku.” The girl sounded out. “Izu’ku. Essali Izu’ku, nor gaia esu voki’ra.”

“Nice to meet you too, Tali.” Izuku replied.

“Bor’gelash!” Tali hopped a bit in place with happiness. Then she grabbed Izuku’s hand and began pulling him after her. “Hayaa! la utiq alaintizar li'arik walidi.”

“I still can’t understand what you’re saying!” Izuku cried as he stumbled after her.

This went on for a bit. Tali leading the way as Izuku struggled to keep up in the fast-fading light. Eventually however, they came across a clearing which had another person in it who must have been Tali’s parent considering they wore the same style suit as she did. Instead of a purple hooded tunic like the one Tali wore, however, this one wore armored plating over their chest, shoulders, and biceps, with a light layer of padding on their arms and hands. They had the same three-fingered hands and three-toed feet and had a more masculine build. The last noticeable difference was the helmet, which was much longer, along with a more defined circular mouthpiece.

“Alab!” Tali cried out to the figure excitedly. “Anzur madha wujidat!”

“Tali?” The masculine voice of the figure sounded like a mixture of relief and confusion, something Izuku could relate too. “Ayn kinti?”

“Ga’sheeda!” Tali replied proudly, pulling Izuku out into the clearing behind her.

At the sight of Izuku the adult stiffened. “Tali.” He spoke deliberately, his voice turning that stern tone the teacher’s always did when they got mad. “Kanite gari lemini tewe’laji al’e?”

Tali seemed to recognize the tone as well as she shrunk a bit at the man’s tone. “Gwadenyaye lihoni yichi’lali biye asibe neberi?” She asked hopefully.

“Tali, isikahuni diresi kewakibitini yalayu sewochini inidanigenanyi yetekelekelinibeti mikiniyati āle.” The man began to lecture.

Izuku had no idea what Tali could have done wrong but, from watching her body shrink slightly, he could tell she was sad. He tried to offer his support by squeezing her hand and it did seem to help from the way that she rallied herself and began to talk back.

As Tali and the person who could be her father were not quite arguing with each other, Izuku had a moment to survey the clearing. Large swaths of ground were flattened, trees knocked over to make space for what appeared to be a giant metal house on stilts. It was almost as if the house had just landed on the ground, flattening anything in its way.

He was distracted by the man exasperatedly breaking off from their group to walk up the ramp into the house, where some clamoring sounds could be heard a moment later. He looked at his companion questioningly, but she only stood there semi-patiently.

Soon after, the man exited the house, a wristband-looking device held in his three-fingered hand. He approached Izuku, taking the hand that wasn’t still being held by Tali in a surprisingly gentle hold and slipping the band around his wrist. A holographic cylinder lit up around his arm, forming an orange sleeve and detailed with buttons and strange writing.

“Faqat amnah alsaaeat to calibrate to your brainwaves, you should be able to understand us soon enough.” The man spoke, the foreign language giving way to fluent Japanese.

Izuku gasped in amazement. “I can understand you now!” he cried excitedly.

“And we can understand you too, little one.” The man replied, relaxing slightly.

“Thank you father!” Tali cheered.

“This does not absolve you of your mistake Tali.” Her father warned. “I may have been looking for a chance to test the Omni-Lingual prototype and you provided me with the perfect opportunity with young Izuku here, but this is as far as I will go.”

“Omni-Lingual prototype? Does that mean you’re an, um, support engineer?” Izuku asked curiously. He knew admittedly little about the support gear used by heroes, most news stations just advertised the heroes’ quirks, but the word prototype was familiar enough to him.

“Of a sort.” The man shrugged.

“My father is the best engineer in the fleet!” Tali declared proudly. “He makes all kinds of tools to help our people.”

“Wooooow.” Izuku didn’t understand most of what Tali was saying, but it sounded impressive.

“I must say I am curious however.” Tali’s father stated. “What brings a child like you out here in the middle of the woods?”

At the reminder of his position, the nervousness that Izuku had forgotten about returned and he looked down in embarrassment. “I got lost looking for my friends.” He mumbled. “We were playing hide-and-seek and whoever I found would have the kind of quirk I would get but I couldn’t find anyone and now it’s really late and I should go home but I don’t know where to go and-”

“Hey, hey, calm down, it’s okay.” Tali interrupted the storm of mumblings Izuku was falling into. “We can help you get home.” she assured, squeezing his hand.

“R-really?” Izuku wondered, looking gratefully at Tali as tears started to form in the corners of his wide eyes.

“Yep!” Tali cheered. “That’s what friends do right? Help each other out when they need help?”

“We’re f-friends?” Izuku whispered. At his question Tali retreated into herself slightly.

“I-I mean we don’t have to be friends if you don’t want to.”

“No no! I’d love to be friends!” Izuku cried quickly.

“Really?” Tali perked right back up. “That’s great! Father, did you hear, I made a new friend!”

“I did hear Tali.” The man spoke with a tinge of exasperation. He held up his arm and a holographic gauntlet lit up around it, the soft orange glow reflecting off his visor. “According to my scans of the local area, there’s a small settlement just north of us. Not only that, but there seems to be a missing child alert that perfectly describes young Izuku here.” He looked knowingly at Izuku, but the child was too enamored by the man’s holographic interface to fully register the words.

“That’s a super cool support item! It’s like a computer attached to your wrist. Did you have to adjust parts of it to fit your mutation quirk? Can it be adjusted for other mutations that have different hands than normal?”

“Easy there eager one.” The man waved his hand placatingly. “How about we start heading to where you live first and I’ll try to answer any questions you have along the way hmm?”

“Okay!” Izuku beamed.

And so they set off, Izuku eagerly pelting the two with questions as his brain ran a mile a minute. His new friend and her father answered him readily, but things got interesting when he asked what their quirks were.

“Quirk?” Tali asked, confused.

“Like your mutation.” Izuku explained. “I’m guessing it does something to your eyes and breathing because of those masks you wear and how your eyes seem to glow.”

“Ah, you mean like the biotics your species has.” Tali’s father replied. “We don’t actually have any of that I’m afraid.”

“No way, you’re quirkless!?!” Izuku cried. He had never met someone without a quirk before. But then what was up with all the strange mutations? “How is that even possible?”

“It’s actually quite simple really.” Tali’s father explained. He turned around and held up a finger in a pose he’d seen his teachers take sometimes when they were about to explain something they thought particularly interesting. “We’re not part of your species.”

“Ooooooh! That makes sense.” Izuku accepted the answer.

...

“WHAAAAAAT!?!” Izuku screamed, utterly gobsmacked. Tali fell to the ground laughing at the reaction.

“Yes, I suppose that response is to be expected considering your species has yet to develop space travel, let alone discover the greater galaxy.” The newly announced alien mused contemplatively.

“Y-you-you’re aliens? That’s why you look like you’re wearing spacesuits, they actually are spacesuits!” Safe to say, Izuku was having a minor crisis right now, not helped by the fact that his already impressive mind for a four year old was quickly piecing apart exactly what that meant. “That- that house back there! Was that your spaceship ?”

“Yep!” Tali giggled, still rolling on the ground.

“Our race is called the Quarian, young Izuku.” Tali’s father looked down at him seriously. “Our people have been wandering amongst the stars since the Geth drove us from our homeworld. Once we get you home, we will be leaving.”

Izuku was confused and a little worried by that statement. What did he mean by leaving?

“Do you have to go?” He asked. “Can’t you stay here?”

“No Izuku. This planet is already occupied by your people. We will not encroach any further on their hospitality. Tali and I being here was a simple chance meeting that will not happen again.”

“Oh.” Izuku looked down, an irrational heaviness settling on his heart. Tali may want to be her friend, but she was leaving and he wouldn’t be seeing her again. It was strange, despite only meeting her for a few minutes, he would miss her greatly. She was just so kind and her enthusiasm was infectious.

The rest of their walk continued in silence until they reached the edge of the woods. Izuku could see his apartment from where he stood, a police car pulled up in front.

“I guess this is goodbye then?” He asked, trying to extend the moment with these otherworldly beings for as long as he could.

“Yes.” Tali’s father spoke firmly.

“Izuku? Is something wrong?” Tali wondered, having caught onto Izuku’s sadness.

“I just- I’ll miss you.” Izuku tried to explain the feeling of loss that ached in his chest for no clear reason.

“I’ll miss you too.” Tali replied. “But you can always call me on your omni-tool.”

Wait, what?

“What?” Izuku spluttered.

“Tali.” Her father warned.

“Please father!” She begged. “I want to talk with him more! From what the scanners picked up this world sounds amazing and he could tell me all about it!”

Tali’s father hesitated, then let out a sigh. “Fine.” He allowed. “So long as you do your duty to the fleet, you may speak to your new friend.”

“Thank you father!” Tali cried joyfully. She turned to Izuku. “Just use the omni-tool if you want to talk to me, I have its com-code registered to mine, so I’ll know it’s you.”

“Okay!” Izuku promised, cheering up at the prospect of getting to talk to Tali again. “Um, how do I do that?”

“Oh, right. So if you hold your arm out like this-”

After a hasty instruction on how to call Tali with the omni-tool and with the promise to keep in touch, Izuku bade his new friend farewell and walked up to his apartment. True to expectations, his mother hugged him fiercely, cried a waterfall of tears, and sat him down for a late dinner of katsudon while the police search was called off.

Izuku only managed a few bites of his food before falling asleep, his dreams not occupied with heroes for once, but full of stars.

Chapter Text

“You should probably give it up.” The quirk doctor advised.

Izuku was in shock. Quirk... Less? Quirkless?

“Surely there must be some mistake?” His mom worriedly asked, placing an arm protectively around his shoulder. “The other kindergarteners have all started showing signs, but...”

“Pardon my asking, Ma’am, but you’re fourth generation, yes?” The doctor asked, filling the pause. “As far as quirks I mean...” he trailed off leadingly.

His mom must have replied but Izuku didn’t hear whatever his answer was. It just didn’t make sense to him. Both his parents had quirks, everyone else his age had quirks, why didn’t he?

Well, not everyone. There was Tali, but Izuku didn’t think it counted considering she was an alien.

But how was he supposed to be a hero like All Might without a quirk?

There was an explanation about having two joints in his pinky toe and how that determined the lack of a quirk but Izuku had fully tuned out, only snapping out of his haze briefly when he and his mom stepped into their apartment. Night had fallen by then but Izuku couldn’t sleep, dragging himself up to the computer where he pulled up the video of All Might’s debut.

He had no idea how long he sat there, rewatching All Might save over a hundred people from a burning building over and over again. It was only the faint rustling of his mom from behind, coming to check up on him, that finally drew his eyes away from the screen, a burning question on his lips.

“Mom...” Izuku almost whispered. “No matter what kind of trouble you’re in, he’ll save you with a smile.” He turned his head to look at his mom, a shaking hand pointing to the figure behind him. “Do you think I can be a hero? Just like him?”

He didn’t get the answer he was looking for that night.

---

Things rapidly entered a downward spiral after that.

“You still think you can be a hero even though you’re quirkless?” Kacchan laughed disbelievingly, his followers looming behind him menacingly, quirks on full display.

Truth be told, Izuku had no idea if he could be a hero without a quirk. He’d looked online, but found nothing to support his dreams. There were no quirkless heroes, nobody online seemed to even consider the possibility of a hero without a quirk, and lacking a quirk was an automatic disqualifier from any reputable hero school, citing that it was “too dangerous” without a quirk to fall back on.

But Izuku would never know for sure if he didn’t try.

Shifting into his best hero pose like the ones he saw on TV, Izuku prepared to face off against his childhood friend.

It didn’t go well.

---

“I’m telling you mom, they’re real!”

“Izuku, dear... Aliens aren’t real.”

“You’re not listening to me!” Izuku cried. “I met some, they gave me this!” He held up the band given to him up for his mom to inspect. “I didn’t know what they were saying because they were speaking in an alien language until they gave me this and then I could understand them.”

His mom did take the time to examine the device, only to push his arm down gently. “Izuku, this is just a regular bracelet. I’m sure whoever gave it to you was quite lovely, but they weren’t an alien. It’s more likely you met someone with a complex mutant quirk that made them look like one and you imagined the rest.”

“TALI ISN’T MADE UP!” Izuku screamed at his mom, then clapped his hands over his mouth.

“Izuku...” His mom whispered tearfully.

He shouldn’t have done that. He shouldn’t have yelled at his mom. She had been stressed ever since his diagnosis, ever since dad left. There was nothing that suggested that it was because he was quirkless, but Izuku knew. He knew from the way the teachers spoke to each other, how the adults around him would gossip as if he wasn’t there. He was a burden to his mom, why else would all the bad things start happening?

Would she get rid of him? The thought intrusively stole across his consciousness. Now that he wasn’t a perfect child who never screamed at his mother or got mad, now that he was defective, would she leave him as well?

Not wanting an answer, Izuku ran to his room, not looking back to see his mother’s tear stained face for fear of it being twisted in anger.

Izuku and his mother would talk later. They would flood the room with tears and apologies as they affirmed their love for another, but Izuku would never speak to his mom about Tali again.

---

“Nobody believes me when I tell them about you.” Izuku muttered into his arms as he slouched on the desk in his room.

“It’s okay, I don’t mind.” Tali’s voice assured him from the omni-tool wrapped around his wrist. “I don’t really call to talk to them anyways.”

“Really?” Izuku blinked, confused.

“Of course silly!” Tali giggled. “I call to talk to you, remember?”

“Oh, right.” Izuku flushed with embarrassment.

“Oh, don’t be like that Izuku. I like talking with you.” She hummed. “I like to hear your stories about your people, your heroes, you make everything sound so amazing. I’m surprised the only other friend you have is Kacchan.”

“Quirkless Deku!” Kacchan’s voice rang through Izuku’s head and he shrunk a bit at the reminder. He and Kacchan were still friends of course! At least, he hoped they were still friends, but it was a different kind than Tali’s. Where Kacchan was an overpowering presence that demanded all his attention and care, Tali’s friendship was a small yet constant thing that Izuku felt he could lean on. While Kacchan was the sun, bright and blinding, Tali was the stars, distant, otherworldly, and absolutely captivating.

“I like hearing your stories too, Tali.” He replied.

And it was true, Izuku was fascinated by Tali’s stories of space and her people, the nomadic Quarians, who wandered the stars living on the Migrant Fleet after being driven from their homeworld by the Geth uprising: machines built by the Quarians that gained sentience. That conversation had led to a lengthy discussion about Artificial and Virtual Intelligences, their impact on society, and how one should approach such an intelligence.

It was a surprisingly in-depth conversation for nine year-old children.

“I was thinking about the humans you were talking about and looked some things up.” Izuku continued with the topic of their last discussion. It had been a bit of a shock for him to find out that there were other humans in space, ones that had never developed Quirks. “Apparently, some famous guy said that ‘Had the phenomenon never occurred, then humankind might well have been enjoying interstellar travel by now.’ Do you think their planet could be a parallel one to Earth? One that didn’t get quirks but space travel and the Mass Relays instead?”

“Ooh, maybe!” Tali enthusiastically latched onto the idea. “I remember the scanners picking up a lot of element zero on your planet. That could be why your species developed such impressive biotics.”

“That does make sense.” Izuku murmured, his finger coming up to rest on his bottom lip. “Humanity in general is known for its ability to adapt to varying environments. It’s entirely possible some meteor containing a large quantity of element zero landed on earth sometime in the past and started affecting the surrounding environment, specifically any nearby humans. Considering how the first known quirk was the glowing baby in China, then spread quickly to Japan and Korea despite tensions between the countries at the time, the East China Sea makes the most sense for a landing site. From there, ocean currents would have spread the element to other parts of the world in a diluted state which would explain how the global statistics of quirkless is highly different from any regional or even national census. The era 200 years ago may be a dark age, but if any weather reports survived, there may be something about unexpected floods or strange storms indicative of a meteor impact.”

“Meteors do leave a big impact.” Tali agreed. “There might even be traces of minerals from the meteorite still in the area.” She sighed forlornly. “It’s a shame you don’t have anything capable of measuring element zero, that would let you know for sure.”

“Yeah...” Izuku nodded, then startled on a realization. “Wait, you caught all that?”

“Have been for the past few years, but thanks for noticing.” Tali informed him humorously. “It’s kind of a requirement, being able to keep up with you.”

“Sorry.” Izuku apologized, cringing. “Everyone keeps telling me how creepy it is.”

“Hah!” Tali laughed. “You don’t have a creepy bone in your body. If anything, you’re more like a, like a... what were those cute tiny mammals you have with the floppy ears called again?”

“You mean bunnies?”

“Those too, but I was thinking of the other one.”

“Puppies?”

“Yes!” She confirmed. “You are a puppy human who’s super cute whenever he gets excited!”

“I... I think you mean human puppy?” He tried to correct her, steadfastly ignoring the cute part to prevent him from flushing red.

“I know what I said.” And just like that, Tali ruthlessly denied him any relief. “I still remember when we first met, the way you tilted your head when confused, it was just like in the video you sent me. Absolutely adorable.”

“Taliiiiiii!” Izuku whined, losing the battle with his blush and having to bury his face into his arms to hide the redness despite there being no one to see it.

The cause of his embarrassment only laughed and Izuku found himself relaxing for it. Her laugh wasn’t like the others, sharp and mocking, but held genuine joy that laughed with him rather than at him. It was nice.

The two of them talked late into the night and, while Izuku didn’t get much sleep for it, he was far more relaxed and at ease than what a full night’s rest would have given.

---

Izuku did look into his meteor idea and found a frightening amount of supporting evidence. With possibly more knowledge and understanding on the nature of quirks than anyone on the planet... he honestly wasn't sure what to do with the information and ended up writing it down in a notebook to be hidden away.

It's not like anyone would believe him right? The doctor who proposed the Quirk Singularity was laughed at outright, a nobody like him wouldn't even get through the door.

---

“What’s this hah?” Kacchan demanded, Izuku’s bracelet dangling from his fingers. “I see you always rubbing it right before you get all smug and stuck-up.”

Oh no. Somehow, in the most recent “let’s all gang-up on Deku and push him around” event, his omni-tool must have fallen off. “Wait, Kacchan, please don’t-”

“Don’t what? You think you can tell me what to do?”

“No!” Izuku frantically waved his hands to try and diffuse the situation. “It’s just-”

“Just what?” Kacchan snapped. “Some kind of good luck charm? A little trinket you picked out for yourself for your birthday cause you have no actual friends? A way for you to forget your place, that you’re nothing more than a Quirkless Deku?”

“Tali gave it to me!” The words burst out of Izuku before he could stop himself. Kacchan always did have a way of dragging things out of him.

“Oh.” Kacchan’s face turned into an ugly sneer. “Oh I see.” He hissed, steadily gaining volume. “You’re still going on about your fake girlfriend! Do you really think I’d believe that crap? Are you looking down on me Deku!?!” With a flex of his hand, the bracelet was engulfed in an explosion and dropped to the ground.

No.

To further emphasize whatever point he had been trying to make, Kacchan stomped his foot on the dropped item and grinded the bits into the ground.

No!

Izuku fell to the ground, desperately trying to salvage the pieces of his most valuable possession, his only connection to Tali, but it was too little too late, the scraps of foreign material still smoldering from the explosion that had destroyed it.

Izuku must have blacked out because one moment he was on the ground while Kacchan laughed at him from above and the next thing he knew, Kacchan was reeling back, blood spurting from his nose while Izuku’s clenched fist throbbed painfully.

It was the first time Izuku had ever truly fought back.

He got a weeklong suspension for it.

---

*ssshhh- click* “This is Midoriya Izuku trying to reach Tali’zorah nar Rayya of the Migrant Fleet, please respond, over.” *click -ssshhh*

It had taken over a year to get to this point. Every scrap of knowledge Izuku could remember from Tali’s rambling rants on comm systems and “basic” engineering. Every bit of mechanical information he could find online and in the library. Every time he had been forced to scrap the project and rebuild it again from scratch. Every ounce of obsessive note taking, hyperfixation, and late-night research. All of it channeled into regaining that connection he had lost, that Kacchan had taken from him in a burst of anger.

The result was an old army radio he had found in a dump and taken apart, reworked, and pieced back together, the number 52 emblazoned on its side to signify his fifty-second attempt at a working prototype. The piece of scrap had been completely retrofitted and upgraded with various other pieces, not all of them also found in the trash, to have a signal powerful enough to send into space. Hopefully. There may have been a few tearful prayers along the way.

Izuku waited five minutes for a reply, then reached over and flipped the switch to try again. *click* “This is Midoriya Izuku trying to reach Tali’zorah nar Rayya of the Migrant Fleet, please respond, over.” *click* And sat back to wait. He’d figured out a system by now, if thirty minutes passed without anything happening, he would leave the device set to receive and record any signals from space, which in turn would be re-routed to his phone, which would send him an alert.

He settled down to wait and tried not to get his hopes up that things might just work this time.

*ssshhh- click* “Hey Izuku! It’s been awhile!” *click*

Was that- It sounded like- Could it be? Hesitantly, praying for a miracle, Izuku leaned forward to speak. *click* “Tali?” *click*

*click* “Yep! Woooow, really going back to the stone ages aren’t you? The kind of signal you’re using is ancient! We never would have been able to pick it up if it weren’t for some of the ships in the fleet being over 300 years old. What happened to your omni-tool?” *click*

Izuku broke down crying.

They would spend hours catching up. And when they were done with that, Tali would help instruct Izuku on building a comms-device “up to scratch” in her own words. That alone more than made up for the years-long time apart, the two of them fitting back together near seamlessly.

---

Today... had not been kind to Izuku.

Oh sure, it had started off nicely. The weather was great, the trees were in bloom, there had been a new hero debut on the way to school, and someone had complimented his dream to be a hero! Sure, they had no idea Izuku was Quirkless, but it was the thought that counted. School itself had been a bit boring, but that was preferable to having his peers take any interest in him as that was always bound to go poorly.

He had almost been free when the teacher had pulled out the career aptitude tests.

“Oh why do I even bother! You all want to become heroes obviously!”

Everyone had cheered, showing off their quirks, until Kacchan had laughed at them all and declared his intention to go to UA and become the greatest hero ever, even better than All Might!

Then the teacher mentioned that Izuku was also applying to UA (hero course obviously with a backup in support after all the technical know-how Tali had taught him) and Kacchan had taken offense to that, expressing it in the only way he knew how.

Violently.

It had ended with him humiliated in front of the whole class, which wasn’t all that unusual, his desk damaged by explosions, again, and a talk after class where Kacchan had blown up his notebook (which he had just finished adding Mt. Lady’s entry to) and tossed it out the window.

It was fine.

What wasn’t as fine was Kacchan’s parting remarks as he left.

“If you really want to be a hero so bad, take a swan dive off the roof and pray for a Quirk in your next life!”

Take a swan dive off the roof and pray for a Quirk in your next life!

Take a swan dive off the roof!

Take a swan-

Maybe Kacchan wasn’t his friend as much as he had thought...

Regardless, the day had progressed. Not the best, not the worst either, but pretty bad considering a line had been crossed despite Izuku never actually considering what Kacchan had suggested, even for a moment.

It was fine.

After saving his dreams from becoming fish food, he’d managed to rally himself just in time to be attacked by a villain. One that he was completely helpless against and could do nothing about even as it whispered about killing him and wearing his body like a skinsuit as a disguise.

Fortunately All Might had saved him, which immediately made everything that happened previously completely worth it. All Might had even signed his notebook!

Then Izuku had gotten too greedy for the universe and tried to ask All Might a question. Next thing he knew, he was on a rooftop with a sickly and deflated All Might crushing whatever hopes he had for his future as a Hero and advising him to be “realistic” with his dreams.

It was fine. He might have looked at the edge of the very high building they were on for a stretch too long, but he’d snapped himself out of it. Today had just been a bad day for him, escapism was a completely normal coping mechanism.

He’d just been heading home ready to give up on his dreams and start thinking of a more realistic path, a safer one that maybe didn’t frighten his mother, when some explosions had caught his ears and he found himself subconsciously wandering towards the Hero/Villain fight.

Except it wasn’t a Hero/Villain fight and instead a hostage situation with the same Sludge Villain that had tried to kill him earlier. The Heroes weren’t doing anything, some occupied with the nearby damages and rescuing citizens caught up in the attack and the others claiming their quirks unsuitable for the situation.

Izuku might have had something to say about that, but then he’d caught sight of the victim and realized it was Kacchan. Next thing he knew, Izuku was fighting the same Villain that had tried to kill him previously and trying to free Kacchan with admittedly little success.

At least he’d given the other boy a moment to breathe.

So, here Izuku found himself courting death again within the same day when All Might had shown up despite being reportedly out of time in his hero form and saved the two of them.

Luckily, Izuku was able to stay conscious this time to see All Might’s signature “DETROIT SMASH!” in person. Unluckily, that meant he was awake to be lectured by the Pro Heroes on the scene about how reckless he was and “Did he have some kind of death wish!?!”

...

Izuku. Had had a day. He had been suicide baited by his only human friend who was looking less and less friendly the more he thought about it but didn’t want to do cause that would only further shatter any delusions of happiness he was using to keep afloat, it was fine, nearly been killed and worn as a meat puppet by a villain made of sludge, had his dreams crushed by his idol on top of a lonely roof, nearly gotten himself killed again by the same villain while trying to save the friend who had baited him earlier that same day, and was getting a lecture about have a death wish while the one who had originally told him to kill himself sat not even two meters away being praised by the same Heroes for his powerful quirk and offered opportunities most could only dream of.

This. On top of everything he had dealt with his whole life. The looks of disgust, pity, or sheer apathy, the whispers they thought he couldn’t hear and the insults they knew he could, the hidden bruises that littered his body, the isolation, everything online that shouted just how little he belonged in this world, the physical and mental scars this life had seen fit to etch into his very being... Just might have been the straw to break the camel’s back.

Which is why Izuku found himself watching the sunset, alone and hidden away from the world, making an impulsive call he had thought about doing before, but had never seriously considered until now.

*brrt brrt... brrt brrt... brrt brr- click*

“Hey Izuku! What’s up?”

“Tali...”

“Izuku? You don’t sound so good. Are you alright?”

“Tali. Can you- can you take me with you?”

“With me? Izuku, what are you talking about?”

“I mean can you take me to space with you. I... I don’t think I can stay on Earth any longer.”

Chapter Text

“Hey Mom?”

“Yes dear?”

Inko Midoriya looked at her son with concern. He’d washed up from his, encounter, from earlier that day and now wore a plain t-shirt and sweats, bits of moisture clinging to his hair. His head was bowed, observing the bowl of food in front of him with a hidden expression, but Inko was pretty sure from the depressed slump of his shoulders that it was a morose one.

It hurt her to see her baby like this, wrung out and tired. She knew that the world was hard on him, but he had persevered, even if it was through a hopeless dream. But seeing him on the news, confronting a dangerous villain no less, had terrified her like nothing else. How could she let her baby into such a dangerous world without the power to protect himself? Perhaps her son had realized the same thing from the defeated posture he held.

Yet even as she watched him, Izuku’s shoulders strengthened with resolve and he looked up to face her.

“I uh, I don’t think I can be a hero.”

Hearing Izuku admit something they both knew and had been avoiding with a concerning level of proficiency filled Inko with sadness and, to her shame, a great amount of relief. Even so, she had to make sure that Izuku was set in his decision.

“Are you sure about that Izuku?” She asked hesitantly, setting down her utensils. “You’ve held onto your dream for so long. There must be some way you can help people?”

“Pretty sure.” Izuku confirmed, his voice gaining strength as he went on. “I- I was useless back then, I couldn’t do anything, and if it weren’t for All Might-” He cut himself off and slumped back down with a defeated sigh. “It’s just not realistic, not for me.” He uttered, a few tears falling from his face and splashing into the half-finished soup in front of him.

“Oh Izuku!” In a moment, Inko had rushed around the table, flinging herself at her baby and wrapping him up in her arms. Now they were both crying, tears flooding the house as they clung to each other, neither of them knowing what the future held now that the bright dream of heroism had been extinguished.

It was okay. They’d figure it out together.

---

Izuku grunted as he hefted the latest piece of scrap onto his makeshift workbench.

According to Tali, there was something of a list of required skills needed to survive in space, something the Quarians had perfected on their many pilgrimages, journeys each Quarian took among the galaxy to develop themselves and gain experience, returning to the Flotilla with the spoils of their labors and being accepted onto the crew of a different ship to preserve genetic diversity. It largely boiled down to basic life skills, but there were the extra requirements of mechanical know-how, cultural understanding, and how to pilot a spacecraft.

Actually, a lot of what Izuku needed to prepare for was centered around spaceships, which made sense considering the nomadic nature of Tali’s people.

“We are an insular society as well, not caring much about what happens outside the fleet.” She had explained. “So we won’t need to focus on the other races or politics involving the Citadel. That gives us time to focus on the essential things.”

And focus they did, electronics, engineering, mechanics, coding, ship design and repair, Izuku’s head practically swam with the information pounded into his skull, but he persevered, actually enjoying the challenge. School had nothing on Tali’Zorah nar Rayya.

It likely helped that there were no other students to take up his teacher’s focus or destroy his own work before he could turn it in, not that that mattered much when his grades always came back with oddly low scores despite having done all the work correctly. Now that he thought about it, Tali gave back advice and criticisms that made sense and helped him grow, elevating her “classes” to some of Izuku’s favorites.

Which was why he had taken to scouring the local dump once known as Dagobah Municipal Beach for materials to work with, dragging them to his house to work on. His room, which had once consisted of pure hero memorabilia, most of it dominated by All Might, and with the occasional mechanical diagram from his time working to rebuild his communicator fit in, was now an inversion of its previous state. Swamped with blueprints, designs, and several mechanical creations, the few Hero pieces that weren’t carefully tucked away in a box were more of a minor characteristic in his room.

The All Might alarm clock fell into an odd middle ground. It had been completely taken apart and put back together in one of Tali’s lessons, then taken apart again and put back together in another lesson with several modifications that turned it into a super clock with pinpoint timekeeping, holographic technology, and instruments that read the temperature, weather, and had a Virtual Intelligence modeled after the hero that could access the internet and display whatever Izuku asked of it.

His mother had been amazed by his newfound proficiency with electronics and had been even more relieved when she found out he was no longer aiming to be a Hero. She had wholeheartedly supported his new hobby and was even going through the requirements for the UA Support course as a way for him to still be involved in heroics, but at a safe distance.

Izuku didn’t really have the heart to tell her about his actual plans. He didn’t think that she would be happy about him leaving, but it really was for the best, there was just no future for him on Earth.

“Your species really are similar to each other, the other Humans call their home planet Earth as well, did you know?”

“Wait, really?”

“Yep! Small galaxy isn’t it?”

“I mean, I guess? It still seems pretty big to me.”

---

“When we return from our Pilgrimages, we present a gift to the captain of the ship we wish to join. Being denied doesn’t happen often since Captains are eager to increase the size of their crew, it gives them more influence with the rest of the fleet, but since my father is captain of the Rayya and already has plenty of influence with the Admiralty Board, we’ll need to bring in something good.”

“Okay, that’s fine. No problem!” Izuku fretted. “I just need to find something on a backwater planet that would be valuable to a highly advanced alien race that far surpasses anything I could offer-”

“Oh no, you’ll likely be accepted because of tradition, but there’s a bit of a stigma with presenting a sub-standard gift. Not the best way to make a good impression to a community.”

“So what kind of gift should I bring? What even can I bring?”

“Usually, Quarians returning from their pilgrimages bring information about the Geth. But since you have now way to access them and that would be too dangerous anyways, we’ll have to default to resources. A patch to maintain hull integrity requires raw materials we just don’t have, so metals are on the list. Food also works, but considering our immune systems, you might not have anything compatible with our diets.”

“Wait, does that mean I won’t be able to eat what you have on your ship?’

“Nah, you can eat our food. It’s mostly bio-engineered celery to provide maximum nutritional intake, so it'll be compatible with your system.”

“Bio-engineered... What if I brought in seeds for testing? Maybe your scientists would be able to make use of the genetic codes?”

“That’ll work.”

---

“And that’s the last one.” A man in a bright yellow vest that marked him as a warehouse hauler declared, wiping the sweat off his brow. His fellow workers gave a muted cheer before working to secure the load inside the truck.

“So, any bets on what this shipment is for?” One worker called out, notepad poised dramatically.

“Oil rig.”One replied.

“I bet you it’s for an upcoming construction company.”

“I kinda want to say it’s for some new high-tech machine that some scientists came up with in their basement.” Another theorized.

“Aliens gotta have repairs for their ships.”

A smattering of groans rose up at the last guess proposed by a bald man with a thick pair of goggles resting over his eyes.

“There is no way it’s that.”

“I’m telling you man, it’s gotta be aliens.”

“Yamachi.” A man with a thick pair of hairy arms decided to indulge his coworker. “Why on God’s green Earth would aliens be ordering raw steel components?”

“I just said, they need the raw materials to repair their ships.”

“Okay. First of all, aliens don’t exist.”

“That’s where you’re wrong-”

“And secondly, even if they did exist, why come to Earth for resources?” The man spread his gorilla arms wide. “Couldn’t they just mine it off Neptune themselves?” He mocked lightly.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Neptune is mostly made out of ice. If they were to mine a planet, it would be Mars.”

“So why don’t they do that?”

“Because then we’d see them.” Yamachi nodded sagely. “People at NASA still got telescopes pointed at space, don't they? Much safer and easier to come down to Earth and trick us into giving them what they need to build their own spaceships than to get caught hanging around Mars.”

“NASA? That old relic?” One worker with shark teeth asked disbelievingly. “The government was already cutting its funding before quirks, now it’s just a club for dreamers and star-gazers with their heads in the clouds and nothing planted on the firm ground.”

“I dunno about that.” The driver protested, having been drawn out of the vehicle by the discussion. “They’ve got some nice night-sky photographs.”

“Okay, I’ll give you that. The pictures are really nice.” The worker conceded. “But there’s been no sign of alien life for hundreds of years, and there isn’t going to be any now.”

“Still got eyes on the sky for when the aliens come around.”

“There are, no, aliens, Yamachi, just drop it already. We’re the only ones in this universe.”

“Listen though, I’ve been doing some studying, like those college students.”

“You never went to college a day in your life.”

“But my nephew, smart kid he is, gets his brains from my side of the family, HE’S in college so I knows what it’s like cause he tells me what’s happening in those big buildings-”

“Get on with it already.”

“So I do some studying and I find out that the stuff needed to build a spaceship? It’s exactly what we’re moving right now.” Yamachi finished proudly, gesturing at the secured cargo to a chorus of protests.

“Oh come off it.”

“There’s no way.”

“Alright, alright, I grabbed the order form so we could settle this once and for all.” The surveyor rejoined the group with a clipboard in his hands. “You’re all wrong. Some kid’s building an outpost for a nature reserve down at Endor Forest for a volunteer project.”

“Say, he wouldn’t happen to be part of that Scouting organization would he? My sister was looking into having her boys join up?”

“I don’t think they have scouting in Japan Sako...”

---

“Okay, so that’s 150 kilos of seeds packaged individually by type, 2,000 kilos soil, and 5,000 kilos of raw steel composites and other metals.” Izuku counted off, going down his list. “I don’t know if I should be worried or relieved at how easy it was to get ahold of all those resources with a simple cover story of building a nature outpost. It kinda makes me feel bad about all the donations the project’s been receiving.”

“Eh, it’s for a good cause anyways and besides, what’s the worst that could be done with that kind of shopping list?”

“Well if you think about it-”

-some time later-

“-so really there’s quite a lot aside from the alleged nature outpost story that we’re using as cover or the actual truth of repairing alien ships and providing new potential sustainable food sources.”

“...”

“Ah, Tali?”

“Sorry, had to write all your ideas down. Have I ever told you how much I love your big, beautiful, mind Izuku? I never would have thought of using seeds as ammunition, it really would be perfect for sneaking past the metal detectors in customs.”

“Eh!?!”

---

“Alright Izuku, I’ve got a longer shift tonight so I’ll be back late.” Inko bustled around the house quickly, making sure everything was in place. “There’s katsudon in the fridge for dinner, just warm it up for one minute, thirty seconds, and it should be ready.”

“I know Mom.”

“I know you do.” Inko stopped by her baby to give him a kiss on the forehead before leaving, only to find a set of arms wrapped around her. “Izuku?”

“I love you Mom.”

Inko relaxed at that, her boy was so good to her. “I love you too Izuku.” She breathed, then stepped out of her son’s embrace. “I’ll be back by 11:30, but call me if there’s an emergency.” She stepped into her shoes and hurried out the door. “I love you always dear! Goodbye!”

“Goodbye Mom.”

Had Inko Midoriya not been late to her train, her mind distracted by other things, she may have noticed something off about her son, might have stayed a bit longer and stumbled across what her boy was planning to do.

But this was not that universe.

---

“I can’t believe the board just shut us down like that!” David Shield complained as he stormed down the hall, his friend and assistant Sam trailing behind him. “Security concerns- don’t they realize how revolutionary our device could be!?!”

“Why don’t you explain that to the board then?” Sam proposed, similarly invested. “Surely if we fought them on the issue they would see how important this is?”

At his friend's words David stopped and sighed defeatedly. “We can’t Sam. The whole project’s already under lock and key.” He explained. “There’s no getting it back now. Guess the world just wasn’t ready for that kind of technology yet.”

Sam paused at the saddened words of his friend. Was David, resident genius and part-time sidekick to All Might himself, really just going to give up without a fight?

“I don’t think the world ever is ready for change David. Why should we ask it for permission?”

“What do you mean by that?” David asked, turning to him quizzically.

Sam thought for a moment, a crazy idea forming in his head.

“David, we’re friends right?”

“I mean, yeah? Have been for a while.”

“What if there was a way to get the device back in our hands?” Sam proposed carefully. “A way for us to truly put it to good use?”

“Sam, what are you talking about? The board’s already locked down everything, we’re not getting it back.”

“Not legally...”

There was a moment of silence, tension thick enough to cut with scissors.

“Sam-” David started.

A screeching alarm sounded, making the both of them jump, the hall they were in illuminated in red by the emergency lights that were now flashing in warning.

RED ALERT - RED ALERT - CYBER SECURITY COMPROMISED

David turned to his friend. “Sam, please tell me that wasn’t you!” He shouted over the alarm.

Sam for his part was utterly baffled. “I swear, I had nothing to do with this!” He cried, putting his hands up in surrender.

“You were just talking about stealing classified files-” David started to accuse before his face paled with a realization. “The files!” In a streak of white, he dashed off, Sam chasing after him. The two were uncontested as David rushed back to his personal quarters, tearing through the room in his rush.

“Havetocheck-havetocheck-havetocheck-” He muttered, swiping some papers of the desk and accessing his personal computer. Flicking through the system, he found what he was looking for and impossibly paled even further.

“Oh my God.”

“Dave? Dave, what's happening?” Sam huffed, winded and worried for his friend. “Talk to me David!”

“Some madman actually broke through I-Island security.”

“Okay,” That was crazy, but still manageable. “how far did they get? Was it enough to reach the hiring threshold?” It was an old practice, and a bit of an odd one in Sam’s mind, but hackers that displayed enough proficiency were put on a hiring list by the island for programming projects as a way to gain experienced workers and bright minds.

“You don’t understand Sam, this is my personal browser.” David explained like he was announcing the death of a loved one. “If they got in here, how much of the rest of the Island were they able to reach?”

Sam’s face lost all color as he understood the weight of what just happened.

“Oh my God.”

---

99.8%... 100%

Download Complete

Izuku took a shuddering breath. He had done it. I-island security was some of the toughest ever, comparable to the maximum-security prison Tartarus, and he had just broken through it and taken everything he could get his hands on.

It wasn’t especially necessary, but with Tali talking about the other gifts brought in by Quarians rejoining the fleet, Izuku felt it best to bring as much as he could with him to the table. And what better than to present the findings of an island purely devoted to scientific research for over a hundred years?

Now all that was left was meeting Tali at the rendezvous.

With the best I-island had to offer downloaded onto his omni-tool, Izuku shouldered his pack and marched into the woods where he had first met Tali all those years ago. His hacking of I-island had been horrendously sloppy, primarily using a lot of brute force for a lack of time and resources, and it was only a matter of time before they traced it back to him and a hit-squad was deployed to secure him, whether that meant taking him back to the island or a prison cell where he could do no harm or swiftly killing him and making it look like an accident.

Izuku involuntarily shuddered at the thought, he was a criminal now, a super criminal. Oh my goodness there would be Heroes coming after him, one’s who likely thought he was some kind of dangerous villain!

It was kinda exciting for some reason, maybe if he stayed and asked nicely he could get their autographs? Disenchanted with this world he may be, but Heroes were still really cool.

‘Focus Izuku.’ He thought, stepping past a tree, part of a well-worn route only he knew of. ‘You need to meet up with Tali.’

And that might be the other reason his heart felt like it was trying to punch its way out of his chest. Izuku had long come to terms with his departure, but meeting Tali face-to-face? They hadn’t seen each other in years! What if- what if she saw him and realized just how little he had to offer? How much of a drain on her people he would be. What if she realized he wasn’t worth it?

Too late for him to back out now. Either she took him as was, flaws and all, or his crimes would catch up to him. The clearing where he’d stashed away everything in preparation for this moment came into view and he pushed his way forward.

Tali wasn’t there, not yet, so Izuku settled down to wait, minutes passing as he tried not to let his nerves overwhelm him.

...

But was he sure he packed everything? Maybe he should check again, just to be sure? Izuku had just stood up and moved to the nearest crate lining the edges of the clearing when a rhythmic whum whum whum alerted him to a new arrival.

Izuku spun around and saw a ship, steel gray and alien. Its 21 meter body comprised of a horizontal ring with a corridor running through the center. Two guns ran along the sides, and a cockpit extended from the front of the ship.

An Iridian class Interceptor, Izuku recalled, having had schematics for what felt like every possible ship in the galaxy drilled into his head from long lessons of spacecraft. It landed and a panel on the side hissed open, a ramp extending down. And waiting at the top to greet him was Tali.

She had grown taller since they had last met. That fact stood out to him more than anything. Her outfit was quite similar to before, a skinny but elegant form covered by fabric with spiraling designs woven in, pieces of metal covering vital parts of her body, a smooth helmet that hid her face, further covered by a hood made of fabric.

It was at this moment that Izuku remembered that Tali was a girl. A very shapely and attractive girl whose curves were only enhanced by the coverings she wore.

“H-hi Tali...”

“Hey Izuku...”

“It’s- ah, it’s nice to see you again f-f-face-to-face?” Izuku stuttered out. ‘Why did that sound like a question!?!’ He screeched in his head.

“Why did that sound like a question?” ‘Oh no! She thought it was stupid too!’

Wait. No! He could save this!

“S-sorry!” Izuku apologized. “I’m just, um, just a bit nervous. I mean, this is the first time we’ve seen each other in ten years and I know I’m kinda plain looking and not much to look at but I was hoping to make a good impression and now I can’t help but feel like I’ve ruined everything and you won’t want to bring me with you anymore cause I’m really not worth it and-”

A gloved hand cupped the side of his face, the contact electrifying Izuku and startling him out of his rambling as he realized Tali had gotten close to him while he was distracted. Her vizor gleamed in the low light and he found himself staring at the glowing eyes hidden behind it.

“It’s good to see you too Izuku.” Tali whispered comfortingly and Izuku found himself burrowing into the hand for comfort.

“Th-thanks.” He managed to mumble, thoroughly embarrassed over his outburst.

“Of course.” She tilted her head in kind amusement. “Now! I believe you have some gifts for the Rayya to be loaded?”

“Right!”

-A bit of hauling later-

“And that-” Izuku panted as they secured the final crate. “-is the last of it.”

“Good.” Tali nodded, pleased. “Now there’s just one last thing to take care of.”

“What’s that?”

“First of all, put this on.” A clump of fabric and stiff material was thrown into Izuku’s arms as he was pushed behind a curtain with a yelp. “Trust me, you’ll need it.”

Upon closer inspection, the material in his hands was a suit similar to Tali’s, but a dark green in color rather than Tali's purples. “Oh wow, this is so cool.” Izuku couldn’t help but utter.

“Don’t forget to take off all your clothes before putting it on.” Tali called from beyond the curtain.

“Eh!?!”

“Kailee tried it once and got a serious rash from the chafing, not worth it at all, so be sure to completely strip!”

‘Oh-my-goodness-I'm-about-to-take-off-my-clothes-in-front-of-a-girl!’ Izuku fretted.

“It- It’s not like that! There’s a curtain between us for privacy!”

“Sorry!” ‘I didn’t mean to say that out loud!’

“It’s fine! It’s just-” Izuku heard Tali sigh. “In my excitement, I may have forgotten one thing. It’s not really that important, all things considered, but it could get us into trouble if we’re caught.”

“What! Tali, what do you mean by that!?”

Tali’s voice chuckled a bit sheepishly.

“So, technically, it’s considered ‘extremely illegal’ to bring sapients who have yet to discover the mass relays and space travel into the greater galaxy.” Tali spoke with an embarrassed twinge to her voice as she rubbed the back of her neck. “I shouldn’t have even been keeping contact with you for all these years, and that’s not mentioning the other humans that are already here and only just finished their war with the Turians a little over thirty years ago.”

Izuku wasn’t sure what to feel about that. On one hand, he could have gotten his only friend into so much trouble and was only making it worse for her. On the other hand though, what did it say about Tali that she was willing to go through all that, just for him.

“But it’s okay!” Tali exclaimed, rambling nervously as she waved her hands in front of her. “We can just put you in an enviro-suit slightly modified to fit you and no one will look close enough to tell the difference! Quarian and Human bodies are similar enough in shape that no one will know. It’s foolproof!”

Somehow, Izuku was not entirely reassured. But he wasn’t the spacefaring alien who had lived her entire life in the cosmos so what did he know?

---

“After time adrift among open stars, amid tides of light and through shoals of dust, you have returned to where your ancestors began.” Captain Rael’Zorah spoke solemnly. “Welcome home, Midoriya’zuku nar Rayya.”

Izuku inwardly heaved a sigh of relief. Tali was right as always, everything had gone without a hitch.

-Meanwhile, back on Earth-

“I AM HERE!!! TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT YOUR SON MS. MIDORIYA!!!”

“A-A-A-ALL MIGHT!?!”

Thump.

“Well! That certainly could have gone better!”

“A-apologies, Principal Nedzu.”

Chapter Text

“IZUKU!!!” Midoriya Inko wailed as she flew through the door to her apartment, twin spouts of water gushing from her eyes.

Tsukashi Naomasa could only stand in bewildered shock. If you had asked him this morning what his day would have been like, he would have said something about dealing with traffic to his work, trying and failing to bribe the intern to tell him where they got their coffee, and going over a slow case to see if the team had missed any details, maybe help out with interrogating a D-list Villain if things got spicy. A pretty quiet day honestly.

What he was NOT expecting was to get a call from his friend Yagi, not for pleasure but full business at a level of seriousness that reminded him uncomfortably of seven years ago, needing his services in full capacity to investigate the theft of all of I-Island’s intellectual property.

All Might himself had been called by a panicking David Shield, one of the most famous inventors in the world, who had told him of the disaster and how the team on I-Island had tracked the theft to  Musutafu, Japan, just a short distance from UA where All Might had taken a teaching position in preparation for his retirement. All Might had been going over a few last-minute paperwork adjustments with Nedzu when he’d received the call and the Principal had jumped on the opportunity to be involved. Shield had apparently been too flustered to care and had told them everything he could about the culprit, which Nedzu had immediately tracked down.

The suspect: Midoriya Izuku, a sixteen year old quirkless boy fresh out of junior high, not a single mark on his name in the police database.

It was obviously a cover-up, the boy couldn’t have possibly done it and was clearly meant to take the fall, but the trail led to him and it was followed like bloodhounds on the warpath.

While Tsukashi wasn’t part of the team to investigate the boy, he was joining All Might who was leading the investigation on the boy’s mother and only living relative, Midoriya Inko, in addition to protecting her from whatever malignant forces may be involved with her son and wish to disrupt the investigation. Nedzu had somehow weaseled his way into their group and so it was the three of them that greeted Midoriya at the hospital where she worked.

Only for the woman to immediately faint after All Might barged in with the power and subtlety of a runaway locomotive.

They had moved her to a more private location for her to wake up only to discover that she knew absolutely nothing about her son’s currently wanted status, and upon gently -Gently Yagi!- informing her she had entered a blind panic and, before he knew it, he was standing outside the Midoriya apartment dazedly watching as Midorya tore through her home like a woman possessed screaming for her baby.

They hadn’t even informed her of the full scope of the issue! Just that her son was missing after being involved in a theft of some important assets and they were trying to find him.

Naomasa would like to state for the record, again, that this is not what he had seen himself doing today.

“IZUKU MY BABYYYYYYYY!!!” Midoriya screamed again as a typhoon of tears, floating objects, and the screams of a banshee rocketed towards the open door and, consequently, Naomasa himself.

“NOW HOLD ON THERE MS. MIDORIYA!” All Might reached over and intercepted Midoriya, saving Naomasa from death by being run over by a hysterical mother. “I know you want to go looking for your son more than anything but we have people already looking for him. Rest assured, we will find your boy.”

Truth.

“In the meantime, perhaps you would care to take a seat?” Nedzu invited. “I’m sure some chamomile tea would do wonders to help settle your nerves.” Truth. He held out a steaming cup invitingly. Where had he even gotten the tea and had the time to prepare it?

“B-b-b-b-bu-bu-bu-but-but-” Midoriya stammered incoherently, tears still leaking from her eyes as All Might gently guided her to the couch to sit down.

“It will all be fine.” Lie. Nedzu assured her, handing the cup over to her as she automatically accepted it in her trembling hands and took a sip.

“I just don’t understand.” Truth. Midoriya whispered. “How could Izuku possibly be involved in something so dangerous? He has a bright future in engineering, why would he get tangled up in this?”

“Is there anywhere we could begin looking to find out?” Naomasa questioned gently. “Emails, texts, downloaded files on his computer?”

“His clock.” Midoriya realized. “His clock might have seen something!” Truth? And she was back up again and racing to an ajar door with an All Might placard that had “Izuku’s Room” scrawled onto it in shaky kanji.

Midoriya Izuku’s room was oddly tidy. Boxes with neat labeled identifying what their contents were had been stacked up in the corner, the walls were bare, the bed was unmade, sheets and blanket folded neatly, the whole room was clean and dusted, it was practically empty.

It reminded Naomasa of the few runaway cases he’d been on. This level of care though? It spoke of deliberate preparation.

The only item not packed was an All Might alarm clock sitting on the nightstand. It was that item to which Midoriya made a beeline too.

“Clock Might?” Midoriya called out.

Naomasa was confused. Clock Might? What kind of clock would tell them anything about what they needed to know other than the time?

“I AM HERE!” What?! A see-through yellow hologram of All Might appeared above the alarm clock in his classic hero pose. “As a projection! What can I help you with Ms. Midoriya?” What on Earth! Naomasa had no idea Yagi’s clocks could do that! It even spoke like him, American habits and all!

He looked over at All Might. ‘Did you know they could do that?’ He asked with a raise of his eyebrow, only to receive a baffled look and a shake of All Might’s head. So it was a modified clock, likely made by the same villain that had dragged the boy into this mess.

“Where’s Izuku.” Midoriya demanded, a bit of unexpected steel creeping into her voice.

“He’s perfectly fine Ms. Midoriya, no need to worry about him!” Clock Might waved her concerns away. “In fact-” He cut off any protests Midoriya might have made. “-he can tell you that for himself!” The hologram cut away, only to be replaced by a green hologram of a nervous looking boy with bushy hair.

“Izuku?” Midoriya cried. “Izuku, baby, where are you?”

“Hey mom.” It spoke, somehow aligned to look Midoriya in the eyes. “You’re back early from your shift, sorry about that. It’s my fault really. I uh, I may have taken some things from I-Island that they weren’t too happy about.” It was unfortunate Naomasa’s quirk didn’t work on recordings, it really would have been helpful in this case. The projection shuffled a bit, then looked up at the occupants of the room, somehow meeting each of their gazes perfectly.

“Officers, Heroes.” It nodded its head at each of them before continuing. “And to anyone else seeing this, I want to make it clear beyond a doubt that my mom had nothing to do with my crimes. I hacked into I-Island. I had no assistance, nobody knew what I was planning, my actions were of my own free will.”

What?

---

“And this is only one of how many designs you’ve acquired?” Captain Rael’Zorah asked with an inquisitive head tilt.

“I’m afraid I haven’t had the time to count them all Captain.” Izuku apologized, his voice modified by the vocoder that all Quarian helmets had. “It was a bit of a rush job getting the designs and I had to leave pretty much immediately to avoid getting caught.”

“Yes, treason does often warrant swift judgment like that.” Captain Zorah muttered absentmindedly, stroking the “chin” of his helmet as he took a closer look at the design.

Wait. What?

“Treason!?” Izuku gasped.

“You did illegally acquire your native planet’s most advanced technology and deliver it to a foreign interstellar nation Midoriya.” The Captain explained dryly. “While the Quarian people have no quarrel with the Humans, ‘quirked’ or recognized by the citadel, I highly doubt your actions will be seen as anything less than treasonous by those who were once your people.”

“Oh.” Izuku realized a weight to his actions he hadn’t considered, but he had already essentially turned his back on humanity, treason was just a formality at this point. “I- I hadn’t really thought about it like that I guess.”

“Make no mistake Midoriya’Zuku nar Rayya, your actions have been a great boon to the Flotilla, and we cannot thank you enough for them.” Captain Zorah laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. The Quarians were quite the tactile people, Izuku was beginning to notice, and platonic touches like this were common among them, something that he had some difficulty adjusting to after only experiencing pain from another’s -Kacchan’s- touch for so long. “It does not matter what the Quirked Humans think, they cannot reach you here, and I swear to you as Captain of this vessel that no one outside of you, myself, and Tali will know of your human genetics, with possible exception of the medic, or how exactly you found your way to us.”

“You- you mean that?” Izuku stuttered disbelievingly.

“But of course.” The Captain scoffed as if it were that easy, as if he hadn’t just told Izuku that not only had he done something good and helpful, but that the Captain was willing and already had taken steps to protect him. “As far as everyone else is concerned; you were the lovechild of a Quarian on her Pilgrimage and a father you never knew. She kept you from the Flotilla for reasons unknown, either a misguided sense of shame or a desire for you to live a life outside of the Migrant Fleet. By pure chance, a scouting mission brought you and Tali together and you stayed in contact over the years. As for your reasons for joining us, it is an unfortunate reality that our people are looked down on by many of the other species in the galaxy and you found yourself facing similar discrimination. Having learned about our culture from Tali, you wished to join us and brought a gift to present to the Captain of the vessel, that is, myself. It just so happened that these designs you found came from a long forgotten cache filled with recordings from various scientists of a now dead species that you had the good fortune to stumble upon.”

That was actually incredibly close to the truth Midoriya realized, and he mentioned this to the Captain.

“The best lies are based on a grain of truth.” Captain Zorah explained. “Tali already knows the story, I expect you and her to practice it together until it comes to you naturally. Understood?”

“Yes Captain!”

---

“We were able to track him through the woods until reaching a clearing where all signs of the target vanished.” The report came through the woman’s private line. Though how private was now in question since “The Breach” as those in the know referred to it. The important woman had been forced to throw away his old personal phone and acquire a new one completely disconnected from the Island to even have a hope of this conversation remaining secret from the Villain they were hunting. “The only things we could find were missing crates of construction materials and tracks that resembled the landing gear of an unknown aircraft

“Construction materials?” She queried.

“The site was reported to be under development for a nature outpost, allegedly some service project the target was heading.” The operative on the other end reported dutifully. “The records show that the project was started three months ago and received donations of soil, seeds, and steel composites for construction, all missing.

Clearly the target was preparing to use the clearing as a drop point in advance. But why those materials? “And the Aircraft’s heading?”

“We don’t know sir. Scans picked up nothing. Likely interference from the same technopath quirk that was able to breach I-Island’s defenses so thoroughly.”

She grimaced. Like she needed the reminder that they were dealing with the most powerful technopathy quirk ever seen to date and it was being used for something as unproductive as villainy. “What of the forensics team?”

“Nothing on their end either. The area was scrubbed with an unknown element that interfered with their quirks. Any readings they get are too muddied to make out.”

An unknown element that interfered with quirks? Unacceptable.

“Find me everything on the boy.” She ordered. “I want his quirk, his grades, his contacts, his purchases, his medical reports, his habits, his internet history, his ancestry, his shoe size. I want to know Izuku Midoriya better than his own mother.”

“Yes sir.” The reply was prompt and without hesitation, good man.

---

*Achoo* Izuku sneezed. Then he realized that he was wearing a helmet. ‘Ah, nooo. Not again.’

“Do you need some immuno-boosters?” Keenah, the pilot of the ship Izuku was performing some maintenance on, asked. “We’ve got a few in the medical hold, I’m sure Meemmo could spare one or two.”

“I’m fine.” Izuku waved off the other’s concern. “There’s no need to waste important medical supplies on me.” And it was true. Quarians had much weaker immune systems than others, having to stay inside their insulated and sterilized suits to avoid getting sick. What was a mundane cold for Izuku could be life-threatening for them.

“If you’re sure... Even so, keep an eye on your vitals.” Keenah advised. “Don’t hesitate to report to medical the moment they start to drop.”

“R-right, sorry.” Izuku apologized, chastised. He’d forgotten about how his Omni-tool kept track of his vitals, unused to the full capabilities of the holographic glove.

There had been an adjustment period in general to his new outfit. It wasn’t just getting used to wearing a form fitting bodysuit, though the fabrics and armor pieces helped him with some of the modesty concerns.

Quarians had two fingers and a thumb on each hand and two toes on their feet. As such, Izuku had fit two of his own fingers in each of the holes in his gloves, giving the appearance of ordinary hands. The same process had been replicated with his feet, and some additional pads and such created an optical illusion that his legs were bowed back like a regular Quarian. It had taken Izuku some time to get used to the arrangement, but he had adapted quickly and was soon using his fingers with just as much dexterity as before.

The helmet he wore was another adjustment. It had never truly occurred to him before just how often he had touched his face until he was no longer able to. It was impossible to wipe his eyes whenever they teared up or clear his face of snot whenever he sneezed, just like right now.

Fortunately, the enviro-suit came with several built-in hygiene systems to take care of those things, adjusted to fit his unique biology, for which finding that out had required an awkward conversation with Tali when he’d really needed to pee after holding it in for so long, and it took a few taps on his suit controls to have his face cleared and cleaned.

Tali had even gone the extra mile with his vizor and programmed in some highlights that followed his eyes, giving the appearance to anyone outside the green tinted material that he possessed the normal glowing eyes of the Quarian. She and the Captain had certainly thought of everything to help with the disguise.

Though as the days passed, it started to feel less and less like he had ever been anything else.

---

“Nedzu is going to burn that school to the ground.” Naomasa declared with the certainty of a man saying the sun would rise.

The detective had been tasked with investigating Young Midoriya’s school for any leads. Ask a few questions to the boy’s friends, see if the teachers had noticed anything that could help them with the investigation. Yagi had been forbidden from accompanying his friend as All Might, so the two were going over what the detective had found in a private booth of a caffe so Yagi could report to David who would report to his superiors at I-Island who would report to the world governments who would then report to All Might as the number one hero of Japan and a friend of David asking for help with certain parts of the case, usually bodyguard duty for Ms. Midoriya who was now under protective custody.

Yagi wasn’t sure where exactly Nedzu had fit into this tangled mess, but he suspected the Principal had a hand, or paw rather, in relocating Ms. Midoriya and her entire apartment onto UA and getting All Might assigned to look after the poor woman.

The man himself admittedly spluttered a bit of his tea at his friend’s statement. “Don’t you think that’s a bit of an exaggeration? I know the principal has some tendencies, but surely he wouldn’t go that far with a junior high.”

Naomasa looked at him over his coffee with a look that said ‘Really?’ “Yagi, I’m eighty percent sure the principal has sympathies with the meta-liberation army and hired his teachers accordingly.”

“Ah, my mistake.” Yagi apologized. “I do hope he gives them enough time to evacuate the building this time. The meta-liberation army though? I thought that line of thinking had been stomped out with Destro.”

“If only.” Naomasa grouched. “The file they had on Midoriya was full of black marks and notes from teachers about bad behavior. ‘Starting fights’ ‘lying for attention’ ‘disrupting classes’ all rang false when I followed up with a few questions. I’m half convinced they lied on the kid's transcript because he’s quirkless.”

“I see.” Yagi murmured. He remembered school when he was young and quirkless, looked down on for his weakness.

He also remembered the boy who had caught him at a bad time, when he was no longer able to keep up the hero act for the day and was bitter for it. Even so, the young man had the courage, or the hope, to ask him if a quirkless person could be a hero.

Yagi remembered saying no, telling the boy that heroism was dangerous, revealing a peek behind the curtain that was the glamor of heroics and showing that all was not sunshine and catchy phrases. Heroes put their lives on the line every day, it was a dangerous profession with some of the highest casualties that could not be avoided even with incredible powers. How could someone without power hope to even survive? He’d told the boy that dreams were good, but you also had to be realistic, and suggested alternative and fine professions to help others that were so often overlooked in favor of heroics.

There was no way to be a quirkless hero, Yagi had already tried. If it wasn’t for his mentor finding him and deeming him worthy of her power, he never would be the hero that he is today.

And then the boy had made him eat his words not even an hour later, had acted more heroic than actual pros on the scene and inspired Yagi in turn. It was enough for him to push himself just a bit more to save both boys trapped by the sludge villain and for a moment, Yagi felt that One for All was reaching out to the boy.

Yagi had wanted to speak to the boy afterwards, both to apologize for his harsh words, true as they may be, earlier and perhaps offer up something more.

Unfortunately he had run out of time before he could find young Midoriya and the chance had been lost.

‘Even so.’ Yagi wondered. ‘In another life perhaps, would he have been my successor?’

“Did the boy not have any friends? Acquaintances at least?” He pleaded.

“None.” Naomasa sighed. “Closest I got was a blonde kid with an attitude problem that shouted about how ‘the nerd always had his head stuck in space it’s no wonder he lost it.’ From what I could tell they knew each other but certainly weren't friends considering the kid kept calling Midoriya ‘Deku’ instead of his actual name.”

“How rude.”

“Quite.”

“So the boy had no friends, no one to confide in, no one to ask for help?”

“It’s worse than that Yagi. I think they actively hurt him.” His friend confessed.

Yagi stiffened. “What?”

“Think about it.” The detective explained. “Black marks, consistently low grades, a school that gives the impression of a quirk supremacist terrorist group that keeps triggering my own quirk, active bullying of students with ’weak’ quirks, it doesn’t paint a pretty picture no matter what angle you look at it.”

“He wanted to escape.” Yagi murmured quietly.

“Either that, or it made him vulnerable to those who would use him.”

---

“What’s this?” Izuku asked as Tali led him to the general quarters of the ship, hands clasped as she dragged him along. Asking what her plans were was the only thing preventing him from falling into a stuttering mess at the action of touching a girl, let alone holding their hand. Again.

Knowing Tali though, it was just as likely that her plans would leave him a blushing mess anyways no matter what he did.

“Tonight-” Tali declared with grave solemnity as she pulled him after her and gestured to the bedroom that they just stepped in with a grand gesture. “-is movie night!”

“Hey Tali. Hey Midoriya.” Saeno, the occupant of the room, waved at them from her lounging position.

“Eh?” Izuku looked around the room. Stacked against one wall were a plethora of blankets and cushions he recognized from elsewhere in the ship, some of the cushions clearly looted from the pilot seats. In front of the pile was a projector that beamed a currently blank image on the opposite wall of the cushions. “Movie night?”

“Don’t tell me you don’t know what a movie night is!” Tali gasped. “It’s a wonderful occasion when friends gather together with blankets and pillows and occasionally junk food and stay up all night watching movies together. We actually got some Turian chocolate this time! A true movie night happens when you’ve watched the movie so often that you can quote the whole thing from memory and start acting along the characters-”

“I- I know what a movie night is!” Izuku defended himself. “I just... haven’t been to one in a while.” He looked to the side awkwardly.

“Oh...” Tali wilted a bit at the reminder of Izuku’s past.

“Well then you're in for a treat.” Saeno broke the quiet moment. “We’re watching Tali’s favorite, Fleet and Flotilla. She always sings along, it’s terrible.”

“Fleet and Flotilla is a masterpiece of art!” Tali turned to point at Saeno with a jokingly indignant finger. “And as the Captain’s daughter I will not hear any slander against it! And my singing isn't terrible.” She petulantly crossed her arms. “I just had a sore throat.”

“You had a sore throat every time you sang ‘I was lost without you?’” Saeno shook her head mockingly. “Talk about bad luck.”

“You take that back!” Tali pounced on her friend and the two dissolved into a tangled mess of pillows, blankets, and people fighting for dominance. Somehow Izuku was dragged into the conflict and within minutes he was tangled up with Tali, Saeno somehow escaping the snare of blankets, as they watched a movie projected on the wall. The movie was cheesy, Tali’s singing was awful, and he had a cramp by the thirty-minute mark.

He loved and cherished every moment.

---

“What do you mean nothing’s come up! Surely the underground has been reacting! Something like this would make waves!”

“The only waves being made are from all the government heads running around like chickens with their heads cut off and being completely useless not helping with the actual problem!”

Everything was in chaos and Nedzu delighted in every moment.

Was it bad that someone had broken through I-Islands cybersecurity and stolen all of their designs? Absolutely! But this was also an opportunity to learn and grow from the experience, just like when his students failed an exam or had a flaw pointed out to them. Now if only the humans could realize the chance for what it was and adapt accordingly.

“Nobody in their right mind would keep a package that hot for so long. He must have had a buyer ready, who was he in contact with!”

“There are no contacts! No leads! His internet history is completely empty! He’s completely vanished off the face of the planet and we have been strung along this entire time!”

Instead he got this. How unfortunate, none of HIS students would be allowed to graduate with that kind of attitude.

“The boy is inconsequential. Whoever is behind him is our target!”

“On the contrary esteemed gentlemen.” Nadzu piped up. “I do believe we are giving Midoriya Izuku far too little credit.”

Everyone in the room paused and looked at him.

“What, pray tell, gave you that impression?” “One quirkless middle-schooler against the greatest minds of the generation? It’s impossible.”

“Why the boy’s notebooks of course!” Nedzu cheerfully held one up to demonstrate. Physical props were always good for catching attention and helping visual learners. “I’ve found them to be quite informative, not just on the boy’s psychology.” There was a lot you could learn about a person from their notes, and Midoriya had some of the most fascinating ones Nedzu had ever read.

“You had a key piece of evidence this whole time! That is overstepping, even for you principal!”

“Regardless of how I acquired them.” Nedzu cut off the accusations before they could gain traction. “They reveal much about Midoriya. That he is far more intelligent than his school, or anybody realized. That he is observant, determined, and an exceptionally quick learner. I believe it is quite possible that he could have learned programming and hacked into I-Island with proper motivation.”

“He has notes on the attack?”

“Unfortunately, the notebooks only date up to ten months ago.” Nedzu mourned. “Anything after that was burned.”

“He burned them!?!”

Ah, yes. That would rankle the scientists in the room regardless of how much I-Island hoarded their own information jealousy. “I am afraid so. The only surviving piece from these past ten months is the Virtual Intelligence the boy built into his alarm clock.”

“Wait-wait-wait-wait. A Virtual intelligence? You mean like... AI?”

“I do not mean Artificial Intelligence capable of growing and altering its own programming.” Nedzu lectured. “I mean a Virtual Intelligence capable of performing simple tasks like internet searches or managing electronics as ordered by its creator. That is not to say it isn’t advanced, I firmly believe it to be capable of running UA, Tartarus, and I-Island on its own, all at the same time.”

There was a moment of stunned silence, then-

“You mean to say he fit all that into an alarm clock?”

“Indeed! With that in mind, I took the liberty of investigating his belongings for any other wonders, of which I have one I believe will quite literally change society as we know it! If you will draw your attention to the file I have just sent you.” Nedzu gestured to them and, as they began reading, could barely resist the urge to cackle.

It took them all a moment to realize what they were reading, but when they did there were scoffs at first, then questioning looks,then double-takes, then frantic reading. It was after a bit that one of the men gasped and sat back. “This is... this is...”

“The clearing in which Midoriya Izuku made his escape was reported to have been ‘scrubbed with an unknown element that interfered with quirks. Any readings [from the forensic quirks] too muddied to make out.’” Nedzu quoted. “Impossible for an ordinary junior high-schooler, but for a genius capable of programming a VI into their alarm clock and not only discovered the nature of quirks but identified the element responsible when they were twelve?” He paused for effect. “Not quite as impossible as before.”

Dead silence as everyone struggled to come to terms with what Nedzu had revealed.

The moment was interrupted by the ringing of a cell phone.

One of the scientists -David Shield, how scandalous!- flushed as he fished out his phone from his pocket. “Sorry, it’s my daughter, I told her to call me if there’s an emergency.” He answered, not looking at the multiple incredulous stares directed his way. “Melissa? Are you okay?”

“!”

“WHAT!” Shield sat bolt upright. “How did the media find out!?!”

Oh dear.

---

“I don’t think I ever got to thank you.”

“Hm?” Tali tilted her head at him in confusion. Despite the tinted visors rendering all facial ques moot, the blank helmets could still prove to be quite expressive.

“For bringing to the fleet.” Izuku rubbed the back of his helmet nervously, a habit he’d never gotten rid of. “I wanted to thank you for that.”

The two of them were alone, a rarity in the cramped ship, but it was the sleep shift for most of the crew and Izuku had taken the quiet moment to watch the stars outside the window. Tali had found him there and taken a seat next to him, the two of them enjoying the stars and each other’s company as the ship thrummed around them.

“You don’t have to thank me for that Izuku, everyone has been happy to have you aboard.”

“What about Rume?”

“Rume thought you were drifting by on me and my father's engines, you earned his respect the moment you got the farms to increase production by 14%.”

“But I wasn’t drifting by on anything! I was just trying to be helpful! And it wasn’t like I did anything special with the farms, I just had access to more resources than him!”

“You are far too easy to take advantage of.” Tali giggled. “I know that you just want to help, but not everyone works like that.”

“I know.”

“It’ll be okay, I’ll look out for you and you’ll help me when I need to steal Lere’s candies.”

“Tali!”

“What?” Her indignant reply broke the solemn atmosphere and the both laughed for a bit before Izuku sobered up.

“You mean it though? You’ll look after me?” He wondered.

“Well duh! What are friends for?” Tali asked like what she was doing for him was perfectly natural.

“I don’t want to be a burden...” He mumbled.

“You’re not a burden Izuku, you never were.” Tali reached over his shoulder and pulled him into a one-armed hug despite being smaller than him, Izuku automatically leaning into the embrace. He was getting better with the whole contact thing.

*Sigh*

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah, I was just thinking about before I joined the Flotilla. I hope everything’s okay on Earth, I might have upset a few people before I left.”

“Oh I’m sure it’s fine.”

---

QUIRKLESS JAPANESE MIDDLE-SCHOOLER STEALS I-ISLAND

Katsuki could not believe his eyes. There was no way that nerd actually-

He scanned over the article again, then again just to be sure, his blood pressure rising.

That damn Deku, he planned this! Katsuki had just gotten his acceptance to UA, kickstarting his journey to greatness AND THE NERD HAD THE NERVE TO SHOW HIM UP!

“DEEEEEEEEKUUUUUUU!!!”

Chapter Text

One year aboard the Rayya (2757 Galactic Standard Time)

Izuku had always been the kind of person who needed to take copious notes. Whether it was in class, seeing a hero at work and wanting to record everything, drawing out some new schematic he wanted to design, or just when he had an idea in general, he would pull out his trusty notebook and start scribbling away.

He had been up to sixteen notebooks before he burnt the last three and censored everything in the previous thirteen about the Quarians before leaving Earth, not wanting to bother the planet  with the knowledge of aliens and interstellar travel. Hero society wasn’t ready for that yet.

So, when he found himself in space without any paper, he understandably felt a bit lost.

He was sitting in a cozy corner of the ship currently drifting through the cosmos, surrounded by beautiful scenery and inspiration, but he couldn't take any notes without his pen and paper.

“What’s up Izuku? You look frustrated.” Tali noticed his frustration and asked him what was wrong.

"I can't take notes without my notebook," Izuku grumbled.

Tali cocked her head at that. "Why don't you just use your omni-tool?"

Izuku looked at her, confused. "What do you mean?"

"You know, record your notes on your omni-tool." Tali explained. "You can use the voice recorder or even type out your ideas on it."

Izuku's eyes widened as he realized what she meant. "It can do that?" He exclaimed.

He quickly pulled up his arm and the omni-tool flickered to life around it. Flicking through the many functions, he came across a notes function. Immediately opening it, he started playing around with his tool, recording his thoughts and ideas, feeling a surge of excitement as he realized he could still capture everything he needed to without his trusty notebook.

As he typed away, Izuku realized that this new method of note-taking wasn't so bad after all. In fact, it was even more convenient and efficient than using a notebook. He could easily organize his ideas and even go back to edit them later on.

From that day on, Izuku swore he would never be anywhere without his omni-tool. He still loved the feel of pen and paper, but he knew that he could rely on his omni-tool to capture all of his thoughts and ideas, no matter where he was.

It was at this moment that Tali had a realization. Izuku loved taking notes, entering a mumble-storm as he hurriedly jotted down anything and everything in his notebook. Now that he had found a way to record his thoughts with near unlimited storage?

“I might have just created a monster.” She admitted ruefully.

---

Two years aboard the Rayya (2758 Galactic Standard Time)

The Rayya was floating through space at a relaxed speed, its crew members strapped in and focused on their respective tasks when there was a sudden boom and the ship began to shake. An alarm blared and the lights began flashing in emergency colors.

“What’s wrong!?” Izuku cried.

“System malfunction in the engine room! We need to patch it up before the whole thing explodes and kills us all!" Captain Rael shouted at him over the wailing alarm.

The Captain barked orders to the rest of the crew as well, and everyone sprang into action. Izuku rushed to the engine room, hoping to identify the problem before it was too late.

“Wait! Don’t go in yet!” Someone tried to shout at him, but they didn’t have the time for that and Izuku was already rushing into the engine room.

As he entered the room, he hesitated a moment as he was hit by a wave of heat and smoke, but nothing else seemed to be an issue, so he forged onwards. He could hear the hum of the engines, but there was an unusual clanking sound coming from somewhere deep within the machinery, not at all like the steady vwoom-vwoom-vwoom it was supposed to be making.

Izuku pulled out his omni-tool, switching it to diagnostic, and started scanning the engine's components. He soon located the source of the problem: one of the cooling pipes had ruptured, spilling coolant everywhere and causing the engine to overheat.

With no time to waste, Izuku grabbed his tools and started working on fixing the pipe. He could feel the sweat pouring down her face as she worked feverishly to repair the damage. The ship's crew depended on the engine stabilizing, and he had to fix it quickly, knowing that one wrong move could mean the end for everyone on board.

Izuku worked tirelessly for what seemed like hours compressed into minutes, second, tightening bolts, welding broken pieces, and replacing damaged parts. He was exhausted, but refused to give up. Finally, he completed the repairs and signaled to the captain that the engines were ready to go.

As the engines roared to life, Izuku breathed a sigh of relief. The ship's systems were stabilizing, and they were back on course. He looked out the window and saw the stars streaking past them at regular speeds again. It was a beautiful sight, and it reminded him why he loved the Rayya so much.

It was only when he came out of the engine room that he realized something was off. The other members of the crew had erected a barrier, one Izuku realized was meant to contain radiation.

Oh, that’s what they had been trying to warn him about.

“I have no idea how you’re even standing considering you were just in the middle of an overheating engine leaking element zero like there was no tomorrow.” Captain Rael deadpanned before his voice started to rise in combination of anger and concern. “But you are to report to medical NOW!”

“Yes Captain!” Izuku squeaked, hurriedly being bundled up and rushed to the med-bay.

As the ship's doctor examined him, Izuku braced himself for bad news. But to his surprise, the doctor seemed puzzled by his test results. "This is strange." He muttered, looking at Izuku’s medical chart. "Your EZ levels are practically nonexistent."

Izuku's heart skipped a beat. "What does that mean?" He asked, trying to keep his voice steady but feeling a bit of hope at the diagnosis.

"It means that you weren't affected by the radiation in the engine room." The doctor replied. "In fact, it seems like you have a natural resistance to element zero."

Izuku's jaw dropped. "What? That's... not possible. How can that be?"

The doctor shrugged. "I’m not sure exactly, but I think it might have something to do with your unique biology. I’ve had it compared to the standard Citadel-recognized human genetics, and there are a number of marked differences, all originating from what I now suspect are adaptations to EZ. It's like a superpower, in a way."

Izuku was stunned. He was resistant to element zero? It was like a superpower? But he was quirkless! There was nothing special about him!

Then he recalled some notes he had taken what felt like a lifetime ago. A Meteor containing element zero landing on Earth. Humanity adapting to the new element and developing powers because of it. But he had never imagined that his body would have developed natural resistances to the powerful element!

As he left the medical bay, Izuku felt a mix of emotions. On the one hand, he was relieved that he had been able to fix the engine without putting himself in danger. On the other hand, he couldn't help but feel foolish for not wearing proper protection in the first place, as the Doctor, the Captain, Tali, and most of the rest of the crew were sure to lecture him about. Multiple times.

But as he thought about it more, Izuku realized that his natural resistance to element zero was like a quirk in a weird way. It was a rare and valuable gift that could be used to help others. And while it was an ugly thing to have discovered something like that only after he had well and truly left the quirked world behind, he found himself smiling.

Perhaps being quirkless had been a blessing in disguise this whole time? Without it, he never would have met Tali, never left Earth, and never come to know a home like the Migrant Fleet.

---

Three years aboard the Rayya (2759 Galactic Standard Time)

The cargo hold was dimly lit by the emergency lights, rows of crates and containers stacked neatly around the room. The air was thick with the smell of rust and oil, and the hum of the ship's engines vibrated through the metal floor. The sound of footsteps echoed in the distance, and the sharp clink of metal against metal alerted the two to the presence of their intruders.

Izuku clutched his pistol tightly in his hand as he surveyed the room, Tali by his side, her eyes flickering between the various stacks of cargo.

"Stay close." He whispered to avoid being heard. "And don't shoot unless you have to. We have a chance to catch them off guard."

“No arguments here.” Tali whispered back. “Let’s get these bosh’tets off our ship.”

The sound of blaster fire erupted, and the two dove for cover behind a stack of crates. So much for the element of surprise, one of the pirates, a lookout apparently, had seen them and, from the brief glimpse Izuku caught, was armed to the teeth. Izuku peered out from behind the crates, scanning their opponents.

The pirates advanced, their weapons drawn and Izuku aimed his pistol at the closest pirate, his hands steady from hours of training despite his fear. But when he looked into the pirate's eyes, he saw a glimmer of life, recognizable in all sapient beings, and froze, finger stuck on the trigger.

The pirate took advantage of his hesitation and fired at him, the barrel of their gun flashing in the dim light. Izuku dove back behind cover, but Tali sprang into action, firing her pistol at the pirate while they were distracted. The shot hit and the pirate fell to the ground, dead.

Regaining his composure, Izuku realized that he couldn't rely on his shaky nerves in the heat of battle, not right now at least. He took a step back and reviewed what resources he had available, coming up with a strategy to defeat the pirates, preferably without killing them.

"The loading hatch at the back of the cargo hold!" He shouted over the hail of gunfire. “I can make a run for it if you can distract them long enough and space everyone, giving us a chance to get out of here!"

Tali nodded, her body coiled and ready. "I'll provide cover fire." She agreed. "You get to that hatch."

The two exchanged one last nod, and then sprang into action. They darted between the crates, Tali firing as she picked off pirates one by one, forcing the others to duck behind cover, not noticing Izuku as he darted across the room.

The sound of blaster fire was deafening, echoing throughout the cargo hold as the two sides exchanged fire. Izuku could feel his heart pounding in his chest as he dodged and weaved through the cargo hold, his eyes fixed on the hatch in the distance.

He slammed against the wall next to the door and hit the emergency override button. “Brace!” He shouted, doing the same with the magnetic locks on his boots, and hauled on the manual lever. Whatever air was in the hold was sucked out, the difference in pressure dragging anything that wasn’t secured or bolted down out of the opening and into the void of space.

The pull was immense, and Izuku clung to what he could tightly as the flailing, screaming, bodies of their attackers were sucked out of the hold. When the last one was gone, he hauled on the lever and shut the hatch.

The battle over, Tali came out of cover and the two took a moment to catch their breaths.

“Well.” Tali was the first to speak. “That went better than I expected.”

Which was the perfect moment for a pirate that had evidently not been sucked out of the ship to ram into Tali and send her sprawling. Now on the ground, he tried to grab her pistol and the two of them struggled over possession of the weapon, the larger, bulkier, and stronger pirate slowly overpowering Tali.

“I’ll kill you!” They screamed, desperate and angry.

“Get... off... me!” Tali grunted back, straining under the pirate’s weight.

The sudden turn of events shocked Izuku and, before he knew it, he had automatically aimed and fired, shooting the pirate in the side of their head, killing them with a single shot.

As the pirate's body fell to the ground, so too did his gun, his hands shaking with adrenaline and guilt. He rushed to Tali’s side, who was now free from the now dead pirate's grip, don’t-think-about-it don’t-think-about-how-you-killed-them , and checked up on her to see if she was okay.

"Are you hurt?" He asked, his voice shaky with emotion.

Tali shook her head, her eyes wide with shock. "I'm okay." She breathed, panting a bit.

Izuku felt a wave of relief wash over him. He had been scared, but Tali had come out unscathed. At the same time however, he felt an ugly sense of shame for taking a life.

He looked down at the gun on the ground, his hands still shaking, but he steeled his nerves and picked it back up, holstering the weapon. He knew that he couldn't undo what he had done, but he could at least learn from the experience.

As the two made their way out of the cargo hold, Izuku found himself lost in thought. He knew that the events of what just happened would stay with him, a reminder of the harsh realities of life in space. But he would do everything in his power to overcome them, and he promised himself that he would never resort to violence, or killing, again unless absolutely necessary.

---

Four years aboard the Rayya (2760 Galactic Standard Time)

The workstation was buzzing slightly as Tali and Izuku worked on their latest project, – a VI similar to Izuku’s Clock Might to act as an assistant but with the chassis of a drone that Tali was building to aid her in combat.

Neither of them were quite sure how it would turn out honestly, they had been busy convincing the Captain to even allow them to build and program such a thing, a difficult task considering the Quarrian’s past with VIs.

Oddly enough, it felt that Captain Rael had actually been easier to convince than Izuku had expected, but he kept that to himself, not willing to push their luck.

Izuku was busy typing away at his computer, while Tali was hunched over a circuit board, tweaking and adjusting the wiring. They had been working on the project for months, and the end was finally in sight.

"Hey Izuku, check this out." Tali said, holding up a small circuit board. "I managed to increase the processing speed by 30%. This should make Chateeka much more responsive."

Yes, Tali had already claimed naming rights to their baby. Something Izuku had been too flustered to counter when she called it that, completely unaware of how his best friend was in hardly any better state after she had realized how her words had sounded.

"Wow, great job Tali!" Izuku replied, peering over her shoulder. "That's going to make a huge difference."

As Tali got back to work, Izuku continued to type away on his setup, multiple screens lit up as he worked. Suddenly, he let out a triumphant shout.

"There we go!" He exclaimed. "Natural language processing has been added into the programming. It should be able to understand and respond to us now far more naturally."

Tali turned to face him, her face alight with excitement. "That's incredible, Izuku! We're really making progress here."

They worked late into the cycle, the hum of electronics and the occasional burst of excited conversation filling the lab. They were both so engrossed in their work that they barely noticed the passing of time.

Unknown to the two of them, they had an audience to their actions in the form of Rume and Keenah peering at them from around the corner.

“Absolutely disgusting.” Rume deadpanned.

“I don’t know about that.” Keenah commented. “I think it’s actually kinda cute.”

“How though?” Rume spread his hands in exasperation. “The Captain’s daughter finds this random genius who can actually match her when they’re four, befriends him enough to stay in contact for ten years before bringing him to the fleet, and now they’re building a little drone they’ve named and everything as if it were their own child. How are they not together already?”

“I don’t know but Saeno’s been raking in the credits with her betting ring.”

“Ugh, don’t remind me. I’ve been trying to maintain plausible deniability.”

---

Five years aboard the Rayya (2761 Galactic Standard Time)

Admiral Shala’Raan Vas Tonbay noticed the young man in dark green standing off to the side, busy with his own work. She recognized him immediately as her niece's close friend, a boy named Midoriya’Zuku who Tali had brought to the Flotilla years ago.

They had met before since then, the boy was a genius and a credit to the fleet, but the Admiral couldn’t help but notice how close the two were, their connection only strengthening over the years together.

Now that he was 21 and nearly a full adult however, nearly ready to embark on his own pilgrimage, Shama felt it best to establish some things with Midoriya moving forward regarding her beloved niece.

Approaching him with a smile, Shala spoke to the boy. "Midoriya, you seem to be lost in thought. Is everything alright?"

Midoriya straightened up, slightly startled by Shala's sudden appearance. "Oh, yes, Admiral Shala'Raan," He stammered. "I was just going over a few designs."

Shala chuckled. "Well, you certainly have a keen eye for these things, don't you? But tell me, how are things going with my niece?"

Midoriya seemed to light up at the mention of Tali. "Oh, she's doing great!" He exclaimed. "We've been working on another project together, and it's been really exciting to see her ideas come to life."

"Working together, are you?” Shala tilted her head inquisitively. “And what else have you been doing with Tali, Midoriya?"

Midoriya looked down, suddenly appearing self-conscious. "Well, I mean, we've gone out for a few supply runs, practiced combat sims with each other, that sort of thing?" He squeaked out.

Shala grinned mischievously under her helmet. "I see, I see. And how close are the two of you, exactly?"

The poor boy was caught off guard and stumbled with his words for a moment. "I-I don't know what you mean, Admiral?"

Shala chuckled. "Oh, come now, Midoriya. I can see the way you look at my niece. You follow her around like a lost -What was it again? I know Tali showed me the video... Ah!- a lost puppy and you share such similar eager attitudes. I think it's safe to say that you're quite smitten with her."

Midoriya appeared to have broken at the assessment. "I- I uh. That is to say- Well, you see-"

Shala's voice turned serious and her posture shifted to reflect that. "Midoriya, I hope you understand how important my family is to me. I care deeply for Tali and I want to make sure she's treated well by anyone who enters her life. So I'm going to make you swear to me right now, that you will always treat her with the utmost respect and kindness and do everything in your power to protect her."

Midoriya immediately straightened at that, steel in his spine as he nodded seriously. "Of course, Admiral. I swear it on my life."

"Very good.” Shala placed a hand on his shoulder. “You have my blessing, Midoriya. But remember, if you ever hurt Tali in any way, you will have to answer to me."

“Eh?” Midoriya seemed dazed by what she had just said but Shala turned around and left, refusing to elaborate. Perks of being an Admiral.

She smirked as she heard a confused “What just happened?” behind her. The boy was a good one, kind, brilliant, and firm in his convictions, Tali had chosen well.

He was also, she reflected idly, a bit of a dork sometimes. But then, the same could be said for Tali.

---

Six years aboard the Rayya (2762 Galactic Standard Time)

As the crew of the spaceship gathered in the central hub, a sense of solemnity hung in the air. They had been traveling through the vast expanse of space all their lives, and it was time for a special ceremony. One of their own was about to embark on a pilgrimage, a journey that would take them across the stars to experience life outside the Migrant Fleet for a time, and they were gathering to bid them farewell.

Tali stood ready, months of preparation leading to this very moment. There were great things expected of her, and though it was a lot of pressure, she would prove herself.

"Today, we send off one of our own on a sacred journey." The captain, her father, began. "This pilgrimage is a symbol of our faith, a reminder of our place in the universe, and a tribute to those who came before us."

The crew members nodded in agreement, knowing the importance of this ceremony. They had all been trained to respect and honor the traditions of their mission, and this was no exception.

"Tali’zorah nar Rayya." The captain continued. "As you traverse the stars you will carry with you our hopes, our dreams, and our prayers. To prepare you for the long journey, we give you these in hopes that they will bless your travels."

A satchel was handed over, filled with Immuno-boosters, food, mobile power packs, and other gifts to help Tali survive outside the fleet.

Tali stepped forward to accept the gifts and looked around at her crew, feeling the weight of the upcoming pilgrimage.

At least she had Izuku with her, unorthodox as it might be.

Said person, no longer the boy she had befriended all those years ago but an important partner to her in many ways, stepped forward, placing a reassuring hand on their shoulder. “Are you feeling okay?” He whispered.

“A little nervous, but I’ll be fine.” She whispered back.

"I’ll be with you every step of the way." He assured her.

“I know.” The two stepped into a small shuttle, the Honorata, piloted by Keenah, the doors closing behind them with a hiss. Both of them watched through the window as the shuttle lifted off and disappeared into the vastness of space, headed towards the distant planet of Illium where Tali and Izuku would begin their Pilgrimage in earnest.

They had no way of knowing that, as they traveled through the Crescent Nebula, they would encounter something that would change the very fate of the galaxy.