Chapter Text
Not all men are created equal. That is an immutable truth of the world. There will always be those who have more power than others. Especially in this world, where eighty percent of the population has some kind of unique superpower called a quirk. After the first appearance of these powers, the streets began to look like scenes straight out of comic books.
Some use their powers for evil. To wreck havoc for selfish gain. They are criminals. Villains.
To fight back against those that would harm or take advantage of others are those that use their powers for good. They are the champions of society. The Heroes.
The twenty percent of people without powers are referred to as quirkless. They are considered weak and unable to take up the mantle of Hero.
This story follows Izumi Midoriya, a quirkless young woman...
It was the middle of spring when Izumi Midoriya, on her way home from high school, encountered a villain made of sludge. They attacked her in a small tunnel and attempted to take over her body by forcing themself into her mouth and nose, which would have killed her in the process. No matter how much she struggled, she couldn’t manage to free herself. However, before the villain could enact this evil upon her, she was saved by an unlikely hero: All Might, the number one hero of Japan, had come to her rescue. After watching over her to make sure she awoke and wasn’t seriously injured, he made to leave. However, Izumi wasn’t ready for their brief meeting to end so soon. So she latched on to him before he jumped into the air. To ensure her safety once more, All Might found a spot to land. The thing that possessed the young woman to act so recklessly, to cling to the number one hero, was a question...
“Even without a quirk, do you think I can be a hero too?” She blurted out, head bowed. She had to know. She had to hear it from him. If there was anyone in the whole world who would give her an honest answer, who would validate that she really could be a hero… it would be him.
All Might, the Symbol of Peace and Justice, paused and half turned back towards her. She could feel his gaze scrutinizing her. Judging her. But she held firm, she didn’t back down. Even though her heart was beating wildly in her chest, she refused to walk away from this. To let him walk away without giving her an answer. He had to. He was the whole reason she wanted to be a hero after all.
“Even without a quirk?” He repeated.
She kept her eyes down, “Yes. I… don’t have any super power. I know I’m just some quirkless girl, but I’ve always admired heroes, you especially!” She explained. She kept talking even as a strange hissing noise started up from somewhere. “I know I wouldn’t be able to be as big or successful as those with quirks, but if I could just have the chance to prove myself I know I could become a hero! One that can save people in need! So please,” She finally raised her head, “tell me! Can I be a-a-a…” She stuttered and trailed off as she finally noticed that her number one hero was gone. In his place was a skeletal looking blond man with limp hair and baggy clothes. His sunken eyes stared at her from shadowed sockets.
She took a half step back, “W-who- W-what?!” She looked around, “Who are you?! W-where’s All Might?!” She demanded.
The frail looking man sighed, “Calm down, I assure you that I am All Mi-” He doubled over and began to violently cough.
Even from where she was standing, Izumi could see the blood seep between his thin fingers. She took a few steps closer, “H-hey, a-are you alright?” She asked and reached out a hand.
The man held up a hand of his own as his coughing subsided, “I-I’m alright.” He wheezed. He coughed a bit to clear his throat and sat down so his back was resting against the roofs railings. He looked up at her, “As I was saying, I am All Might.” He stated.
“B-b-but… that’s not possible! You- He- All Might is practically made of muscles!” She replied in shock.
He sighed once more, “Yup. But ‘All Might’ is a form I take on.” He lifted his shirt and caused Izumi to recoil at the sight he revealed. “Pretty gross right?” All Might, shrunken and skeletal, rhetorically asked as he showed off the ugly wound under his shirt. “Got this in a big fight five years back. The surgeries and treatments have left me exhausted and wiped out my stamina.” He let the shirt drop, covering the wound. He met young Izumi’s eyes, “Right now, I can only be the Symbol of Peace for a few hours a day. Rest of the time? This is what I look like…”
“Wow…” She replied softly. She took a step forward, “Was it Atomic Chainsaw?”
“Dang, you know your stuff.” He lifted his arm and flexed, as much as he could anyway, “But no, I handled him just fine.” He lowered his arm, “This fight was one I did my best to keep under wraps. No one but a few trusted friends even know it happened.” He glanced down, “The world can’t know their Symbol is weak. That I’m getting weaker…” With a sigh he looked up at her, “So if you could do me a favor, don’t go telling anyone on those fan sites, or anywhere else.”
Izumi blinked a few times in surprise. This… this was crazy… She shook her head before nodding, “R-right, of course. I promise.”
The tired hero nodded, “Thanks. You can imagine what villains would do if they learned about this.” He said and slowly stood up with a soft groan. “Anyway, it’s time I headed out. Spent too much time here as it is.” He said and moved towards the service door nearby.
As she watched the hero start to leave, she was shocked out of her stupor at what she learned, “W-wait!” She called out, “M-my question! Can you…” She trailed off, hand outstretched.
All Might paused with his hand on the handle of the door and half turned, “Oh, right. You wanted to know if you could be a hero without a quirk, right?”
Izumi nodded, mouth dry.
He sighed, “No. I honestly don’t think you can be a hero without a quirk. Some villain s just can’t be beaten without powers.” He opened the door, “Make sure your dreams are obtainable. Realistic. Consider becoming a police officer. They get flak because they tend to clean up after the heroes, but it’s a fine profession if you’re looking to help people.” He said before letting the door bang shut behind him.
Izumi stood, speechless, as her hero left her with shattered dreams. His ‘no’ resounded in her ears, over and over. Color bled from the world around her as she stood frozen to her spot. She felt tears well up in her eyes and spill silently down her cheeks. Her arm, which had been outstretched in hope, fell limply by her side. So… this was it. She finally had her answer, and from the hero she admired most, looked up to the most, want ed to be like the most. And he didn’t think she could be a hero, not without a quirk. She felt herself wobble in place and went to the nearby railings at the edge of the roof. When she wrapped her hands around them, she gripped them as tight as she could and leaned over, the sobs finally breaking free. Ugly, awful sobs as she bent over the railing, her tears fell like rain down to the ground far, far below.
“Why?” She thought, “Why did I have to be born this way?!” Her whole body shuddered and heaved as she let her sorrow out, let herself grieve her dream. She almost collapsed against the railing, letting it bear her weight.
She didn’t know how long she was there, but eventually her eyes had no more tears to give. All that was left was a black hole of emptiness. When she looked out, all she saw was grey. There were no more colors to her world. Only bleak despair remained. Her gaze moved from the skyline down to the ground. She slowly stood and loosened her grip on the railing. Words from earlier today floated through her mind, “I know, why don’t you take a swan dive off the roof and hope for a quirk in your next life!” Kacchan tossed over his shoulder, spiky blonde hair and red eyes taunting her.
Izumi stared at the ground as the words of her once childhood friend rang through her ears , and the ground almost seemed to come up to meet her, beckoning. She began to tilt forward, slowly, slowly, slowly getting closer…
A massive explosion in the distance snapped her out of her trance and she quickly fell backwards on the roof. She looked into the distance and saw a pillar of smoke rising from not too far away. Color slowly faded back into her vision as she quickly stood up. “A villain attack?” She said to herself. She quickly made for the door to the stairs, “I wonder which heroes will-” “I honestly don’t think you can be a hero without a quirk.” She slowed to a stop as the color bled from the world once more. Her shoulders sagged. “Right…” She mumbled. She blinked away a fresh wave of tears as she slowly opened the door and began her de s cent down the stairs to the ground level.
Izumi sighed as she flipped through her singed and waterlogged notebook, still in her school uniform. Mt. Lady, Kamui Woods, All Might. The pages blurred together as the words ran a loop through her mind. “Even All Might said it…” She thought to herself, eyes watering. She reached up to scrub at them with the palm of her hand in frustration . “Damn it. Stop crying… You’re seventeen for crying out loud.” She continued walking down the street, hugging her notes to her chest.
She sniffled a little before she paused as her gaze caught a crowd of people gathered around the entrance to an alleyway. “Is that…?” She almost unconsciously made her way over, twisting her thin frame to squeeze by some people and see what was happening. “Is this the same fight from the roof? Why haven’t the heroes-” Her train of thought screeched to a halt as she saw the familiar figure of the Sludge Villain that attacked her earlier. “W-what? Why are they here? D-didn’t All Might take care of him? Why?-” Her panicked thoughts led her to analyze the villain in detail. It was the same villain, but why? How? All Might… She froze on the spot. All Might had put the villain in a bottle. A bottle he had in his pants. A bottle that wasn’t there on the roof…
Izumi brought a hand to her mouth, “Did… I make All Might drop the villain?” She felt bile rise into her throat. Not only had she messed up a heroes work, but now she was responsible for this villain being free again. She felt the urge to vomit increase as she heard the other bystanders comment on how All Might let this villain go, question why the heroes hadn’t done anything to stop this and save the person trapped inside of the villain.
At the mention of someone being trapped in the villain she looked closer at the fight happening in the tight alley space. “How can the heroes just stand there?” She thought. “Can’t any of them do something? Death Arms? Slugger? No… physical attacks aren’t the best.” She cast her gaze to the other side of the alleyway and looked up as the ground shook slightly, “Mt. Lady? Maybe she could-” Her thoughts stopped after said hero claimed she needed a two lane street to be effective since she was too big. “Figures… And she can’t lean in without risking falling and causing more damage.” Her eyes snapped to the firefighter hero. “Backdraft? He could break up the sludge with his water! But… he’s busy fighting the fires.” She sighed internally at the lack of usefulness of these heroes. Even if they can’t get whoever’s in there free they could at least wear the villain down, maybe give that person a chance to catch their breath.
As she continued to watch the scene with some morbid fascination, she finally took the chance to really look at the villain closely. “That’s some quirk. That must be their standard form. If they could change back then they would have, right? Attempt to blend in with the crowd.” Her gaze went to the struggling mass inside the villain. “I can’t imagine how they’re hanging in there for so long. I felt like I would die after just a few seconds earli-” Her thoughts ground to a halt as color slowly returned to her world as she spotted a familiar shock of spiky blonde hair followed by red eyes. However, this time they weren’t filled with pride or anger or some form of smug superiority. Instead, they were filled with fear. Izumi looked into those eyes and saw what they were saying: Help me.
The wind and heat from the flames rushed past her face, her skirt swished against her thighs as she ran past the line of heroes. In the back of her mind she heard the shouts of shock and horror from the crowd, the yells and commands of the heroes telling her to stop and stay back. She listened to none of them. All that mattered was saving Kacchan. He was a bastard, a bully, a massive jerk with an ego, but dammit she couldn’t just stand there! But now she had a new problem: She didn’t have a plan. Her body just moved and now she was running full tilt at a villain even the heroes are wary of and she didn’t even have a quirk!
Think, think! What would a hero do? A page from her notebook flashed in her mind. “Right! Obscure the villain’s vision!” She reached up to grip the strap of her backpack and with a twist she spun in place, barely losing momentum as she slung her partially open bag right into the Sludge Villain’s face. The corner of one of her notebook s and a loose pencil nailed them right in the eyes, causing them to flinch back. “Perfect! Now what? I can’t pull Kacchan out myself. If that was possible then Death Arms would have done it already. What do I do? What do I do?!” Her mind ran a mile a minute as she continued to move forward. Her notes came to her thoughts again, a section on using the environment to your advantage crystallizing in her mind’s eye. Right! She frantically searched around with her eyes, looking for something to use. After a brief second that felt like minutes her searching bore fruit as she spied a water main pipe. “There! If I can just…” She changed course and quickly stopped in front of the pipe and turned her back on it, facing the villain once more. Taking a breath she called out, “HEY! OVER HERE!”
The Sludge Villain, blinking away the pain from being hit, eyes red and irritated, growled and snarled at her. They reared a hand back and Izumi, doing her best to judge the timing, dodged at the last moment. The villain’s hand swiped right over her head, missing by centimeters. Izumi, not really trained for this, had fallen to her hands and knees, scrapping them on the rough ground. Her plan, however, had worked. The villain had broken the pipe. The water pressure, and angle of the broken pipe, caused the water to spray right into the villain’s face, which made them sputter and growl. “Neat trick, kid. But that won’t hurt me!” The villain yelled back as they blocked the water from hitting their face. Their form started to bloat slightly, pockets of the sludge becoming less opaque.
Izumi grit her teeth, and internally grinned. It worked! Or it was working. She could see Kacchan struggling still, but now it seemed he was slowly making headway, one of his hands managing to become free of the sludge. With the villain distracted, and the heroes slowly starting to make their way towards her, she made a break for Kacchan. Scrambling from her hands and knees she dashed to grab his wrist and went to pull with all her (albeit weak) might. She clenched her jaw, dug her heels in and leaned back, using her weight to try and fight against the villain’s weakening hold.
“D-deku?! Why are you here?!” Kacchan spat out. He was struggling still, but didn’t fight against her pull on his arm.
Izumi, grunting and heaving, turned her verdant eyes to her once friend. “Because I couldn’t just watch you die!” She called back through gritted teeth, voice trembling.
Kacchan stared at her in disbelief, likely wondering what the hell was wrong with her. A useless deku like her couldn’t save him. She had no right to be here right now. At least, that’s what she guessed what was going through his head. At the moment she didn’t care. She could feel him coming loose bit by bit, but it wasn’t enough. Noble as her actions might have been, she was in over her head. This was no more obvious than when she looked up and saw the Sludge Villain glaring at her, hand raised to squash her like the quirkless bug she was. She flinched and closed her eyes, preparing for her death. Faintly, as if from a distance, she heard one of the heroes, Death Arms maybe, shout out, “Quick! Save the girl! They’ll kill her!”
“This is it. This is how I die. Mom… I’m sorry. I hope you can forgive me. If only I was stronger I could’ve gotten him out. ” She thought to herself as she waited for the pain, for her coming demise.
In that moment a great gust of air blew past her and the blow never came. She dared to peek an eye open before her mouth dropped open. Above her, blocking the Sludge Villain’s arm with his signature sword, was Yoroi Musha: the Equipped Hero. “You’re brave child, but you should have left this to the pros.” Musha stated.
Izumi was stunned speechless, her hands almost going slack on Kacchan’s wrist. Kacchan himself seemed shocked at this turn of events. Musha was fifteen on the hero charts! What was he doing here?
“It’s a hero’s job to save those in need, not some school children!” He said, forcing the villain’s slimy arm up and away, readying to strike.
“Damn you, hero!” The villain called out, going for another attack. However, he was too slow.
Yoroi Musha, the hero many would call a modern day samurai, brought his blade down in a flurry of strikes, faster than any normal person would be able to swing a sword of that size. The power behind those slashes was also immense. He quickly and precisely cut through and around the villain, freeing Kacchan and causing both of the high schoolers to fall into a heap on the ground. Once they were free Musha truly unleashed his power, carving the villain up into small pieces. After a mere moment the villain was incapacitated and left in several pieces littering the alleyway. With a final flourish, Musha flicked the leftover gunk off his blade and re-sheathed it. Izumi could only guess what happened immediately after. The whole event had left her in a minor daze and she had blacked out for a few minutes at least.
When she came to, the police and heroes were already helping to clean up and collect the pieces of the sludge villain. Someone had also shut off the water main pipe that she had led the villain to attack as well. On top of that she got the lecturing of a lifetime from the pros. “Do you know how dangerous that was?! Do you have a death wish? You should have stayed back and let the pros handle it! And without a quirk too! Are you crazy? ” Those were just a few of the comments she had gotten. Kacchan, meanwhile, was praised for how strong his quirk was. Again. He was also praised for how he fought back, even though he was the one to cause the fires and made the situation harder for the pros. He even got an offer of being a sidekick while he was training.
Izumi bowed her head, partially to show remorse, but also to hide her frustration. She clenched her fists and thought, “ I did more to save Kacchan than any of the pros and I was still useless. If I had a quirk…” She internally shook her head, “I can’t change that. If I had been stronger, faster, I could have pulled Kacchan out and gotten to safety, quirk or no quirk!”
By the time she was able to make her way home the sun had started to set, casting the residential streets in an orange and gold light. “I should have apologized to the heroes more, but there were so many reporters and fans around…” She shook her head slightly, “No, it’s best I left. No need to get another lecture.” She muttered to herself.
“Hey!” A voice called out from behind her. She turned around and saw Kacchan jogging to her before he stopped with a good fifteen feet between them.
“Kacchan?” She asked curiously.
“You didn’t help me.” He panted out after getting his breath back. “You didn’t do anything to help back there. I was fine by myself! You’re just a quirkless loser who won’t amount to anything! Got that? I don’t owe you anything!” He spat out before turning around, grumbling some more.
Izumi blinked a bit in confusion before merely sighing and turning around to continue her walk home. “Whatever.” She mumbled, frowning in frustration. “He’s one to talk. He made the situation worse by blowing everything up and causing those fires. And those heroes just stood by like bystanders.”
She growled a bit to herself as she kept walking. “I was the one that actually tried to save him, while the other pros stood around. It was only because I wasn’t strong enough that Yoroi Musha had to step in. Just because Kacchan has a quirk and I don’t he gets all the praise and I get all the criticism.”
Izumi paused in her walk, looking towards the setting sun. All around her the light was cast in oranges and yellows, creating a golden hue on the residential street. She clenched her fists and grit her teeth. Well, forget them! She’d prove them wrong.
She raised her hand and closed her fist over the setting sun, only letting the rays of light shine around the shadow. “I’ll show them.” She said to herself, the wind ruffling her verdant hair, “I’ll show them all that I, too, can be a hero!”
With her convictions in place, she took hurried steps back home. She had a lot of planning to do if she was going to be ready in time for the U.A. entrance exam.
After she had gotten home and had dinner with her mom she immediately went to her room, pulling out a fresh notebook.
“Right. Earlier I couldn’t help more because I was too weak, so I’ll need to bulk up and work on my muscles. Being a hero is a physically demanding job, so even if I can ace the written tests and work on strategy, being able to apply that strategy is just as, if not more, important.” She muttered to herself, pen scribbling furiously across the page. Her other hand idly tapped her desk as she thought out loud.
“Should I get a gym membership? No, no. We don’t have the money and having to sign up for a membership now to then cancel later once I’m in would be a waste of time. Plus, everyone else probably has the same idea and all the gyms nearby are likely at capacity for their memberships.” She tapped her pen to the page in thought as her brain flashed through all sorts of different ideas on how to get herself bulked up in time. “Come on, come on. It’s only ten months away. There’s got to be somewhere I can go. Maybe somewhere less conventional?” She looked up and stared at her computer monitor. Hm…
After a few minutes of searching she found an ideal place to strengthen her body. On the monitor was an image of Takoba Seaside Bay. It used to be a place where people could go and enjoy the sand, sun, and water. However, over the years the currents around it brought more and more junk onto the beach. And with the city not cleaning it, people took it as an excuse to ‘covertly’ dump their unwanted trash. It was the perfect place for her. It was close enough that she didn’t need to take public transportation to get there, but far enough to give her a decent workout jogging there and back. Plus, having to move all that trash would work out all sorts of different muscles and with it being an undesirable place to be she’d also have some privacy too.
She jotted this all down in her notes, especially a reminder to contact the city and have them put a dumpster nearby for her. “I’m sure they’ll be willing to haul away the trash if they don’t have to actually clean the beach. I’ll just be a good citizen doing my part to help the community.”
With that plan now in place she turned her mind to filling out a diet plan. “Mom and I are going to have to change what we buy for groceries a little. Oh! I’ll need to get gloves and some ropes while I’m at it. I’m sure some of that trash will be sharp or dangerous, or just too big for me to move by myself.” Her thoughts changed gears back and forth quickly as she slowly filled this new notebook.
As the evening wore on she felt herself having to fight to keep her eyes open. “Guess I should go to bed. It’s been a long day.” As she changed into her sleepwear she thought about what she needed to do tomorrow, “I’ll need to call the city first thing so they can set up that dumpster…” Her thoughts trailed off as she crawled into bed, the events of the day finally catching up to her, leading her into a dreamless sleep.
Elsewhere in Japan, earlier that day, a young woman with a short bob of brown hair and pink cheeks was passing by a store with TVs tuned to the news behind the glass. She paused in front of them, like so many others, and watched as Yoroi Musha saved the day from a Sludge Villain that had taken someone hostage. However, another figure caught her eye as the news clip played on repeat. Just before the number fifteen hero arrived, a small green haired young woman dashed into the action and seemed to be doing a decent job of saving that victim. The young woman smiled at the sight. “She’s really brave. I wonder what she’s like?” The girl smiled to herself, “Maybe she’ll be taking the exam too. With actions like that she has to be aiming to be a hero, right? Either way, I hope she’s alright.”
“Ochako!” A voice called out. The young woman, Ochako, turned and saw her dad waving at her to follow. Seems she had fallen behind while her parents kept going.
Ochako gave a sheepish grin, “Coming!” She called back and quickly caught up with her family. They needed to find her an apartment nearby if she was to take the U.A. entrance exam soon!
A few days later in the early morning Izumi would find herself standing at the top of the stairs to Takoba beach, or at least, the section of it that was filled with trash. Although, even that might be a bit of an understatement. As far as her eyes could see were mounds of trash. Big, small, and all sizes in between. She couldn’t even see the sand from her position. The city had notified her they had the dumpster placed and would empty it out every couple of days, or sooner if she told them ahead of time.
Izumi stood there, a bit overwhelmed at the task in front of her. This was too much, there was no way she would be able to clean this all by hersel- She smacked her cheeks with her palms. “Enough!” She said to herself. She readied her fist and took a few deep calming breaths. She had this. She had her plan. She had time. She just needed to chip away at this. Besides, she needed to be efficient about this. She still had to make it to school in a couple hours. No time to waste standing around!
With her convictions and motivations reinvigorated, she descended to the beach to begin chipping away at her task. She would start with the smaller pieces first to help build her strength before tackling the larger objects. Putting her gloves on she began to work.
Over the course of the next hour and a half Izumi cleared up quite a number of smaller pieces of trash, even small tires, although those left her winded. After dumping them in the nearby dumpster she went off to school and prepared to repeat this for the next ten months.
Time seemed to fly by after that first day. Wake up, eat, jog to the beach, clean up, head to school, head home, repeat. Sometimes she would even head to the beach after school, but she knew she needed to pace herself. However, even then she came up with ideas on how to improve her training. She practiced swinging pieces of metal and wood, getting a feel for the movements. Running to and from the dumpster carrying junk. She even practiced side jumps, imagining she was jumping over obstacles. Little by little the beach was getting cleaned up. She also took the chance to use the space to practice how to fall properly on the relatively soft sand, as well as practice some martial arts moves she hadn’t used since she was a kid. Soon enough, it was time.
Stood atop the last pile of trash, she wiped the sweat from her brow as the morning air cooled her exposed skin. She was only in a sports bra and some workout leggings, her green jacket tied around her waist. She looked out over what her hard work earned her. A pristine beach and clean and clear sand. Not a speck of trash left. She grinned wide to herself. “I’ve done it!” She reached out a hand to grasp the rising sun, leaving only the rays of sunshine to radiate from around her fist. “I’ve done it!” She shouted out to the empty beach, laughing.
She hopped down off the trash and picked up a towel to wipe herself down with. Now… now it was time to head to U.A. and the entrance exam. She put her jacket back on and started the jog home. If she was quick she could get a quick shower in and some breakfast.
No one would stop her. She would prove them all wrong. A person without a quirk can become a hero.
...and how she became one of the greatest heroes in the world.