Part of her reminded her that her son looked up to All-Might and that would never happen, the countless times she saw him play a game with a moral decision, and he always took the one where people were benefited, not his character, not him, how he took from two fictional heroes, Superman and Spiderman and their morals.
He would rather die than become a villain, especially with his dream now within grasp, but yet she feared, she was nearly molded into that dutiful doll they wanted to use and sell for status, and she had been slowly getting aware of it, her son might not be that lucky in that regard, he has a big heart, he trusts too easy, just looking at what happened with him and Katsuki told her everything on how things would pan out with him and her family.
He wanted to believe there was good in others, but sometimes there wasn't good in others, just hate and bitterness.
"Uh…mom?" Izuku called from the living room, a worried tone on his whisper/voice, that made Inko worried, she turned the stove off and close the lid on the dinner she was about to finish, and turned to the living room.
"Yes son whataaaaahhhhhhhhh" Inko was many things, a mother, a friend, was tolerant as fuck, never discriminated, honestly if she had been born two hundred years ago she would have been considered a mythical being for the fact she didn't discriminated by either race, color or sexual preferences.
But seeing her son, right now, with the left half of his body, somehow glowing blue, with strange…Tattoo marks on his exposed skin…made her realize something, even as she turned to the kitchen, the returned to the living room, soap and a sponge in hand, and a strange look on her face.
She was a mother, she loved her son.
She did not, in fact loved tattoos.
Despite the fact she had one herself on her right arm, a parting gift of her army days.
Morning…
"Mom, I love you"
"I'm sorry"
"I don't hate you, I said I love you"
"I wasn't thinking straight"
"You used soap and a hard sponge to rub off…mystical looking tattoos that my QUIRK gave me"
"I am a mother, what mother in her good judgment will not react the way I did?"
"One that remembers that she has a tattoo of her own"
"Don't sass your mother young man"
"I will dammit you used that sponge on my left leg, now my skin feels weird"
"Oh it feels weird now? Not after getting tattoos from a videogame?"
"In my defense they didn't hurt"
"Of course they didn't and stop using your new power, it looks weird"
Izuku only sighed, his hands on the table, reaching for his breakfast as another set of arms, transparent blue arms of the size of All-Might own and covered in strange glowing alien looking marking, scratched his head, and two other pair of arms simply adjusted his clothes and chair position.
Honestly, he wasn't even looking to add a new power, it just happened, he should had paid more attention while he played, now he had Amara's Siren powers, with everything that came with them, thankfully he was still a guy, he checked, multiple times over the night, but his mom was right, getting blue tattoos out of the blue was freaky, the fact they glowed didn't help much to the fact they were all over the left side of his body, from the top of his neck to the tip of his toes, hell they were a perfect mimic of Amara's own tattoos, including the three glowing dots on the left side of his cheek, just near the cheekbone.
These powers of course proved another prevalent theory on Izuku's mind regarding his Quirk, in-game Amara didn't use her extra arms in the way Izuku is using them now, like if they were normal arms, tied to his mind and able to individually use them, he hasn't use them in combat yet, because you know, his leg, but they proved Izuku's theory.
His Quirk adapted the powers to be used in real world, here the rules changed entirely, no more base coding for their actions, that's why he could use the Dragon Shouts without a cooldown like in-game, there is no cooldown, but the trade-off was that he had not access to summon dragons or champions of the afterlife because they don't exist in real world, at least not the dragons of Skyrim, and his throat can handle so much before he starts damaging it.
Same with Blade Mode, again he gain the incredible reaction time and slowing perception mechanism as in the game, but without a reliable source of fuel for it to replenish, his Quirk turns his adrenaline into the fuel of Blade Mode, with disastrous results if used too long.
Now there was Amara's Siren powers, if he was correct, he would do just the same as her in gameplay, but now there would not be limitations thanks to the coding, what she did in trailer he could do it too, and even more.
Of course now he was finding out from where his new Siren powers were being drawn from, his own vitality, his own energy.
He was eating more than usual, something his mother noted, they figured he was eating more to 'stockpile' energy for later release on the various attacks, of course Izuku, being Izuku figured that using the Siren Arms (The name he gave them) constantly would ensure that he would start to build his reserves up, and therefore stockpile more energy, therefore not burning himself or hurting himself when he really needs it.
Like training a muscle.
Which was going to be a pain, also he might want to think about doing something else to decompress, the reason he went to Borderlands 3 was because of his conversation with Bakugou that day, how he accused him of liar, he had been angry, angry enough that he slammed the door in his face and had went to his room to get away of the guy.
Eventually he had the bright idea of playing Borderlands 3, after all it was a game so outrageous that he was eventually distracted of his previous interaction, and was having fun as well.
He never realized that he was beating on Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode with the last character on the list, Amara.
He honestly thought he was doing it on True Vault Hunter Mode.
Although the reason he got her powers as well might be because they were the only ones that biologically speaking his Quirk could copy to him, Moze summoned a massive bipedal tank, Zane made digital clones of himself, used a drone and created a hard-light barrier, FL4K used animals and turned invisible, surely using mechanical means, only Amara provided the necessary requirements for her power to be copied by his Quirk, alongside her tattoos, a staple of the sirens.
As they finished eating their breakfast, Izuku offered to clean the dishes, he even used his new 'arms' to help lift the dishes and clean them.
"You know, if the hero work doesn't pan out, a future as a dishwasher might be on your alley" Inko teased her son, looking how the six ethereal arms worked on tandem and in conjunction with his son's own commands, it frankly amazed her.
"I still can't believe you can use them so well, you had them from what? Twelve hours?" she wondered out loud.
"I know, it happened like the Thu'um and Blade Mode, I think it's because I am familiar on their basics and what they do, that I can use them well, well well-ish, one thing is cleaning dishes, other is combat" Izuku stated, there Inko frowned, looking at the side.
"Izuku, son" she began, catching the attention of her son, "I know…I haven't been a good mother-"
"Wait what? You are an excellent mother!" Izuku argued.
"No, I'm not (Sigh) Izuku, before…all this, I wasn't fully behind you, behind your dream, supporting you, I was afraid, afraid that what happens to quirkless kids happens to you, loosing whatever hope they got and…ending it" she chocked on that part, she had been really afraid that one day she would get a call telling her that her son had jumped of a roof and had died, she had nightmares of it too.
The look of her son on that confession told her everything, "Or, they become criminals, not even villains, criminals, lost in the underworld" she added, another nightmare of hers, but tied to her family dark history.
Her son's look of horror told her that it might have passed to his head at one point, "I was really afraid, that's why, despite it looking so impossible to achieve, I let you dream your dream, it was…the only thing keeping you going, your notes, your games, it was the only thing that stopped you from going to the edge" she added with a frown, her hands clasped together and wringing one another in a worried manner.
"I…gave up" she finalized with a defeated tone, "Then, you got your Quirk, like some sort of sick joke the world was running on your expenses, now you're playing catch-up, after all this…you still hold your dream" Inko said, walking towards her son, then standing at his side, helping him dry the dishes he washed.
"I don't know if I would be strong enough to live as you have dear, I would have broken half-way, and now here you are, with a Quirk and adding more things…sometimes I'm scared, scared that you will become…The Kappa" she hissed the name with fear, Izuku for his part dropped everything, which was thankfully just a rag, and went to hug his mom.
"I'm not going to become him mom, I just…I feel like…I just woke up and saw the world has moved without me, and I'm trying to catch up with the times" he said, holding his mother, neither was crying, which was new, they were…rather emotional, breaking into tears or hysterics, Mitsuki usually joked that the family Quirk was waterworks, not telekinesis.
"I know, and all this" she said, "I am sorry if I ever doubted you, I just don't want to lose you" she said with conviction.
"You won't, I'm your little rabbit" Izuku said, choking on his words, there Inko sighed contently, "I won't become him because I have you, and I know what to do with what I got, with great powers" he began.
"Come great responsibilities" she finished, breaking the hug and looking at her son in the eyes, "You know, I am glad I bought you those comics, at least they had something good in them" she sighed with a smile, looking at her son in the eyes.
"Please tell me when you're going to add another power please, just a heads up, I don't want to find out that next time you will get wings out of them" she said, there Izuku slightly scoffed.
"Okay mom, besides I'm planning on going on a small halt on games, at least this week, I have the online classes, and now I have to practice with this arms, and see if I own long sleeves shirts" there she smirked at that remark, rolling her eyes good naturedly.
Inko bowed there, she would help her son, she would support him, just as she should have long ago, she shouldn't now because he had a quirk, she should before, because a mother should believe her son can do the best.
Thankfully there was time for change, there was time to fix some mistakes she made, now if only Hisashi was here, things would be perfect.
Phone calls simply didn't cut it.
Afternoon…
"Okay son, you have everything right?" Inko asked her son, sitting in front of the computer and working on his online classes like a man possessed.
"Yes mom, don't worry, just go to work, you were really happy about this one" Izuku said with a smile.
"Oh yes, called by a new hero agency to help them with their finances, they haven't found someone that could tell them the truth or how to reduce costs without affecting the overall efficiency they are working now" she said, dressed like a secretary, formal and all, hell Izuku spotted a folder on her hands, "So someone from another agency I helped recommended me to them, if all goes well I might land myself a more permanent position⁓" she sing-song as her son smiled at her, he was glad she might get a more permanent work than freelancing.
"Okay, I'm going now, remember Izuku" she began.
"I know, no games for the week, love you too mom" he said with a smile.
"Love you too sweety, see you at night" she called as she left the house, a small spring in her step.
Izuku let out a small smile at that, it seemed their heart-to-heart helped each other more than they realized, he knew there was too much to be done still, but he was glad he could have this honest moments with his mother.
It was not like they didn't had talks, but honestly the events that kept pilling up, just made it happen, in just a week he passed from a quirkless nobody to someone that could shout someone to pieces if so he wanted, and copy (with some restrictions) some of the greatest and most useful powers in video game history, now made real, and be selective about it, he could cherry pick anything he wanted, and he could get them.
In a week he passed from the pariah of Aldera High to the kid that shouted someone so hard on Aldera that now the school was on investigation.
A small smile graced his lips, maybe what he did wasn't much in his eyes, but if somehow Aldera got nailed for what it has done since its foundation, and the number of villains, true villains it had created thanks to the staff and its bias and who knows what else, and could be prevented anywhere else, then all he had suffered would be worth it.
Right now he had some studying to do, perhaps one of the advantages of online studying, way, way better seat accommodations and unlimited access to the bathroom and the kitchen, oh and who can forget the recess on bed while watching TV, really the best.
He is going to miss this once he applies to UA.
Mirio knew, than from a technical point, this should be a class in UA, how to interact with possible witnesses and glean evidence out of simple talks.
Then he realized that was an actual class in Heroics, during their third year, one of the few class that didn't involve combat, but deductive tactics and some charisma.
At his side, Sir Nighteye walked at a sedated pace, but the folder filled to the brim with the photographs Nerije took during her infiltration to the 'coliseum' say what you will about Nerije, but behind that bubbly personality and apparent air-headness she portraits, lays a very cunning mind and a very capable woman of doing some of the most dangerous tasks.
Ryukyu did entrusted her with the infiltration, and Ryukyu does that to people she absolutely trusts, and her trust has never been misplaced, ever.
As they approached the apartment complex, Mirio had to remind himself that the subject of this little 'interrogation' because honestly it was more like a friendly questioning,
As the duo entered the elevator, they didn't saw a woman with green hair pass them when she left through the stairs.
"Kinda odd, he lives in the fifth floor" Mirio commented as the elevator took them to their destination.
"No, I made some digging, the Midoriyas, mother, father and son lived in a quiet suburban area, then someone tried to kidnap their son, the villain…made it out alive by a miracle, Inko Midoriya was a trained CQC specialist when she was in the army, put a knife in her hands and Quirk or not, you'll bleed by her hands" Nighteye stated to his protégé, making Mirio look at him in shock.
"Hisashi Midoriya, currently working abroad with I-Tech" Nigtheye continued, "A subsidiary of I-Island that meddles with civilian amenities, comes at least twice a year, they are understaffed due to the leaks of information regarding several of their products, massive firings, Hisashi was among the ones that wasn't involved in the leaks, and as a result is currently the head of the department he leads, but with barely any hands to help them" Nighteye continued.
"You made your homework Sir, or was it because you're curious about their son?" Mirio said as the elevator stopped, there Nighteye smirked.
"I am, I checked their family trees, it seems there is a reason he did register his Quirk, but not a description or a name, it is a mutation" Nighteye added, "Which was pretty obvious considering his father Quirk is Fire Breath and his mother is called Attraction" Nighteye continued, "But I checked, it seems that there were mutations in their family line before, on both sides, but presented themselves a hundred years ago and almost two hundred years ago, on both families" he added.
Mirio actually blinked at that, the odds, "Now those are odds that scare me, he inherited their mutations? After a hundred years?" he asked in shock.
"Yes, the first one, from his father side, seemed to be able to manipulate his genetic make-up, to a certain degree, this allowed him to pretty much eat things that no human should be able to, like Arsenic and even change his eye color and hair, also after him, again form his father side another one with a mutation was born, his was more niche, capable of adapting his body to certain conditions of environment, as long as certain parameters were met, this pretty much allowed him to become a survivalist of a different degree, he could walk through the North Pole with nothing but his underwear as he had grown accustom to the weather, and survive without an issue" Mirio blinked at that information.
"His mother side was different, the first mutation registered was from one of their youngest, she didn't live long thanks in part because she was born right during the Osaka riots, she was part the reason the riots ended, as her Quirk allowed her to create hard-light constructs of things she understood well enough" Nighteye saw Mirio, and how his eyes widened, it seemed he just realized what he meant by that.
"You mean she was the one that made that T-Rex that bit the former chief of police of Osaka, the 'butcher of red street' she is the reason the police stopped shooting Quirked individuals that night?" Mirio asked.
"Yes, but it cost her a lot, her life to be honest, it appears her Quirk zapped her health, and at moment she was at her worse state possible, hungry, stressed, and with a bullet wound on her stomach, she died after pretty much culling the police force and stomping a SWAT team with her T-Rex, she was eighteen at the time, and she had a son, a son that inherited part of her mutation and changed it himself" Nighteye stated, "His was pretty similar to his mother's Quirk, but his required more of a deep understanding than basic physiology and some imagination, by the time he used it, he held five degrees, two in Nuclear Physics, one in astrophysics, one in engineering and the last on Quantum Physics" Mirio's mouth was open.
"He was a genius, what he could do?" he asked.
"Manipulation of energies, both known and unknown, but for this to work he had to have an intimate knowledge of the forces he wanted to manipulate, otherwise he could cause a disaster, he was fifty-five when he died, some say, fighting The Kappa, and nearly killing it" Nighteye stated, narrowing his eyes behind his glasses.
"The Kappa? The Quirk stealer? The soul killer? That Kappa?" Mirio asked.
"Yes" Nighteye nodded, internally bemoaning the fact that All-For-One, also known in Japan as the mythical villain 'Kappa' the Quirk stealer, hadn't died that day, it would have save them a lot of troubles, then again the fact they never found the body of Ryu Midoriya made him cold on his feet, that or the man literally turned himself into a nuclear bomb and nearly killed All-For-One in a blast no Quirk user would be able to imitate, at least until All-Might caved that motherfucker's skull with the nuclear equivalent of a fist.
"All four had children, but the people they eventually married and carried out until Hisashi and Inko might have caused the mutations to stabilize, or at least the genes to remain dormant, until they married and had a son" Nighteye stated, now in front of the home of the Midoriyas.
"A son that might have a mixture of all four, but that mutated as well into one…Sir, let me be clear genetics are not my forte, yet I see that's not how genetics work" Mirio stated, standing at the side of his master.
"However it may be, it is quite possible these were recessive genes, passed on but not overtly dominant like the rest, but pile enough and they are bound to become dominant, nevertheless we are not here to debate genetics, Izuku Midoriya might know more about the case and the Coliseum, and also we are here to question him about the true nature of his Quirk and why there is no description off what it does when he first registered" Nighteye stated.
"Maybe he's still trying to figure it out, you said it yourself Sir, the only members of his family who could help him are dead by a hundred years at minimum, if you found out about them is because you have the resources, maybe the family doesn't like to talk about them, I mean one of them made a T-Rex and had it bite in two the police chief of Osaka, even if he was known as a criminal and a maniac" Mirio intervened, looking at the door and ringing the bell.
"He'll tell us, we just have to be friendly and not snarky, so let me ask him that okay?" Mirio said with a smile.
"I do not snark" Sir Nighteye stated, "Also I can be friendly" he argued.
"Sir, no offense, but you scared a criminal into jumping in front of a moving truck because he rather face the truck than you" Mirio deadpanned.
There Sir Nighteye sighed, he cared for his protégé, he saw great potential in him, but sometimes he wished he could have taught him how to be subtle.
With a last tap on his keyboard, Izuku ended today's assignment, it hadn't been that hard, honestly by the time his mother was leaving the house he was about to end the assignment, one had to marvel at what one could accomplish when there is no one bullying and belittling your every move.
Shaking his head, Izuku moved away of the computer, slowly stretching up, he was close to the hour he needed to take his medications and start the routine to ensure his right leg muscles, at least the ones on his thighs didn't lose mass, it was a rather bothersome work, but one he had to do.
Grabbing the crutch near the desk, he was ready to walk towards the living room and see some TV, lay on the sofa, maybe even thinker a little with his new power, see if he could actually write with his new arms, the ability to actually multitask, now at his disposal.
DING-DONG!
Izuku bit a groan, he really hoped that Bakugou wasn't back at it again, only to realize that right no he should be in class, and probably terrorizing the class.
Sighing all the way, he began his slow trek towards the door, he really hoped that it wasn't Bakugou, and somehow skipped school.
But considering this was Aldera, and they wanted to please Bakugou, he honestly wouldn't be surprised.
When he reached the door and looked through the peephole, he got the shock of his life, his Siren Arms phased in by the sheer shock, and they opened the door on his command.
There, on the entrance was Sir Nighteye, All-Might's first and only sidekick, and at his side was the hero that 'scolded' him at the beach, looking as surprised as him, or maybe surprised by his arms.
"Sir Nighteye? Uh?" Izuku then looked at the other hero, then at the number million written proudly on his chest, "Million man?" he asked, there the other youth smiled a blinding smile.
"Nah, Lemillion my friend, but that was my first hero name choice" the now identified Lemillion said with a grin.
"May we come in, Midoriya-san? We have things to discuss" Sir Nighteye stated, holding a folder under his arm, Izuku noted how Sir Nighteye looked, and his mind he knew the man wouldn't take no for an answer.
With a sigh and a huff, he maneuver himself so they could enter, which they did with a nod, and leaving their shoes in the entrance, "Please close the door and follow me, I have all I need in my bedroom, and since it is about Aldera I don't want to get up more than needed for what you might need about them" Izuku said, limping with his crutch towards his room, Lemillion and Sir Nighteye following close, after Nighteye closed the door.
"I really expected that…well that with me expelled, I wouldn't have to deal with that school anymore" Izuku began.
"Understandable, but you're the only person of that school that is willing to talk, the other clamp up when questioned" Nighteye stated, seeing Izuku nod.
"Of course they do, it is a tactic they employ every time something happens, they did the same ten years ago when Libra attacked the general hospital, no one knew he had studied on Aldera until his mother told the news, then the police interrogated the teachers, as he was an old graduate, they knew one of his victims had been an old crush, who worked on the hospital, but they said they didn't knew the reason, and they couldn't ask Libra because Endeavor incinerated him" Izuku said with some sarcasm.
"I know, it was a case me and All-Might took, it frustrated him to no end, it might have seen clear cut, but the wall blocking of the teachers and the students" there Nighteye took a deep breath as they followed the sedated pace of Izuku towards his room, "I personally hated that case, rape and murder, add drugs to the mix and…it was a mess" he added.
"It was…did you know that Aldera has produced over two hundred villains, more villains than years in function, half of them are dead, the other are missing or in Tartarus" Izuku said bitterly.
Mirio actually shook his head at that, "How you ended up in that school anyway? I saw your grades, you could have applied for a scholarship in Somei" Mirio stated.
"Because I was considered Quirkless, and several schools that my mom visited actually had clear rules about Quirkless individuals and enrollment, rules they were willing to go to court if needed, as they say, they defended their rights to teach, Mom punched the headmaster of the last school she went before turning to Aldera, suffice to say he didn't sue because…I think she punch him hard enough he doesn't remember" Izuku said, "We didn't go to another because of distance, in the end I went to Aldera" Izuku said as he reached the entrance of his room and opened the door.
Nighteye and Mirio actually blinked in surprise at the room, the words 'hero shrine' would fit the room perfectly, from All-Might merch that was so rare an exclusive that Nighteye was willing to start trading right away, to other hero merch, he spotted also merch of another heroes like Mirko and Ryukyu, in fact their rarest merch, a pair of bobbleheads in silver, part of the 'ten year' in service bobbleheads made for heroes that had ten years in service, one its given to the heroes, and fifty more are actually made and then awarded in several competitions, none has ever been bought.
Posters also doted the room, from a metallic poster of the Water Horse duo (It ached to remember them, he worked with them several times) to a small, but rather lively poster of the Wild Wild Pussycats in their rarest costumes, their first costumes, way back, before they took the 'cat-maid' costume motif, there was a desk lamp in the shape of Endeavor, also a rarity, as Endeavor discontinued the line not even a month after they first released, there was also a rare ceramic doll of Recovery Girl in her youth, so rare because it portrait her in her rarest form in the day, angry and ready to stab someone with her oversized needle.
What caught his interest, aside the number of hero memorabilia, both rare and actually custom made, he spotted an All-Might neon sign with him in his Bronze age costume, was also the number of items that had nothing to do with heroes that he knew.
Like the poster at the back of the door that depicted a man in a green armor, holding a double barrel shotgun and by some reason, despite not being able to discern his face, Nighteye could tell the man in the poster was angry beyond belief, also the letters on the bottom of the poster saying in bold letters 'DOOM' might explain something.
The computer had at the side, alongside a rare Duck-Might statue (the one Izuku won, it kills him), a statue of what seemed to be a blue…something, it showed its muscles, and the bottom of its face was covered by a brown scarf, one of its clawed hands had what it seemed a spectral blue blade.
There was a plushie on the bed that Nighteye recognized as Pac-man, or was it a pillow he couldn't tell, also on the bedpost lay a service hat in red, with a metallic pin depicting a skull with wings on it, the small desk at the side of the bed, the one with the Endeavor lamp had also what seemed to be a police badge, but he didn't recognize the name of the station, he was sure there was no Racoon Police department in Musutafu.
All in all, the room looked like the shrine for heroism that Nighteye would have loved to build in his office, but Bubble Girl wouldn't let him because 'he needs to look professional, not look like a fan'
"I'm home" Nighteye whispered, only to huff when Mirio elbowed in the ribs.
"Sir, not in front of the civie"
"He appreciates quality as I, a collector of the rarest degree…also doesn't help he won that Duck-Might statuette I wanted" there Izuku perked up as he sat on the chair near his desk.
"Duck-Might? Yeah I won it, by the teeth, the one I was competing on a trivia, this 'SightBynSight44' knew things I didn't knew about All-Might during his stay in the United States, I won because the last question was about Eraserhead, not All-Might" Izuku answered, seeing how Nighteye seemed to tense at that.
"Yes" he drawled as he sat on the bed, Mirio doing so as well, "But we are not here to discuss about your bullshit victory over me, that competition was rigged"
"Sir not now" Mirio begged, "If you want went we are over you can trade stuff, but not now" Mirio cared for his mentor deeply, but sometimes he hated that he could hold grudges to such a degree.
Sir Nighteye seemed to consider it, and nodded, reaching for the folder he had and opening it, instantly pulling a picture and handing it to Izuku, who had his eyes widened.
"Daar Vith" Izuku hissed, "That snake, how…is that…but he ended up in a wall, he should be out of commission" Nighteye and Mirio noted the use of another language by Izuku, something to ask later, they observed as Izuku looked at the picture contents, then his eyes widened even more, "…Is that a Nemesis?" Izuku hissed in shock.
"Excuse me but what?" Mirio asked, seeing how Izuku wheeled himself on the chair to his position, and flipped the picture to him.
"The creature in it, do you see what I see?" Mirio nodded, "This isn't photoshopped, right? Because if it is, this is a very bad joke" Izuku snapped/whispered, yet his voice seemed to raise enough for the room to vibrate.
"No, they aren't, they were took five days ago by one of Ryukyu's interns on an infiltration ops to and underground arena known as the Coliseum, I trust you know of the place" Izuku seemed to take a deep breath, actually to calm himself.
"Heard the whispers, a place to 'test' yourself, any can go, but according to some of the upperclassmen, they screen you, see if you have hero connections, they have an actual database of that, they take security really seriously" Izuku commented, running his left hand over his hair, Nighteye and Mirio noted the strange blue marks on his left hand, but the long sleeved shirt didn't let to see much of the arm itself.
On further inspection, they noted the same marks on the left side of his neck, and three glowing dots under his eyes, right at the cheekbone.
"Whoever infiltrated this is good, really good, but probably won't later, like I said, security there is taken seriously, I wouldn't be surprised they know they were infiltrated, and plugged the hole" Izuku commented, Nighteye nodded at this, making a mental note to tell Ryukyu to not send Nejire-Chan again, she might use the same entrance point, and it might endanger her.
"You called the creature a 'nemesis? Do you…went to the coliseum?" Mirio asked, there Izuku actually rose an eyebrow at that.
"No, but I know this thing" Izuku said, rolling to the computer, and began to work on it, after a minute he seemed to nod, then rolled to the side, letting Nighteye and Mirio look at the screen, and have their eyes widen.
There, on the screen, was a 3-D render of the same thing that was on the picture Nejire-Chan had taken.
"Aside the fact this picture shows the Nemesis with brass knuckles and has two eyes, that is a Nemesis, a creature from a video game that hunts you down on a city packed with zombies, somehow fighting Queen Bee and her cronies, one of them should be in a hospital, and he is up and about" Izuku pointed out.
Nighteye actually rose an eyebrow, looking at the pictures in the folder, then picking another one, handing it to Izuku, "If you can, identify this creature" Izuku took the picture, and actually had a look of horror in his face.
"Who…That's a Licker" Izuku looked up at Nighteye, "Who-who-who is mad enough to make a Licker?" Izuku asked with some apprehension, looking back at the picture, and raising an eyebrow, "Why a Licker has cybernetics?" Izuku wondered.
"They don't?" Mirio asked, "Those are video game monsters, right?"
"They are, but they don't have cybernetics, they are purely organic" Nighteye, again, handed several pictures to Izuku, he looked at each one, and he grew more and more pale by the shifting of each picture.
"This is a stranger, they have the cybernetics the game depicts, but they have curved talons, in-game they don't" A shift to another picture, "This is a…Malboro, it also has cybernetics, and seems small compared to in-game…and that, that's a…a Deathclaw!" the room vibrated by the raise of Izuku's voice.
"Oh my god who did this?" Izuku questioned, looking at Nighteye and Mirio for answers.
For their part, mostly Nighteye, he was surprised that Izuku had given names to the creatures, seemed to know them, the fact they may be from video games only added to the fact that the Troupe had somehow created creatures that used fictional science for their creation, and applied it to real life.
That alone was scary enough.
Without thinking it, Nighteye handed Izuku the remaining pictures, the boy began to look at each one of them, looking paler by the second, shaking his head as he placed each picture on a pile.
"They are all video game monsters, enemies you fight in multiple games" Izuku breathed in shock, taking several breaths, and then looking at Nighteye straight in the eyes, "All of them fit a single category, BOW's, in-game it's the same, experiments gone either as intended as the Nemesis or spectacularly wrong as the Lickers" Izuku commented.
"Wait, the lickers are failed experiments?" Mirio wondered.
"Kinda, at first they were zombies, deal enough damage, but don't kill them, and they turn into crimson heads, faster, tougher zombies, do the same, and eventually they do become Lickers, but its only lore based, the only evidence in-game its when you find one mid-transformation, it still has skin and hair, but it is mutating into a licker" Izuku stated, "But yes, only the Malboro and the Lich are…natural in a sense, depending of the game they are either provoked by some magic stuff or are natural predators, but the rest, experiments, BOW's or a mistake gone horribly right" Izuku said with a sigh, "Who could have done this?" he wondered.
"We have reasons to believe the Troupe might be involved" Nighteye prized himself to be rather observant, so when he saw Izuku pale, even more, and his eyes seemed to glint with realization, it meant he must have figured something that he and Mirio did not.
Honestly the kid was the luckiest find for this case.
"Can't be…but it makes sense, so many gangs in our school, villains that came out better equipped and trained that some heroes…this is their training ground" Izuku stated with finality, wheeling his desk chair towards his closet, and opening it, looking for something, he pulled a small carton box, and opened it, pulling a book of sorts, then wheeled back to them.
"I always found weird that the villains of Aldera where so adept at combat and how to use their quirks so creatively, most of them had equipment that they shouldn't have too, Anemia, Equinox, and Libra to name a few" Izuku said as he handed the book to Nighteye, who opened, and nearly chocked on his own saliva by the contents of the first page.
There in the pages was written data about some of the most infamous villains Aldera had ever produced, their Quirks and the equipment they somehow acquired for their fights, equipment that was, if I-Island scientists were correct, part of their tech and somehow being butchered and adapted with more dangerous tech.
Nighteye noted that he put that there too, that their gear looked too crude to come from I-Island, but was advanced enough that it simply made sense it came from there, or at least, parts of it.
As he flipped pages, he became more concerned, while it lacked some fine-tuning, the writing there and the notes put a clear picture of the villains of Aldera.
And apparently, a horrible theory he might have.
"Mind if I keep the book?" Izuku shook his head.
"I don't mind Sir, I can quote it from the top of my head" Izuku said, still looking at the pictures of the creatures, and feeling dread in his bones, who would have done this? More importantly, why?
BOW's weren't exactly popular, The Troupe employed them heavily, everyone knew that, everyone assumed that most of their numbers were composed of scientists and supremacist scientists, reason why they employed BOW's heavily, why rely on a goon when you can custom tailor one, also they sold well enough for wannabe tyrants, despots and 'major' gangs around the world to buy.
What made BOW's not popular, aside their price was how they were made, the majority of them were at one point a human being, or a clone of one, with enough biological modifications and cybernetics jammed into them that the Troupe was among the most wanted organizations in the world, and even then, Most BOW's despite being used by despots, tyrants and gang leaders, these monsters still answered to the Troupe, one single word and those things can turn against their buyers.
What made Izuku more concerned about all this was the obvious improvements visible to the creatures, the Nemesis hits hard enough barehanded, but brass Knuckles is already overkill on something that uses a Rocket Launcher as a club, the strangers were another example, their strong feet were outfitted with Jurassic Park raptor like claws, curved and cruel like, also their small hands had these claws, surely when they grasped someone.
This all made him uneasy, so much that he was considering breaking his promise to his mom and finish the current game on the list, he was hoping that with the week off games he would buy time for the Dreaming City curse get to its full power, and then attempt the Shattered Throne, but it might not be an option right now.
"I see you are concerned by this, my advice, don't" Nighteye stated, making Izuku look at the man as he had said he was a fan of Endeavor, "You are a civilian, we are the heroes, it is our job to be concerned when things like this occur, not of a civilian, don't attempt vigilantism-" Izuku rolled his eyes, lifting his injured and binded right leg to Nighteye to see.
"…Okay still don't do anything, I know you feel concerned, especially considering that Aldera was your former alma mater" Nighteye stated.
"Right now Tartarus looks more appealing as an Alma Mater than Aldera High, but I am concerned, not because of the Troupe being here, it was just a matter of time, they did stated that they wanted to have the world" Izuku said, making Nighteye nod, "But this more of the fact I am already involved, I really doubt Queen Bee and her goons have forgotten about me, Mikaela or Bakugou, especially considering me and Mikaela are the reason Aldera is under investigation, if the gangs in the school have ties to the Troupe…then the Troupe has been making villains in Aldera, outfitting them, training them, for what purpose is the question" Izuku wondered.
Nighteye was actually smiling, in his mind of course, the kid was asking the right question, making assumptions based on the evidence they had, it was pretty obvious if you knew where to look, the coliseum was actually a network of underground metro lines and the main hub, the coliseum proper was in fact a collapsed area where once the passengers boarded, now flattened by what he assumed was Quirk users.
That particular line had been closed fifty years ago, it was obvious that the first twenty-five years of Aldera coughing up villains, these were not well-trained, well-armed yes, trained not so much, yet they caused mayhem whenever they went, it was fifty years ago that they became well-armed and well-trained, now they had an idea of where they trained and where armed.
The real question, just like Midoriya said, why? Why go all this trouble?
With a nod Nighteye focused on their second task at hand, "That is indeed what might be, nevertheless it is an answer we heroes and the police will find out" Izuku nodded, it seemed he wasn't so eager to go vigilante, which was good, showed he had a good head on his shoulders, but Nighteye could see it, the kid wanted to do some good, but was willing to do it the right way, the legal way, it was rare to find one that wasn't willing to jump straight into the fire, but actually analyze the problem and find a solution that doesn't involve 'I cast fist' until it yields.
"Now, for the second reason we are here" Nighteyte stated, making Izuku blink, "We looked upon your records, impeccable until you shouted a boy through a wall, into a classroom and into a wall, of course hero schools tend to overlook this fact considering that the attachment 'Use of Quirk in self-defense' and the incident, completely filed into your own, is there" Nighteye said, he noted how Izuku relaxed, surely he was thinking that he might not make it to any hero school with a record, honestly he thinks that the academies should have a more strict screening method, and selection of who can get into a hero class and the like.
"Also we found that, up until two weeks ago, you were registered as Quirkless, then it changed to quirked, also that the registry has no name for the quirk and short explanation of what it does, why?" he asked, there Nighteye saw Izuku took a more thoughtful look, also tensed.
"Please, by all that's good don't let it be 'I got it from a guy who can give quirks' excuse, All-For-One is dead, I saw his dead in Yagi's future, his head was caved"
"…It's because I always had a quirk, but I couldn't activate it yet, it had very specific triggers for activation" Izuku answered softly, "The doctor misdiagnosed, he didn't even took blood samples or took energy scans, he just took and X-ray of my foot and said 'you are quirkless, next' just like that, then about two weeks ago, after my birthday, I was…frustrated, angry, so I got a crazy idea, yell, but not yell, yell like-like one of the video game characters I play all the time, the dragonborn" Izuku said, "Next thing I know, the wall nearly fell out, freaked out my mom greatly, we went to the doctor, and we spend over three to five hours if I'm right, test after test, they determined I had a quirk, a rare one, emitter/accumulation type" Izuku continued, not noticing how Nighteye breathed a sigh of relief.
"So, you can shout really loud, and you found out because you yelled like a video game character, I don't see why the secrecy, I mean I saw you on the beach, you got a powerful Quirk, despite the fact it seems like many" Mirio said, noticing how Izuku scoffed and shook his head.
"It's just more than shout, you don't see it because you just see it as just shouting, but its more, you see…my Quirk allows me to attain the powers of the characters I command on the video game in question, as long several parameters are met, first of all, beat the game on its hardest difficulty, if I have to do it twice to unlock the hardest mode, I have to, also I have to have a completion of at least ninety-five to a hundred percent, also I have to own the game, duh and lastly something I found out a night ago, the character from which the power comes from must have started its life on a video game, I tried to get Superman powers, but since Superman started as a comic character, my Quirk shorts out, I can't get his powers, the same applies to any other superhero that started as a comic or book character, the Dragonborn started as a video game character, it met the parameters, so I got his power, the Thu'um, or shout in dragon language" Nighteye and Mirio blinked at that.
"Wait, back up, are you saying that you got a totally fictional power, that's now functional thanks to your Quirk?" Izuku nodded at Mirio's question, "And since your quirk is an accumulation type…you can get more?" Izuku nodded again, this time with a smile.
"Yes, I got Blade Mode as my second, it pretty much slows my perception of time to a fifty percent, ninety if I activate it after a parry, and increases my reaction time to at least double or triple my average reaction time, the third one was kinda of an accident" Izuku said, rolling the sleeve of his left arm, and exposing the intricate, alien designs of his Siren tattoos.
"I didn't check the difficulty setting and ended up beating Borderlands 3, I had previously beaten it before with its three first characters, but Amara's powers were the only ones my Quirk could copy, as the other three depend on an object for their own powers, also something I forgot, my Quirk cannot copy powers that depend on an object, like Leonidas's Spear in Assassins Creed Odyssey, as the spear is the provider of much of the power one gets in-game, I am going to check if I can copy the Light of the Traveler, but the fact most Guardians depend on a Ghost kinda has me worried I might not get them" Nighteye and Mirio blinked again, but for different reasons.
For Mirio was the fact Izuku had a really strong and apparent versatile Quirk, it was obvious from the get-go that its main weakness was training the powers and time disposition, games take time, also it was obvious he was taking his time, actually thinking what to get, how it could benefit him and others, he was actually in an enviable position, to be able to mold your Quirk to your preference, he would be lying if said he didn't envy Izuku, he kinda did, of course it was obvious as well that his new powers had drastic effects on his body, his first power must had cranked his normal tone of voice to a million, so he has to speak softly or whisper, and his whisper are loud enough to be confused as normal voice tone, his third power carved glowing alien tattoos on his left arm, which wasn't odd in the current era.
Nighteye was another matter entirely.
"Oh how the hell this happened? Some weird All-For-One quirk analog, nature has a twisted sense of humor" he thought with a grimace, one that turned around when he realized of something.
"An All-For-One Quirk analog belonging to a kid with high morals and fan of Yagi, it feels like nature's way of apologizing for All-for-One in general" Nighteye thought, "And while it shares many of the nuisances that modern Quirks have like specialized triggers, one can't deny how powerful it can become, but it must have a limit, he must know this as well, that's why he is taking it so slow, cherry picking what he wants, he is testing the limits of how much he can accumulate"
"As for the reason I kept it a secret" Izuku sighed there, looking at Nighteye and Mirio in the eyes, "I…just didn't want to end like Bakugou" Izuku confessed.
"Katsuki Bakugou? The one that made the call?" Izuku nodded at Nighteye's question.
"You should know what he can do" Nighteye nodded at Izuku's question.
"Indeed, specialized nitroglycerin sweat that can be triggered by specialized glands at the palms of his hands, can actually measure the output of his explosions, powerful and if well timed can be used for propulsion and change of direction mid-flight" Nighteye stated, it had been painfully easy to breakdown Katsuki Bakugou's Quirk, honestly, Midoriya's Quirk was far more complex and offered more of a challenge in decrypting how it could be improved with the limited data he had of it.
"Yeah…well he got praised by it, a lot, ever since it activated, so you can imagine how that got to him" Izuku began, "The ego, the pride, it changed him" he added.
"There is no harm in pride, I am proud of my Quirk" Mirio supplemented, Izuku shook his head at that.
"I am sure, but how much it cost you to tame it, I know for a fact that quirks that permit phasing trough objects are hard to master due to the inherited weakness most of them possess, physics playing a part in their difficulty" Izuku stated.
"Well" Mirio began, knowing full well that it had been a hard and painful road to reach where he was now, "I'll admit it was hard, like really hard, I had to work some kinks with my Permeation, but eventually I was able to make the weakness of my Quirk into a strength, something that not many can say" he confessed.
"And there is where the differences lie, your Quirk was difficult to master, so everyone must told you that such an impractical quirk wouldn't help for nothing" Mirio frowned at that, it was too close to what people said about his quirk at one time, "For Bakugou it was different, it was like a second nature, he mastered his quirk, and as a result everyone saw him as a potential hero, they praised him without end, and that…ruined everything" Izuku said.
"We were friends once, knew him since we were babies, but once he got his quirk and the praises got to him, why he would associate with someone who had no quirk? Things went south, and for ten years the reality was that he was the shoe-in for a hero while I was the quirkless dreamer that should give up, it shaped his way of thinking, to him everyone is an extra in his tale of greatness, a stepping stone, and if you stand in his way he will hold no barrels to tell you that you suck and use his quirk against you to demonstrate how right he is and how wrong you are, after all to him might is right" Izuku said.
"…I wanted to avoid the hypocrisy that would come if I revealed my quirk, because I knew it would come, the quirkless kid develops quite a powerful quirk, and everyone wants to 'apologize' wants to 'be your friend' and the like" Izuku scoffed, "Only thing that all that is a lie, they just want to ride the coattails of your possible success, they don't mean any good thing they say, it's all lies, I didn't want any of that, because everyone sees your quirk first and the person last, they don't care about your personality, only if your quirk is powerful" Izuku stated, making Nighteye nod.
"It is not the first time someone actually does this, I in fact did it due to the very nature of my Quirk, and then after I became a hero it became something of a need-to-know basis, I do understand where you're coming from" Nighteye stated, looking at Izuku straight in the eyes.
"For the moment this is all we need, this was very informative, thank you for your cooperation" Sir Nighteye stated as he stood up from the bed, Mirio doing the same.
"Wait just a minute" Izuku suddenly called out, making Nighteye and Mirio stop, seeing him wheel again towards the closet, then actually using his third power-up, six, glowing etheral arms that were as massive as All-Might's own, and forced himself on a kneeling position, using the six arms as support so he didn't kneel on his wounded leg.
"Aldera has a history, one they tend to forget, one they force others to forget" Izuku said, as he picked something from the bottom of his closet, then using his ethereal arms forced himself back to the chair, now holding a red book, thick looking and rather well cared.
"But someone didn't want Aldera to forget what they had made, what they had produced" he said, hganding Sir Nighteye the book, "Madame Dynamite was the sole reason The Nerima Ward sits deserted today, everyone knows her, but no one knows 'her' as a person, or that she had a brother" he began, "One that started to catalog the atrocities the school committed and how some of the worse villains Japan had ever produced came to be" Izuku said.
"I know about the lawyer and what the headmaster line because he wrote it down, he saw a pattern, one no one has seen, one hidden under lies and pretentions of truths and declarations of change, but in Aldera nothing changes, to them the Emperor itself could command them to stop and his words to them would be nothing but wasted air" Izuku said, laying eyes on the book.
"That book is a copy of the original that's on the school, but you won't get it, even if asked, the librarian keeps it hidden, if you were to ask for a book regarding the story of the school they will give you a falsified, sugar-coated version, you can spot the differences because there are no mentions of Equinox, Anemia or Madame Dynamite, or any other villain for that matter, and don't try to ask why? The librarian will go on a fit, and kick you out of the school, she had already done it before, with cops too, she doesn't care, she has orders" Izuku said with a frown.
Nighteye regarded the book for a moment, then asked the question that mattered, "How you got it then?"
There Izuku smiled, "You need the signature of three teachers for the librarian to release the book, and you can only have it for one hour, getting them to sign wasn't the hard part, they were swamped with paperwork that they missed it when I slipped the note to them and automatically signed it, as for that" Izuku pointed at the book, "Well, I put the camera of my cellphone and the 5 gigabytes of space to good use, one hour it's all I needed to photograph everything, then I transcribed it, when I heard the stories about it I just knew I had to do something, if anything out of spite for the school" Izuku said with a bright smile.
"My god he smiles like Mirio, it's like staring at a sun" Nighteye thought with a smirk, looking at the book, "One question remains, why they haven't destroy the original?" he asked, something Mirio wondered too.
"The brother of Madame Dynamite was an absolute beast when it came to legal loopholes, he points this in his last ten pages, if, and just if, they destroy the original, they are law-bound to inform of its destruction to the ministry of education, who in their care have an encrypted USB that can only be accessed with a password passed from minister to minister, again they are law-bound, obligated to do this, even the minister to pass the password, with the password they can unlock the files in the USB, there, according to him, lays the very information that's in the book, and again, by law, they are obligated to publish it, not just print a copy, publish at the very least a thousand copies and hand them over to member of the Hero Public Safe Commission, you can imagine the mess if that happens" Izuku stated.
"They could just destroy the USB, misplace it, no one the wiser" Nighteye pointed the flaw in that plan.
"He thought of that, somehow he was able to get a working program to unleash that information to the web if the USB isn't plugged to a computer 24 hours after the book is destroyed and confirmed, don't ask me how he did it, just that he did it, and they can't find a way around the program" Izuku said with small glee, now that impressed Nighteye.
"Indeed, and what of the brother, I assume he is working hard and keeping tabs on this case, considering he is as you put it 'a beast' of legal matters" Nighteye was honestly hoping to meet the man, if he knew as much as Izuku here, then…why hasn't he showed after the sexual attack days ago?
He got his answer when Izuku shook his head sadly, "Libra got him, he was his first victim that day in the hospital" Nighteye didn't need to know anything else, he could put the rest in place.
Libra the butcher, had entered the hospital of Musutafu one faithful night ten years ago, under the guise of a patient, his first victim a lawyer, cameras show that eventually the doctor that was attending the lawyer, entering the room, only to find the scene, then running away, from there Libra chased the doctor, killing patients and doctors alike, anyone that got in his way died, until he got her, until he killed her off-camera, then Endeavor came into the scene, not shy ten minutes later, the camera would show his utter shock and disgust at the scene, then him firing a flame so hot that the camera was simply melted by the heat, and was not even in the way, Libra obviously, did not make it.
Many had speculated that Libra had been send to deal with the lawyer in question, as investigation showed later, had been hammering a lawsuit, one that many other lawyers and prosecutors called 'the lawsuit of lawsuits' something so massive that it would affect everyone, his choice of target?
Aldera High and the very Ministry of Education and several laws that would have affected several hero schools as well.
So many believed it had been a hit, specially the way Libra dealt with the doctor, the only witness of the death of the lawyer, and so with anyone that crossed him that night, of course Endeavor vaporizing him and the hall took any chance of asking the man.
With a sigh Sir Nighteye nodded at Izuku's action with the book, this would prove invaluable in the long run, if the book had also pointed connection with the Shie Hassaikai or the Troupe, if what he had speculated turned to be right, Aldera might had been a recruiting ground, the Troupe might had been in Japan longer than they had expected.
Right now, Sir Nighteye was really wary of the future, and truth to be told, he didn't dare look into Izuku's future.
Less he sees a corpse instead of a boy that dreams with becoming a symbol.
A week and a half later…
If there was one thing that Sir Nighteye was more aware of the fact that his Quirk lets him see a future he can't change, is the fact someone called everything ahead of time.
His conversation with Izuku Midoriya had been enlightening, it had plugged many of the holes the investigation had previously, the book of villains he had provided them had also been an eye-opener, many who had read it had paled at the implications, that Aldera had been a Troupe location, and were willingly making villains, outfitting them and training them, the coliseum seemed to support this theory, and the fact they sold equipment custom-tailored for the user and their Quirk.
Then there was the other book, when he read it in depth, he was rather shocked, Aldera's history was plagued with villains, and no it was no euphemism, it literally was that.
The principal for example, all of the same family, from the very first to the current one, the fact the principal was also related to THAT cop, made things worse, it was tying some loose ends and allowing them to move the investigation further, perhaps even more than others ever could.
Despite the contents of the books, it brought good news, and those weren't the only good news.
All-Might, Yagi was returning to Musutafu, his search for an heir for One-For-All bringing him to the place he once got it from his mentor, Nana Shimura, or better known as Nanamyte the ever smiling heroine.
Nighteye had contacted him the moment he stepped into the city, and decided to attach him to the investigation, it was a simple task, they were not going to use All-Might to punch his way into the coliseum, rather they would use more…subtle ways.
Yagi's overall appearance made him look…like a drug addict, let's be honest, his current, gaunt look would allow him to infiltrate the coliseum without an issue, no one would suspect this fragile looking man is in fact the number one hero, the symbol of peace.
He would go to the coliseum, observe and report back, and so far it has been an astonishing success, this, alongside Izuku's books had allow them to gain an upper hand in the investigation, they were getting close, it was just a matter of gathering more evidence, perhaps two more days and show it to the Hero Public Safety Commission and they would get a green light for a raid, he knows Ryukyu won't like it, but he had a plan, that plan being called Mirio posing as another patron of the coliseum, and at the right time, attack the defenses from where they can't defend themselves, from within.
Between All-Might and Mirio forming havoc form the inside, and a massive wave of heroes, police and army from the outside, with the defenses disabled of course, would allow them to start the finishing strokes against the Troupe's operation in Musutafu, decapitate several gangs of the city, get information of the Shie Hassaikai and finally take Aldera and its collaborators down, all in one beautiful stroke.
He likes it when a plan comes together.
BAMM!!!
Nighteye actually took a defensive stance when the door of his office opened violently.
When he saw Bubble Girl's frame in the door, he resisted the urge to strap her into 'Tickle Hell mark 5000' when he saw the expression of her face.
Pure panic.
"Bubble Girl, explain" he commanded.
"Sir, we got problems!" she said, entering the room and rushing to him.
"The police just called in, some neighbors of the Midoriyas just complained about loud noises, they send some officers…they found two bisected Nemesis by what appear to be a pure energy current, five dead Lickers with their heads caved in, and what I assume are two GOLEM's scorched silhouettes on the walls, the apartment looks like a warzone and there is no sign of Inko or Izuku Midoriya, I think this Queen Bee made her move on him, as he predicted" she said with a haunted look on her face.
Nighteye is a man who fames himself for keeping calm and collected whenever the situation looks dire or in extreme dangerous.
But this…oh this.
"Motherfuckers"
This qualified as the first time he lost his temper in over five years, the last time he lost his temper he told Yagi to not fight All-For-One, he didn't listened and he lost his stomach and a lung as a result.
"Call Yagi and Lemillion Bubble Girl, tell them we have a situation