CHAPTER 7: SETTING THE STAGE
'Twenty years ago we lost our most advanced mech to a bunch of psychopaths and anarchists, who repurposed it for combat…they violated our work to suit their needs…as of right now I-Island is at war against the Troupe!'
David Shield still remembers that day very vividly, he had been just an intern, yet to meet All-Might, the heads of I-Island had called for a meeting that had been televised across the island.
Twenty years ago they had built their greatest invention yet, a multi-purpose mech, a robot it you will, designed to aid, a medic, a firefighter, a life saver, it had been built with the sole intention of saving lives.
They had dubbed it 'Marionette' a marvel at engineering, so advanced it was that three of the five departments within the island had dedicated themselves to its construction, an unique AI suit that mimicked a human mind to a Tee, an endoskeleton based on the old Terminator franchise but built by actual engineers and actually functional with a 'fake skin' that covered it completely, a wealth of information in medicine and science to help people, and enhanced strength to help people trapped in rubble and if needed, fight back.
That was just scratching the surface of the island's masterpiece.
Then the Troupe attacked, no one knew how they had infiltrated their defenses at the time, only that when the marionette had been loaded into a plane, they were already in, waiting.
Their product never made it to its destination, a year later, a base in El Paso Texas was attacked by what would be dubbed as Terminator Dolls.
Their remains reached I-Island to see if there was a structural weakness in them that could be exploited, the team that checked it out were horrified when they learned that the T-Doll was in fact a butchered version of the marionette, the Troupe had stolen their creation, and turned it into a weapon of war.
So yeah, people in the island were pissed.
Then they learned that someone, aside from All-Might or any other powerful hero, had nearly destroyed a T-Doll, and made it run away, or made its handlers yank it off certain doom.
Now this would not be much of a problem, Terminator Dolls were strong, no doubt, but they were as flawed as their creators, being crude copies of a marionette, which was better designed that the crude Terminator Dolls, the problem was that the T-Dolls were constantly upgraded, they might not look like it, but they are constantly upgraded.
Their endoskeletons, which were an aberration of synthetic and natural bones, had begun their lives as a Titanium composite and ceramic that also had calcium in them.
The arm of the T-Doll Izuku Midoriya nearly killed and was send to them as per usual agreement, was a Titanium/coltan alloy with the usual calcium like ceramic embedded here and there, to give it a more human look and feel, this was a new development, the endoskeleton had been upgraded.
The skin too, of what was left of it, apparently even this upgrade wasn't enough to withstand the temperature of the surface of the sun, or higher, and explode as well, the upgraded bones didn't fare better, kinetic force alone had ruptured them, and their molecular bonding was, for the lack of better word, non-existent.
Another attack like that would have vaporized them on the spot, leaving nothing but ash, and even then that was debatable.
After Melissa had went to bed, David had been called by the higher-ups, alongside many of the 'bigger' scientists of the island, they were presented the remains of the T-Doll's arm and what had happened to it, alongside the unfiltered video of its fight against Izuku Midoriya.
Conclusions and hypothesis about his Quirk, or Quirks came abound, what they were, what they could do, and why in God's great name it didn't had a name and oh my god it was just a month old of being registered.
David had been already hypothesizing with his daughter when she had her own meltdown, the fact she seemed to recognize three of the things Midoriya did seemed to cement this, after the meeting was done, and was conceded to be repeated, in the morning, after a healthy breakfast and some shut-eye, David began his own investigation.
Three words that Melissa had used had drew his attention.
Hammer of Sol, Siren arms and Thu'um.
"Okay Google, fail me and I'll hack you in the nineties" David promised as he typed the first words.
The images of a silvery hammer with the shape of a bird but the end of an actual maul, and with a short grip came first, then of course the links.
There were three, and all where old, very old, so old that the last time someone edited one was a hundred years ago, yet it showed traffic.
He saved them and wrote the next one.
Again the same, this time the image of a buff woman with six glowing arms, just like Izuku's coming out of her back, alongside mentions to a 'Borderlands' whatever it was, it was tied to the arms, so he saved those links too.
He went for number three, Thu'um, and the image of a dragon and the image of a man screaming so hard that waves could be visible were the first thing he saw, again there were few links, more than the other two combined, a link to a Nexus, two Wikipedia pages, and a video, all old, very old.
Maybe his daughter's theory was right, it was a game based Quirk, odd, most Quirks of that nature appeared on Korea and China, and as far it was known, they were some of the most obstinate Quirks know, complicated to the point that most who got them actually tamed them by sheer force of will and math, lots of math, but none of them displayed the kind of powers Midoriya showed.
"Perhaps it's a mutation" David thought, it would make so much sense, Gamer Quirks were among the most powerful due to their unpredictable nature, they could take the form of and RPG, or a Gacha game, a dating simulator jammed with a shooter, or a fighting game mechanics so realistic and magic mechanics so broken, but they all had something in common.
They had a HUD and a status screen pretty much shoved in the eyeballs of the user, it was permanent, and the skills they inevitable unlocked, were tied to the game they were mimicking, if it was an RPG, then it would have some RPG powers in it, a shooter, that person would be a crackshot, a fighting game, that person would be a close-quarter monster, but it all boiled down to numbers.
Izuku Midoriya's Quirk didn't seem to show any of those qualities and flaws, it seemed to simply…jump that obstacle altogether, which would explain why he seemed so overpowered, but there was more, David was sure of it.
The severed limb of the T-Doll exuded a ridiculous amount of radiation, exotic radiations that simply made no sense.
The guys back in Experimentals were in ecstasy on with these new, rare and apparently, incomprehensible readings they were getting.
David simply shut his computer off and went to bed, it might look like a strange thing to do, considering who he is it might look unprofessional, but honestly, after a lifetime of work, if he had learned something was that trying to work tired was a sure recipe for disaster, better to rest and let the brain chill than try to push it pass its limits and make sloppy mistakes.
Besides, Izuku would come to I-Island in a month and two weeks, his Quirk was so rare, so unique that he was asked to come, alongside his family.
Of course there were ulterior motives.
After all enemies of the Troupe had to stick together.
Shouta could not tell why, but seeing the kid suddenly glow a rich purple that seemed to swallow the darkness of the night that uncompensated the bus was…unsettling.
He had seen many unsettling things in his time as a pro, the freakiest, that five year old kid that had a Slenderman like shadow for a Quirk and was actively hunting pedophiles.
But the problem child manipulating what he called 'Void' and slowly training so he doesn't have any mishaps was unsettling in its own way.
Not because of the training, in on itself seems normal, just holding what seemed to be the energy itself between his hands and manipulating it to take shapes and slowly spinning it until it has enough speed then decreasing it and doing it again.
The fact it makes little to no sound from where he is makes him…uneasy.
Silence tends to be a prelude for an attack in his opinion.
What made him uneasy was the Quirk of the problem child in on itself.
Call him many things, lacking information wasn't one of them, the boy's little tussle with the Troupe was news on the deep web, his informant (who hates coffee, the philistine) had paged him regarding the news of the coliseum raid and its aftermath.
Aside the mess Durara Honda had made, surface wise things were normal, another loose lipped cop wanting some attention and letting it out to the closest reporters he can get his hands on.
Problem was that this was not any normal cop, this was the son of the Mayor of Musutafu, who had caused havoc on the police image for the past ten years and had caused the deaths of both Pro-heroes and cops.
Eraserhead by principle alone hated him, and incompetent mook placed in a position that he could not handle, lacking potential and-
Eraserhead took a deep breath, because, in his anger for seeing someone without potential had not seen the signs of something else, Nezu had told him so, his narrow sight blinded him of what lay beyond what he was seeing.
In this, he hated Durara Honda more, because his babbling had stirred quite a hornet nest in the underworld.
On one hand, we got criminals that had adapted to the underworld and knew how it runs, the coliseum had been one of the linchpins in many of their operations of the small timers and big shots alike, now it was gone, and none of them would dare to go against All-Might, Endeavor, Mirko or the heroes that spearheaded the raid, they would certainly try with the cops, if rumors were correct, some criminals were planning a 'gun plan' on cops, any cop, each dead 'pig' would yield a hundred thousand yen, an incentive to cause death and chaos.
Those were the ones mad because their operations were crippled, they would certainly try to reestablish somewhere else, if the heroes and cops weren't striking their crippled operations while they were on the ground, standard operation here, keep them grounded until they got them by the balls.
It was the same strategy used to destroy the Yakuza families, multiple heroes, on multiple fronts, until nothing remained, scorched earth policy.
Those were the greedy mooks, then we got bonafided villains, who had ties within the coliseum members, they knew better than to try anything that might get them in jail, especially with all the heroes around, and everyone had seen what problem child had done to that Terminator Doll, the Doll could take the punishment, a human being getting mauled as the T-Doll did, not so much, but many would try, there were bounties on the Midoriyas, extremely obscene bounties that Eraserhead and Nezu had seen and could not believe, officially the Midoriyas had the third highest bounty on their heads, just behind Endeavor and All-might, because of course those two would get one.
This was why he vouched for heroes to be fully underground, but people listen, no, they have to have flashy heroes because we need symbols, it made him physically ill, they needed to protect people, and by working in the light they can't, only in the shadows they can truly do their work.
Which led to the third problem the underworld had now with the Midoriyas, the Troupe, the biggest, and considered to be the only terrorist organization at the time, if what was being told in the underworld was led to believe, greedy criminals angry at losing their pays and villains hungry for money was the least of the problems for the family.
There was an order Omega on the Midoriyas, a death order, the Troupe was going to send T-Dolls from this point on alongside BOW's, all with the objective to kill the family, they would not stop, never stop until their targets were dead, and to make it worse, once the deed its done, they would mass-stream it all across the world.
They did the same with the Pillar Men, thirty years ago, their deaths…were not kind.
All in the hopes of breaking anyone that dared to defy them, governments, armies, heroes, civilians, even villains, they had said it before, no one will stop them, no one.
Yet there he was, a kid that had trashed a T-Doll, their BOW's and escaped with nigh flesh wounds, crippled two apparent direct collaborators of the Troupe and was exponentially getting stronger.
That unnerved him, his Quirk was growing stronger, Nezu hasn't shared anything about the Quirk in question, only that it was, in his words 'interesting'.
When Nezu says those words, you better be fucking worried.
Aizawa knew that he would learn what that Quirk could do in reality, to be able to challenge the Troupe's troops (pun of words aside) and come on top was something only pros could brag about.
The kid had the potential of becoming a monster.
Eraserhead hated that kind of potential.
Looking at the back mirror, he bit down the urge to shudder (he makes people shudder not the other way around) when he saw Izuku looking at him, then the kid smiled and went back to his exercises.
"Yeah, this is going to be a long month, I can feel it" Eraserhead thought with a grimace, at least he would be able to sleep peacefully, the woods are silent enough for a power nap.
Location, Tokyo's Police Department, morning…
Sir Nighteye eyed at the congregation before him, the first of many meetings in the upcoming months regarding the coliseum raid and the subsequent raids that will be carried against Troupe locations, points of interest and their 'allies' because the Troupe doesn't have allies, they don't do allies.
There was of course the Minister of Defense, a rather short man, barely Izuku's own height, but what he lacked in height he made with muscles, like many muscles, his Quirk was muscle overgrown, his entire musculature was jacked-up, to the point many believed he was on steroids, but that wasn't the case, this was just his Quirk on work, he represented the military branch that had aided them in the raid
The second person was the Chief of Police of Musutafu, Akio Mineta, again the same height as the Minister of Defense, the man's Quirk was on his hair, his hair was pretty much a semi solid inky substance, incredibly sticky, and he was on control of it, so anyone who touched his hair would feel like touching gelatin or would have their hands stuck by his choosing, he of course represented the police force of Musutafu.
Then there was Yagi Toshinori, none of them expected All-Might to be present and represent the heroes that participated in the raid, but everyone knew that heroes had a very busy schedule, especially with the chaos Honda unleashed on Musutafu and the villains that seemed to never stop, as a result most of them could not participate, the answer, All-Might had send someone to represent them all, the sickly looking man that seemed to tower over everyone on the room and was one cough away of dying.
Of course they didn't knew that the man was All-might itself, in the room currently, only Nighteye and Nezu knew of this.
Speaking of the dog/bear/cat ultra-intelligent animal, he was sitting right at the side of Yagi, despite holding the position of principal of UA, Nezu's ultra-sharp mind and intelligence would serve them well for what lay ahead, for who better in the room to plan the best course of action that the being that possibly had at least five plans in motion and was making five more while the conversation was going.
Then there was the last person, the shadow of the emperor of Japan, literally, his shadow was seated on a chair, but there was no body attached to it, this was the Emperor's Quirk, Shadow Man, able to dislocate his own shadow from his body and use it as a medium, there was an apparent weakness of distance, so that meant the Emperor's body was nearby, and surely guarded, but this was way better, shadows could be replaced, flesh could not.
Once everyone was seated, they could begin.
"Okay, first order of business, who gets to kill Honda?" Chief Mineta began, making everyone groan.
"No one, you shouldn't entertain murder, as justifiable it may be" the shadow of the emperor said, despite being a shadow, its voice was as natural as one of a human being.
"He leaked high sensitive material that had yet to be reviewed by anyone, the lawyers of the many captured during the raid are trying to use this to move the trials to an earlier date, oddly enough they seem to all want it at the same day, April 1st, this has me concerned" Nighteye stated.
"Indeed, it must mean they have something planned that day, or someone else has" Nezu stated with a hum as he drank his Tea in contemplation.
"That's a trap" the Minister of Defense barked out, "Remember the 1st of November in Paris ten years ago? Same delaying tactics, three lawyers on a case ask for the trial to be held that day, what happens? Total bloodbath, five mass murderers escape custody, a Judge is killed by one of them, two heroes are crippled for life, one hero dead and over twenty cops and fifty-five civilians dead or wounded of gravity, of those five escapees, two were killed during their escape, a third made it as far as two blocks before crossing a street and getting run over by a truck, while the last two escaped, never to be seen again, all five were Troupe collaborators" he snapped, "Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me, we can't let it happen" he finalized.
"I concur, but you know the legal system, equal opportunity of defense, if they have the arguments then it can be used against us as easily we can use the same system we created against them" the emperor's shadow stated, "We must use the tools given to us to repel this action, and any other that might endanger our witnesses" he added.
"The Midoriyas" Chief Mineta said as he tossed a file to the table, "Model citizens, at least the mother and son, we haven't seen hide or hair of the husband in over eleven years, this is their updated files, including their Quirk files, there is also a file of the girl, Eri in it" the Minister of defense and the shadow of the emperor grabbed a file each, and began to read them.
"Eri was a ghost before we got to her, no file, no birth certificate, nada, right now she is under the legal guardianship of Inko Midoriya, no lawyer will stick their hands in this I am told, iron clad, try to remove Eri of her legal custody without approval of the HPSC, their licenses will the least of their concerns" Chief Mineta added.
"How they achieved this?" The Minister of Defense asked, there Yagi smiled.
"A truly inspired move, Eri's blood is currently classified as hazard level 5" Yagi stated, making the Minister of Defense look at him in shock.
"LEVEL 5! Jesus that only placed for radioactive waste and biohazards!"
"We know" Yagi stated, looking ashamed, "But her blood warrants it, it is the key of the Quirk destroying Drug the Yakuza currently commercialize, we acquired a sample, or better said a whole clip with the gun during the raid, we matched it with a sample of hair of Eri taken during her time in the hospital, they match a hundred percent, her blood IS the biological material found on every bullet made by the Shei Hassaikai" Yagi let that sink in.
"Say the time Toshinori, when the heroes are ready, I'll have a platoon of my best men ready to storm that rat nest, and we'll flush them out and hang them by their balls" The Minister of Defense candly remarked, it wasn't for naught, he was also a family man with a daughter of the age of Eri, and if those bullets could be used against heroes, then so could be used against soldiers and civilians, removing the manufacturers was a more sensible option that locking Eri away in a gilded cage.
"We are hoping for your support, thank you" Yagi agreed, "I would have to run it with the HPSC, but considering the spotless record we have so far, I can say they will agree, now please focus your attention on a medical record Recovery Girl did on the Midoriyas and Eri" Yagi called.
The group did as so, and two minutes in they did a double take.
"Is…is this true?" Chief Mineta asked.
"Yes, Recovery Girl double checked, Inko Midoriya's Quirk somehow got stronger, Eri's horn, a possible outlet for her Quirk now seems to be more solid, apparently larger considering her age, and sharper, sharp enough to go through fabric, bone and muscles like if they were paper, and there are indications that it might get longer and sharper" Nighteye stated.
"This…how it occurred?" the emperor's shadow asked.
"We are not sure, but Recovery Girl has a theory, it involves the projector that was nullifying their Quirks at a painful level and Izuku Midoriya's…Light" Nighteye said.
"…Light?" Chief Mineta wondered out loud, "Is that his Quirk? Light?"
Nighteye shook his head, "It's an aspect of it, in short he can generate and manipulate a spectrum of forces that he catalogued as paracasual, during their capture he was drugged and according to Midoriya-san, he was letting Light out, due to his body fighting against the drugs and the influence of principal Honda's Quirk, Phantasm, she assumes that Izuku's Light interacted with them both, eventually the projector was destroyed by Izuku, and all that energy that had been building on them began to concentrated on the only thing that was affected by the projector, their Quirks" Nighteye explained.
"Thus the strange growth in their Quirks" Chief Mineta muttered.
"Only a theory, but one that can be checked alongside the bullets in I-Island during their stay" Nighteye said, "As for the bullets, aside the fact they use Eri's blood as the main component, seem to do something else, Toshinori?" the gaunt man nodded at Nighteye.
"Preliminary studies show that the bullets don't suppress Quirks, just as the name implies, it erases them" everyone blinked, no exception.
"That's bullshit" that came of the Emperor's shadow, "You can suppress Quirks, erasing them means taking apart what makes them what they are, and in essence what makes us" he added.
"Yes, you're correct, that's exactly what it does" Yagi replied, "Studies carried out on victims of the bullets before and after show that when exposed to the contents of the bullets, their Quirk factors simply vanish, then after the time limit passes by, their Quirk factors return, this led us to believe that Overhaul's plan is not suppression, but elimination" Yagi stated.
"Eliminate the Quirk, eliminate the hero" The Minister of Defense hissed, "Wonderful, it's the Kappa all over again" he added, "The only good thing about this mess is that its temporal and the source its out of Yakuza hands"
"Not quite" Nezu muttered, "I would wager that they have a…surplus of Eri-Chan's blood to experiment, but need fresh samples for their experiments to work, otherwise Eri-Chan would not have…so many scars" Nezu said, glancing at the picture of Eri's arms, littered in scars no child of her age should have.
"Yes, Recovery Girl said something similar, Eri's DNA samples degraded faster than anything recorded, even when put in a freezer, hair samples too, stands to reason this is why she was kept in captivity by the Shei Hassaikai" Nighteye mentioned, "I cannot stress enough the danger of this group, possibly the last Yakuza family of considerable size, we need to take them down"
"Odd" The Minister of Defense stated, "Never heard of samples going bad in a freezer" he added, "You think her Quirk, or all that experimentation messed her up?"
"A probability, we don't know the extent of the experimentations done to her, only the aftermath, the bullets and the scars on her arms and legs, not to mention she was missing small patches of skin when she was captured by the Troupe" Nighteye commented, this got the attention of those who didn't knew.
"She got captured and had skin harvested by the Troupe?" Chief Mineta asked out loud.
"Yes, and apparently she got blood extracted and other fluids and…something that made Izuku boil the hospital room he was in once he found out" Nighteye exclaimed.
"Boil?" The shadow of the emperor asked.
"Okay melted, in his defense it was justified" Nighteye stated, "I would do too" Nighteye admitted, much to the shock of the occupants in the room, it wasn't every day you learned someone melted a room because something happened and the ever stoic Sir Nighteye admitted he would have done the exact same thing if he could.
"Aside the melting of a room" The Minister of defense began, "We might not be in a good position, the Troupe somehow acquired samples of the girl's skin and blood, by this point it must have degraded, but they must have done something with it" he stated, "You all know that BOW's are the Troupe's favorite method of attack, now imagine one of these creatures, being very capable of suppressing if not outright reversing a person's genes before he or she had a Quirk" he let the statement sink in.
"Then it's obvious what must be done" the shadow of the emperor said, "Yagi-san, coordinate with the other heroes, start striking down the Yakuza strongholds, bleed them down, Rikuto-san, prepare your best men for the raid, I want this Overhaul alive and in pain, and if it isn't possible dead" the Minister of defense, Rikuto Yagami nodded.
"Chief Mineta, I want you men to double down on possible operations of the gangs captured in your city, coordinate with other departments in other cities, we cannot let them regain their footing, I want to see on the news how the gangs are being hunted down one by one, no mercy" Chief Mineta nodded with a smirk.
"Nighteye, continue your investigation, I want them devoid of resources, money, manpower, pride and hope by the time the raid carries out" Nighteye nodded with a smirk.
"Been doing that, little Eri provided us with two bank accounts, we have linked them to offshore accounts in a bank in several Tax havens and other accounts in those same havens, by the time the raid carries out, they will have no money to lean on" Nighteye promised.
This satisfied the shadow of the emperor, "Good…now for the Troupe"
And the meeting carried out.
Izuku could not sleep, excitement had set its roots firmly on his body, that a small amount of paranoia.
For the whole trip he hadn't slept, not even a bit, concentrated more on his exercises on controlling the Void Light and not having any other accidents like in the hospital, he's still trying to figure out what happened.
He knows that Void Light, while sounding something like a necromancer might use, was anything but that, it did tapped into forces that where between the vacuum of matter, basically dark energy, but it wasn't something evil at all, but there were no records of Void Light ever being used to…communicate with the dead.
Well there was Savathun's Song, but the Void crystals were used to power up a portal, not communicate with Oryx's sister, Savathun.
"Then how that happened?" the fact Izuku, and by extension everyone in the room had heard voices, calling for someone named 'Yagi' had freaked him out, he had a small theory about that.
He might not had tapped into the realm of the supernatural, but rather may have tapped to someone's Quirk instead.
Which in on itself was even weirder, his Quirk was getting weirder with each passing day, and he had it for one month and something.
With a sigh he turned to see his mother and Eri, both were asleep, Eri curled on his mother's lap, while Inko used her arms and makeshift blankets to keep Eri warm and safe, both looked relaxed and safe, just like Izuku wanted it.
His gaze slightly turned to the driver of the bus, one Shouta Aizawa, he knew he was a hero of some sort, probably underground due how he dressed, but the real question is who he really is as a hero, what's his Quirk? What he can do? He works in UA, or at least has ties with the institution and with Principal Nezu, he seems…haggard, tired, but Izuku knew the man was more than met the eye.
Shouta Aizawa had been alert the whole trip, never letting his gaze wander anywhere but the road and from time to time to him when he had been training his control over Void Light, the looks he gave him were…concerning.
"Just what I needed, another adult that thinks he knows best" Izuku didn't meant to think like that, but in all honesty, the only adults that so far have proven to be actual, responsible adults whose opinion and words must be heeded because they speak sense are so far his mother, Sir Nighteye and Detective Naomasa, he would include All-Might too, but after what he saw in the hospital and his interaction with Recovery Girl, well…let's just say the nigh unbreakable pedestal he placed his idol in was cracked, just a little.
In all honesty he shouldn't feel this way against the man, who know what kind of stress he's in, but after all he had seen, Izuku was kinda justified in not trusting adults until they show how they really feel, how they act in reality and what they really think about him, nine years of taunts by both kids AND adults, and the sudden boost of confidence thanks to his Quirk appearing, or rather finally hitting the trigger for its activation, might had let some…issues he might have with people that think that way.
"I need to stop thinking like that, heroes don't think like that" Izuku amended himself, continuing his exercises of control.
Then he felt the bus slowly slow down, he looked up to the driver, and saw he slowed down to take what, he assumed was a dangerous curve, on a small car it would be dangerous, on a bus it would be worse.
"If you get us killed by trying to get a shortcut I'm going to atomize you" Izuku whispered, but to Aizawa, he might had been talking right next to him.
"Don't worry, they are waiting for us" Aizawa replied, not concerned with the fact the kid just threatened him with atomization, the kid just kept a steady glare on him, the glow of Void Light he held on his hands steadily growing.
Then the road seemed to come to life, a bridge formed on their path, made of the earth around the road.
"…Impressive" Izuku muttered, instantly clenching his hands together and consuming the Void, Aizawa noted this, and how Izuku began to glow for some seconds as he looked around the newly formed bridge, "Advanced Terrakinesis, well trained too, to form a bridge, the support beams and collapsing it behind us takes concentration, training, lots of training, terrain helps too, lots of earth for use, perfect for a Quirk user with such a Quirk" Izuku mumbled, unaware that Aizawa heard it all.
"All that from a glance?" Aizawa thought alarmed, "No, stay calm, this is not the first time you meet a Quirk analyst, even if he's the youngest you ever met"
Then Izuku did the equivalent of the Scanners scene to his brain, with his next words.
"Only six heroes in Japan have this level of control and terrakinesis based Quirks, but Terra-bolt and Quake are in a seminar in London, Avalanche and Dirt are in their honeymoon in Hawaii, Pixie-Bob and Cobalt hate each other, but Pixie-Bob is the only one with a team andohmygodwearemeetingthewildwildpussycats"
"…Nezu who the fuck you put me with"
"Nice and easy Pixie" Mandalay muttered as she saw the earth bridge her teammate Pixie-Bob form with her Quirk, keep its precious cargo in a steady course to them, "There we go, like in Yokohama" she called.
"You and I recall Yokohama very differently" the blonde cat maid themed heroine replied with snark.
"Considering you were spending your time between flirting and rescuing people I can see why" Tiger, a massive beats of a man, who used to be a woman, replied with a gruff voice, "Also keep your eyes on the bus, they survived the Troupe not only to die because you were distracted" he added with some mirth.
Pixie-Bob just growled but kept her eyes on the approaching bus, Tiger was right, they didn't survived the Troupe and a direct confrontation with a Terminator Doll just to die out on a fluke.
Their last member, Ragdoll just kept her eyes on the bus, her Quirk already active to ensure that nothing beyond them would get through.
"How odd" she muttered, earning the attention of Mandalay, "I sense four people, but one of them has…shifting weak points it's the best thing I can describe" she summarized.
"It's a human thing Ragdoll" Pixie-Bob muttered, "Joints are natural weak points, so are eyes, mouth, nose, groin, hell pretty much a human body IS a gigantic weak point but broken into parts" the blonde added, "I thought you had already got over that"
"Me too" Mandalay added her two cents, "What are you sensing?"
"…Must be the boy, his right leg show a massive weak point, considering it was broken recently and Recovery Girl healed it, I'm pretty sure it became a weak point by that alone, but" Ragdoll muttered, "I'm seeing weak points that make no sense, like weak spots on his…kidneys?"
"Have you ever got punched in the kidneys before? Enough force can stop someone my size" Tiger replied.
"Uh…the weak spot it's on top of the kidneys" Ragdoll clarified.
"…The adrenal glands, what an odd weak point, you can't effectively hit the glands, the kidneys yes, the glands not so much" Mandalay commented, "What else you see?" she questioned.
"Like I said, shifting, one moment it's in his hands, the next on his neck, the next it's his skin, then its deep within his muscles, only three spots remain permanent, the leg, the glands and…his mouth?" Ragdoll muttered, "Never seen something like this, not even with All-Might, not even Endeavor, no wonder that T-Doll had so much problems fighting him, it couldn't reliably fight him head on with so many variables, I'm more surprised that thing got away" Ragdoll said, a smile forming already, "This month gonna be lit!"
"Okay who let her again on the computer?" Pixie-Bob muttered.
"Not now you two, we got guests" Mandalay replied, seeing the bus finally reach solid ground instead of the bridge Pixie made, and slowly stopping in front of them.
"Okay guys, Showtime"
"Mom, Eri-chan, wake up" Izuku 'whispered' close to the two, both women began to stir, Eri was the first to actually wake up, letting out a yawn that was way too cute to be legal, all while his mom began to stretch as she let out a satisfied sound as her joints cracked back in to place.
"You didn't sleep one bit didn't you?" Inko muttered as she opened her eyes and Eri rubbed her eyes off.
Izuku decided to look anywhere but his mom right now, she knew, just knew like that.
"He didn't" Aizawa replied, "Pick your bags, we arrived" he said tonelessly as he stood up and began to move his neck, arms and legs, driving non-stop must had left him sore.
"I met special ops with more feelings than you are portraying right now" Inko muttered as she grabbed Eri and set her on Izuku's hands, all while she stood up.
"Feelings are non-rational and cloud judgement" was Aizawa reply.
"Tell that to the T-Doll my son beat up with a feeling" Inko replied back with a smirk as she picked a pair of bags.
Aizawa rolled his eyes, opening the doors of the bus and walking out first.
"Rude" Inko muttered, seeing Izuku picking the other bags and boxes with his Siren Arms, she let out a small smile.
"When this is over, me and Mitsuki-Chan are going to take you to a shopping spree" Inko said with a small smile.
Izuku didn't look exactly thrilled with the idea however, "I'll atomize myself, I'm no pack mule" he muttered.
"You have six extra arms and your carrying in your normal arms the equivalent of your own weight with ease, accept your fate"
"Guardians make their own fate"
"Not this one"
Eri just snorted as she carried a small bag, just about the only thing Izuku allowed her to carry, he didn't want to put much pressure on her.
With a sigh of defeat, Izuku simply walked onward with his load, Inko and Eri behind him, upon exiting the bus, however his mood improved greatly when he saw who were outside.
"Ohmygodthewildwildpussycats" he fanboyed, actually slipping once more into the Stormtrance without noticing and floating, actually gaining the attention of the team in question.
"Theyrethebestrescueteamthereisnowtheyspecializeinmountainrescueandbetweenthefourofthemtheyamounttothrityyearsofrescueexperience!"
"I'M EIGHTEEN AT HEART DAMMIT!"
"You're thirty just admit it, you look for someone with thirty years"
"RAGDOLL YOU JUDAS!"
Mandalay just sighed, rubbing her head with her gloved hands, "God give me strength" she muttered, seeing Izuku, still floating and letting streams of lighting, and Eraserhead actually glaring at the boy with his Quirk and…
"Why is not going off?" she thought, then she realized of something really, really bad, "Guys" she used her Quirk on her team, catching their attention, "Eraserhead's Quirk isn't turning the kid's own, he's immune to it!"
"…Huh" was Tiger eloquent reply as he approached the family, it was there that Inko saw how tall the strongest member of the rescue team was, still compared in sizes to a Nemesis or a Tyrant, hell to a Deathclaw, he didn't met them eye to eye, still he was imposing, cat maid costume aside, okay never mind the suit made him more intimidating.
"Kid, you might wanna turn your Quirk down" Tiger mentioned, Izuku actually blinked, looking at himself, and then his eyes widened at that.
"Oh so sorry, I slipped into the Stormtrance again" Izuku apologized as the electricity around him died in a blink, and he landed softly, Tiger still noted that the six, All-Might size glowing arms remained-
"…Well, they weren't kidding, you ARE full of surprises" Tiger mentioned again.
"Indeed" Mandalay called, "Eraserhead stop it, it ain't working" this caught Izuku's attention, as he turned to stare at the scraggly looking man, his eyes now red, glowing and his hair levitating-
"Oh my god, the erasure hero, Eraserhead, how I didn't see it before?" Izuku moaned in shock.
"Because he hates to be recognized, interviewed and sunlight" Pixie-Bob stated with a smirk as she marched to Izuku and poked one of his Siren Arms, finding it surprisingly solid, "Now he hates your Quirk, he can't turn it off with his" she added, much to the ire of the erasure hero.
"Well" Izuku began, fidgeting, "The projector in the coliseum didn't do it either, and it actually hurt, his Quirk really…doesn't stack up against the Light of the Traveler" Aizawa blinked.
"Did you just dissed my Quirk?"
"I think he dissed everyone's" Mandalay replied with a smile, "Then again his Quirk seems to power on against things that power us off" she added, "That's a reason he's here, to train and understand it better, so when the time comes he doesn't end up hurting himself" Mandalay stated.
"Thank you for having us" Inko said with a smile, bowing to the Pussycats, Izuku doing the same, "Eri, bow like me" the little girl did as told, but made the four members of the rescue team to clutch their chests, she was so damn cute!
"D-d-don't worry about it" Pixie-Bob stated, "Okay introductions are a go, name's Ryuko Tsuchikawa, but call me the youthful Pixie-Bob!"
"But you're thirty" Ragdoll stated.
"I'M EIGHTEEN AT HEART!"
"(sigh) just ignore that, name's Shino Sosaki, I'm the team leader of the Wild, Wild Pussycats, go by Mandalay in the field"
"Yawara Chatora's the name, I go by Tiger in the field, I'm waiting to see what you can do kid"
Izuku grinded a little nervously, of the four Pussycats, Tiger was by far the most imposing and frightening, mostly because of his combat prowess, while the rest of the team could fight, Tiger excelled in it, capable of fighting as well as rescuing people, all thanks to his Quirk, Pliabody, he had seen the videos of Tiger in action, he intimidated as much with his Quirk as with his sheer presence alone.
"And me!" then there was the bundle of energy that seemed to zoom from left to right that honestly made Izuku actually tired by just watching, "I'm Ragdoll, just call me Tomoko, or Shiretoko-chan!" the green haired heroine said with a smile as she zoomed around and spun Izuku around as well, making him and by extension his mother and Eri, dizzy.
"Ugh" Was all Izuku could say as she tried to keep himself for falling.
"Now that's out of the way, please follow us" Mandalay said, motioning the trio plus underground hero to follow them.
Izuku then finally noticed the house, or better said compound in where they were led to, it was three floors high and rather large compared to an average home.
"Welcome to our compound, usually this site doesn't see much activity until May and June, when UA sends the first years for endurance training" Mandalay stated as she opened the door and led them in, "Most of the time, we use it as our private training grounds and recuperation space when a mission gets a little rough, and we want to avoid the press" she added as she shook her head.
"One bad thing about being a hero, the press, they'll turn anything, and I mean ANYTHING, just to get views" Pixie-Bob muttered, making Izuku nod.
"Yeah, I remember the debut of Best Jeanist, he pulled a flawless rescue and villain apprehension, no collateral damage, the night news were slamming him for being 'cynical and boring' despite the fact his fight was so enthralling to see" Izuku added, making the heroes to look at him.
"Yeah, remember that one, Jeanist was 'this' close of suing the channel for slander, especially during the following month" Tiger stated, "And I can assume you have seen what they talk about you three" Inko nodded at that with a scowl.
"Yes, they call my son a sociopath and murderer, they call Eri-Chan a detached antisocial child and I was referred to as a warmonger psychopath with inferiority complex" Inko stated, "Doesn't help it came of XOF news" Inko said, making Izuku snort.
"Did you know that XOF is in fact-"
"A parody of Fox news of the United States, back in their heyday before the era of Quirks, yes we know" Pixie-Bob stated bored.
"I was going to say that XOF is in fact the name of a fictional paramilitary unit that its featured in a game that was really polarizing, it had giant robots, nanozombies, a plot so complicated that only a Wiki page could make sense of it and apparently all of this happened during the Cold War, giant robots, during the Cold War" Izuku replied, making Pixie-Bob blink in shock.
"What, really?"
"If you want I got the game right here and the entire plot of the series, this was supposed to be the loose end finally tied between two games and timelines…then came Survive, and paying for save game slots, dark times" Izuku intoned.
"…Okay, ignoring that, you get my meaning for this place, remote enough for the press itself not to find you, isolated enough that it will take time for anyone to find you, and we are the only people who know the lay of the land, if worse comes to worse we know the place and can defend you effectively" Mandalay stated.
"Solid plan, but what about reinforcements?" Inko asked, "Or any other sign of civilization? I doubt you harvest it all"
"There is a town two hours from here on foot, and a small police station, they are appraised of our presence, but not yours, for security sake, on car its fifteen minutes, so we are covered in that regard" Mandalay clarified, making Inko nod.
"Most importantly, this place is secluded enough for training!" Ragdoll shouted with glee, "The woods are perfect, natural obstacle course, especially when Pixie lets loose her Quirk! The mountain site its perfect for practice of 'collateral' Quirks! And we have a hot spring!" she added with a grin, "When the day's done and you want to rest for the next day!"
"I'll allow us to work on your Quirks without much collateral, we saw the video of your fight against that Terminator Doll, one of your attacks, that exploding hammer, in a populated sector it could easily start a fire, you need to work on something else" Izuku nodded at Mandalay's reasoning.
"Well, most of the supers I can use with the Light are…highly destructive, I can only think of at least three that don't cause main spread destruction, The Nightstalker Bow, the Ward of Dawn and the Well of Dawn, everything else is fashioned to take down opponents tougher than the wielder, Nova Bombs, Fists of Havoc, Golden Gun, Arc Staff, Dawnblade, Sentinel Shield, Chaos Reach, Fire Maul, Nova Warp and the wraith daggers, name it its probable it can inflict horrible damage to whatever its in line of fire" Izuku reasoned.
"Are all those lethal?" Ragdoll wondered.
"Oh yeah, vaporization, atomization or sublimation into ashes, I mean Arc energy is pretty much electricity on steroids and jet fuel, you can imagine how the other two are too" that left the Pussycats really disturbed, then again Quirks were pretty much the biological equivalent of handguns, but never before they had heard that someone could atomize, vaporize and sublimate someone, at the same time.
"I need to work on non-lethal versions, maybe combine the Arcstrider agility with the warping ability of Nova Warp and the striking power of a Fist of Havoc…a really watered down striking force, maybe chain it in multiple taps-" and Izuku began to mumble a storm.
"There he goes" Inko replied with a fond smile, "Don't mind him, he does that, he'll stop once he finds what he wants" she said with a smile directed to the rescue team.
"What he mumbles is…disconcerting" Tiger said, catching up the whim of a sentence that had the words 'Apobiosis' and 'Animal strength' alongside the words 'six arms doing it in tandem'
"If he's going for the non-lethal route he's failing spectacularly" Pixie-Bob stated, missing the look Inko gave her, "But I heard some interesting things there, this 'Smoke' thing he keeps muttering alongside the lines of Glyphs, I'm kinda envious, being able to pretty much craft your own Quirk at your taste and needs, half the world would kill for that ability alone" she added with a smile.
Inko simply rolled her eyes, "You're not the first hero to mention this" Inko said, seeing her son still in a mumble storm and a world apart his own.
"Well, it's true" Tiger added, "The amount of Quirks that are multi-functional are…not enough, there are few heroes that can claim this, on the villain side this is reversed, all thanks to society and their dogmas and warped beliefs" Tiger muttered, "Japan has it worse, thanks to the Kappa and…well, our society as a whole, we are more accepting nowadays, but did you know that two hundred years ago getting psychological aid was frowned upon? When Quirks appeared that thought remained for at least five years, until they realized that Quirks were tied to emotions, and unstable emotions tied to the equivalent of a biological nuke was a bad idea, the melting of a temple by a teenager that was suffering from anxiety attacks and was close to a mental breakdown prove that, now psychologists are a must to visit at least a year, just because, and most old timers still frown on those who seek aid" Tiger shook his head, "Idiots"
"Oh don't I know it" Inko muttered, her parents never liked psychiatrists, mostly because they might get a clue of what they were doing to her by the way she acted, and once Izuku was born they actively tried to stop any attempt from her to get Izuku one due to his…well status as Quirkless before he found the trigger of his Quirk.
Made her wonder what were they thinking now, that her son was not as Quirkless and defenseless as they expected him to be but rather the equivalent of a cute dog that suddenly turns into a dragon and breathes napalm and shoots lasers from his eyes, heck it made her wonder period what were they thinking now, what other ploy where they hatching to get her son and 'raise' him as a proper boy, which meant turn him into a puppet and trophy husband to use for their machinations and boost their status.
"Well, in here you three will be able train at your fullest" Mandalay stated as they stopped in front of a door, this caught the attention of Inko.
"Us? I thought Izuku-kun needed the training, you know because his Quirk power?" Inko wondered.
Mandalay looked conflicted at this, "True, to an extent, your son's Quirk, while powerful, seems to be evolving at a speed no one had seen before" Mandalay commented, "The problem is you two" she added, pointing at Inko and Eri, "That projector, whatever it was supposed to suppress did something else, seemed to have affected your Quirks, in the case of the little one, we don't know what she can do, so most of the month will be spend on figuring what she can do and ensuring that there are no incidents regarding her Quirk activation" Mandalay stated, Eri on the sidelines seemed to stiffen at the idea of using her Quirk.
"That's the reason grumpiness incarnate here was send, aside from extra protection AND a lesson, his Quirk work best for nullification of other Quirks, aside your son's own, but you get the gist of it, also it helps he is a teacher of UA" Izuku wipped his head to the direction of Aizawa upon hearing that, "So if there is someone that can teach the little one how to control her Quirk, if it needs control, is him" Aizawa by his part looked annoyed that Pixie-Bob ousted him in such a way.
"We will see how this develops, first we need to know if she can manifest her own, then we work form there" Aizawa replied, "As for Midoriya, as long he shows potential, we'll see" Inko looked irritated at this.
"You're showing the potential of waking up with a broken arm" she snapped, making Izuku look at her in panic.
"Mom! You can't just threaten a hero just like that!" Izuku exclaimed, yet his voice didn't raise more than a whisper, Aizawa noted that despite that, his voice sounded like a full blown, indignant shout.
"If he can't see potential, then he is wasted potential himself" was Inko crude reply, in all honesty, she was very fed up with people doubting her son, and considering all the bullying her son endured, it was high time someone lashed out, the fact her son didn't lashed out of the goodness of his heart when he should was testament out of good he was.
She on the other hand, wasn't so nice with people that bullied her family, the fact she didn't chew Katsuki's head off, literally, was testament enough of her patience, but everything has a limit, and she reached hers.
"Oh hohoho⁓ preach sister!" Pixie-Bob clamored, "I get the feeling we'll get along just fine" the blue themed heroine said with a grin, all while Aizawa was trying to process what was told to him.
"Uh…I'm so sorry" Izuku apologized to Mandalay who just waved it off.
"Don't…sweat it, Aizawa-san had his own share of flak thrown at him for what he has done in UA" Mandalay began, making Izuku go bug-eyed, "He has…high standards on what a hero should be and perform"
"You mean so high he's pretty much stuck in his own-"
"Pixie-Bob! Keep it PG!" Mandalay barked, sighing as her teammate and friend pouted, but then smirked.
"Still didn't save him from that woman, remember that mop head?" Pixie-Bob teased Aizawa, who looked ready to murder her.
"I don't recall anything of the sort"
"Because she knocked you the eff out!" she laughed, "She clocked you so hard you spun three times on the air and hit the ground face first! Vlad King was laughing his ass off! And so was I!!!"
"Uh…did…something happened…between them?" Izuku risked the question, looking rather uncomfortable, just like Eri was at the current conversation.
Tiger risked the answer, "They were together…and they broke up…rather messily"
"…That bad?" Izuku mouthed, the equivalent of a whisper with his enhanced vocal chords.
Tiger nodded while making a cringe face, it had been…not a good time for Pixie…or Ice Cream…or the cliff that used to be nearby.
It wasn't long (thankfully) to reach a set of doors, "Okay" Mandalay said, opening the door and ushering the Midoriyas plus Eri inside.
The room was rather spacious, there was a TV set and two beds, one bigger than the other, surely for Inko and Eri to sleep together, Izuku wouldn't mind sleeping on the floor as long Inko and Eri could sleep comfortably, there was also a fake wall separating the room, or at the very least separating the beds, to give some sense of privacy to the occupants.
"This will be your room" Mandalay called, allowing the trio to get in, "There's a TV set as requested by you, we have a spare computer that's disconnected of the internet, clever thinking by you by the way" Mandalay praised Izuku who blushed at that, little people tended to praise him, and a heroine just did, this was a good day!
"When you guys are ready we can start talking about a schedule and perhaps a more accurate description of your Quirk Midoriya-kun, and maybe brainstorm for some names, you really need to name it" Mandalay stated as she left the trio to unpack.
The Midoriyas smiled, Izuku dropping the bags and starting to unpack, Eri helping up as best she could as Inko folded the clothes and started to set in, preparing for what lay ahead.
For the Pussycats and the erasure hero, they had another thing to do, once they arrived to the living room.
"Okay, first off, Pixie, Eraserhead, I know you two had a messy breakup and don't even start I am talking and you will listen, even if I have to broadcast myself into your heads" Mandalay snapped, making both to keep their mouths shut, they knew that Mandalay was not to be crossed when she was like this.
"But I want you two to keep it professional okay? No snark, no bite, no sudden Quirk cancelation or so God help me I'll shove my feet up both your asses and wear you as sandals, am I understood?" Pixie-Bob nodded, knowing that this would happen when it was informed that Aizawa was going to be the extra security detail for the Midoriyas and little Eri.
Aizawa for his part grunted, this didn't satisfied Mandalay, "I mean it Eraserhead, I am not in the mood for your bullshit, I have already enough on my plate with the Midoriyas and the Troupe, not to mention…sis" Aizawa gaze softened, he and every hero knew damn well what the Pussycats were dealing with.
The death of their sister team, The Water Hose, especially Mandalay with the death of her sister and her brother-in-law, leaving an orphan behind after their deaths at the hands of the villain and battle maniac Muscular.
The aftermath was still felt, even after five months of their deaths, the fact a criminal as dangerous as Muscular was willing to massacre and entire village just to get some excitement on his life told them pretty much the level of insanity real villains had, the level of callousness they had for human life, but also set a dangerous precedent.
Heroes die, they are human too, but most of the time it was because of a mistake they make on the field, most of the times not even the villains had a hand on their deaths, it was a shocking statistic, but heroes died far more during rescue operations rather than combat, mostly because they weren't trained for rescue and didn't knew the procedures, tended to wander into dangerous terrain and there their Quirks didn't help them.
This was a statistic shared among a newer generation, the Water Hose, The Pussycats, Thirteen, All-Might, Endeavor and Eraserhead belonged to a generation that saw a rise of true villains, not the current villains, but true, evil, callous, cold-blooded killers whose plans tended to cause severe loss of human life.
The current generation had 'villains' but these ones would rather steal a purse and do it in silence than tangle with a far better trained hero, hell most of the time they fought out of desperation, it was hard to find villains that had tangled with heroes and had escaped their fights, it was harder still to find villains of the caliber of Muscular, yet it happened.
And the Water Hose had paid the price of that sloppy mistake they should had corrected years ago, Muscular was wanted on several prefectures, murder was his most predominant crime, The Water Hose team were not his first hero victims, but they shouldn't have been his victims at all if they had done their jobs, had organized a team and hunted him down like the rabid animal he is.
For fuck sakes Endeavor might not have All-Might unnatural super strength, but he shoots fire hot enough to sublimate muscle, Muscular would be well cooked and on his way to Tartarus if someone in the HPSC hadn't been dragging their fucking knuckles like a under evolved gorilla.
"I'll try my best, but don't expect miracles, problem child seems to have a penchant for problems" Aizawa replied.
"You do realize he had his Quirk active for just a month right? Be thankful he just attracts problems and he's not drunk with power" Tiger snapped, "I'm more worried about the little girl, Eri, she seemed scared on the prospect of using her Quirk" the giant pussycat stated with a frown.
"Probably trauma" Aizawa stated.
"Trauma? You see the pictures of her arms?" Aizawa shook his head at Ragdoll's question, "Oh, of course, you were punished, sorry, long story short, her arms are a collection of scars that frankly make me wanna claw the eyes of the guy who did them, slowly, painfully, then make him eat them, alongside his balls" Ragdoll explained in a rather…somber tone.
Aizawa just blinked at the tone the usually cheery woman said things, "Right" he shook his head, "In any case we must be careful, we don't know what she can truly do, Pixie-Bob, you will build a pair of walls at her sides to funnel her Quirk activation if it goes violent, in one single direction, I'll stay behind to erase her Quirk if anything goes wrong" Aizawa stated.
"The files we got state that Midoriya-kun has some similar abilities that can nullify Quirks, but wish to test them first before anything else, if yours fail, we can fall back onto his, so Eri's first Quirk activation will have to wait at least two days until we know what he's truly capable off, okay?" the group nodded at Mandalay's reasoning.
"Excuse me he can what?" Pixie-Bob wondered out loud, "I get he has enough firepower to level an entire city block so he wishes, I mean he mentioned atomization as a side-effect of one of his attacks, but having the ability to also cancel Quirks? That's a fucking goldmine" Pixie-Bob stated, "But I get the fact he wants to see if it works as well as he claims, which begs the question…what the hell is his Quirk?"
"I can tell you" Pixie-Bob jumped from her seat and into Ragdoll's lap in sheer fright, looking around to the source of the voice and seeing…was that the purple outline of a boy?
Then the outline poofed slightly and Izuku was there, actually grinning, "Partial invisibility, work better on shadows and dark nights, Hunters are cheap and cheat, but you can't deny they have the best tricks" he commented as he looked at the assembled pros.
Aizawa was the first to speak, "You can turn invisible?"
"Partial" Izuku commented, "It's all part of the Nightstalker ensemble, hit fast, hit hard and be alive to tell the tale" Izuku said.
"Well" Pixie-Bob said as she dislodged herself of Ragdoll, "Don't do that again, like really don't do it again, nearly had a heart attack, and since when you been here?"
"Uh…about ten seconds, wanted to surprise you all, been practicing with the Void since we left Musutafu, I'm getting a better handling of it now" he said with a small smile, "It's really hard you know, the Void, it's not like the feeling of Arc energy discharging at once, or the feeling of Solar energy being let out at bursts, its…there, but you have to embrace the Void to understand the Void, be calm in the Void"
"I understood literally nothing of what you said" Pixie-Bob began, "Maybe if we knew what you can do maybe all that fortune cookie spiel would make some sense" she added.
Izuku simply took a deep breath, rolling around the balls of his feet, "Okay, just…keep an open mind" he said as he went to one of the seats nearby and sat down.
"It can't be that bad" Tiger muttered.
"It's a gamer Quirk" Izuku simply dropped the bomb down.
"…Bullshit" Pixie-Bob remarked, "There are no Gamer Quirks in Japan, only China and Korea have them, also no Gamer Quirk can do what you do, they add perks and enough numbers to drive any mathematician to a mental meltdown, they don't make someone able to become invisible and handle supernatural forces beyond our comprehension" Pixie-Bob argued.
"Show what you know about them" Izuku riposted, "Gamer Quirks, like the name implies, take elements of games, RPG's, fighting, racing, first person shooters, true they all so far have one common denominator, a HUD and a status screen filled with numbers and stats, mine doesn't" Izuku clarified.
"My Quirk pretty much does the opposite, instead of a constant grind, my Quirk allows me to take the powers and special abilities of the characters I play as, as long as I meet the parameters and use them for myself, no numbers, no HUD, there is training, but that's the critical difference between Gamer Quirks and mine" Izuku said.
Silence fell on the living room once he explained this, for the pros this was a new development, never before a Gamer Quirk had changed in such a radical way, it explained why he was so powerful, he could literally cherry pick his power from a vast selection of overpowered characters and make them his own.
"There is a 'but' in there is it?" Aizawa asked, more focused than before.
"Yes, to begin I cannot gain powers of characters who stared first on books of any kind, comic books, mangas, reading books, I tested it with Superman games and The Witcher games, my Quirk short-circuited, also I don't know about characters that may have started in movies or TV series, I am planning to test that with a Star Wars game I have, those characters and powers must have begun their lives in a video game, I think there is a loophole so I'm testing it today, the second rule is difficulty, I have to complete the game I am playing in its hardest mode, also I have to beat the game, duh, if the game doesn't have a difficulty then there is the third rule, completion rate, I have to beat the game in its hardest mode and with a completion rate of either 95 to a 100, then there is rule four, I cannot get powers that depend on an object in its entirety, many think the Guardians depend on their Ghosts to use their Light, but Guardians are infused with the Light, Ghosts are there for one of their most broken abilities, resurrection, I don't have a Ghost so I can't be resurrected, but I can do everything else, like you saw, because I have a connection to fundamental forces in the universe now thanks to my Quirk, why I whisper? My voice is so powerful that raising it will make the room shake, this is an aftereffect of gaining the Thu'um, which in dragon means Shout, and the character who I played as could use it naturally, no objects involved in it activation, well he sucked the soul of a dragon but since I know how to Shout and its meanings I bypassed that step entirely, see what I mean, my Quirk it's so powerful because of its complicated set of rules I have to abide to" Izuku stated firmly.
"So" Mandalay began, "A copy Quirk that behaves like a Gamer Quirk" she summarized.
"Uh, try a copy and store Quirk, a month has passed since I gained the Thu'um, it hasn't lost its potency or felt…diminished, I think its permanent" Izuku corrected, making Mandalay blink, "But I must have a limit, I can't just…continue copying powers without stopping, there must be a limit of how much I can gain before it becomes too much for my body" Izuku concluded.
"Indeed" Tiger stated, "But that's the work of the doctors, we are here to ensure you're better prepared for combat, you know what you're getting and how can they be applied, but one thing is theory, other is the situation in question, first of all, what you got? What are you planning to add? So we can work around those" Tiger suggested.
"Well" Izuku put his hand on his chin, "My first power is the Thu'um, or Shout, I'll spare you the lore, but in a nutshell I can shout either flames, ice, freeze someone solid, among other things, each shout has three words of power, each word adds power to the shout, Unrelenting Force for example, Fus, Ro and Dah, force, balance and push, I got at least a dozen shouts in my arsenal, with three really capable of messing someone really bad and one I haven't tested because well, it was designed to attack dragons and make them realize the concept of mortality, something dragons cannot comprehend because they are kinda immortal" the Pussycats and Aizawa blinked at that.
"That's his first power?" was their collective thought, it was incredibly broken, but they could see some glaring weaknesses, like being too offensive, and of course being something he telegraphs without wanting, after all he is shouting them.
"Then its Blade Mode" Izuku said, "The name throws what it can do, with it I can slow my perception of time at half and increase my reaction speed, it goes to ninety if I do it after a parry, but it depends on adrenaline, so I use it on short bursts to not burn myself down and be left light headed"
Again a broken power, but with a factual weakness and an incredible redeeming quality, being able to react faster than your opponent, and even being able to react to their attacks, Aizawa would kill for a skill like that, and the kid had it as his second power, showing him that maybe there was a brain behind that mush of green hair.
"The third one…I'm embarrassed to admit but I got it by accident"
And the feeling of pride for the kid went out the window.
"I didn't check the difficulty, and I was kinda stressed, so" Izuku said as he lifted his left sleeve and showed the heroes the intricate blue glowing tattoos that covered his left arm.
"Its not just my arm, my entire left side its covered in alien tattoos, this is the sign of a Siren, a female warrior that can kill with their brains, metaphorically and literally, the one I got is called Phasetrance, you saw it in action, the six arms, I can call them forth to unleash a melee of brutal attacks, or shoot them like missiles, or slam one into the ground and make it burst under my opponent to create a stasis field around them, or leap into the air and shoot lasers down, and slam down after, and I can imbued them with elemental properties, right there's where the Light comes in"
"There's more!?" was their collective thought, it was scary, with those three powers he was a fearsome melee combatant, one of care, if he didn't shout you to a wall, he could punch you into one, or one of his six arms would clip you, he gave no particular avenue to dodge his limbs, he can shoot them like missiles! There are very few people in the world that can claim they can launch their arms as rockets, and apparently he can put someone in stasis and shoot lasers, LASERS!
"The Light of the Traveler is…complicated, it's a paracasual force, right now I'm outside the laws of cause and effect, I think, maybe, as a result of this I can wield the three spectrums of Light associated to Guardians, beings that are infused with the Light to fight the Darkness, another paracasual force, Solar, which is derived from the energies produced by Quantum forces, Arc, which derive from the forces that binds complex matter and Void, which is a derivative from the dark energy of the vacuum 'beneath' matter, with it I can do a lot of things, I am stronger because of it, a little tougher, I can break most natural laws of physics, like double jumping in mid-air, I can infuse my melee attacks to cause a number of…status, and when I want to get serious I unleash it all in what it is called supers, me going invisible? Just an example of what I can do with the Light"
The heroes remained silent, mostly mulling on what they had learned, the fourth power? Easily something that warranted immediate study, as in ship him to I-Island, with a full hero contingent, he was breaking several laws of…pretty much everything by simply existing.
And they were supposed to train him, to be prepared against the Troupe, he was more than ready, he was right now the most dangerous fourteen year old alive-
"Calm down" Aizawa chided himself, "Tiger said it itself, he's here to train and ensure he's ready, the kid blitzed Troupe creatures out of anger, not strategy, he needs the training, and he knows it! He wouldn't be sharing this if he didn't knew this" Aizawa reminded himself, it was simply logic, the kid was smart, smart enough to recognize that even with this overwhelming power he was just a child, and the Troupe had enough troops to wither him down if he wasn't careful