Chapter Text
Izuku hated this, he really did! Why did Kacchan have to be so mean?? Mura-kun didn’t deserve to be hit like that! It doesn’t matter that his quirk isn’t as cool as Kacchan’s, Kacchan shouldn’t hit him! Sometimes Izuku thinks Kacchan does these things on purpose – he knows Izuku will step in front of him and try to protect whoever he’s bullying, and then he’ll hurt Izuku. Today’s no different.
“Come on, Deku, get back up! If you want to prove you’re better than me, you have to be able to get back up!” Kacchan fired up some sparks in his hands, ready to burn Izuku again. “Or you can prove to everyone that you’re a useless, quirkless, worthless Deku and stay down!”
With tears in his eyes, Izuku got back to his feet. “I won’t let you hurt people for no reason, Kacchan!” Izuku gritted out. He was glad that Mura-kun had already run off, but now Izuku was going to get it even worse since Kacchan’s original target had left.
“Then it’s a good thing you’re not a person, huh, Deku!?” Kacchan snarled.
Izuku clenched his eyes shut tightly and wished he was anywhere else, so Kacchan couldn’t hit him anymore, and suddenly, he felt the world… shift?
Izuku carefully opened his eyes and was surprised to find himself standing behind Kacchan, and . . . Izuku looked see-through! He stumbled back with a yelp, and Kacchan spun around looking for him with fury in his eyes.
“Where did you go, Deku?! Come back here!” Sparks were flying off his palms, bigger and brighter than ever before, and Izuku knew that those would leave more than just some slight redness, so he started running away from Kacchan as fast as he could.
So, of course Izuku tripped over a pebble and fell to the ground. “DEKU!!” Kacchan yelled, having seen the boy fall to the ground. Izuku panicked and as he got up and started running, he tried to make himself see-through again. It must have worked since he heard Kacchan yelling about him vanishing again.
Izuku kept running all the way back home and didn’t stop until he ran into the door. Digging out his key, he unlocked the door and tossed off his shoes, looking on in wonder as they went from see-through to fully visible as he dropped them.
“Izuku, sweetie, is that you?” Inko called out to him, leaving the kitchen.
“Yeah, mom, I’m home,” he answered, still panting from his run home.
“Honey, where are you?” she asked, looking around. “Did you already go to your room?”
“No, I’m right here!” he called back to her.
She looked back to where she had heard his voice. “Sweetie, I don’t… Oh! Your quirk must have come in!” She clapped her hands excitedly. “The quirk specialist said you were just a late bloomer!”
Izuku grinned up at her. “I’m see-through!” he said, jumping up and down.
Inko tilted her head and put her finger on her chin. “No, you’re not see-through, Izuku. I can’t see you at all.”
Izuku looked down to his hands and his body. “But… I can see myself?” He was struck by sudden realization. “Oh, probably so I know where I am! This is so cool!” He ran up to his mom and hugged her, turning himself visible when he touched her.
“Oh! Here you are, Sweetie!” she exclaimed as she hugged him tightly. “I can see you now!”
“Mom, can we go to the quirk doctor tomorrow? I want to know what I can do!”
“Sure baby, I’ll make an appointment now, and hopefully your dad can come with us!” Inko said and picked up her phone to make the call.
~*~*~*~
Izuku was sitting in the waiting room, with his mom on one side and his dad on the other when the nurse called for them. “Midoriya? This way please.” She directed Izuku to stand on a scale to get his weight, and then she got his height. After recording both, she took his temperature and blood pressure, then left the room, saying “The doctor will be with you shortly.”
“I’m so excited!” Izuku squealed. He was bouncing in his seat and his parents were both laughing at him, and he must have gotten too excited because he noticed his hands were see-through again. “Oh, oops,” he pouted. He hadn’t quite figured out how to control that, and he didn’t know how to turn it off other than to touch someone. He knew that he should be able to turn it off another way, after all when he was running from Kacchan yesterday, it stopped after he tripped.
His mom just giggled at him and reached out for him so he could undo the quirk. “Thanks mom!” he grinned.
The quirk specialist knocked on the door and opened it. “Well, hello Midoriya family! It’s good to see you again. In case you forgot, my name is Doctor Tsubasa.”
“Doctor Tsubasa, I got my quirk!” Izuku said happily. “You said it was just late, and it was!”
“So, it seems!” the doctor chuckled. “Let’s see what all you can do!”
~*~*~*~
After about an hour of various tests, the doctor looked pleased with his results. “Well, it seems you’ve got quite the interesting quirk, young man! It seems to me that you have four main aspects of your quirk. First is invisibility, which I believe you have already become familiar with. Next is a form of teleportation, but it seems you can only teleport to a person’s back. The third aspect of your quirk appears to be an affinity for agility and dexterity-based skills, such as acrobatics or parkour. The final aspect of your quirk,” Doctor Tsubasa seemed hesitant to say the final aspect, but forced himself to, “has to do with poison.”
“Poison?” Hisashi asked.
“Yes, poison. It seems your son can manipulate the oils in his skin, specifically on the pads of his fingers, to create poisons. These poisons will remain for a limited period on whatever he places them on.”
“I have one more question,” Hisashi asked. “These poisons, you said they come from the pads of his fingers? Will he need to wear gloves to prevent the poisons from effecting others?”
“No, no, not to worry there. Creating the poisons will be a conscious effort – he will need to want to create them, and he can only create one once he knows how it is constructed. Since I doubt he’s studied poisons right now, he won’t be able to create any.”
Hisashi nodded his thanks and the doctor moved on.
The doctor looked at the list of abilities once more. “I don’t believe I have ever seen a quirk like this before.”
Hisashi huffed out an amused laugh. “That would be my fault,” he said. “We have a long list of fantasy-based quirks on my side. One of my relatives could turn invisible, another could enchant items to have a certain effect, and I can breathe fire. I’ve read up on fantasy books and games, just in case my kid has a quirk from my side of the family. It sounds like Izuku’s quirk wants to make him into a Rogue!”
“Dad, what’s a Rogue?” Izuku asked.
“They are tricky close-combat fighters who rely on speed and grace to fight their battles, rather than raw power. You’ve heard of Underground Heroes, right, Izuku?” At Izuku’s nod, Hisashi continued, “A Rogue is a lot like an Underground Hero.”
“Cool!” Izuku grinned brightly.
“There is one problem,” Doctor Tsubasa cut in. “Because Izuku can create various poisons, his body will be immune to the effects of medicines, since his quirk won’t be able to differentiate between poison and medicine.”
“So, if he gets sick, we won’t be able to give him cold medicine?” Inko asked, worried.
“Well,” Doctor Tsubasa said, “you could, but it would have no effect on him. Furthermore, if he was to injure himself, pain medicine would also have no effects on him.” Turning a small smile to Izuku, he asked, “Now, what would you like to name your quirk?”
“Hmm.” Izuku scrunched up his face and thought hard, before he brightened back up. “Dad said it’s like a Rogue, right? So, I want to call it Rogue!”
Izuku and his parents left the office soon after, with little Izuku in a fantastic mood, while his parents were a little more cautious. Inko worried about how she would be able to care for her son when sick if medicines wouldn’t work, and Hisashi worried about how his son might view his quirk in the future when he realizes what society will inevitably come to view his quirk as.
Meanwhile, Doctor Tsubasa was making a note in the child’s file and sending an alert to the local police to keep an eye out – this child had a very dangerous quirk with the potential to be a powerful villain. If the child is allowed to train his quirk, he could become an A-Rank villain quite easily – possibly even an S-Rank.
~*~*~*~
“Don’t forget to brush your teeth, Izuku!” Inko said and kissed her son’s cheek as he went to get ready for bed.
Once she was sure he was safely in his room and asleep, Inko turned to her husband. “What aren’t you telling me?” she asked.
Hisashi looked up at Inko with a bit of worry in his eyes. “His quirk,” he whispered. “It’s going to be looked at as villainous. Poisons, stealth, teleporting to a person’s back? I don’t know how to protect him from this, Inko.”
She walked over to her husband and pulled him into her arms. “We’ll deal with whatever happens as it happens, Dear.”
“You’re right. But I shouldn’t have mentioned a Rogue,” Hisashi muttered. “Rogues are known for being murderous, thieving tricksters, equally apt with blades and traps, they deal damage so fast their targets are often dead before they have time to attack back.” He buried his face in his wife’s shoulder. “Maybe I should have mentioned Druids instead? But no, they deal in nature magic.” He groaned in despair.
“Hisashi, Izuku will be fine! He’s a smart boy, and he’s always wanted to be a hero! With this quirk, you already said, he’ll be able to be a great Underground Hero! Izuku will learn how to spin this. Rogues are a fantasy construct? Have there never been good rogues?”
“Well,” Hisashi hesitated. “Rogues are usually played as a morally grey character, at best. Or if they do fight for the forces of good, they do so in the worst way possible, like, a chaotic good? The main selling point of a Rogue is that they don’t play by the rules.”
Inko ran her fingers through her husband’s hair. “Well,” she finally said. “I’ll just have to make sure he does. And if anyone tries to call him a villain because of what his quirk has the potential to become, they’ll have to deal with me.”
Inko was one of the best discrimination lawyers in the country, and if anyone was going to be prepared for the ordeals that would befall having a child with a supposed ‘villainous’ quirk, it would be Midoriya Inko.
Hisashi could almost feel pity for the poor souls who felt they could mistreat their son.
~*~*~*~
Izuku quietly snuck back into his room. He had wanted to get a glass of water and he had heard his parents talking about him, so he used his quirk to become invisible and listened in.
His quirk was villainous? But…
Izuku shook his head, and he wiped the tears that had started falling. He wanted to be a hero! He was going to be a hero!
Izuku turned on his computer and started looking up information on Underground Heroes. He wouldn’t be able to be a hero like All Might, but he would still be a hero!
After looking for a while, Izuku started getting a little upset. He couldn’t find any information on Underground heroes! All he was able to find was a definition of what an Underground Hero was. And, well, that did make sense, but how was he supposed to see how they handled their quirks around the public? Did any of them have villainous quirks?
With these questions in mind, Izuku got out a new notebook and started writing. Underground Heroics for the Future Vol. 1.
He’d have to do a lot of research on these types of heroes, they weren’t as easy to find as the Limelight heroes he normally watched, but this was important! Izuku wasn’t a villain, and he didn’t want to be treated as a villain. Izuku wanted to be a hero!