Chapter Text
Chapter 0: Prologue
Todoroki Shouto and other class 1-A students were watching Endeavor fight the Nomu. Endeavor yelled "Plus Ultra! Prominence burn!" and went beyond his limits to burn the nomu. Both the Nomu and him fell to the ground. But then, Endeavor was standing. It was his victory.
Todoroki Shouto never had thought he would be worried for his old man. But, at that moment, he let go of his breath which he didn't remember holding and he felt relieved. Maybe he did want to give Endeavor a chance. A chance to prove himself....and he couldn't help but hope for the better.
Then, a black mist covered all of the students and they difted off to sleep.
----------
Endeavor
Endeavor was standing. He couldn't help but feel relieved when he won the fight. He had so much more to do. He only realized his mistakes when he finally got the first place which he was so obsessed with. Only then, he realized the weight on his shoulders and how he fucked up all those years. He owed so much to his family. He wasn't a good husband or a good father. But, maybe, he could start with becoming a good hero, a hero they can be proud of. So, he felt relieved when he survived. He still have a chance...
Then, a black mist appeared out of no where and he was covered in it. He felt sleepy.
----------
Midoriya Izuku woke up first and saw himself lying on the floor. He looked around and saw Todoroki and Iida have woke up as well and looking around in search of clues. Other classmates were lying on the floor unconscious. Soon, they all started waking up one by one.
"So, everyone is here."
Todoroki started.
"Yea..Yeah, I can only remember watching Endeavor's fight on TV and...then a black mist appears?? then, I kinda fell asleep." Midoriya stated with a slight stutter. He was really trying not to panic too much.
"EVERYONE! DON't Panic!! We're heroes in training so we have to be prepared for dealing any situations! We have to stay calm and search for clues so that we can escape!" Iida shouted in his usual manner.
"That's class rep for you!" Midoriya sweat dropped.
"But, he's right though. We have to figure out where we are and what happened."
Todoroki said.
"Yeah and we can't do anything if we're panicked" Uraraka said as she walked over to them.
"Uraraka!" Midoriya smiled as he called her.
"All right, problem children. I see all of you are here as well"
A familiar voice came from the doors and class 1-A students felt relieved.
"Aizawa sensei!" Midoriya called.
"Follow me." Aizawa said and he lead his students into a room.
After they entered the room, they realized it was a theater. Then, they saw All Might, Endeavor, Hawks, Detective Tsukauchi, Nezu and Mic in the seats.
"Aizawa sensei, what happened?"
"And Endeavor...he's sitting here too..Isn't he injured ?" Midoriya asked.
"We don't know either. We all woke up in this room and Mic found a letter on his seat. It said you're here as well so I came to find you, problem children" Aizawa replied.
Just after Aizawa replied, a girl appears out of nowhere.
"Well, I guess everyone's here now. So, let's just get to business, shall we?"
The pro heroes tensed at that.
The girl just smiles again as if to reassure them. "Oh, no need to get so tense. I have no intentions to harm you all. I'm here because I wanted to give you guys a gift. Well, in this case, the gift is a chance to watch an alternate universe. In other words, you get to see how your actions past few months have changed the future. After watching, you can go back. I don't care what happens after that. Oh right, you don't need to worry about Endeavor. He's not injured here and you don't need to worry about time as well. Time is stopped in here so when you get back, it'll be as if you never left!"
There's only silence after her speech. It was only a moment later that Nezu started. "So, we have to watch an alternate universe to be able to leave?"
"Yes"
"And, how do we know you're not lying us?" He asked.
"Well, you can't do anything because quirks don't work here and only I can send you back." She replied confidently.
Endeavor didn't seem to buy what she said as he started throwing his fire at her only to realize he couldn't even create the flames. Nezu looked at him and said slowly.
"Very well. Then, we have no choice but to watch."
"Awesome. So, let's get this started." She said excitedly only to stop and look at the crowd again. Then, she sighed. "Why didn't I realize I forgot to bring the league ?"
"What?!"
"Oh, I just realized I forgot to bring the league here as well. Don't worry though. No one can injure another person in here." She looked at the students who are still standing and then continued."you guys might wanna sit. This is going to take a while."
After that, a black mist appears again, bringing the league this time.
"What the ACTUAL FUCK?!!" Dabi swears as he gets up. Then, he tried to burn Endeavor alive only to realize he can't use his quirk. The girl sighed as she explained all over again.
"I can't believe I'm sitting in the same room as those so called heroes and watch this" Shigaraki groaned.
"So, let's get started" The mysterious girl said and disappeared.
Before they could say anything else, the screen starts.
Chapter 1:Temptation
//Izuku Midoriya tried to like heroes. He really did. That was difficult, however, when it had only been a month since the number one hero himself had crushed Izuku’s dreams like a stale cracker, and then simply watched as Kacchan was attacked. Izuku wondered what would have happened if Death Arms hadn’t prevented him from running in at the last minute. Maybe he would have impressed All Might, who would have taken him on, and taught him how to be a hero. Izuku scoffed at his own thoughts. Him, a quirkless loser, impress All Might? Yeah right. //
All Might and Midoriya looked at the screen, slightly surprised. That.. was... different...
"Quirkless? but he's not quirkless" Many of the others commented that.
"That's supposed to be an alternate universe, right? Maybe Deku is quirkless there while here, he has a quirk?" Uraraka said.
"Maybe" Todoroki replied, unconvinced.
//As it was, All Might had gotten his act together eventually and Kacchan had been alright, if unconscious, when he was retrieved from the sludge villain's body, and Izuku had spent the last month quietly selling off his All Might merchandise and harboring a growing resentment toward hero society. Which is what led him to where he was now, sitting at a sketchy internet cafe, about to tell a random internet acquaintance, who in all probability might be a villain, how to kill a minor hero. //
"W...wait.. what?" Midoriya stuttered.
The pro heroes watch in shock as they realized Midoriya on the screen was turning into a villain.
//He had found the post on one of the more underground hero forums, the kind that often included posts about vigilantes and villains alongside the heroes. Izuku didn’t necessarily want to be on it, but he was holding onto a hope that if he just continued doing the things he enjoyed before everything went to shit then he might eventually start feeling a spark of something besides anger.
The post itself hadn’t been that long, just one question:
Whyher0es301: Completely hypothetically, how would one go about killing Mt. Lady?//
"Don't tell me he plans to reply this.." Todoroki said worried for his friend.
"Oh no..." Uraraka said having a feeling that Deku might reply that.
"What have I done? " All Might felt his chest tighten. Surely, that wasn't what happened in their universe but the fact that him being too close to fail his successor was something he wasn't prepared to see.
"I hope this doesn't go as I think this would" Nezu said.
Shigaraki looked at the screen and thought, "He finally realized the true nature of those so called heroes." He glanced at Midoriya who sat beside Todoroki. "Unlike this one"
//A simple post like that shouldn’t have changed his life. Izuku should have just ignored it, or maybe told the police, especially after he read through the users old post and discovered that, even if they weren’t a villian, they were definitely a villain sympathizer. He should have not given it a second thought and turned to more reputable forums to try and dig himself out of his growing depression. Instead, he did none of that. For the next week, the question repeated in Izuku’s mind like a broken record, his mind latching onto anything that could cut through his apathy. How would one go about killing Mt. Lady? She was a new hero, prideful, and media hungry, which might explain why she was one of the hero world’s rising stars, but Izuku knew she had weaknesses. He found himself at more and more of her fights over the next week, trying and failing to convince himself that he was there because he liked Mt. Lady, not because he was analysing her weaknesses. It had only taken him three days to realize that his hero analysis books contained enough information on heroes weaknesses that he could probably kill any hero he wanted to, with a little work. The thought made him sick, but it still didn’t stop him from seeking out Mt. Lady’s fights and it definitely didn’t stop his brain from obsessing over how to kill her. //
"That's what he writes in his notebooks?! We have to see his notebooks when we get back" Nezu said to Aizawa and he nods.
"We gotta get those notebooks" Shigaraki said to the league.
"But what about Izuku? He looks like he's going to be a villain here so why not try convince our Izuku as well? !" Toga said enthusiastically.
"No, I don't think that would work. This kid here worships heroes a lot." Dabi shook his head.
"Yeah and that get on my nerves." Shigaraki scratched his neck with his two fingers.
//It would be laughably easy, Izuku realized, to use her love of the media against her. Pretend to be a reporter, lure her into a densely populated area with narrow streets to prevent her from using her quirk, ask for a selfie and stab her through the heart while her eyes were focused on the camera, then blend into the crowd before anyone realized she was dead. He tried to leave it at that. He knew how to kill her, so he really didn’t need to be thinking about it anymore. After the week he’d had, he really should have expected that putting the issue out of his mind wouldn’t work. Anyway, it was all hypothetical anyway, right? What was the harm in private messaging the poster and describing his plan, as well as a few back ups, just in case. After all, it wasn’t as if the poster was actually a villian, just a villian sympathiser. Mt. Lady probably wouldn’t end up dead. And Izuku could make a dummy account at an internet cafe just in case, so that no one could track his IP address, and then he’d never have to use the account again and maybe he’d actually be able to finally stop thinking about this. //
"He.. he was thinking how to kill Mount lady!!!" Mineta yelled.
"Oh no...young Midoriya..." All Might felt hurt seeing his successor like this.
//A little over an hour after walking into the internet cafe, Izuku signed out of the account he’d made, M4sterM1nd404, and walked out the front door feeling oddly relieved. Izuku Midoriya tried to like heroes. It didn’t work.//
"The heroes failed him..Now this gets more and more interesting" Shigaraki laughed.
"I failed him....We failed him" The pro heroes thought.
“Young Midoriya, I’m sorry… I know this didn’t happen in our timeline but…it must have been hard for you all those years.. I,,I shouldn’t have let you down so harshly in the first place.” All Might said.
Midoriya shook his head while holding his tears, “All.. All Might, it’s not your fault.. And you didn’t crush my dreams.. It’s fine now.”
“That..I’m glad, my boy. I never regret choosing you.” All Might smiled weakly at him.
//Izuku’s life went about surprisingly unchanged after his brief descent into maybe villainy. There had been several times since then when he found himself on a verge of a panic attack, wondering what he could have been thinking, sending off his notes like that. Every time he managed to calm himself down by justifying that the person he messaged probably just thought he was some creep for taking his post seriously. The poster hadn’t even expected a response, he was just venting frustration, probably, so nothing was going to come of it. He wondered, in those moments, if he was a bad person for feeling sad about that fact. He knew he was.//
"He was feeling sad that his plan wasn't carried out.... " Todoroki pointed out.
"This is bad..." Tsukauchi said as he focused on the screen.
//It had been eight days since Izuku had messaged the poster and he had just finished banaging himself up from Kacchan’s latest attempt to put him in his place. The beatings had become even worse since the sludge villain incident. From what Izuku could gather from Kacchan’s rants between his explosions, he was trying to prove he wasn’t some weak ass victim or something like that. The end result was that Izuku spent most of his life nowadays alone and in pain, but how was that any different from every day since he turned four?//
"Midoriya, did this happen to you, too?" Aizawa asked with a frown.
Midoriya flinched at that. He already felt so helpless seeing himself slowly becoming a villain and now that he also sees the abuse, he felt himself slowly breaking down.
"Izuku....you're not weak. You're strong." Todoroki muttered comforting words to Midoriya, not realizing he called him by his name. He just felt so angry that he never knew Midoriya was bullied and that Bakugo is the bully. He wanted to punch Bakugo in the face so badly but he knows this is not the time. Midoriya needs him now.
Aizawa watches as Midoriya flinched and leaned into Todoroki's hug and he spoke to Bakugo. "We're going to talk about this later, Bakugo" Bakugo scoffed at that.
"He was bullied and heroes failed him. Heroes didn't save him just like they didn't save me.." Shigaraki thought as he scratched his neck harder.
//Izuku was just tugging his shirt down to hide the bandages as he left the bathroom when he heard his mother gasp and drop a pan in the next room. He ran in to find her staring open mouthed at the TV, the news anchor standing on what was normally a busy street, the shot backlit by flashing police sirens. “...As of yet, police have few leads on the identity of the attacker, only saying that he might have some sort of stealth quirk considering how quickly he was able to disappear in the aftermath of Mt. Lady’s death this afternoon. A vigil for the fallen hero will be held…”//
"His plan was carried out" Tsukauchi said. "which makes him an accomplice for murder, accidentally or not..." Aizawa continued, his face fell as he realized what his student did.
//"Isn’t that terrible, Izuku! She was such a new hero too. Who would do something like this…” His mother turned back into the kitchen, trying to distract herself by preparing dinner. Izuku simply stared at the TV in shock, not really seeing anything. The poster had been serious after all. He had actually done it. Which meant that he, Izuku Midoriya, a hero fanboy, was now accessory to a hero’s murder. Izuku’s started to hyperventilate only to be violently knocked out of his upcoming panic attack by another thought. Mt. Lady was dead. That meant that he, a quirkless Deku, had beaten a hero. An unfamiliar warm feeling welled up in his chest and he fought down a smile. He wondered if this made a bad person. He knew it did.//
"He felt happy for his plan to be carried out..." Aizawa said. "and he felt accomplishment after that.." Nezu continued," which means there's every chance that he's going to continue this. "
"Because he have been told he was useless all his life. It's only natural that he would do everything to be appreciated and to feel accomplished." Tsukauchi added. "I don't like where this is going"
"Me neither.." All Might said weakly.
"None of us do..." Todoroki said as he held Midoriya's hands, rubbing soothing circles. Midoriya's eyes are swollen as he cries at the idea of becoming the very opposite of what he always dreamed to be.
"Deku...." Uraraka sobbed beside him.
"I don't .... I don't want to be a villain. I don't want to kill a hero... I don't... I'm not..." Midoriya sobbed and Todoroki pulled him into a hug saying comforting words. He doesn't know the other Izuku but he does know this Izuku. And, he trusts him.
"We need to set up a counseling section with Hound dog for problem child" Aizawa said, looking at the exchange. Nezu agrees. They know they are watching an alternate universe and that Midoriya Izuku is different from this Midoriya Izuku. So, they won't judge him by this but they can't deny the fact that the kid needed therapy.
Chapter 2: Hope For The Future
//Despite his best efforts, Izuku found himself at an internet cafe logging into his Mastermind account a little under two weeks after Mt. Lady’s death. The TV in the corner is playing the news and even now won’t stop talking about the murder. There’s even talk about putting a memorial up where she was killed. Every time he hears about it, he feels a weird mixture of pride and nausea, the same feeling he felt every time he considered logging into his account. He knew that he should just let it lie, but recent events had shown how not great he was was at that. Once his brain had latched onto a problem, it wouldn’t rest until it was dead. Literally, in the case of Mt. Lady. He clicked on the little envelope at the top of the screen, seeing a notification for four new messages. He opened the oldest one first, the only one from the original Mt. Lady poster.
New Message:
From Whyher0es301
Thanks for the plan, I couldn’t have done it without you. Well, I couldn’t have gotten away with it at least. I know your reasons for helping are your own, mine are too, but just know that if you ever need anything, I’ve got your back.//
"Someone's already got his back,huh?" Dabi said.
"If he was planning to stop before, now, it was more unlikely." Tsukauchi said.
"I hope you could stop this before this gets worse" All Might muttered.
"I hope so." Tsukauchi shook his head. "Although I might be too late.."
//Well, Izuku thought, that’s nice of him at least. He sat back and took a deep breath. No one had ever thanked him before, well, not including his mom. Goodness knows Kacchan never did. It felt...really good if Izuku was being honest with himself, even if it was coming from a murderer. The thought made Izuku nauseous again. Just how desperate was he for attention if a compliment from a villian was enough to send him over the moon? He really was as pathetic as Kaccan was always saying, wasn’t he?//
Class 1-A students glare Bakugo.
"You're not pathetic, Izuku... You're not..you hear me?" Todoroki muttered softly to Izuku.
"Todoroki....you..." Midoriya said and Todoroki looked at him in his eyes. "Shouto.. call me Shouto, Izuku"
"Shou..Shouto..thanks.." Midoriya managed to say.
//Izuku shook his head in an attempt to yank himself out of a self pity spiral. If he let that get going, he might be there for hours and he really didn’t want to stay logged in on his villain account longer than necessary. (He pointedly ignored the voice in the back of his head that said having a villain account wasn’t supposed to be necessary at all.) It was then that he noticed the thank you note had a postscript.
P.S. I hope you don’t mind that I told a few friends about your account. None of them are cops, so don’t worry about any snitches. //
"So the kid's starting to have connections. not bad" Dabi said.
"You're saying as if Deku's going to be a villain!" Uraraka yelled at Dabi. She can't hear any of this now. Not when the Deku she knows is breaking down and the Deku on the screen is falling to villainy. She just can't.
Dabi scoffed at her. "As if what I say would change that damn thing"
//Izuku hurriedly clicked back to his inbox, trying not to panic. He refreshed the page twice, willing the words on the screen to change, but when had anything ever actually paid attention to what he wanted? Three new messages. From villains . It wasn’t like Izuku could justify it like he could last time by saying he didn’t know for certain these were villains. They had been referred to him by a murderer specifically because he had apparently made a murder plan . There was no way they weren’t villains. This was terrible! What had he gotten himself into?//
"So the damn nerd realizes he's in trouble. Took HIM LONG ENOUGHH!" Bakugo said in his usual loud manner.
"I don't know what to say.. Maybe I should be happy he's still not calling himself a villain and he just considers himself getting into trouble..But yeah, I still have a feeling this isn't over yet" Tsukauchi commented. Nezu nods and All Might just watches quietly.
//"Hey kid, are you ok?”
Izuku jumped when the teenager who had been running the counter put a hand on his shoulder. He hadn’t even realized he’d been hyperventilating until that moment. He nodded, willing the worker to just go away, but apparently he wasn’t that great of an actor because the worker just stood there looking concerned. Izuku took a few deep breaths, both to calm himself down and to convince the worker he’d be fine. When he felt he’d staved off the panic attack he met the workers eyes.
“Thank you for your concern. I think I’ll actually be heading home now.”
The worker nodded and walked back to the counter as Izuku signed out without reading the other messages. He considered deleting the account, //
"Go, Deku.. Delete that account" Uraraka said hopefully.
"Don't, kid. " Dabi said as his eyes solely focused on the screen.
//but the worker was still eyeing him with concern, so Izuku didn’t want to take too long. //
"He's being careful now. Good" Dabi observed.
//He almost sighed in relief when he walked through the doors. No doubt if the worker had seen anything incriminating on his screen, he would have called the cops rather than helping Izuku through a panic attack. He pulled at his hood self consciously as he turned toward home. Someone thought he was useful. The thought almost stopped him in his tracks, but he managed to trip over air instead. Someone thought he was useful. Sure, that someone was a villain, but still, someone thought he was useful! That meant he wasn’t just a worthless deku! //
"Oh my god... stop that thoughts, man. That's unhealthy for you" Kirishima says.
"Who the fuck cares about healthy now, shitty hair ?!! The damn nerd's so useless that he even feels happy for being useful for a fucking villain!!!" Bakugo yelled.
Then, Todoroki lost his temper. That's it. He's going to kill Bakugo in front of the league, his father and the teachers. He didn't care that he can't use his quirk. He walks up to Bakugo and punches him in the face, twice. He wants to punch some more but he was stopped by a mysterious force.
The girl from earlier appears again, frowning. "For the fuck's sake, didn't I tell you that no one can injure another person? That includes you, too, Todoroki-kun. If you wants to kill him, kill him when you're out of here. I don't wanna deal with this right now."
Todoroki glares at her. She doesn't seem to care though, as she turns to Bakugo and says, "and you too, Bakugo. I'm here to give you all a chance to see how much your actions can change someone's life and how those actions have impact on the entire society. So, stop being a fucking asshole and reflect on whatever you did, okay? "
"Whatever..you fucker." Bakugo swears but calmed down a bit. He wasn't an idiot and he knows he was at fault for the Deku on the screen becoming like this. "Well, if they think they can make me admit that I'm wrong, they can go fuck themselves." he thought.
//Bad Izuku , he shook his head. As great as that compliment felt, it was still coming from a villain, a murderer, and murder was wrong. Izuku reminded himself that this was a world he didn’t want to be caught up in and he didn’t want to associate with murderers, despite the fact that they seemed to be the only ones that didn’t see him as a waste of space. Murder is wrong! Izuku didn’t want to be a villain
He just had to keep reminding himself of that.//
"Yeah, you can do it, Midoriya" Iida cheers.
"yeah, man. We know you're not one to give up!" Kirishima said.
"The kid's still got morals and he didn't clearly want to be a villain..but he wants to feel appreciated too.." Tsukauchi commented sadly.
//Izuku kept his head down as he walked to his seat at the back of the classroom, mentally willing himself to become invisible. Kacchan had been quiet for a few days, which normally meant that an explosion was coming. He was so concerned with not meeting Kachhan’s eye that he didn’t notice the foot sticking out in the aisle until he was already going down. As it was, he knocked his chin hard on one of the desks and just barely avoided biting his tongue as the class roared with laughter. //
"How.. how can they laugh at him like that?!" Mina shouted.
"That's not how they should treat their fellow classmate!!" Iida joined in.
"Yeah, they're bullying him, kero" Tsuyu said.
//“Midoriya,” The teacher called out. Izuku felt his hope rise, was the teacher actually going to step in and put an end to the bullying? He had to have seen that guy trip him, right? “If you’re quite finished being a disruption, I am ready to begin the lesson.”
Izuku looked up at the teacher from his place on the floor, shocked. The teacher saw what had happened and was still turning a blind eye? Izuku sat shocked for a few silent seconds before looking down at the floor and nodding. He could already feel blood beginning to drip down his neck from where his chin hit the desk, but it was obvious that he wouldn’t be going to the nurse’s office today if his teacher’s initial reaction was anything to go by, so he just grabbed a handkerchief from his bag and held it to stop the bleeding as he hurriedly found his seat as the teacher began to talk. //
"They didn't even let him treat it?!!" Aizawa almost shouted, already losing his temper. That teacher is not only incompetent but also encouraging the bullies just because they have a quirk and Midoriya doesn't. That kind of behavior is unacceptable.
"Now, now, I guess we're going to have to investigate this and make sure that those kind of schools get what they deserve." Nezu started with a dangerous smile. Detective Tsukauchi nodded, "We'll see what we can do." He promised.
"Oh... Young Midoriya..." All Might glanced at Midoriya who seemed to have curled up to Todoroki's side and muttered. He was quirkless too before he get One For All but quirklessness wasn't this rare in his teenage years and so, quirkless people weren't bullied to this extent. It really hurts him to see.
Dabi looked at the screen and scoffed, remembering his own painful memories. Oh how he wasn't allowed to treat his burns and how he was forced to burn himself in the name of training. ..
He almost looked at Endeavor and yelled at him.. But, he couldn't. Not now. He'll have to wait for a better time to revenge.
//"So, everyone, I know that everyone has already decided what high school they want to go to and that most of you are headed for heroics. However, due to the highly competitive nature of that field, we’re obligated to dedicate time to a career planning workshop to make sure you know about other career paths that could be available to you. Take one of these worksheets and pass the rest back. You’ll have the whole period to work on them, so just raise your hand if you have any questions. Try to keep in mind your quirks, skills, and talents when weighing your options.”//
"Judging by the details in his notebooks, he could've gone for analyst. He's clearly good at that." Tsukauchi suggested.
"Yeah, as if people would believe him. He's quirkless after all, and people see quirkless people as useless" Shigaraki said bitterly.
Tsukauchi narrowed his eyes and he really wanted to say otherwise. But, he couldn't. That was the truth... And the reality of the society..he realized.
Instead, he turned to Nezu and asked a question he already knew the answer, "Has our society been this corrupted ?"
Nezu didn't answer. He didn't need to. But, they found they still don't want to believe it.
//Most of the students started to move around as soon as they received their worksheets, going to sit by their friends and the noise level gradually increased as everyone started up side conversations. Izuku turned his attention to the paper and started trying to think of careers that didn’t involve heroics. After all, if even All Might didn’t think it was possible…//
"Screw with what All Might thinks!!! Why do you even worship All Might that much!!? When he says you can't, you should've proved him otherwise!" Endeavor shouted at the on-screen Midoriya.
Midoriya had a blank look on his face, confused. Todoroki narrowed his eyes at his old man. Well, he forgot he was here since he had been awfully quiet this whole time.
"That...is...unexpected " Todoroki said awkwardly as he was rather surprised by Endeavor's outburst. Was he encouraging him or was he blaming him?? Hmm, it was hard to tell...
//"Oi, Deku!”
Izuku tensed at Kacchan’s tone, what now?
“So,” He could tell by the smirk on Kacchan’s face that whatever he was about to say wasn’t going to be pretty, but doubted he could do any worse than the suicide baiting that had become almost common since the sludge villain incident, “Teach said we were supposed to pick careers based on our quirks, skills, and talents, but you don’t have any of those, so what can you even do? A quirkless deku like you is so useless you’ll be lucky to be hired to take out the trash.” //
"Oh, you mean take YOU out? Cause you're TRASH!" Jirou said sarcastically.
"What the fuck did you say?!" Bakugo yelled at her.
"Bakugo, that's unmanly of you." Kirishima frowned as he said.
"That's none of your business, shitty hair!" Bakugo yelled.
//The lackeys surroung him laughed and Kacchan looked at Deku with a self satisfied smile as if he had just told the greatest joke of all time, but t hen again, Izuku thought bitterly, everything Kacchan does is the greatest. //
"No." Todoroki said firmly. "Whatever he does isn't the greatest , Izuku. He's clearly wrong. You gotta have more faith in yourself" he sighed as he held one of Izuku's hands and intertwined with his fingers.
"Shouto..." Izuku blushed. He now knows not everything Kacchan does is the greatest or right. And, he feels better now that Todoroki..no, Shouto is here with him, trusting him and comforting him. He subconsciously leans on Shouto’s shoulder and he feels safe from unwanted thoughts.
//Izuku tried to ignore the jibe and just do his worksheet, but Kacchan’s words unfortunately got him thinking and he pulled out his phone to google jobs for quirkless people. The results loaded slowly, thanks to the school's cheap internet, but they were no less shocking when they finally appeared.
Quirkless Unemployment, an Epidemic?
Quirkless Discrimination, Fact, Fiction, and Glass Ceilings
Quirkless Unemployment: Statistics//
"Is that really that bad?" Uraraka asked and Midoriya nodded. "It is.. It's just that people refuse to see quirkless people differently and they refuse to appreciate their other qualifications. No matter how one is smart or capable, they'll still be rejected.." He smiled bitterly.
"Those people are assholes" Todoroki said.
Midoriya slightly flinched as he suddenly remembered all the treatment he got all those years. Todoroki seemed to notice though as he reassured Izuku.
“It’s fine, Izuku. You don’t have to watch if you don’t want to.. if that makes you bad memories, you don’t have to force yourself”
“But how..?”
“Just close your eyes.. you’ll be fine. I’m here” Izuku nods and closes his eyes. He didn’t know he needed a break but apparently, he did as he drifted off to sleep not long after.
//Izuku skimmed through the articles, frantically at first, then with more and more numbness as the hour went by. Of all quirkless people who lived to adulthood, which was only about half since suicide rates were so high, almost 80% were unemployed. Of the lucky 20% that managed to find jobs, almost all were making minimum wage and the exceptions were mostly older professionals who had been hired and promoted back when quirkinessness was more common. If someone had asked Izuku that morning what would be more harmful, a throw away insult in homeroom or the beating that Kacchan gave him after school, he would have said the beating, hands down. In actuality though, he barely felt the explosions and hardly remembered patching his wounds after.
The fact that quirkless unemployment was the first result when looking up statistics on the quirkless was rather telling. But that couldn’t apply to Izuku, right? //
"Oh, the kid's gonna get so heartbroken when the reality comes to bite him.." Dabi said.
"He still hopes... that there's a place for him in this messed up society.. I don't want to see his hopes crumble as well." Tsukauchi said sadly. He knows when it does, Midoriya would have no choice but to fall into villainy.
"If only I had said Young Midoriya he could become a hero... if only things were the same...." All Might thought helplessly. From what he's seeing, he's not too optimistic about Midoriya getting a job. But, he hopes nevertheless.
//After all, Izuku was smart, capable, and determined (he tried to avoid thinking back to the three unread messages sitting in his villain inbox), he wouldn’t have a problem finding a job if he really put his mind to it. He wouldn’t just be another statistic, living on the streets just because of something he was born without...right?//
"Oh god.... please.. it's not his fault that he was born quirkless... " Uraraka sobbed quietly.
"Oh...fuck...I already feel sorry for the kid" Dabi groaned.
"Yeah, Izu-chan shouldn't be treated like this for what he can't control!! I want to slice those people who treat Izu-chan like this!" Toga pouted.
//Charging to kill heroes would pay the bills at least. Izuku tried to shake the unwelcome thought from his mind as he washed up for dinner, but it stuck there like a stubborn piece of gum. After all, on the internet, no one knew he was quirkless and his skills obviously spoke for themselves. Yeah, he might have to worry about avoiding the police, but he could bypass the invisible walls that kept the quirkless in their place , as Kacchan would say.
No! bad Izuku! //
"Oh no...he's considering the other option.." Yaoyorozu Momo muttered.
"But he's also scolding himself for thinking that kero" Tsuyu said.
"He doesn't want to." Todoroki shook his head.
"But..the question is if society would give him a chance so that he wouldn't be forced to..you know.." Uraraka said.
"I hope so too.. I don't want to see him like this" Todoroki sighed as he looked at Midoriya who is asleep now while leaning on his shoulder. The girls noticed that and widened their eyes as they tried to say something. However, Todoroki shook his head. "It's fine. Let him sleep. I don't think it'll be good for him to continue watching. He looked so hurt while watching himself doing things he hate, you know?"
The girls nodded their heads in understanding. Todoroki is right.
Endeavor tried not to look at his youngest son and the other boy as he wasn’t so sure that he could refrain from making an offensive comment if he looked at them right now. “I just don’t have to look at them and I’m gonna be fine” He thought.
// He tried to calm down by having a staring contest with himself in the bathroom mirror, then went out and joined his mother at the table. Murder is wrong ... right?//
"Of course, it is!" Endeavor said firmly.
"Yeah, whatever" Dabi scoffed at Endeavor , seemingly disgusted just by being reminded of the said man's presence. God, he hates him...
//No! Izuku wouldn’t become just another statistic! And he wouldn’t let himself become a villain either (despite how tempting that might be). But what should he do?//
"If only there was another option for him..." They all thought(except the villains).
//"You’re awfully quiet tonight, sweetie”
Izuku startled out of his thoughts. His mother was looking at him with concern and pity in her eyes (he was so sick of pity), practically begging him to tell her what was wrong (he couldn’t do that, she wouldn’t understand.) But what could he tell her?
He smiled as an idea occurred to him.
“I want to try and get a job,” he blurted out.
Mom’s eyes widened slightly at first, but then her face relaxed with relief. She’d probably thought it was something a whole lot worse (if only she knew). //
"Oh, I think she might die of heart attack" Shigaraki grinned.
//"I think that’s wonderful sweetie! What brought this on?” She smiled.
“We had a career day at school and I thought it would be helpful to get some experience to help me decide,” Izuku lied easily and wow, wasn’t that concerning?
“Just let me know if there’s anything I can do to help you,” his mom teared up, “I’m so proud of you Izuku!”
After a few more tears, Izuku finally finished dinner and went to his room to start on his plan. This was his chance. If he could find a job despite being quirkless, then that would mean that the statistics were wrong and there was hope for his future. If he could get a job, then he really had no reason to turn to villainy, right? //
"Please get a job... please get a job.." The students wished.
"I hope he gets a job..." Tsukauchi continued, "I hope he really doesn't have a reason to turn villainy.."
"We hope so too.. detective, we all do" Nezu agreed.
//As Izuku researched job openings and began filling out online applications, he made a deal with himself: If he got a job, he would delete his Mastermind account, and if he didn’t? Well… he’d cross that bridge when he got to it.//
"please don't..." Uraraka sobbed.
"Don't...problem child, I hope you don't have to" Aizawa whispered to himself.
"I hope he'll never to cross that bridge.." Detective muttered.
Chapter 3: The Job Search
//Most of the applications Izuku filled out were submitted online, but he found a few that wanted him to drop them off in person, so that’s what he dedicated his Saturday to doing. He was feeling pretty confident in himself. He’d filled out almost two dozen applications and the economy wasn’t bad due to All Might’s presence, so there was no way that he wouldn't be getting a job.//
"Yeah, you go, Midoriya" Tsuyu cheered.
"You can do it, Midoriya!" Iida encouraged him.
"It would be better if you don't place your hopes on this corrupted society, kid" Dabi muttered, his voice full of bitterness.
//He hadn’t even been all that tempted to log into his villain account since he decided to find other employment. He smiled as he walked in the door of the McDonald’s he was applying for and was promptly knocked down.
“What are you doing here you useless Deku?”
Izuku looked up to see one of Bakugo’s followers, the one who could stretch out his fingers. What was his name? Bakugo always just called him fingers. He caught sight of the crinkled application in Izuku’s hand and laughed.//
"Quirkless doesn't mean useless!" Todoroki almost yelled.
"Midoriya isn't useless and there's nothing wrong with him to apply for job!!" Iida reprimanded the bully even though he knew he was only watching another universe and the bully couldn't hear him.
"Of course, Deku is useless! Why would I call him Deku otherwise!" Bakugo sneered and the students glared at him. But, he continued anyway, "But, you're probably more useless considering the nerd in our universe gets into U.A while you fucker rots in some garbage school"
This had stopped whoever was trying to attack Bakugo.
"I was going to slap him with my tongue, kero" Tsuyu whispered to Uraraka.
"And I was going to attack him...if Izuku wasn't asleep.." Todoroki deadpanned.
"I bet you were...yeah" Uraraka nodded awkwardly.
Meanwhile, Endeavor looked at the exchange and then looked down in guilt? He was never one to accept any weaknesses and although he had never say it out loud, he didn't think quirkless people could achieve much in life. Maybe he needed to re-evauluate his views...
//"Oh you’re applying here too? Why would they hire a quirkless idiot like you when they could have someone normal like me who actually has a quirk?”
Maybe because I have better grades and a better work ethic, not to mention a better record. I happen to know for a fact you’ve got a few marks on yours from getting into fights with kids from other schools. Izuku didn’t say that out loud. //
"Oh, I wish he could've said that but he's going to get into trouble if he did.." Ashido said sadly.
"What's worse is they actually might think the bully is a better candidate than Midoriya just because he's got a quirk." Tokoyami added.
"I know, but he's clearly a better candidate than that bully." Yaoyorozu Momo agreed to Ashido.
"If only the society could see that...." The adults thought.
//Instead…
“Well, there’s no harm in trying…”
Fingers just smirked. “We’ll see. May the best man win.” He brushed past Izuku, letting his knee hit Izuku’s head on his way out. Izuku scowled as he watched him leave, then took a deep breath and got up, brushing himself off. He unwrinkled his application as much as possible by rubbing it flat on the edge of one of the tables before heading toward the office to turn it in.
Izuku hung up the phone in despair, wishing he had one of those phones he had seen in pre-quirk era movies just so he could violently slam it down in the receiver. It had been two weeks since he’d started looking for a job and so far, he’d only had one interview. Almost everywhere else had either never called him back, or simply let him know that they didn’t feel he was ‘the right fit for our company.’ //
"Yeah, right, you didn't feel he was the right fit for your company cause he didn't have a quirk, yeah, reasonable.." Dabi scoffed.
“Those people… they get on my nerves”, Shigaraki scratched his neck harder, drawing some blood in the process. He nearly wanted to destroy them.
//The one interview he’d gotten was with one of the only companies that didn’t ask about his quirk on the application. The interview had been going really well and the people in charge had seemed to like him, at least until they finally asked what his quirk was. The interview hadn’t lasted long after that. He didn’t even know why it still hurt so much that he didn’t get the job, it wasn’t like he hadn’t been expecting it. //
"They rejected him because of that...." Todoroki felt angry. He has always hated people who only care about quirks and not the person themselves. To see Izuku being treated like this just because he doesn't have a quirk makes him angry. He knows this Izuku is not the same Izuku he knows but that doesn't mean he doesn't have the right to be angry, right?
//He sighed and crossed them off the list with red pen. There were still a few companies he hadn’t heard back from, maybe it was time to hit the pavement and follow up. Show initiative.
Or maybe it’s time to give up. At least the villains let your skills speak for themselves. //
"You're right, we do, kid" Dabi laughed.
"Yeah, we'll be happy to have you around, Izu-chan!" Toga cheerfully said.
Detective Tsukauchi eyed at the league and then whispered to himself, "If young Midoriya didn't go to U.A in our universe, would he eventually have joined the league?" Then, he shook his head. He really didn't want to think of that idea.
//Izuku calmed his breathing and let his panic fuel his determination. If there was anything he was good at, it was not giving up. He scanned his list, skimming past all the lines crossed off in red until his eyes picked up one company. McDonalds. He’d had to drop off the application in person, so it made sense to follow up in person. He hurriedly grabbed his keys and put on his shoes, looking in the mirror on the way out the door to make sure he looked presentable.
“I’m heading out Mom!” He yelled back into the house.
“Ok honey!” She yelled back, “Be home for dinner! Be safe! Don’t go chasing too many hero fights!”
He chuckled and locked the door behind him. //
"Please.... please don't crush his hopes again.." All Might muttered helplessly. He didn't want to imagine his successor falling into villainy because they refuse to acknowledge him and give him a job. Even if young Midoriya wasn't his successor in this universe, he still don't think he would be able to see him get lost in the darkness.
Todoroki watched the screen hopefully. Although at this point, he's pretty sure they're going to reject him, he still didn't want to let go of hope. As much as his Izuku didn't want to see himself turning to villainy, he also didn't want to see that as well.
//Izuku stood shock still, mind turning as it tried to make sense of what he was seeing. Fingers stood behind the register in full uniform, the bright yellow m on his hat standing out mockingly against the black. He didn’t have a trainer shadowing him, so it wasn’t even his first day. He caught sight of Izuku standing by the door and smirked before turning back to the customer at the register. //
"They hired the bully... but they didn't hire Midoriya.." Yaoyorozu Momo's eyes widened.
"That's unmanly! How could they hire a bully instead of Midoriya who's obviously better than him!" Kirishima frowned.
"To see they didn't even bother replying Midoriya.." Tokoyami muttered.
"That's harsh..." Kaminari said, displeased.
"I see, finally, you said something right" Jirou said in her usual sarcastic tone but it was obvious that she was also displeased.
//Izuku didn’t bother going back to the office to ask about his application. If they’d hired Fingers who applied the same day, it was obvious they’d already made their decision. He walked out the door in a trance. Stupid discrimination. Why? Why did it have to be this way? Why wouldn’t they even give him a chance? //
"Why...???" The students thought helplessly.
The villains looked at screen and thought the same question bitterly as they suddenly remembered their own painful memories which caused them to finally snap. "Why didn't they give them a chance? Why did it have to be this way? Why..?"
No one were born villains ,after all. Society made them.
//He arrived at the internet cafe before he even realized where he was going. He hesitated for a moment. Yeah, discrimination sucked, but was he really ready to walk head on into villainy? He wouldn’t be able to justify it this time by saying he didn’t know how the person would use the info he gave them. Was he really ready for this? He remembered the smirk that Fingers shot him when he dropped by McDonalds. He remembered Bakugo burning him and calling him useless while the teachers watched and did nothing. He remembered being told to kill himself. //
"Will he finally turn to villainy....?" Shigaraki eyed at the screen as he scratched his neck.
"We're going to lose him...." All Might and Tsukauchi thought.
"It's a shame.. we're going to lose such a genius.." Nezu sighed.
//Izuku pulled up his hood so security cameras wouldn’t catch his face before walking into the cafe with his head held high and paying for an hour. He signed into his villain account and went straight to his inbox. He hadn’t received any new messages in the weeks since he’d signed into that account, but the three from before were still unread. He read over them quickly, a minor hero, a sidekick, and, oddly enough, a bank robbery for Izuku to plan. This would be interesting. //
"He said interesting..." Tsuyu said.
"I know...he..he's turning to villainy now.." Uraraka replied.
//Pro-Hero Stretch Found Dead Near Favorite Cafe.
Sidekick at Edgeshot Agency Killed in Villain Fight, Suspect Still at Large
Tokyo Gold Bank Down 10 Billion Yen After Bank Robbery
Izuku tried to bury his guilt as he read the headlines. Afterall, the world had put him through hell his whole life...
It was about time he returned the favor.//
"Interesting..." Shigaraki grinned while Dabi put a smirk on his face. Took the kid long enough.
"We failed him...and now the society has to pay for it.." Detective Tsukauchi told.
"I'm not ready for this..even if this is just another universe...this..."
"I know, Toshinori, I know...but we can't do anything" Detective muttered helplessly.
Chapter 4: Embracing the Role
As All Might and Tsukauchi's conversation goes on, the mood in the theatre became gloomy. The students are also not doing well since they had to watch their classmate who is a hero fanboy and so determined to become a hero turning to villainy. What is more heartbreaking is that they had to watch how badly the society treated him and couldn't do anything to help their friend, instead, they had to watch him gradually changed into a villain.
"How much longer do we have to watch this?" Aizawa asked, hoping to get some answers.
The girl who brought them into the theatre appears again and replies to Aizawa.
"Well, it's just getting started?" She shrugged. Aizawa narrowed his eyes and thought, "How is she able to answer my question if she just appeared? Did she hear me ask question ? Or was she here the whole time? This doesn't look like a coincidence, but how?"
"I just happen to come back here when you asked the question, Mr. Aizawa." She chuckled. "Since you all are so moody right now, why don't you all take a break for a while? I'll prepare to bring some people."
Aizawa turns to look at Nezu who nods in reply and then he replied, "Fine."
The league just groaned. They're just starting to enjoy this...
A few minutes later, the mist appears again, this time, bringing two people. One is wearing a dark green hoodie with the hoods up and a mask on his face, leaving only dark green eyes visible. Another one is wearing a beanie on his head which covers all of his hair and an oversized eye-patch. His facial features can't be seen clearly as the theatre room is dark and almost half of his face is covered by the eyepatch.
"Who're these guys?" The league eyed at them suspiciously.
"I'm Mastermind. He's my boyfriend." The figure in green hoodie introduced himself with an innocent smile. The students and pro heroes stared at him, faces paled. The heroes look like they're going to capture him the second he tries to do something.
Mastermind chuckles. "I'm not here to pick a fight. It's just that I've been brought here to watch this."
"Then what about him?" Uraraka asks warily.
"Ah.. you mean him?" Mastermind asks as he put his hand on his boyfriend's shoulders. "He's my boyfriend. Apparently, I can't tell you his name since she said no spoilers. It's not like I like the rules but I think I would love to see your reactions when you find out who he is" He smiled innocently and after that, he walked over to the top seats which are empty and more secluded.
Tsukauchi's eyes narrowed, "He seems even more dangerous now that I met him in person. I can't see his intentions..and I can't use my quirk here.."
Endeavor's eyes narrowed as he stares at the said Mastermind's boyfriend. He felt like he knew him..
Todoroki was comforting Midoriya as he woke up and then, he saw those two people arrive. His eyes widened when he heard the one in the green hoodie was Mastermind but he felt empty when Mastermind introduces the other as his boyfriend. Midoriya likes someone else?
No. He shook his head. This is not the time.
He turned to Midoriya to see him as equally surprised. But, Midoriya was no longer crying after his talk with him. He sighed in relief.
After a short break, the screen starts to play again.
//It had been six months since Izuku’s fateful encounter with All Might. It seemed like a lot longer to Izuku: a lot had changed since he was a bright eyed kid holding onto a dream of becoming a hero. He’d learned a lot about computers and hacking to help with his villain work and was planning on going to a high school that emphasized programming. He still did most of his villain work in internet cafes, but moved around frequently to prevent being tracked. He had also tried picking up as much as he could about money laundering to prevent anyone from tracking his funds. //
"That's actually a smart move, I would say" Dabi chuckled.
"Yeah, you wouldn't want to get caught so early." Kurogiri agreed.
"As expected of you, Izuku. You're smart." Mastermind's boyfriend chuckled.
//His prices went up with each plan he sent out and he had yet to reach a point where his clients refused to pay. //
"His plans must be really good then" Shigaraki muttered.
"It seems so. I kinda liked his murder plan of Mount Lady." Dabi agreed. The heroes shuddered at the thought of the league using the plans villain Midoriya made.
"Of course, you did." Mastermind chuckled.
"I can't believe he's making money by making murder plans..." Uraraka shook her head weakly.
"Information is very valuable so it's natural that it makes a lot of money. Seeing how he couldn't get a job, he would consider selling plans to make money." Nezu said. Then, he whispered to Detective and teachers, "We have to inform of Mount Lady of this plan as well and we might need to take notes on those plans which might also be shown later."
"I think we would also need to the notebooks of your student. Even if this is his counterpart, it's safe to assume that they have the same intelligence." Detective Tsukauchi suggested.
"But, you have to go easy on the boy. By the time we are done watching, he will be in a worse condition than those other students. I doubt treating him like a suspect would help him" Aizawa said. Tsukauchi quickly said, "Of course not. I didn't mean it like that. We will just look at his notebooks and make sure that doesn't get into the wrong hands. That's all. For his mental state, you will have to set up therapy sections for him." The teachers nodded in agreement. "Will do."
//He had also been cleaning Dagobah beach. It had started as a way to deal with his guilt over becoming a villain. Maybe if he did something good for the community, it would cancel out the harm he’d caused. //
"Dagobah beach, huh? That's where I trained young Midoriya.." All Might thought. "To think that he would also be cleaning the beach himself...that's such a coincidence." He shook his head as he tried a way out of his own guilt. The similarities between young Midoriya and this villain Midoriya made his heart ache more.
//Izuku was gradually coming to terms with his new life, letting his bitterness at society combine with his pride at a job done well to drown out his regret. He didn’t get panic attacks anymore when he opened the news and saw that one of his plans had been carried out. He still got nervous and somewhat nauseous, but even that was getting replaced with satisfaction. //
"He has changed...." Uraraka can only say this. She wanted to go and yell at him to stop all this. It doesn't matter anymore that this Midoriya isn't her classmate. She wants to help him because she knows he needed it. But, she is just forced to watch from a screen and she can't actually go to him.
"If he had someone..to tell him he matters..he wouldn't have changed " Todoroki happened to voice out her thoughts. His voice was weak and his eyes were only looking at the floor as he said those words. If only he had been there for Izuku...
If only they had met in that universe sooner...could he have helped him?
Izuku helped him in his universe, freeing him from his own hatred. So, he hoped he could have done the same for Izuku.
"Shouto...?" Midoriya put his hands on Todoroki's shoulders, patting lightly as he said, "It's okay. I'm glad I have you guys here. So, you don't need to blame yourself for something out of our control."
"I can't believe you are saying these while you're that very person who blames yourself for things you can't control. " Todoroki scoffed. Midoriya just smiled sheepishly at that.
//It didn’t hurt that every message in his inbox fed his ego as villains were constantly thanking him or demanding his services. For the first time in his life, he had people who didn’t think he was useless! It was like a drug and Izuku couldn’t get enough of it. //
"That's really not healthy, man!" Kirishima groaned, feeling helpless.
"Shut up, shitty hair!!" Bakugo yelled at Kirishima but made no comment on Midoriya. In fact, he was feeling guilty for his actions. There's no denying that he had a hand in Deku's fall into villainy. It was because of his bullying and calling names that he felt this way. He almost admitted it.
"There's no stopping to the kid now. I wanna know if he joins us in the future." Dabi said.
"Yeah, he looks like he can be an asset" Kuroguri agreed. "He is better than this version of Midoriya, at least" Shigaraki shot a glance at Midoriya.
//So far, he’d sold the murder plans for ten heroes and that wasn’t even counting the numerous robberies, non-hero assassinations and other crimes that he’d planned. //
The heroes and students sweatdropped. "That's a lot.."
The league looked more interested in recruiting him now.
//But people were starting to catch on. Conspiracy theorists online were starting to connect the recent uptick in hero deaths and even the police were starting to suspect there might be one person behind it. Villains were starting to come to him with higher profile targets, but were also starting to demand face to face meetings rather than just through a screen. //
"Face to face meetings can help you grow your influence more. That's a good chance for you if you're looking for an opportunity to be powerful." Kurogiri chuckled.
"This is bad...if he do face to face meetings, his influence would just grow and he would become more dangerous." Tsukauchi felt his head ache.
//Which was why he’d never stopped cleaning the beach. He knew that one act of good wouldn’t make up for the bad he’d done and he was getting to the point that he didn’t want it to. But it was excellent muscle training, and he needed to be strong if he expected to survive in the world of villains. //
"Good point." Dabi chuckled while Shigaraki grinned, "He knows what he's getting into, huh?"
"I hope Izu-chan's strong enough to killl! I wanna see Izu-chan covered in blood!!" Toga said cheerfully. "Nah, I don't think so. The kid's probably need more training for that." Dabi shook his head.
"I didn't ask you!!" Toga whined.
While the league is bickering with one another, Endeavor commented, "That training's not bad."
"But he's not training to be a hero unlike young Midoriya..." All Might sighed as he continued, "We really lost him, didn't we...?"
No one needed to answer that. Endeavor looked away from the screen.
//Izuku caught movement out of the corner of his eye as he hefted a microwave and began to carry it toward the dumpster. He had started to suspect this morning, but now he was sure. He was being followed, which meant that someone had managed to figure out that he was Mastermind. The only question was who?//
"Yeah, who's following him though? How did they even find out?"
"Do you think it's the police? kero" Tsuyu asked Uraraka who shook her head in reply.
"I don't think police would sneak around like that. Maybe someone else?" Yaoyorozu Momo guessed.
"I still hope it's police, though" Uraraka sighed. She didn't like her friend being a villain. Maybe if the police caught him early, he would be at least safe.
Shigaraki frowned, "To think that he might be caught this early...pathetic"
Dabi laughed bitterly as he heard Uraraka and Yaoyorozu Momo's conversation. What kind of friends are they if they can't even understand their friend and instead of trying to actually help him, they want to lock him up? Yeah, fucking friends... He thought.
Detective Tsukauchi hoped it was the police following Mastermind although his gut feelings are telling him otherwise. He hoped he could've caught Mastermind before things get really out of hand.
Shouto(M) had his eyes focused on the screen. He wanted to know who was following Izuku,too.
// Izuku continued his task without letting on that he knew he was being watched, opting instead to keep an eye out and get a description of his stalker. Hopefully it was a villain. Izuku didn’t quite know what he’d do if the heroes caught onto his identity this early in the game, so yeah, hopefully villain. Izuku had to resist chuckling to himself. What had his life become. //
"But you didn't get caught..so it was a villain, right?" Shouto(M) whispered to Izuku(M). Izuku(M) nodded.
"That's messed up." Midoriya let out a dry laugh.
"Yeah, to go from being scared of a villain following you to being scared of heroes or police following you...that's messed up!" Just after saying that, Kaminari got hit in his ears by Jirou's earphone jack. "Baka! you shouldn't have said that now"
Kaminari groaned.
//By the time he left the beach at sundown, he’d discovered that his stalker was a middle aged man with grey hair, a goatee, and apparently a love of cheap suits and cigarettes. He was pretty good at staying out of sight, but Izuku had years of experience hiding from bullies and, more recently, stalking heroes himself. //
"Hey, Shiggy, do you think he's talking about him?" Dabi asked Shigaraki who shrugged. "Who knows?" he continued, "But he does sound like he's talking about him."
"He managed to get info on his stalker while pretending not to know he's getting stalked? That's impressive" Detective Tsukauchi said. "But where he got it from is rather worrying. Hiding from bullies and stalking heroes...I have a feeling that this universe is more fucked up than we thought to be." Aizawa said, tiredly.
//He breathed a sigh of relief, this guy was almost definitely not a hero, but if he had managed to find Izuku, he must have significant connections in the underground. Izuku made a note to check his notebooks when he got home.
Izuku had become much more paranoid since he’d thrown himself into villainy. Call it a combination of a guilty conscious and an anxiety disorder or whatever, but the end result was that Izuku was neurotically careful when it came to not getting caught. //
"I remember being too cautious when I first started." Dabi chuckled.
"But I didn't! I just made sure I was careful." Toga giggled. "And that's why you're a serial killer suspect while I wasn't" Dabi grinned.
//He had an irrational fear that, somehow, a cop would try posing as one of his clients online, get him to send a murder plan for a hero, then somehow use the IP adress to track him and take him to jail. Yeah, maybe Izuku had been watching too many crime dramas, but it could happen. //
"Wow, you're thinking too much" Mastermind's boyfriend shook his head with a smile. Mastermind smiled sheepishly as he replied, "Well, you can't deny that it could happen,though"
"I can't." Mastermind's boyfriend said with a laugh.
"Wait, why didn't we think of doing this!?" Present Mic shouted which caused Aizawa to glare at him. "I didn't know you could be so loud even without a quirk." he said, annoyed. "That's a habit." Present Mic shrugged and Aizawa groaned.
"When he puts it like that, it does seen possible. Why didn't we think of such a simple trick?" Detective Tsukauchi whispered to himself. "No, it's just that he's being too careful and thinking one step ahead."
Call it paranoid or not, Tsukauchi already realized it's not going to be easy to catch Mastermind. Given that Quirkless people are seen as useless, no one's even going to suspect him. After all, what are the odds of a quirkless teenager making murder plans for heroes?
//Anyway, he’d started to learn as much as he could about the villain underground so that he could reasonably vet his clients. It helped that he’d started asking about his clients quirks and skill sets so that he could incorporate them into his plans, but a majority of his information came from the dark net and hacking into some of the less secure police databases. Just like he had notebooks of information on heroes, now he had them on villains and it came in handy in unexpected ways. //
"Less secure police databaes..." Tsukauchi sweatdropped. He's going to make sure the databases are secure once he get back. Midoriya Izuku may not be Mastermind in their universe but there're still villains who might be skilled in hacking into databases. They can't afford to give those information to villains.
//One client a few weeks ago had commissioned him to help their group rob a casino. It was a difficult job with a big payout, so Izuku had only demanded part of his fee upfront. After the job was done, he’d messaged the client about the rest of his money and gotten the response of Thanks, but you should be lucky with what you’ve got and you’re not getting any more from us. Idiots really. He’d vetted them beforehand and checked their quirks against the police registry, so he knew who they were, where they lived and, most importantly, their weaknesses. //
"That's scary" Tsuyu said and the students agreed.
"It's like you know nothing about him but he knows everything about you. He can literally do anything with that information" Midoriya agreed.
"Why are you referring to yourself like it's another person, Deku?!" Bakugo yelled.
"Wha..what? But I'm not... i'm not him..It's just..me in another universe.." Midoriya stuttered as he said.
"He's right. Midoriya is our fellow classmate! Mastermind may be his counterpart from another universe but that has nothing to do with him!" Iida agreed him.
"Whatever, four eyes.." Bakugo yelled.
//In the midst of his fuming, it hadn’t taken him long to find a few villains with a grudge against their little group. Turns out Izuku wasn’t the only one these guys had tried to screw over. It was a little harder to find out how to contact their enemies, but once he did they seemed more than happy to pay Izuku for the chance to take them down. Needless to say, no one had tried to cheat Mastermind out of his fee since. //
"Wow. He's not only getting revenge but also money." Dabi smirked as he said.
"He sure is smart."
"Yeah, in the world of villains, everyone has enemies and they will be more than happy to get rid of you if given a chance." Kurogiri agreed.
Shouto(M) smirked as he thought. Serves them right for trying to cheat Izuku.
//It came in handy now as he looked through descriptions of various known villains in an attempt to figure out who was following him. The guy didn’t have an obvious quirk from what he could see, but who would have a reason to come after him? A previous client? No dice. Izuku continued rifling through the pages until...bingo. Giran . A broker, Izuku leaned back in his chair, of course. //
"So, he knew Giran.. " Shigaraki hummed. "I wonder if Giran recruited him for us.."
"Oh...it was Giran" Mastermind's boyfriend nodded his head in understanding. Giran was the broker who helped Izuku when he was a newbie, after all.
"I don't like he's the one following him." Detective Tsukauchi said. "If he meets with Mastermind in person and arranges face to face meetings, Mastermind's influence will grow. If that happens, he'll be harder to catch." Nezu said.
//The name nagged at him though, like he should be more familiar with this guy than just a passing entry in his journal. His eyes skimmed over the notes, lingering on the known connections list when a note he’d made in the margin caught in eye, more specifically, a username. Oh, right. Giran was the broker who’d reached out to him online a few times early on, offering to arrange meetings with big name players in the villain world and provide any necessary gear. //
"Oh, so he got an offer already. Did he accept it?" Kurogiri watched, his eyes focused on the screen.
"He already got offers? He's not going to accept, is he..?" Yaoyorozu Momo asked, her voice shaking.
//Izuku had soundly refused. He had been so new to the game when Giran had reached out and hadn’t yet grown comfortable with calling himself as a villain. He had also been scared. One of the main reasons he liked working online was that his skills could speak for themselves. He had a sneaking suspicion that Mastermind’s credibility would tank the moment word got out that he was just a quirkless teenager. //
"He didn't accept the offer because he was scared people would lose trust in his plans if they found out he's quirkless?" Dabi asked, surprised. "which makes sense if he still doesn't have a reputation yet. " Kurogiri replied.
The heroes were glad that Mastermind didn't accept the offer.
"That sucks.." Shouto(M) said angrily. "It's fine. Everything's different now." Izuku(M) said.
//Things are different now , Izuku mused, yeah, I’m still a quirkless teenager, but at least I’ve gotten used to the fact that I’m a villain now. I’ve got a reputation. A big reputation, if the copycat Mastermind’s popping up to sell inferior plans was anything to go by. A reputation I need to uphold. So far, Izuku had been able to take care of the copycats fairly quickly, using the same methods he used for cheating clients, but one could never be too careful. Maybe it’s finally time to start showing a physical presence.
And with that, Izuku pulled out a notebook and began to make plans.//
"Oh shit!" All Might swore.
"He already got a reputation and copy cats" Present Mic said. "And now he's going to make a physical appearance. " Aizawa added.
"I think we jinxed it." All Might said with a weak laugh.
"To think that he already got copy cats.." Todoroki's eyes narrowed. He doesn't like where this is going. He doesn't want to see Izuku becoming a dangerous villain even if it's in another universe.
Midoriya really hoped the heroes would catch him soon. Even though Shouto convinced him that he and Mastermind are not the same, he didn't know if he could keep watching his counterpart's crimes for much longer.
Chapter 5: First Meetings
//It had been a week since Giran started following him and Izuku was beginning to get frustrated. The guy was supposedly one of the best brokers in the underground and was obviously good enough to find him, so one week should be more than enough time for him to confirm his suspicions.//
"He had been following him for a week and still wasn't able to confirm it was him?" Shigaraki scartched his neck.
"You can't blame him for that. The kid looks pretty harmless." Dabi laughed.
// Izuku knew that he didn’t really look the part of a villain, because what criminal mastermind lets himself be bullied everyday, but come on.//
"I would also doubt that if I'm not seeing myself."
Mastermind smirks.
//It was with these thoughts that Izuku decided to deviate from his normal daily routine, a routine that Giran should be familiar with at this point if he was paying any attention. Hopefully his annoying stalker would come out of the woodwork if given a good enough opportunity. If not, Izuku might just walk right up to the guy and punch him in the face.//
"He's getting frustrated. I would too if I have to wait for a week like that." Shigaraki said.
"You would get frustrated if you have to wait for a few minutes. Not a week, Shiggy!" Dabi smirked when Shigaraki get frustrated at his remark.
"It's quite different from what we think, isn't it? kero" Tsuyu said quietly.
"I know. They're more like a family than a villain league? at least when they're not attacking people." Midoriya agreed.
"A chaotic family." Shouto adds.
"Huh?"
"They're more like a chaotic family." Shouto said.
"What are you talking about us, you little heroes?" Shigaraki said sarcastically.
"You all look like a chaotic family." Todoroki repeats himself.
"We're not a fucking chaotic family!" Shigaraki yells as he tries to attack Todoroki.
"Not happenning." The mysterious girl appears in front of Todoroki and said annoyingly. "I don't get paid enough for this chaotic family shit. In fact, I don't get paid at all."
Then, she continued, "If you're going to attack each other like this. I'm gonna tie you down with ropes the entire watching."
That shut them all up and soon, they continue watching.
//Actually, he winced as he thought back to his inability to fight against his bullies, probably not.//
"He should work on that." Kurogiri frowned.
"Yeah, it won't do if he can't fight himself." Just after Dabi agreed , they heard a chuckle from Mastermind. "Oh I did work on that. You'll see."
//Izuku wound his way through the city, heading in the opposite direction from Dagobah beach. It was a part of the city that he was only familiar with through maps, meaning that there wouldn’t be anyone there who would recognize him, and it was a medium-better part of town, meaning that, with any luck, there wouldn’t be anyone there who would recognize Giran either. A nice, neutral territory for a first meeting. //
"It's a good idea to meet somewhere people can't recognize you." Kurogiri nodded in approval.
"That's smart, Izuku." Shouto(M) said.
"You're flattering me, Shouto.." Izuku(M) blushed as he whispered to Shouto(M).
//The cafe Izuku walked into had good reviews, but he honestly didn’t care about how good their coffee was. What Izuku cared about was that it was busy this time of day, which meant there was enough ambient noise that he and Giran would be able to talk without being overheard, and there was the added bonus that one one would be suspicious over two strangers sharing a table. //
"Wow, he really had it all covered, didn't he? even the details.."
"That's too concerning... He's intelligent and cares about the details to the point of what you call paranoid. This is not gonna be easy at all." Tsukauchi shook his head. The more he knows about Mastermind, the more uneasy he gets..
//Izuku walked up to the counter and gave his order. Now all that was left was for his stalker to take the bait.
It didn’t take long at all for Giran to enter the cafe, at least considering how long he’d stubbornly insisted on following Izuku. If he’d taken any longer, Izuku was considering messaging the guy to just come inside. //
"I think it would be funny if he were to go and say 'I know who you are, just come inside already.' " Dabi smirked.
"Bet you wanna see the drama" Toga giggled.
"No, I get to see Shiggy all day. He's dramatic already."
"I'm not dramatic" Shigaraki hissed.
"Yeah, you're not. Totally.." Dabi said sarcastically.
//The boy watched the broker wait in line out of the corner of his eye, chuckling when he noticed that Giran had even put out his ever present cigarette. He was halfway through his coffee when Giran slid into the seat across from him.
“I was wondering if you were ever going to actually talk to me.”
A look of shock briefly crossed the broker’s face before he let out a surprised laugh.
“You knew I was following you.” //
"Bet he's surprised. He's supposed to follow Mastermind without him noticing but Mastermind ends up noticing him and he didn't know that at all." Dabi said.
//"I make a living being more observant than most people. Of course I knew.” Izuku took another sip of his coffee, “What I don’t know is why you insisted on observing for a full week before coming to talk to me. You must have had pretty good intel on who I was, watching my daily routine wasn’t going to change that.”
Giran chuckled and shook his head, “Well it took me a week to be sure I had the right guy, and even now you’re sitting here confirming it and I’m still not sure.”
Izuku hummed, “Yeah, I guess my whole weak and innocent act does tend to throw people off. If it almost fooled you, then just imagine what the heroes will be thinking when they have their pride on the line.” //
"Heroes and the pride on the line, huh?" Although the heroes want to refute but found themselves they can't. Quirks seem to be everything in their society and the thought of a quirkless teenager is capable of doing such crimes wouldn't cross their minds, would they? Even if they told that to someone, they wouldn't believe that, either. And to make it worse, this Mastermind knows this and is taking advantage of it.
"Well said, Mastermind. " Dabi said.
"Those incompetent heroes would never know what's about to hit them. " Shigaraki grinned like a maniac.
//Giran smiled, “Now there’s the ruthless Mastermind we know and love. You’ve been doing pretty well for yourself online from what I’ve heard, but you know that you’re not going to be able to hide in the shadows forever, right?”
Izuku sighed and put down his cup, “Yeah, the copycats are already starting to get on my nerves.” He reached into his bag and pulled out a folder, sliding it across the table, “That’s why I need your help. You are the best at what you do, right?”//
"I can't wait to see where this goes." Dabi said.
"Izu-chan's gonna step out of shadows!! I can't wait to see Izu-chan stabs someone to death!" Toga said enthusiastically.
"I told you he probably need more training before that." Dabi sighed.
"I don't care. I just wanna see Izu-chan in blood." Toga pouted.
"Don't worry. You'll see it soon, Toga-chan" Mastermind chuckled.
Heroes and hero students thought, 'this is bad.'
//Giran raised his eyebrows as he took the folder and began looking through it. There was a design for a villain costume and a list of weapons that Izuku thought he’d need, including a lot of knives. The broker looked over the designs silently for a few minutes, then nodded.
“This should be doable, but I should warn you that this’ll cost you a pretty penny, the weapons especially.”
“You know what my rates are Giran. I can afford it. Plus I’ll even let you introduce me to a few of the contacts you’ve been hounding me about.”
Giran smiled, “You sure know how to tell a man what he wants to hear. I’ll start calling around. But you’ll be packing some serious heat.” //
"Is he planning to kill someone with his own hands?"
"I think so, Uraraka. Judging by his costume design and weapons, he might just be planning that." Midoriya said anxiously. He feels like he's literally seconds away from a panic attack. If he were to see himself killing someone in cold blood, he won't be able to cope with that.
"I'm here, Izuku. Everything's gonna be fine. We'll figure out something." Todoroki tries to calm him down.
"I'm just glad you're here, Shouto.. I just.. don't know what to do if that happens and I don't want everyone to be worried for me..My other self is giving us enough mental breakdowns.. I don't wanna make them feel sorry for me and add more burden for them.."
"You're not a burden, Izuku. We talked about this. And you deserve all the love and attention, Izuku." He then pulled Izuku into a hug. Izuku sobbed quietly and Shouto figures it's because he's touched by his words.
"And a hug?" Izuku asked after a while.
"and a hug." Shouto said firmly.
//Giran pulled out the weapons list and placed it in front of Izuku, “Are you sure you know how to use all these?”
Izuku shook his head, “Not yet. That’s actually the last thing I need your help with.”
Giran cocked his eyebrow, still smiling, and gestured for him to continue.
“I want to meet Himiko Toga.”//
"What? Me?? Is Izu-chan gonna ask me to teach him!?" Toga looked really excited.
"Is he trying to get himself killed?" Dabi said, surprised. Toga is insane. He wonders if Mastermind is even more insane to actually ask for Toga to teach him. Wasn't he afraid that she'll kill him?
//That wiped the smile off the broker’s face, “The serial killer?!” He asked in shock. Izuku nodded.
“You’ve followed me so I trust you know about my...quirk situation…” Giran nodded hesitantly, “Well, since I don’t have a quirk to fall back on, I’m going to have to rely primarily on weapons. Knives are the best option for both close combat and ranged, once you factor in throwing knives, and there’s no one better than Toga when it comes to knives. I want her to teach me how to fight.”//
"Knives are indeed a good choice." Aizawa agreed. "If he learns how to fight with a knife, it's just more trouble for us.."
"I think it's more like despair waiting for us." Nezu said.
"His intelligence alone is enough to make a living by selling murder plans. So, if he learns how to fight as well, who knows what kind of level of threat he will be? A country level?" Tsukauchi sighed. His headache is even worse now.
//Giran was solemn now, “I hate to ask it, but what if she kills you?”
Izuku just smiled, wondering if it made him just a little bit crazy that he was asking to be trained by a serial killer, “I think I can hold my own. Besides, you won’t let her kill me, I’ll be making you too much money.”//
"That makes sense, though." Dabi said.
//Izuku started to get up to leave, but Giran grabbed his arm.
"Before you leave, I have a gift for you.” He grabbed a laptop bag from the floor and put in on the table, “This is top of the line, virtually untraceable. Internet cafes are great and all, but I think you’ll agree this is the easier option.” Izuku booted up the computer and looked it over. It was nice and really would make his work much easier. He quickly checked to make sure there wasn’t any tracking apps or spyware installed before closing it. Meanwhile, Giran had pulled out a simple smartphone, “This is also untraceable. I already have the number and put my contact info in as well. I’ll text you an address when your gear is ready and you can pick it up. I’ll also text you when I manage to get a hold of Toga. She’s slippery, but shouldn’t be too hard to find. I’ll be honest, I really hope you know what you’re doing.” //
"Untraceable. ..." Tsukauchi narrowed his eyes. Before they can even confirm his whereabouts, he's gonna disappear. "This is more and more getting out of hand. Can we really find him before he goes too far?" He said, frustrated.
//Izuku just tucked the phone in his pocket and slung the laptop bag over his shoulder as he stood and grabbed his cup, “If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have chosen to call myself Mastermind.”
Giran watched the boy leave. This kid is crazy, his smile turned greedy, look out heroes...
Mastermind is here to stay//
Shivers...
That's what they all could feel after that. And, not for the first time, they realized they're in more trouble than they think they're and they're completely helpless.
Chapter 6: Learning
//Izuku checked the address Giran had texted him to make sure he was in the right place before going in, letting the door swing on it’s hinges behind him. The travel agency he was in was obviously a front, the bored young woman at the front desk fixing him with an unimpressed stare that very obviously said, you’re lost, idiot, get out of here before you hurt yourself. //
"I bet that girl will be making different reactions when she finds out who he is." Dabi snorted.
Meanwhile, the heroes and detective were trying to remember as much details as they could.
"We really need to check this kind of places when we get back. And we'll need to find this place in our world just in case it's the same." Nezu said. Tsukauchi nodded in reply.
Mastermind just laughed at them. "Already paranoid much? I'm really excited how you all would react later" He smirked and the heroes group shivered. Was he implying that it gets much worse? Wasn't he caught yet? Well, Mastermind sitting in this room with them answered the second question, actually. But, yeah.
"Oh I'm excited." Dabi laughed.
Endeavor narrowed his eyes. He felt extremely familiar with that villain Dabi's behavior. Sometimes, he would huff, smirk and laugh in a spiteful manner. It was like someone he knew years ago before that incident. He had to be wrong, he hoped but he couldn't shake off the feeling.
// Izuku just ignored it, walking up to the desk with the sweetest smile on his face.
“Hi! I have an appointment with Giran. He said he had a package for me?”
The girl continued staring at him for a minute before she gave up and sighed, “If you’re sure, squirt. What’s the name?”
Izuku’s smile got wider, “Mastermind.”
He almost laughed as she did a double take, suddenly much more awake.
“Just a moment sir,” her voice shook slightly, “I’ll just let him know you’ve arrived.” //
Mastermind just chuckled at the memory. His boyfriend turned to him and said, "Wow, Izuku, your sweet innocent smile really fools people, doesn't it?"
"Oh you know how they underestimate that smile only to get terrified when they learn the terror that comes with it." He smiled and it was almost too sweet, almost.
"It suits you, genius." His boyfriend let out a laugh. "I think so too."
"Oh, I really love when she almost stuttered." Shigaraki grinned.
"There's no way she was expecting Mastermind to be a seemingly harmless kid with a sweet smile." Mastermind laughed. Oh, how he loved her reaction.
//Izuku nodded and found a seat in the lobby as the receptionist made a call. He was just pretending to look through a magazine when the door swung open again and a blond girl in a loose school uniform came skipping in and leaned over the receptionist’s desk. //
"Oh no, there she comes.." Dabi groaned as if he was genuinely annoyed by Toga's appearance.
"Hey! There I am! meeting with Mind-chan!" Toga said cheerfully to which Mastermind chuckled, "Yeah, it was nice meeting with you, really." And, it was. It was the first time he got someone as close as a friend and he felt like he was doing something he enjoyed.
"She came and now he's going to learn how to fight. Just great. " Aizawa said as he rubbed his temples.
//“Hiya baby! You’re cute! Giran said he wanted to see me, do you know why? Was it to meet you? I like your shirt by the way, it’s such a pretty shade of red. Red’s my favorite color! I love seeing everyone in it! You just came prepared.”
Izuku smirked at the cornered look on the receptionist’s face as Toga encroached further and further into her personal space. //
"Do you even know personal space?" Dabi asked.
"Nope!"
"I knew you don't.." He sighed.
//She was saved by Giran coming out from the back.
“Mastermind! Pleasure to see you again. Nice to see that the phone I gave you is working well!”
“It’s working wonderfully, thanks,” Izuku replied, “The laptop as well. If the other gear I’ve ordered is even half that quality, I don’t think I’ll ever order from anyone else.”
“That’s what I like to hear,”//
"He really knows what to say." Kurogiri said.
"But Giran knows quality too." Dabi said.
// Giran clapped him on the back and turned toward the receptionist and Toga, who was looking at Izuku hungrilly, “Toga, I’ll be with you in just a few minutes. Can you find something to entertain yourself out here in the meantime?” The receptionist looked faint as Toga smiled widely at her, her fangs on full display.//
"Poor receptionist." Shigaraki said.
"Yeah, poor receptionist.." Dabi agreed.
Toga pouted at two's words.
//"Your poor receptionist…” Izuku said when the two arrived at Giran’s office.//
"Look, even Mastermind agrees." Shigaraki grinned.
//"Yeah,” Giran replied, “But remind me whose fault it is that Toga is here to begin with.”
“Point taken,” Izuku chuckled, “So, you have my villain outfit?”//
"villain outfit..." Midoriya trailed off. He knew he wasn't the same person as Mastermind but watching scenes after scene, he felt like they were not that different at some points.
//Instead of replying, Giran just took a large box and put it on the desk. Izuku looked over the contents, inspecting the armored pants, shirt and jacket before moving onto the gas mask. Overall, it was simple and more than a little plain compared to the flashy hero costumes plastered all over the news, and it was exactly what Izuku wanted.//
"It looked exactly like what he's wearing now." Kaminari said as he took a glance at Mastermind.
"Of course, it does, you idiot! It's his villain outfit." Jirou facepalmed.
"Villain outfit..." Midoriya mumbled. He spent hours on his notebook trying to write notes on heroes for his future career, hero, and even designing a hero outfit. But, in that world, he changed his outfit into a villain one. Surely, it doesn't look the same as his hero costume as this Mastermind now loathed All Might and discarded the similar points with All Might in his costume. But, it was still green and looked like something he would have designed if he wasn't a fanboy of All Might and be more practical in designing. The similarities in himself and Mastermind are making him feel wonder if he really could've been Mastermind given the same circumstances and he felt helpless. Shouto told him that what he is seeing now isn't really him but is it, though? Shouto said he was different from Mastermind and he was supposed to be, right? But, why could he feel like he was more and more similar to Mastermind? He can't be similar to Mastermind. He can't. But he felt like they're the same person at the core.
The need to feel verification of others...
The need to feel useful...
The need to feel appreciation even if it was small...even if it was just words..
The need to feel accomplished...by saving people or in Mastermind's case, killing people? or making plans that involved killing, assault and robbery?
It's different. But, still the same at the core.
He wanted to be a hero and felt like someone had to say, confirm that he could be a hero. Mastermind did, too, and he was unfortunate that his dreams got crushed. He felt like he could be useful if he could help heroes and save people but Mastermind was appreciated by villains for his murder plans. Mastermind felt useful in that way which fuels his descent into villainy. He was different from Mastermind yet similar in the core and he felt like he understood him.
Why?
He wasn't supposed to.
He doesn't want to be a villain.
He doesn't...
Midoriya felt tears rolling down his cheek and suffocated. He couldn't breathe and it hurt so much and he couldn't....
"Izuku..breathe with me..in and out.."
Shouto said, his voice full of concern and he noticed all his classmates and reachers looking at him in concern. Maybe he ended up speaking some of his thoughts out loud.
"I..I don't.. I can't.."
He could barely speak in sentences and still felt his chest tightened and suffocated.
"You're having a panic attack, Midoriya. Breathe with me.. Slowly..okay?"
Aizawa was now in front of him. Besides was Shouto who was trying to comfort him as he touched him lightly on his shoulders.
"Izuku..." Shouto murmured. He wished he could do something else to make Izuku feel better and not suffer like this because his heart ached whenever Izuku was like this.
Mastermind just eyed at the scene and frowned, "He really has so many people to care for him..Why.. Why wasn't this the case for me..?" Mastermind wondered, if things were like that in his world and people actually cared for him, would he ended up different? Would he still have the innocent smile instead of the seemingly sweet and smile which is twisted inside? A lot of questions and he smiled rather bitterly. He already had walked on a path without return and he really didn't want to return anymore. So, it was pretty much pointless thinking about what could've been. He thought to himself.
//"It all looks good. And the weapons?”
“In the gym where you’ll be training with Toga. Speaking of, I don’t really like the idea of having to find a new receptionist. I just barely hired this one. The gym is the last door on the left, I’ll go get Toga and meet you there.”
Izuku nodded and made his way down the hall. He tried a few of the other doors, but they were all locked. Good, Giran’s not just a trusting idiot. //
"Well, there's no way he's gonna let him wander around as he wish." Kurogiri said.
“Makes sense.” Dabi nodded.
//The gym wasn’t huge, but there was enough room to move around comfortably. There were a variety of different sized boxes stacked against the walls so that they could train with obstacles when they were ready and there was a large display of weapons on the wall beside the door. Izuku guessed that this room was normally used for demonstrations of the most common weapons Giran sold.
He noticed an innocent looking cardboard box sitting on the ground under the weapons display and was halfway to wondering what was inside before he saw the name Mastermind written in small black letters in one corner. He smiled and opened it. All the weapons he’d ordered were there, as well as a few extra “training” versions, which were basically the same, except dull instead of sharp.//
Seeing the knives, Toga got more excited as she squealed, "I can't wait to see training Mind-chan! Is there gonna be blood? I wanna see RED!!!"
Midoriya was getting better after his classmates and Aizawa sensei comforted him after his panic attack. But, seeing the knives, he felt the panic returning.
"Izuku..." Shouto mumbled as he tried to put his hands onto the said teen's shoulder to provide comfort. He wasn't sure he was good at that but if Izuku needed him, he would always be there for him. He decided.
//"Is this really him? Is this Mastermind? He’s so tiny!” It was a wonder this girl was such an effective killer, considering she probably wouldn’t know stealth if it bit her in the butt. Izuku really hoped that this wasn’t one of those “smart people make stupid decisions” moments because he wasn’t really ready to die today. Maybe he should have put his affairs in order before showing up?//
"Maybe you should've left a will." Shigaraki laughed. Toga just screamed, "Hey! I wasn't going to kill him. Don't be dramatic!"
"You can't spell Shiggy without Dramatic. That's what he is." Dabi annoyed Shigaraki.
//Something must have shown on his face because Giran laughed, “I would say she won’t bite, but honestly I don’t know. Yeah Toga, this kid is Mastermind. Don’t let his size fool you though, he’s probably one of the smartest villains I’ve ever met. Mastermind, I’m sure you already know this is Toga Himiko, considering you’re the one that wanted this meeting.”
“Oooh!” Himiko squealed, “Mastermind knows who I am?! And he’s so cute! You need a cute nickname to match! Like Stainy! Mastermindy? Master-chan? Mind-chan? Mind-chan! That’s perfect! Giran said you asked for me Mind-chan! Why does a cutie like you want to meet an adorable killer like me?”//
"Mind-chan! I like that name!" Toga squealed.
"Adorable killer? Really?" Dabi rolled his eyes.
"More like annoying killer. Yeah." Shigaraki said.
"You're just jealous that I'm adorable!" Toga pouted.
Listening to their conversation, Shouto(M) let out a light chuckle.
"They're quite the same as our world, aren't they?" Izuku(M) said.
"Yeah, you're right, cutie." Shouto(M) replied, nearly whispering the last word into Izuku(M)'s ear.
Izuku(M) blushed as he squealed, "You..you can't just casually say that. I'm not even close to being cute..."
"Even Toga thinks you're a cutie, Izuku." Shouto(M) kissed Izuku(M)'s blushing cheek.
//Izuku swallowed his doubts and smiled. It was getting easier to understand her the more he listened, her excitement wasn’t too different from his own ramblings after all. And Giran probably wouldn’t let her kill him. Probably.
“Well, um, you probably know that not many people have met me, um, yet. So, um, I need to learn how to defend myself, and, um, you’re really good at knife combat so, um, yeah.” He cringed and saw Giran mirroring the expression. Smooth . Toga, however, didn’t really care. //
"Well, that was awkward." Mastermind scratched the back of his head.
"You were so cute, Izuku. Or should I be calling you Cutie from now on?"Shouto(M) teased his boyfriend.
"Come on, Sh..I mean Sweetie.. Don't..." Izuku(M) pouted, his face red.
No one really noticed the slip Mastermind made except for a few.
Endeavor felt a bad premonition.
Dabi frowned, but secretly happy?
Shouto was confused on why he would do that but somehow glad Izuku wasn't alone and the thought of possibly being Izuku's boyfriend made him kinda happy?
//"Wow! So you want me to teach you how to fight Mind-chan? That’s so cool! I don’t really know what I’m doing half the time, I just like to see people in red, so I don’t know if I’ll be a good teacher, but it’ll be lots fun to try!”
Despite his common sense screaming at him to get as far away from this girl as possible, her enthusiasm was contagious. “Perfect Toga-sensei! If you’ll try to be a good teacher, I’ll do my best to be a good student.”
It was Toga’s turn to cringe, “Toga-sensei? That’s not cute at all! Just call me Himiko, Mind-chan!” and then she ran at him with a knife.//
"Toga sensei? I don't like it!" Toga said.
"I'm more concerned about you accidentally killing him." Dabi said.
"It's impossible. He's sitting in the same room with us." Shigaraki rolled his eyes at Dabi.
"I know that, Shiggy." Dabi snorted.
Midoriya somehow wished that Himiko Toga accidentally killed Mastermind so that he wouldn't have to watch this anymore which was impossible because the said person was sitting in the same room with them.
//Izuku didn’t think he had ever been more sore in his life.
He was currently stretched out on the couch icing his bruises with bags of frozen peas. Thankfully, the training knives he and Toga had been using only left bruises instead of slashes. Toga wasn’t too happy about that: she insisted that red was a much prettier color than purple.
Izuku heard the door open, but didn’t bother moving. He wasn’t even sure he could at this point, but maybe he was just being dramatic. //
"Because red is more beautiful than purple!" Toga tried to make her point.
"But you'll kill him then." Dabi said, seriously.
//"Oh! Izuku sweetie, are you OK? What happened?”
“Hi Mom,” Izuku tried to smile, but it came out as more of a pained grimace, “I just spent the afternoon with a few friends. One of them is pretty good at martial arts and she was trying to teach me. She’s just, uhh, really enthusiastic.”//
"Well, that's one way to put it." Kurogiri commented.
//His mom didn’t seem any less worried, but seemed to decide to take his word for it, “Did you learn a lot? What’s she like?”
Izuku lit up, “Yeah, I did! We basically spent the whole time going over some basics and getting them into my body. She said I’m a really fast learner. Um… what else? Like I said, she’s really enthusiastic and not just about fighting. Himiko just does everything with about twice as much energy as anyone else, so she’s actually a lot of fun to be around. It was a little intimidating at first, but I’m getting used to her, so it’s not too bad.”
Mom was smiling too now, “I’m so happy you’re making friends, Izuku! She sounds really nice! Maybe you should bring her around for dinner sometime,” //
"Yeah, no." Dabi and Shigaraki almost said in unison. They looked at each other and Toga just pouted more.
Mastermind was looking at his mother smiling on the screen and laughed faintly. It was a good thing he lied her and she hasn't found out yet because he was not willing to leave her, yet. He might be a villain but he still loved his mother.
// yeah, no, that would not be happening, “You’ve been so happy these past few months. I was so worried about you after Katsuki was attacked by that awful villain, you were just so quiet for months after, and then that whole thing with trying to find a job. I don’t know what changed, but you seem to be thriving now!”//
Class 1-A and heroes watched the scene sadly. There was nothing most of them could've done to prevent these events but they still felt like they somehow failed. It was a different story for All Might, of course, and he was feeling even worse.
"Only if she knew what changed.." Bakugo said, without the angry tone, which is actually quite rare.
"He had his dreams crushed and the society wasn't kind to him so he decided to return the favor by becoming a villain. Yeah, I guess that's what changed." Shigaraki said bitterly. He didn't like Midoriya Izuku of his world but he liked Mastermind. Maybe it was because he could relate to him at some point. He guessed.
//Izuku thought about it for a minute. It definitely hadn’t been a smooth transition from wannabe hero to up and coming villain but, was he happier now? He thought of his fight with Toga and how she didn’t ever ask about his quirk, just pouted that she wasn’t allowed to make him bleed. He thought of Giran and how he treated him like an equal. He thought about his overflowing inbox, full of people who respected him and wanted to be associated with him and he felt a smile smile tug at the corners of his mouth as he looked up at his mom.
“Yeah, I guess I am. I’ve found people who like me and I’m doing something I enjoy. For the first time in a while, I think I’m really happy.”//
For the first time in a while, I think I'm really happy...
These words echoed in the ears of the heroes and students and it was like a reminder of how much their society failed.
And they were going to suffer because of this failure.
After all, the only people who saw Mastermind's worth and treat him like equal were the villains.
Everyone in the room understood that and it was like an abyss of regret and despair for the heroes.
Chapter 7: Face to Face
//Mastermind looked back at Izuku from the full length mirror in Giran’s office. He didn’t want to get dressed in his villain outfit at home and potentially risk getting caught by his mom or the neighbors. //
"Good point." Dabi chuckled.
//If everything went well tonight, he would be finding his own base soon enough, but until then, Giran’s office would have to do.
His villain outfit was practical, but still managed to look intimidating. Or at least it would, if Izuku wasn’t so short. The black armored pants were fitted, but flexible, and were paired with a black armored shirt made from the same material, but what tied the outfit together was the jacket. It was a dark green and had a hood he had pulled up, his hair just peeking out from underneath it. There were dozens of pockets that had smoke bombs, grenades, flash bangs, and, of course, his knives. He also had knives strapped to each of his legs and a few hidden in his dark red boots for emergencies. //
Midoriya flinched seeing himself wear the outfit with weapons attached as it reminded him one single fact; those weapons were made to kill people. Shouto clasped his hands with Izuku this whole time to provide him a bit of comfort if he could.
//After a few months training with Toga, he was deadly with a knife, if not quite as good as his teacher. //
"Mind chan's deadly with a knife now! Will I see some blood now?!" Toga was enthusiastic again.
"Soon, I guess." Mastermind chuckled at her enthusiasm.
//The last thing he put on was his mask. It was a solid black and covered his entire face below the nose. It didn’t look like a standard gas mask, looking instead like a simple ski mask, but Giran assured him it would filter out any harmful gas attacks.//
"As expected of Izuku, you always thought everything thorough." Shouto (M) said.
//Looking in the mirror, the effect was stunning. The knives alone would have been intimidating, but the hood partially shaded Izuku’s face so that the only distinguishing feature were his bright green eyes, lit with a deadly sort of fire. He loved it. //
"Yeah, I love your eyes too." Shouto(M) said.
"Those eyes..." All Might muttered.
To everyone else, it was clear how much this version of Midoriya had changed. Gone was the innocence and determination to be a hero and save people. All that left was deadly determination to return the favor to society.
And that was the reminder of how Izuku had changed.
//Giran had arranged a face to face meetup now that Toga said he probably wouldn’t die immediately as soon as he was attacked. The meeting was with a small gang that had territory in eastern tokyo and were wanting to rob a casino. Izuku himself was still considered small time, even if he was becoming more well known, so Giran said this would be a good chance for Mastermind to start showing his face, even if it was behind a mask. //
"He was finally doing face meetings." Tsukauchi rubbed his temples for the unknown amount of time since they started watching. Everything was going out of control in the worst possible way and he was not even sure at which point, the police would start noticing.
As All Might took a glance at Tsukachi, he had a rough idea of what he might've been thinking.
"It was my fault.. If only I didn't let him down and crushed his dreams so harshly.." All Might said with the guilt that had been burning inside him since they started watching.
//"Looking pretty snazzy.” Giran was leaning against the door frame, smoking his ever present cigarette. “I’d say knock ‘em dead, but that’d be bad for business.”
Izuku rolled his eyes, again marveling at how they stood out against his outfit, “Let’s go. The sooner we get this over with, the sooner I can pretend I’m not nervous.”//
"Good point." Dabi chuckled.
"Yeah, Mind chan! You can do this!" Toga cheered for him.
Mastermind couldn't help but smiled at the support Dabi and Toga were giving. They really reminded him of the Dabi and Toga he knew.
//Giran chuckled, but grabbed his keys, “You’re such a smart kid, I keep forgetting how new to the game you are. Normally it takes years for small fry like you to get to this point in their careers.”
“Yeah well, normally small fry don’t make a living killing heroes.”//
The students' and heroes' face fell at the reminder of the crimes Mastermind committed while Mastermind had this twisted grin on his face as if he wanted to tell "Yeah, remember all those crimes I planned and feel fear."
"Well, he actually is climbing up the ladder fast. " Dabi agreed what Giran said.
"But again, with how he make plans to kill heroes, it would be strange not to." Kurogiri commented.
//The drive to the warehouse was short, but maybe that was because there’s not really any traffic at two o’clock in the morning. As they walked in, Giran and Mastermind were met with a dozen armed guards surrounding a man almost as big as Fatgum who was obviously the head honcho. Izuku immediately started analyzing, matching the people and quirks he saw to the research he’d done beforehand. //
Detective Tsukauchi made sure to remember the location and how they looked. Maybe they could check if there was a gang like this when they get back.
//The head honcho was sneering at him “Giran, I said I wanted to meet with Mastermind, not some kid who’s still wearing diapers! What kind of a joke are you trying to pull here?”
Giran just smirked, Izuku was fairly certain it was his default expression, but there was a possibility that he was genuinely amused by the situation. “Yeah, I know he doesn’t look like much, but I guarantee you he’s the real deal. Apparently, you don’t have to be tall to be smart.”//
"They really tend to underestimate me because of my look." Mastermind grinned.
"They're just idiots." Dabi said.
//Izuku’s nervousness was slowly morphing into anger and determination. If there was anything he was used to from his life before villainy, it was jerks who thought it was their right to look down on him. //
Just having watched how Mastermind was treated with their own eyes, the students and heroes wore an expression of guilt, especially heroes since they failed him.
//The head honcho had gone on a rant about Giran not taking him seriously and how he was powerful and blah, blah blah. Izuku just sat down on the chair provided for him and spoke quietly, the determination in his voice and eyes passing for confidence in his words.
"Takumi Fujito. Age: 42. Quirk: Spines, you convert the fat in your body into spines that can be detached, however they have a tendency to bleed when you do that, so you avoid detaching them if at all possible. Family: you have a wife that you married ten years ago and four kids, all under the age of 15. Your youngest just turned six last Wednesday, congratulations, by the way. Weaknesses: your family, the dependence of your quirk on your previous fat stores and the risk of blood loss if forced to use it in the wrong way. You also have a severe allergy to shellfish. Did I get anything wrong?”//
"Fuck."
The voice was not loud, yet it was audible enough in a theater when everyone else was focused on watching.
"Yeah, they are fucked." Dabi grinned, agreeing to whoever that said 'Fuck.'
"I wonder if this Mastermind know any of All Might weaknesses." Shigaraki took a glance at Mastermind at this thought and Mastermind stared at him before saying, "Oh, just keep watching."
Shigaraki was displeased, impatient already. He wanted his answers but Mastermind wasn't giving him any. He scratched his neck harder at the irritation.
//The room had gone completely silent and Izuku smiled innocently beneath his mask and looked directly at the head honcho, who gulped. “So,” Izuku said pleasantly, “Shall we begin?”//
"Oh, that was perfectly done, Izuku. Bet they were scared out of their wits." Shouto(M) commented.
"Oh yeah, they did." Mastermind nodded, recalling their face expressions.
"Who wouldn't be?" Everyone thought. It was like Mastermind knew everything about them but they knew nothing about him. Anyone would be scared, even more so with Mastermind's reputation. He could release a murder plan for them anytime if he wanted to, after all.
//Detective Tsukauchi rubbed his eyes in frustration before taking another gulp of his coffee. The Mastermind case was rapidly turning from a minor headache to a massive migraine. //
"Oh, so we noticed after all. I wonder how much we have already found out about him." Tsukauchi spoke, somewhat hopeful.
//The guy had been on the scene for less than ten months and he was already becoming one of the most dangerous villains the detective had ever been tasked with finding.
He looked at the file again, filled with whatever neatly written plans they had managed to confiscate from villains and a handful of blurry photographs pulled from security cameras at internet cafes. All the evidence pointed to one thing: Mastermind was a ghost. //
"What?"
"Didn't know you were a ghost, Izuku." Shouto(M) had to muffle his laughs as he didn't want to accidentally reveal himself but again, he didn't remember a time he really laughed when he was with that bastard or those ex-classmates of his. So, maybe it was fine.
Uraraka was really hoping the police to have some sort of lead but seeing how they described Mastermind, she didn't know what to hope anymore. Everything was going wrong and they were still helpless. And, it was the same with the rest of the students and heroes. A glimpse of hope in their eyes when they saw Tsukauchi mentioned Mastermind's case dimmed down. For a moment, they hoped the police might have some lead no matter how unlikely it was. That was what they hoped at that moment.
//The police hadn’t even known about his existence until months after his first murder, and it was the media who first caught onto the fact that all the recent hero deaths were connected. The heroes and police hadn’t even thought to check. //
"Wow, they're slower than I thought." Shigaraki mocked.
//Why would they? Each murder was committed by different people with different quirks and there wasn’t any signiture connecting the deaths.
It wasn’t until Nezu noticed that the villains committing the crimes weren’t smart enough to pull off the kinds of heists they were doing that they began looking for a strategist rather than a serial killer. A strategist for hire.//
"Hm..Nezu sure is smart." Mastermind commented.
//Looking at it now, it seemed obvious and simple. The murders were only possible because there was some genius pulling the strings from behind, making sure that the villains knew every possible weakness and how to exploit it. Nezu was anxious to catch Mastermind mostly because he wanted an intellectual equal to play chess with, but Tsukauchi wanted to catch him because the more his influence grew the more dangerous he became. //
"To play chess? Seriously?"
The students and heroes gave him a look and Nezu said, "Now, now, what it matters is we catch him."
"At least Detective Tsukauchi has right intentions." The heroes thought.
//The only comforting fact about the entire case was that Mastermind never agreed to in person meet-ups, which limited his influence considerably. If the police and heroes could catch him before he got up the courage to show his face, then they might be able to nip this in the bud,//
"Sorry but that's not gonna happen." Mastermind laughed.
// but Mastermind was starting to change his MO and that made Tsukauchi nervous. For a long time, Mastermind had used internet cafes to communicate with the villains who hired him, which had been the only solid lead the police could get on the guy, as thin as it was. He had been caught on camera multiple times, but always kept his hood up and seemed to know where the cameras were placed, so they still had no idea what he really looked like. Tsukauchi and Sansa had gone to interview employees at the various cafes but because they didn’t know about Mastermind until several months after he became active it had been too long for most to remember a random guy in a hoodie. //
"That's true." Kurogiri agreed. "It's better to look like a normal random guy than dressing up and taking too much effort to conceal your face in your case."
//The only thing they had to show for the interviews was one clerk who remembered a young man with green hair, but even he admitted it could have been black and the harsh fluorescent lights were just messing with his eyes. //
"So, he remembered me after all." Mastermind muttered.
//In short they still had nothing, but were tracking any suspicious activity at dozens of internet cafes in the city.
And then he stopped using them.
The crimes continued, accelerated even, but there was no physical sign of Mastermind anywhere. Tsukauchi and the rest of the police could only guess that he had either bought some sort of untraceable tech, or he had figured out how to build it himself. Either way, their most solid lead had gone cold and they were back to where they started. Well, almost. At least they knew the guy existed now. //
"Wow, got so much lead huh?" Dabi mocked the heroes.
//A slight movement in the corner of his eye made Tsukauchi reflexively drop the file and reach for his gun.
“Hey now, I didn’t think I was being that quiet.”
Tsukauchi curbed his panic for long enough to recognize the long white scarf, tangled hair and tired eyes of the hero in front of him. He sighed in relief.
“Eraser! Sorry I didn’t hear you coming, I just…” He looked at the papers spread all over the floor, “got lost in thought, I guess.”
Eraser grunted in response, “I guess I should apologize for sneaking up on you. Stealth is just kind of a reflex for underground heroes, it takes too much work to turn it off.”
“No,” Tsukauchi shook his head, “It’s not a problem. So, why are you here Eraser? Normally you go straight to sleep after patrols.”
Eraserheads expression, minute as the change was, turned grim, “I heard something concerning from one of my informants and needed to let you know as soon as possible.” He glanced down at the file that was still lying in disarray at their feet, “I have something else to add to your file.”//
"Finally a lead?"
Everyone perked up in curiosity and excitement, but different kind of excitement for villains. Mastermind's eyebrow ed curved up as well, curious what Eraserhead had about him.
//Tsukauichi perked up half in excitement and half in dread. While he hoped Eraser was bringing good news, his grim attitude made that much less likely. “Please tell me that you have some sort of lead on how to find him.” Even as he said it, he knew it was a useless hope. If Eraser was bringing something like that, he’d be smiling, as unhinged as the hero’s smile was.//
Normally, Eraserhead would've rolled his eyes at that comment. However, with everything they were witnessing, he couldn't even pay attention to it.
//As expected, Eraser shook his head and frowned, “Much worse. According to my contact, over the past week, Mastermind has met with the leaders of several minor gangs. In person. ”//
"Oh, Eraserhead just gave that piece of news." Mastermind said with a cocky grin, "I, for a second, thought they found something."
Upon hearing Mastermind, Tsukauchi said firmly, "I'm sure the police will get you behind the bars as soon as they can."
Mastermind scoffed at that. "Do you even believe that? If you haven't seen this whole thing, would you even have believed that I might be Mastermind?"
Well, they can't refute him on that. And, seeing him sitting in this whole room with them meant he was still on the loose.
//Eraser waited a moment for his news to sink in, watching as all the overworked cogs in Tsukauchi’s brain finished turning to the correct positions, and when they did…
“Fuck.”//
"Yeah, fuck." Tsukauchi sighed, helpless.
"Couldn't have concluded everything one word better than this." Aizawa also said with a sigh.
Chapter 8: Entrance Exam
//Are you sure you’re ready for this Mind-chan?”
Izuku just rolled his eyes, ignoring the lump of guilt, excitement and doubt that had been steadily growing in his gut all day. //
"What is he going to do?" Momo mumbled. She wasn't sure what to expect at this point. Mastermind had already planned a lot of crimes, done face meetings without feeling terrified or guilty anymore. But, if Mastermind himself looked like he was about to try something new, it should be a worse thing right?
Momo shook her head. She wasn't even sure about this. Mastermind was probably planning some other crime but again, it wasn't a good thing either.
//"Himiko, you do realize I have killed people before, right?”
“I know that , silly, it’s just…” she looked at him softly, “It’s just you’ve never taken a life with your own hands. It’s different than just making murder plans and letting other people act them out. The blood will be on your hands, no one else’s. There’s no coming back from this.”//
"She's right, that's not the same." Dabi agreed to what Toga's other self said, "Who knows Toga can say some good words?"
"Shut up!" Toga glared Dabi.
The heroes more or less figured out what was going to come at this point. They watched silently while wearing grim expressions, knowing that what Himiko Toga said was true.
"Taking a life with your own hand..." Midoriya muttered, then froze in horror when the realization kicked in not long after. He felt his eyes becoming teary and blurry because of the tears.
"Don't tell me he..he's going to kill someone.." He whispered.
Shouto opened his mouth to say something reassuring but then he realized there was nothing reassuring about this. It was clear as day what Mastermind was up to even if Mastermind who's sitting in the same room as them didn't give them a smirk.
"Even so..., you're different Izuku. Him killing people doesn't mean you would kill people. " Shouto said slowly.
"But am I, Shouto? I kept seeing similarities between us.." Midoriya sobbed.
"That's because I was you at some point" Mastermind scoffed. "Look, I don't know what made you different than me but I guess you were lucky enough not to get your dreams crushed."
Midoriya couldn't refute him on that.
//Izuku took a deep breath and started playing with his favorite knife, “Yeah, I guess you’re right. But,” Izuku’s eyes took on a determined glint, “I think I need to do this. I mean, in the eyes of the law, I’m already a killer, so it’s not like it'll save me a prison sentence even if I never do it myself and...well, I think I need to prove to myself that I can, you know? My whole life, I’ve been told that I can’t do anything everyone else can do, I can’t be a hero, I can’t be a useful member of society. I can’t be human. Hell, my own dad left because I was so useless. If I let everyone else do my dirty work forever, then isn’t that proving everyone else right? Yeah I’m smart, but when it comes down to the wire, I really am the useless deku that everyone’s always told me I am.” He looked over at Himiko, crouched beside him on the rooftop while they waited for their prey to pass through the alley below, “I want to... I need to do this. I know that I’m capable of it, I just need to actually, you know, do it. Does that make any sense?” //
"Even as a villain, you're still the determined Midoriya." Iida commented.
"I don't know if that's a good thing to say right now, Iida kun." Uraraka said awkwardly.
"You're right." Iida nodded.
"A determined villain with resentment to the society..God, what have we got into..?" Detective Tsukauchi muttered. He already feel like he had repeated those words and would be repeating them, again and again, during their watching. And, it just made him feel even more dejected.
On the other hand, Shouto wanted to deny that Izuku was different from Mastermind and they were two different people, yet seeing the resemblances the two shared, he was unsure of how to deny that anymore. As much as he hated to admit that, this version of Midoriya was no less determined than their version of Midoriya. And, he wasn't sure if it was a good thing.
'No, it's obviously not good.' Shouto told himself.
//"Not really to me, but I’ve never been one for big ideals.” She got a contemplative look on her face, “I mostly just kill people to see them bleed, which other people think is a dumb reason too, so I think that if it makes sense to you, can it really be wrong? I mean, any more wrong than murder is anyway?”//
"I'll say that again, it's surprising that you can say such nice words." Dabi said with a laugh.
"Hey!" Toga yelled.
//Izuku laughed, “That really shouldn’t have been as comforting as it is. Thanks Himiko, you’re a great friend.”//
"Friend? I've never got any friends before!" Toga said excitedly which didn't go unnoticed by the heroes.
That is sad.
The students couldn't help but thought.
//She smiled, her fangs glinting in the dim light of a nearby street lamp before her eyes brightened in excitement. She grabbed Izuku’s shoulder and shook him roughly.
“Mind-chan! Mind-chan!” She whispered, somehow still managing to convey mania as if she were yelling at the top of her lungs, “She’s here!”//
At Toga's voice, the students became tense. They weren't ready to see their classmate killing someone with his own hands even if they knew their version of Midoriya was different from Mastermind.
Besides , being first year students, they have never seen a corpse let alone witnessing the process of a hero getting killed by a villain.
The fact that their classmate was the one doing it didn't make it any easier.
Aizawa wished his students wouldn't have to witness such a scene but he knew they would have to witness scenes like this in the future and they needed to be prepared.
But, in no way, they should be prepared like this.
He thought, but those were merely his thoughts as he couldn't stop the watching even if he wanted to.
Meanwhile , Shouto (M) focused on the screen which made Mastermind chuckle. It would have gone unnoticed normally, however, with everyone fell silent in the theatre, the chuckle was naturally heard by others.
"You seem focused" Mastermind said.
"Come on, Izuku. I just wanna see how you did your first kill." Shouto(M) replied with a low chuckle.
//Izuku focused on the woman entering the alley below them. Hero Name: Glimmer. Sidekick at Uwabami Agency. Quirk: Sparkles. She can refract light to produce a glittery effect around her body that she uses to blind and disorient her opponents. Weaknesses: she is susceptible to the blinding effect of her own sparkles. She uses dark glasses as part of her hero costume to minimize this effect, but right now? she's coming off a day shift in the dark of night in civilian clothes and dark glasses would just get in the way.//
"Take note of this and also memorize everything." Shigaraki said to the league, especially Kurogiri.
"Of course."
Tsukauchi also made sure to remember the analysis Mastermind made so that he could inform this to the said hero and hopefully find a counter-plan as he saw the league taking note of the information.
//Izuku smiled and put on his own dark goggles to shield his eyes before grabbing a pair of throwing knives.
Glimmer cried out as one stabbed her in the shoulder and the other lodged itself in her thigh, preventing her from running away. She instinctively surrounded herself with sparkles, but had to shield her eyes with her hand. She reached for her pocket where she kept an extra pair of sunglasses only to receive a swift kick to the hand as soon as she managed to grab them. She could tell by the sound of them hitting the floor that they were most likely cracked and useless. She dimmed her quirk enough that she could still see somewhat.//
"Yes, Glimmer San. You can do it!" Mina wanted to cheer for the hero.
The students followed suit and cheered for her, in hopes that she could somehow make it alive.
The heroes hoped the same but having seen how Mastermind's plans worked, their hunches were saying otherwise.
// She could just barely make out two figures behind the bright sparkles. One was hanging back, but the other was stalking toward her with knives in each hand. A knife-hand quirk, perhaps. Glimmer shook her head. Not important right now, she needed to focus on staying alive. //
"Seeing a hero struggle to keep herself alive..It's a sight." Shigaraki said.
"Blood! I just love her seeing in blood! I hope Mind chan would make her bleed even more!" Toga squealed in her seat.
"She was clearly in disadvantage." Nezu shook his head.
Mastermind had thought every weakness of hers he could use against her thorough and Glimmers didn't stand a chance.
The heroes realized this.
"Please, Glimmer San..." The students murmured. "You have to survive."
//She launched a punch at her attacker, only for him to dodge at the last second. How? Even dimmed, she knew her sparkles made it difficult to see her movements. It seemed it was her opponent's turn to attack as he ran close to her with a knife and gave her a deep cut on the side of her neck. Her eyes widened in pain and realization as she saw the dark goggles on his face. She stumbled backwards, trying to get out of range before he came at her again, thanking every deity she could think of that her hurt leg didn’t give out from the movement.
Glimmer was starting to hyperventilate. She didn’t have her glasses and her opponent’s gear limited the effectiveness of her quirk anyway. She was also injured and bleeding heavily while she hadn’t even managed to land a hit on him. //
"Damn, he could fight." Dabi chuckled.
"That's Mind chan for you! Oh my! I love how you make her bleed, Mind chan!" Toga squealed.
//They fought for another few minutes, but for every hit she managed to get in, he gave her another few cuts or stabs. She hadn’t been this scared since the first time she’d run into a major villain during her first internship. Her mentor had been there to save her then, but no one was going to come to save her now. She stilled and prepared to stand her ground as a last desperate strategy occurred to her. There was a risk she might go blind, but hopefully it would incapacitate her attacker long enough for her to run away.
She slammed her hands over her screwed shut eyes and sparkled brighter than she ever had in her life. She had never poured this much energy into her quirk because even with standard dark glasses, this much light could cause permanent damage. She was just about to cut her quirk and run for her life when she felt a knife slide between her ribs. If her eyes hadn’t been closed she would have been concerned about how dark her vision was going as her legs finally gave out beneath her and she succumbed to quirk exhaustion and blood loss. //
"Oh no.."
Some students were sobbing already, some nauseous and some still looked a bit shaken up.
The heroes took a moment of silence for the fallen hero while Mastermind smiled proudly.
Midoriya felt like he was vomiting.
He had taken a life with his hands.
Previously, he was only an accessory to murder but now, he himself had held the knife that took a hero's life.
He, a hero fanboy, who was determined to save people and become a hero, had become a villain and killed a hero with his own hands as if selling murder plans weren't enough.
He knew Shouto had told him he and Mastermind were different people and he wasn't the one who did thoses deeds but as he kept seeing the resemblances between them, he felt like he was still the same person as Mastermind, at least at the core and he felt like vomiting.
His breaths becoming faster till he couldn't breathe anymore. Tears were falling down his cheek without even knowing.
"You're determined even as a villain."
He recalled Iida say.
He was determined to be a hero and would try to prove that at every given chance while Mastermind was willing to, no, determined to take a life with his own hands because he wanted to prove himself that he was not just a useless Deku.
He remembered how he tried to prove again and again that he was not useless anymore.
'These thoughts aren't helping!' He knew, yet it was so hard to stop his train of thoughts.
"Izuku.."
A hand wrapped around him and he recognized it was Shouto.
//Izuku waited for the last of the sparkles to fizzle out before taking off his glasses. He’d had to close his eyes during that last attack, but the glasses Giran had provided him with had done a wonderful job at protecting him. He watched the last bit of life drain from Glimmer’s eyes as Himiko came to stand beside him.
“So,” she drawled, “That looked like fun. How do you feel?”//
"How did he feel?"
Be it villains or heroes, everyone was curious about the answer to that.
Midoriya hoped Mastermind wouldn't feel great after killing a hero with his own hands, no matter how unlikely that might be.
//Izuku knew that the him of 10 months ago would have probably thrown up at the realization of what he had just done, but all he felt was a sick sense of pride, just like he’d felt that first time that a villain had honestly thanked him for coming up with a plan to kill Mt. Lady.
“I feel good.” //
"It's ironic that how fast the night can change huh?" Dabi laughed dryly. It was as if he remembered bits of his past and how he came to this point.
On the other hand, Midoriya was sobbing while Shouto tried to comfort him, yet failing.
"I...I had killed a hero and even felt good after that." He sobbed into Shouto's shoulders.
"It's not your fault, Izuku. It's not you who did that." Shouto tried to convince him.
"No..Shouto, I...I keep seeing myself in him and it's just..."
Shouto wished he could do a better job than this.
//He smiled at Himiko as he retrieved whatever knives were still stuck in the hero, cleaning them off and putting them away. “I think I told you when we were planning this that today was the UA entrance exam,” Himiko nodded, “Well, I’ve just been thinking about how proud my bully was when I saw him walking home this afternoon and honestly, I think I’ve got him beat.” //
Bakugo swallowed as dread filled him from deep inside. He started all of this, didn't he?
//This was like his own personal entrance exam, his own proof that he was a real villain. Izuku liked the poetic irony. It was just as ironic as a hero fanboy growing up to kill heroes because of the words of the number one hero in Japan. //
Again, heroes, especially All Might, felt guilty at the reminder of Mastermind's past.
"Young Midoriya, my boy...if only I didn't crush your dreams in such a cruel way.."
He mumbled, looking at the boy sobbing on Todoroki's shoulders.
//Sirens were starting to grow closer, most likely drawn by the bright light of Glimmer’s final stand, but it wasn’t important. Izuku and Himiko had plenty of time to get out of there before anyone else showed up.
“Come on Himiko,” he said, “let’s go celebrate.”//
Midoriya wished he could stop seeing this already.
To Be Continued