48AN: So I will admit this was just an idea that came to me and I decided to play around with, and then stick out there for the sake of curiosity just to see if people liked it.
Basically I saw a niche in the fandom, or at least the straight My Hero Academia fandom, one which is heavily explored in other fandom, but surprisingly not so much in this one. It will soon become obvious just which one I mean as you read this story.
That said please do, and then feel free to review, drop it, or whatever. As I say this was more a curiosity I came up with over the last two days when I had a spare hour or so. In fact I did it whilst trying to motivate myself to get my arse into gear and update my other stories, but then said screw it and rolled with it.
Either way if you read it I hope you enjoy, and if not, well that's cool too.
Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia.
( - )
Chapter 1
He was ten years old when it happened.
Ten years old, and he could remember being so excited at the possibilities being suggested.
Superpowers, the mere thought of such a fantastical thing being possible in the real world. Well, for kids like him, kids who had been brought up watching superhero cartoons and films, from both Japan and the Western world, it was like a dream come true.
A bitter smile spread across Izuku Midoriya's face at that thought. He had been an oblivious and stupid brat back then.
Superpowers were not a blessing, especially not when the whole world had them. As for heroes, well they just didn't exist. Instead they were just a campy idea made up by companies to sell toys, and to inspire false hope and dreams in people, dreams that humanity wasn't as rotten as it truly is.
Unfortunately this realisation only came about after SXV12 virus had spread around the world; with it spreading from person to person, as those who were afflicted remained contagious for several days after, and thus unknowingly passed it on to others.
With the virus working in a simple way. In that after three or so days it put the afflicted into a comatose state, during which it attacked the infected person genome, mutating them, or killing them. With those that survived eventually awakening superpowers, with there being no apparent reason or rhyme behind the powers they awakened.
In fact the superpowers that were awoken could be anything. From something as simple and useless as being able to grow your hair faster than normally possible, to something ridiculous like the ability to go invisible, or fly or have super strength. Or sometimes, for the lucky few, a combination of a multitude of different abilities.
Looking back at it now the whole thing sounded like some kind of corny plot in a D-rated superhero flick.
Only this was not a silyl superhero film, but was instead real life, and it had happened.
Honestly speaking though, he still wasn't sure of all the facts. The source of superpowers however, he at least did know.
SXV12, from what the news had said, it was a supposedly a 'super soldier' serum that had been looted from the Soviet Union by the Americans, not long after the collapse of the USSR.
What happened after that, again, he didn't know. But what he did know though was that thirty odd years later a group of scientists announced, probably against the wishes of the American government, that they had perfected the serum, and had thus found a way to give people superhuman abilities.
They hadn't, perfected it that is, but at the time they believed otherwise.
Either way not long after that trials began on animals and primate, trials that the US military couldn't stop due to the news having been published globally and the eyes of the world being on them.
All of which meant that there was not much of a chance for them make the scientists disappear or shut them up, not that that stopped many 'renowned' scientists and academics the world over from trying to refute the claims.
Not that this did much good though, the claims had caught the public's interest, and the interest of the less than savoury members of society.
Whether or not the drug was stolen, or whether it was sold to criminals by an unscrupulous employee, he didn't know. What he did know however, was that the untested drug, one which had the potential to give people superpowers had soon after the announcement, had become available on the black-market.
All of this he had found out much later on, back when there had still been democratically elected governments and free press, and the world wasn't ruled by wannabe warlords, kings, and whatever other nonsense titles the strongest and most powerful Supers gave themselves.
Again much of what happened next was shrouded in mystery and rumour, but what was common knowledge was that the serum was tested and it that about fifty percent of the time it worked.
Or at least it did in that it put the person it was administered to into a coma, during which it mutated their genome, which in turn led to the person in question either awakening with superpowers, or never waking up again.
Of course that wasn't all that happened.
No, from what was known, the serum, or rather virus, mutated along with the person and became contagious. With it then passing on to other people in the room infecting them, and all those they came into contact with for three or four days, before it then put them into a coma.
That had been fourteen years ago, the day that superpowers became a thing. But not just a thing though, but a virus, a disease that rapidly spread throughout humanity killing half of those infected, and the other half superhuman abilities of all different types and kinds.
Suffice to say in the months that followed the outbreak anarchy reigned supreme, and people quickly found out the simple fact. If you give everyone superpowers, the majority of people will want to abuse them for their own gain. In real life, very few people in have any interest in being superheroes, and the few that are, well, they don't last very long.
( - )
(In the present)
Standing up from where he had previously been crouched, Izuku Midoriya surveyed the almost apocalyptic scene in front of him.
In the distance he could see ruined tower blocks and skyscrapers jutting from the ground, some already partially collapsed and hollowed out. Whilst others were leaning precariously, looking for all the world as if they were about to collapse at any moment.
Spreading out behind the towers was a dirty, orange sky, a plume of dark smoke noticeably in the distance. No doubt a fire causing caused by a recent fight over territory between one of the rival gangs/ tribes that claimed this part of the ruined city as their own.
Looking out over the once vast and populace metropolitan area, Izuku could only shake his head bitterly.
Where roads had once been full of cars and vehicle, now they lay empty, cracked and ruined, save for abandoned and burnt out cars, mounds of rubbish, and flora and fauna, much of which grew out of the ruined asphalt as nature resolutely, and relentlessly tried to retake the city.
Where the pavements had once been filled with people just going about their daily lives, heading to work or shopping, there was now nothing but rubbish, the occasional rotting corpse, and who knows what else.
Tokyo, it had once been a vast thriving city, the Capital City of Japan. Now it was little more than a hollowed out ghost town. A victim of the fourteen years of near constant conflict that had raged ever since humanity had first gotten superpowers. Not that this place was any different to the rest of the world.
When there were people around that could manipulate the weather at will, or set fire to entire city with just a click of their fingers, well this is what you got. Death, destruction and decay.
Shaking his head at that dour thought, Izuku turned away in disgust, pulling his ragged coat tighter around him, even as he shouldered his rucksack.
He had stayed still in this unsecured area for far too long. For nomads like him, those that refused to be pressed ganged into some petty warlord's army/ tribe, such a thing could be a death sentence.
To survive in this world you either had to be ridiculously strong, subservient, or intelligent. Those that were weak and went against the grain, or those that acted stupidly. Well they had either been killed off by another Super long ago, starved to death, or gotten themselves killed in some other stupid and inane way.
With that thought in mind, Izuku took a step forward, the air around him visibly rippling for a moment, before a second later he took another step. His surroundings now completely different to the filthy apartment he had just been in.
Instead, he was now standing in what must've once been the master bedroom of a grand, plushly decorated town house in Prague, or at least before it had been ransacked, looted and vandalised who knows how long ago.
Looking around the room, he could feel the night air blowing in through the room's shattered windowpanes. The slight chill it gave him, making him pull his coat a little tighter around him, even as he quickly gave the safe house a once over, checking the numerous traps he had setup in and around the place to ensure the it was still secure.
( - )
(A few minutes later)
A few minutes of checking later, Izuku dropped his rucksack and, his feet barely making a sound, he padded across the floor of his safe house, his eyes flitting left and right as he knelt down in the corner of the room and pulled out a knife, his hands moving with practiced ease as he quickly pried a loose floor board off of the ground.
The still solid wooden blanket shifting aside to reveal a canvas bag hidden below, within which he knew were some cans of food, bottles of water, a bit of medicine and some weapons. One of the many caches he had stored up in similar safe houses around the world.
Opening the bag Izuku ignored the weapons and drugs, and instead grabbed a sealed bottle of water and one of the cans. His eyes narrowing in the gloom as he read the word 'SPAM' on the can.
Settling himself down on the ground, he used his knife to open up the can, revealing the pink, processed meat within, his breakfast for the day.
Shifting his coat so as to make himself comfortable, he took a drink of water and then started to eat, his body tense and his eyes shifting back and forth, just in case of an attack.
Paranoia was just as important as ruthless efficiency in the world as it was today. After all the global population of over seven billion, back in 2020 when all this began, was now decimated, and the survivors were either those that had the good fortune to develop a strong and useful superpower, or those that were smart enough and canny enough to survive in the hell that the earth had become.
Scraping his knife along the bottom of the tin, Izuku made sure to get every last bit of meat he could, before, without a word he stood up, his gaze flickering over to the broken window for a moment before he stuck the now empty tin in his pocket along with the bottle of water and then, after filling up his rucksack with a few more tins and bottle, replaced the floor board, hiding his secret cache of supplies from sight once again.
It was time for him to get going.
A slight smile spread across Izuku's face at that thought. His knife still in his hand as he wiped it clean on sleeve of his coat, before, without another word he took a step forward, the air around him visibly rippling as he did so, only for him to once again appear in Tokyo again.
Only now he was several miles away from where he had been scouting out previously, his knife still in hand as he rapidly ducked behind cover the moment he teleported in, his sharp green eyes surveying the surrounding area, including the looted and shuttered up shop fronts, and the rest of the street.
His gaze then shifting over and lingering momentarily, and contemptuously, on a freshly dead, possibly still warm corpse, that had been left in the centre of the road.
The person, whoever it was, must have been weak, and thus deserving of death.
This world was no place for weaklings.
With that thought in mind he unsheathed another knife, his coat shifting slightly as he did so to reveal nearly a dozen other sheathed blades on his form, even as he lowered himself into a crouch and continued to examine the area from behind his cover.
He had grown up in one of the outer districts of this city. It had been a simple life, but happy one all the same, just him and his mother, Inko.
Unfortunately that was little more than a distant memory now, but still, a happy one, one from a different time.
Still maybe that was why he was here, searching for more supplies, and looking for any good places in the city where he could setup a safe house, a bolthole within which he could hide some supplies. Nostalgia.
Looking at it objectively he already had forty three other safe houses or caches, each of which were of differing size and security, scattered across four continents. With him having set them up in cities, towns, villages, farms, hell he had even setup one in a national monument, in a room that only he, or another Super with a similar power to him could get to.
That said though, he would rather have too many than too few. After all there was that old adage about putting all your eggs in one basket, and how that was bad. Well that applied here too, only instead of eggs it was weapons, medicine, water, fuel and food that Izuku had distributed throughout his many safe houses.
This was a safeguard in case one or more of his safe houses were discovered and raided, by distributing his supplies evenly, and in differing amount depending on the security and size of each one, he was able to keep the majority of his supplies relatively safe and secure.
He hadn't survived in this hell for the last fourteen years by being stupid after all.
In a world where there were people flying around with laser and/ or X-ray vision, invulnerable skin, flight, super speed and super strength, etc., it was always best to have plenty of places you could run too and hide, especially since he only had his 'Spatial Jumping' ability, which although very useful, was not in the same league as some of the heavy hitters in the world, the ones that ruled over large swathes of territory and sometimes thousands of other Supers.
Pushing those thoughts away for the moment, Izuku instead focused on the matter at hand. Long-term isolation and a lack of friendly human contact had made him pretty introspective over the years. Not that he was complaining, after all it was what had also kept him alive.
He only had a few friends, and those were friends in that he liked them and sometimes partnered up with them, as opposed to friends that you would trust. After all he wouldn't trust a single one of them as far as he could throw them, and likewise he doubted they would trust him that much either.
Creeping forwards, an eight inch serrated hunting knife in each hand, Izuku kept his eyes on the corpse ahead, even as he kept low to the ground and hidden behind cover.
The corpse was almost certainly a trap. The sheer fact that it still had a bag near to it, and that it had not been picked clean was evidence enough of that.
Izuku smirked slightly at that thought.
It was a pretty simple trap too as far as traps went. One that he had come across too many times to count.
You put out the bait, then wait, hidden, for some scavenger to come and pick the corpse clean, either for supplies, or for the more desperate, for meat.
Then, once you've lured in your victim you spring the trap.
No doubt there was a couple of Supers nearby with niche powers that were perfect for quickly killing, or incapacitating, depending on just what the hunters were after here, the target.
That or they had someone nearby who had a gun and was a good shot, though that alternative was less likely, after all ammo for guns was limited, but superpowers were infinite.
Honestly speaking, he knew that this was not an ideal situation for him to have just stumbled into. Especially if the waiting ambushers had someone with a Sensory ability and thus already know that he was here.
Shrinking back a bit behind cover, Izuku went over his options.
He had three of them as far as he could see. The first of which was that he could just teleport away and leave things as they were. The second of which would entail him warping over, grabbing the bag and then trying to teleport away before the trap was sprung, risky but possible. The third option meanwhile, and the most dangerous, was that he could scout about and try to find and ambush the ambushers, letting him both get the loot from the corpse, and from their dead bodies as well.
Three options, each of which was more dangerous than the last.
Tightening his grip on the knives Izuku thought over the choice ahead of him.
A small part of him wanted to just retreat, it was the prudent, sensible thing to do and pretty much guaranteed his survival. If he teleported out of the city he would be home free, but in doing so he would miss out on whatever supplies the dead person had gathered for themselves.
The larger greedy part of him however, wanted to go for the bag, and flee, which would allow him to survive and get some extra supplies too. Though that of course was based on whether or not there was actually anything in that bag worth taking, or whether there was even anything in it at all.
For all he knew the contents had been replaced by rocks by the ambushers, a distinct possibility depending on how long ago the person was killed and how smart the ambushers were.
As for the third option, well he dismissed that one right away.
After all, although he was very confident in his skills and had no issue at all in killing other Supers, in fact if anything he enjoyed the challenge of fighting, out thinking and defeating other Supers, that did not mean he was a fool.
He always tended to scope out his victims first before going in for the kill.
The last thing he wanted after all was to be surprised by the Super in question having invulnerable skin, or regeneration, or something along those lines. An ability that would allow them to survive his first strike without issue, and then deliver a surprise counterattack and potentially kill him before he could react.
No, it was always best to find out what you were facing and then plan accordingly. Or at least when you had the chance too. Sometimes though the opportunity to attack and take them by surprise was too great to pass up, especially for someone like him, someone who could teleport in and out of combat in moments.
Absentmindedly cracking his fingers as he thought over the options, his eyes scanning the surrounding empty street, he came to a decision.
He would go for the second option. He would be greedy, but not too greedy so as to put himself in immense danger. He would teleport over and grabbed the bag mid-leap, and then teleport away before he had even properly settled, maybe to his safe house in Egypt.
Mentally nodding to himself at that, Izuku turned and crouched down, taking up a stance that was reminiscent of a track runner, both hands on the ground and his legs bent and staggered behind him. He was going to teleport mid-sprint, grab the bag, and then teleport again before he had even taken another step. A hard manoeuvre to pull off, but one that he was more than confident that he could pull off.
It was as he was preparing himself however, that a sudden sound distracted him.
It was a sharp intake of breath, followed by sudden rapid footsteps.
Shifting around immediately, the air around Izuku began to ripple, even as he raised his knives, ready to defend himself at any moment, his sharp green eyes flitting around in all directions as he tried to use his currently hypersensitive senses to lock onto the source of the disturbance.
It was another person, one of indeterminate age and gender. Though that was not due to them having some kind of outward mutation like some Supers developed, and instead more due to the fact that their body was heavily wrapped up in coats and scarfs.
Narrowing his eyes, Izuku watched as person leapt out from behind a burnt out van on the other side of the street, their movements rapid as they closed the distance between them and the corpse.
Gripping his knives tighter, Izuku smiled grimly. It appears he was in luck, someone else was here and was heading in first. Which of course meant that he could now see whether this was indeed a trap, and could then react accordingly, all without being in danger.
It was the optimum situation for him.
Watching the newcomer carefully, Izuku saw them slide to a halt beside the body, one hand already reaching for the bag, even as their covered face scanned the area.
Which ended up being a pretty sensible thing to do, as moments later a blast of yellow energy, almost like a laser beam, shot out of one of the second floor windows on a nearby building.
'So a sniper who uses some kind of energy beams.' Izuku noted to himself, shrinking back into the shadows of the building he was hiding in, his expression bereft of emotion as he saw the person in the street turn, and let out a startled cry of shock. 'Idiot'
Only for his eyes to then widen slightly as he saw the figure suddenly throw up their spare hand, their cry turning into a bark of laughter as the air in front of them contorted and shimmered, after which a barely visible shield formed, and just in time to as it tanked the beam of energy with ease.
Sensing the bundled up figure's satisfaction, even as he started to move away the rucksack now in one hand and his hand still raised as he used his shield to protect himself, Izuku couldn't help but smirk.
'Maybe not so half-cocked after all' Izuku thought to himself, shifting slightly behind his cover as he looked between the retreating 'victim' and the area where the beams of energy had come from.
Continuing to watch the ongoing scene from the side lines, Izuku's expression became grim once more as a suddenly more intense beam of energy erupted from the room, cannoning into the retreating figure and visibly cracking their shield and staggering them.
Following this up another figure leapt from that same room, this one certainly more distinctive than the other. After all this one stood at close to nine feet tall, with grey, rock like skin and oversized fists.
The newcomer, Izuku noted, was certainly a sight to see, and almost instantly made his presence known as the asphalt road beneath him shattered upon his landing. The ground in the immediate area shaking, even as he then stood up and thundered toward the off balance figure with the bag.
'Two versus one, not good odds.' Izuku mused, not thinking for a second of helping out either side, even as he instead watched the grey skinned figure rush the bundled up person. A skinny man with slicked back blonde hair, blacked out goggle and a slightly worn black leather jacket leaping out of the building next.
The newcomer slowing his descent with twin beams of yellow energy from his hands, after which he then turned his attention onto the fleeing figure, releasing more beams of energy at the bundled man, even as his grey skinned partner closed in on him.
'Not the best ambush I've ever seen, but not terrible either.' Izuku mused to himself as the scene played out in front of him, maintaining his positon as he did so. His green eyes surveying the ongoing scene as the bundled up person dropped the bag and formed a new bigger shield with both of his hands now, protecting himself from the grey skinned man who just bounced off, but not from the twin beams of energy that bore through the weakened shield moments later.
One of the beams of energy blasting over the bundled up person's shoulder staggering them. The other one meanwhile striking him straight in the gut, the force of the blow knocking them off their feet.
"Close in on him Rockhead!" The blonde man shouted to the now named 'Rockhead'.
Hearing the name, Izuku couldn't help but roll his eyes in exasperation. All too many Supers now used aliases and made up names, thinking to reinvent themselves now they had power, or sometimes to intimidate their enemies.
Izuku however just found it all pointless, and narcissistic. There was no reason to hide your identity, not like they needed to do in those old school, superhero films. No, instead the whole alias thing nowadays was done by either those seeking attention or recognition, and those trying to overcompensate for their lame abilities.
"I'm on it Sunflare!" Rockhead shouted, stabilising himself before he rushed forward again, this time breaking through the wounded person's hastily made shield. The person in question currently only using one hand, as the other was currently rootling around for something in his singed and now slightly bloody wrappings.
What followed next was a sickening crunch as the grey skinned man broke through the shield and unleashed a thunderous punch with his right fist, completely obliterating the other persons' head with a single blow.
'At least it was quick.' Izuku thought, watching silently as the blonde ran up to his partner, already shouting at him.
"You idiot, you did it again!" The blonde shouted, running the last few feet over to where his partner was inspecting his bloody, gore covered fist. "We were supposed to capture new recruits, not fucking kill them! Aw shit, and this one had a shielding ability! You know how rare those are right! Fuck, the boss is going to be mad!"
"Sorry," Rockhead intoned dully.
"Well it's done now." Sunflare sighed. Shaking his head. "Ah fuck it, we'll just tell the boss that the fucker here topped himself before we could capture them."
"Ok," Rockhead nodded slowly.
"Right, now make yourself useful and grab the bag he dropped and search the other dead stiff back there. I'll search this guy." Sunflare sighed, walking passed Rockhead now as he instead went to crouch beside the dead person.
Rockhead didn't reply to that, instead he just leant down and picked up the fallen bag easily with one hand, and then lumbered over to where the original corpse was still lying.
'So they hadn't had time to loot the corpse before' Izuku thought. By the sounds of it these two had been sent out to track down and pressgang other Supers into their war band. Only they weren't having much success, and had instead killed the two Supers they were supposed to be capturing.
"Oh shit, well look here!" The blonde suddenly said loudly, standing up all of a sudden, his attention no longer on dead body in front of him, but instead on something in his hand. "This fucker had a booster!"
Instantly Izuku tensed up, his gaze now locked on the blonde. Or rather on the small vial of blue liquid in his hand.
A booster, or rather a vial of the original SXV12 serum, now that truly was like gold dust. There weren't many samples still around, and the few that were, were all highly prized.
They were something people would kill over.
Then again maybe that wasn't surprising, after all, although all of humanity, or at least the a majority of it had already been infected by the virus and had survived, thus gaining immunity. That didn't mean that the old serum was worthless, no if anything it meant it was more valuable than ever.
If someone already afflicted took one, or at least from what Izuku had heard, then it could have one of three effects. It could either increase their existing mutation and thus power up their current ability/ abilities, or it could give them additional ones, or, well, or it could kill them.
A gamble certainly, but one that was worth it.
Already Izuku could feel his finger's unconsciously twitch and felt his mouth going dry.
He wanted that little vial.
"Ah, the boss is going to be so happy!" Rockhead nodded slowly, in his deep, gravelly voice.
"The boss?" the blonde replied incredulously, "This is mine! Come on Rockhead, surely someone as thick as you remembers the rule about 'finders keepers!'"
"That's not how it works, we give everything we find to the boss and he decides who gets what." Rockhead replied resolutely.
From where he was hidden Izuku could see the blonde's eyes narrowing even as his hand tightened around the vial.
"You'll hand it over to the boss, or I'll tell him you have it and didn't give it over." Rockhead continued firmly.
"Oh come on, you'd really betray me?" The blonde asked, a grin now on his face. "You'd really betray the only person in this world that actually likes and accepts you?"
"The boss likes me." Rockhead shot back, his heavy featured face twisting into a frown.
"The boss tolerates you, and do you know why? It's because your useful, a big dumb tool that'll do what he's told when he's told to. Me though, I'm your friend." The blonde said, his voice taking on an oily, greasy tone now.
The grey man's rocky features twisted into a scowl at that. "I'm not stupid."
"Oh come on, you know you are. You were stupid before you got turned into a walking, talking pebble, and you've only gotten stupider since then." The blonde drawled.
In response to that Rockhead took a step forward. "I'm not stupid. So give me the booster!"
The blonde's face twisted into a scowl at that. "No."
"Give it, or I'll take it from you by force!" Rockhead shot back at him.
"Just you try!" Sunflare snapped in response, his freehand raised in the air, and now glowing with yellow energy.
In response Rockhead took a step forward, his face firming into a look of resolve, even as he drew his right arm back for a punch.
Seeing this, Izuku made his move. With barely a thought he lunged forward, his right hand thrusting a knife forward. The air around him warping as he did so, only for him to appear in behind the blonde moments later and follow through with the motion.
His knife slamming into the blonde's unprotected back, through the leather jacket, and the man's flesh and straight into one of his most vital of organs, his heart. An 'ooph' sound leaving the shocked blonde's lips as the forceful blow to his back knocked all the air from his lungs, even as it pierced through his chest.
"What?" Rockhead said dully, blinking without comprehension as crimson blood spattered his face and his friend turned enemy slumped to the floor. A new previously unknown, dark haired, green eyed, figure standing where the blonde had just been stood, a disinterested expression on his face as for a moment he met the larger man's gaze levelly.
"Die!" Rockhead roared, understanding flooding through him as he now understood exactly what had happened. His face twisting and contorting into a look of pure fury, even as he went to follow through with his original swing.
Only for the air around Izuku to ripple, and the short, but solid looking dark haired man to vanish from sight.
With Izuku reappearing directly behind the lumbering giant.
He knew better than to attack a person as big and tough looking as Rockhead straight on, and in single combat. Instead Izuku lunged forward, both of his arms looping around the giant's thick waist, before a moment later they both vanished from the scene.
A cry of shock issuing forth from the rocky skinned man as he suddenly found himself teleported over five thousand feet up in the air, straight above a wide, blue expanse of water. The Pacific Ocean.
"Nooooo!" Rockhead roared, his voice barely coherent over the rushing wind as gravity began to drag the incredibly heavy stone man and Izuku back to earth.
Izuku though didn't bother replying, or even to make a witty quip. Instead he used his legs to push off the flailing and falling giant's back, and then teleported away, leaving Rockhead, a man that seemed to literally be made of rock, to fall the remaining four thousand nine hundred odd feet into the sea.
With Izuku instead appearing a few feet above the ground, directly over where he had just been previously, in downtown Tokyo. A slight smile now on his face as his leap carried him another foot or so into the air, after which he landed back on solid ground with a slight 'umph'. His knees bending to take his weight, before he once again bounced up.
A figurative spring in his step as he then waltzed over to the fallen blonde and yanked the knife out of the dead man's back. With him barely even bothering to wipe the blood off of it, before he grabbed and pocketed the vial of SXV12 serum, and then set about looting the rest of the corpses and supplies that were strewn across the area.
It was a very good haul all things considered.
( - )
(A few minutes later)
Arriving back at his safe house a few minutes later, this one in Egypt. Izuku quickly set about the now common routine of emptying out the bags he'd taken and the separating out, cataloguing and storing away the supplies he had acquired.
With this safe house being his largest one, and his most secure, it was where he tended to store the majority of his supplies. All around him he could crates carefully stacked up, their contents written in spray paint on the outside.
Looking around he could also see the many boxes and crates lined the walls of the large room, and, he knew for a face that there were even more boxes and crates deeper inside the safe house.
It was one of the good place about his sanctuary, there was plenty of storage space in this hidden location, and he would have been a fool not to take advantage of that.
Finishing his routine, Izuku quickly headed deeper into his sanctuary, the dim bulbs overhead give him enough light to see by. The entire network ran off of solar powered batteries that he had acquired. At the moment he had several of them already in service, the others he had put out in the sun to charge up. His current arid and hot location was ideal for that kind of thing.
Getting his mind back on track, Izuku pulled the blue vial out of his pocket as he strode down the corridor and entered a new part of the safe house. A makeshift lounge, kitchenette and bedroom, complete with some old wired up electronics, a bookcase, and a large double bed mattress.
It wasn't luxurious by any means, but it was comfortable, and above all safe, and that was all he really needed from it.
Smiling at that thought, Izuku settled himself down on the mattress and looked at the vial of SXV12 in his hand, a thoughtful expression on his face.
From what he had heard taking the drug was dangerous. Less so for someone who had already been infected and mutated but still risky. The drug could either further his current mutation, thus powering up his abilities. Or it could change the mutation slightly, giving him access to new powers.
Unfortunately however there was also the possibility of the drug making his body too unstable and killing him. That was also a thing from what he had heard.
It was for that reason that using the drug was a risk. From what he had figured out he had a thirty-three percent chance of killing himself with it, he wasn't entirely sure on the details as he had never seen anyone already infected, infect themselves again. Plus he gave up maths at ten, when the world as he knew it basically came to an end.
That said though he already knew what he was going to do.
He was not natural risk taker. No, he was a survivor.
But sometime you had to take a risk, especially when it came to opportunities like the one in front of him.
Getting a power up, or potentially new abilities would be a massive opportunity.
The drug was an absolute game changer.
If he took it and it had a positive effect he could become a heavy hitter, and if that happened. Well he wouldn't just be a survivor then, a scavenger that had to run when he came across someone more powerful.
No, if he became more powerful then he would no longer be the prey, he would be the predator.
With that thought in mind he made his decision. It was a risk, but the odds were in his favour and the payoff was great enough to make it worthwhile.
Flicking the cap off of the vial as he made his mind up, Izuku spared no more thought or worry to the problem. Instead he threw his head back and downed the small vial.
His eyes almost instantly rolling up into the back of his head, as, unlike before when he had become infected due to the virus passing on like a disease, this time he had directly infected himself with the source of superhuman powers.
( - )
(An unknown time later)
Waking up on his mattress, the first thing that hit Izuku was that he had soiled himself. His trousers were long since dry, but he could smell the stench of dried urine and shit.
The next thing he realised as he painfully sat up, his every muscle protesting, was that he was alive.
He was stiff, in pain and felt vile, but he was alive.
Taking in a rasping breath, a foul taste in his dry mouth, Izuku then let out a hacking cough and fell off the bed and landed on the ground with a groan. Black bile and spittle exploding from his mouth and spattering onto the ground beneath him, even as he started dry heaving and retching.
He felt terrible. The last time he felt this bad was fourteen years ago, back when he had first been infected, and prior to him becoming comatose.
Groaning slightly, Izuku forced himself to his feet and began stripping off. His nose wrinkling up in disgust as he pulled his fetid clothing off and then looked back at his befouled mattress, complete with a sweat stain where he had been lying for gods know how long.
Kicking his clothing off and using an entire box of wet wipes to clean himself. A newly dressed, but still aching all over, he quickly set about getting himself some food and drink so as to settle his upset stomach and do away with his throbbing headache.
( - )
(Sometime Later)
In the end it took him a couple of hours before he felt somewhat human, and even then there was still some queasiness when he moved.
During that time however he had made sure to check himself over, looking for any outward mutations, or an irregularity in the way his body worked, or at least that he could tell based on his limited medical knowledge.
He had also made sure to check an old fashion clockwork watch he had on the side, and had discovered that he had been comatose for two and a half days, a frighteningly long time for him to be in one place for. Or at least it would have been, were he not all but entirely confident in the security of this safe house.
Pushing himself up from his couch, at that thought and barely glancing at his fancy 'sar-coffee table', Izuku instead pulled on a different coat, glancing down as he did at his brown boots, faded and worn blue jeans, baggy green T-shirt and stained black hoodie. Over the top of which he had a black harness strapped, and multiple knives and daggers of many different varieties strapped and ready to be used.
Pulling on a pair of blacked out goggles, and grabbing a loaded revolver from his 'sar-coffee table', the gun finding its place in the holster on the inside of his coat, Izuku was ready to head out.
Slinging a rucksack with minimal supplies onto his back, and downing the remaining water in his bottle, he prepared to warp out of his base. He needed to get to somewhere open and secluded where he could test out his abilities, and see whether he had developed anything new, or least whether his current ones had undergone a boost in power.
He had just the place in mind too, a place he had been taken to as a child by his mother.
The place was heavily wooded, though whether it still was he didn't know, on top of which it was well out of the way of people, and surrounded by mountains, the perfect place for him stop off to test out his powers.
Nodding to himself at his decision, he took one deep breath and then drew on his powers, focusing as he did on that woodland and his memories of it. Taking a step forward, Izuku almost at once realised something was wrong, his ability felt different, the power within him, the one which allowed him to leap through space at will, it was more intense, more powerful, than it had been before.
He hadn't accounted for this difference, instead he had done what he usually did when travelling long distances, he had drawn on his power with all he had and then leapt.
Only now, he realised only after leaping, his ability was far more powerful than it was, and, as he felt his body contort, the journey taking far longer than it should, he was once again reminded of that old European adage; about looking before you leap.
That was the last thought Izuku had before his feet hit the ground and he found himself in the middle of a tranquil, verdant green forest. The sky overhead a dusky orange as night time fought with day time for dominance, casting the world, for a moment, in a state of twilight.
Glancing around at his peaceful surroundings, Izuku, who always expected the worst, and thus prepared for it, was instantly on guard.
He could not yet see them, but there was someone nearby, several someone's in fact, and they were approaching his positon.
Drawing a pair of knives, Izuku with much more care than before, warped away and instead onto the top of a nearby tree branch. The branch groaning under the suddenly added weight, even as a squirrel leapt away squealing in fright, showering the earth below with leaves.
Not his most subtle of moves, but, he argued with himself, he was still pretty disorientated from whatever had just happened back there. The leap from his safe house to his current location had been wrong, it had taken too long, and, more than that he could feel that it had drained far more of his stamina than it should have done.
Narrowing his eyes, Izuku pushed away his thoughts on his ability and the possible effects of the serum for the moment, and instead focused on the matter at hand.
He could hear voices, several of them and could see figures walking through the gloom and into the clearing.
Tightening his grip on his knives, Izuku watched cautiously as two teenagers stepped out of the woodland scrub, both of them wearing blue and white tracksuits and talking animatedly about some kind of 'test of courage'.
That last part instantly caught Izuku's attention, as he raised his knives and prepared to attack at the slightest sign of threat or recognition from these strangers.
He didn't care if they were kids. If they were a threat then they were his enemies, and if they were his enemies, then they were dead.
( - )
AN: So what do you think? I kind of came at this with a more cynical view of humanity that the actual writers of My Hero Academia. After all I am not so sure that the world would survive the advent of superpowers. Not when I think most people would abuse them in some way, and the few that wouldn't would be too cowardly to be heroes. In fact I think a depressingly small amount of people would be heroes if the entire world got superpowers in a very short time, and the few that did. Well they would be so outnumbered that they wouldn't live long.
It was a bit depressing, hence I decided to apply it to this story when crafting my AU Midoriya, a Midoriya who does have a Quirk, only his was due to science, and not due to it being given to him, or genetics as in the case of normal Quirks.
This is also going to be a deeply cynical, introspective, slightly crazed, violent and not massively educated Izuku, he is basically self-taught from the age of ten. He'll be cunning, and have a unique view on people and society. He'll also have a different kind of ability, Spatial Jumping (not time travel), which with practice could be very cool, I'm sure you can probably imagine how.
That said, as I said before this is just me playing around with an idea that I've not seen before. If other people have then awesome, please drop a link as I would love to read it.
Other than that I hope you enjoyed reading and all that.
Greed720.
