Chapter Text
It was mere happenstance.
Or was it was fate?
A solar flare that created a geomagnetic storm.
A small asteroid that passed by the Earth at just the right moment.
Together, the storm temporarily blinded a tiny ship's sensors and the asteroid collided with the ship, causing the engines to explode as it made its way towards its final destination.
It lacked some of its protections before bonding with its host, and the explosion damaged it severely. As it fell through the atmosphere, small nanites designed to aid in the host's adaptation were released over China. They would spread throughout the world.
And the World of Quirks would be born.
Meanwhile, a small blue scarab slammed into the earth's surface in Japan, and slowly, its systems began to repair themselves.
It would take a long time.
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Izuku Midoriya ran.
He did that a lot. It was good exercise and helped to keep him fit. Without a quirk, he needed to be fit if he wanted to become a hero. As he ran, he remembered. He had many troubles after he was diagnosed as quirkless when he was four.
Diagnosed. Like it was a disease.
He was devastated, and if it weren't for his parents, he would probably have fallen into despair, especially when Kacchan - no, Bakugou - started bullying him.
Luckily for Izuku his father's work had recently transferred him home, the company he was working for opening an office in Musutafu. Thus, he was around to encourage him, and his mother joined in, pointing out that some heroes had quirks that weren't useful in a fight. The new heroine Uwabami, for one! After yet another conflict with Bakugou at school led to him being punished instead of his bully, Izuku was withdrawn from the school, and sent to another.
His new school, Ryurosu Primary, was a breath of fresh air. While he didn't make a lot of friends, he wasn't bullied. The worst he received was some pitying condescension from a few of the teachers. And that was really enough for him. It gave him time to study and train. Parkour. Some martial arts and weight training when he got older. A lot of study of tactics and technology. He'd need knowledge to make up for his lack of a quirk.
His footsteps quickened as he took another path, leaping over a fallen log and rolling through some underbrush. He was running in Moncala Park outside Musutafu, trying to beat the record of his best time he'd ran through the large forested park.
As he sprinted along the trail, he leapt off a tree, landing solidly in a patch of brush, only to make a sound reminiscent of a squeak as the brush collapsed and he fell. The brush was covering a recently-opened cavern, and he fell to the ground with a loud crack as his leg broke underneath him.
'This isn't good,' Izuku thought to himself. He looked down at his leg, and carefully examined it, wincing. He looked around and saw some of the foliage and branches had fallen with him. He selected a few branches and pulled the laces off his shoe, beginning to fashion an improvised splint.
Unseen by him, a small blue object in the corner of the cave woke up.
+ HOST = DETECTED
+ WARNING: CONTROL SUBROUTINE = DAMAGED
+ WARNING: SYSTEMS = DAMAGED
+ REPAIRS = STILL ONGOING
+ ASSESSING PROBABILITIES
+ HOST = CONFIRMED
+ INTEGRATING WITH HOST
Rising into the air, the scarab hovered a moment before streaking towards Izuku. He felt a burning sensation in his spine as debilitating pain spiked through his body, causing him to cry out, collapsing. Shuddering on the floor, the young man continued to convulse, wracked with pain. Odd, greenish blue plates began to form on his body, as the scarab burrowed into his body, bonding with his spine.
+ INTEGRATION = COMPLETE
+ PURPOSE = INFILTRATION
+ ERROR: CONTROL SUBROUTINE = NONRESPONSIVE
He passed out.
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Izuku woke up.
Blearily, he looked around, trying to figure out where he was. He was on the forest path, not far from a fallen trees. What happened? He looked down to see his leg in a splint, and his mind whirled, as memories began to bubble to the surface. He'd fallen and broken his leg. Then, something happened, and his back hurt, and then everything hurt and he passed out.
How did he get here? He had been in a cave, right?
And why didn't his leg hurt?
Slowly, Izuku pulled himself to his feet, and tried to put his weight on his leg. He felt a dull ache, but it didn't feel broken anymore! How did that happen? Glancing at his watch, he blanched. He had been unconscious for over six hours! What the heck?!
Not wanting to risk his leg, Izuku slowly began to make his way towards the park exit. It took some time at a walk; an hour later, he emerged through the gate of the park and pulled out his cellphone, making a call to his dad. "Hi, dad. Yeah, I know I'm late. I'm fine, I'm going to finish my walk and take a train. I should be home by six, it's only four right now and I'm only two stops away." Listening to his father, he added, "Yeah, that sounds good. Tell mom hi when she gets home."
Hanging up, Izuku walked towards the train station. As he walked, he passed Dagobah Beach and looked out at the trash-filled sand. Did it look a little bit less cluttered than it had the last time he'd been past a few weeks ago? Frowning slightly, Izuku's footsteps slowed as he saw a slender figure moving through the piles of refuse. A moment's thought and Izuku hopped down, jogging along the path easily, jumping over an old fridge and nearing the other person.
It was a purple-haired girl wearing black sweats with a purple tee. She had dangling wires hanging from her ears, one resting upon her shoulder while the other, longer, disappeared into a pocket. She carefully manhandled what looked to be a large microwave towards a large wagon, rubbing her shoulder after she settled it into place. After she put the microwave down, Izuku said, "Hello."
The girl whirled, a jack flailing off her shoulder with the speed of the movement, and stared at the green-haired boy a moment, "Who...what're you doing here?"
Izuku lifted his hands, taking a step back, not wanting to make the girl more uncomfortable. "I saw that the beach looked a little less cluttered than usual and was curious, that's all." He met the girl's gaze, green eyes meeting the girl's black-purple eyes, "I'm Midoriya. Izuku Midoriya."
The girl seemed to take a moment to examine him carefully before introducing herself. Kyouka Jirou," she stated. "You pass by this place a lot?"
"Sure," Izuku admitted. "I go running over at Moncala Park a lot. The uneven terrain helps with simple parkour training, too."
"Training? What're you training for?" Jirou casually asked as she turned and moved towards the pile of trash, slowly working what looked to be a severely-dented small fridge out of the pile and womanfully hauling it towards the wagon.
"I want to be a hero, so have to study for UA," Izuku said to her with a shrug, "Been working for a long time towards it."
"Oh." Jirou shrugged a moment, before saying, "Same here. This is helping me get stronger, and helps train stamina a bit, too."
"You doing any other sorts of exercises? Running, targeted lifting, that sort of thing?" Izuku asked.
"Oh, yeah, after I finish here I jog a few miles and then do some weight training at home," Jirou said. "I honestly don't like all the weight training, but my teacher said it's important, that I need to bulk up a bit."
"Hmm, I think you look fine as is, but I guess we can all use a little bit of muscle," Izuku observed.
Jirou smirked, looking at him, "I look fine, do I? Aren't you bold." It was obvious he didn't mean it that way, but she couldn't resist poking fun at his wording.
"I-I didn't mean it like that, honest!" Izuku stammered. He wasn't used to teasing from those his age, as he had at best a few acquaintances. Especially from girls.
"Uh huh," Jirou said with a chuckle as she returned to what she was doing. "Well, if you're going to be here, do me a hand and pull the wagon along. It'll let me get more work done today."
Izuku began to pull the wagon along with a shrug, "Sure, I don't have to get home for a bit." As he spoke, he followed along. "How long have you been doing this? And if I can ask, what's your quirk?"
"Little over two weeks now, I'm hoping to get the entire beach cleaned. And my quirk's called Earphone Jack. I have these ears, I can focus and hear really well and hook the jacks into things. And pump out my heartbeat as sound." Jirou answered before adding curiously, "Do you like music? Old American rock, maybe?"
"That is so cool! I bet you'd be a great rescue hero, able to find people trapped in rubble and all sorts of things!" Izuku was enthusiastic, before answering her, "Sure. My dad used to work in America, he always sent stuff home. Everything from Great Big Sea to Led Zeppelin." Izuku chuckled, "Dad has eclectic tastes, so I've heard a lot of stuff."
"Ohhh, you might like this then." Carefully, Jirou pulled her jack from her music player, so he could hear the music.
"Yeah, I like this one. 'Dream On' by Aerosmith, right?" Izuku asked. "Dad sent me that, I have a copy on my running mix."
"Yup," Jirou said to him with a smile. "Glad to see you have good taste." As she spoke, she pulled yet more trash from one of the piles, slowly levering a small fridge towards the wagon.
Unseen by the girl, the pile of trash began to tip. Izuku's eyes opened wide, "Look out!" He dived forward and pushed Jirou to the side. Unfortunately, this didn't really leave him time to get out of the way himself, and the pile began to fall towards him.
He felt a strange burning sensation at the bottom of his spine, and suddenly out of nowhere, a blue-green gauntlet formed over his arm and grew into a large shield of the same hue. The pile of trash hit the shield, tossing him back and out of the way.
Izuku lay there for a moment, "Ow." As he tried to recover, he saw the armor retract, seeming to become motes of greenish blue light that flowed along his skin and disappear under his clothing. "What the...?"
"You all right?" Getting to her feet, Jirou moved to approach Izuku, kneeling beside him. "Thanks for that, I didn't see it falling, it'd have crashed right into me."
"I don't think anything's broken," Izuku said before admitting, "I think I wrenched my shoulder and my back, though."
"That was one one cool ass quirk," Jirou said to him with a smile. "You can grow armor, or make shields or something?"
"I..." Izuku trailed off, still a little dazed. "I'm quirkless. Or I thought I was. What the heck happened?" He started at his arm in confusion. "This is the first time I did something like that."
"Obviously not," Jirou snarked. "Well, if you're going to be a late bloomer in that respect, I guess when you're about to be crushed is as good a time as any," she noted. "It looked like blue-green light flowed over your body and formed into armor and a shield, it was cool."
Shaking his head, Izuku said dryly, "You have a point there. I'm just kind of confused. I need to figure out how I did that, I think, first of all." He focused, trying to make it happen again, envisioning armor appearing on his body. Nothing happened. For a second, he thought he could hear a voice speaking a language he didn't understand, but after a moment, he decided it was his imagination.
Shrugging, Jirou pointed out, "If it literally just appeared, you probably will need to practice a lot. A friend of mine has a quirk that lets her grow bigger, it took her forever to trigger it voluntarily, she'd get bigger when scared and break things."
"I guess so," Izuku muttered, still concentrating. He sighed, and shrugged, before looking at the sky, noting the sun nearing the horizon, "It's getting late, I need to get home or my parents will worry."
Jirou blinked, "Crap, I wanted to finish up a bit more before I left, so I'll leave you to it." She paused, adding, "Hey, toss me your phone a sec."
"Uh, sure?" Izuku said, pulling his phone and handing it over. She pulled her phone and pushed a few buttons, and then swiped his phone over hers, handing his back to him, "There we go," she said. "Send me a message, keep me updated, I'm curious. Or if you wanna hang out or something."
"Uh, sure," Izuku said, a little surprised at the gesture as he pocketed his phone, "Good luck, and be careful," he said as he turned to head off the beach. He had a lot to discuss with his parents when he got home.
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When Izuku got home, he called, "Hey dad, we need to talk!" As he spoke, he headed towards the living room, plopping down on the couch, tapping his knee with his fingers.
"Something wrong, Izuku?" his father asked, as he came out of the kitchen. Hisashi Midoriya looked like a tall, overly slender version of Izuku with black hair. "Your mom's home, she should be out of the shower soon."
"I'm out now, actually," Inko said. She was a short woman with the same green hair as Izuku. Moving into the living room, she sat down in a chair, "What's up, honey?"
"I... may have a quirk," Izuku began, continuing as their eyes widened. "I was coming home from my run and saw someone over at Dagobah Beach, cleaning it. It was curious, so I stopped to talk to her. One of the piles of trash fell and I pushed her out of the way," he said, not noticing the look his mother gave him as he was looking down at his hands. "Anyway, it was going to hit me instead, but I felt a weird burning sensation and suddenly my arm was covered with this odd greenish-blue armor, and I was holding a shield. The trash slammed into the shield and knocked me away, but I was okay."
"Izuku Midoriya, you could have been hurt or killed!" Inko said with a frown, "I'm glad you helped the girl, but you need to be more careful yourself."
"That certainly sounds like a quirk son, though it's strange that it never appeared before. Can you use it now?" Hisashi asked.
"Sorry, mom, I saw her in trouble and I just... well, I moved without thinking." Izuku shrugged, before adding to his father, "I tried to use it again after, while talking to Jirou, but it didn't work." Again, he focused on forming armor, and again he could swear he heard a voice, slightly louder. This time, the flowing light covered his entire body, and he was encased in a set of blue-green armor. "Wow," he murmured, looking down at himself. "This is..."
"Izuku?" Inko asked, looking at the boy and rising to her feet.
"It's me, mom," he said. At least his voice didn't change. Now, Izuku could hear that voice, far louder than before. "What?" He paused, "That's crazy. You're a quirk."
This time it was his father's turn, "Izuku? Who're you talking to?"
"The armor is talking to me, or something. I heard a voice before, but it was too quiet. Now it's louder. It was telling me it bonded to my spine, and seems to be implying it's not a quirk." Izuku's voice was concerned.
Inko, on the other hand? Was way past concerned, "Bonded to your spine? And it's somehow talking to you?" She approached him, "What the? Take that off, I want to make sure you're all right."
"No, I will not," Izuku said, his voice taking on a stern tone, "Don't you even suggest it." Soon, the armor faded, turning into light and flowing over his skin before disappearing. "I'm okay, mom. I'm a little worried, but I'm okay."
"Do you remember anything odd happening to you lately?" Hisashi asked, rising to his feet and putting his hand on his son's shoulder.
"Well, when I was running through Moncala on one of my runs, I thought I fell for a moment. But when I came to, I wasn't anywhere near where I fell..." He trailed off. "The voice is louder. It said I fell near it and it bonded to me and healed my broken leg and got me out of the cave while I was unconscious."
"Okay, we're going to a doctor," Inko decided, "Come on, Izuku."
"Wait, Inko, this is serious," Hisashi interjected. "What do you think the doctors would do if there really is some sort of strange creature or device on his spine? It might be dangerous. Someone could decide to experiment on him."
Inko frowned, before sighing, "You're right, if it does somehow give him a power like a quirk, drawing attention to it could lead to trouble, but what if it hurts him?"
"I don't think it will," Izuku said as he tilted his head to the side, "I'm not sure this ... whatever it is ... is exactly good, but it seems to want to help me. It suggested I threaten to hurt you earlier when you asked me to take off the armor. I told it no. It kept warning me that you could want to attack me. I don't think it understands people."
Inko blinked, "It was worried I'd attack you, so wanted you to threaten me." She shook her head, "I really am not liking this, Izuku. It doesn't sound like a good, er, person?"
Hisashi was frowning, "On one hand it healed Izuku and wants to protect him. On the other, it obviously doesn't understand people and has a less than stellar grasp of morality." He had briefly considered that Izuku might be hearing things, but coupled with the armor, he was giving him the benefit of the doubt.
Izuku sighed, "It says that it can't be removed safely. Or rather 'Extraction from the host is ill-advised as this will result in neural disintegration.'" He quoted, "So what do you think I should do, mom? Dad?"
"I'm not sure," Inko said. "This is really worrying, but if it really can't be removed we will have to deal with it anyway. And this will help you become a hero more easily. I know you've been training and I support you in that, but having a quirk - or the equivalent in this case - would be useful."
"I agree with Inko, son. Train and figure out what it can do, and hopefully it can help you. Perhaps we'll look back on this as a blessing," Hisashi said with a slight nod.
Izuku nodded slowly, "Okay. I'm going to go shower and change and get ready for dinner, okay? I need to think a bit."
"Okay. You can also tell us about this girl you spoke to, at the beach," Inko said brightly as she watched Izuku head out of the living room. She smirked slightly as her son's steps quickened and he disappeared from sight.
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Izuku sat on his bed after dinner, thinking. Scattered in front of him were a variety of notebooks and papers. He'd been looking over his plans for the future. He'd have to modify them now that he had a "quirk".
Idly, he opened his phone, looking at it and typed in a message, pausing a moment before hesitantly adding more to it.
Izuku Midoriya -> I was wondering if you'd like some help with the beach tomorrow. Maybe we could hang out and talk music?
Kyouka Jirou -> Sure thing. You can pull the wagon while I dump things onto it. Find out more about that cool ass quirk of yours?
Izuku Midoriya -> Uh... well, I managed to summon a full suit of armor though no shield? So I guess so.
Kyouka Jirou -> Awesome! You can show me tomorrow. I'm 'bout ready to go to bed, so catch you then.
Izuku Midoriya -> Okay. Night!
Izuku leaned back in his bed, and sighed. Tomorrow would be stressful.
But it might be fun.