Chapter Text
Quirks always have, and always will fascinate Izuku. He doesn’t understand how people aren’t as interested in the endless variety of quirks as he is. Come on, there are so many of them, more than anyone can think of. New types of quirks were still coming up every few years and Izuku was always happy to see a new one.
He would’ve preferred to not be on the receiving end of this one, however. All versions of him really.
The weirdest day of Izuku’s life didn’t start out that way, it actually started as a good day.
It had been exactly 5 months since their last unexpected villain attack. Breaking their previous record of 3 months. Sure, they still faced villains in their internships but that was to be expected.
On that day, however, Class 2-A was doing a normal hero training class. Midoriya was paired with Bakugou, a pairing that hadn’t happened since their test against All Might first year, and things were going fine until they were suddenly and unexpectedly faced with a villain who appeared out of nowhere and proceeded to attack them.
“What the absolute fuck is this?” Kacchan yelled, avoiding a stray knife thrown his path. Izuku jumped in aiming a blow at the villains ribs but was thrown back by some kind of force field. Was that the villain’s quirk? It was similar to that of Nine, the villain they fought at Nabu island. Was it related to it somehow?
“DEKU” Kacchan screamed and Izuku knew to dodge as Katsuki aimed an AP shot at the force field. It made the villain stagger back, the force field flickering. It was then Izuku noticed that the force field was coming from a device on his hand. Not the result of a quirk then. If so then what exactly was his quirk? Izuku aimed his gloves, shooting off three consecutive Delaware Smash Air Force, catching his opponent off guard and shooting off full cowl to land a fast kick while the shields were down to the device, managing to break it. The victory was brief, however, as a strong punch sent him skidding to the side, knocking his breath out of his lungs.
“HEY ASSHOLE” Kacchan screamed, aiming consecutive shots that the villain now had to avoid. But he wasn’t just dodging, he was drawing closer and closer to Kacchan as he dodged. Izuku winced as he stood up as fast as he could and watched as Kacchan dodged a hit, now fighting close range with the villain. He knew Kacchan would see him coming so he gathered as much power as can, leaping into the air and swinging around just as Kacchan stepped back to make room for Izuku and delivering a roundhouse kick to the villain’s mask. The villain flew backwards crashing into the building.
“Midoriya, Bakugou” Aizawa’s voice came from behind them. The pro hero running toward them, his capture weapon and quirk activated. Behind him the rest of their classmates ran towards them, ready to back them up in the fight. The villain was struggling to get back up. From afar, Izuku could see his helmet had broken and part of the skin underneath was showing.
“Its 21 against one” Aizawa called out as he walked nearer to the villain “My power erases quirks, fighting now is useless”
The figure chuckled as he stood. Izuku and Kacchan readied themselves to jump back in the fight.
“Oh but Eraserhead” a familiar voice came from the villain as he reached for his helmet and proceeded to take it off “what use is your power against the quirkless?”
Silence fell, shock settling in across them all. Izuku was stunned speechless, because right in front of him was...himself.
“It...it has to be Toga” Uraraka said, breathless.
“Sensei’s quirk is on” Iida answered her, tense but obviously taken aback. “Also…”
Izuku knew what Iida was going to say. Toga made exact copies of a person, this was a copy of Izuku, yes. But it also wasn’t. The other Izuku had the same features but there was a scar that ran from his hairline, passing over his eye and ending on his cheekbone. His hair was the familiar green but he had an undercut, highlighting his face’s sharpness, just a bit thinner than Izuku’s.
“Don’t worry” the other Izuku said “I don’t want to hurt anyone”
Aizawa snorted “I find that hard to believe considering you were just attacking my students a minute ago”
He was wearing black cargo pants with knee-high black boots, his shirt was skin tight with a harness over it carrying several knives, a black leather trench coat with a hood covering the rest of his weapons from sight.
"in my defense, it isn't every day I land in the middle of a UA training session.” The other Izuku said, as he walked closer Aizawa’s capture weapon struck forward, wrapping the villain up. He didn’t resist “I’ll play nice, Eraserhead.” he looked away from the hero and towards the class “After all I’m quite curious....” his gaze fell on Izuku “As to the kind of quirk this version of me has”
♦♦♦♦♦♦
The other Izuku stayed true to his word and didn't resist. Even after he was placed in the observation room and tied down to a chair.
Nedzu showed up with All Might in tow, having been informed by the retired hero of what had happened. He sat across the table from the intruder. Aizawa Sensei and All might stood to the side, the dark headed teacher leaning against the wall, with his eyes trained on the imposter. Quirk off and weapon inactive...for now
“Detective Tsukauchi will be here in a few minutes.” Nedzu informed them “Our teachers are all searching the campus for any other infiltrators, our security is still up, so I am rather curious as to how you got in”
The intruder smirked and god, that was so weird. Izuku had never imagined he could pull off such a smug and sadistic expression.
“You won't find anyone, I’m alone.” the other Izuku said “I’ve already told you, I’m not here to hurt anyone. This visit is purely for research purposes”
“Research?” Aizawa tilted his head curiously and said in his usual bored tone. “You entered the grounds of the biggest hero school and fought with two of our students for research?”
Villain Izuku’s eyes drifted once again to Izuku and the boy tensed. He didn't like this, not one bit. And from the way the entire class clustered around him shifted uneasily, they also were finding it weird.
“A UA student, huh?” the villain chuckled, turning to look back at Aizawa and Nedzu “I didn’t exactly know where I’d land. It gets confusing, jumping timelines”
Timelines? What was he even saying? Izuku had already thought of so many explanations for this. That thought had been one but he’d quickly dismissed it because..there was no way.
“My name is Midoriya Izuku” The villain continued “and I’m from an alternate timeline” he turned to look at Izuku again. So different yet so alike “And in my timeline...I’m not one of the heroes”
“Liar” Izuku spoke up, the first thing he had said since his doppelganger had revealed himself “You’re a liar”
“Am I?” There was that smirk again, smug and mean. Izuku wanted to punch it, a sudden violent thought that shocked him “Is the thought so impossible to you?”
“Midoriya would never be a villain” Todoroki offered from his left, glaring at the tied up man. Kacchan scoffed in agreement.
“Deku is a hero” Uraraka declared
An unreadable expression crossed the intruders face as he regarded the people front and center with Izuku, the other class surrounding them. The support of a class who had long since learned to depend on one another.
“Deku?” He tilted his head, turning his gaze to Kacchan “Then you’re the same in this timeline, I assume?”
Katsuki didn’t get to answer as the door to the observation room opened and Detective Tsukauchi entered, Present Mic showing him to the room.
“No sign of any other intruders on campus” The Pro hero stated, his eyes straying to the other Izuku. “All other students were sent home or shown to their dorms.”
“Good, please show the rest of class 2-A to their dorms. The school is on lockdown until we get to the bottom of this” Nedzu asked
“Sir-” Izuku began to protest
“I’d like for the little hero to stay” The other Izuku said “I’ll answer all of your questions if he answers some of mine”
“You’re not in a place to negotiate” All Might said stiffly. He had been strangely silent since first seeing this different version of his pupil.
“Neither are you, it seems” The villain said “Or am I reading this wrong? I’m sure there's a reason why I haven’t been arrested by a bunch of police officers. Why this questioning is happening on school grounds instead of a station. Tell me” he regards the principal with gleeful curiosity “How many hits has UA taken that has made its reputation so fragile that you’d hide a breach?”
“A sound deduction” Nedzu answered, unfazed. “I see you and this Midoriya share the same analytical abilities”
“You believe him?” All Might asked in shock, turning to look at the principal.
“Whether I believe him or not does not matter” The principal turns to Detective Tsukauchi “Detective if you will”
The detective nodded, leaning forward “My name is Detective Naomasa Tsukauchi. My quirk allows me to detect lies, so there is no point in trying to mislead us. Please repeat your name, where you came from, and how you managed to get into this school.”
“Always the same, Detective” the villain rolled his eyes “My name is Midoriya Izuku. I’m from another timeline, I came here because I was testing a new recruit’s ability to jump between timelines on another person, they’d previously only tried it on themselves, you see. I will also not answer any more questions without getting a few answers of my own. And considering there’s a time limit to this quirk, I’d suggest keeping the little hero in the room or we will both leave this meeting unsatisfied” a beat of silence falls over the room
“I can’t believe this but” the detective said in shock “he’s telling the truth” Izuku was waiting for the punch line, for the plot to unravel. He had not been expecting a confirmation.
“Are you here alone?” Aizawa asked, still on edge.
“Yes”
A nod from the detective and everyone relaxed just a little bit at the knowledge that no one was waiting around the corner to ambush any students.
“The rest of class 2-A shall be escorted out. Midoriya-san can choose whether or not he wishes to stay” Nedzu comments, and just like that all eyes turn to Izuku. Great. He nods once
Several sounds of protest come from the class “You can’t just make us leave” Kacchan snaps
“Principal, we'd like to stay.” Uraraka speaks up
“I am inclined to agree with my classmates, sir” Iida adds
“I suppose this could be a good lesson. What makes or breaks a hero” Nedzu considered. Izuku sometimes wondered whether the principal saw everything in the world as a fun game, or an interesting experiment. He didn’t like being on the receiving end of it.
“It also could be a breach of Midoriya’s privacy” Aizawa sensei added from the side, eyes never leaving the imposter’s figure, always battle ready. Izuku felt grateful for that comment, for that consideration. He was already feeling bare and they hadn’t even gone into the details yet.
"It's your choice, young Midoriya" All might said, trying to be reassuring. And oh that was unfair. Leaving that choice to him was so unfair because now what could he say? He couldn’t just ask them to leave. What would they think? That he had something to hide? That he was ashamed?
“No it’s not” Aizawa interjected “Class 2-A is to be escorted back to their dorms”
Nedzu smiles at Aizawa and turns to nod at Present Mic. “Alright little listeners, follow me”
“I’m not fucking leaving” Kacchan’s raises his voice “Deku and I both fought him, I have the right to be here”
“Kacchan” Izuku says and Kacchan whips around to look at Izuku “Please”
Kacchan stared Izuku for a few moments before turning away with an annoyed growl and marching out of the room, ahead of everyone. A few months ago, Kacchan would have blown up at him for trying to tell him what to do. It’s a testament to his progress that he listened to Izuku's plea.
Kacchan’s exit caused everyone to slowly trickle out of the room behind him, most of them giving Izuku reassuring looks and gestures. Izuku smiled at them before turning back to the room.
All might, Aizawa, Principal Nedzu, Detective Tsukauchi and the imposter remain.
“Have a seat, little hero” the imposter says and the violent urge resurfaced. Izuku didn’t know what to make of it.
As he walked to the table, the principal jumped off his chair, choosing instead to sit on the one next to the monitors that were still showing ground Beta.
Midoriya took a seat, now directly facing...himself? The imposter? Even the detective moved his chair backwards leaving both Midoriyas staring at each other across the table.
He was not looking forward to this conversation