Chapter Text
When you love someone, you’ll do anything for them.
Izuku had been seven when he asked his mother why she worked the long, grueling hours at the restaurant as a waitress, only to come home and stay awake into the early morning hours finishing sewing projects for her other clients to make extra money they so desperately needed. He was a smart, compassionate child, and the dark shadows under his mother’s sad eyes made him want to cry.
“Because I love you, Izuku,” She’d explained, also starting to tear up. “I love you more than anything in this world, and I’d gladly work even harder if it meant I could support you. I’d do anything for you, baby.”
At that age, he hadn't understood the extent of what she did for him. It only became more apparent in the following years when the toll it took on her body made her unable to continue.
A doctor’s visit confirmed Izuku’s worst fear; Inko Midoriya was dying.
Cancer, the doctors explained (at this point, Izuku was really starting to hate the doctor’s office, they only ever seemed to bring a stream of constant bad news.) It was likely terminal, but there were experimental treatments undergoing tests that could save her life.
The small flicker of hope Izuku had felt was immediately stamped out when the doctor added that not only was there a decade-long waiting list, the treatment facilities cost a fortune. A fortune that Izuku and his mother had never had in the first place.
Izuku was twelve when the man approached him during one of his mother’s appointments. The treatments the Midoriya’s had been able to afford for the past two years seemed useless, and only served to pull Inko out of work and drain their already pathetic savings account.
“Hello,” He said, taking the seat next to the young boy. “How are you?”
Izuku shrugged half heartedly. He was tired and hungry, his mother being unable to reliably put food on the table as the chemo weakened her body and mood swings ran rampant. Everyday after a day full of bullying and teasing at school he made the long walk to the hospital to wait for his mother to take him home.
“I’m Dr. Kinoshita, and I’ve noticed your mother’s…condition.”
Izuku continued to say nothing. He wasn’t sure he could take yet another stranger’s sympathy and questioning.
“I have a deal to make with you, it could make you money and save your mother’s life-”
Izuku immediately was paying attention as he sat up straight to stare at the man’s dark eyes. He seemed to have no iris, the black pupil swallowing his eye.
“You’re quirkless, yes?” The doctor asked. Izuku flinched, but he nodded anyway.
The doctor smiled warmly, and for once in his short life Izuku felt calmed by someone in a white lab coat. “I have a friend, you see, and he wants to help people. Did you know that your blood is special, Midoriya? You might be quirkless, but you’re not entirely useless to our society.” Izuku resisted the urge to curl in on himself.
“He’s very wealthy,” The doctor continued. “And he’s willing to pay handsomely to any quirkless person who will donate their blood to him. Come with me until the end of your mom’s appointment. I’ll get a blood sample to give him, and if he likes it then you and your mother will never have to worry about money again.”
It sounded like a good deal. He ran it over in his head, looking for any snares.
“We do need the money,” Izuku admitted quietly. “But the doctors say the treatments aren’t helping. It might be enough money to pay for-for the expensive ones they say would work, but they said there’s so many people waiting for their turn-”
“Midoriya,” he interrupted firmly. “I can almost guarantee that my friend can get your mother a spot in the experimental treatments as well as afford them. He may require…more, from you, in return, and you won’t be able to tell your mother about any of this.”
“I’ll do it,” He responded without a second thought. “Whatever he needs from me. I’ll do it so long as she gets better.”
The doctor grinned, and shook his hand. “Well then, let’s get started, shall we?”
—
Three months later, Inko Midoriya was moved from their local hospital to a specialized treatment center in the countryside.
“Oh Izuku,” she cried into her son’s hair at the airport. “I’ll miss you so much.”
“I’ll miss you too, Mom,” He said, tearing up again. He looked up to see the woman who sacrificed everything for him finally have some hope in her eyes. Immediately, any thoughts of telling her the truth were quashed from Izuku’s mind.
“This feels like a dream,” She sniffled, rubbing her eyes. “We were both so lucky the grant was given to us for my treatment, baby, and that I was even able to get accepted.” Inko looked past her son to see the man responsible for it all.
“Thank you, Mr. Kinoshita,” She said. “I’m so grateful for everything.”
“Of course, Ms. Midoriya,” The dark eyed man replied warmly. He stepped forward to clasp Izuku’s shoulder and bring him back from his mother. “I’m so glad everything worked out, and I wish you the best.”
“Goodbye Mom,” Izuku said, a teary smile on his face. “Get better!”
The pair watched as she walked away, suitcase dragging along in her frail hand. Izuku winced when he noticed for the hundredth time how much skinnier she looked. The new treatments couldn’t come at a better time, he thought.
“Shit, kid, you really are desperate.” He looked over at the green haired boy. “Or just stupid.”
Kinoshita was already walking away, having instantly dropped the demeanor of a caring gentleman from the charity organization Inko Midoriya thought was funding her treatment and watching after her son while she was away.
“Shut up,” Izuku muttered, falling into step beside him. He rubbed his eyes to clear them of tears, but stumbled a bit when he was hit with a wave of nausea and dizziness. The constant blood donations of the past few months had started to take a toll on him as well. Izuku constantly felt weak and light headed, and his blood sugar was chronically low. The dark shadows under his eyes now matched his mother’s.
Kinoshita looked over to glare at him. “Can it. That attitude might fly with me, but the Shark will do a lot worse to you than drain your blood if you give him that kind of cheek.”
Izuku grunted in response, but kept his glare trained on his ground. Sure, he hated Kinoshita and his mysterious boss (The Shark, as everyone called him), and he hated how awful the constant appointments he had with the so-called Doctor made him feel, but he needed his mom to get those treatments.
She had been right, all those years ago. When you loved someone, you would do anything for them.
Shortly after their first few meetings, Izuku learned that Kinoshita was not a real doctor in the first place. He was merely a liaison for his so-called friend. His quirk, which Izuku took great joy in dissecting and researching to keep his mind off things, allowed him to subtly manipulate emotions. He couldn’t alter anything drastic, Izuku found out, but he could nudge them in the direction he wanted to go in as soon as he sensed things going sideways. It was a very useful quirk for his job, Izuku noticed, and it ensured he was a masterful manipulator.
Inko had been easy to convince. Izuku had stuttered out some lies about a charity offering grants to those with cancer and their families, and how a freak miracle had led to her being offered specialized treatments. Kinoshita had swooped in and played the role of the kindly case worker, who promised her that everything would be paid for in full and his organization would look after her son while she healed.
Perhaps a part of Izuku resented how easily she accepted it all, how she seemed not to notice the changes in him, and most of all how suspicious it all was. But, he decided, she was desperate. Just like him. She saw what she wanted to see, and what she wanted was a perfect option to save her life and care for her son.
“Is all your shit packed up?” Kinoshita asked, as he gestured for Izuku to take his seat in the car waiting for them. “The boss is gonna keep your crappy apartment, but he doesn’t want any of your stuff in the way.” Izuku nodded silently.
This was all a part of the deal, he reminded himself. His mom got another chance to live, and he became one of the wealthiest Yakuza’s personal lab rat. It turned out that quirkless blood had rare and interesting properties, but finding it in large and healthy quantities was almost impossible. How ironic, Izuku thought, that the messed up DNA that screwed his family over in the first place would be the thing to save it.
In exchange for the expensive bribes that put Inko on top of the waiting lists and the fees the treatment centers required, Izuku would live in the Shark’s own facilities. There they’d drain him of his blood (he’d remain perfectly healthy, Kinoshita assured him with a smirk, after all he was no use to them dead ), and possibly use him for other tasks. Kinoshita had been incredibly vague about what those other tasks entailed, but Izuku could easily guess they wouldn’t be pleasant.
Regardless of what happened to him, Izuku insisted it would be worth it.
It had to be.
Otherwise, how else could he possibly reconcile what he had done?
The car ride was a quiet one. Kinoshita spent the entire time on his phone while Izuku took in their surroundings. The driver said nothing, only glancing back occasionally at his two passengers as if to make sure they were still there. They seemed eerily calm, Izuku thought, and a part of him was worried about how not worried he was right now.
It was probably Kinoshita’s quirk. Izuku had gotten better and better at noticing when he was using it. It was easy to tell if he could see the man’s face, as his pupils swallowed up the colored part of his normally brown eyes. Other times, he only had his logic to rely on. Izuku knew Kinoshita had used his quirk on him when they first met, and he frequently used it on him during blood withdrawal to keep him from thrashing about at the sight of the needle.
The only comfort Izuku had was that it seemed he couldn’t use his quirk over long distances. While he lay awake in his room at night he still felt sure about his decision, and it was the only thing keeping him from giving up. The hero figurines and posters he had strewn about his room offered up no support.
They arrived at a large, gray building in a less than nice part of town. The cement walls made Izuku think of a fortress, which didn’t help any part of the intimidating image.
“You ready?” Kinoshita asked sarcastically, holding out a hand mockingly to pull Izuku out of the car. “Tsk tsk. The shark hates tardiness.”
The car drove off as soon as the door shut, and Izuku was left to reluctantly follow Kinoshita who punched in a code to enter the building.
He nodded to the guards as he strode inside. Izuku was shocked at the opulence inside the plain facade. It was like walking into a palace, with a large staircase covered by velvet red carpets leading up to the upper floors next to a golden elevator. A large chandelier lit up the foyer, and expensive looking paintings lined the walls.
The receptionist’s desk off to the side seemed out of place, but Kinoshita wasted no time in dragging Izuku over.
“Satoshi,” He greeted, bowing his head slightly. “I’ve brought the kid. Is the boss ready?”
Satoshi looked Izuku up and down, seemingly unimpressed. “You’re late.”
Kinoshita rolled his eyes. “Not my fault. The brat’s mom wouldn’t stop crying at the airport.”
The receptionist shook his head. “For your sake, I hope you have a better excuse than that. He’s waiting for you, in the usual spot.”
Izuku followed him as he was led to an elevator. He tried not to feel nervous that even Kinoshita seemed anxious, fidgeting as they waited to arrive at the right floor. There were more guards with guns in hand as they stepped out into another red carpeted hallway. The pair was led down to a door painted black and told to wait. Izuku tapped his foot impatiently.
“Quit it!” Kinoshita hissed quietly. Izuku was alarmed to see sweat beading on the man’s brow as they waited. “You better be on your best manners- ”
The door swung open, revealing a girl with blonde hair in twin buns that looked to be his age.
Izuku didn’t like her broad and unnerving smile that revealed two neat rows of sharp white teeth.
Kinoshita wasted no time in bending in half into a bow, sharply elbowing Izuku to do the same. When he finally straightened, he gave her a queasy smile.
“Miss Himiko,” Kinoshita said quickly. “What a surprise-”
“He’s been waiting,” She interrupted, ignoring him and turning to Izuku. “You must be fresh meat!”
Before Izuku could even reply, a large hand landed on the girl’s shoulder. He looked up to see a tall, broad shouldered man wearing a dark mask.
“You’re late,” The man rumbled. “Did you at least bring the boy?”
“R-right here, sir,” He stuttered. Ah, Izuku thought, so this must be the Shark. “All ready for you.”
The Shark hummed. “Toga, take him downstairs to the Doctor. Kinoshita, I’d like a word.”
Kinoshita looked ready to piss himself as Himiko skipped down the hallway, seeming to expect Izuku would follow her. He scampered after the girl, too afraid of getting lost or asking questions.
She led him down multiple flights of stairs, to the point where he was positive they were underground and in a basement of some kind. They reached a large metal door with a keypad and fingerprint scanner on the lock flanked by two guards. They seemed to give the girl a wide berth when she stepped forward.
“Good luck!” Himiko said cheerily, as she typed in the code and scanned her finger.
She left him there, dazed and confused as the door swung open and another guard pulled him inside.
Lab equipment filled the room, and Izuku almost choked on the uncomfortable scent of the sterile environment. Nothing good had ever come from a place like this, he thought.
Sure enough, he was right.
—
“You really are a shitty fighter, Deku!” Toga exclaimed. Izuku stumbled back, the sweat dripping into his eyes was not helping the fact that he was already dizzy and blinking away spots. She easily knocked him to the ground, and a quick swipe of her knife against his chest rewarded her with the taste of his blood.
“Fucking useless,” Toga decided as she held out a hand to help him up. She continued to lick his blood off her knife. Izuku wasn’t surprised when she activated her quirk and her face began to morph into his.
“I’m Deku,” She taunted, sounding extra high pitched and whiny in his voice. “I’m a quirkless idiot who’s only good for my blood, and I miss my mommy!”
“Fuck off,” Izuku said, smiling anyways. As messed up as it was, she really was his only friend at the moment. He’d take what he could get. And besides, her insults weren’t even half as bad as the ones he dealt with from school. It hadn’t taken her long to come up with the same nickname Kacchan and his friends used for him, but instead of being insulted Izuku found it almost comforting in some twisted way. A taste of home away from home, he supposed.
“Blech,” she said, spitting onto the ground as she turned back into herself. “It’s not even good blood. Quirklessness really is disgusting.” Izuku just rolled his eyes, used to her taunts.
“You know,” He replied drily, “You could just stop stealing my blood everytime we spar. The Doctor is getting sick of healing up my cuts, and you know the boss hates wasting my blood. If you were anyone else he’d have your head.”
Toga laughed loudly, either at the unintentional joke or her own madness. Izuku shook his head. The girl really was insane, but it wasn’t like he could hold it against her. After all, spending a year in this place was starting to do the same to him.
“I’m going to shower,” He told her. “I have to call my mom soon and then I have to go see the doc-”
Izuku stopped when he realized Toga was already walking away. As soon as they stopped sparring she lost all interest, and went on to look for the next exciting thing. It wasn’t personal, because Toga didn’t care enough about anyone or anything for it to be, but just how she was. Izuku found it comforting.
He made his way to his small room. The drab cement walls used to make him feel claustrophobic, but he’d stopped caring. Inside was a twin bed, a dresser with a few sets of nearly identical plain outfits, a tiny bathroom, and a small fridge stocked with food. Kinoshita had impressed upon him that the fridge was a privilege, on the account of his regular blood donations needing him to keep his blood sugar up. The other quirked individuals that the Shark had indentured did not receive such amenities.
Izuku showered quickly, changed into something clean and not covered in blood, and did his best to cover up the scratch across his neck with his shirt. He didn’t want either himself or Toga to be in trouble for wasting his valuable blood.
Satoshi was waiting for him in the foyer, phone in hand.
“Remember, five minutes, kid,” He reminded Izuku. “Tell her you’re doing well in school, made lots of friends, whatever. You know what you can and can’t say. Don’t make me get Kinoshita to discipline you again.”
Izuku grimaced, but nodded anyway in agreement. It was hard to forget the first and only time he’d expressed his unhappiness with his mother over the phone in front of Satoshi. The beating from Kinoshita that ensued had been easy to remember as well.
He punched in the number for his mom’s room and waited anxiously for her to pick up. “Mom?” He asked, trying not to cry. Izuku was allowed one brief weekly phone call, and it was strictly monitored by the Shark’s right hand man himself.
Satoshi, who was already intimidating enough with his constant air of stern indifference, was in charge of managing all the Shark’s affairs. Meetings, finances, security, and the indentured were all managed by him. Izuku was the latter, unfortunately enough.
“Izuku, baby!” His mother’s voice exclaimed from the phone. He hadn’t seen her since the day at the airport, and his weekly phone calls were his only form of contact with her. “How are you doing?”
“I-I’m good, mom,” He sniffled. Izuku always got emotional when he talked to her and was reminded of why he did all this. He did his best to ignore Satoshi’s subsequent eye roll. “Are you feeling any better?”
Things had been inconsistent the past year. Inko would seem to steadily improve for a few weeks, only for her health to rapidly decline for another few. It was a painful cycle for Izuku to witness, and each phone call only renewed his desperation to please the Shark. Angering him would mean…well, he tried his best not to think about that possibility.
He spent the short minutes lying through his teeth about his past week, occasionally looking out of the corner of the eye to make sure he hadn’t said anything to concern Satoshi. To avoid lying to his mother, something he hated doing but was getting concerningly better at, he tried to prompt her into telling him about her treatment center. It seemed like a nice enough place; it was away from the big city and was surrounded by nature. The nurses were kind and she had befriended the other patients. All in all, Inko Midoriya was happy.
Izuku tried not to feel bitter about it.
When he finally hung up, Satoshi wordlessly took the phone back from him. Izuku knew what was coming next, and no matter how much he may have dreaded it there was no getting out of it.
The Doctor was a brilliant young woman with a powerful healing quirk. Izuku had learned from Toga that her family’s debts were the original reason she’d come into the service of the Shark, but her generous salary was what made her stay.
Today she had prepared the usual chair for his blood transfer. Kinoshita stood off to the side in a corner, arms crossed and glowering at Izuku.
“You’re late,” He snapped, but instantly quieted when the Doctor waved her hand at him in dismissal.
The hierarchy within the Shark’s organization was something Izuku still struggled to figure out. Obviously the shark was on top, then his right hand Satoshi, and the Doctor that he employed. She was a genius researcher, and her knack for healing and understanding the human body had led her towards bio research, something that the Shark paid handsomely for. Toga didn’t actually have a debt towards the Shark, but the best that Izuku could figure out was that her actual employer was being generously compensated for her work within the Shark’s organization.
Where Izuku and Kinoshita fell was a bit more complicated. Izuku was useless because of his lack of a quirk, but simultaneously incredibly valuable for the same reason. Kinoshita was a low level thug who was good at convincing people to do things for the boss, and Izuku was positive that was the only reason the Shark kept him around. That, and the fact that when he was sent to beat people up, he used his quirk to make sure they remembered why the Shark was so terrifying. Izuku knew that from first hand experience.
The lavender haired woman gestured for him to sit in his seat, and he did so without hesitation. The sooner he got this over with, the sooner he could rest and replenish himself with sugary food and drinks.
“Here,” She handed him a glass filled with an opaque red liquid. Izuku drank it in one gulp, screwing his face up at the odd and salty taste. It was something she had personally developed, in order to be able to withdraw more blood more frequently from Izuku without killing him. Seeing how he wasn’t dead yet, it must’ve been working.
The Doctor nodded at Kinoshita to activate his quirk, and Izuku did his best to submit to the wave of calm as she brought the needle over to his arm. His forearms were scarred from the constant needles being stuck in them, and she tsked when she struggled to find a healed over spot to insert the needle. He didn’t know her name, no one except the boss did. Everyone just referred to her as the doc.
The familiar prick was gone just as soon as it came, and Izuku pointedly looked away from the ever disconcerting sight of his blood going up the tube. He stared up at the ceiling and began to count the dots in the tiles. It was something he did every time he came to visit the doc. He didn’t care that he already had the number memorized, it was something to do all the same. Every session was identical to the last; Izuku came in anxious and fidgety, Kinoshita drugged him with his quirk, the needle was put in, and eventually he left feeling woozy and tired.
“You’ll have a visitor during your session,” The Doctor said, her voice breaking him out of his thoughts as she ensured that the blood bag was filling up properly. “He should be here any minute, but in the meantime just sit still.”
That was not something that happened normally. The first couple of sessions the Shark and then Satoshi would sit in and watch on in silence, but eventually they stopped coming. Once it was ensured that Izuku was neither a flight risk or a wasted investment, he was no longer their problem.
She was efficient and swift as she extracted the needle. Her hand was smooth and warm placed on his arm, and he felt her quirk spread up through his veins.
“Who’s coming?” He asked, sitting up a little further in his seat. The Doctor glared at him for moving and jostling her equipment, but said nothing.
“Don’t ask so many questions,” Kinoshita snapped. “Just sit there and be quiet.”
The door opened suddenly, and Toga bounced into the room followed by the Shark. Izuku had only seen him a handful of times, and none of them had been recent.
“How ya doin, Deku?” Toga greeted, bouncing over him and taking a large inhale of blood scented air. The Doctor shooed her away with a stern look, but Toga just giggled as she backed off.
The Shark didn’t bother with any sort of greeting, simply dragging a chair over from a nearby table to sit in front of Izuku. The Doctor stilled and stopped tapping away at her computer, and Izuku noticed out of the corner of his eye Kinoshita stiffen. Toga was giggling to herself like she knew the punchline of a joke yet to be shared with the rest of the room.
“Your mother is doing well, I hear,” The Shark rumbled.
Izuku jerked his head in a shaky nod. “Y-yes, sir, she is. Thank you, sir.”
“The treatments get more and more costly, it seems her condition has not gone away as quickly as planned.”
The Shark’s face was covered by the black mask that he always wore, so Izuku had no idea what sort of terrifying expression the man was making. Either way, the words made him freeze.
“I-I’m sorry? Sir?”
He shook his head. “Your blood is quite valuable to me and my…associates. However, I require you for something else at the moment.”
Izuku’s stomach dropped. “What-what is it, sir?”
Toga started laughing loudly now, and all the heads in the room snapped over to look at her, save for the Shark.
“Can I tell him?” She asked the boss, still giggling. “Oh please, pretty please, can I tell him?”
The shark shook his head, and continued speaking.
“Security and law enforcement has become lax in recent years as nearly every, say, opportunist like myself depends on quirks to do our jobs. Everything used to track down and prevent crime now only looks for quirks. It puts the traditional methods at a disadvantage, but I’m lucky enough to have one exempt individual in my service.”
“I don’t understand, sir,” Izuku replied meekly. He did, though. He was starting to understand.
“Come on, Deku, it’ll be fun!” Toga exclaimed. “We’re gonna rob those dumbass scientists right from under their noses! Together!”
“But you have a quirk?”
The shark stood, and waved his hand at the blonde girl. “Explain it to him. I expect results by tomorrow night, Toga Himiko, or your boss will be hearing from me.”
Toga just giggled, shaking her head as the Shark left. She sashayed over to his abandoned chair and began chatting away.
“Aren’t you just so excited?”
“Can’t wait,” Izuku replied faintly, staring at the wall behind her. The shock combined with the blood loss was an interesting combination.
“Aw, are you nervous? Don’t be! All we have to do is get a teensy weensy gun from this super boring lab and then blow it up! Easy peasy.”
Izuku could hear himself start to mumble. “I’m gonna commit a crime. I’m gonna be a criminal.”
“You’re joking, right?” Toga laughed. “Don’t be a little bitch about it! What are you so worried about?”
She leaned in, a mocking pout on her lips as she ignored the doc’s insistence that she stop jostling her equipment.
“Aw, are you worried we’ll get caught? Be fucking serious.”
“Shut up Toga,” He snapped, looking away. “There are-there are heroes , out there. I wanted to be one of them. Not a-not a-”
“A villain?” Toga was back to laughing like a maniac again. “Wake up, you useless idiot. Why do you even care so much about those dumb heroes? It’s not like they ever helped you or your mom.”
Izuku could feel the tears starting to fall down his cheeks. “Just-just go away.” His voice broke, which Toga only seemed to find more amusing.
“You wanted to be a hero, didn’t you? It’s cute you think you still have a chance!” Suddenly, her laughter stilled and she became much more serious.
“Honestly, Deku, if your lack of a quirk didn’t guarantee it, I thought you’d at least be smart enough to know that once you give yourself to the Shark, you don’t get out.”
With one last sneer, Toga strode confidently out of the room. As the doc removed the tube from his arm with the familiar pinch, Izuku contemplated the rather long list of bad decisions which had led him to this point.
—
“Ready?” Toga asked, grinning like the psychopath she was.
Izuku sighed. “Let's get this over with. “All I have to do is go to the door, unlock the scanner with the card, and then just follow the hallway?”
Toga smiled, and Izuku was not surprised that he didn’t feel reassured. He sighed again, and walked out of the building’s shadow to approach the door.
The metal card Satoshi had given him felt cold and heavy in his hand, and he let out a small exhale of relief when the door clicked as he swiped it. A part of him had hoped the card wouldn’t work in the first place, but that would mean displeasing the Shark, and displeasing the Shark meant-
Interrupting his train of thought, he quietly slipped into the laboratory. In a discreet government building, on the outskirts of the city, was a lab that was apparently working on something groundbreaking. The Shark wanted it, so he’d sent his lackeys to fetch it. Izuku felt his heart sink lower when he realized that he was now the lackey.
The hallway was long and dark, but easy to navigate with the tiny flashlight he’d been given. The uniform he wore, that of the Shark’s minnows, was baggy and nondescript. The baggy cowl draped over his head and around his shoulders supposedly was made of bullet proof material, and along with the black surgical mask helped to hide his face. Hard reinforced bracers were strapped to his forearms, and the only instructions he’d been given were to not lose any of his precious blood. Kinoshita had teased that maybe if he did well he’d earn himself a pair of bo staffs to defend himself with. Izuku was not optimistic.
A silver door gleamed at the end of the hallway, and he was shocked to find it unlocked. He looked up at the scanner on the doorframe, and noticed that the tiny flashing light had not turned red, meaning it had yet to indicate a quirk. Izuku took a moment to silently curse whatever genius had failed to see that searching only for quirks in a security system created far too many loopholes.
“Where is it,” He muttered under his breath, his mind already racing with all the possibilities of where the project would be located.
The small briefcase that he ended up handing to Toga was fairly anticlimactic.
She wasted no time popping it open to see what was inside despite Izuku’s protests that the Shark insisted he be the first to open it.
“A gun,” Toga said flatly, disappointed. She turned it over in her hand. Izuku noticed that it didn’t have the traditional chamber for bullets, instead there were three vials of liquid alongside it in the case to be inserted along the barrel.
“Maybe it injects something?” He guessed.
Toga tossed the now shut case and started to walk away. “Boring,” She groaned, as Izuku fumbled to not drop it. “Dunno why Sharky wants it so bad.” He let out a noncommittal hum as he followed her out into the night.
Thankfully, regardless of how unassuming it seemed, the Shark was pleased with the result.
“Perhaps you’d like an extra few minutes on the phone with your mother?” Satoshi suggested, a subtle smile on his lips. “As a reward for following directions.”
Izuku didn’t care that what he was doing was so blatantly manipulative; as soon as the man had mentioned more time with his mother, he knew he’d do whatever they asked. He’d been living in the Shark’s palace for about a year now, and while the Doctor insisted for him to remain healthy he needed daily walks outside for vitamin D (like a dog, he’d thought begrudgingly), his talks with his mother were the only semblance of normality in his life.
The smirk on Satoshi’s face when Izuku confirmed how desperate he was to speak with her made him sick to his stomach, but he nodded anyway.
—
Izuku ducked to avoid Toga’s lazy (though no less deadly) swipe at his head as they sat at the top of the building waiting for their target.
Since his first mission, he’d gotten more and more freedom to leave the facility. There was an abundance of jobs that the Shark wanted him for; it seemed that no one had figured out the blatantly obvious (and a little discriminatory, Izuku thought offhandedly) loophole in the “new and improved” quirk detection security systems. He was like a ghost passing through them, leaving the police and investigators stumped.
As much as Izuku loathed being a criminal, he couldn’t lie and say that he hated being able to see the outside world. His time in isolation had taken its toll, but now he was even allowed to have a phone! It was monitored, of course, but he’d yet to have his internet access turned off, so he spent any free time he had researching the new heroes that popped up in his absence. He was still interested in his old favorites, of course, but there was a bad taste in his mouth now whenever he thought of his first idols. He’d wanted to be a hero, but the Shark had made sure it would never happen.
He sighed, eyes drifting across the street. Toga hummed beside him, playing with a child’s old bouncy ball she’d found. Or possibly stolen from a child she shoved into the road, you never knew with Toga.
“Ughhhh,” She groaned, falling back to stare at the night sky. “This is so boring. Why can’t the stupid scientist just show up already so we can get him?”
Izuku rolled his eyes. “We’ve only been up here for ten minutes. Mr. Satoshi said he’s not even expected to leave the office for another hour.”
He looked over at the metal briefcase sitting between them. Inside was an updated model of the gun he’d stolen on his first mission. The Doctor had modified it to be even more effective and devastating to its victims. Izuku wasn’t sure what exactly the red vials used to shoot the gun with did, and Satoshi refused to tell him.
“All you need to know,” Satoshi had replied in a crisp, irritated voice after Izuku’s pestering. “Is not to waste your shots, and to only aim at the targets we give you. Understand?”
Izuku had accepted that, as he wanted to avoid another beating from Kinoshita. His stealth and skills had increased exponentially since the first few sparring sessions he’d been forced to have, and with practice became quite accurate in the shooting range. Like it or not, Izuku had become a weapon himself.
The phone calls with his mother grew less and less frequent; Satoshi claimed she was too tired from treatment to talk with him. Of course it worried him, but Izuku was too scared to protest, lest the Shark cut the funding of her treatments. He hadn’t spoken with her in almost three months, Izuku realized with a start.
“Oi,” Toga’s irritated voice snapped him out of his thoughts. “Stop mumbling, you idiot.” He glared at her, but went silent once again.
The time passed slowly, but Izuku amused himself by enjoying a bit of people watching. He looked at each person passing by and tried to imagine what their life was like, where they were coming from, and where they were going. It was enjoyable enough, until Toga’s restlessness made her suggest shooting a few of the pedestrians simply to liven up their night.
“What? No!” Izuku hissed. “What are you, crazy?”
She grinned maniacally. “Probably,” Toga laughed, reaching for the briefcase which Izuku pulled out of reach in the nick of time. She pouted. “No fun at all.”
“It’s my ass that gets beat for all your insane ideas,” He muttered, glaring at her. I hate her, Izuku thought, I hate her so much.
“Well it’s because I tell them-”
“There he is!” Izuku exclaimed, jumping to his feet and pointing to the figure who’d just walked out of the building. “Come on, we gotta go!”
He didn’t even wait to see if Toga would follow, simply racing down to the fire escape. In a complicated series of moves, jumping and swinging down the slick metal bars, Izuku made it to the ground in record time. He raced onto the sidewalk, keeping to the shadows as he followed the scientist.
The plan was to intercept him on his usual route home; a block or two over he’d pass a shady alley, in which it would be simple work to drag him in and incapacitate him for the Shark’s purposes.
“Race ya!” A voice whispered in his ear, and Izuku was proud of himself for not stumbling in shock as a streak of blonde hair rushed by him. Pushing his legs to pump even harder, he ignored the strain of his muscles to match his partner in stride.
“Almost there,” Izuku muttered. “Meet me in the alley, that way the street cameras won’t recognize and notice your quirk.” Toga didn’t give any acknowledgement that she’d heard him, but one second she was beside him and the next she wasn’t.
The scientist hadn’t realized anything was amiss quite yet.The street was deserted (thanks to some coercion on Kinoshita’s behalf), and he whistled a cheery tune to himself as he strolled down the street looking at his phone. Idiot, thought Izuku.
He was too startled to even shout when Izuku landed a hard blow to his head, dazing him but not enough to knock him out. It was easy enough for Izuku to shove him into the shielded darkness of the alley, and into Toga’s waiting arms.
“Finally,” She moaned, giving Izuku a cheeky grin that he ignored. “I’m starving. ”
“Just get on with it,” Izuku muttered, looking away.
He hated watching Toga drink blood, it made him nauseas and reminded him too much of his own blood withdrawals. Which, he remembered, he had another one as soon as he got back tonight. Dammit.
When he finally turned back around after hearing the thump of the body on the ground, Izuku saw the scientist unconscious on the ground as well as standing up over the identical body with a leering grin.
“See ya!” Toga waved cheerily as she strode out of the alley. Izuku looked back at the body on the ground, not looking forward to having to drag it into the car he was sure was already on its way.
Later that night, as he lay in bed sipping some juice and trying not to throw up, Izuku scrolled through his phone. His twitter feed, as usual, was filled with hero news. A few notifications popped up about a missing person as well, and Izuku pointedly ignored them. It was no use dwelling on what happened to the man, after all.
A harsh knock on the door interrupted the video of a group of flashy debut heroes stopping a robbery downtown. He instantly turned it off and shoved it under his pillow as the door opened.
Satoshi stood in the doorway, his arms crossed.
“Get up. The boss wants to speak with you.”
Resisting the urge to groan, Izuku forced his weary body to sit up straight and slide off the bed. He yawned, rubbed his face, and followed the right hand man out the door and down the hall. His phone, which he’d discreetly slipped into his pants pocket, buzzed as yet another news alert notification went off.
“What’s happening?” He asked, blinking away spots in his vision. As usual, he had stood up too fast.
As usual, Satoshi ignored the question.
Izuku sighed internally, but followed without asking anymore questions. He knew from 18 months of experience that at best he would just be ignored, and at worst would be physically punished. He much preferred the former.
“Sit,” The shark instructed, once Izuku arrived in his office. Satoshi took his customary spot standing behind him, and the Doctor sat in a plush armchair across the room. He struggled not to fidget like a little kid.
“Yours and Toga’s task tonight was completed successfully,” He began. Izuku perked up at the praise.
“As such, the information we have been looking to find for months has all but fallen into our laps.” He nodded, unsure where the boss was going. Izuku had never been told the why of things, just the consequences of his failure to do his job.
The shark stood, and began to pace. “I have another task for you tonight, and you alone.”
“B-but tonight ?” Izuku exclaimed, forgetting himself for a moment. “It’s past midnight and I’ve already done a-”
“Quiet,” Satoshi hissed, and instantly Izuku fell silent.
Satoshi’s quirk, as Izuku had discovered a few months into his stay with the shark, was fairly straightforward. If he was looking at you, and he spoke a one word command, then the person would be forced to follow through with it until Satoshi looked away. Now, Izuku was faced with the intense stair of bright green eyes, and his lips were sealed. Every muscle in his body was frozen, too terrified to quiver lest it make even a whisper of a noise.
“This job is of utmost priority, and is incredibly time sensitive. We have no idea how long the information will remain relevant, and it’s entirely possible that the target has already been transported to a different location. It seems our friend Toga,” And at this he grimaced (a sentiment that Izuku could relate to), “Will be found out very quickly at this rate.”
“If I may,” The Doctor finally spoke up, “The subject just had his transfusion an hour ago. He was unsteady just on the walk over here, what makes you think that he’ll be able to even walk out the door without passing out?”
The shark continued on as if he’d never been interrupted. “The target is a…prisoner. She is a valuable resource, and it’s best if we get her sooner rather than later.”
Izuku felt it when Satoshi finally looked away and he was able to let out a stuttered exhale.
“A-alright, sir,” He said meekly. “I-it’s just…the Doctor is right, I don’t feel very good right now.”
The shark seemed unmoved. “Give him the new serum,” He said, looking at Satoshi and gesturing toward a locked cabinet on the wall.
The Doctor spoke again. “I don’t mean to overstep, but the effects of the serum are wildly unpredictable, and I can’t guarantee that it won’t alter the hemoglobins in his blood which would…impede my research.”
At this the shark paused, and noticing his hesitation, Satoshi did too.
“It needs to be done now,” He finally said, his low baritone voice a gravelly rumble. Izuku winced when he saw Satoshi draw out a long needle from a velvet box and insert it into a vial of liquid.
“What is it?” He asked, his eyes darting nervously between Satoshi and the Doctor.
The Doctor sighed, standing up and moving to take the needle from him. “It’s a compound that increases stamina, performance, speed, agility, and, in normal cases, a quirk as well. It should only last a couple hours, and the withdrawal will be fairly severe, so you will be out of commission for a few days.” Izuku didn’t miss the nervous glance that she cast over to the shark, nor the relief on her face when he gave her a subtle nod.
Huh, he thought, maybe I’m not the only one walking on eggshells around here.
The Doctor was uncharacteristically gentle as she rolled up Izuku’s sleeve and inserted the needle into his vein. Her sympathetic expression certainly wasn’t helping his nerves either.
Izuku felt the effects almost instantly. It was like downing twenty shots of espresso simultaneously snorting cocaine and energy drinks. Every limb felt like it was buzzing, and his vision seemed to become ten times clearer. His mind raced as he analyzed each color, angle, and object in the room. There was just so much and he-
“Hey,” Satoshi was snapping his fingers in front of his face, pulling him from his thoughts. Izuku forced himself to make eye contact, while drumming his fingers and bouncing his leg.
“Leave now and go straight to this address, understand? They’re calling your target “the fountain”. Retrieve them from the facility and meet me at rendezvous point D.”
Izuku nodded frantically, his hand practically vibrating as he accepted the piece of paper handed to him. His eyes widened when he was given a set of keys as well.
“The job will go faster on a bike,” Satoshi explained, already walking away with the expectation he would follow. “Crash it, and its owner will likely kill you. Remember that you’re only allowed to use this because we are desperate.”
Racing through the streets in the dead of night quickly became Izuku’s favorite thing in the world. He’d picked up the controls fairly easily, apparently it was a loan from the same Boss who gave Toga to the shark. Izuku remembered playing motorbike race games before his life became a nightmare, and he let out a loud and gleeful laugh as he flew through the dark streets.
He reached the address before he knew it; a decrepit black building that seemed foreboding and empty. Izuku made quick work of the men standing nearby in the shadows. Their guns weren’t much use to them if they couldn’t see him, and of course all their intruder detection systems relied on the presence of a quirk.
“Idiots,” Izuku snarled, kneeing one of them in the face. “Maybe if you weren’t so-” He spun around to kick the back of another’s knee, his head landing on the pavement with a painful sounding thunk. “-fucking useless I wouldn’t have to-” One of them tried to shout out a warning to those inside, but a knife from Izuku’s waist buried in his throat stopped that. “-kill you.”
He stood in the dimly lit street, hands on his knees panting, as he looked at his sobering results. The image of bloody bodies strewn in heaps on the cement made him want to puke. Taking a few extra breaths to collect himself, Izuku drew himself up to his full height. He plucked his knife from the man’s throat, and callously wiped off the blood with his shirt before putting it back in its place.
The serum was in full effect. The scant moonlight on the bloody bodies gleamed in his eyes, and he saw what he’d done in highly defined detail. A part of him was sickened, yet the other wanted more .
Izuku threw a nearby brick through the closest window, enjoying the sound of glass shattering. Nimbly hopping through the hole he’d made, he greeted the startled guard with a grin.
“Hello,” He greeted, cheerfully lunging for his neck. He let go almost immediately in shock, however, when he felt the bones snap in his hands. Izuku watched in dismay as the man fell back into his chair. He hadn’t meant to do that…right?
Eyes wide, breathing shallow, he looked around the small security office. Gently moving the rolling chair away, he began to look through the security cameras. There seemed to be almost no guards anywhere, except for a shut iron door with a heavy looking padlock on it. That camera showed five big, burly men standing outside. He reached behind himself to his back, and let the familiar weight of the bo sticks in his hands calm him.
The only sound he heard as he tore through the men standing guard was his own heavy breathing. Each beat of his heart made his eyes sharpen, and he was able to see each speck of blood that had splattered on his hands in startling detail. Izuku fished the key out of one of the dead guards' pockets, and it clicked open.
A primal, bloodthirsty side of Izuku was ready to rip the door off the hinges and drag the target kicking and screaming to Satoshi. He wanted to push and pull and cause pain-
But the sight that greeted him when the door swung open stopped him in his tracks.
A young girl, maybe six or seven, stood huddled and crying in a corner. Izuku took a step back in shock as her face lit up when she saw him.
“Are you-are you a hero?” She sniffled, standing up. Long iron chains were attached to the heavy manacles on her wrists and ankles. The metal collar around her neck made Izuku wince. She shuffled forward to peek around where he stood. She gasped.
“You’re here to save me!” The little girl exclaimed. Izuku lunged forward to catch her when she seemed to forget how short the length of her chains were.
“Careful,” He rasped, his voice raw. “I’m not…not a hero.”
She looked confused, but held still while he unlocked her chains with the same ring of keys he’d taken from the guard outside.
“But you-”
“Just stop!” Izuku snapped, glaring at her. Guilt washed over him immediately when he saw the way she flinched back, and he ran a frustrated hand over his face as the situation sunk in.
Fuck, he thought. She was just a kid. She was so little! A voice inside his head argued that he was still technically a kid too, but he discounted it. He didn’t feel like a kid anymore.
“We have to go,” He murmured, grasping her arm gently and tugging her out into the hallway. And, because apparently he was a glutton for punishment, he asked, “What’s your name?”
“I’m Eri,” She replied, a smile appearing on her small face. “What’s your name?”
“Deku.”
“Is that your hero name or your real name?”
“I’m not a hero.”
“Where are we going?”
Izuku sighed, helping Eri step over a body he’d left in the hall. “I’m not sure yet.
The rendezvous point flashed in his mind, but he quickly discarded that idea. He didn’t know what he should do, too hyped up on adrenaline and the serum, but there was no way he was bringing a little girl to the shark. Izuku hated himself now, sure, but there was no way he would be able to live with himself he was in any way responsible for-
“I’m hungry,” Eri declared. He chuckled to himself, looking over to take in her appearance.
Her long white hair was tangled and snarly, with clumps of dirt and sticks. The thin cotton dress she wore was threadbare and stained, and her face was just as dirty. It was hard to tell, but Izuku was willing to bet that she was too thin and malnourished as well.
Izuku continued guiding her to where he’d parked the motorbike.
“Where are your parents?” He asked quietly, as he peaked around a corner to make sure there weren’t more armed guards waiting for them.
She shrugged. “Dunno where mama is, she doesn’t like me anymore. Daddy’s gone.”
As he expected, Izuku thought. “Do you-look out!”
Not caring to be gentle, he shoved her into what looked like an empty meeting room as bullets rained down on the pair. Apparently he’d missed a few guards, and they weren’t too happy about what he’d done to their friends.
The adrenaline came pumping back through his limbs. Izuku wanted to go back into the hall and rip their throats out with his bare hands, but one look at Eri’s terrified face made him stop.
“Plan B then, huh?” He said, to no one in particular. Izuku shut the door quickly, barricading it with a nearby desk. Again he was so surprised at how easily the feat of strength came to him.
There was an open window in this room, and if he’d been paying attention they were on the first floor right near where the bike was parked. “I’ll lift you up,” He told Eri, kneeling down. “But we have to go fast.”
A plan was starting to formulate in his brain. Not a very good one, perhaps, but a plan nonetheless.
Once they’d both made it outside, Izuku picked Eri up and raced for the bike. After situating her in front of him between the handlebars, he fumbled for the keys while also reaching for his phone.
“Come on,” He growled, finally starting the engine and dialing Satoshi.
“What is it?” The stern voice asked from his phone. Shouts came from inside the building, and Izuku floored the gas.
“Ran into some trouble,” Izuku replied, putting a hand over Eri’s mouth to keep her quiet. “I have the target but-”
Gunshots rang out, and he grinned at the timing.
“I gotta take a detour!”
“Wait just a minute you useless-”
He chucked the cell phone behind him, almost laughing as he heard Satoshi’s confused sputters cut off abruptly. Hopefully he’d thrown it hard enough to break the phone, and with any luck they wouldn’t be able to track him down without it.
Now, the only thing left to do was figure out where exactly he was going.
“Are you taking me to the other heroes?” Eri piped up in a hopeful voice.
An idea struck.
—
UA looked fancy, Izuku thought, as the motorbike purred quietly through the now well lit streets. Somehow Eri had fallen asleep, despite the constant jostling and loud noises. Izuku had managed to lose their pursuers within a few blocks, but just to be safe he took as many side streets as he could to avoid cameras.
Not that UA wouldn’t be swarming with them, and far superior security systems to what Izuku was used to dealing with. The good news, hopefully, was that at least this time he wanted to get caught.
Well, sort of. He wanted Eri to be found, preferably by as many strong and powerful heroes who were actually suited to this and would be able to protect her from everyone that seemed to want her. During the ride he’d managed to coax out of her why exactly she’d been chained up. She was tired, and young, but from her garbled little kid explanation Izuku gathered that her quirk was something rare and dangerous.
He’d been expecting that, of course, but he hadn’t expected her to be six! It only made him even more positive that he was doing the right thing. Izuku didn’t know what exactly he would do after she was somewhere safe. Would he go back to the shark? He didn’t necessarily want to, but it wasn’t like there was anywhere else for him. Besides, the shark would track him down, although the punishment he’d receive after pulling this stunt-
“Eri,” He said quietly, gently shaking her awake. “We’re here.”
Izuku left the bike idling on the sidewalk as he helped her down. They approached the gate hand in hand, and he stared at the wrought metal shaped into the UA crest.
“Y’know,” Izuku said quietly, assessing the walls for a way in. “I used to want to go here.”
Eri didn’t say anything, just sleepily rubbed her eyes.
“I think,” Izuku squinted at the top of the wall. “That there’s a laser security system. Or something. This place is pretty uptight, so if I throw something-”
He picked up the nearest rock, and lobbed it at where he would’ve put the sensors.
“Nothing happened,” Eri mumbled. She shifted side to side impatiently.
Izuku hummed thoughtfully. That wasn’t true, he thought. With his heightened senses, he’d noticed a small light start blinking near the gate. A silent security system was smart, but that wasn’t what he needed right now. Glancing around anxiously, he tried to think of something that would draw someone’s attention a bit faster.
He eyes the motorbike, and his heart sank as he realized what he was about to do.
“I have an idea,” Izuku said quietly.
“Why don’t you want to go here anymore?” Eri asked. She sat on the ground while Izuku took apart the bike as fast as he could with limited tools.
“I never said I didn’t want to. Sometimes, well, most times you don’t get what you want.”
Izuku glared at a stubborn screw. His fingertips ached with pieces of metal digging into them, since he lacked an actual screwdriver and the coin he found on the sidewalk could only do so much.
“I don’t understand,” She said quietly.
He let out a bitter laugh. “Me too. But it’s a school for heroes, and I screwed that up for myself a while ago.
Eri frowned. “That’s not true. You saved me, that makes you my hero.”
Izuku blinked the tears out of his eyes, and tried to tell himself it was because of the cloud of smoke he’d released when trying to free the bike battery.
“Listen, Eri,” He stood up, dusting the dirt off his knees. He held the bike battery in his hand, and he hoped that the warnings written on the side of it were serious about it exploding in the wrong circumstances. It had been nearly ten minutes, and no one had come to check on the disturbance, so clearly he’d have to make a bigger one. “Sometimes people do bad things, like really bad things. And it doesn’t matter how many good things that they do-”
“I know.”
The look of honesty and understanding on her face made her look much older than six, Izuku thought.
“I made my dad disappear with a quirk. That was a bad thing, mama said. It won’t matter how many good things I do-”
Realizing that he had made a mistake, Izuku knelt down in front of her. He brushed the tears off her dirty cheeks, guilt enveloping him once more as she flinched again.
“Eri, I-” Izuku cleared his throat, and made sure to look her right in the eye. “I’m…different. I’m different from you and a lot of other good, normal people. That was an accident, I’m sure. And you feel sorry, but I…What I’m trying to say is that your choices were different from mine, and you could still be really-”
“Why are you crying, Deku?” Eri asked quietly. She cocked her head to the side in confusion as he sniffed, rubbing a filthy grease covered hand over his face.
“I’m okay,” He said, trying to give her his best smile. “Let’s get you safe now, okay?”
“What are you gonna do?”
Izuku took a deep breath. “Something really, really stupid, I think.”
Instructing Eri to stay put at the front gate, Izuku walked about fifty feet from where she stood. He threw the battery against the wall a few times, and was satisfied when the exterior cracked and chemicals started to leak out.
“Here goes nothing,” He mumbled, crouching down with two rocks in his hands.
It only took a few tries to get sparks to appear, and the effect was instant.
—
All Izuku felt was pain, as he stared up at the black sky.
Being dead isn’t supposed to hurt this much, he thought, as every nerve in his body burned in agony.
A dark figure loomed over him, and the familiar voice sent chills down his spine.
“You,” He said, voice shaking in anger, “Have no idea what you’ve just done.”