Capítulo 3: Do We Really Look Up to Them?
The Pro Hero Tremor is mostly known for his explosive temper. The destructive power of his quirk, Earthshaker, is only matched by the strength of his temper. His no mercy stance in regards to criminals has earned him a reputation of being one of the harshest Pros in the business. He's recognized just as much for his history of major collateral damages, as he is for the number of villains that he's put in a critical state.
This history of violence shows off quite a few off his weaknesses. His propensity towards rage means that it would be very easy to lead him into a trap. Additionally, he relies heavily on raw power so with enough skill and caution, an opponent could rob him of the chance to use his quirk.
Despite the sharp glare that Tremor is giving me, my mind is still calm enough to run through these options. I'm snapped out of my semi-trance by a small groan behind me. That's right. The gray haired man is still here. I can't let Tremor hurt him, but his presence is a huge issue. One of my better plans involved Tremor using Earthshaker, which would have alerted authorities and they might have been able to diffuse the situation. But since this guy is in such bad shape, there's no way that I can afford to let Tremor use his quirk. If I take quirks out of the equation, then I've got a chance. I think that I've got the edge in close combat. I do have a black belt and Tremor graduated from a run of the mill school, one that doesn't teach self defense. So the objective is to get close. My eyes sweep the surroundings. The alley is only about twelve feet wide, and it's pretty empty except for some boxes and a few trash cans behind me. Wait… trash cans? I immediately start formulating a new plan. If I can use the environment, I might be able to minimize the danger of his quirk. But as I work out the details, I can feel doubt start to inch into the corners of my brain. I shake my head vigorously and keep up my smile. No time for that. Now's the time to be brave!
I turn around and start running.
"Wha… g-get back here!" Tremor screams at my back. During this split second of confusion, I reach for one of the trash cans. As my fingers curl around the handle, I turn quickly and hurl it at him. He seems too shocked to react, just standing there as the bucket soars towards his face. A loud clang followed by an even louder "AGHH!" tells me that I hit my mark. The collison knocks all the trash loose, littering the air with wrappers and food scraps. It provide a perfect distraction, giving me enough time to sprint towards Tremor until I'm within four feet of him. Being this close, I get a good look at his costume. The slabs of rock that adorn the outfit double as both armor and a cool visual motif. In order to maintain flexibility the plates only cover vital areas, leaving the joints to move freely. But this means that there are numerous areas that lack protection. The one that really catches my eye is an unarmored spot near his diaphragm. The designers of the suit probably thought that no one would be dumb enough to get into close quarters with someone that can create earthquakes. "Especially not someone who's quirkless," I whisper to myself, grinning a little wider.
I let my legs carry me a little farther until I'm within arm's reach of Tremor. He looks startled that I managed to close the distance so quickly. Using this moment of confusion, I aim a punch at the weak spot that I noticed. He lets out a wheeze as my fist digs into his diaphragm. The combination of Tremor's pained gasp and the sound of a crack in his chest instantly makes my stomach turn. I try to push the thought from my mind, but the feeling of my knuckle sinking into his chest starts to make me nauseous. While I'm distracted, he slams his palm into the back of my head. The force of the blow makes me dizzy and Tremor takes advantage of it, pushing his knee into my face. I'm knocked back and I feel a bit of my blood drip from my nose. He starts to swing at me again but suddenly stops to clench at his chest. I back up as quickly as I can, trying not to lose focus. I…think I broke a rib. I try to push the thought from my mind, but the feeling of my knuckle sinking into his chest starts to make me nauseous. The only thing that repulses me more is the vague feeling of satisfaction rising in me.
I'm broken from my trance by a shadow crossing my face. I turn to see Tremor raising his fist, a furious look in his eyes. As his hand drops to the ground, my natural intuition takes over and I dash back towards him. I'm too far away to hit him, but I can't let his fist touch the ground. I instinctively swing my right leg, trying to stop his fist from connecting. My foot makes contact just as his knuckles are inches from the ground, sweeping his arm. The collision forces him to take a hard right to avoid falling, leaving his side wide open. Before Tremor can recover, I drill my foot into another unarmored area, this one being right on top of his left lung.
He lets out a gasp from the pain but quickly recovers and swipes at my ankle. He succeeds in disrupting my balance. I fall backwards, my head crashing down to the pavement. I'm too winded to retaliate and Tremor takes advantage of that. He gets back to his feet effortlessly and begins to strike me while I'm down. "You… rotten… little… shit," he says breathlessly, his words interspersed by kicks to my ribs. Every blow forces me to exhale, leaving me no chance to fight back. He stops striking me for a moment to catch his breath. I play dead, trying to give myself some time to reevaluate the situation. "And now… you," Tremor utters breathlessly, turning to face the gray haired man. Before he can take one step towards him, I stand back up and reach for his arm. Tremor turns around quickly but is too startled by the fact that I'm still fighting to respond. His slow reactions give me enough time to fully grasp his right elbow. I spin on my right foot and smash my back into his chest. I lower my body and start to throw Tremor over my right shoulder. The weight of him on back ignites a pain in my ribs. I grit my teeth and keep up my momentum, slamming him to the ground. My attack worked and Tremor is sprawled on the ground, gasping for air as I move back a few feet.
As he struggles to stand, I take a moment to wipe my brow. The stress of the situation is making me sweat just as much as the fight itself. I can taste iron as blood trickles down from my nose to my mouth. I look back to see that the grey haired guy is on his phone,talking frantically to someone. He must be calling the police. Knowing that, some of the tension in my body starts to dissipate. I'm sure that I wouldn't last much longer since I'm already barely standing. Still, I'm doing much better that I thought I would. If I can handle something like this, then maybe… maybe I can still be a hero.
While I'm ruminating on the possibility, I hear small rustling sound overhead. I look up to see a silhouette in the shape of a man falling from the sky. I can't even react before the man crashes straight into the alley. The force of his landing fractures the ground and knocks me off my feet. My head smacks into the concrete, leaving me dazed on the floor. I can vaguely hear a conversation between the man and Tremor. Tremor starts.
"S-sorry, this kids been kicking my ass and I can't even tell what his quirk is".
"There's no shame in needing a bit of help every now and then. It's a good thing that I just happened to be flying overhead and saw you," the man responds. His voice is loud, eccentric, and vaguely familiar. "I can take the rest from here" the man continues.
I start to force myself back to my feet. If I can explain the situation to this guy, then maybe I'll be able to stop this from getting any worse. Just as I'm barely off my knees, the booming voice continues.
"Still on your feet, eh villain?". Villain? This guy must think that I attacked Tremor first! I try to deny it but I'm too disoriented to force the words out of my mouth. I'm barely standing when the man addresses me again. "Did you think you could ambush a hero and get away with it?! As if I would allow something like that to happen on my watch!". I turn my head to respond, but I'm shocked by who it is. His blue and red suit is as recognizable as his tall blond hair and sharp blue eyes.
All Might
The realization that the Number One Hero is staring me down sends chills down my spine. The look that he's giving me is one that freezes my body. It's a glare that I've never seen before. It's different than the sharp stare he gives during interviews or the impassive look that he gave me when he said I could never be a hero. It doesn't even resemble the look that he gives me in my nightmares. It's a gaze that is a mix of disdain and a lack of mercy. A look that says that it's time to get a job done. This must be the look that he only gives to villains. And now he's giving it to me.
My breathing becomes stilted as panic courses through my veins. The fear helps me shoot the words out my mouth.
"Wait, please! I-I'm not a bad guy!" I scream, hoping that I sound convincing. But All Might is unphased. He starts to pull back his fist, still staring me down. I recognize exactly what he's going to do. He's preparing a Detroit Smash. Terror seizes my mind again. I can feel every inch of my skin tighten, my brain urging me to run away. But I can't move my body. Everything seems to slow down as I see All Might opens his mouth. I can vaguely see his lips form the word "detroit" but I can't hear anything, all sound being replaced by a faint ringing. My mind feels like it's running at a million miles a second, as if it's trying to break out of my skull.
Does he recognize me? Probably not. Our meeting might've been life changing for me, but it makes sense that he wouldn't think it was that important. What's gonna happen to me? All Might didn't see the fight so he must think that I'm tougher than I look. That's why he's not bothering to hesitate. Another question strikes, jolting some feeling back into my body. What about the gray haired guy? I swing around to see that he isn't there anymore. He must have come to his senses and run away. A bit of relief replaces the panic in my mind.
At least I managed to save someone.
All Might starts to lean forward, readying himself to deliver the final blow. Just as his mouth begins to move again, a dark mass starts to form in my peripheral vision. It starts small but quickly expands until it's the size of a door. I stare at it, still seeing All Might move in slow motion. As he thrusts his fist through the air, a small distortion appears in the shadow. A clammy hand reaches through the darkness and grabs me by the collar. As it drags me in, I feel a powerful gust of wind run across my left side, followed by intense agony. The impact rattles my brain and I can feel my consciousness slip away.
My breathing is ragged. My vision is blurry. There's an unbearable pain coming from the left side of my chest. Any effort to move my body is completely wasted. I can feel fatigue swallowing my brain. Just before I can pass out, I hear a group of people conversing near me. They seem to be in a heated debate but I can barely bring myself to pay attention. I force my eyes open and see a man with light blue hair begin to speak.
"You're lucky that we bothered to rescue you at all, Giran, and now you demand that we help some shrimp?!". His voice is hoarse and raspy. sounding more like an exaggerated whisper than anything else.
"Lucky? It's only because you asked me to find so many damn criminals for your big U.S.J. plan that Tremor found me at all! The least you can do is help me out a little, Shigaraki". That voice… it's the grey haired guy from the alley. His name must be Giran so the man with the raspy voice is Shigaraki. If he's here then that means he must have called this guy to help me. I start to sit up in order to talk to him but the burn in my side stops me.
Giran continues. "Besides, you're paying me to find villains for the operation and I got a genuine crook for ya right here". He must think that I'm a bad guy as well.
Before I can make any futile attempts to deny it, Shigaraki starts chuckling. "A villain? This kid? You've shown up with some third-rate posers before, but this is a new level of bad quality!". "I'm telling ya,"
Giran responds " This kid is a beast. He was giving Tremor a helluva fight".
"Really?" a third voice interjects. This one is deep and calm. He sounds like a stern father. "He could be worthwhile, Shigaraki.".
"Shut up Kurogiri! Don't tell me that you're buying his crap!". Shigaraki lets out a sigh before continuing. "I don't care. I said to drop him so drop him".
"But Shigaraki, he," the man named Kurogiri starts to object before another voice cuts in.
"All of you, get out of the way. I want to see this boy for myself".
The man speaks slowly and somewhat softly but there's no mistaking the authority that he wields. The voice is intercut by static and I can't see his body. He must be using video chat to view the conversation. At his command, all three of the men cease their arguing and move out of the way. I follow their eyes to a TV on the wall, the screen completely grey. The man exclaims a little and chuckles to himself. "So you must be…well, how interesting," he says, mostly to himself. "Kurogiri, bring this boy to my location immediately."
"Seriously, Master? This child?" Shigaraki starts to disagree but the voice cuts him off quickly.
"There is much potential in this young man. I believe that you'll find that he's quite a bit more complex than you think." The voice continues to chuckle as the same darkness from before starts to envelop me. My eyelids begin to droop again and I notice that the wound on my side stopped hurting. rather, it just feels numb. As my mind begins to fade, the last thing I see is an ominous figure sitting in a wheelchair.
I open my eyes lazily. Last night was the first time in a while that I didn't have any nightmares. I start to stretch my arms when I'm hit by a dull ache in my side. The pain doesn't startle me because it actually hurts, but more so because I remember what happened. The memory of the fight in the alley hurt much more. Anxiety begins to creep into my skin as I worry over what's going to happen to me. I try to focus on my surroundings in order to distract myself. I let out an audible gasp as I realize that I'm not in a hospital. Instead, I'm lying on cold table in a dark room that seems like a warehouse. Any light that there is comes from a few monitors in the corner, the largest showing a video of some kind of bar. What's more unsettling is the fact that this place is definitely not a medical facility but there's all kinds of equipment lying around. Rusty IV stands and dismantled wheelchair parts litter the floor. The whole place seems like a set for some horror movie. I'm thinking of mad doctors and horrible experiments when a light cough catches my attention.
"Ah good, you're awake. Please restrain yourself from moving as I'd prefer to check your condition first". It's the same voice as the nameless man in the bar. I turn respond but what I see stops me dead in my tracks. The man's face is horribly disfigured. Everything above his mouth looks like melted wax. He navigates the room flawlessly despite his apparent lack of eyes. He must have some way to see because he seems to catch my look of shock.
"Yes, my appearance is quite threatening, especially to someone who must be having quite the dreadful day. However, you must trust me when I promise that I intend only to help you, Izuku Midoriya." "H-how do you know my name?" I respond, trying and failing to sound calm. "Relax young man, I have not been spying on you or anything of that sort. I merely recognized you from the news". It takes me a moment to realize that he's referring to the reports done on the accident at the supermarket. I do my best to ignore the grief that's creeping into my heart. This isn't the time to fall apart. Once again, the man seems to notice my change in mood. "It must be rather terrible to be famous for such an awful experience". I don't respond, mostly because I don't think that there's any reason to. Somehow, this man seems to have an innate understanding of me.
"Please raise your left arm". I follow his instructions, working through the pain as I do so. He lifts my shirt, revealing my bare skin. Right where the pain is most intense, there's a patch of skin that's slightly darker than the rest. "It appears as though your injury has sufficiently healed. I do apologize for the discoloration. It is one of the few weaknesses of the quirk that I used". I make note of the fact that he referred to it as "the quirk" and not "my quirk". However, I'm more concerned with the scar that I now have. Running my fingers along it, the pain is minimal and the skin doesn't feel irregular. "It was not a serious injury but I was not partial to the idea of a leaving a guest in such a state". "A guest?" I reply hesitantly. "Of course, Izuku Midoriya. I apologize if I have not been very hospitable so far. Allow me to introduce myself. You may call me All for One". "A-all right, All for One. Where are we?" I say, struggling to get past the peculiarity of his name. "You are currently in my rather makeshift home. It is the best that I can do, considering my unfortunate circumstances. You see, I am a Villain". His words shouldn't come as a surprise but the indifference with which he speaks is unnerving. "Then what do you want with me?". "It should be rather obvious. I would like to join my League of Villains".
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