Chapter Text
Midoriya Izuku, as she was known to most of the world, stood atop the roof watching ‘All Might’ leave. Everything had come crashing down, her whole world had been shattered. Bitter, angry tears fell from her face as she watched the hero bound off with the bottle containing the sludge villain. After having been saved, Izuku needed to know. She needed to ask her idol if she could do the same, if she could save people with a smile. If she could be a hero. So without thinking she had latched onto the pro hero’s leg, desperate for some form of recognition.
In turn, the “Hero” turned out to be a withered empty husk of his former self, the smile was hollow as he put it. The hero had no choice but to reveal his massive scar and damaged form, claiming Izuku could never be a hero and that he should give up and find a new dream. Izuku felt something break inside of her as she watched All Might leave. Her idol, the number one hero, had written her off as nothing more than an ‘extra’. A side character for someone else's story; a person to be rescued and nothing more. Tears were streaming down her cheeks, perhaps if it had just been the rejection of her dream things would have been different.
Perhaps if SHE had been born in the right body or Japan's best hero had acknowledged that she was a she at all it wouldn’t have broken her. She felt another stab of pain as she tried to justify what had happened, ‘ Maybe he was in too much pain or didn’t notice when I corrected him… he just kept saying young man… ’ It cut Izumi to her core tearing up what little hope she had left. In another time line perhaps she could have been stronger and laughed it off… but not this life. Maybe if she didn’t already hate herself more than anything for feeling as she did, or if she had faith that things could get better, or if her mother had still been alive. Instead all Izumi could do was stare down from the top of the roof wondering if it would hurt when she landed…
‘ You wanna be a hero so bad? I’ve got a time saver for you, if you think you can get a quirk in the next life just take a swan dive off the roof!’ Her ‘ best ’ friend's words ate at her as she looked at the drop below her… Kaachan was right. She couldn’t continue on. What was the point if she couldn't even be a ‘real’ girl? If she couldn’t feel her mothers embrace again? She would always be seen as a ‘tranny’ and a ‘quirkless freak’ . She wasn’t sure which insult hurt more at this point and the only person who had ever cared was gone, ‘collateral damage’ during a villain attack.
Time moved forward and no one seemed to notice the girl staring down from the edge of the roof. She would just be another casualty of the system, someone no one would miss. ‘ Just another statistic… Like mom.’ Finally she couldn’t take the pain any more and she took a step forward, she no longer feared the pain that would proceed the eternal darkness. At the last second she felt someone grab her and yank her away from the edge.
“I would prefer you not do that kid. Don’t need people poking their noses around here.” Izumi fought back for a moment trying to fall forward but the person behind her simply held on. Izumi wiped her tears away and looked back, blinking at the man who held her back. He was fairly tall, slightly muscular, short gray hair parted to the right, pink slanted eyes, he had a gap between his front teeth, and was wearing a dark purple, almost black business suit with a white shirt underneath. The man adjusted his glasses. “Come on kid,” he reached up with his free hand and grabbed the cigarette in his mouth taking a drag. “I normally don’t just help people for free, so consider it payment for not offing yourself here.”
Izumi eeped out as she was hefted up like she weighed nothing, for a moment she thought about fighting back but she didn't have the strength anymore. ‘ It doesn’t matter I was going to die anyways. ’ She went limp in his arms. Her analysis notebook falling to the floor as she resigned herself to her fate, the man stopped and grabbed the notebook before carrying Izumi inside the building.
Izumi stood in the man's apartment watching as he began locking up the door, before gazing down at the notebook with a raised eyebrow. “So tell me kid, why you wanna commit suicide?” Izumi bit her lip and looked down flinching as he took another drag from his cigarette and exhaled.
“Smoking will kill you.”
“So does jumping off buildings…” He said, opening the notebook now that he was done examining its burnt and crispy exterior. Another gift from her ‘friend’. She watched as the man's eyebrows rose in shock and he began to sit up straighter examining the book with a look of awe and disbelief. He closed it and looked back to the title, still barely visible through the charr, “Kid… are you telling me that you have 12 other books like this?”
Izumi shivered under the man’s cold, calculating, intense gaze. She rubbed her arms and gave a weak nod. “Alright spill it young man, why did you try to kill yourself?”
“I’m not a boy!” Izumi shouted snapping at the misgendering, if he was going to hurt her he might as well do it over something everyone else hurt her for.
“Ok, so because you were bullied for being transgender?” The man gave her a look she could only describe as sympathetic.
“I… not just that. I don’t have a quirk… All I ever wanted to do was help people. I wanted to be a hero but All Might said I couldn’t, said I should give up… that I should find a new dream. My best friend told me to take a swan dive and pray to get a quirk in my next life. No one cares, after mom died no one else cared. Dad beat me when I told him I was a girl still does when he bothers to come home. School is no better, at least I know dad won’t always be home… too busy getting drunk or something but the bullies… its every day but teachers overlook it because I don't have a quirk and they don’t want to ‘hurt a promising student.’” She wasn’t sure when she had started to cry but she was unable to stop as she continued to spill everything to this stranger. “I just… I am a girl, but no one accepts that. They call me a freak, a tranny and a quirkless loser.” She hunched over crying even harder. “All I ever did was want to help people, I just wanted to be a hero but it… I can’t go on, it hurts too much.”
“Wait, the man who signed this.” The man looked down to the notebook turning to the page that had All Might’s signature. “Said you couldn’t be a hero?” He put down the notebook and started to laugh, it was a bitter, dark, hateful laugh that caused Izumi to shiver in confusion as she glanced at the man. “Fucking dumb-ass heros.”
“Sorry kid I just, can’t believe it. Look I ain’t good at this mushy shit but I can help.” He smiled again, this time it was an empathetic smile missing that cold calculating glint in the man's eyes. “My name is Okuta Kagero, but you can call me Giran, what’s your name? And not your dead name, no one needs to hear that ever again.”
“My mom called me, I...Izumi. Midoriya Izumi.” Izumi said her voice hoarse, no one other than her mother had ever reacted positively to her admitting she was transgender.
“Midoriya huh, alright kid, I am going to help you out. I can get ya started on your transition as well as deal with your deadbeat father.” She looked at the man blinking in disbelief, “I can also help you with your dream… You wanna make a difference, kid, I think you can.” Giran nodded to her hero notebook. “With that mind of yours, I think you can do more than any hero ever could. What do you say, Izumi? Want to change the world?”
“Are… are you a hero?” Izumi asked as somehow hope began swelling in her.
“Fuck no, I work on the other side of the law kid. I am a villain according to society. In reality I just procure items and services for people. I am what you call a fixer, I find what people need and earn a profit while I’m at it.”
“Why do you want to help me then?”
“Because Ms. Midoriya, that mind shouldn’t go to waste. Quirk or no, I think you can change everything.”
The stench of booze hit Izumi as she got home, panic building as she looked around. Luckily she didn’t spot her father, merely new empty booze bottles strewn about the floor. Giran stood next to her, his face impassive as he looked around.
“What a shit hole… Grab your stuff, kid, I gotta make a call. Oh if you are fine trading, to avoid debt you can give me some of those notebooks in exchange for new clothes and a bed or something.” Giran gave Izumi a nod and stepped out.
She still couldn’t believe this was happening, the man who claimed to be a villain was helping her more than any of her teachers, friends, or heroes ever had. They had come to an agreement; she would exchange analysis on heroes for a place to live and help in her transition.
Izumi headed to her room, ignoring the sickening sensation of being back home. She stopped in front of her door and flinched, the All Might sign mocking her as she stared at it. She screamed as she reached out grabbing it and throwing it down the hall, her thoughts grew darker as she felt her chest heaving in rage. It wasn’t fair, how come the only one that was helping her was someone that society said was wrong.
She started to laugh as she opened the door to her room. ‘ If society says that Giran is a villain…’ She looked at the posters of All Might lining the wall and scowled, viciously ripping them up as a wave of catharsis washed over her. ‘ If they say that I am a useless Deku… ’ She looked at her desk, taking her All Might figures and tossing them at the wall, watching in satisfaction as the shattered. ‘If they say I am not a real girl…’ She reached in and grabbed the one dress she owned. It no longer fit, but her mother had bought it for her when she’d first told her. ‘ Then I simply have to change society. ’
She was about to leave when she stopped. A picture, hanging from her hero board, her and her mother. She reached out and took the picture holding it close before slipping it into her pocket. Lastly she grabbed her hero analysis notebooks, the rest of the room was a pile of trash. She gave one final look around the room stopping as she saw one of the articles she had pinned. ‘Eraserhead villain or hero?’ She stopped and reached out touching the article with a thoughtful look in her eyes. “Then again maybe some of them suffer too. I need to verify this first.”
She felt herself grow cold as she took several of the articles she had on people who might be different. Society needed to change, but that didn’t mean all of the heroes were the problem. She took one last look at the broken All Might merchandise strewn throughout the room, the man was nothing more than a hollow smile, a fraud, a fake, she would show them all.
An hour later she walked away from her prison, she was never going back. Nothing inside there was worth anything to her; she wouldn’t be a useless Deku anymore… Izumi was going to change everything.
“Giran?” Izumi spoke as they walked away, the man had spent the whole time on the phone. She still had no idea who he had called or why.
“Yeah kid?”
“Can we make one last stop?”
“Just tell me where,”
“I want to stop by a friends house.”
Dear Kaachan,
You were right, I was being an idiot thinking I could be a hero… I will never be anything more than a useless Deku. How could I even think to stand up against you, with your amazing quirk. How dare I have been born in the wrong body, and just want to be a girl. How dare I ever bother falling for you. You don’t have to worry about this anymore, though. I am following your advice and taking that swan dive. Hopefully I can live up to your expectations in the next life.
Love,
Izumi
She smiled down at the note and slid it into the Bakugo family mailbox.
“Did you really love the kid?”
“Not at all I just want to hurt him as bad as he hurt me. Let’s go.”
“Shit… Remind me to never piss you off, kid… You will go far.”
“Don’t cross me and we will go far, Giran.”
“I like your style. Got a name figured out yet?”
“Hero Bane.”