Chapter Text
The streets of Musutafu were devoid of life. The air still, holding its breath, waiting for the next domino to fall. The city’s buildings and roads, splintered, cracked, shells of what they once were. Bustling intersections quiet now with the weight of strife caused by villains run rampant. Silence…and then footsteps. Slow and steady thumping of reinforced boots on concrete and crunch of broken glass.
A menacing figure in a tattered hero costume, green arcs of lighting twirling around his body in eccentric patterns. Ragged yellow cloak billowing over his hunched shoulders, while black-green tendrils swayed behind his back like silent sentinels. Burning green eyes moved behind his grimacing cowl, searching nearby alleyways and street corners for his target.
Izuku Midoriya had been facing trial after trial since everything went to shit with the Tartarus break out. Between being constantly on the move to avoid being pinned down by All For One’s cronies, dodging assassination attempts, and hunting down Tartarus escapees, his level of self care was on a steep decline.
“You need to take break Izuku, you’ve been spreading yourself too thin, not resting or eating enough. Push yourself any further and you’re going to start getting sloppy.” Nana spoke inside Izuku’s head.
“I can’t stop, Nana. These villains need to be put back in Tartarus before they cause anymore damage.” Izuku hesitated slightly before he spoke again. “…But I will rest for a few hours, just enough to recoup some strength. After we catch this escapee, his quirk is too much of a threat to be left on the loose for long.” He spoke with finality.
“At least go and pick up a bento from Toshinori when you do, you gotta eat something kid” Banjo chimed in.
“…Fine. The prisoner is close by, danger sense has been simmering since-“ Izuku’s mental conversation ground to a halt as danger sense spiked. His gaze snapped to an alleyway on his left as a lanky man in a dingy Tartarus prison uniform with a sick grin stepped out, a civilian woman trapped in his grip. His free hand twitching as his blood shot eyes rolled in his head before locking on Izuku.
“Well if it ain’t Deku! You’ve been rounding us up like it’s going out of style! Figured I’d need a little bit of insurance when you came sniffing around. You hero types always hesitate when civvies are involved, bad for optics if they croak!” He chuckled as his fingers tightened on the woman’s shoulder where he gripped her. Her eyes filling with panic as she whimpered.
“Let her go, Dime. You’re getting sent back to Tartarus one way or another, don’t make it harder on yourself.” Izuku’s voice hardened as he took a step forward over a jagged crack in the road that branched off toward the alley and off to the side.
“Eh eh eh don’t come any closer or I’ll crush her throat.” Dime said as his grip moved from her shoulder to loosely hang around the woman’s neck. “If I’m getting sent back to Tartarus either way, I might as well have a little fun with my lady friend here before I go, make you watch before I dump her body somewhere random on the planet with my dimension door.” He grinned as he licked his lips.
Izuku’s whole body tensed as rage coursed through him, like sharpened knives. His gaze turned to steel.
“The boogie man’s offering the golden ticket to whoever can bring you to em. Whatever we want! So I tell you what, why don’t you power down that light show you got going on, step through my door and I’ll let the little lady go…probably.” His voice dripped with fake sincerity as a bright blue glowing portal sprang to life near him. “And just in case you have any funny ideas…” he trailed off as he pulled out a syringe of the quirk enhancing trigger drug from his prison jumpsuit, holding the needle near his own thigh, thumb on the plunger.
Izuku’s stare became razor thin as he analyzed scenarios to get the civilian out safely, grimacing internally as he quickly came to a decision. Yoichi chose that moment to speak up in Izuku’s mind. “We know what you’re thinking, and we are with you, always.”
Izuku nodded his head slightly to Yoicihi’s words as he spoke up to the woman held in Dime’s grip.
“Ma’am, everything is going to be alright now. Because I am here.” He injected as much confidence as he could into his voice.
Dime scoffed “What an All Might wannabe! Go ahead and lie straight to her face that it will all be alri-!”
Three tendrils of black whip shot out of the crack in the road near Dime’s feet as Izuku moved. One wrapped around his wrist where he held the woman’s neck, ripping it away and leaving small scratches. Another wrapped around the civilian’s waist, yanking her toward and back behind Izuku’s former position, while the third reached for the syringe of trigger…and missed. Dime immediately jamming it into his thigh and depressing the plunger as his brain caught up to what was happening.
“Son of a bitch! He fed those tendrils from his feet along the crack in the road so I wouldn’t see them!” “Fuck it you stole my good time, I don’t care where you end up, just piss off!” he roared as his glowing blue portal expanded and turned into a sickly yellow. He made to escape when a gloved hand clamped over his face with force, his bloodshot eyes wide between the gaps in the fingers. Glowing green eyes burned into his.
“Wherever I end up, you’ll be right there with me.” Izuku said coldly as they were both engulfed in the yellow portal.
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Izuku came to slowly, sitting up with a groan of effort, eyes blinking rapidly as he struggled to take in blurred surroundings. He shook his head softly, vision focusing as he looked around the alleyway he found himself in.
“No new injuries at least, just general soreness from lack of rest” he thought as he checked himself over. “It was approaching evening when I encountered Dime, looks like it’s morning now. Either I was out for a very long time or I’m in a different time zone. Not sure which I would prefer.”
The thought of the villain had him snap alert, looking for any sign of Dime. He spotted a body lying a little ways away from him as he stood up with a quiet groan, cautiously making his way over. With no sign of movement he kneeled down to assess the body’s condition.
The body looked like burnt out husk. Its skin shriveled and cracked as if it had been left in the sun for days on end. Izuku froze upon identifying the singed remains of a standard issue Tartarus prison jumpsuit before quickly placing his fingers to the man’s neck searching for a pulse…only for the body to turn to dust as soon as his fingers made contact. Izuku made a harsh gulp before standing up with a weary sigh.
“The use of his quirk amplified by trigger must have been more than his body could handle. It burnt out his entire nervous system and practically cooked him inside out. Maybe a severe reaction to the drug as a cherry on top. It’s well documented with adverse effects after all.” He thought.
He shook himself out of his own head before deciding he needed to get an idea of just where the portal had taken him. Nothing he could do for the pile of dust but explain to authorities the situation once he reported back in. Harsh, but his only real recourse. Looking around he fired up One For All, it’s familiar lightning swirling around his body as he vaulted up to the roof of a building forming the alley.
A sprawling city greeted him, large hi-rise buildings, what looked like a sports stadium in the distance, an industrial section, and a length of coastline out in the distance, sun shining brightly over head. He turned, and there in damning letters, was a billboard, proudly stating his location.
TORRANCE, CALIFORNIA
“I’M IN AMERICA!?” He shouted.
“Ha! Well shit kid, nothing like being sent to the other side of the world! Makes sense why it’s bright and early here.” Banjo chimed in with his two cents.
Nana interjected before Izuku could freak out any further. “Keep calm Izuku. You’re practically fluent in English with how hard you fanboyed over Toshi, especially over his time spent in America. Scout around, get a lay of the land, and we’ll figure out who we need to speak with to get back home.”
Izuku took a deep breath, held it for a few seconds and then slowly released it. “Everyone is going to freak out once I explain what happened. Especially mom.” With a thought he activated float to slowly rise into the air and get a better survey of the city. “I read that America had less restrictions regarding quirk use compared to most other parts of the world. It’ll probably be fine to fly around a bit for a better vantage point. Maybe there’s a hero agency somewhere nearby that I can report to and explain my situation?”
“Izuku, remain cautious” Yoichi spoke up “it goes without saying you’re in a foreign country with different laws. Let’s try not to make too big of a splash.”
Izuku went to respond when the sound of squealing tires accompanied by the sounds of gunfire rattled off down a nearby street. He shot off in the direction he heard the noise coming from and witnessed a black van careen around a corner at high speed, followed by what looked like a darker skinned woman with metallic wings and an all back body suit chasing after it.
He quickly followed just in time to see the woman produce a knife with dark energy misting off of it from her wing and throw at the van’s wheel with incredible accuracy, the tire going flat instantly. The driver tried to maintain control as it swerved before going into a fishtail when he over corrected. Heading straight for a woman and her child.
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Coupe hissed as she attempted to speed up knowing she wasn’t possibly going to reach the civilians before the van turned them into paste. Just for a green blur to rocket past her, the wind from it’s passing nearly knocking her out of the sky as it shot down in between the van and civilians like a meteor. The van stopped cold with the sound of screeching metal as it smashed into whatever the blur was, its back wheels lifted into the air from momentum before slamming back onto the ground.
She watched the woman slowly uncurl from around her daughter once she realized they didn’t become roadkill, and floated down near the front of the vehicle. In front of the van was a ragged looking green clad figure with its arm up to the bicep punched into the front of the van’s grille to the engine block. With a sharp tearing noise it ripped its fist out, flexing fingers as it turned slightly towards the mother-daughter duo. The mother flinching slightly as she made eye contact with glowing green eyes ringed in darkness.
“Are you and your daughter alright, ma’am? No injuries?” The figure asked in only slightly accented English.
“Y-yes, we are fine. Th-thank you for saving us!” She replied nervously, somewhat surprised at his young sounding voice.
He nodded once before his eyes turned towards Coupe as she approached cautiously.
“Who are you? I haven’t seen or heard of a hero fitting your description working in our area.” She asked in a cold monotone voice, eyes analyzing his appearance as she was trained to.
The figure stared at her silently for a moment before he answered. “It’s polite to introduce yourself before asking the name of another.” he spoke. “I’m Deku.” He answered anyway. Coupe recognized his accent as Japanese, and made a mental note of the youthfulness it contained.
“Hmm ‘Useless’…what an interesting choice for a hero name. My name is Coupe, though everyone calls me ‘Coop’” the slight twitch of his head indicated he heard the muttered ‘ingrates’ that she said under her breath.
Deku tilted his head slightly before he commented “One might say ‘to cut’ is a little on the nose for you, with the whole knives thing.”
Her eyes widened slightly in surprise at him knowing what her real hero name ment in French. She was about to ask him another question when she saw him stiffen and turn sharply toward the van as both doors opened and the two men inside raised their weapons at them after shaking off the daze of the collision.
Acting on instinct she drew an umbral blade from her shoulder and threw, piercing one’s wrist causing the criminal to drop the gun with a shriek of agony. At the same time she saw a black green tendril shoot out from over Deku’s shoulder, wrapping around the man’s weapon in coils up to the hand holding it, and yank him out of the van into the air and then slam him unconscious into the ground. Another snaked around the one she had maimed and smashed his face against the van door to send him into unconsciousness with his friend.
“That’s twice I’ve noticed your accuracy is remarkable. Is the precision of your aim part of your quirk?” Deku asked his tone more curious than interrogative.
Coupe stared at him. “It is due to a lifetime of constant training and field work.” She responded curtly and then paused. “What do you mean quirk?”
She watched his whole body freeze stiff as a statue, then she heard the sound of rapid fire muttering underneath his breath, as if he was having an entire conversation in the span of a few seconds. He shook his head and looked around, finally noticing the multitude of people filming them with their phones, before his gaze swept back to her.
“I have a question, Coupe, please. Do the names All Might and/or Stars and Stripes mean anything to you? Do you recognize them?” He asked in a tone she couldn’t quite decipher.
She debated even answering. “I do not know of any heroes or villains that go by those monikers. Are they part of a different SDN branch?” She questioned back.
He kept silent for several moments. “Thank you for indulging me, Coupe. Your response is upsetting, but not through any fault of your own. It just makes my current situation much more distressing. I need to go. Maybe we’ll meet again sometime.”
Coupe watched as he let out a heavy sigh crouched slightly, and shot up into sky. He stayed suspended there for a few seconds before taking off into the distance with a low boom of displaced air.
She stared into the direction that he took off in for brief time, then moved to better secure the sleeping criminals. Several minutes later she finished up and clicked on her ear piece to report in. “Robertson, the high speed chase has been dealt with. Two perpetrators currently unconscious. No casualties or injuries to civilians. Property damage minimal.”
“I’m surprised, Coop, I half expected to be filing a report for a maimed bystander. Maybe you guys aren’t quite as bad as Chase makes you out to be.” Robert deadpanned over the team communication.
“Nice one Coop! Show ol’ Bobby boy here how we do things!” Punch up chimed in.
Coupe chimed in before the whole of Z-team could flood the line. “I had assistance. A hero named ‘Deku’ flew in and stopped the vehicle from killing two civilians…He buried his fist all the way from the grille to the engine block. I’ve never heard of or seen him before. Strange, considering his outfit had signs of excessive use.”
Coupe thought back to her observance and brief conversation with the green hero. He demonstrated competency and zero hesitation during the encounter, curious for someone who sounded so young. His tattered clothing told a story of its own.
“What the fuck kinda hero name is ‘Deku’? Sounds like somebody sneezed.” Invisigal mocked with a chuckle.
“I did a quick search through the SDN data base and there’s no documented hero’s going by that moniker. Could be a solo hero just starting out. I’ll do a little more digging on the side when I can. Let’s focus back in. Flambae, go clean up your fucking mess.” She heard Robertson bark in her ear.
“Fine fine, but I already told you it wasn’t me bitch boy. I’m innocent!” Flambae mouthed off but sounded like he was doing as told anyway.
Coupe headed back towards SDN headquarters for her required R&R and prep for her next assignment of the shift. She was almost there when Malevola popped in over comms.
“Hey uh, Coop, does this ‘Deku’ guy wear a ragged green outfit that looks metal as fuck and might give a small child nightmares?” She spoke with a hint of excitement.
“I suppose that might be an apt description of him, yes. Why?” She questioned landing on the branch’s flight take off balcony and heading inside towards the break room.
“I’m over here dealing with this group of shmucks in the middle of stealing a boat from the yacht club when he dropped in and beat the shit out of like ten of them and left…it was kinda fucking sexy.” She said that last part quietly, almost like an after thought.
“Jesus he’s fast.” She could hear Robertson mutter. “He moved several blocks in no time. How is there no info on this guy?”
“Eyy the video of him and Coop is getting hella traction right now on the net. Strong for such a little lanky mothafucka. He look like a damn villain tho.” Prism forwarded the video footage to the rest of Z-team.
Coupe settled in and watched the video, analyzing his posture and thinking over threat assessment as she did with most people. She thought of the names he asked her and decided to do a little search of her own while she waited for her next assignment. “What did he mean by ‘part of my quirk’?”
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Robert Robertson massaged his temples to try and soothe the small migraine that started since Flambae went off to play pyromaniac. With an aggrieved sigh he got back on comms.
“Malevola, Golem I just got a call from the chief fire Marshall that the blaze Flambae failed to control has spread to nearby houses. I need you to portal over and see what you can do stop the blaze and evacuate civilians trapped in their homes. Prioritize civilian rescue.” He thought for a second about the brief conversation he had with Blonde Blazer a few minutes ago once he couldn’t dig up anything on the unknown hero. “Malevola, take a comm device with you if you could please. If this Deku guy shows up like he has been I would prefer to have him on comms for coordination on something like this. Plus Blazer wants to see if we can get him to come to HQ, she wants to get a read on this mysterious supe operating in her jurisdiction. Do NOT force him. Ask.” He said firmly.
“Aye aye boss man.” The distinct sound of one of her portals opening up echoed over the comm device. “Up and at em big guy we got some fires to put out and a mysterious bad boy looking hero to-holy fuck he’s already here.” She blurted out. “He just finger flicked an air current to put out a portion of the fire.”
Robert sat up straighter in his chair. “With as active as he’s been we should have heard of him before today.”
“Heyy I wonder if this guy is a fellow coke head. He’s all over the place today!” Sonar almost sounded excited at the prospect.
“Yooo Deku! Catch!” Robert listened to Malevola shout.
It was an about thirty seconds before a new blank silhouette appeared on Robert’s dispatch screen. He quickly keyed in the name ‘Deku’ and almost flinched in surprise at the young voice that came over the comm.
“…Hello? This muscular red skinned woman popped out of a portal with a giant mud creature and threw this device at me? Who am I speaking with and how does she know my name?” He spoke slowly at first before rattling off the rest, something hard creeping into his voice.
“Ey yo the fuck? This guy still in high school?” Prism’s tone was confused.
Robert steadily ignored Malevola’s repeated chant of ‘please don’t be a minor’, and her relieved ‘thank fuck’ when Deku muttered that he was nineteen and in college to Prism’s question.
“Deku, my name is Robert Robertson, I’m a superhero dispatcher for SDN, those two are Malevola and Golem, they are teammates of Coop, whom you met earlier today.” Robert was quick to cut in. “I’d like to speak more with you later but right now I asked Malevola to give you a comm to coordinate fire suppression and civilian rescue.”
“Right, the fire is wide spread, a multitude of homes are currently aflame with people inside, along with surrounding shrubbery. Golem if your body is fire resistant, you can assist the fire department in combating the blaze until I can assist after all civilians have been rescued. If you use your body you can snuff out the flames. Malevola you help me with rescue. I’ll take east, you take west and we’ll meet in the middle. Mr. Robertson notify us where the fire department has set up a safe zone for civilian triage.” Deku spouted off an action plan like it was second nature, having discerned actionable data of his teammates at a glance.
Robert sat still in his chair for a moment stunned by the kids demeanor shifting to commanding a crisis response without hesitation. “This kid has experience with crisis control. Plenty of it. Things just keep getting stranger.” The whole chat was comically silent. Robert was almost tempted to chuckle but stifled it and cleared his throat.
“Ahem, uh yea good plan. Malevola, Golem follow Deku’s lead. Triage safe zone is thirty meters southwest, take civilians there regardless if injured or not.”
With a quick affirmative from Deku they all got to work. Robert’s fingers flew over his computer getting access to local CCTV to get eyes on Deku himself. He watched as he used black green tendrils to reach through windows and balconies to lift people out of their burning homes and bring them to the safe area. Firefighters coming in behind to save what they could of the structures and put fires out.
Once all the houses had been searched and cleared with Deku and Malevola checking in with one another for confirmation, Deku started putting out fires where his technique allowed, just like he said he would. Taking care not to cause unnecessary collateral damage where he could.
“The near by wooded area is fucked man. Ain’t no way I got the juice to put that out. To wide spread.” Golem’s gravel sounding voice spoke.
“Aww. The HOA will have to get rid of that ‘Scenic’ description in their neighborhood advertisements.” Malevola cracked a joke.
“Everyone step back a little bit further and brace yourselves!” Deku yelled to make sure he was heard by first responders and the two members of Z-team.
Robert quickly swapped to Malevola’s cam and watched as Deku floated to a yet untouched section inside of the wooded blaze. The kid crouched down as the lightening cycling around his body intensified before he thrust his fist upward into an uppercut, air blasting off as a cyclone erupted around him, parts of the fire snuffed out immediately. A few of the smaller trees blew over from the pressure, but the larger, sturdier trees just lost a few limbs. Once the wind died down it was eerily quiet. Then the rain started. Slowly at first, before coming down in a steady downpour that soothed the lingering embers in the woods.
“…..I don’t know about anyone else…but I am ridiculously wet right now…and NOT because of the rain.” Malevola said in a breathy tone.
Robert had only one thing to say after the display of power he just witnessed.
“Thank God he’s not a villain.”