In The Cards

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

As Izuku walked through the underpass, something watched from the shadows. But he paid no mind to his surroundings, still devastated by the state of his cards. He continued to shuffle through the deck, hoping the Ace of Coins would turn up, knowing it wouldn't.

"Finally, a medium sized invisibility cloak," a voice snarled. "Just what I needed!"

Something rose in the shadows behind him. It was a creature composed of slime-- Or a man with a mutant quirk. Human or not, his intentions were not good. Surging forward, he enveloped the boy, suffocating him. The cards slipped from his grasp and for a moment he made a futile attempt to recover them before beginning to claw at the slime trying to force itself down his throat.

Vaguely he remembered hearing news of a criminal fleeing after robbing a bank. Not that that information helped him now. It was so hard to think. It was so hard to breathe. If you had asked Izuku Midoriya what the result of such an incident would be he would have a one word answer: Death. Or, on a more optimistic day: Rescue.

But it didn't seem like the second option was happening any time soon. Spots of black began to dance at the edges of his vision. He wanted to open his mouth. He wanted to breathe. His eyes were about to flicker shut when a bright light suddenly flashed.

To any onlooker it would've appeared at first that the boy had a weak telekinesis quirk. The cards that had been somewhat scattered by the wind picking themselves, swirling in the air, like leaves falling backwards. Nothing special. Nothing that by all means could be helpful in his predicament. But there were no onlookers. And luckily for Izuku, humans can do amazing things when pushed to their limits.

"Stop struggling, kid. You can't hurt me with your pathetic card tricks," the slime said, smirking. He knew the boy only had a few moments left to breathe. Izuku's eyes widened as the cards formed a circle around him. Glowing, they almost appeared ethereal. His hands slipped from his mouth to his sides. For some reason he believed- no, he knew that if he could just manage to touch one- "That's right. Just give up." The slime swirled around him, redoubling his efforts.

The Three of Coins floated in front of him. He reached out, straining to even just brush it with his fingertips. It was his only chance. Perhaps in another universe be would've been rescued. Perhaps in another universe someone he idolized would save him just a minute earlier. Perhaps in another universe he would've been given an offer, a chance he couldn't refuse. He could've borrowed the greatest power he ever would've known.

But in this reality his finger brushed the card and something clicked. Floating out of the ring with another card it drifted over his head. The image of a gold coin burned bright in the air. And although he had no way of knowing it at the time, his eyes flashed gold. He saw nothing. And then suddenly he was crumpled up on the sidewalk ten feet away before the word went black.

* * *

"...Young man. Are you okay?" All Izuku's ears registered was a garbled attempt at communication. Blinking the bleariness from his eyes he looked up- and nearly screamed. It was All Might. The number one hero. Now, Izuku was a fan of heroes, although he had no particular favorite. Okay, he definitely had a favorite but at the moment that didn't matter. "Can you hear me, young man?"

"O-Oh, yes, I'm fine," Izuku said with a start, suddenly scrambling to his feet. He was still a bit dazed. What had happened again- Oh. It all rushed back to him. "Thank you for saving me!" He blurted, looking down. It was then he realized he was missing something. His cards.

"Oh, no need to thank me," All Might replied, giving Izuku a heavy handed pat on the back. The slime villain blinked at him from the confines of a soda bottle that All Might carefully tucked into his pocket. It looked like it was probably going to fall out. "Your quirk did all the work for me! With a quirk like that you can surely be a hero one day!" Izuku stopped rummaging through his pockets for a moment. His quirk?