In an old abandoned factory that had been converted into a secret base Izuku sat in a chair staring at a large computer screen. His infinity gauntlet was raised up as he slowly clenched his fist. Behind him a car that he found close by, illegally parked next to a fire hydrant, was slowly being crushed and crumpled into a metal ball.
"This is problematic", he had spent the last three days training with the gauntlet and attempting to crack the secrets of this specific quirk. He had been making great progress with his invention. The D.N.A he acquired, not so much. No matter how many times he scanned the blood sample, the genetics still read as quirkless. Something was missing here. Something he failed to understand about this quirk.
"It seems...I need more data", Izuku said tossing the crumpled car away. Going over to a nearby table he picked up a baggy gray hooded sweater and slipped it on over his black shirt, making sure to cover the gauntlet and hide his hair with the hood. Opening a portal Izuku stepped through to go meet the one person who could provide him with the answers he needed.
THE STATION
"I told you already, I didn't know he was up to something like this", the head of Geonosis's research and development said. He'd been interviewed by the police at the station for the past two hours about their rogue intern Izuku Midoriya.
"He never did anything suspicious or out of the ordinary?" Detective Naomasa questioned.
"He was a brilliant boy dedicated to creating the best hero support devices", the man frowned. "If a monster existed inside him, then he hid it very well"
"Thank you for your time", the officer sighed in disappointment dismissing the man. It was the same with everyone he interviewed. They all had nothing but positive things to say about Midoriya and were honestly surprised that he was actually a villain. His phone rang before he could gather more of his thoughts. Seeing Toshinori's number he answered.
"How's the investigation going?" The hero asked.
"Not well", Naomasa grimaced. "Nobody had a clue about what Midoriya was or what he was secretly up to. Not the people at the company, his teachers, even his own mother didn't know"
"Did he have friends at that school?" Toshinori wondered with hope. "He must have had some"
"From what I was able to gather the boy didn't have any", the detective sighed. "We have no trail, and no leads as to what he will do next"
"It's been four days and he hasn't done anything yet", Toshinori was worried about what the boy was planning. He had over whelming power now, so why isn't he using it?
"He'll have to show himself sooner or later", Naomasa said with determination.
"I have some good news though", he could hear the skinny man's enthusiasm. "I think I found a successor to inherit my power"
"Really? Who is it?"
"He's a third year at U.A named Mirio" Allmight said.
"That's good are you going to pass on One for All to him soon?" Naomasa asked.
"Not yet, I need to correct a mistake first before I retire", Toshinori sighed sadly.
"Midoriya right?" The detective frowned understanding that his friend needed to stop that boy as his last act of heroism.
"A master shouldn't leave their apprentice to clean up his own mess", He created the Izuku that exists now, so it was his job to bring him back.
"Good luck my friend"
"Thanks", He said before ending the call.
U.A CLASS ROOM
"Welcome back", Aizawa greeted his class from the floor while in his yellow sleeping bag. Classes had resumed after the provisional license exam. All of his students passed with the exception of Katsuki Bakugou. It turns out he wasn't the best at everything. Maybe failing for once would finally humble him but Aizawa doubted it. "The principal wants me to take this time to review certain villains we want you all to watch out for"
The students snapped to attention at that. The League of Villains had targeted them in all their encounters with them. The projector screen was lowered displaying the best known pictures of the villains who were still at large. Aizawa named each of them, explained what little they knew about their quirks, and went through a bit of the police's personality profile on them. First up was Shigaraki, then Kurogiri, and the other members of the league that escaped during the raid. Even Stain was up on the slideshow with barely any pictures as he was very elusive killer. Finally they came to the last villain in the presentation.
"This is Izuku Midoriya also known as Apotheosis", the screen showed a picture of a smiling, freckled face, dark green haired boy. He looked just like a normal plane looking innocent kid in this photo. "You might recognize him as the biggest thing in the news right now", Aizawa said dryly, the next picture was a decent close up of him from the incident four days ago. He definitely looked more like a villain now with a dark gleam in his eyes and a menacing smirk on his face. "He's actually quirkless", Momo Yaoyorozu raised her hand when their teacher said that.
"Has there ever been a quirkless villain before?" She asked.
"Yes, but we just call them criminals", Aizawa explained. "A villain is defined by the government as someone who breaks the law and uses their quirk or quirks to do it. Those who lack a quirk can't be classified as villains under normal circumstances, but as you may have observed from the footage of Midoriya that isn't the case anymore"
"How can he possess a quirk now?" Iida questioned. He wanted to more about this Izuku Midoriya, he couldn't find much about Apotheosis, but he did find some public information on his real identity. He was a smart young man that worked as an intern for one of the best support companies in the country. He even designed a new anti-villain robot, so what would make someone like that commit acts of evil yet still leave him good enough to save him from the hero killer. He still remembered every word of what Apotheosis told him that night.
"That's what we have yet to figure out", Aizawa scowled. The had a faculty meeting with other heroes the recently discussing this very topic. Nobody had a clear understanding of what Midoriya had done to accomplish this. He claimed that he didn't get a quirk from All for One. Instead he built one in the form of that gauntlet on his hand, but how the hell was that even possible? "All we know is that gauntlet he wears you see in the photo has something to do with it"
"Then just take it off of him!" Katsuki Bakugou spat out. "What's the issue here?" He hated looking at the photo of Deku. Sure he was shocked at first that the nerd who always wanted to be a hero switched to becoming a villain, but then he became angry. Just what the hell was that idiot doing? Though what infuriated even more was finding out that the nerd was the villain that fought him at the U.S.J. and the same one that tricked him at the training camp. He still hadn't forgotten that bastard Apotheosis. Deku better hope that Allmight or another hero takes him down, because if Bakugou got to him first he'd blow the nerd apart.
"I don't think it will be that simple bro", Kirishima said to him. "I doubt he'll just sit there and let somebody take it from him"
"Exactly", Aizawa was about to continue until he was interrupted again by another question.
"Does anybody know why he's doing this?" Ochako asked aloud.
"What does that matter?" Bakugou glared at her. He honestly didn't care what Deku hoped to accomplish with this farce.
"Well there has to be a reason, one doesn't just wake up one morning and decide to become a villain", she argued. "How do we know he wasn't driven to this by the abuse and bigotry of other people", Ochako returned his glare with an accusing one of her own.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" The blonde snarled at her. Deciding not to dance around the issue she just went with the blunt truth.
"You used to bully Midoriya, so you should know better than anyone", she knew all about Izuku and Katsuki's former relationship, her friend turned villain told her when they first met. Everyone's eyes widened as they turned to look at the blonde.
"Shut up round face!" Bakugou shouted, not liking how the whole class was staring at him. "You don't know anything!" His hands crackled with his rage.
"There you go again, more shouting and violence!" Ochako kept her glare up. "How can you be a hero when that's your default? It's because of people like you that he became a villain in the first place"
"Alright that's enough!" Aizawa interrupted before things got out of hand. "Figuring out Midoriya's motivation isn't our job. That's for the psychologists to understand when the heroes capture him", all this bickering was starting to remind him of the meeting they already had about this.
FLASHBACK
"Can someone please explain what the hell happened?" Vlad King started.
"From what I was able to gather Izuku Midoriya has built a device that grants himself multiple quirks", Nezu explained. "Isn't that right Allmight"
"Yes", the hero said in his muscled form. "He seemed to be able to control and move objects at will and even teleport", he looked to Endeavor and asked. "What do you think?"
"Your right about that", the flame covered man reluctantly agreed with the number one hero. "He lifted up a wave of water like it was nothing to counter my flames"
"Let's not forget he tossed around Allmight easily enough", Aizawa reminded them.
"He wouldn't have if you didn't go easy on him", Endeavor glared at his rival. "You held back on purpose didn't you!"
"Of course I held back!" Allmight shouted at him. "Midoriya is just a boy. A misguided one, but a boy none the less. I want to help him not beat him to a pulp", he could acknowledge that Izuku turning into a villain was his own fault. His own words of rejection are what caused him to descend into despair and travel down this dark path. So it was only right that the symbol of peace fix his mistake and save the kid from that path.
"That boy destroyed a building and injured dozens of people, or did you forget?" Endeavor argued.
"Nobody was killed. I see that as a sign of there still being some good left in Midoriya", Allmight defended the boy. Plus there was the incident where Izuku saved Iida from Stain and he even protected that boy Kota by defeating the notorious villain Muscular.
"Can we back up for a second", Midnight spoke up. "A device that grants him multiple quirks? How is that even possible?" She asked.
"She has a point", Power Loader added. "In the entire history of quirks no one has ever been able to create a device that artificial grants quirks. If I wasn't so terrified that it's in the hands of a villain I'd actually be impressed by the kid's genius"
"Does anybody have a single clue as to how he did this?" Endeavor asked.
"All evidence has been erased along with that building. Young Midoriya covered his tracks well", Allmight stated. "The police found his school dorm room empty and his computer was wiped clean"
"What will he do next?" Aizawa finally questioned.
"I...I don't know", the number one hero frowned. He figured the boy would want revenge on him, but he chose to flee instead. With the kind of power he now possessed there was no telling what he would do next.
END FLASHBACK
"These are the villains you need to look out for, but remember these people are not the only ones out there", Aizawa finished, moving on to what today's training exercise was going to be. Bakugou scowled and stopped staring daggers at Ochako.
'Does nobody care about why he's doing this?' Uraraka wondered. It seems acts of heroism nowadays consisted of just beating the bad guys up and not caring that the villains might have been good people at one time. Izuku was a nice boy, he wouldn't just do this for no reason. Though that didn't seem to matter to anyone.
'I hope he's okay wherever he is?'
U.A DEVELOPMENT STUDIO
"Your awfully quiet", Power Loader noticed his student wasn't as talkative as she normally was.
"Hm", Mei didn't say anything and continued to use the welder. Having enough of her silence the teacher switched the machine off.
"Alright what's wrong?" with a sigh Mei Hatsume took her goggles off and wiped her face clean.
"I knew him", she said quietly.
"Izuku Midoriya", Power Loader was already aware that she knew the villain before he revealed himself to the world. The police were too when they screened his known associates. "You were friends with him"
"He didn't tell me anything about this", she said frankly. "Before you ask"
"Hatsume", the teacher began. "I, the other teachers and heroes believe that the Midoriya that you knew was just an act. The one we see now is the real one. What little evidence we have points to him having planned this for a long time"
"Why would be so nice to me? We shared ideas and theories with each other. Why would he do that?" She argued. Why would he be friends with her? That was what she was really asking.
"You are a U.A student. Maybe he wanted to get information out of you?" Power Loader explained.
"He never asked anything about U.A", Mei defended. "Nothing classified any way"
"What do you mean?" The teacher questioned.
"He only asked me what it was like to be at a hero school", Mei said sadly. She remembered the desperate longing look on his face when he asked her. There was no way he faked that. A silent pause passed between them while Power Loader considered what she told him.
"You saw that bit of footage on the news right? That glove he made. What do you think it is?"
"Well it looks to me like it grants him a powerful quirk"
"We know that already, but how do you think it works?"
"Magic?" Mei raised her eyebrow. "I honestly don't know. You're going to have to ask Izuku"
"We'll do plenty of that when Allmight catches him"
'I don't think it will be that easy', she thought to herself. There was something else that she wasn't sure she should bring up. Izuku once told her about a location he was interested in for materials. An old scrap yard that he mentioned once. Mei didn't think it was worth mentioning, it was probably nothing, but a nagging feeling kept telling her that it was important.
TARTARUS
Confined in his escape proof cell, surrounded by impenetrable walls, turrets and a sealed door All for One sat bound to a chair. The only sound keeping him company was the respirator hooked up to his face, the one part of his body not tied down. His head cocked for a moment when he felt a few odd vibrations emanating from deep within the building. These vibrations didn't stop which let the villain know that something interesting was happening in this prison. He didn't have to wonder about long as it seemed that he had a guest.
"Well this is a surprise. I didn't think that we'd ever meet again", All for One spoke. A portal opened up in the wall and out of it stepped what he liked to think of as his other protégé. "Izuku"
"Hello Sensei", the boy smiled pulling his gray hood down. "You know they really flatter you with this cell"
"At least they gave me a chair so I'm comfortable enough to serve my consecutive life sentences", he chuckled. "I take it you're here to get me out then, unfortunately I won't get far without these life support machines, unless of course you built another mask?" It was Izuku's turn to chuckle.
"Get you out?" The boy smirked. "Why would I do that? Especially now that you're right where I need you to be", if All for One still had a face his eyebrows would have raised in surprise and then realization.
"You planned this", the villain stated.
"Don't give me too much credit Sensei", Izuku paced around the cell. "I didn't plan for this to happen. I merely made preparations and assumptions based off what I figured would most likely happen", he stopped pacing and faced his former boss. "I knew that Tomura's plan to kidnap a U.A student would go south. If he succeeded then I knew it would tic off the heroes and teachers. That they would zero in on the league and Allmight himself would lead the charge. I also knew that with your apprentice in danger it would force you to come out of hiding to battle the hero", Izuku paused to let it all sink in. "From there I expected two outcomes. One, you defeat and kill Allmight, but are so badly injured and weakened that you're taken down by another hero. Scenario two, Allmight defeats you and throws you in prison, but in turn weakens himself to the point where beating him will be easier for myself to accomplish", the green haired teen grinned at him. "Either way I get everything I need to complete my gauntlet and two threats to my plans are eliminated", All for One just stared at him with his featureless scarred face. The man then broke into a fit of giggles which devolved into full blown laughter.
"Yes! Excellent!" The villain laughed. "Very good. Using every situation to your advantage. If my hands were free I'd applaud you", he started to calm down. "So I take it you used the space stone to enter the prison"
"Piece of cake really", Izuku smirked at how simple it was. "Once inside I released a couple of dangerous prisoners from their cells, but not too dangerous that they'd have to call a hero to put them back. Then I entered the control room and ran my phantom program to render me invisible to the cameras. I'd say we have a good few minutes to talk before the guards get everything back under control"
"The sensors", All for One pointed his head to the turrets located in every corner of his cell.
"Detect the usage of quirks", Izuku waved his gauntlet in front of where one of these sensors was located. "I'm quirkless remember"
"Not anymore", All for One couldn't help but notice the metal thing attached to the boy's left hand. So he actually did it. The boy did the impossible and created the Infinity Gauntlet.
"That's what I'm here for. I need more information and I would also like a small favor", the teen stepped closer to the bound villain. "And right now you're not exactly in a position to refuse"
"Information about what?"
"About Allmight's quirk", Izuku took another step closer.
"I already told you about how it worked, what more do you need to know?" All for One questioned.
"Tell me about his predecessors, specifically Nana Shimura", the boy leaned forward in eager anticipation.
"Now that's more like it", the defeated villain grinned widely.