Five years ago (Experimentation; Service year #2)
Pain envelops his sense, an excruciating, endless burning feeling throughout his whole body. His limbs seize up, growing rigid under the voltage they were being subjected to. "W-why are you d-doing this?" He coughs out through gritted teeth, lungs protesting with every word he utters out. He just wanted to go home, wanted to see his mom, see Kacchan again.
The burning and prickling pain doesn't stop for what feels like hours, but can't have been more than a few minutes at most. "P-please you d-don't have to k-keep doing this." He huffs, his breathing coming out as harsh heaves when the electricity surging through the metal links on his arms subsides. "It's not g-going to w-work."
"Oh, dear child, that's where you're wrong." Izuku never knew the scientist's real name. When they first brought him into this hell hole a year ago, or at least he thinks it's been a year- It feels like it's been so much more- The man introduced himself as the 'Doctor' and nothing more. "The human body can only take so much before it breaks." Smiling sweetly, the doctor moves to the control panel on the other side of the room. Hands reaching for the voltage panel. "Or in your case, evolve."
The current pulses through his body once more, after that. Searing pain igniting his nerve with an inconsolable ache, his hands straining against the cuffs, scrapping themselves raw as his body convulses and quakes under the torment.
"It's only a matter of time."
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The classroom door looms over him as he walks up to it, his eyes taking in the sheer size of the thing. His mind noting that it's probably meant for the comfortable use of the transformation quirked students. His steps don't falter though, as he pushes it open and makes his way into Class 1-C homeroom.
Izuku supposes a childish part of him would've felt giddy at being here. An official student of Yuei academy. Yet, all he feels is a strange sense of neutrality that he never understood.
He's early so not many students have arrived yet. Finding the seat near the window, at the back of the class empty, he walks towards it. He must make a strange picture if the way his classmates stare at him is of any indication. His back is straight, almost rigid as he sits there, used to always being at the ready.
With each minute that passes more students trickle into the room, finding their respective seats, some of them forming small groups, introducing themselves, and discussing whatever teenagers discussed he supposed.
The purple-haired boy from the entrance exam takes a seat in front of him. Body turning, mouth opening as if to say something. However, before actual words come out of the boy's mouth, the classroom door opens a final time, Present mic walks in a second later.
His entrance elicits an instant reaction form the students. Some of them even scrambling to get to their places. Present Mic doesn't shout in greeting like you'd expect him to, instead he just walks up to his desk and smiles brightly at them. "Hey there, little listeners! I'm Present Mic but my students call me Mic-Sensei! I'll be your homeroom teacher for the next three years!"
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Five years ago (Experimentation; Service year #2)
"Do you expect this trial to succeed?" The General looks at the scene before him with unsettling calm. "This method hasn't shown fruitful results in the past." His eyes rake over the starved figure huddled in the corner of the room. The child's body is covered in dirt, bruised and beaten, his frail arms hug his legs to his chest, making him seem even smaller than he already is.
The scientist standing next to him gulps at that, taking in a readying breath before responding.
"General, sir, I assure you that he's close to reaching his limit. I admit, however, that he's proving more resilient than we previously assumed." Mulling his lower lip between his teeth, the man contemplated his next words carefully. "His mind is truly a jewel, his body is bound to catch up... We just need to apply more...forceful measures."
"As long as I start seeing encouraging outcomes, you have the go-ahead." The dragon states firmly, leveling the man with a glare as he readies himself to walk away. "And Doctor," He speaks up when he reaches the doorway leading outside. "I suggest you avoid making a habit of wasting my time in the future. Lest you end up in your patient's shoes."
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Shinsou doesn't know what to expect when he steps into his new classroom. It's his first day at Yuei, yet it's not exactly what he's dreamed about. His ambition having been set on another course entirely.
He knows what he'll find on the other side of those doors. Or, more accurately, who he'll find.
Akatani Mikumo, if he remembers correctly. A true mystery, the boy was.
Ever since that day, at the entrance exam, Shinsou has been racking his brain, trying to come up with what he was going to say when he saw the dark-haired teen. The boy who saved both his life and his place at the school of his dreams.
Shinsou can't say he's not a little bit frustrated at the boy though. He didn't need saving, especially if he was going to be a hero.
Everything he's come up with seemed to fall short. Years of social deprivation coupled with his nonexistent history in positive teenage interactions meant he had no clue how to go about this.
Shinsou walks in and almost immediately spots him. He looks slightly different in his school uniform, formal almost. His posture only helping to further that statement.
Finding the seat in front of the teen empty, he elects to take it for himself. Having set down his bag on the floor next to his desk, he turns to address his savior. However, just as he gathers enough courage to get it over with, the classroom door slides open. The voice hero and newly declared homeroom teacher, makes his endeavor useless for now.
So, Shinsou sits back against his chair, turning back towards the front of the class, making a mental note to talk to the boy later.
Present Mic announces their first task. A cliché start, one that Shinsou dreaded every single time he's had to go through it.
A class introduction.
Every student was expected to stand up- in turn- and introduce themselves to the rest of the class. Starting with their name, their quirks, and if they wanted, adding a fact about themselves.
It was childish really, an easy way to make friends and get to know each other. For the normal students, at least.
The students from the first row go first. Grimly, he realizes that the boy from the practical is there too. The idiot who thought it would be okay to use his quirk to sabotage the others. Itsumo, he introduces himself proudly. His chest puffing out arrogantly as his eyes flit across the room, a smirk growing on his features as his eyes land on Shinsou. Quirk: Heat. The ability to change his hand's temperature to a certain limit.
Scoffing lowly, Shinsou slumps further in his seat, waiting for his turn to come. Waiting for the inevitable reaction he was bound to garner from his classmates.
Soon enough, his name is being called out and he stands up, almost on instinct. Hands coming to swing uselessly at his sides as he looks straight ahead, bracing himself for what happens next.
"My name is Shinsou Hitoshi and my quirk is called brainwashing." There, might as well rip the bandage right off. "I want to be a hero." The following whispers are utterly and wholly expected, he doesn't even bother to react before sitting back on his chair, almost nonchalantly. Tired indigo eyes looking around the room, almost daring any of them to voice their thoughts louder.
Most of them look uncomfortable, if vaguely put off. It's a slightly better reaction than he expected. Count your blessing, he supposes. None of them actively called him a villain, yet.
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Five years ago (Experimentation end; Service year #3)
The ground shakes, the walls vibrating, rubble descending from the swaying ceiling as the world seems to tilt for a few seconds.
The first thought that arises through the general's mind is an ambush, an exterior attack. Yet, there's no screaming, no camera's flaring to life, warnings being sound.
Therefore, the next thought that emerges in his mind is of the doctor. Trial one hundred and eighteen was supposed to go underway today. The laser and gun range were to be used in favor of that particular experiment
His legs take him to the trial grounds before he has a mind to radio in ahead. The door is blown off its hinges when he arrives. A thick cloud of dust and smoke coils around the room, making it hard for him to assess and analyze the situation.
A sputtering sound to his left gives away the doctor's position. The man's body is slumped against the wall on the far side of the room as if he'd been launched straight into it. The cracks on the drywall making the force behind the hit, painfully obvious. More coughing and hard breathing leads him to the man's side.
"What in the seven hells is going on here!?"
"D-Dragon, I- It happened! It finally happened!" Comes the doctor's excited response, despite the situation at hand. "He did it! The lasers were on him, sir, we were beginning the trial, and the guns were all locked and loaded, ready to go!" The deranged scientist rambles in morbid exhilaration. "The moment they made contact with his skin, the machines all exploded, completely decomposing, reduced to their original form sir! As if the kid managed to rewind their construction, dismember their base constitution!"
"How do you explain this level of destruction, then?"
"The heat of the lasers coupled with the gun powder and sheer firepower contained within this room made for an unanticipated explosion I'm afraid." Even slumped on the ground, bleeding and covered in ash, the doctor looks sheepish. "He wanted the pain to stop, sir, so he made it stop." the man finishes seriously.
"Is the subject still alive?"
Silence meets his inquiry, a dark expression overtaking the scientist's features. He didn't even think about the boy's health status. Too busy contemplating the success of his project.
Moving slowly across the fallen debris and the discarded rubble, glass cracking under the weight of his steel-toed boots, he finally comes across the target of his search.
The boy lays there, his body curled in a fetal position, clothes in tatters, barely holding on to his thin frame, smoke rising from the remaining edges.
What makes him pause, however, isn't the boy's unconsciousness, nor his harsh breathing.
Underneath the dirt and grime, the boy's body is unblemished, devoid of any injury.
Shivers rack his frame, anticipation rising to the surface, a maniac grin forming on his face for the first time.
The look in his eyes must say it all, if the smirk on the Doctor's face, looking back at him proudly, is of any indication.
"Project complete, General."
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The chair behind Shinsou scrapes as it skids across the floor. It's Akatani's turn then, and Shinsou knows what he's going to hear. A heroic, powerful quirk, most likely. A headstrong, born-to-be leader. He doesn't even know why the boy even bothered with gen-ed, given what Shinsou saw of his performance at the practical exam.
"My name is Akatani Mikumo and I'm quirkless." As if the mute button on the world has been metaphorically pressed, the classroom falls into an eerie silence. Tension immediately coiling into the air, charging the room with a sort of uncomfortable static. Looks of both disgust and pity contort blatantly on the student's faces as they look at the dark-haired teen.
Akatani, for his part, doesn't seem troubled at all. Sitting back as If nothing happened. Either unaware of the reaction his statement garnered or entirely unbothered by it. He's probably used to it too. His mind whispers darkly.
Guilt coils in his guts as he remembers his previous assumption. Guilt and a newfound respect for the boy sitting behind him. Adding to the already high standards he's formed in his mind when it came to the black-haired teen.
Evidently, Akatani Mikumo seemed to be an even bigger enigma than he previously thought.
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Five years ago (Training start; Service year #3 end)
"General, I hear the trials have finally come to a close." Major Axel says, making his presence known as he steps into the Dragon's office. "Am I expected to proceed with Phase two?"
"Lieutenant Commander Axel," The Dragon greets icily, turning from his place near the window of the room. His gaze searing into the brown-haired man standing before him. "You must start immediately. The subject has already undergone basic weapons and survival training during his years in the science department." The terms used to embellish the true raw reality of the situation is almost laughable. "However, he still lacks shall we say... the required backbone." Nodding his head, as if to confirm something to himself soldier the general continues firmly. "Your objective will be to give him the proper incentive, in order for him to start completing his missions. Private Midoriya is to be turned into the perfect solider, am I clear?"
"Crystal, Sir."