Heyy! I'm here once again! I hope ya haven't missed me! Tis been very busy recently, but i'm back writing again! Here's another chapter for ya! I hope ya enjoy! Anyways, the song above is a cover of Take me to Church, sang by Jonathan Young!
Tokoyami Fumikage is many things, an emo, a mutant, a 'monster' but at the end of the day, he's human.
He knows, understands, what it means to be a human, to think and feel, and to love and hate.
Yet, now, he also understands what it means to be inhuman. To be something beyond Humanity.
Bleary eyes blink open, a sudden wave of exhausted pain washed over his body and Tokoyami groaned, placing a hand to his forehead as he muttered aloud.
"What... Happened?"
Without needing an answer to his question, Tokoyami sank into the bed he was in as memories of the day slowly trickled in like a summer's rain, a sprinkle before the flood. He remembered...
All of a sudden, as the lights died in the corridors, his quirk spluttered, he felt something smash into his connection with Dark Shadow, quickly snatching the quirk's influence before it zoomed towards Tokoyami.
It was a vile sort of sorcery; blackest magics.
And yet it felt as sweet as a honey drizzled pancake his mother had made for him, warm and fluffy.
He felt it, whatever this otherworldly power was, latched onto his very spirit, expanding like a water balloon outwards, soon bursting from his skin was an uncontrollable fire, burning all in its way to consume whatever it could.
Knowing, feeling, how dangerous this energy was, Tokoyami acted quickly, he threw Ojiro out, informing him tensely.
"My partner, you must leave now! I am... losing control! Tell the others!"
The tailed boy clearly knew on an instinctive level what Tokoyami was talking about and called through the comms.
"Guys, we all need to get out of here!"
Ojiro managed to scale out of the window in time, but in the split second the boy had left, Tokoyami felt a pressure too much to bear, and before he could even attempt to contain it; it exploded.
It wasn't a typical explosion either, no this was worse. Blue light filled the room, ripping and tearing the stone and cement apart as liquid metal, somehow cool and cold to the touch crawled up Tokoyami's hands, dragging the boy to the room as his quirk was engulfed in the same material.
A light covered his eyes and in front of him was...
Himself?
No...
That's...
Why...
'Why can't I remember?'
"And that's all I remember. I'm sorry I can't be of any more assistance." Tokoyami sighed wearily, completely drained from the task, only to feel a pat on his shoulder.
"It's alright lad. You aren't at fault. No need to worry." Recovery Girl told him, sincerely. "And you have recovered well. You just need rest now, which is why I'm sending you home."
Tokoyami nodded his head, his shoulders slouched tiredly, ready to get home and ready for bed.
Listen to the sound of my voice, Child of Darkness...
After the disaster of a training session, the day ended with the setting of the sun and the lull of students trailing out of U.A's titanic gates. All except a select few.
Izuku looked over the campus with his sole eye, drinking in his surroundings as he wrote the lay of the land for Aegis to compile into a map for him to use.
Whilst doing this, he was communicating with Aegis about the incident during training.
"Aegis, what do you think this is?" The disembodied voice hummed.
"Operator, this is beyond my knowledge. Or anybody's knowledge. This is completely unknown." Izuku ran a hand over his forearm.
"Any theories?" Izuku's companion paused, thinking.
"I believe that it is the Void and reality merging, an incursion of reality and non-reality. This is the opening volley of its attack. Or... It's testing us. Our defences. Our weaknesses."
Neither of which Izuku liked; This felt like a prelude to something far greater than he was, than any hero vs villain conflict was here. It was beyond the scale of mortal comprehension, a higher form of war that they were not ready to deal with.
Something he doubted anyone would survive.
Already, the Man was acting, moving his pawns on his board as the drums of war began to beat. Darkness loomed on the horizon, far darker than any seen before, it was a swirling Void, all consuming and unforgiving.
But, just as Rell had become, Izuku too would step up; he would be the righteous hand, heavy and burdened, the stalwart against the abyss, the lone light in the dark, for no other of this world could, unless more Tenno joined him.
It would be up to him alone to chain the Man back to the Void, to not let his Chaos spread further. To prevent his world, and many more from collapsing.
Worrying his lip, Izuku pushed the thought back for now. The Void was still stable, this incident was more akin to a fissure at the moment. Small and containable. The barrier between reality and unreality was still there, and it would be Izuku's mission to strengthen that barrier to stop the leaks from happening.
"Come pick me up, Aegis."
"But of course Operator!"
Tomorrow will be a new day, and one that hopefully doesn't make Izuku's world-view crack suddenly.
"Giichi's the Class President."
Nevermind.
The day started out pretty bad to begin with. Because right outside of the gates was a huge horde of reporters, clambering and yelling like zombies for All Might. How they got hold of the information that he was teaching at U.A so fast was beyond him, but they had it and were camping the gate, ambushing literally any student they could get their grubby hands on.
Luckily, and Izuku thanked whatever powers he could, he managed to slip through them with minimal effort, they were partly distracted by any other students they could get.
Nodding to Aizawa on the way past, Izuku made his way to the classroom, and after settling in, Izuku took a glance around only to find it to be lacking a few members, and Izuku side-eyed the window towards the reporters.
'Vultures. Maybe Underground would suit me more...'
After a few minutes, the remaining few roll in, uniforms ruffled and hair slightly askew with flushed faces and Izuku feels pity for them. And dread for himself. None of them had encountered the media in mass before, and they were entering a media hive by the way of Heroics. They were all sorely underprepared to face them.
As soon as the door shifted slightly, the class silenced themselves as Aizawa walked in, looking more tired than ever, his eye bags more pronounced and his eyes completely dead.
"Right. Now that's out of the way, I know your Heroics class turned bad yesterday, that's why we have rescheduled it for a later date this month. I will be there as a secondary to assist and criticise your performances." The man slumped on his podium, eyes serious as he announced.
"But. Today you will be..."
Anxiety and panic filled the room as the class glanced at one another then their teacher, all wondering what the man was planning.
"Picking a Class President."
Exclamations rang out in relief as the man finished. Then restarted by shouting who should be the class president. Izuku thought about it for a split second, but decided not to run; he was used to leading soldiers, war veterans and fully fledged fighters, he couldn't teach at all, nor could he deal with children.
This class weren't soldiers, they wouldn't be facing a war, or near undefeatable foes. No, they were wet behind the ears heroes in training. They more than likely won't see a villain until their second year with a bunch of experience and training under their belt in order to deal with them.
No, it would be best for him to stick to the shadows; sink into them and protect people from the lurking monsters within the black abyss.
And yet...
"Why vote me in?"
In the end, the class decided to vote for a person to become president and vice president. And 3 people chose him.
What on Earth...?
He did nothing to earn it, he sat silently, he didn't really talk to the others and usually sat alone. They weren't the qualities one usually looked for in a leader, but then again, he's thinking with his old mind, not with the mind of a young teen.
They, just the day before, witnessed him fight a thing that even All Might struggled against, and then fought with All Might to defeat it and bring back Tokoyami.
They wouldn't have though, right...?
Right?
"Well, kero, I voted for you because of how you dealt with yesterday." Izuku shook his head.
"I voted for you, Being of the Dark, because you know the truest depths of the abyss. I trust you will lead us right." Then, from the bird-headed boy, the true Dark Shadow popped out.
"What he means is you saved him, so he trusts you to lead the class!" That, at least, was a decent answer.
"I flipped a coin between you and Yaoyorozu, and it landed on you." Ashido perked up, happy as can be, and Izuku sighed.
Of course he was voted in because of chance.
Rubbing his face with both hands, Izuku feels the headache of his future self's pain hit full force. This was going to be such a hassle, and it will probably lead to his inevitable death by rogue pranks or teen drama.
If he's being melodramatic? Nobody would know about his internal monologue.
Grouching his way to the podium, he levelled his eye to the class and said with utmost seriousness.
"You've all doomed yourself to a fate worse than death."
A bandage wrapped around him, not enough to hurt, but enough to get the message across and he sighed again.
"I... Look forward to leading all of you?"
It was satisfactory as the bandage loosened and his vice stepped up, giving her own message.
"I will do my best to help any and all of you, and lead you with my all!"
Izuku blinked. Why didn't anyone else vote her in? She's got the right stuff clearly.
"Right. Now that's done, get out. It's lunch."
Fleeing - Ahem - Leaving for the cafeteria, Izuku left his class alone to grab an empty table and food before everyone else. Getting a table like that in the school was like getting a sunbed on holiday, you fight until the death for it.
Thanking his lucky stars, Izuku sat on an empty table, food ready to be devoured. Until some of his class finally entered, and with a damn near unnatural sense, looked at him and started to make their way over to him.
Crying inside, Izuku glanced at his approaching classmates.
The group, nearly the entire class, minus a few here and there, clambered to him, obviously wanting him for something; oh how he wished he could vanish into nothing at that moment.
'Oh wait. I can.'
*Zap*
Cloaking himself with the Void, Izuku sighed with relief as he watched his class look around, confusion painted on their faces, before he jetted himself off and out of the cafeteria, his food in hands as he left.
As fast as a blink, Izuku appeared in an empty corridor, and smiled as he walked down it, looking for a quiet place to devour his lunch in peace and serenity.
He felt himself loosening here; it was different, being back on his home planet, there were no Grineer, no Corpus or Orokin. The Infection wasn't here. It was peaceful...
*Brz- REEEEEEEE*
All of a sudden, a horrific shriek filled the once silent air, and Izuku just sighed as a voice called out over the intercoms.
"Attention all Students! This is a Level 3 Security breach! Please evacuate calmly and safely to your designated zones!"
It was decidedly not calm.
Even from his quiet corner, Izuku could hear the trampling stampedes of terrified students, their fright and fear tangible in the air, just like their screams and voices echoed through those empty halls.
Then, a black and purple mist appeared, swirling like a black hole, and Izuku tensed. His body coiled as he watched this foreign thing appear from nowhere, and a hand pushed through the mist and Izuku's mind whirred.
A teleportation quirk?
Here?
They were exceedingly rare, second only to healing quirks. What was one doing here at U.A? A student can't have a quirk like this, not one this powerful or they'd been known in U.A, nor were there any officially documented Pro Heroes with teleportation quirks active in Japan.
Then, the pale hand opened the misty portal more, and a figure stepped out, a face mask on and a plain black hoodie drawn up to cover any and all features.
That wasn't a student.
Or a Pro Hero.
This was someone dangerous.
Likely a villain, no normal person would break into U.A, it wasn't worth the risk. Only a villain with nothing to lose, or someone who was confident in their skills and themselves would break in.
Who knew what category this man fell into.
Izuku scanned the figure, picking out anything discernible, such as the bright red high tops, or the fact that his hands twitched occasionally. But other than that, there was nothing else.
From his location, Izuku bit his finger. He couldn't act here. He had no evidence, no knowledge of the man, only that the man could teleport, and that was all he knew. Without knowing of his full capabilities, Izuku couldn't act, couldn't fight. It would be folly, and arrogant to presume he could fight and win against an unknown. Especially with Quirks thrown into the mix, who knew what powers the man had, it could be next to anything.
Then, the next thought popped up.
Why?
Why was the man at U.A, what were his goals, his motives? It didn't make any sense.
Izuku peaked around the corner again, watching as the man slivered closer to a room, a sign peaking out just above and Izuku read it.
'Staff Room'
How did this random man know where the staff room was? The teleportation was too close to be a guess, and the way the man went directly in that direction made Izuku think that this man knew where it was.
It wasn't a good sign.
So many questions, so many mysteries, and Izuku had a feeling that this was a prelude to something terrible. Summoning Magnus Prime, Izuku let the sleek magnum fall into his palm, getting to grips with the sudden weight before he combat rolled. It was better to be armed than rely on the Void, just in case.
Peaking into the room the man went into, Izuku watched with his single eye, boring into the man as he rifled through sheets and pages. Then, all movement stopped as the man lifted a single sheet, four fingers on each side with his pinkies sticking out, and muttered.
"Object complete. Stealth Mission is done..."
And, as soon as he said it, the mist opened behind him, and Izuku acted. His revolter spun as he aimed with precision, a toxic bullet in the chamber as his finger slammed the lever and a thunderous bang rang out.
The sound startled the target, who flinched and leaped to the side, luckily being able to barely get hit by the bullet, but still grazed his side. Izuku wasn't aiming to kill, but to incapacitate for interrogation for later.
The man turned, and hateful red eyes glared at Izuku, unfathomable hatred and utter destructive madness laid within those crimson doors. This man was out for blood.
But, the portal swallowed the man before anything more could occur, but Izuku knew that the toxin was working through the man's system as the seconds ticked by. It wasn't enough to kill, just poison and weaken. If he hit a more vital area, it could have...
Shouta ran through the school. His legs were carrying faster than ever as he got closer to his goal; During the press fiasco, Shouta got a text for Nezu, that rat god creature, telling him that there was an instance of a firearm going off in the staffroom.
It couldn't have been Snipe, the western gunner was out at his agency, The Range, for the day. And no students were allowed firearms on campus.
Dots connected, and whoever caused the break in, Shouta refused to believe that the U.A barrier was destroyed by rabid animals - The Press - had gotten into the school and got to the staffroom for whatever reason.
(That's where we keep our lesson plans... The thought came too late)
Turning the corner, he came face to face with an ornate revolver, trimmed with gold and Shouta looked at its wielder, sighing as he saw that unmistakable white hair.
"Problem child..."
"Mr. Aizawa."
Silence followed after the acknowledgement, and Shouta put on a face of utter boredom as he asked pointedly.
"What to tell me why I got a text from Nezu reporting a firearm being discharged?" The kid shrugged.
"There was a random guy that teleported in, went into the staffroom, took a sheet and vanished. I shot him."
There was so much to unpack in that statement. First.
"A man? Do you have a description?" The kid tilted his head in thought and answered.
"Not much, a plain black hoodie, black face mask, red eyes, and red sneakers." Shouta nodded, committing the description to memory then asked.
"And the teleportation?" The problem child ran a thumb on the back of his hand.
"A purplish mist. A portal based teleportation quirk. More than likely coordinate based, rather than sight based. The intruder didn't have the teleportation quirk." Shouta closed his eyes for a moment, pinching the bridge of his nose to stave off the rising headache.
"Right. Please try to keep this quiet. People will panic if they find out some really did break into U.A. I'll talk to Nezu and the staff about this. Hopefully this was a one time event. Go to class, kid."
Inside his office, a creature hummed, his white fur glistening as he watched the cameras.
"Ah, it appears that young Giichi caught an intruder! Lucky us! Teleportation is rare, the thought hadn't occurred to me!"
Nezu rubbed his paws thoughtfully, beady eyes running over his computer screen, one which a system diagnostic and multiple firewall testers running.
"Odd. Our detection systems... they're all disabled? Hm. This requires investigation! It had to be an internal process, someone within U.A must have disabled them." Frowning, Nezu places his tea down.
"The teachers couldn't have, none have this much access to the servers. Neither could the students. A conundrum." Then, one of the firewall testers pinged.
"An internal link going outwards? To where though? And what's the nature of the link, I wonder?" Tugging on the thread slightly, Nezu watched as data flooded his system.
Student files.
Camera Footage.
Quirk data for counselling.
A full connection to all devices linked to U.A.
All the cameras linked, the listening devices all going back to this internal link.
Who has done this?
How had he not noticed?
Because no one had ever attempted to break into the U.A, either physically or from online, his defences hadn't been tested in years. And, now that it had, he'd found the rot within the systems. Abhorrent, someone had hijacked his school, slowly creeping into it to take control...
Could it?
"The cases match up; many U.A Alumni are taken directly into the HPSC and those numbers have been rising. Any who didn't conform have mysteriously vanished, there hasn't been a rising U.A star since... Best Jeanist." Nezu folded his paws together.
"This is how the HSPC are working. They blackmail my students, the fresh starters who don't know anything yet; if they don't submit, more than likely their information is sold and they're eliminated swiftly." Nezu's frown deepened.
"They're trying to gain full control of the Hero system."
First, they had targeted new heroes, then they shifted focus to the Hero schools, slowly inducting them into the HPSC via the School Boards and then using the schools to indoctrinate the students into puppets of the HPSC. If they played the long game, they could have an army of heroes behind them no matter what.
Who's to say they won't want more than just Heroes?
What if the HPSC wants to rule over Japan? Have control over it?
Will Young Giichi be next?
How will he deal with this threat?
*Knock Knock*
"Ah Aizawa! Come in! Come in!" Nezu chirped, his mind compartmentalising his realisations for later.
"Nezu. You know about the intruder then?" Nezu's smile sharpened.
"But of course! Young Giichi alerted me to their presence! That warp quirk is quite dangerous! I'll have Powerloader come up with some plans to counteract that quirk!"
Aizawa just nodded and Nezu tilted his head.
"Did you need something else, Aizawa?" The man stared at Nezu for a second.
"Giichi... He's odd. Dangerous. Are we sure he is who he says he is?" Nezu's smile dimmed.
"Yes. I am well aware of the danger Giichi poses. But, we know nothing of him. We haven't been able to do a blood test to confirm who he is."
So many things were happening, a game unfolding with multiple players.
"It's better to have an unknown on our side, then have that unknown against us."
Especially if that unknown could help them win this game.
Smiling, Nezu turned to Aizawa.
"You've got USJ training with 1-A coming up soon, haven't you?" Aizawa was clearly thrown off by the sudden change in topic, but nodded.
"Yeah, tomorrow actually."
Slowly, Nezu let his smile become grim.
"Be careful, Eraserhead. Things are getting dangerous. Protect our students. Keep them safe. I'll try to add more heroes to the roster, who knows what information the intruder took." Turning in his chair, Nezu overlooks his campus, saying.
"There are greater powers at play, things far greater than you or I. I only hope to keep our students alive and well after the fires die..."
(USJ! USJ! USJ! Its the next arc! Anyways, how are you?)