2 Hope for the Future

Despite his best efforts, Izuku found himself at an internet cafe logging into his Mastermind account a little under two weeks after Mt. Lady's death. The TV in the corner is playing the news and even now won't stop talking about the murder. There's even talk about putting a memorial up where she was killed. Every time he hears about it, he feels a weird mixture of pride and nausea, the same feeling he felt every time he considered logging into his account. He knew that he should just let it lie, but recent events had shown how not great he was was at that. Once his brain had latched onto a problem, it wouldn't rest until it was dead. Literally, in the case of Mt. Lady. He clicked on the little envelope at the top of the screen, seeing a notification for four new messages. He opened the oldest one first, the only one from the original Mt. Lady poster.

New Message:

From Whyher0es301

Thanks for the plan, I couldn't have done it without you. Well, I couldn't have gotten away with it at least. I know your reasons for helping are your own, mine are too, but just know that if you ever need anything, I've got your back.

Well, Izuku thought, that's nice of him at least. He sat back and took a deep breath. No one had ever thanked him before, well, not including his mom. Goodness knows Kacchan never did. It felt...really good if Izuku was being honest with himself, even if it was coming from a murderer. The thought made Izuku nauseous again. Just how desperate was he for attention if a compliment from a villian was enough to send him over the moon? He really was as pathetic as Kaccan was always saying, wasn't he? Izuku shook his head in an attempt to yank himself out of a self pity spiral. If he let that get going, he might be there for hours and he really didn't want to stay logged in on his villain account longer than necessary. (He pointedly ignored the voice in the back of his head that said having a villain account wasn't supposed to be necessary at all.) It was then that he noticed the thank you note had a postscript.

P.S. I hope you don't mind that I told a few friends about your account. None of them are cops, so don't worry about any snitches.

Izuku hurriedly clicked back to his inbox, trying not to panic. He refreshed the page twice, willing the words on the screen to change, but when had anything ever actually paid attention to what he wanted? Three new messages. From villains . It wasn't like Izuku could justify it like he could last time by saying he didn't know for certain these were villains. They had been referred to him by a murderer specifically because he had apparently made a murder plan . There was no way they weren't villains. This was terrible! What had he gotten himself into?

"Hey kid, are you ok?"

Izuku jumped when the teenager who had been running the counter put a hand on his shoulder. He hadn't even realized he'd been hyperventilating until that moment. He nodded, willing the worker to just go away, but apparently he wasn't that great of an actor because the worker just stood there looking concerned. Izuku took a few deep breaths, both to calm himself down and to convince the worker he'd be fine. When he felt he'd staved off the panic attack he met the workers eyes.

"Thank you for your concern. I think I'll actually be heading home now."

The worker nodded and walked back to the counter as Izuku signed out without reading the other messages. He considered deleting the account, but the worker was still eyeing him with concern, so Izuku didn't want to take too long. He almost sighed in relief when he walked through the doors. No doubt if the worker had seen anything incriminating on his screen, he would have called the cops rather than helping Izuku through a panic attack. He pulled at his hood self consciously as he turned toward home. Someone thought he was useful. The thought almost stopped him in his tracks, but he managed to trip over air instead. Someone thought he was useful. Sure, that someone was a villain, but still, someone thought he was useful! That meant he wasn't just a worthless deku!

Bad Izuku , he shook his head. As great as that compliment felt, it was still coming from a villain, a murderer, and murder was wrong. Izuku reminded himself that this was a world he didn't want to be caught up in and he didn't want to associate with murderers, despite the fact that they seemed to be the only ones that didn't see him as a waste of space. Murder is wrong! Izuku didn't want to be a villain

He just had to keep reminding himself of that.

Izuku kept his head down as he walked to his seat at the back of the classroom, mentally willing himself to become invisible. Kacchan had been quiet for a few days, which normally meant that an explosion was coming. He was so concerned with not meeting Kachhan's eye that he didn't notice the foot sticking out in the aisle until he was already going down. As it was, he knocked his chin hard on one of the desks and just barely avoided biting his tongue as the class roared with laughter.

"Midoriya," The teacher called out. Izuku felt his hope rise, was the teacher actually going to step in and put an end to the bullying? He had to have seen that guy trip him, right? "If you're quite finished being a disruption, I am ready to begin the lesson."

Izuku looked up at the teacher from his place on the floor, shocked. The teacher saw what had happened and was still turning a blind eye? Izuku sat shocked for a few silent seconds before looking down at the floor and nodding. He could already feel blood beginning to drip down his neck from where his chin hit the desk, but it was obvious that he wouldn't be going to the nurse's office today if his teacher's initial reaction was anything to go by, so he just grabbed a handkerchief from his bag and held it to stop the bleeding as he hurriedly found his seat as the teacher began to talk.

"So, everyone, I know that everyone has already decided what high school they want to go to and that most of you are headed for heroics. However, due to the highly competitive nature of that field, we're obligated to dedicate time to a career planning workshop to make sure you know about other career paths that could be available to you. Take one of these worksheets and pass the rest back. You'll have the whole period to work on them, so just raise your hand if you have any questions. Try to keep in mind your quirks, skills, and talents when weighing your options."

Most of the students started to move around as soon as they received their worksheets, going to sit by their friends and the noise level gradually increased as everyone started up side conversations. Izuku turned his attention to the paper and started trying to think of careers that didn't involve heroics. After all, if even All Might didn't think it was possible…

"Oi, Deku!"

Izuku tensed at Kacchan's tone, what now?

"So," He could tell by the smirk on Kacchan's face that whatever he was about to say wasn't going to be pretty, but doubted he could do any worse than the suicide baiting that had become almost common since the sludge villian incident, "Teach said we were supposed to pick careers based on our quirks, skills, and talents, but you don't have any of those, so what can you even do? A quirkless deku like you is so useless you'll be lucky to be hired to take out the trash." The lackeys surroung him laughed and Kacchan looked at Deku with a self satisfied smile as if he had just told the greatest joke of all time, but t hen again, Izuku thought bitterly, everything Kacchan does is the greatest.

Izuku tried to ignore the jibe and just do his worksheet, but Kacchan's words unfortunately got him thinking and he pulled out his phone to google jobs for quirkless people. The results loaded slowly, thanks to the school's cheap internet, but they were no less shocking when they finally appeared.

Quirkless Unemployment, an Epidemic?

Quirkless Discrimination, Fact, Fiction, and Glass Ceilings

Quirkless Unemployment: Statistics

Izuku skimmed through the articles, frantically at first, then with more and more numbness as the hour went by. Of all quirkless people who lived to adulthood, which was only about half since suicide rates were so high, almost 80% were unemployed. Of the lucky 20% that managed to find jobs, almost all were making minimum wage and the exceptions were mostly older professionals who had been hired and promoted back when quirklessness was more common. If someone had asked Izuku that morning what would be more harmful, a throw away insult in homeroom or the beating that Kacchan gave him after school, he would have said the beating, hands down. In actuality though, he barely felt the explosions and hardly remembered patching his wounds after.

The fact that quirkless unemployment was the first result when looking up statistics on the quirkless was rather telling. But that couldn't apply to Izuku, right? After all, Izuku was smart, capable, and determined (he tried to avoid thinking back to the three unread messages sitting in his villain inbox), he wouldn't have a problem finding a job if he really put his mind to it. He wouldn't just be another statistic, living on the streets just because of something he was born without...right?

Charging to kill heroes would pay the bills at least. Izuku tried to shake the unwelcome thought from his mind as he washed up for dinner, but it stuck there like a stubborn piece of gum. Afterall, on the internet, no one knew he was quirkless and his skills obviously spoke for themselves. Yeah, he might have to worry about avoiding the police, but he could bypass the invisible walls that kept the quirkless in their place , as Kacchan would say.

No! bad Izuku! He tried to calm down by having a staring contest with himself in the bathroom mirror, then went out and joined his mother at the table. Murder is wrong ... right?

No! Izuku wouldn't become just another statistic! And he wouldn't let himself become a villain either (despite how tempting that might be). But what should he do?

"You're awfully quiet tonight, sweetie"

Izuku startled out of his thoughts. His mother was looking at him with concern and pity in her eyes (he was so sick of pity), practically begging him to tell her what was wrong (he couldn't do that, she wouldn't understand.) But what could he tell her?

He smiled as an idea occurred to him.

"I want to try and get a job," he blurted out.

Mom's eyes widened slightly at first, but then her face relaxed with relief. She'd probably thought it was something a whole lot worse (if only she knew).

"I think that's wonderful sweetie! What brought this on?" She smiled.

"We had a career day at school and I thought it would be helpful to get some experience to help me decide," Izuku lied easily and wow, wasn't that concerning?

"Just let me know if there's anything I can do to help you," his mom teared up, "I'm so proud of you Izuku!"

After a few more tears, Izuku finally finished dinner and went to his room to start on his plan. This was his chance. If he could find a job despite being quirkless, then that would mean that the statistics were wrong and there was hope for his future. If he could get a job, then he really had no reason to turn to villainy, right? As Izuku researched job openings and began filling out online applications, he made a deal with himself: If he got a job, he would delete his Mastermind account, and if he didn't? Well… he'd cross that bridge when he got to it.