The Calm Before The Storm...

Chapter 14 - The Calm Before The Storm...

When I was seven years of age, my father was ripped from my life in an instant...I had just returned from school and had made him an extra special card to show him that I cared about him and to show that I wanted him to have an extra special birthday. He always joked about how the All Might drawings I made for him were the perfect gift for him but this birthday I made something slightly different for him. I wanted him to know that he was just as heroic in my eyes as any hero that there was. I wanted him to know that he was my hero. But I never got the chance to do so….

On that day I was hoping to surprise him in the lab like I did ever so often. I would go to the front desk and ask the nice college student there if I could go to the restroom. They of course knew where I was headed so they played along and told me where to go as if I didn't already. I skipped down the hall and stopped only to take out the card from my backpack so that I would be able to just give him a hug and his card at the same time. This was suppose to be his most special birthday yet.

I did stop for the bathroom on my way there and that's where my mind goes when I think of 'what if's. What if I hadn't stopped and had kept going? What if I hadn't taken that one wrong turn by complete error? What if I had run down instead of a childlike skip? What if I could have helped him?

But….in the end of the day….there isn't much a seven year old, quirkless, boy could do in this scenario. I got ready to go through his lab door when the lights turned off and all power was taken offline to who knows where. At this moment, I scrambled to take out a flashlight that my dad had always forced me to carry wherever I went. It was at that moment when things began to react oddly.

My flashlight turned itself on without the on button. My hairs stood up straight outwards as if something bad was coming this way. I knew that I shouldn't be here but my dad needed my help, I needed to help in some way. I had to help in some way.

I tried to do what I could with my small hands when the door opened. At least that's what I think happened. Memory has this funny way of messing with one's head when it wants to and helping when it really isn't needed.

Flashes of different colors filled my eyes, green and red dancing and twirling at me. My hands shook as I was blasted backwards but I never hit the wall. I never knew what happened next as my brain more or less shut down to try to comprehend what was going on. One second I was flying weightlessly through the air staring into the most beautiful display of colors ever and then…..I several blocks away across from my house unable to make sense of what I went through...if I went through it...I stood there for several minutes, perhaps hours, I really can't be too sure.

When I entered my home that day….mom was crying….she was crying like I'd never seen her. And I was confused, I didn't understand why this was. What had occurred since I had been standing outside? That's when I realized that there was a police officer standing across from her with a solemn look on his face. When he saw me the expression only worsened and...then he placed a hand on my shoulder…

"Mom? What's going on? Are you OK?" None of this made the slightest sense and it shouldn't have. Why was every adult acting so weird? Why couldn't they act like my dad? Obviously I wasn't going to get a response from my mom given her current condition so I turned to the so qualified officer. That was a big mistake...

"Son...there was an accident at Star Labs earlier this evening…" Star Labs? I had been there, I had seen some weird stuff going on. " The power went out and there were several injuries and…" He took a moment to clear his throat at this, trying to find the right words. "There was a single death…" He didn't look at me but lowered his gaze towards the ground.

A death? Several injuries? What does that have to do with me or my family? What does my family have to do with any of this? Is dad injured? Was that it? It must be...otherwise the city wouldn't have sent an officer if he was alright?

But even then...my mind was nearing the truth. I was simply trying to avoid it for as long as I could. But in in the end...no matter how fast you run...no matter if you are fast enough to break the sound barrier….there is no outrunning the truth….it can and will always catch up to you

Waking up covered in sweat and with tears in his eyes, the speedster stumbled out of bed and into the shower. A dream like this was exactly what he hated having and had hated since that particular day occurred. It was simply torture to him, it was draining & unnecessary, but overall it was a constant reminder of how helpless he'd been in his quirkless state. He had tried time and time again to repress the negative memory of the event back when he was seven but so far had no such luck.

He really didn't know what time it was, but by the look of the lighting on the outside, he had clearly woken up way earlier than previous days. Right now he had what he had so often wanted in previous times, he had time. Now the time he had too much for him….

Izuku simply sat in the shower as the cold water hit him from behind like tiny ice fractals piercing his back by the dozens. He had the time, and he didn't know what to do with it. His speed in his current emotional state was going a bit off the rails and was slowing down his perception and returning it to normalcy without much of his control.

The water came down upon his back every few seconds or every second depending on how the speed wanted to react which in all honesty was not something that Izuku wanted so early to deal with. His thoughts went and came under the same speed which wasn't appreciated either but was what kept him sane.

After a few more minutes the distressed teen came out of the shower and looked at himself in the mirror of the bathroom. It wasn't something that he had done often in recent years mostly because of his general disinterest in his own appearance. Looking at himself, he saw how long his hair had gotten, his last haircut had been… it had be a while before he'd gone into coma. He would try to find a place to give him a haircut soon enough.

The boy stepped out into his room and changed at an ever so slow pace. Taking another glimpse at the clock he knew he had the time, he always had it with his speed. It was just a dream, it was simply a dream. Midoriya walked out of his room and into the dining room where he sat across from his mother who had a look of concern, one that had been part of her all too much these past few years.

"Izuku? Are you alright….you woke up an entire hour before you usually do. Is everything going alright? You've been arriving home so late and more tired than you usually are." His mother's voice was filled with concern and her face with anguish. One look from her and Izuku knew that he couldn't consciously lie to her in the slightest.

"No mom...it's just that UA lives up to its name when it comes to the rigorous amount of energy and training that I have to put in to become a good hero...and since I was late to the game of quirks I have to put in that much more effort to catch up to where everyone else is…." He explained his situation and his mother understood.

Inko Midoriya was quite proud of her son, every day that pride grew more and more. When he told her that he wanted to be a hero, when he woke from his coma, when he shared his quirk with her, when he saved the girl from the mugger, when he saved the bank full of people. He kept going and pushing his limits in order to keep others safe. It was exactly what she'd come to expect from her son, a person who would stand for the peace he believed in.

Leaving a bowl of oatmeal on the table for him to eat, Inko Midoriya got up and gave her son a hug before going on with her day. It was a brief moment between mother and son that lasted only a handful of collective seconds. Yet to a speedster that hug lasted forever in his mind and would always be there in times of need…

Today was the day that Izuku decided on getting to school in a timely fashion via train. It wasn't a new experience at all just one that he could actually enjoy with the practically non-existent time pressure that he had today. He could simply stare out of the window and enjoy the smooth feeling of traveling without the actual usage of his feet.

Opening up his bag, he pulled out several files that Cisco had given him the previous day about the newest features of his suit and of how he could possibly find new and creative ways of using it to his advantage. Cisco had given him the 'brief' version of the report with just a little over a hundred pages in length which was a complete surprise how someone could write such a large piece of writing.

The UA student opened the the report to the front cover before he sat down and began reading it. It was an almost instantaneous process which would last only a handful of hours after this first read. Several more would be needed in order to make the information stick longer and be able to be used more effectively. It was after all a-

"That's a pretty good hero suit you got there kid!" A man that appeared to be in his early twenties commented on the blueprints for Izuku's suit. He wore glasses and his brown hair was done in a pretty careless manner. Next to him there was a pretty professional looking bag and….Izuku really needed to stop sizing people up after a second.

"Oh...um thanks I suppose…." In most conversations with strangers Izuku normally felt a bit flustered and slightly embarrassed since he was usually taken by surprise. "How did you know that this was a hero suit?" The man laughed slightly at this before taking his glasses off and polishing them with a cloth that he had in his coat pocket.

"Well I was part of the team who was responsible for bringing your dream into fruition, the support company wanted a bit of the help with the monitor so they decided to take a chance on me." The young creator explained his involvement in all of this much to Izuku's interest.

"Wait so is there more to the monitor than the basic description I have of it?" Izuku was generally interested in this topic now that he had a person to talk to with who was directly involved in the making of his suit. " Is there any other parts to the suit that I should know about that hold any other significance to me?"

"Well…" he smiled thinly at the question and placed his glasses back onto his nose. "There are the palms of your suit which I believe are extremely interesting….you see...they are extremely conductive and from the rest of the design of your suit I assumed that you know of the kinetic energy that you draw and how it can be made into static electricity. If you are able to go fast enough you can bring enough power to your hands to have the power of a generator, maybe two. From there, all that is needed is a touch and…" With a snap he made his point quite clearly.

Izuku Midoriya was just about to ask more questions when the man got up and headed for the open doors which was hit stop. Not knowing his name, Izuku made a grab for the man to ask the question.

"Wait sir! Thank you very much for all the information but I don't even know your name…" The man turned on the outside of the doors and gave Izuku another smile of admiration. This kid really had the capability of being something else, something else entirely.

"My name is Hartley Rathaway….and it was a pleasure to meet you Izuku MIdoriya…" He then walked out into the platform and left Izuku on the train in awe at a brilliant scientific mind.

Arriving quite early that day was a blessing in disguise for Izuku Midoriya who was able to talk with Aizawa before any of the other students got there to interrupt any conversation that they might have.

"Hello Midoriya….fancy seeing you here so early and not out of breath." Izuku smiled at his teacher's playful banter, at least he hoped he was joking or he might have misread his teacher completely. "I'd actually like to talk to you about your quirk…."

"Umm...sure Sensei….what did you want to talk about in particular?"After having his several good interactions this morning there was nothing that could really bring down his mood.

"I need you to know exactly how your quirk works and there is only one place that can guarantee such a thing…" The Erasure hero gave him the straightforward answer which was to be expected.

"D-do you mean that the school can…?"Izuku began his train of thought which was unfortunately shut down by the older and more experienced hero.

"No...the secret of your quirk isn't known by anyone else in the school besides the both of us...and that's the way it will remain...the only person that probably already knows about your quirk is the headmaster but he clearly is miles ahead of everyone else when it comes to this…"

"If I'm not going to be able to be tested here, then where else can I go to get the test that you want me to get? I mean there's no other place like UA that has the equipment needed for…." Even here Izuku began to slowly lean towards what Aizawa was saying. The conclusion was becoming more and more clear by the second.

"Despite being quite quick on your feet you're just a little slow in figuring this out aren't you?" He chuckled at his own humor before finishing what he'd set out to do in the start. "I want you to go and get yourself tested at Star Labs, they're the best chance that you have at finding out what your quirk is with the minimal amount of government and media attention….their patient doctor confidentiality would actually work for once" However this wasn't completely alright with the speedster.

"Star Labs!? What are you crazy? Why would I go to a place like that?" His tone began to change to anger and his face showed this as well, his teacher took note but decided not to allow it to change his stance.

"Many have called me crazy in the past….not many have been able to say that to my face and remain talking afterwards…" The usual fear tactic used by Eraserhead didn't seem to work on Izuku while angered.

"Are you saying that you're going to break my jaw or rip out my vocal chords? If that's the case then I'd like to see you try and do it right here r-" His anger had reached a point it shouldn't have and crossed a line that shouldn't have been crossed. It all happened so quickly that Izuku wasn't able to register it despite his quickened sense of being.

"Your emotions are a large part of your powers...I've come to see that in the last few times that you've used it…." The older man looked down at the teen who was on the floor clutching at his mouth where he'd just been hit. "Don't allow another punch to hit you by being blinded by your anger...it may not be easy but you've got to put what you and that lab have out of your head. In the long run this might help save your life...or maybe not…"

Still leaving the boy on the floor, Shouta Aizawa climbed into his brown sleeping bag and decided that now was an ideal time for catching up on the sleep he'd lost while on patrol. This left the shocked Izuku sitting on the floor by himself trying to understand what had just occurred. Aizawa had just punched him in the face and there was nothing that he could do about it….

Sitting in his seat, Izuku waited for the rest of the class to shuffle in as he thought of the different advice he'd been given in the entirety of the morning. It was quite a lot of information to shift through and Izuku had both the mind & time to shift through it. None of his classmates tried bothering him as he showed an expression of intense focus into his work which was more than enough of a deterrent.

It wasn't till class commenced that Izuku's attention came off of what he was doing. Quickly he stashed his papers regarding his suit back into his bag before placing it under his desk. Here he was present with the rest of the class, here he would be able to learn….just like every other student here but harder.

Coming out of his protective cocoon, their homeroom teacher stretched for a second before addressing his class in his usual monotone and bored fashion. The exception was that today there would be a difference in the schedule which would be quite special for the class of 1-A.

"Hello class….today we've decided that it would be an ideal time to test your hero skills in something else which will be quite present in your hero careers regardless of which specialty you decide to go into. Rescue…" This got the class muttering to their neighbor about what this would mean for them and of what they would be doing.

"Not much I can do in those situations..." From behind him Izuku heard a low mutter that was from Shinsou. It was followed by a small laugh but the message came through pretty well. Most of the applications of Shinsou's quirk weren't meant to be in battle, or in an environment such as this. He'd been able to come up with a plan that had been able to grant him the upper hand but it was pretty limited what he could do outside of situations like that.

"As I was saying….you'll need to change into your hero costumes for this trip and remember that not all of your gear will be helpful here. Choose carefully what you bring as it can be the difference between a successful rescue or an injured civilian." He then walked out into the doorway before activating the wall that released the boxes containing the hero suits of the class. "Be quick about this, we have a schedule to keep!"

Izuku grabbed his box from its place on the shelf/wall and began heading out to the changing rooms, not that he really needed them if he was too be honest with everyone. Just as he was about to speed to the locker rooms he was stopped at the door by one of his friends.

"Hey Izuku are you alright? You seemed to be very caught up in your thoughts right now." He recognized the voice before even turning around, knowing that it was actually a person who was looking out for his best interest.

"Yeah Momo...I'm just a bit tired from extra-work looking for new ways to use my quirk but I lost track of time and ended up draining my energy…" He saw her expression read something resembling joy and knew that he'd said the right thing.

"You really need to stop pushing yourself so hard. You are already a clear heavy hitter in the class. Keep this up and you're just going to embarrass the rest of us for not working half as hard as you're doing." The creation quirk wielding girl joked with Izuku causing a slight amount of heat to rise to his face.

After this, both departed and went their separate ways in order to change into their respective hero suits. Izuku more or less did that on his way there but there wasn't anyone in the hall to call him out on changing in hyperspeed. He only stopped by the locker room in order to drop off his hero box while many of the other boys barely began taking off their school clothes.

In a warehouse in a shady part of the city there sat a young man sipping a glass milk. As it is often resembled, milk is a drink that resembles purity, childhood, or innocence. In film it was often used as a device to give that message across. Here it was close to the same thing, the man trying to use those tropes in order to bring a sense to his world.

He looked down at the picture on the table showing the Symbol of Peace standing widely with a large smile on his face. His muscles were bulging as they always were but if one were to stare into his eyes they would be able to make out a bit of strain.

After having several of the pictures lined up, year after year, the strain in the eyes increased. The smile remained just as large and the muscles appeared to be just as large, those didn't change. Now the eyes, they were a doorway to something else. They revealed the weaknesses in the most perfect of heroes, gave away every single secret that they were capable of.

Tired of looking at the pictures, the man placed his palm on every single one of them. After a second, they disappeared and resembled nothing more than a pile of ash on the table. The mere thought of killing All Might was more than enough to bring him true joy. He would be the one to finally do it, the one to end the peace that had been fabricated by this society of heroes.

A different man stepped behind him and spoke in an elegant and regal manner. He appeared to be wearing a bartender suit and was nothing more than a cloud of purple and black smoke.

"Tomura Shigaraki, those who have answered to your message have arrived...it is time for you to prepare them as your master has asked of you. " He then waited several seconds for a response before talking again. "Shigaraki, the time is now...we have to-"

"Shhh, I'm just having my bad guy moment of drinking milk while fantasizing about the death of my enemy. Let me have that." He stared into the one remaining picture of All Might. A minute more passed before he crumpled it into a mere paper ball and watched it turn into ash as it slipped through his fingers. "Ok I'm done with my moment….let's go address the cannon fodder...time to kill us a 'Symbol of Peace'...