Chapter Text
"If life were predictable it would cease to be life, and be without flavor."
-Eleanor Roosevelt
Atlas had just turned into an adolescent when he first killed Izuku.
He remembers it clear as day, the night where the blood stained his fingers and his tattered clothes, his skin filled with scratch marks. Looking back at it was filled with melancholy, or so he presumes- he never got his feelings straight of how he felt about it.
He killed who he was and arose from the ashes, he became a new person, someone stronger. He became the one who carried the weight of the world on his shoulders, Atlas. While others often didn’t associate him with good, he knew he did whatever was necessary for the betterment of the people.
The heroes of today’s society were brought up as saints, praised for their good deeds and quirks. People worshipped the ground they walked on but wouldn’t hesitate to turn a blind eye to the homeless and starving teens out on the streets. Out of sight out of mind as the saying goes.
Atlas, his persona could not keep the faces of the broken ones out of his mind. It became who he was at his core. His salvation was the darkness others wouldn’t dare seek.
“Midoriya what are you doing?!” the familiar tone of his neighbour’s voice fills his ears; heat strikes his cheeks as he realizes what he was doing looked suspicious to say the least. He scrambles off the fire escape outside his apartment building, he had previously snuck out to seem less suspicious as wearing full black in the middle of the night was not exactly normal citizen behaviour.
“Mr.Yagi I have a perfectly reasonable explanation for being on the fire-escape,” he did in fact not have one, but he figured he could get himself out of this one. “I was going on a walk.”
“In the middle of the night…?”
“Yes,” he says awkwardly, he was thankful that Yagi couldn’t see him as he was nervously fiddling with his hands. It was just his luck that the only adult in this building that cares what he does caught him, he would much prefer it if one of the single moms with too many children to care would’ve caught him.
Yagi was a new tenant in the building, therefore he did not fulfil the unspoken agreement that you do not question what the others do, whether it is teens sneaking in alcohol and friends, or if it was someone doing cocaine. The blonde-haired scraggly man did mean well in his efforts, but it was a pain the ass for Izuku to become Atlas and do his much-needed crime.
“Why are you even awake at this time? You need proper rest for your young body,” Yagi chastises him. Izuku gives a glare at his apartment wall that separated him and Yagi, it was quite awkward to have a conversation while not seeing the other.
“You are awake too, and if anyone should take your advice it should be you. You look like you will keel over and die most of the time,” he mutters lowly, not low enough that the other didn’t hear it as he could hear coughing and what was likely the splutter of blood. Izuku didn’t know what was wrong with Yagi, but it caused him to cough up blood which was concerning to say the least.
“My boy just go to sleep,” Izuku took pity on the mans exasperated tone.
“Okay I’ll go to sleep,” he agrees to get out of the conversation. “Tea tomorrow?”
“Of course, goodnight Midoriya.”
Izuku closes his window, letting out a deep breath. That was a close one, it seemed he kept getting closer and closer to getting his second identity revealed. He wanted to tear his hair out from frustration. In his daytime form he was sixteen-year-old Izuku Midoriya who lives on his own and is helpful but quirky in some ways, but in the night, he is Atlas renowned thief, not good enough to be a vigilante but not evil enough to be a villain.
For obvious reasons he needed to keep his second identity a secret between him and his cats, who were named Icarus and Daedalus, he found it fitting after the media named him after a guy from Greek mythology.
Izuku winces as he moves to open a can of cat food, making his cats run at a speed even All Might would be impressed by. His ribs were cracked open after his informant Giran had given him no warning of the heroes being at the scene. He got away with the stolen goods but at the price of breathing and moving without pain.
He’d have to put some ice on them to make them less irritable, that way when his teatime with Yagi came in the morning, he wouldn’t be suspicious. Even Izuku didn’t know why he agreed to have tea with the old man, maybe he just felt bad or something. It wasn’t like Yagi wasn’t a nice man and all that, but Izuku didn’t like people getting to close into his business.
Sighing Izuku pulls out his phone and scrolls onto twitter. There would definitely be someone talking about his fight with firestorm, the pro hero was new but powerful and the people love power.
Atlas simp nr #1 @Atlasmybaby
Now I cannot be the only one who was just staring at Atlas the entire fight #Atlassupremacy
Replies; 320 Likes; 59k Retweets; 3k
Amanda @Amanda.pres replying to @Atlasmybaby
Yeah no I can’t even pretend I wasn’t like who made this man so gosh damn attractive???
Replies; 6 Likes; 327 Retweets; 9
Endeavour sucks ass @endeavourhatepage replying to @Atlasmybaby & @Amanda.pres
I can’t believe we still live in a world where people simp over a villain /srs
Replies; 12 Likes; 120 Retweets; 7
Amanda @Amanda.pres replying to @endeavourhatepage
Wake up and realize that Atlas is doing good get your privileged ass out of this twitter thread.
Replies; 8 Likes; 48 Retweets; 3
Firestorm official ☑ @Firestorm
This fight isn’t over yet @Atlas I will find you and I will be the one to bring you in
Replies; 2k Likes; 57k Retweets; 3k
Well, that was unexpected, usually the heroes ignore his twitter account, and they much less tweet out a war declaration. Then again Firestorm is with the Endeavour agency which is notorious for hating him.
Atlas ☑ @Atlas replying to @Firestorm
Idc get a life @Firestorm
Replies; 20k Likes; 133k Retweets; 10k
For a second Izuku wondered if that was too cruel, then he quickly realized that he is on the verge of being considered a villain, so he hit post. His alerts exploded within seconds; from experience he had the sound turned off.
Izuku sighs deeply before taking his mask on, it was a white porcelain mask with words around it in a flowery writing. He had no idea what it said, Giran had just given him it on his first month at the job as a sign of goodwill and inspiration for him to continue stealing as it was making the older richer.
He walks into the small office located in the back of a dirt alleyway with a level of confidence unusual for the neighbourhood filled with low-level villains and vigilantes. “Do you have the goods?” the gruff familiar voice of the underground broker Giran enters his ears.
“I always do,” he answers setting down the black duffle bag filled to the brim of ancient artifacts he had previously stolen from the Quirk Museum earlier. The museum had exhibitions of the first belongings of those who first got their quirks, one of the larger artifacts he had gotten was the Ruby crown worn by the first ever quirked person, they had practically been worshipped from the day they were welcomed to this world until they left it.
“I am never doubting you again,” Giran says excitedly as he looks through the bag. “I will wire you the money as soon as I can.”
Izuku glares at him. “I want my money before tomorrow,” he demands. “I know you can get it until then, and don’t you dare cheap out on me.”
“I would never,” Giran tells him in a tone that said he very much would do that. Izuku looks out Girans window when he hears tapping, it was raining. It would be a pain to get back to his apartment. “You can crash on my couch if you want,” he offers seeing his dilemma.
“No thank you, I would not like to stay on a thirty-year-old man’s couch,” he declines in a joking manner. Giran doesn’t flinch, having become used to how he speaks. “I should head home, loads of things to do tomorrow,” a mild lie, he only had plans with Yagi-san.
“Got homework?” Giran snorts, ignoring the glare that was sent his way. “Go home, you can make me more money another day.”
“Happy to be of service,” he mock bows before taking his leave.
The rain dripping on him was an annoyance, but he took it in stride. He was going on his way home until he felt someone following him, luckily, he had not taken off his mask yet, therefore he was still anonymous in case it got ugly. He enters an alleyway stopping in his tracks, not waiting for the other to speak up he does it instead. “Want to tell me why you are following me?”
A hooded figure came out from the shadows in a way that reminded him of the many superhero comics he had read, had he not been in the company of the stranger he would’ve laughed at it. “I have an offer for you Atlas,” the voice belongs to a man, it is scratchy as though he had not drunk any water in days.
“I don’t usually make a move to make deals with people following me into creepy alleyways,” Izuku shrugs in a what can he do kind of way. He wasn’t feeling like having a conversation with was most certainly a villain in a dark alleyway, a new one at that, most of the older veteran villains weren’t stupid enough to think they could hand him an offer.
“You are going to want this,” the villain says with such certainty that it makes him pause and consider it. He stays silent indicating that he wants the other to continue. “We are going to take down the big boss, All Might. We are going to kill him.”
Now he has his full undivided attention. Kill All Might? It was almost laughable, the mere suggestion of it was insane. If the man hadn’t sounded so sure he would’ve gone into hysterics at it. “You want me to help you… kill All Might?”
“Yes,” he says it as if there was nothing wrong with what he was suggesting. In the mind of the villain, it might have sounded as a wonderful idea, the perfect idea even, Atlas was a well-known criminal that is great at what they do. There was however a huge flaw in his thinking, both Izuku Midoriya and Atlas were known for their love for All Might.
In short words, both of his identities were huge fanboys.
“Are you an idiot?” Izuku asks, having a bit of a laugh within his words. “I hope that’s the case or else you must be suicidal. You asked me of all people to help you with killing All Might? That is a new level of stupidity that I can’t even imagine it.”
The man scratches his neck harshly, clearly agitated. “Watch your words NPC,” he spits out venom lacing his tongue. “I was asked to recruit you as a favour, nothing else, All Might fanboy,” he says All Might like it will burn him if he speaks the name.
“Boohoo, if there is nothing else, I am leaving,” Izuku informs being cautious enough for it to not turn out as an all-out fight as his cracked bones were a hindrance in combat. While leaving he felt a gloved hand on his wrist, grip tight, not allowing him to leave at his own accord.
“Watch yourself, Atlas.”
Without words he puts his other hand on the others pulling it harshly away from his wrist, glaring behind the mask, he wonders if he should risk a fight, but decides against it as he does not know anything about this villain. “Why? Should I be afraid of a no name villain that has an attitude problem?”
“You will know my name,” it was a statement. “It is Shigaraki Tomura, you will do well to remember it NPC,” crazed red eyes were looking right through him, the intensity made him unwell and want to run. This was bloodlust and Izuku was not going to be around to see the outcome of it.
He leaves quickly enough to get away from the other, but not fast enough to give the other the satisfaction of knowing he had creeped him out. Izuku feared no one, he could only pray that it would stay that way.
“Are you alright Midoriya?” Yagi asks him in the early mornings. It wasn’t actually that early as it was noon, but as he had gotten minimally sleep last night due to his work he was exhausted, and Yagi knew it too. The other looked much better than him even though Yagi looked like a strong wind could knock him over.
“Yep, just peachy,” he answers awkwardly, a bit unsure how to communicate with the older man. The blonde poured each of them a cup of lemon tea, they were seated in Yagi-sans living room, it was nicer than his. It had better quality furniture and didn’t have random blood stains on the carpet.
He was a little jealous until he remembered it was his own fault for the mess in his apartment, well him and his cats. “So, what do you do for work Mr.Yagi?” Izuku strikes up conversation, trying to lift the awkwardness and forget the aching in his ribs.
“I work as All Might’s secretary,” Yagi says casually, casually, as if it wasn’t the greatest occupation Izuku has ever heard of.
“You work for All Might?” He questions, voice high-pitched trying not to fanboy too much. “That is the coolest thing ever, oh my god you work for All Might!”
Yagi chuckles, amused by his reaction to the news. “I am assuming you are a fan of him?”
“A huge one,” Izuku answers honestly, not bothering to be embarrassed by his fondness of the hero. “I mean who isn’t? He is the greatest hero of our time, in my opinion there will never be anyone as good as him.”
“I suppose he’s alright…” Yagi trails off.
Izuku gets suspicious at the wording. “Yagi,” he starts dead serious, even dropping the Mr for in front of the others name. “Is All Might secretly a terrible boss?”
“What?!” Splutters of blood come out of Yagi-sans mouth, Izuku grabbed tissues from a box that was at his coffee table and handed them to him to dry off. “Where on earth did you get that from?”
Izuku shrugs. “You sounded like you were uncomfortable with me talking about him.”
“I’m sorry it sounded like that my boy, he is a good boss, great even,” Yagi informs him. Izuku was pleased to hear that, he wouldn’t know what to do if All Might was a horrible person. He expected it from most of the other heroes, but if All Might was awful it would’ve broken his heart.
“Good, I don’t know if I could take All Might in a fight Mr.Yagi,” he jokes, but the other doesn’t seem like he understood the joke as a concerned look was thrown at him. He sips the tea; Yagi was great at making tea. “Anyways, isn’t All Might working at UA now? Do you work there too, or do you stay at the tower?”
“I work at UA,” he answers. “Though I do some work at the Mighty tower at times, but most I can do at UA.”
“Is UA nice? I used to want to attend,” it was ages ago since he ever even considered the possibility of higher education than middle school.
“It is, perhaps you can apply for next year,” Yagi suggests to him. “Some of the students have later attendance in life, I started at UA when I was seventeen.”
“You went to UA?” Izuku asks, intrigued. He hasn’t met anyone that had attended UA before, which was predominantly because of his upbringing, not living somewhere people got into such extraordinary schools.
“Hmm,” Yagi hums. “I did the hero track with the year younger than me.”
Izuku looks at the scraggly form of the blonde and wonders how in the world he went the hero track. “You did the hero track?” his tone audibly confused, looking him up and down.
“I was in an accident years ago, so I had to give up on my career in heroics,” Yagi explains. Izuku felt some semblance of sympathy, to have your dream career stripped away from him forcibly must’ve been hell.
“Oh,” Izuku says word lost on his tongue. “What was your hero name?” He tries to lighten the mood that had turned sombre for a split second.
Yagi looks pained for a moment. “It wouldn’t be any fun if I just told you, would it?”
“I think it’d be fun,” Izuku answers but Yagi does not budge. “I will find out eventually, might as well tell me,” he tries again, dying to know which hero Yagi was. He had a lot of hero knowledge in his mind, he figured he might already know who the man was, just that it wasn’t coming to mind.
“Then you will have to figure it out, I’ll tell you if you get it right.”
He scans through the heroes he was aware were retired in his mind. “Nightmare?” Izuku guesses remembering the former underground hero was blonde and around the same height.
Yagi shakes his head. “No, I am afraid I wasn’t that cool.”
“He wasn’t that cool, he had multiple charges for embezzlement against him,” Izuku informs remembering the scandal from three years ago where he had been embezzling money from his second job.
“Oh. I don’t know what to say to that.”
“It’s pretty common amongst heroes to have some sort of criminal charges,” Izuku tells him. “A lot of it comes from accidents on the job though, and the charges get dropped.”
“I did not know that,” Yagi says, mildly stunned. “I can assure you that I have no criminal record.”
That would narrow down the list more than it should have. Izuku wasn’t in the position to judge, being a high rank thief in villain society it did cause a bit of a hypocrisy if he did. “Good, would’ve been awkward if someone that is All Might’s secretary was engaging in crime.”
He gets a chuckle at his comment. “Wait,” Izuku says, coming to a realization. “Why are you All Mights secretary if you were a hero?” He was aware some heroes weren’t paid well, however some of the furniture in the living room seemed a tad bit too expensive not for him to have been paid well.
“I wanted something to do,” Yagi explains, relaxing into the sofa chair he was in across from Izuku. “I enjoy working.”
“I would too if I worked for All Might,” Izuku says, meaning every word. The tea was getting cold, but Izuku found it impolite to not drink it, therefore he sipped on lukewarm tea.
“I am sure when the time comes for you to start working, you’ll find a place you enjoy working.”
Izuku shrugs. “Maybe, I was thinking of applying to a few soon,” he didn’t need the money. The funds he gets sent every month from his father were enough to not seem too suspicious about how he can afford to live on his own, but he was never sure when it would stop, therefore he needed a backup plan.
“I can help you with the applications if you ever need help,” Yagi offers, reminding Izuku once more that he was too nice to be living in this area.
“I’d appreciate it.”
“Kurogiri,” Tomura calls out for his subordinate, having just entered the bar they were hiding out at. He plops himself down on one of the bar seats close to the door.
“What is it, Tomura?” the faceless man asked, his shoulders were filled with exhaustion that Tomura figured was exaggerated. Kurogiri’s face was not visible, he didn’t even know if the man had a face, instead he was a dark purple fog with yellow slits for eyes. He was busy cleaning around the bar. “How did the meeting with Atlas go?”
“He is not worth his reputation,” he comments snarkly. He did not enjoy speaking to the thief, he was idiotic for not taking him up on the offer, even worse was his worship towards All Might. “Atlas is nothing but an NPC, I don’t know why Sensei wanted him with the league.”
“Hmm,” the yellow eyes indicated he wasn’t pleased with Tomura’s assessment, it was annoying how expressive the man was without a face. “Are you sure? He is a valuable asset.” Kurogiri gets a glare in return from the question, answering it indirectly. “What do you want to do now?”
“I am going to kill All Might,” he answers even though Kurogiri already knew that.
“I know,” Kurogiri says tiredly.
“I am also going to murder Atlas,” he adds on. Kurogiri seems taken aback by his newfound murder plans. “He was annoying.”
“You will need to run that by your sensei,” he says, but makes no attempt to change the villain’s mind. “Atlas is dangerous.”
“I don’t need to; I am the boss.”
“You may as well tell him; he will want to know.”
“Fine,” he mutters before getting up from his seat. “I’ll go tell him, teleport me.” Engulfing him was Kurogiri’s purple mist, suffocating him for a split second making him dissipate from the world before arriving at their other hideout, where Sensei was residing at.
“Tomura,” a stiff strong male voice calls out for him, it was Sensei, he had his back turned to him, medical equipment all around him. “Did you manage to get Atlas recruited?”
He winches at the question, not wanting to have disappointed him. “Things did not go according to plan Sensei; Atlas is not an asset. He is an NPC.”
“And what do you suppose you are going to do about that?” Sensei inquires.
“I am going to kill him and the pitiful hero he admires,” he answers a bit of insanity in his tone.
“Wouldn’t expect less of you, it is your right to make those you dislike disappear, but don’t forget that even those you dislike can become useful pawns for the leagues plans.”
“I don’t need anyone, I can kill All Might on my own with the Nomu,” Tomura tells him as Sensei turns around revealing a hideous face with no eyes filled with scars, a breathing mask on the bottom half of his face. Though he would never say anything bad about it.
“Do you think I am weak Tomura?” The tone was deadly, it was like a snake about to release its venom on its prey.
“Of course, not Sensei!” He answers hastily, outraged at even the mere suggestion. “Why would you even think that?!”
“If I could not kill All Might what makes you think you can do it on your own?”
Tomura could not argue back, not wishing to make the other angry. “I will try to gain more allies, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to have some useless support NPC’s.”
“Good, you will do great things Tomura,” Sensei praises him, he pretends he does not care for it.
“I will,” he promises. “All Might will die soon enough.”
When Izuku had accepted Yagi’s help for getting his applications in order, he had never in his wildest dream thought it would end him up here. “Are you alright newbie?” Burnin one of the many sidekicks at Endeavours agency asked him as he was staring into space. It was his first day as a receptionist for the hero that has been the most persistent in capturing him.
“Yeah, I’m just fine,” he says, moving a bit in the chair he was sitting at making it spin. He ran through the paperwork laying on the receptionist desk, that was now his in an odd turn of events. “Here’s the files you needed,” he hands over some papers that looked too confidential for a receptionist to handle.
“Thanks a lot,” he was still in a state of constant shock that he, the greatest thief of all time, had somehow gotten a job working at the number two hero’s tower. “How old are you? You look a bit young,” she asks, tone a bit suspicious towards him.
“I’m sixteen,” Izuku answers, shrugging as he relaxes into the chair.
“Shouldn’t you be at school or something?”
“Shouldn’t you be out on patrol?” he retorts back, not waiting a response before answering her question. “I never applied for high school.”
“And you decided to apply for Endeavour’s agency instead? Are you a hero fan?” She inquires, leaning on the desk.
“Eh I wanted work, and my neighbour somehow got me an interview here, so here I am now,” he explains how he got the job. Izuku decides not to answer the last question, knowing his feelings on Endeavour’s agency and its heroes weren’t exactly the best.
“I’m just glad we finally have a receptionist again, the last one ran off weeks ago,” Burning groans at the memory. “If you run off, I might just resign.”
Izuku wonders what caused the last receptionist to run off, it was his first day, but the work seemed easy enough so it must’ve been the people. From what he learnt was that he just had to sort appointments out, make sure people knew where to go and that paperwork doesn’t get lost. “I’ll do my best not to run off.”
“Appreciate it kiddo, now I got to get going or else Endeavour is going to have my ass,” she says before leaving with great speed.
Now it was him, the phone, a large stack of paperwork that he did not know how to file and random heroes walking past him left in the lobby.
This was going to be great.