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If there was one thing Midoriya Izuku could count on this city for?
It was the trash and half-dead civilians mulling about at all times. Despite his shitty morning and even shittier day at school, flashes of explosions, and cybernetically enhanced fists flying his way, he could at least count on this unchanging nature of Mustafu.
Though Tokyo was the main head of gangs and HPSC company buildings, Mustafu was a close second when it came to the effects of cyber tech and the ever-growing corporations that supplied them. Most people were either too fucked up on shitty black market cyber ware or lost to a trigger addiction; well, at least those meandering through the street like brain-dead zombies.
The sight made Midoriya reach for the port on his wrist, itching around the seamless transition from flesh to warm metal.
Considering he’d grown up in the slums of Mustafu, most considered him lucky for even having a cybernetic system, let alone the few measly implants his mom had been able to scrape together money for; despite having none of her own. Midoriya himself considered his few enhancements a blessing, and would never stop thanking his mother, especially when she came home exhausted and covered in blood every single night. He shuddered thinking about the shifts in the cybernetic emergency section of the hospital... especially considering her hospital had begun promoting that they accepted patients with no insurance.
Despite his mom's hard work and endless dedication to make his life better, Midoriya spent a lot of his time getting his ass handed to him.
According to one Bakugou Katsuki, having a few measly upgrades wasn’t warrant enough for him to live, and felt it suitable to remind him of that every single fucking day. There was also his reasoning that Midoriya was the sole reason he was stuck on the trashy junky-filled side of Mustafu. Aunt Mitski had apparently insisted on staying near his mom, especially when Inko’s husband walked out of the picture before Midoriya could even talk.
They live as nicely as possible while remaining no more than a five-minute walk from the Midoriya's, but that still left Bakugou attending whatever shitty government-funded school they had for the area. With Midoriya, of course.
This wouldn’t be too much of a problem, except that Bakugou considered himself the best of the best. And damned determined to prove it to Izuku, or Deku as he’d named him. He wasn’t unaware of this fact, despite Bakugou's assumption that he was.
Bakugou was next in line to inherit his parents' company, which was a sister company to the HPSC. So, his family wasn’t short on cash, which meant Bakugou had been getting top-of-the-line cyber tech since he turned ten years old. He was forced to keep his body in peak physical condition to maintain the tech that made up at least 65% of his body if Izuku had calculated correctly.
This is to say, Bakugou is the strongest kid in their school not only in terms of physicality but also general power. Teachers glance away from his every action, hand back empty homework with a 100% scrawled at the top, and even encourage his violent tendencies.
This inevitably leads to Midoriya walking down the trash-filled streets, clothes still smoking from Bakugous’ most recent upgrade, metal explosive hands. He’s not really paying attention, blindly following the path he’s walked home for the last 10 years, breaking down the components of the new tech in Bakugou's hand, silently questioning if he could construct something like that himself.
Silently wondering why, he takes each step. Why he continues pushing through the bullying he suffers under Bakugou’s influence when it’s hardly likely he’ll ever make it out of the slums?
A sudden rattling sound is all the warning he gets before the sewer grate five feet in front of him explodes open. A man covered in some sort of gelatinous slime shoots out, landing as if he’d jumped directly out of a superhero film.
Immediately, Midoriya’s cyber implant scans the strange man's body and picks apart the man's cybernetics; which he is covered with. His entire torso has been cut away, instead, a metal skeletal frame occupies the space between his lower half and his neck. The transition between the flesh of his neck and the metal structure is not seamless and looks painful, an obvious sign of illegal cyberware.
Midoriya’s first cyber plant was one that leaned towards the less-than-legal side of the industry. While not technically illegal, (his mom would never let him get something below market level, she’d seen enough horrors to know better), it was a harder piece to find. Mostly saved for those who developed or built cybernetics themselves. His eyes had been... altered, uncomfortable with the idea of something completely foreign in such an important place. He could never convince his mom to go into complete detail about the operation, but he’s fairly sure it had something to do with his pupils. Either way, his eyes are now capable of doing body scans on any individual so he can view the serial number and name of each piece of cyberware that someone had installed. There were other features that allowed him to view the pieces like holograms, but he often got too lost in his head while using said feature. His mom has forbidden him from using it outside of the house after he ran into one too many poles, (not that he always followed her rules).
Obviously, this could be considered a breach of privacy to many... which is why they hadn’t obtained the tech in the most legal of manners. It cost a pretty penny, but Inko Midoriya knew something more was going through Izuku’s brain. She was determined to give him as much of a foot in the door as she possibly could, despite their burrowed place in the slums.
Izuku turned off the cybernetics with a blink, sensing the danger radiating off the man in front of him, while secretly hoping he’d scanned enough that he would be able to go back to the scans later to dissect them. He turned and began to book it away, cursing as his foot hit a can that had been discarded, drawing the man's attention towards him.
“Ahhh, I remember the days when I was nothing but a meat suit. It sure has paid off to become metal though,” a deep voice called, voice turning to a growl as the sound of metal shifting and scratching against metal filled the street.
Despite not stopping his dead sprint, Midoriya could see the faces of the random zombie-like civilians as they turned to observe the commotion. A girl, who looked far too young to be as metal as she was, opened her mouth as if to shout a warning, shock and worry marring her once flat features. Before she could even get a word out, Midoriya felt something long lined up directly with his spine, despite being in motion. For a moment the panic didn’t reach his brain, it was like a hand had simply flattened against his spine, but then two metal arms encased his shoulders, stopping his movement and holding him perfectly straight.
One breath in.
Spikes protruding from the metal aligned with his spine.
A shocked breath out.
A pain more blinding than any blast or bruise gifted to him by Kacchan.
Darkness.
Midoriya gasped against the debilitating pain ranking through his entire body, wishing desperately that he would pass out again. Seeing as he wasn’t his eyes flickered around wildly before landing on the man holding him up with one hand.
All Might.
The man who brought the concept of balance between corporation and cybernetics to Japan, ushering a wave of change through the country. It was a debate whether that change was for good or for bad, but most considered the man a hero; especially since he ran around fighting like one. Barely within the good graces of the Mustafu police and the HSPC.
He realized that his hero was speaking to him, as the ringing in his ears faded.
“-y boy? Are you alright?” All Might asked, deep voice reverberating through Midoriya’s body as he stared at him with wide eyes. Even though he was more than star-struck, attempting to move shot a harsh wave of pain through his body, to a crippling degree.
“Hurts,” Midoriya cried, wincing further as All Might's hand tightened around his chest.
“Luckily for you, I always carry some of RG’s patented healing serum. Hopefully, it works with the cybernetics you have installed. Take a deep breath boy, it tends to sting at first.” With no more warning, All Might reached for a pouch on his side, pulling a bright green porter out and shoving it into Izuku’s wrist port. “I don’t understand why she calls it a serum considering it’s a line of code, but I would never say it to her myself... terrifying woman she is.”
Midoriya tried to focus on his hero's words, more than curious about the interworking's of any of the ‘healing’ products Recovery Girl produced; but the sharp pain coursing through him as his body was forced to follow the script of code distracted him from truly digesting the words. He twitched as the pain slipped away from his body, wincing against the weird feeling of his cybernetics artificially patching his skin back together where the spikes had penetrated it.
The moment he seemed more aware and less in shock, All Might gently set him on his feet, turning to make sure the man who had entrapped him was secure. It was almost comical to watch All Might secure the man with ease; bulky suit shadowing the slime man. He was startled when he realized All Might's legs were shifting, metal panels moving to reveal rocket boosters that he had only seen advertised from I-Island. He moved to haul the mostly metal skeleton of the man over his shoulder, before glancing to Midoriya once more, only to find himself startled when the boy had moved closer.
“Wait All Might! I have a question I need to ask you, before you go, please!” Midoriya shouted, attempting to be heard over the quickly charging rocket boosters.
“Step back my boy! I must deliver this man to the police before his cybernetics recharge!” All Might attempted to shuffle step further away, but Midoriya was quick to latch his hands onto the loose material of his pants, forcing the man to halt his boosters function.
All Might dropped the man from his shoulders, sighing as he looked down at the young boy. Midoriya took a deep breath, using the moment to glance around the street.
Though the street had never been bustling, it had still been filled with sound. Feet shuffling, the constant hum of electricity surging through most buildings, wind whistling through the narrow alleyways.
But now silence encompassed the space around Midoriya and All Might. He turned back to the man in front of him, hope brimming in his eyes.
“All Might, is it possible for someone... is it possible for someone from here, from the slums, with hardly any cyberware to do what you do? To change our world and bring harmony between this divide?”
Silence rang in his ears, likely leftover damage from the explosions that had been levied against him for the past month or so.
A sigh loud enough to echo through the empty street escaped All Might's chest. Midoriya took a step back as shifting metal and steam emanated from his hero. He held back a gasp as the metal pulled to the side, revealing a hull filled by a much smaller body. The skinny man held the same face and hair as All Might, but his figure was entirely different, hollow in a way.
“I know it must come as a shock to see me this way, my boy, but after years of cybernetic implants, my body could no longer take the toll. My suit is considered top-of-the-line, one-of-a-kind. It’s the only thing that has allowed me to continue pushing the American Dream through Japan. I’ve realized I was foolish when I first returned from America. I’ve bit off more than I can chew, and though there are others like me who brave this thin line between hero and civilian, it has also caused the rift to expand, and I am the pillar that keeps us divided.
“I do not believe someone so young, so inexperienced, could repair this rift in such a large way. It’s likely for the best that you aim for something more realistic. It’s the civilians like you that keep our city running; whether you see it or not,” All Might finished, leaning back in his mecha-like suit and allowing it to close around him once more. Only once he was secured did he realize the slime man was nowhere to be seen, likely having made a run for it.
“I must be going, my boy, It seems as though this villainous man has gotten away, and I hardly have any power left today. Stay safe.”
Midoriya stood in silence, the words of the man he considered a hero replaying over and over in his head. No one had ever thought he could do anything. That he could make even the slightest change, especially from those who’ve been disregarded and ignored by society. That power was left to those who remained on top and passed down to their spawn to keep the power away from anyone who could actually do anything with it.
Eventually, the sounds of the street began filtering through his ears again, the silence of his moment with All Might fading almost as quickly as his dwindling hope. He began his shuffle towards home, feet hardly lifting from the ground in his dejected headspace. His mother was likely still at work, but she’d usually expect him to be home now and may call to check in, he thought in an attempt to pull his mind from the depths that All Might had plunged it into.
The sound of something unsavory happening in an alley pulled him from his own mind, forcing him to realize he’d walked halfway home without even realizing it. He considered going towards the alley, briefly considering that he’d be able to help in the smallest way even if he was nothing but a distraction to get away from someone else, but the hollow cackling sound and shouts that resonated off the buildings from a street over drew him away from these thoughts.
It hadn’t really sunk in that the slime man had escaped from All Might's watchful eye, at least not till he was standing in a crowd watching as the man once again held someone against their will, although their spine didn’t seem to be lined up with the spikes that lined his.
And then Midoriya realized it was Bakugou, the boy he’d been raised with and tormented by for most of his life.
And he couldn’t breathe. Not in the petroleum-thick jelly that coated him.
Multiple people who were considered local heroes or vigilantes by the HSPC surrounded the fight, urging civilians back and attempting to calm Bakugou from inside the slime, shouting that his explosions were making the situation worse, and they could help if he calmed down.
Midoriya hadn’t even realized his augmented eyes were once again scanning the slime man, piecing together how his parts worked and what they were connected to. The realization of the man's weakness practically slapped him in the face and called him an idiot over how simple it was. One central switch controlled the man's entire circuitry. One switch that would power off his weird slime mechanic along with his cybernetic skeleton. (His mind screamed of the stupidity of this central panel, of how shitty black-market tech was getting).
All Midoriya had to do was find a way to access it.
Luckily, his second augment had been another invisible one. Encouraged by his mom, he’d been learning to hack from a fairly young age, and once he was old enough, she’d begun searching for a cybernetic plant to go with the skill. She’d claimed it was a last line of defense should anything ever happen, that over 90% of the population was equipped with cybernetics, and having one's cybernetics attacked was equivalent to the feeling of being stabbed in the brain. And black-market cybernetics had no prevention against this.
Midoriya rushed to the edge of the crowd, finding a curbside to sit on and pulling his laptop out of his backpack, suddenly glad he’d grabbed it even in the daze of having been attacked. Slipping his port cord to his wrist and plugging himself into his laptop was a practiced and quick motion, as was pulling open his own scan of the slime man’s cybernetics, followed by his admittedly illegal hacking program; altered to make him untraceable, of course.
With his focus so pulled into his computer screen, with occasional glances towards the commotion, Midoriya couldn’t feel the pressure of eyes watching his every movement.
Before long, strings of intricate code had been strung together, allowing him access of the cybernetics of every person on the block. With a quick scan of each piece of cyberware, it wasn’t hard to find Slime Man’s and with a deep breath, he dove into his hardware, searching for the main panel he’d easily identified in his scan. The heroes who had taken control of the scene were beginning to panic, watching on as the boy’s explosions began to die out, but not because he’d calmed down.
Bakugou’s cybernetics were going haywire, causing his body to seize as he fought for any gasp of air. Midoriya knew he needed to find this shitty central panel and fast.
In his haste, he accidentally disabled the eyeware enhancements, startling the man into dropping his aggression for a moment as the combined pain of the hack went through, followed by his loss of sight. The heroes shouted, both happy and panicked as Bakugou managed to force himself from the slime for a moment, gulping in the air like a starving wolf, before the slime man’s defenses were back up and doubled, shouting for the hacking to stop.
But in the brief chaos his mistake had caused, he’d already found the central panel, and with a satisfied smirk, (one that looked just the slightest bit vindictive), he switched the man's cybernetics off.
The scream that followed was... harrowing.
Pain flooded his every nerve as he lost control of his own body in a way he’d never experienced, though the pain likely felt as if it had been minutes, it was nothing more than a few short seconds before his entire system was shut down; effectively knocking him unconscious.
Midoriya was quick to slide his laptop into his bag but hesitated in disconnecting his port to the device. There was so much cyberware around him right now... so much to study and piece together like a puzzle. If he disconnected himself he wouldn’t be able to hold scans of everything. Making his decision with ease, he pulled the cord, so it hung loosely from his bag before standing from the curb and moving to the front of the crowd; easy to do with his small stature and unnoticeable presence.
Bakugou was sitting up slowly with the help of a hero Midoriya recognized as Kaumi Woods, known for his wooden-like implants. He was coughing up the sludge he’d unfortunately swallowed but otherwise looked shellshocked and pale. Midoriya was sure his mom was rushing here, likely informed about his state through his healthcare, which had also alerted medics to rush to the scene; the distant sound of an ambulance airship ringing over the sound of the crowd.
But he wasn’t what Midoriya was truly focused on, no. He wanted to see what his work had done.
The rest of the heroes were doing a pisspoor job of inspecting the body that lay at their feet, shuffling around as if uncomfortable with the fact that someone so monstrous had been hacked before their eyes, if the unconscious man's words could be trusted.
So few had first-hand experience with hacking, or even what it looked like. It was considered one of the greatest crimes and using it for anything was illegal. Inko had made sure Midoriya was incredibly knowledgeable about the topic and how to hide his evidence, even his exit code and patterns. Though she’d never explained exactly why, usually attributing it to wanting her son to be able to defend himself.
Midoriya scanned the unconscious man, checking over the control panel he’d focused on, but unfortunately, he found that more than a few pieces of the cyberware were completely fried, overloaded by the system shut down. He wanted to feel guilty, he really did, but this man had jumped two minors in less than an hour... did he really deserve to have any cybernetics at all?
Midoriya halted that train of thought, shaking it off.
Who was he to make such decisions, after all.
With a self-satisfied smirk, and one more glance in Bakugou’s direction, he walked away from the scene; unnoticed and invisible to all who looked on.
It was far past the usual time he would be arriving home by the time he opened his front door. Luckily, his mom hadn’t called in the midst of all the chaos of his afternoon.
All he needed to do was patch up his uniform and throw it in the wash, and all evidence of this day would become mental. His mom wouldn’t need to know about the bullying or the attacks.
In his rush to get inside and get shit done, he almost missed the smooth glass of a holo message, lying flat on his floor. It had likely been slipped under the door before he got here, though he questioned why it wasn’t with the mail.
With familiar movements, he turned the small projector on, wincing as he took in the lengthy letter. His eyes glazed over as he began to take in the words.
Midoriya Izuku, fourteen, green hair, 5”3, freckles, 2 market level cybernetic augmentations, 1 black market augmentation.
My name is Aizawa Shouta, and I am offering you the chance to close the gap between the worlds that so desperately want to divide us. I’ve been following you since you first obtained your black market cybernetic. It proved to be a worthy endeavor today as I was able to witness your hacking
skills firsthand.
Most newbie hackers would’ve killed the man you took down today, but you danced through his system as if it was child's play. Skills like that don’t come easily and we’re not willing to let them slide easily. As you’ve witnessed today, All Might is failing in his attempt to bring worlds together.
My special unit has been designed by N.E.D.Z.U. to close this gap in a less... physical way. Legal and upfront methods are no longer on the table, it’s time for change.
If you’re ready to endure the changes and training to bring this change to life meet me at
xxx Mastufu Way at 2100 tonight.
Whether he was from the slums or not, Midoriya Izuku was determined to change the world.