Chapter Text
Izuku grumbled as he heard a banging on his apartment door. He groaned and looked at his clock. 6AM on a Sunday. There was only one person in the world who’d have the nerve to be demanding his attention this early in the damn morning. The green haired young man looked up at the All Might memorabilia across from him. He rolled his eyes at himself.
Time to face the day. He muttered internally as he slid out of bed into his plain colored living room.
“Alright alright! I’m coming, Kacchan! Give it a rest alrea-“ Izuku hollered as he opened the door.
Now Kacchan was a strong lad, reasonably well built, about Izuku’s height with spiky blonde hair. Standing in the doorway of Izuku’s apartment right now was not Kacchan, but a very tall, very muscular woman with black hair and onyx colored eyes. Izuku was not a short boy by any means, he was in middle school but by the time he’d finished his third year in high school, he’d grown to about 186 centimeters. This woman was much taller. She looked like she was at least a full 200 centimeters and then some, maybe even 210 from the look of her, and was built like she was in the gym eight days a week, 25 hours a day, 366 days a year but at the same time her eyes were shining with an intelligence that Izuku could tell was probably baffling. The outfit she wore made her look more like she worked as a librarian, but the strain on her sleeves screamed that she was a gym rat to her core.
“You’re not Kacchan,” Izuku murmured, still only half awake.
“I’m not,” The woman replied pleasantly. Her voice was posh, maybe she worked in finance? “I’m Momo Yaoyorozu, and you’re Izuku Midoriya, correct?”
Izuku’s head tilted upward, his eyes filling with suspicion. “Yeah, I am, how did you know that?”
“I tracked you down with the help of a private investigator.” Yaoyorozu replied.
Izuku’s suspicion was quickly replaced with worry. “Is there something I can help you with ma’am?!”
Momo quickly realized she’d startled the poor man. “Don’t worry sir, I’m not going to hurt you. I just wanted to talk to you about All Might, I understand you’re an enormous fan,” she explained. “I’d ask if that’s correct but I think I have my answer,” the tall woman giggled, covering her mouth as d she gestured towards her new friend’s lower half.
Izuku looked down and blushed. Yaoyorozu giggled as she tried to keep looking the poor man in the eye, he’d gone to bed in just one of his “t-shirt” t-shirt and his limited edition All Might boxers.
Izuku gulped. “Could you excuse me for just one moment?”
“Go right ahead,” The woman replied.
Izuku promptly ran back into his home using his telekinesis to shut the door after realizing he’d forgotten to close it behind himself.
Momo frowned slightly. Telekinesis quirks were so cool. She would’ve loved to have had a cool quirk like that. Money and muscles were great but she wanted a real super power! Something that could help people!
Izuku soon returned a moment later, still clad in his usual “t shirt” t shirt but his legs were now covered with a pair of blue cargo shorts. “So, um, you wanted to talk to me because I like All Might?”
Yaoyorozu nodded. “I do, more specifically I want to talk to you about a theory you posted on Reddit under the name MightyBoi5150.”
Izuku’s worried eyes filled with suspicion again. “Are you a cop?” He asked, his voice having a dangerous edge to it now.
Yaoyorozu laughed. “I promise you, I’m not a police officer. We spoke before, I’m GoodOldFashionedLoverGirl1991.”
Izuku nodded, now he knew who she was. Now he knew what she wanted. He took a brief moment to scan the area around his apartment’s front porch then gestured for her to come in. “If you’re here to talk about that theory, then you’d better get inside.”
Momo nodded and followed her host inside. She looked around the living room, it was fairly ordinary with gray walls, light brown trim, and tanned wooden doors but it felt comfortable, like a truly loving family lived here, even if this whole space looked to be about the size of her master bathroom. She curiously investigated some of the portraits and nicknacks around the room and glanced back at Midoriya with a fond smile. “You have a very nice home, do you live alone? This doesn’t look like a single man’s house.”
“That’s because it isn’t…” Midoriya murmured, closing all the blinds in the living room. His movements were becoming increasingly more rapid, quick, and erratic.
“Your parents?” She guessed.
“Yeah, yeah, they just retired. They’re living out at a vacation house in Hawaii now. But they offered to let me keep living here in Japan as long as I pay part of the rent,” Midoriya explained, shuffling the pillows on the couch. Actually, it wasn’t so much he was shuffling the pillows as he was pulling apart his entire couch.
“What are you doing?” Momo asked, looking rather confused and a little bit worried.
“Making sure the house isn’t bugged.”
Momo blinked. “Midoriya, even if your theories are correct, and I do believe they are, I don’t think All Might or anyone else would bug your home over it.”
Midoriya sighed. “You’re probably right…”
“So can we begin?” Momo asked, gesturing towards the kitchen table in the next room.
Midoriya thought for a moment. “One thing first!”
“What do you need?”
“Could you pull your phone out for me? Just real quick?”
“What for?” Momo asked, taking out her device as requested.
“I’d like you to put it in airplane mode.”
Momo stared at him blankly.
“I know I’m being paranoid but please? Just for my own peace of mind, alright?”
Momo resisted the urge to roll her eyes but complied, she knew she might be meeting some strange characters. This wasn’t the worst thing they could’ve asked her for. “Satisfied?”
“Yes,” Izuku replied, showing that his own phone was in the same setting and put it down on the table. “Now, my theories, is this about All Might’s injury or the secret of his power?” He asked, taking a seat.
“Both,” Yaoyorozu answered, taking the seat next to her host.
Izuku nodded. “So you agree that not only was All Might’s fight with the quirk boogeyman real and not only did it nearly lead to his death but that the fight had something to do with the death of his mentor, Maverick?”
“I do, yes.”
“And you also agree that All Might received his power from Maverick which might have been a contributing factor in her death?”
“Sadly yes,” Yaoyorozu answered.
Izuku nodded again, cupping his chin as he considered the woman’s answers. “So what’s your interest in All Might’s power and his injury?”
“I think because of his injury the amount of time All Might can use his power is limited, or rather, its usage is limited.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean I think his power is on a ticking clock but the clock can be reset after a period of rest.”
Izuku considered his counterpart’s theory. “That makes sense. He’s been appearing at public events less and less, and his appearances in fights are becoming more random.”
“Exactly! All Might used to be already at the scene whenever big threats came but now, he seemingly appears out of nowhere and then leaves in a flash. It’s probably because he can only show up when it really counts and he can’t stay for too long,” Yaoyorozu elaborated.
“Right, right, that all tracks but none of it answers my initial question. Why are you so interested in All Might’s power and his injury?”
“I think with this ticking clock of his, All Might may need a replacement.”
A flash of fear and anger flashed over Izuku’s face. “Do you want to kill All Might?”
Momo’s face filled with horror as she heard the dangerous edge in Midoriya’s voice and saw him floating some of the objects in the room. “No no no! Of course not! I love All Might! I would never hurt that man!”
Izuku calmed down. The smallest objects in the apartment gently floating back down into their places. He let himself get too defensive. That wasn’t right of him. “Sorry about that. I guess I let the fanboy brain take over there.”
Momo breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m a big fan too, I understand your worry, but trust me, for as strong as I am, I’m still only a quirkless girl.”
Izuku’s eyes widened. “You’re-“
“Quirkless,” Momo repeated with a sigh, cutting off Izuku. Why had she let that slip? “Yes. I’m a little freak with no powers at all. A completely useless normie with no place in the world,” the tall girl joked, trying and failing desperately to not to sound sad.
Izuku nodded then took a deep breath. “I was diagnosed as quirkless when I was 4, so for a good solid year, pretty much all of my friends kind of stopped talking to me.”
“How can you be quirkless if you just… Did that?” Momo asked, pointing to all around them.
“It’s pretty simple. One day, my friend Kacchan pushed me on the playground, so I pushed him back… Without ever touching him. Turns out, I really did have a quirk, and the doctor who took my x-rays had made a mistake,” Izuku’s eyes slowly filled with angry tears. “So suddenly all of those kids who stopped talking to me wanted to be my friends again like they hadn’t just spent the last year ignoring me, making fun of me, breaking my things, pushing me around, and just generally treated me like dirt.”
Momo nodded. She didn’t have to try very hard to imagine what Izuku had endured in the time he and his school had thought he was quirkless, she’d endured just as much and likely would’ve endured even more if not for her size, her intelligence, and her wealth. “I’m very sorry you had to endure that.”
Izuku tried to dry his eyes. “Oh forget about me, I was quirkless for ten months, you’ve been quirkless your whole life. I can’t even imagine how hard that must be.
Momo chuckled. She was starting to like this man. “It hasn’t been easy,” She conceded.
To say the fucking least! She muttered internally.
“I appreciate your understanding, Midoriya.”
“Of course, Yaoyorozu,” Izuku replied. “So can you please just answer my question, what do you want with All Might?”
Momo took a deep breath. “I’ve always wanted to be a hero.”
“Me too,” Izuku admitted, a small guilty smile crossing over his face.
Momo smiled for a brief moment but her expression steadily faded to resignation. “You’d probably wouldn’t be a bad hero Midoriya, you have a pretty good quirk, but with no quirk of my own…” The tall girl trailed off, “Well it’s not exactly possible for me, now is it?”
“There are a lot of people with no quirk who can and have done extraordinary things,” Izuku offered.
Momo looked at him skeptically.
Izuku sighed. “But no, it probably can’t happen,” he conceded. He was trying to be encouraging but he could tell she didn’t want to be pitied or anything like that. She knew the truth and she knew he did too.
Momo nodded, it was what it was, she couldn’t change the fact that she was born without a quirk… But she could change that she didn’t have one right now. She straightened her posture, holding herself with all the pride of a true hero. “So given that All Might’s ability to use his power is waning and he can transfer that power to others, I want to find the Symbol of Peace and convince him to give his power to me. I want to be his successor. I want to inspire and give hope to others just like he did. I’ll be the greatest hero there ever was, just like All Might.”
Izuku looked stunned but nodded. He suddenly felt like he was in the room with an actual pro hero. Momo spoke with such confidence and authority, it was hard not to feel the hype with her. “Then with all of that in mind, I guess we need to get down to business.”