Chapter Text
Izuku was a dreamer. Even without a quirk, all he had ever wanted to do was become a hero. Of course, that was easier said than done, and he knew he’d have to work ridiculously hard to even get to the same starting line as the other kids. With all that said, he was still determined to chase his dream, even if it inevitably ended up being out of reach.
That’s why All Might’s words came like an armed punch to the gut; he had gotten stabbed by the metaphorical sword of harsh reality. Or maybe it was just quirkism. The Number One hero wouldn’t do that, or so Izuku had thought until that afternoon on the roof when he did exactly that.
No matter, he wouldn’t let one man’s words stop him. Even if that man was the Number One hero in Japan, and maybe even the world at this point. Nothing would get in his way. As he climbed down from the rooftop, because of course no one came to unlock the door, he considered his next steps. He would need training, and also more battlefield analysis experience.
Footsteps echoed in his ears, the sound of his clunky shoes hitting pavement distant in a way he had grown fond of. It was much easier to simply float away in his head than to deal with reality, but floating only got him so far when he was faced with consequences. Red eyes nestled in green goo met his, a wicked smirk settling onto the sludge’s face. He noticed a puff of explosive blonde hair within the sludge, and his brain went into overdrive.
His feet moved before he could think, or so he said, but in reality his feet moved as soon as he saw those sharp red eyes wide with fear. The sludge had a hostage, and that hostage was none other than Katsuki Bakugo. A yellow backpack soared through the air as he remembered his notes, a soda can hitting the villain’s eye as it pulled away from the boys ever so slightly.
Izuku grabbed at the goop, clawing his way through to his bully. At the moment, it really wasn't relevant that the other boy had told him to kill himself; he had to save the explosive blonde no matter what. Adrenaline rushed through his body, keeping his head level when he normally would have started panicking and crying. Bending down, he ripped off his shoe and threw it at the same eye he had hit before, just with much more force. A wet squelch was his cue to grab the collar of the older boy’s shirt and pull.
He leaned into the motion, planting his feet and yanking at the only solid material he could find within the mess of slime. Kacchan came flying towards him, landing on top of Izuku as they both hit the ground. An unnatural bump echoed through his skull as his head landed on the concrete, hard, bouncing up again slightly and meeting the ground with another dull thud.
Pain erupted behind his eyes and through his whole head, but he bit his tongue and ignored it as he rolled them both over so he was on top. Jumping to his feet, he popped off his other shoe with his bare foot and kicked it up to his waiting hand. A quick look behind him was enough to confirm his fears, the villain was beyond pissed.
Clawing at the blonde’s shirt, he noted the way the other boy was paralyzed in fear. His bewildered gaze swept across all the heroes at the scene, the small sliver of hope bleeding out of his blood-red eyes. Izuku’s expression hardened, as he forced himself to look into his tormentor’s eyes. A shaky, warm smile spread across his face as he sharply nodded to the explosive blonde.
Once he had sprinted across the alley with a trembling Kacchan gasping for air behind him as the small boy dragged him along, he thrust the blonde into Death Arms. Silently hoping the hero would at least catch him before he fell if he already couldn't do his job right in the first place, he dashed back towards the sludge. Weaving out of the large man’s grasp was surprisingly easy, years of experience dodging having ingrained the instinct into the very fiber of his being.
As he neared his target, he tried to make himself look as large as possible. The fear in his eyes was nothing compared to the guilt clawing at his chest, so he pressed on, running faster than ever before. At the last possible second, he jabbed his other shoe in his opponent’s eye as the sludge bent down in a sloppy attempt to envelop the boy.
A well-placed kick that shocked even the boy himself to the other eye left the green goo momentarily blinded, which he used to his advantage by punching at his eyes once again. A flurry of blows left his opponent in shock, forcing the slime to the ground as he stepped on its eyes instead. With a loud grunt, he jumped up and onto the villain’s eyes once more, landing with the full weight of his body in a spread-legged stance.
Everybody held their breath as the boy stood on the sludge’s eyes, panting hard as he dug his heels in deeper. The sludge let out a low groan of pain, melting into a puddle over the concrete as it lost consciousness. Izuku let out a slow breath as he looked back at the crowd towards the heroes, a tall man with blonde hair catching his eye.
“All Might.” He breathed, the realization hitting him like a truck.
Maybe in another world, the hero would have gone over his limits and saved them both; his signature smile plastered onto his face as he punched the villain into bits. In this world, the boy broke under the disappointed glare of his idol. Instead of getting medical treatment, the heroes took one look at his shoes and scowled. It was almost remarkable how quickly their expressions changed when they realized he was quirkless.
A pulsing pain rocked the word back and forth as his eyes struggled to focus, leaving the world blurry as it moved in time with his erratic heartbeat. The heroes surrounded him, trapping him in a circle of disappointed adults looking down at him. Words filled his ears, but none of them could reach his brain as he forced himself to at least sit up. A lecture probably, judging based on their faces and choppy hand movements.
He groaned loudly, his wild green curls wrapping around his palms as he clutched at his head. Desperately trying to stay awake, he let his eyes explore the scene around him. Kacchan was fine, for the most part, still shaking violently and throwing up into a dumpster beside a large building while backdraft sprayed his forehead with cool water. There was an ambulance in the alley to his left, but it was empty. Another, darker colored, ambulance drove away.
Even the villain got medical treatment, but a quirkless Deku like him apparently deserved a scolding while he couldn’t even form coherent thoughts. Darkness settled into the edges of his vision, the pain in his whole body momentarily fading away along with the rest of the world.
***
Inko sat in next to the bed her son was laying in, his eyes resting peacefully as his chest rose and fell. In an attempt to calm herself, she tried to match the steady rhythm. Maybe the sound of soft exhales filling the room would make the memory of the heroes begrudgingly wheeling her son out of an ambulance fade away.
Disdain and even anger had filled their eyes as she looked from face to face, not letting her eyes catch on any one individual for too long. She remembered how much it had hurt her when she had first seen some one look at her baby that way, their gaze catching on his shoes before they scowled and walked away.
It broke her heart every time she was forced to remember that Izuku was different, that he was weaker in everyone else’s eyes just because he didn’t have a quirk. At some point, she had thought of him that way too. The memory brought tears to her eyes, her baby looking at her with wide green eyes overflowing with wet pools of tears, shakily pointing at that video he had loved of All Might’s debut.
Those three simple words, that small apology, broke them both. She couldn’t bear to let her sone get hurt chasing an impossible dream, but now she realized that her baby was stronger than anyone had thought.
He didn’t need a quirk to outwit the villain that had attacked both him and Katsuki, only his bravery and analytical brain. A soft smile pulled at her rounded cheeks as she took in his face, counting every freckle painted onto his tan skin. The bed dwarfed him, making him look impossibly small, yet in her eyes he was larger than life. If anyone could be a hero without a quirk, if anyone could be a hero at all, it was her Izuku.
At some point his bright green eyes had met her dark and steady ones, and the doctors had shared smiles and nuggets of encouragement with him before ushering them out. Someone placed a small orange cylinder in her palm, but all she could think about was the small boy leaning against her side. His feet dragged along, sluggishly moving to follow her out.
Their house waited for them, the familiar hum of the fridge mixed with the clean smell of detergent floated up into her face. Warmth filled her chest as she steered her half-asleep son to the couch with a chuckle, taking in every detail of her little hero. He was sound asleep before he even hit the couch, giving her the perfect opportunity to cook a meal.
A quiet hum filled the air; the sweet melody settling over the house as the smell of Katsudon wafted through the room. She glanced over at the couch, laughing as a disheveled head of green curls rose over the back. He blinked slowly, shaking the exhaustion out while his unruly hair followed bouncily. Laughter filled the house as a wobbly smile made its way onto his face, evolving into a grin as he burst out laughing.
Tears formed in the corners of her eyes as she called him over to the table, noting the way his steps looked lighter than they had before. Not in the hospital, but in general. He looked genuinely happy, flashing a sly grin in her direction as he picked up the pieces of her broken heart.
Izuku would become a hero, and she would support him every step of the way. Her past words ran through her head like a mantra, but she pushed the thoughts away, instead wrapping her son in a bear hug. He melted into the embrace, the stiffness that had followed her affection for years gone in an instant.
She wasn’t naive enough to think that a few hours had fixed the years of hurt, but maybe they had taken the first step together. Her baby was safe again, but more than that he was finally happy. In that moment she saw that his happiness was more important than his safety, and she promised to help him chase even his most impossible dreams.
No matter what.
***
Chomper stood at the edge of the roof, his plant-head rising into the air as he snapped to attention. Someone was near him. Red tendrils expanded from his fingers, sensing the vibrations in the air as he tried to get a feel for who was approaching. Another stalk snaked out of his left arm, feeling for the sound waves of a voice.
“Chomper. My pleasure.” A rather average figure stands before him, bowing slightly. That is, besides the large bone structures protruding from his back.
‘Would you mind introducing yourself?’ Chomper signs, hoping to Kami that the other man knows sign language.
“Ah, right. You probably can’t see or hear in the traditional sense, can you? Takaie Kanigumo, pleased to make your acquaintance.” He lifts from his bow, his face likely settling into a smirk from the tone with which he speaks.
‘No, I can’t. Pleasure to meet you, pal. So, we planning the heist or what?’
“Yes, yes we are.” A small chuckle punctuates the sentence. “So, it’s a rather small bank. I’d say you take the guards and I’ll take the money?”
‘Yeah okay. How are we planning on sneaking in though?’
“We might be able to approach from the back entrance, to avoid detection. I can break any cameras with my quirk.”
He assumes he’s referring to the large skeletal structures and nods, his Venus-fly-trap-head bobbing up then down. ‘Alright, so then we just sneak to the vaults?’
“Yes, pretty much. Those were my thoughts at least. Anything you’d like to add?”
‘Nah, sounds-’ He stops signing abruptly, snapping the tendrils on his right arm towards an unfamiliar presence.
A small person wearing oversized clothes peaked out from around a corner, then seemingly disappeared altogether. Confusion and alarm blended into one as he panicked, trying to locate the presence again. His companion then spoke, but rather than aiming his voice towards Chomper he talked to someone to his left.
“Ah, you’re the reason my dear partner paused. Would you be so kind as to introduce yourself, and state your reasons for eavesdropping?” This caused the other man to freak, cursing internally for not noticing the foreign presence sooner. He still couldn’t quite figure out where the small person was, as he had somehow completely hidden his presence, but still extended his ‘listening’ stalk towards his left to hear the introduction.
“O-oh, I-I didn’t mean to startle you! I w-was just curious, that’s all! Also, if I may, y-your plan is pretty b-bad. But that’s okay, I just wanted to offer to help you guys o-out!”
“And why would we offer our trust up to a scrawny middle school boy?”
‘Middle schooler? Kid, how the hell did you learn to sneak around like that?’
“Ooo, a plant mutation quirk. Seems it’s not just a Venus flytrap, judging by the thin red spiked tendrils coming from your right arm and the thick yellow reedy stalk coming from the other, so maybe a quirk that can manifest poisonous plants upon the users body as they wish, but then you probably wouldn’t choose to have a Venus flytrap as a head so maybe you weren’t aware of this or maybe the mechanics of the quirk require at least one full limb to be manifesting a plant at all times, or maybe the other plants are all types of flytraps and you can manifest their parts according to your own body, so tendrils and leaves on your arms and roots on your legs, or maybe-”
“Dear child, you have devolved into a storm of incomprehensive muttering and neither I nor my associate can understand a word you are saying.”
‘No, I caught that. But what the hell kid? How did you figure out the mechanics of my quirk just by looking at me?’
The boy seemed to perk up slightly at that, finally releasing his guard and letting Chomper notice his presence. “So it is that last theory? Can you actually grow roots from your legs? How about the stems from your arms? Was I right about the different species? Do you eat flies?”
He snorted at that last question, his plant head splitting open slightly before releasing a sputter of air. ‘Yeah, that’s how it works. But back to you, how exactly are you planning on helping us?’
“W-well, you see,” the small boy shrank into himself slightly before once again completely masking his presence, then continued his sentence. “I like analyzing people and q-quirks, so I thought I could make you a b-better plan for your heist!”
‘Where the hell is the kid?’ He signed in the direction of his partner, hoping his gaze was on the shorter man. But alas, not everything can go his way.
“What reason do we have to trust a small child like you with our highly confidential plans?” It’s more of a statement than a question, judging by his partner’s tone, but the kid still answered with a snort.
“Calling them plans is a bit generous, but sure. And the confidentiality is completely unnecessary if a five year old could think of them.” The boy muttered under his breath quietly; his partner seeming not to have heard the kid’s snide remarks if the relatively unchanged stance was any indicator.
“I’m over here by the way, Chomper-san. I didn’t realize I was masking my presence, sorry.” The small child was quite a bit louder this time, making sure the man in question could hear him.
‘Ah, thanks kid. How the hell do you not realize you’ve completely disappeared though?’
“...Practice?”
His partner chose that moment to steer the conversation back to its original purpose. “Enough meaningless babbling. If you believe you can make a better plan for us, then do. Humor me.”
The kid swung his backpack around to his chest and rummaged through its contents, picking out a small rectangle that caught the breeze oddly. Almost as if it wasn’t quite solid, or softer than it should be. He then opened it and started writing, which cleared up Chomper’s confusion as to what the object was. A notebook; that should have been obvious.
An incomprehensible storm of muttering followed, fast enough that even Chomper couldn’t keep up. The boy scribbled furiously, his writing speed rivaling the speed of his words. Impressive. The shorter man shifted his focus back to his partner, moving his red tendrils towards the taller man to assess his body language.
“Alright, I-I think I’ve got a solid plan!” A voice chirps, alerting him to the boy who had once again completely disappeared. This kid was starting to give him a headache.
“Let’s see it then.” A small pause follows.
“Should I maybe r-read it aloud, so Chomper-san can follow a-along too?” The innocent question caught the shorter man off guard, snippets of memories flashing through his mind. Teachers or peers had never cared about whether he could follow along with lessons or anything written for that matter, so a random kid had no reason to either. Yet he did, which made him pause for a second.
“Ah, right. That would be lovely, if it wouldn’t be too much trouble.”
The boy read his plan aloud, covering every possible interference and risk with detail. He had even gone as far as too search up the bank’s layout so he could adapt the plan to that bank specifically. Even their quirks hadn’t slipped his mind, and he had even gone as far as to think of new uses for his that he had never even considered before.
The man hadn’t realized he could anchor his feet to the ground in a fight, or even use a stem from a very specific breed of flytrap to be able to sense vibrations throughout the whole building when touching it to a wall. His partner’s taken-aback stance showed he was in a similar state of shock.
The boy ripped the pages out of his notebook, signing off with a small doodle of an eye as he handed the plan to the taller man.
“By the way, you owe me a favor now. One each.” A small chuckle vibrated the air as his partner’s stance shifted to one of alarm. Nothing seemed to have changed, but the kid was invisible to him throughout their whole conversation, so he couldn’t be sure as to what the boy was up to.
“What the-where did he go?!” His partner’s presence became apprehensive, almost as if he was expecting the kid to just pop up again out of nowhere.
‘Maybe he left since he’d done what he came to do. So, we using his plan?’
“Affirmitive. The boy has a tactical genius I’ve never had the pleasure of encountering before. If this works out in our favor, shall we tell our associates of this boy?”
‘Yup. Kid's smart, he could do a whole lot of good in the underground. Well, good for us. The heroes’ll probably think he’s a menace if they catch wind of him.’
“So, a codename is in order.”
‘His whole favor gimmick’ll probably come back to bite us in the butt, so maybe something dangerous that can last a while. Something that you wouldn’t even know was dangerous until it strikes suddenly.’
“I see. There’s one thing that comes to mind, and it also matches his bright green eyes. We shall add a –kun at the end though, since he is still a child. If his favor will come back to bite us, why shouldn’t we bite first? His reputation for the rest of his time in the underground seems like payback enough.” A quite laugh punctuated the last sentence, as both men shook hands and turned to go their separate ways until the raid.
***
Inko listened to the television passively while scrubbing at the dishes, the news of a bank raid barely holding her attention. Her son, on the other hand, seemed to tense up slightly. With an exaggerated sigh, she shifted her focus to the reporter as she set down the plate she had been scrubbing.
A bank in Tokyo had been robbed; every last penny suddenly disappeared. Their security system hadn’t even caught wind of the intruders, but what struck her as odd was that the reporter had said the footage clearly hadn’t been tampered with either. An odd expression crossed her baby’s face, flickering between an unreadable sort of giddiness until it settled on what seemed like guilt.
Izuku had no reason to empathize with robbers, so it worried her that her son looked even vaguely guilty when the reporter had gone over the basic information of the heist. She leaned into him slightly, bumping his shoulder in an attempt to get his attention on her. She quirked a brow at him, and his expression changed into one of detached annoyance.
Inko didn’t get an opportunity to voice her question though, as the reporter started talking about a possible outside interference. A note left in one of the vaults led the police to believe that a strategist may have been involved, with a picture of the note in question in the corner of the screen.
She had to hold back a laugh at the small slip of paper, a few words hastily scrawled across it. All it said was ‘thanks, Radium-kun! owe you one, talk soon ;)'. Whoever this mysterious potential strategist was having a name like Radim-kun was absurdly funny to her. Her son laughed as his eyes scanned across the note, a wry grin across his features.
The news story ended as the reporter fought to keep a straight face, waving to the people behind the camera to end the segment. Dishes clattered as they both brought their attention back to the chore, humming a tune as they finished up the last of the plates left over from dinner.
***
Shota had to keep himself from laughing at the detective in utter disbelief. “Radium-kun, seriously?”
Detective Tsukauchi groaned as he took a large gulp of coffee before answering. “Yes, that’s what it said. We believe this third party is a strategist or something of the sort, since the robbers wouldn’t address a note to one of their own. Other than the note, we don’t have a clue as to who could have taken the money.”
“How did they completely avoid the cameras though?”
“We don’t know. Not a clue.” He dragged a hand down his face as the hero nudged the mug holding the detective’s coffee towards the man.
“Thanks.” A tired, yet appreciative smile settled onto his face. “Now for why I called you in. I need a hero on the case of Radium-kun so if we can find anything at all about them we’ll have someone to tail them. Of course, you won’t have a major role yet, but once we figure out anything at all, even a vague meeting place, you’ll become instrumental to the capture of this person.” Tsukauchi leveled him with a glare, daring the other man to try and back out.
“Alright, I’ll do it. Good luck then, hopefully I’ll have a new nuisance to deal with soon.”
“Oh, and Aizawa? If this person turns out to be a kid, I need you to promise me you won’t treat them any differently than you would an adult criminal. The -kun implies a kid after all.”
“…I’ll try. Are you trying to imply I’m soft with kids.” He gives the other man a deadpan glare, grunting out the last part in a threatening manner.
“Yes, absolutely. Now go tend to your children, or rather lack thereof.”
“My brats are none of your businesses, and none of my students had any potential this year.”
“Whatever you say, Aizawa.”
Shota sighed deeply as he left the station, wanting a coffee now more than ever. He’d have to schedule a meeting with his underground contacts in the coming weeks in order to gauge the threat of this Radium-kun. They could be a new player, or maybe just now appearing on the police’s radar. Needless to say, their debut definitely caught the attention of many, some possibilities much more unsavory than others.
***
Chomper stood on the same rooftop he had met Radium-kun on a few short weeks ago, hoping the boy would show. After all, they had announced his presence to the whole world. More importantly, they had announced his presence to the whole underground. He would have smirked if he could, knowing full well that he and his partner now held all the cards in their hands.
Sure, people knew of the brilliant strategist Radium-kun's existence, but no one except the two of them knew where to find him. A sigh of relief escaped his plant-head's ‘mouth’ when a boy walked onto the roof. He was wearing the same clothes as the first time, smart boy, leaning against the wall in a seemingly casual manner.
‘Hey kid, thought you wouldn’t show.’
“Um-well, you still owe me, and I fully intend on using th-that favor.” He drew in on himself, hunching his shoulders before masking his presence. The man knew it was subconscious, of course, but still got slightly annoyed.
‘Can’t see you, buddy. You’ve gotta stop hiding whenever you get scared.’
He shuffled his feet a little and adjusted his breathing to a normal volume before speaking. “Better?”
‘Yeah. That’s a good instinct to have in the underground, you’ll probably need that someday.’
“O-oh, uh, you think other people from the underground will want to talk to me?”
He snorted unceremoniously, air puttering through his plant-lips. ‘Yeah, no shit. After that note we left everyone will want to check out the new strategist. It gets even better, I told all my allies that you don’t even charge for your services.’
“W-well, I do charge in favors. If I plan more stuff I do plan on getting a favor in r-return.”
‘That’s basically free compared to what strategists usually charge, and the fact that we didn’t get caught on the cameras alone is enough to make people intrigued by your skills.’
“Um, okay. But h-how exactly do you plan on me meeting these n-new people? I mean, they could always just come to the roof, or you could meet me here then tell me where to meet them but that would be a hassle for you and you have other villain business to tend to so maybe I could broadcast my existence somehow but I’d rather not get in any unnecessary danger by clueing in the authorities or the mafiosos and I definitely want to steer clear of that ‘symbol of evil’ guy so maybe I should have people contact me instead so only the people who are looking for me will find me which would also mean a more loyal customer base-” Chomper wacked the kid upside the head with a new tendril, crossing his arms over his chest.
‘You’re muttering again. Having people come to you though would probably be much safer, and harder to track for the authorities. Just, be wary, especially of the jobs you take.’
“Alright, Ch-Chomper-san. How will they know where to find me though? And I don’t plan on helping with murders, so there’s that. Do you think they’ll mind if I try to have as little injuries as possible?”
‘Nah, and if they do just tell them to fuck off. Don’t worry about how they’ll find you, I’ve got that covered.’ The ends of his plant-lips pulled up into a downright terrifying rendition of a grin, stretching his whole plant-head open to showcase the inside of his mouth.
The kid audibly gulped before inching away slowly, most likely trying to leave. Chomper was very grateful for the fact that he didn’t turn his back to the man though, so he could still sign any last-minute thoughts. He raised a hand in a gesture to stop, then shifted his stance into an offensive one before signing his final remarks.
‘Tomorrow night, midnight. Good luck, kid.’ He turned around and jumped down to the fire escape, sliding off and running into the night. The kid was smart, but he could only hope that he would be okay. The underground could be quite vicious.
The man turned down a slim alleyway, slowing his pace to a casual walk before rapping on a crooked wooden door. The building it was attached to was no better, bricks littering the floor around his feet. The residents could get quite, well, rowdy for lack of a better word. The many holes all throughout the building were proof enough, and the stench coming from the inside sent a shiver down his spine.
What in Kami’s name could they possibly be drinking that smelled that putrid, let alone what they were doing under the influence of the impossibly strong concoctions they had surely made. Chomper braced himself to the floor like the kid had suggested he start doing before knocking once again, expecting the... friend... he was looking for to knock him over with the sheer force of his hug.
‘Death by affection.’ He signed his remark off to the side on the off chance that the door opened.
With an exhausted sigh, he knocked one more time. Knowing no one could hear the door, let alone answer it depending on just how drunk they were, he tore off a piece of paper from the notebook he carried around in case people didn’t know sign. After jotting down a short message, he slipped it under the door and walked away.
An odd impression of a snicker escaped his lips as he thought over the note he had just written to the people inside, and the chaos the kid would have to deal with if they weren’t too drunk to find the small slip of paper. He hoped for the kid’s sake that they wouldn’t show up drunk, but knew they probably would. He should have mentioned that in the note, he thought with a sigh.
All the note had said was ‘hey, it’s one of the guys who robbed the bank yesterday. Radium-kun'll be on the roof above the convenience store, Shēdo 1-1-2. show up around midnight and don’t take any weapons if you know what’s good for you :D' in handwriting so messy it was probably barely legible.
Feeling content, he walked away. Sure, he’d have to go supervise a meeting tomorrow night, but he was keen on introducing dear little Radium-kun to the underground. After all, the people on the poorer side were in desperate need of a strategist that would make them any plan they wanted, free of charge. Besides the favor, of course; the kid surely couldn’t do too much with a favor. Right?