Optimism.
Hope.
Trying to look at the bright side no matter what the situation.
Those were a few things Izuku Midoriya used to be great at. That was part of the reason why All Might, the world's very own Symbol of peace and his hero, decided to entrust him with the duty of inheriting One for All and taking down the big bad, All for One.
However, all of that changed when that same kind and innocent kid had to watch a former hero get blown to bits before his eyes right after being manipulated and used by All for One. With his hand still held out which was initially supposed to be an attempt to prevent her from falling down a building, now empty, Midoriya stared at the golden flames and smoke below, unmoving.
Right at that moment, Midoriya understood. It was like a lifelong curtain had been lifted from over his eyes and he could finally see. He could finally see the truth of the world.
That's right. This was reality. This was the reality of the world.
If you are not careful, you get taken advantage of and then tossed away.
If you become a target, you become a threat. That's the whole reason why he left UA in the first place.
And most importantly,
If you are caught up in a fight, you better win; because if you don't… you die. Or worse, those around you do.
Amidst all of this thinking, Midoriya hadn't realised that his body was shaking, his fists clenched. He was burning up inside. Was it normal? He didn't know. Maybe it was because he had never felt rage or betrayal like this before. His whole world, all his ideals, everything he believed in were turned upside down in less than a minute and he did not know how to cope with it.
"Young Midoriya~" He heard All Might's voice from behind. It was gentle as it always was but strangely enough, it didn't calm him down. Not even a little bit. All he could feel was frustration.
"Do you wish to take Him down?"
Midoriya looked up. It was Hawks. He almost liked the look on the boy's face. It was the perfect amount of drive, dedication and insanity needed to catch someone like All for One. Hawks faintly smiled.
All Might understood exactly where
the conversation was headed. He called out cautiously, "Hawks–"
Hawks looked up at the retired hero and pleaded, sincerity coating his voice, "All Might, we need this. You know we do. Times have changed. We should too if we wish to defeat him. This time, for good, if possible."
All Might fell quiet. Hawks knelt down and slowly picked up the boy, grabbing his shoulders. Midoriya shared one glance with Hawks and understood. He wasn't joking about that proposal. He truly had something in mind.
Midoriya turned around and faced All Might. With a sigh, he said, "I have to take it. If there is even a single shot that whatever Hawks is proposing could work, I'll take it. I have to defeat him, All Might. I have to, no matter what it takes." All Might gave a pained expression.
He turned back at Hawks and continued, "What do you have in mind?"
"Follow me." Saying that to Midoriya, he gestured at All Might to come as well.
...
After a long ride, the three of them arrived at Endeavor's Agency. Staring out the glass of the car window, Midoriya squinted to confirm if he was seeing right. "This is Endeavor's Agency. Are we stopping at the right place?" He looked over at All Might to check if he also shared the same doubt but was greeted with nothing fruitful.
"Yes, we are."
"That means Endeavor's in on it too?"
"Be patient, junior. You'll know everything in a minute. For now, let's go inside, okay?"
Midoriya nodded as he opened the car
door and stepped out. Although he was on a task, he had not yet forgotten the disaster that happened in front of him just a few minutes ago. The aftereffects of witnessing what became of Lady Nagant after he had almost gotten through to her was still unbearable. But he tried his best to keep it under control and focus on what was ahead.
After a few steps and turns, he finally found himself in Endeavor's office, alone with just Hawks and All Might, and, an expected locked door shutting the four of them in.
That felt like an extremely confidential meeting to be standing in, considering all the locked doors, selective attendees and a heck of a lot more security measures. Midoriya got a little nervous. The atmosphere between the pro heroes did not help either. They were all glaring at each other like never before.
He wanted them to say something. Anyone. Being the youngest in the room, Midoriya could not possibly bring himself to be the first one to speak and break that nerve-wracking silence between them.
"So, we are doing this, Hawks?"
"My sources have put together everything. You can trust them. I can't tell you who they are or where they are for obvious reasons. But they are good at what they do and most of all, they are good people." Hawks looked at All Might while saying that last part. "All for One will never guess what's coming. To be honest, this might be the only way to beat an all-seeing, all-knowing man like him."
All Might shrugged after a long pause, "This decision isn't mine to make anymore. Young Midoriya will have to face All for One when the time comes. So, it's up to him. All I can do is support him from the side."
Midoriya finally spoke up when all eyes fell on him waiting for him to answer. "Like I said to Hawks earlier, whatever it is you are talking about, if it helps take down All for One, I'm in. But before that, I would like to know what exactly are you talking about?"
"We'll tell you. We can even take you there—"
"There?" Midoriya interrupted Hawks.
"You'll see. But just one thing before that which I think you need to know. If you decide to do this, there will be no turning back. You're going to be stuck on this path for better or for worse."
"Which is why I was so against it. I still am in a way," All Might added from the side.
"How far are you willing to go to defeat All for One? How badly do you wish to take him down?" Hawks asked.
The image of his fallen hero friends from the war and especially, the most recent mishap, the image of Lady Nagant's battered body floated before his eyes. "Badly enough to not care what I have to do to get it done."
"There's no turning back," Endeavor spoke
for the first time.
"Is there a chance I might have to die in this plan of yours? Is that why you all are being so over-the-top? 'Cause if that's the case, I assure I don't care about what happens—"
"No, of course not. Why would you even suggest that, Young Midoriya?" All Might got extremely defensive.
"Actually," Hawks intervened after a pause, "It could be much worse than that for you."
Midoriya was addled. What could be worse than what I just said? "Doesn't matter what it is. I'm in."
Hawks looked at Endeavor as if asking for confirmation. The flaming man mentioned, "If we are really going to do this, I think it's better we show you instead of wasting time here explaining everything to you."
In no time, Midoriya found himself sitting back inside the car, with a blindfold on, including All Might and Endeavor. The only one without a blindfold was Hawks so naturally he was the one driving. The vehicle sped along the city streets and into the hills located at the edge of the city, far away from the locals.
However, throughout the entire trip, Midoriya kept thinking about his idol seated beside him. The look on his face all this time- there was something wrong with it. There was something up with this plan that All Might didn't like and it wasn't just concerns about his successor's safety. It was more than that and Midoriya could tell. There was no way he would not be able to even after worshipping him and following the man for years on end.
The four of them arrived at a seemingly deserted one storied cottage. It looked more like a cabin in the woods, even the outside walls were textured timber slabs. Very inconspicuous and distant from civilization. The blindfolds finally came off. Hundreds of questions immediately popped up inside Midoriya's head seeing the place but before he could instinctively start muttering, Hawks announced, "We're here. Let's go."
Stepping out of the car, everyone followed Hawks and stopped at the door. He rang the doorbell. A generated voice received us saying, "Scan your ID please."
Midoriya looked around wondering where exactly that voice came from. By then, Hawks had already taken out his card and scanned it on the small monitor that had just popped out from the door pane. Once scanned, the device went back inside with the same voice saying, "Pro hero Hawks. Please confirm your identity."
Hawks leaned closer to the door and said, "Alya."
"Identity confirmed. Welcome back, Hawks." The door automatically slid open. That was when Midoriya confirmed that the cottage wasn't just an ordinary cottage but actually an ironclad building. This theory was proved further when he moved inside and the doors slid shut behind.
The door led straight to an elevator door after a few steps. The elevator took you below, and not above. Once the door opened, what beheld him was nothing short of a high tech secret underground base- the ones he used to read about in spy novels.
Incredible.
Amidst everything that he was going through, he couldn't help the feeling of awe that struck once he walked into that place. It wasn't cramped or complete yet. It didn't even look like anyone operated there that much yet. The place looked like a work in progress but he could already see and imagine what it would look like when it was functioning. The place was huge with compartmentalized rooms separated for various purposes or functions, he assumed.
They entered the only room which wasn't all empty. On the left of the corridor, it had a large sofa, a table, a computer desk and a TV.
"Let's discuss now, shall we?"
Midoriya immediately stopped gawking at his surroundings and focused on the conversation. Hawks looked at Endeavor "Endeavor, you wanna take this one?"
"No, carry on."
Hawks nodded. "So, Midoriya… Like I said… this plan we were talking about, it was exclusively to take down All for One. Now, you know the reason why he's always ahead of us and seems to know everything is because he's in our files, correct?
"Correct."
"So, I had been thinking, and the reason why you leaving UA made no change for him whatsoever was because you were still in our files. As long as you're in the system, it doesn't matter what we do, All for One will always find you. His quirk and his connections enable that. If we keep fighting him like this, we'll never be ahead of him. I thought for a long time on how we counter that and finally, came up with a solution. What if you weren't in the system at all?"
"Not in the system? But how is that even possible?"
"We can make it possible. Look who you are standing in the room with."
Midoriya was just beginning to grasp the full extent of what Hawks was suggesting. "Wait, are you saying that I have to completely disappear in order to get the upper hand on All for One? As in absolutely no traces?"
"Yes. Everything about you, all your files, all your data, ever little detail the system has about you, we'll get rid of it all."
"But that also means getting rid of my entire identity. There won't be a Midoriya Izuku. Or a son of Midoriya Inko. I'll become a ghost forever."
Hawks added in a solemn voice, "Now do you understand why I told you it's worse than dying."
"I'll exist but it will be the same as not."
Hawks nodded. Endeavor added, with his arms folded, "You can't meet with your friends at UA, your Mom or anyone, even us once we do it. Atleast not before All for One is defeated. Every time you do so, you could jeopardise the mission and risk your secret being blown. But if you pull this off, we are guaranteed to win against him. We'll be able to cut away the most important chip he has against us and that is, intel."
"What exactly do you want me to do after you erase all the files on me? What will be my mission?"
"We want you to gather intel against him. While we stop him from gathering intel about One for All, I want you to gather intel about All for One. Like how many people work under him, how does his lackies operate, where do they hide from the heroes in plain daylight. All that stuff, because the problem is… while heroes are on freakin' display everywhere, we know nothing about the villains we're going up against."
Midoriya fell quiet. Not just because he was still rattled with his foreseeable future if he were to go through with this, but also that what Hawks was proposing was a solid plan. He could actually see this working in their favour far more than his blind reckless pursuit of Tartarus prisoners that All for One had released into the city.
"Now you can see why All Might was so against it, right? There's literally no rewind button on something like this. Once it's done, it's done. You can't go back."
Although, Midoriya had already made up his mind. He let out deep breath before asking, "Let's say I agree to this, what happens to all the villains running loose in the city right now. Who takes care of them?"
"There are plenty of heroes still left who wish to do something good for the people."
After a long pause, Midoriya declared in a determined voice, "When I said I was willing to do whatever it takes to bring All for One down, I meant it. I'm onboard, whatever you need."
Hawks and Endeavor both looked proud of his sacrifice. So was All Might, but in his case, worry and empathy took over his feeling of immense pride.
"Well, if you're doing this, you won't do this solo like before. You need people by your side for a big mission like this. You will have a team," Endeavor mentioned. He looked at Hawks. "Call her."
Hawks nodded and left the room. After a minute, he walked in with a girl: tall build, nimble physique, dressed in all black and hair pulled up into a high ponytail. From the look on her face, she clearly did not expect to see both Endeavor and All Might in there.
Hawks walked to the front and said to Midoriya, "She's going to be your partner in this mission."
Midoriya looked at her. The two of them locked eyes and instantly, the boy's instincts took over. He bowed his head low, greeting her at the top of his voice like he usually does, "Pleasure to meet you."
He stood up. The girl stared at him, confused and then back at the pro heroes.
"He's the one we were talking about," Endeavor mentioned to her.
After realisation hit her, she spoke up, as she kept walking up to Midoriya; Midoriya hearing her voice for the first time, "Oh, so this is him. All Might's successor, the boy who inherited
One for All." Stopping before him, she exclaimed, "I see." Eyeing him down head to toe, she turned to the front at the heroes.
Hawks smiled at her and said, watching Midoriya's expression, "Don't worry. She might seem a little intimidating and hard to approach at first but she'll begin to grow on you. Besides, she's very good at her job. And she already knows everything about how to proceed, she'll guide you through the entire process."
Midoriya said, "Understood."
"When do we start, Sir?" She asked.
"Before that—" Midoriya interrupted at which all eyes fell on him. He continued, "I would like to speak with All Might." Taken aback, All Might squinted at Midoriya who was already staring back at him. "In private please. If possible."
Endeavor acknowledged, "Sure, have the room. Let's leave everyone."
As soon as the room was empty, Midoriya said, shrugging, "So?"
"What is it, Young Midoriya?" All Might asked, seeming genuinely curious.
Midoriya did not say anything but patiently
waited for him speak for a long minute. When nothing came from him after a tedious yet intense staredown between the two of them, Midoriya ended up saying, "Okay, this isn't going anywhere. Since you are not going to say anything, let me. Is there something you wanna tell me, All Might?"
"What do you mean? Tell you what?"
"Come on All Might, I've spent enough time with you to know when you are hiding something from me. What is it that you're hiding? I'd like to know before all of this happens."
All Might looked away. "There's nothing, son. You don't have to worry."
Midoriya could feel his reluctance in disclosing whatever it was but he was sure there was something. Atleast now it was confirmed from the way All Might responded. "Look, I'm going to go away. Probably for a really, really long time, who knows? If there's anything you would like to let me know, it has to be now."
All Might walked up to him and held his shoulders. "I do wish to say one thing. Take care of yourself. This is a very risky mission. You won't have the heroes by your side anymore, not by the books at least. I'll always be there, whatever happens in the future. I don't care about the damn books, I'll come for you if you ever need me. But I can't say how much I will be of use to you, given my current condition. So, make sure you're careful, okay? Also…" he sighed and continued following a short pause, "Airi—"
"Airi?"
"That girl, I mean, who's going to be your partner. Make sure you look after her too. She's going to need you in the future. You and that compassion you have in you, make sure you give her that, okay?"
"What does that mean?"
"You'll know."
"Is what you are hiding something to do with her?"
All Might released the grip on the boy's shoulders and walked away.
"Are you sure you don't want to tell me?"
He replied, "Whatever it is, it should come from her. Not me. So, maybe someday she'll tell you."
The curiosity was killing Midoriya given his nature nonetheless he didn't push any further. He trusted All Might and figured it must be something very personal if he was this unwilling to disclose it.
That was the day.
That was the day when the wheels began to turn; the day that set everything about to unfold into motion.
*********