Opening his eyes, he saw a white ceiling, felt the smell of medical supplies, and noticed an oxygen mask attached to his face. The Tiger didn't understand where he was and, with great effort, he tried to move his body, but it felt like he was paralyzed. The room was silent, with only the beeping sound of the heart monitor breaking the stillness. The only thing he remembered was the battle with a powerful enemy who had defeated them, inflicting severe injuries. Looking out the window where warm sunlight flooded in, he grimaced, realizing the pitiful state he was in.
His thoughts were interrupted by a doctor who entered the room. The elderly man with weary eyes and red hair looked at his injured form. Dressed in medical scrubs, the doctor approached him, monitoring his condition and the readings from the devices. The Tiger's eyes scanned the interior of the medical office. The doctor's white coat and tired eyes spoke of a night spent saving his life.
Moving his eyes in different directions, he tried to move every muscle, but nothing worked. He was also worried about the fate of his comrades who suffered at the hands of the Vigilante, who had easily dealt with them, considering that they had all been sent to intensive care with various types of injuries, from mild to severe.
The fight had been extremely brutal and dangerous; had he not held back, he could have easily killed them. Fortunately, he did not choose that path. Taking a heavy breath, the Tiger relaxed his mind and nerves until he heard a conspicuous cough from the doctor.
"Greetings. My name is Satsuki Yoromusha. I am the doctor responsible for your treatment." Trying to show friendliness, he forced a smile, recalling how they had desperately fought for his life. The Tiger merely blinked weakly, and a hoarse groan escaped his lips along with two words.
"My… comrades?" The doctor shook his head gently, not understanding his persistence in such a state where any other normal person would have given up long ago.
"Please, don't torment yourself. You were on the brink of death from yesterday's injuries. The fact that you can breathe is a miracle for us." The Tiger was shocked to hear this and remembered how the Vigilante had beaten him to a pulp. He continued to look at the doctor until he exhaled, understanding his persistence.
"As for your comrades, they are all right. They did not suffer serious injuries. Only some wounds, and their lives are not in danger," the doctor said, holding a form regarding the hero's health status. The Tiger felt that the doctor was hiding something, whether intentionally or not.
"What… happened… to me?" With heaviness in his lungs, the Tiger barely spat out the words, but the doctor's gaze told him everything he wanted to hear. The doctor looked at him sadly and sighed.
"You had very serious injuries. We fought for your life all night. Your spine is damaged, and you also have a brain hemorrhage. You survived by a miracle." Due to the anesthesia and medications that prevented him from moving, he exhaled sadly, realizing he was still alive after the deadly fight. He couldn't stop the enemy and even less prevent his comrades from suffering. The Tiger pondered how to develop a strategy to defeat him next time and how to return to action soon, but the doctor's voice interrupted his thoughts.
"I'm sorry to tell you this, but you will have to end your hero career. Your enemy damaged your spine. We tried all possible treatment methods, and all of them failed." The doctor tried not to look at the patient, but he could feel the fearful gaze of the hero. Wanting to tell him everything, the doctor continued his unkind truth.
"Your diagnosis is 'Autoimmune Reaction Against Regeneration.' Simply put, your body does not allow you to heal properly. The worst part is that you will remain disabled for the rest of your life." Shocked by this news, the Tiger wanted to jump up, but he couldn't feel his legs or body. The heart monitor began to pulse, but the doctor, knowing that such a reaction could occur, administered a sedative into his IV. The Tiger felt weakness wash over him and closed his eyes, feeling drowsy.
"I'm sorry."
In another room, in a cabin, Ragdoll sat with a bandaged head and arm. Looking at the white floor, she tried to remember how the fight ended and whether reinforcements had arrived while they were holding off the self-proclaimed Vigilante. Sitting in her cabin, she thought about the information she had learned during the fierce battle.
"Quirkless?" She couldn't get this out of her head. It can't be that someone with such immense power could remain quirkless. His dark tendrils and incredible strength could not possibly align with quirklessness.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door, and raising her gaze, she said, "Come in." The door quietly opened. A man and a woman were met with the smell of medications, and the woman with bright green hair looked bandaged.
"Greetings!" Detective Tsukauchi introduced himself in his light coat, and with him was Mandalay, who came to check on her comrades. Since Ragdoll was the leader of the current team, she would have to report on what happened.
"I hope you're okay?" Mandalay approached her, giving her a light hug, but all Ragdoll could do was hug her with her uninjured arm.
"Yes, I'm fine. It would be better if I weren't in a cast," she smiled, joking about her colleague. Mandalay didn't appreciate the joke and immediately punched her on the shoulder. The detective smiled at their childish behavior and decided not to intervene until Ragdoll spoke to him, initiating a dialogue.
"Sorry, we got a little carried away. You need to tell us what happened to us at that construction site." In response, Tsukauchi nodded, pulling out a notebook and pen. The two women were tense while he appeared too calm for them. As the sun streamed through the window, it created a friendly atmosphere.
"Everything happened in the evening. The dispatcher for emergencies called us, and we immediately dropped everything to get there on time." Glancing at the disappointed Mandalay, Ragdoll had no choice but to shyly lower her head, hoping she would forgive them, but Mandalay's reaction was still sad all this time.
"When we arrived, I used my quirk to detect the glowing of Stain on the fifth floor and immediately prevented a murder. But when we tried to stop him, he seemed to lose control and attacked us. After that, we all ended up here," she summarized for the detective. For him, everything seemed quite logical. The enemy was strong, and even several professional heroes couldn't stop this masked avenger. Putting the pen in his pocket, Tsukauchi was about to leave but was stopped by Ragdoll's voice.
"Detective, wait! There's something else I need to tell you." Intrigued, the detective activated his lie detector quirk to determine if she was mistaken in her judgments.
"My quirk allows me to find people over great distances, but besides that, by looking at people, I can learn what their quirk is and their weaknesses. The most important thing is that by looking at a person and their quirk, I can see their aura, while quirkless people lack this aura." Finishing her statement, she left the room in heavy silence, and Tsukauchi was intrigued as he found no lies in her words or doubts that confirmed the information.
"Interesting, continue." Taking out his notebook, he was ready to write down an important detail that could lead to a missing piece for the investigation.
"In battle, I activated my quirk while looking at Silent Phantom. And he is quirkless." The pen hovered a centimeter above the notebook. What Tsukauchi heard was impossible, but the strangest thing was that it was not a lie but pure truth. Silent Phantom had a powerful quirk that was not registered, and there were no similar quirks listed in the registry.
"Are you sure? According to the records, he has a very unique quirk that gives him strength and manipulation over black whips." Ragdoll was confident and did not lie to him; instead of proving it, she simply nodded, moving her uninjured hand.
"Yes, I am sure of that. It's hard to believe, but it's true." Detective Tsukauchi froze, his gaze fixed on Ragdoll. He slowly lowered the notebook, placing it on the edge of the bed. For several seconds, there was complete silence in the room, only the muffled sound of the machines creating an atmosphere of fragility.
"If this is true…" he slowly said, "then we are dealing with something we have never seen before. A quirkless person with such power… This contradicts the very nature of society." Mandalay frowned, her lips trembled, and her eyes glistened with anger mixed with pain.
"He almost killed them… one of ours he made a lifelong invalid," her voice was squeezed, as if she were holding back a scream.
"How is that possible? Quirkless… he shouldn't even be able to fight back. He's cheating, or you hit your head hard to claim such a thing!!" Ragdoll took a deep breath, turning to her friend.
"I'm not justifying him. But remember, Mandalay… he didn't kill us. He could have. He definitely could have. But he didn't. All of this felt… like he was holding back." Tsukauchi sat back down on the chair next to the bed and looked out the window, where the sky was starting to turn evening hues.
"Silent Phantom…" he pondered thoughtfully, "if he really is quirkless… perhaps we are witnessing the emergence of something new. Or someone whom the system itself has rejected." Mandalay turned away, unwilling to show how this assumption affected her.
"New? You want to say we should understand him? Forgive him?" Her voice trembled.
"No," Tsukauchi said firmly.
"But if we want to defeat him… we need to understand what we're dealing with. And who he really is." Ragdoll clenched the sheet in her hand; her teammate, who had been a powerhouse, was now a lifelong invalid. If only they had listened to his warnings, they could have prevented this.
"In any case, thank you for the unique information. I hope you recover soon." He headed for the door, glancing at the two heroines, and finally smiled warmly at them before leaving.
"This is all very strange."
****
Walking through the identical school corridors, Izuku ignored the glances from those around him. Venom, feeling this, grew even more bitter. They wanted more recognition; even though they fought heroically in the shadows, they deserved the respect that was lacking, even under the guise of Izuku Midoriya.
"They're all a bunch of lying crybabies." Izuku restrained Venom from bursting forth and causing chaos.
"I don't care about them. Everything is more dangerous than we think. Stain doesn't know my name or face, but he knows I'm still a teenager." Yesterday's fight with Stain hadn't gone without consequences; the wound on his shoulder remained fresh, and, like Stain, he had underestimated his skills and preparation.
"If those heroes hadn't intervened, he wouldn't have killed anyone else. We were at the target and would have rid the world of another madman if it hadn't been for them." Growling inside, Venom saw Fuyumi approaching with a magazine in hand. She looked beautiful in her outfit: a white shirt, a brown jacket, and gray pants with white sneakers. Unobtrusive but highlighting her kind and non-irritating character.
"Good morning, Midoriya. How are you feeling?" Adjusting her glasses, she looked at Izuku with a warm gaze that made him genuinely smile, giving her the most sincere expression.
"Hello, Fuyumi-san. I'm glad to see you again." With his heightened senses, Izuku caught the pleasant scent of cherry perfume emanating from her. Sweet, slightly tangy, but delicious; from the abundant inhalation, Izuku involuntarily sneezed, embarrassed by it.
"Bless you, Midoriya. Don't be late for class and don't leave too early; we need to talk about the event we have to organize." Adjusting her uniform and glasses, she turned to leave, waving goodbye. Hearing Fuyumi's warm voice and the rush of endorphins and dopamine that a casual conversation with her triggered, Venom grinned maliciously.
"I liked the rush of dopamine in your head. Talk to her more often; it's almost comparable to the adrenaline we experience in battle, Izuku." Izuku smirked at this and, adjusting his backpack, headed toward his class. What surprised him was the absence of Katsuki at his desk.
"He really transferred to another school. Good riddance; he deserves it." Venom liked this outcome because no one would bully them, especially not such a self-assured brat like him. Taking Izuku's character as the basis of his worldview, he found many flaws, which he slowly but surely eliminated through communication, making him better. Venom only provided confidence in actions, while the decisions and choices were made by the host himself. He saw Izuku's desires and dreams and didn't mind him wanting to become a hero, but often in contrast to this, Izuku made not the most logical decisions when fighting villains.
As he approached his desk, Izuku saw that it was covered with insults directed at him. Nothing had changed since he gained his powers. Online insults, verbal bullying at school hadn't changed even with Fuyumi's arrival. He glanced around and saw many students snickering behind their desks. Rolling his eyes, Izuku walked toward the teacher's desk and took out a cloth, but Venom's sharp voice pulled him out of his thoughts.
"Watch out for the projectile!!" he shouted from within, and ducking his head, he protected himself from the paintball. Izuku looked toward the girl who had thrown the projectile at him. Sitting at her desk, she was giggling at the whole situation along with several of her friends. They immediately fell silent when Izuku shot them a disapproving glare.
Rolling his eyes and approaching his desk, Izuku began to wipe the insults off his surface, which read:
Quirkless freak
Glory to Re-Destro
Bakugo was better than you
It's all your fault
The problem of our society.
And so on.
Sighing heavily, Izuku wiped away all the dirt that his classmates had made on his desk. Venom inside him was seething, trying to break free and teach Izuku's classmates a lesson, but the will of the host kept him from revealing his powers.
"Don't hold back, Izuku. These people deserve to be punished. Don't be a nerd; even without my tentacles, you can defeat them." Tempting his host to carry out vigilante justice, Venom was unaware that one of the students had approached Izuku from behind and forcefully grabbed his shoulder, squeezing his jacket.
"Hey, nerd. You and I are going to settle this after school," Katsuo threatened, smirking and using his quirk, Steel Hands.
"I'm sorry, but I don't feel like fighting you." Katsuo's response didn't convince him, and at the same time, many students began to gather around Izuku, surrounding him from all sides.
"You have no choice, Midoriya. You either agree or be ready to be beaten in class like in the old days." Growling at him, Venom took control of Izuku's right hand and punched Katsuo in the face. The blow was so unexpected that Katsuo lost his balance and fell on his back.
"Why did you have to do that?" Izuku's indignation was interrupted by Venom's quiet satisfaction, and Katsuo's friends took a few steps back, seeing Izuku's fearlessness.
"Because of you, Katsuki Bakugo left this school. If you had remained the same nerd, he would have been the first student to get into UA." Rising to his feet, he didn't take his eyes off Izuku's emerald gaze, which expressed indignation.
"Do you think I care about that, Katsuo?" With a careless tone, Izuku bored his gaze into Katsuo's soul, making him uncomfortable. Taking a few steps forward, Izuku grabbed Katsuo by his jacket, bringing him close to his face and invading his personal space.
"And what about me? I also want to become a student at UA. And if you want to help me get in, I haven't seen you doing anything to help me with that." At Izuku's words, Katsuo burst out laughing, hearing that he would enroll in UA just like Katsuki.
"You? Hahahaha!" The bully's laughter irritated Venom even more, but he relinquished all power to Izuku, who was also sharpening his teeth at Katsuo for the insults he had endured all this time.
"You have no quirk. How do you plan to become a hero? In history, there are no quirkless heroes." He was right; in the history of heroes and in the world of quirks, there were no quirkless heroes. Heroes who were quirkless were lynchers, avengers, and mercenaries, but not heroes who would fit into templates for heroism.
"And you? Even with a quirk, you don't want to be a hero. You're just a pathetic sycophant who loves to follow the strong." Katsuo's eyes widened in surprise, but he pretended to be indifferent to Midoriya's words.
"What do I care about you? For Re-Destro, there's no place in this world for someone like you." Hearing all the insults directed at his host, Venom was furious but felt suppressed by the host's will, which constantly held him back. Letting out a tired sigh, Izuku released him and headed back to his desk.
"Trying to act tough, aren't you, Midoriya? Pray to your nonexistent god and wish for me to disappear from this world. Oh, I forgot; gods don't exist, hahahaha!" Izuku let all the filth that Katsuo poured on him slide, but at that moment, a teacher entered the room, causing the whole class to fall silent and sit at their desks.
"They don't even know what a god is to talk about it. Their ignorance sometimes amazes me, Izuku." Infuriated by Katsuo, Venom growled but was interrupted by Izuku.
"Let him say what he wants; I'm hardly bothered by his words." The lesson dragged on extremely slowly and tediously, but Izuku had to take notes since his performance was under Fuyumi's supervision, and if he received poor grades, it would greatly upset her. He didn't want to disappoint her, as she was the first person to talk to him as a person.
"It's strange to see how students and teenagers strive not for knowledge but for good grades, which hardly affect life, Izuku. I'm still surprised that with the rise in literacy, people remain ignorant." With a scholarly tone, Venom mentally conversed with Izuku while he recorded another lecture that piqued the alien's curiosity.
"Well, human stupidity is a very debatable thing. Even the smartest people act foolishly, catering to their own interests and desires." Izuku countered, defending his kind from the criticism of the alien who had found him.
"Even you know this. You want to cater to your desires but refuse to do so. Why?" Izuku fell silent, hastily writing down the lecture notes on the board.
"Come on, speak up. Don't hide what you already know." Venom urged, but Izuku paused and exhaled, holding back his emotions.
"I'm afraid of the consequences of my desires. If I didn't hold myself back, who knows what sacrifices it might lead to?" Izuku answered calmly, and Venom smiled slightly at this.
"Then you're not a superhuman if you refuse to give in to your desires for the sake of morality and fear. To become one, we must give up many things that hold us back, Izuku."
"What are you getting at?" Izuku asked with interest, but his thoughts were interrupted by the teacher calling out to him.
"Yes, teacher?" he asked with some anxiety, forgetting what the teacher had said during the lesson.
"Mr. Midoriya, if you continue to drift off into daydreams, you won't learn anything." Strictly reprimanding him, some of his classmates snickered at him. Izuku awkwardly scratched the back of his neck, smiling sheepishly.
"And now sit down and don't miss what I'm telling you." Nodding silently, Izuku sat back down at his desk.
"Even now you think about human kindness. Remember, you don't fit into their society. We should not be restricted by society since we do not belong to it. They will never accept us as heroes or as human beings. If they consider themselves perfect, we will become superhumans they have never even heard of." Venom said, although it seemed quite childishly naive, but for a youthful mind, surpassing others on a moral level meant a lot to Izuku.
"The weak created morality to prevent the strong from dictating terms. We are not restricted by religion or gods; we are free from these concepts. We created ourselves, and we will only become better if we cast aside the herd instinct." Izuku was glad that his friend was guiding him on how to become better, but he didn't fully agree with Venom's words. Izuku was tormented by how Stain could sense him. He didn't know his name, but he could feel his young blood. Overwhelmed by thoughts, Izuku tightened his grip on the pencil.
"He knows that I'm still a teenager. Even though he hasn't seen my face, if he collaborates with other people, the investigation circle will narrow down, bringing them to me." Overwhelmed by thoughts, the pencil in Izuku's hand broke, attracting the attention of several students. Izuku didn't even notice them, lost in his thoughts.
"You're worrying too much, Izuku, about this. The scar from the blade is not fully healed yet, and you're already panicking over what hasn't happened." Venom calmed him down because he also felt how panic was rising regarding this issue.
"He's too dangerous. What if he preserved a sample of my blood, and by analyzing it, he could lead them to me?" Venom scoffed at Izuku's words and quickly calmed him down with artificial stress reduction in his body.
"Unless heroes intervene, he wouldn't have been able to take a sample of our blood. And most importantly, I managed to close the wound after he pierced my shoulder with his blade." Izuku sighed, leaning back in his chair and looking out the window.
After a long day of lessons.
The last student left the class, leaving Izuku alone, making him bored in solitude as he waited for Fuyumi. He promised her he would wait and didn't take it upon himself to pull out another hero notebook that described hero gear and their use under different conditions and enhancements of already existing powers.
"This is not bad. Artificially, we will become stronger, just as we develop our bodies. We must also develop tactical thinking in different situations. Stain showed us where we should aim." The development on the part of Silent Phantom pleased him because Izuku showed everything he knew in practice. While fighting heroes, his analytical mind worked at maximum speed. Although he hadn't revealed all the powers he had at hand, to maintain control over his mind and body, he held back the powers he possessed. Even though he remained quirkless, he was unique in his way; he was the first representative of humanity to establish contact with an alien.
"Izuku-kun, are you here?" Carefully peeking her head through the door, she looked around, searching for the green-haired boy. Throwing a glance from side to side, she found him sitting at his desk, mumbling and writing something in his hero notebook.
"There you are." As she walked through the classroom, Fuyumi caught the scene of her student quickly mumbling, lost to the surrounding world, including her words that passed by him unnoticed. She approached from behind and, examining what Izuku was writing in his notebook, saw over his shoulder that he was vigorously sketching a costume concept for Silent Phantom. He had completely stopped responding to the outside world, and wanting to bring him back, Fuyumi snatched the notebook away, bringing Izuku back to reality.
"Hey, give it back. Eee, Fuyumi-san?" Shocked by her, Izuku waved his hands, trying to hide his embarrassment, which made Fuyumi smile, but when she noticed who he was drawing, her smile faded.
"Izuku, I understand that you are fascinated by heroes and all of that, but why did you decide to take an interest in someone who is typically hated and despised?" Izuku swallowed hard; his friend hadn't warned him, and now he stood on the verge of revealing his identity to the closest person in his life in the dumbest way.
"Well, eee, I just saw him on the news and iiiii... eeeee... thought about how someone with such an unremarkable slime quirk can defeat powerful professional heroes." Stammering and sweating profusely, Izuku looked anywhere but at Fuyumi's eyes. She didn't suspect anything bad about his intent, but his fascination with a person who maimed and killed people worried her.
"And you decided to empower him by creating him a costume, right?" Widening her eyes, Izuku was on the verge of disaster, as she could reach the truth if he didn't answer correctly.
"Listen, I became very interested in what would happen if I created him a costume and whether he could defeat the top ten heroes." Scratching the back of his head, he dug his nails into his sneakers to calm himself down a bit before her, but Venom interrupted his thoughts.
"At least you had the sense not to bring a notebook with our characteristics and battle analytics to school." Snorting, Venom earned a less than pleasant reaction from Izuku. At the displeased expression on Izuku's face, Venom laughed.
"Why didn't you warn me when she came into the class?" Izuku internally shouted, but Venom continued to gloat until he decided to respond seriously.
"You were so engrossed in this that even I got caught up in it and didn't pay attention to her." Izuku grumbled internally but still decided to look Fuyumi in the eyes and come up with an excuse or a truthful story. Fuyumi didn't take her eyes off the student but still decided to give him a chance.
"Sorry, Fuyumi-san, I was just so disappointed in ALLMIGHT and was trying to create a villain who could defeat him. I apologize if that sounds very bad or even villainous, but his words still linger in my mind. Sometimes I want to hit him so he can feel the pain I experienced." Disappointed, Izuku lowered his head, embarrassed by his words, but Fuyumi felt his despondency, and while he spoke, she flipped through other pages in his notebook until she stumbled upon herself. She saw that he had not accurately, but had drawn her in the notebook, smiling as she saw how he attempted to describe her favorite things, preferences, and hobbies. The most astonishing thing was that she found a description of her quirk that spanned 3-4 pages… her character, mannerisms, even favorite phrases, albeit in a scribbled handwriting. It was sincere. And when she saw that next to her image he left a small note — "the first who saw a human in me" — Fuyumi's heart ached painfully. After listening to all of Izuku's speech, she closed the student's notebook with a clap, drawing his attention as she met his gaze.
"Don't apologize, Izuku-kun. You didn't do anything wrong, but why do you hold a grudge against ALLMIGHT? Yes, I remember what he said on television, but something tells me you have personal motives for hating him." Izuku trembled before her, recalling that very moment on the rooftop.
"Quirkless people can't become heroes."
"You are unworthy of being one."
"If I tell you, will you promise not to tell anyone?" Fuyumi nodded and began to look at her student more anxiously, noticing how his anxiety had disappeared. His voice cracked, and his eyes were fixed on the floor, unable to bear the heaviest words of his life.
Inhale.
Exhale.
"That day when you ended up in the hospital, the same villain who attacked you attacked me. He almost killed me, but ALLMIGHT saved me, and I wanted to ask him if a person without a quirk can become a hero, to which he replied that I was 'unworthy' of being one." His voice trembled, and Izuku sniffed, but he didn't want to cry; he was tired of it. If he cried, it would be alone, not in front of the eyes of a close person. Unexpectedly for himself, Izuku felt Fuyumi's cold hand on his shoulder and raised his gaze to her ocean-blue eyes.
"I don't know the entirety of your conversation, but listening to you, I understand how painful it is when your idol tells you that you can't realize your dream." Her warm eyes penetrated the darkest corners of Izuku's soul, and for a moment, it seemed to him that her voice resembled that of the closest person in his life.
"Don't believe his words, Izuku. ALLMIGHT is a human first and foremost, not a god. If he said you're unworthy or can't be a hero, I'll tell you that you can be a hero. There's no problem that a person can't solve in their life, and what makes you worse than them?" Izuku wanted to hug her tightly but didn't understand if she would accept it, so he didn't test his luck and continued to look at her in shock.
"Take this." He took his notebook from her hands and opened the page where she should be, seeing her autograph under his notes about her. Izuku was shocked and blushed, realizing she might misunderstand him.
"I'm very sorry, Fuyumi-san, for drawing you and writing your characteristics; I promise I will destroy this notebook right in front of you." With panic in his eyes, he bowed to her. Fuyumi didn't understand Izuku's reaction and placed her hand on his head, gently ruffling his hair.
"Don't do that, Izuku. I even liked how you tried to find my taste preferences. Keep it and don't show it to anyone; treat it like a personal diary." Izuku raised his eyes in excitement and couldn't hold back from hugging her, but common sense was much stronger and prevented him from doing so.
"Thank you, Fuyumi-san; it means a lot to me."
"Lift your head and don't take this so seriously. You didn't do anything bad to me." Smiling warmly, she got off the desk and started moving toward the exit of the classroom.
"Let's go outside; we have something to talk about."