Summary: Izuku had a Quirk, but it was one that neither he, nor anyone else, ever expected. Neither was the way he manifested it, anything like he thought it would be. It was not a day of excitement like it should have been, but night of terror instead.
Rating: M
Word Count: 100,990
Status: Ongoing
Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13389666/1/Atlas-The-Titanic-Hero
Chapter 1: Chapter 1
"Get out of my way, stupid Deku!" Katsuki Bakugo shouted, shoving the younger, shorter, green haired kid in front of him onto the floor.
"Kacchan!" Deku, or rather Izuku Midoriya, cried out, his eyes watering as he looked up at the spikey blonde haired, red eyed boy above him.
The two of them had been friends of sorts once.
Or rather Izuku had been a member of Katsuki's entourage, following him around with the rest of his hanger-on's, watching in awe as Katsuki's showed off his powerful, flashy Quirk every chance he got.
And it was a pretty cool Quirk too, Katsuki's sweat was explosive or something, and he could ignite it at will. It was a flashy Quirk, and already the teachers at the local school they went too had earmarked him for greatness.
Perhaps even more impressive than his Quirk though, was the fact that the blonde had only discovered what is Quirk was the other year, a few weeks after he turned four. But despite that he was already showing a startling amount of control over it.
A genius. That is what the teachers and many of the student's at school had started calling him, and understandably considering his age, it had started to go to his head.
"Stop snivelling you useless Deku!" The five year old Katsuki Bakugo snapped, kicking at green haired kid at his feet, even as the rest of their group, all of whom had already discovered their own Quirks, dutifully laughed along.
"Stop it Kacchan! " Izuku cried out, struggling to his feet, even as his childish face twisted into an expression of pain, embarrassment and juvenile anger.
Izuku was the only member of their group who had not discovered their Quirk yet, and already the others had started bullying him because of this, even the kid who had only discovered his Quirk, which allowed him to extend his fingers, just the other month.
"No, you stop following me Deku! If you've not got a Quirk, then you're not my friend!" Katsuki replied, his own face contorting into a look of childish fury, even as he raised his right hand and pointed it at
Izuku, small sparks erupting off of his palm threateningly as he did so.
"Kacchan!" Izuku cried out, tears beginning to fall from his eyes now, as his best friend, the kid he had known pretty much from birth, glared hatefully down at him.
"Go away, Deku, and stop following me!" Katsuki spat back, shoving Izuku over again and sending him falling onto his bum.
From beside Katsuki another one of Izuku's 'friends' got in on the action and kicked some dirt at him, his slightly chubby face twisting up into a mean smile as he and several of the others all started guffawing and laughing at Izuku, even as he rubbed the dirt out of his teary eyes.
"Come on let's go." Katsuki called out, looking away from his useless former friend as he did so, before he started walking back to the playground, his troupe of fellow five year old friends following along after him. All of them laughing and playing around with their multitude of Quirks, and none of them bothering to look back.
Snivelling as he watched his friends walk away, Izuku pushed himself off of the ground and ran away. His white shirt and green shorts were all dirty now, his nose was snotty, his eyes were red, and his cheeks were stained with tears.
He was a mess and he knew it.
More than that though, he knew that if he tried to join in with Kacchan and the others, that they would all mock him and bully more than ever if they saw him looking this pathetic.
Running through the gates of the park, Izuku kept his head down as he ran towards the apartment building his little family lived in, ignoring the stares and odd looks he received from those he passed as he ran up the stairs and towards his top floor apartment.
(Later that evening)
"I really wish you would tell me what happened to get you so upset honey." Inko Midoriya, a tall slim, dark, green haired woman, and Izuku's mother, said softly as she carefully cleaned the bloody scrape on her son's knee.
"It's nothing." Izuku replied churlishly, looking away from his mother's caring gaze and over to where his father was sat reading a paper as he did so.
"Don't keep it all bottled up honey, it's not healthy." Inko pushed, putting down the wet cloth she had been using to clean the cut as she instead went to grab a plaster out of her first aid box.
"I said it's nothing!" Izuku snapped, his voice as sharp as a five year old child's could be.
Which was apparently still enough to take his caring, loving mother aback, especially since Izuku was normally such a sweet and kind little boy.
"Izuku!" Inko cried out, not hurt or offended by his words, but rather worried about what could have happened to get her son acting like this.
Hisashi Midoriya, Izuku's father however, was another story.
The man had always been a short tempered man. However the years of mockery he had received due to his weak Quirk, and the less than stellar life he had ended up having after bombing out of one of the regional Hero Academies in his youth, had all made him into an even harder, bitterer man.
The fact that his son, Izuku, was probably Quirkless had only made him meaner and more aggressive. Kid's usually showed whether they had a Quirk or not before they were five, Izuku was over five now, and already Inko had suggested taking him to a doctors to see if there was something wrong.
"Don't talk to your mother like that!" Hisashi snapped, slamming his paper down on the table in anger, small wisps of smoke trailing out of his mouth as he glared at his son, his cold, dark eyes making the boy flinch, even as an intimidating red glow seemed to form in the back of his throat as he started using his fire breathing Quirk.
"S-sorry d-dad…" Izuku muttered, looking down straight away, his heart thundering in his little chest as he saw his father's intimidating display, and saw the flash of anger in his eyes.
His father was not usually a violent, or at least not to Izuku. But he would shout, and yell a lot, and occasionally, when he was really angry, lash out at his wife, Inko, in anger.
"Hisashi stop it, you're scaring him!" Inko shot back, her usually kind face furrowing into a frown as she stood up and scowled at her husband.
"And you're mollycoddling him too much!" Hisashi snapped, standing up now, his temper getting even worse when he saw his less than dutiful and obedient wife not only standing up to him, but also talking back.
"He's our son, and he's five! Of course I am going to look after him!" Inko snapped, pushing the scared looking Izuku behind her now, even as her husband began to advance on her, the glow emanating from his mouth getting all the more intense with every step.
"He's your son, he's not mine! As if I would ever father a Quirkless freak like that!" Hisashi snapped, his anger getting the best of him now as the situation quickly started to escalate.
Hearing his father's words Izuku looked down at the floor in shame, tears beginning to fall and his whole body beginning to shake.
Inko though had a different reaction with a flash of anger she slapped her husband across the face. Her protective motherly fury overtaking the fear that usually filled her when her husband got worked up like this.
"How dare you!" She snapped, her hand stinging even as she knocked her husband's head to the side, a burst of fire spewing out of his mouth and striking some nearby curtains, setting them ablaze.
Ignoring the fire though, Hisashi's eyes instead flash with rage as he turned back and struck his wife, his hand sounding out loud as he hit her across the face as hard as he could and sent her falling backwards, only for her head to hit a nearby coffee table with a dull crack.
"M-mum!" Izuku cried out in horror, running to his mother's side in shock and fear, not noticing as he did so that the cut on his knee had rapidly started to heal.
"Ah shit!" Hisashi cursed, not paying attention to his motionless wife as he instead looked at the burning curtain, a scowl on his face as he quickly and efficiently pulled them down off of the rail and started stamping on them, quickly trying to put them out.
Izuku though didn't pay attention to his father's obscenities, instead he continued to cry and tearfully shake his mother's still form, his tear filled eyes soon noticing the blood pooling around her head and staining the carpet, even as his childish mind also clocked onto how she wasn't moving anymore, or breathing.
"Oi you! Make yourself useful for once in your damned life and get some water from the kitchen!" Hisashi snapped, even as he continued to stamp on the still smouldering curtains, his dark eyes snapping over to his son and motionless wife as he did so.
Only for the elder Midoriya to freeze as his eyes locked onto his son.
Izuku's face was twisted into an expression of rage and fury, a look that was so alien to his cowardly son's face that just the sight of it made his heart skip a beat.
"I-Izuku!" Hisashi said in shock, a shiver of fear travelling down his spine as he saw his son's head snap around to look at him.
Izuku's green eyes were practically glowing, and steam was now visibly starting to flow off of his body, the heat now coming off of him causing the air around him to ripple, even as the boy's face continued to contort into an inhuman mask of absolute fury.
"Izu… " Hisashi began, swallowing back his nerves as those glowing green eyes bored into him.
Only for him to be interrupted before he could say any by his son letting loose a roar of fury, after which his world went dark as the air around him exploded with heat and he found himself crushed to death against the wall of his apartment, his ribcage shattering, his skull cracking, and his organs all being pulverised in a single instant.
(Outside of the Apartment)
Outside of the apartment, all of those present, either in the streets or in their own homes, instantly heard the deafening scream of fury, even as the eyes of those on the streets shot towards the source of the sound.
As they did so however, fresh screams and cries of horror began to sound out from the streets as those below caught sight of the colossal, twenty metre tall giant that stood steaming on the top floor of the apartment building, rubble and scraps of stone raining down all around it, even as the titan spread his massive, human like arms wide and let loose another inhuman bellow of rage.
The greenish black hair that covered its massive head shifting slightly to the side as it leant its head back, its giant maw opening as it released its cry of rage to the world at large, revealing as it did so a set of glowing, phosphorous green eyes.
Moments later the apartment building the creatures was standing on collapsed, the giant monster's weight proving far too much for the structure below it, even as it crashed through the four apartments below it, the building around it exploding outwards as it did so.
As this happened, the people on the street, and those within their homes, turned and ran. Those on the streets sprinting as far away from this monstrous Villain, for what else could it be, as possible.
The calmer amongst them calling for the police or for a Pro Hero as they ran, alerting all and sundry to the presence of the Villain as fast as they could so that they could get the help they needed.
Even so, despite the quick response some were not able to run far enough as with another roar of rage the gigantic, titan tore through the remnants of the apartment building around it and started to rampage through the city district, crashing through any buildings that got in its way, and crushing people and cars under foot as it lashed out in bestial fury at anything that got in its way.
As the creature went on its rampage; screams and shouts of terror and fear soon filled the streets, mixing in with the sounds of buildings being destroyed, sirens sounding out in the distance, and the creature's own deafening roars and screams of fury.
By the time the sun rose the next day, and the Pro Heroes, led by All Might himself, finally managed to put the monster down; three hundred and sixty four people had lost their lives, including three Pro
Heroes. Hundreds more, both civilians and heroes both had been injured, and thousands were left homeless.
The events of that night, known to many as 'The Night of Great Loss' quickly went down in the history books, and became infamous, both because of the sheer amount of damage and death that had been caused before the heroes could stop the titanic creature, and because the culprit turned out to be a five year old child, Izuku Midoirya.
(Ten Years Later)
There was a calm expression on the small, mouse like beings face as he walked through the clean, clinical looking, white halls of Asphodel, a facility that had been specifically created for the containment, punishment and rehabilitation of under sixteen year old Quirk users.
This place was commonly referred to as the younger brother of the maximum security jail, Tartarus. A bigger and far more secure and secret facility, within which the most powerful and terrible Villains in society were kept.
That said not all of those who were contained within the Asphodel, were juvenile criminals or Villains.
After all, although there were many in the facility who did fit this description, with some of those that were being kept in Asphodel, were only being kept there until they turned seventeen and were eligible to be sent to Tartarus, that did not mean all of the two hundred and fifteen inmates were criminals.
No, not all fit within that category. After all there were some inmates in the highly secure facility who were being only kept here for their own good. These children were criminals, instead they were the victims, the victims of their own Quirks.
Any of these young people had been born blessed, or cursed, depending on your interpretation, with having an exceptionally powerful, and yet completely uncontrollable Quirk. So much so that they were a danger to themselves, or to others.
In a world where everyone had superpowers, most of which tended to manifest in early childhood, incidents did occasionally occur, where a child, through no fault of their own, awoke their Quirk, or lost control of their Quirk, and because of this hurt or killed people, or destroyed the area around them.
These events didn't happen often, but they did happen. For example one of the children kept in Asphodel, an eight year old girl that had only been brought into the facility early this year, had lost control of her suspected wind controlling Quirk whilst she was in class at school. The teacher and twenty five children had all suffocated to death when the girl had accidentally sucked all the oxygen out of the air around her.
When these events did happen the government often tried to hush them up or manipulate the facts in the media, whilst the child in question was taken off to a facility like Asphodel where they could be taught control and restraint, and where, if all else fails, they could be permanently contained.
These children, sixteen and under, were all kept in the deepest level of Asphodel, in the most secure part of the facility, where they were educated, and taught control, all while being constantly watched and monitored.
Currently there were sixteen such cases in the Asphodel, and one of those cases was who Nezu was here to see.
Continuing down the hallway, Nezu, the Principal of U.A. High, one of the country's premier Hero Academies, and his companion, a tall, skeletal man with long, lank blonde hair and tired looking blue eyes, soon came to a stop in front of a set of large metal doors.
"Hello." Nezu called out, in his soft and high pitched voice. The small, mouse like being, a literal animal that had had the luck to be born with an Intelligence Quirk, reaching out and knocking on the metal door as he did so.
"Erm Principal Nezu, they do know you're coming right?" The blonde man, Toshinori Yagi, asked softly as he looked down at the diminutive headmaster, his voice coming out a little hoarse as if he were trying to hold back a cough.
"Yes, yes, they sent the invite and I agreed to come." Nezu nodded, his voice still pleasant as the little mouse like being took a step back, smoothing down his smart, noticeably scaled down, suit as he did so, after which he then waved at a camera overhead. "Hello, I am here!"
The blonde man, Toshinori, sent Nezu a wry sideways glance as he did this.
A few moments later though, before either of them could say another word, the metal doors opened with a dull hiss, even as a tall, thin, rangy looking man stepped out.
The man in question looking to be in his sixties, and wearing a dark suit and tie, over the top of which he wore a clean, white lab coat.
"Principal Nezu, I presume?" The older man spoke, his voice dry, yet kindly as he smiled down at the Principal, his smile widening slightly when Nezu nodded. "Good, good, sorry about the wait. They did buzz down from above and tell me you had arrived and were heading down here, but I'm afraid I thought I had more time before you would arrive. You see we don't really get very many visitors down here on the lowest floor I am afraid."
"Oh it's fine, Doctor Nakamura, no problem at all." Nezu replied with a nod and a smile, reading the man's name off of his lanyard.
"Yes fine," Toshinori nodded, the blonde man adjusting his yellow suit awkwardly as he noticed the Doctor looking at him now. "I'm Toshinori Yagi, I'm also from U.A."
"Pleasure," Nakamura nodded with a smile, before he gestured for the two of them to follow him. "Well come in, come in, I'm know that he's quite excited to meet you Principal Nezu."
With that said the three men entered the corridor behind the metal doors, even as they hissed closed behind them. Neither of the three looking back as they instead continued down the long, white corridor, the three of them occasionally passing by a large blanked out window and an electronic door as they walked.
Looking over at one of the doors they passed, Toshinori, noticed that the door in question had the words 'Cell 6' on it.
The doors they were passing were each containment cells, and the windows, they were electronic one way windows through which, when turned on, the occupants of the cell could be monitored directly.
"So I have to say I am surprised you agreed to come, Principal Nezu. I'll be honest, when he first made his plans known I did have some doubts as to whether any Hero Academies would accept him, let alone the most prestigious one of all, U.A." Nakamura suddenly said, making polite conversation as they continued down the hall, the three of them occasionally passing an armed guard as they did so.
"Yes, well I will admit, I was a bit leery at first. But his application to the school was good, his educational result were stellar, and the power he possesses is unquestionable. Most of all though I was impressed by his commitment to being a Hero, and his desire to make amends for his passed deeds, even when those deeds were not entirely his fault."
Nezu replied cheerfully, not revealing as he did so just how leery he truly was about allowing the applicant in question to try out for U.A.
Already he had had to argue the case with the school's board of governors, its many sponsors and alumni, and with the government in general. All of whom, all though not directly opposed to the boy, were still nervous and wary about letting such an individual into the school; both due to the danger he posed because of the potential reputational damage the school might suffer if something went wrong.
Still all parties had eventually agreed that the boy be allowed to at least try out, after all he fit all the requirements, and his situation was not truly unique. Already there had been other recruits from Asphodel to attend U.A., those that had not been able to control their Quirk when they were younger but who, despite this, had still managed to graduate from U.A. and become Pro Heroes. The Number Two Hero, Endeavour, was just one example, as too was the U.A. teacher, and Rescue Hero, Thirteen.
"I'm glad," Nakamura nodded, coming to a stop for a moment as he did so, before he looked to the two men. "He's a good lad. A bit unyielding at times and very committed to his goals, but a decent, strong heart kid all the same. Sure he had a rough start to life, but without a doubt he has the heart and soul of a Hero, and the potential to be the best there ever was!"
"You sound like you're quite attached to him?" Toshinori muttered, cocking an eyebrow at the Doctor as he did so.
"My relationship with him is strictly professional, but I can't deny that I'm not at least a little bit fond of him. He's been under my care for ten years now, it's difficult to not grow a little attached after that amount of time." Nakamura shrugged, continuing to walk as he did so.
"And during those ten years he's gained complete control of his Quirk?" Nezu question.
"As I already made clear in my letter of recommendation, yes," Nakamura replied dryly, his lip quirking upwards in amusement at the question. "He gained complete control of his Quirk five years ago, and has spent the last five years honing his control and developing it. It wouldn't be a lie to say that he probably has more control over his Quirk then most of the other kids his age have, even those who are also going to take the test next month."
With that said Nakamura came to a stop in front of the window to 'Cell 2', and activated the window using a panel that was just next to the door, revealing the interior of the cell as he did so.
"Izuku Midoriya." Nakamura said, a slight smile on his face as the teen in question became visible along with his room, both Nezu and Toshinori standing beside him and leaning forward in interest as they and the Doctor looked in at the prospective U.A. student inside.
The room in question was quite spartan, there was a neatly made bed in one corner of the room, and a small bookcase in the other, two rows of what looked like journals or hand written notebooks noticeably filling the shelves.
Next to the bookcase there was also chair and desk, on top of which a computer sat, with there being a U.A. themed calendar pinned to the wall above the computer.
On the other side of the room was the occupant, Izuku Midoriya.
The fifteen year old had short, cropped, blackish green hair, pale skin, and startlingly green eyes. He was also presently shirtless, and wearing nothing but a pair of sport's shorts as he danced backwards and forwards hitting the only other thing in the room, a large, swinging punching bag that hung just in front of the window that the three men were looking through.
From where he was stood Toshinori had to admit the boy's boxing form was all but perfect, his every blow swift, but striking with brutal strength and startling accuracy as he repeatedly struck the reinforced pad in front of him.
Just from looking at the teen, it was obvious that he was very fit. Midoriya had a noticeably very muscled, and heavily built frame, which even from where they were stood, could be seen to be glistening with a thin film of sweat as he landed blow after blow on the bag, without pause.
"His Quirk, Titan, allows him to grow to over thirty metres tall, and gives him super strength, rapid cellular regeneration, and an odd ability to harden different parts of his body at will. As far as we can tell, he can make upwards of ten percent of his body diamond hard at will. So far we've also tested his strength and found that, when he takes his Titan form, he can dead lift fifty tonnes. In his normal human form though when we tested him, we found that he could only lift five tonnes. Similarly when he is in his Titan form he can regrow an entire hand in five seconds. In his human form, after extensive preparation and with his consent, we found that it took him nearly fifty seconds to regenerate his hand." Nakamura rattled off, choosing his words carefully as he did so.
"You experimented on him?" Nezu asked sharply, his beady black eyes gleaming with a sudden ferocity as he looked up at the Doctor.
"Not at all, after he gained control of his Titan form, we gave him opportunities to push the limits of his Quirk, and he took them. All of the testing was done in a controlled way and was heavily supervised, and all done at his own insistence." Nakamura replied just as sharply.
Nezu narrowed his eyes at that, but eventually nodded and looked back to the boy, allowing the Doctor to continue his explanation.
"We also found that his ability to harden his body was affected too. When in his Titan form he could make his fists as hard as diamonds. In his human form however they were only as hard as steel. From what we have managed to work out, in his base, human form, his abilities are a tenth as strong as they are when he is in his Titan Form ." Nakamura continued, his eyes gleaming with fascination as he watched Izuku's fist suddenly go a silvery blue colour, even as he lashed out with a rapid combination of punches, battering the reinforced punching bag this way and that.
"That's still incredible, it's almost like he has three Quirks in one!" Toshinori muttered, glancing sideways at Nezu as he did so.
"Almost." Nezu muttered, watching Izuku carefully, as he continued to punch the pad, apparently oblivious to the three people watching him through the one way window as he continued training and refining his abilities.
"Yes, he is a bit of a special case." Nakamura nodded, a smirk on his face as he too watched Izuku train. "Where a child usually develops one or other of his parents Quirks, or both if they are lucky, or some new evolved Quirk which combines the two. Izuku's Quirk is a brand new one. His mother had a minor Telekinetic Quirk, and his father could breathe fire. Izuku though, his Quirk is something completely different, a brand new mutation, a miraculous anomaly!"
"It is incredibly rare, but is it not exactly unheard of for a child to develop a Quirk completely unrelated to their parents' Quirks you know." Toshinori replied, a slight frown on his face as he went back to watch Midoriya, his brow furrowing and his shining with suspicion and caution as he watched the boy train.
"True," Nakamura allowed, before he grinned even wider. "But Izuku is different. He is unique!"
"Hmm," Nezu muttered, sending the Doctor a sideways look as he did so.
"Yes, when he takes the entrance exam to U.A. he is going to show the world just how special he is." Nakamura nodded enthusiastically.
"And you're fine with him leaving your facility, never to return?" Nezu asked curiously.
"He was eligible for release five years ago when he proved to the parole board that he could control his Quirk." Nakamura shot back.
"But he chose to remain here at the time, honing his Quirk and preparing for U.A. You ask 'if I'm fine letting him go?' Well it's not up to me, it's up to him. Sure I will miss him, but if he thinks that it is time for him to leave the nest and spread his wings, then that is that."
Nezu nodded at that, a slight smile on his face as he looked back at the boy, even as he continued to dedicatedly punch his punching bag. The kid had a huge amount of potential.
"Truly he'll be the next All Might!" Nakamura muttered under his breath, his lips curling into a proud smile at the thought of his kid, the kid he had practically raised, becoming the next Number One Hero.
Toshinori however frowned worriedly as he saw the intense expression on Midoriya's face, his mind flashing back to ten years ago and the fury and destruction that this very same boy had reaped back then. Even now he could hear he screams of the dying, the burning heat that radiated off of Midoriya in his Titan form, and the boy's bellow of fury.
Was it truly a good idea to let the Titan, a walking catastrophe, come to U.A.?