Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Sometimes the world doesn’t need another hero. Sometimes... what it truly needs... is a monster."

-Vlad the Impaler, Dracula Untold

Chapter I

Knock Knock, Let The Devil In

As the first rumblings of a thunderstorm began to form over the city of Mustafu, a young boy of around fourteen with messy green hair clad in a school uniform comprised of a black gakuran uniform with yellow buttons and a pair of large red boots with a cane to support his ruined right leg limped back to the apartment his mother had gotten him for when the school year began at the top-of-the-line school he had been selected to attend, Yasojin High, kicked off in a few days.

Izuku Midoriya heaved a heavy sigh. His mother’s love was really the only thing he still had going for him these days. His dream was dead, and with it, his faith in the people he’d looked up to ever since he was a small boy, particularly the number one hero, All Might. Ugh, even thinking about that showoff made him feel a spike of anger and hatred after what happened…

Hospital-Six Weeks Ago

Izuku groaned as he lay against something soft… where was he? How did he get here? Last thing he remembered was entering the simulated city where the Physical Exam for entrance to U.A. was supposed to take place…

Izuku struggled to open his eyes as he tossed and turned on whatever he was laying on, only to experience agonizing pain. Why did everything hurt? His right leg in particular felt like it was being cut open with a knife.

As he writhed in agony, he began to hear voices, and they sounded like they were nearby.

“...holding up?” said a familiar voice. All Might! But, what was he doing here? Where even was here?

“We've done all we can for him, but his leg... not even my Healing Quirk can fix that...” a nearby female voice that Izuku didn’t recognize said.

“Perhaps that's for the best, then. I admire the boy's determination, but he needs to understand that without a practical Quirk that he can use to defend himself, he’s going to get himself killed. This time, he got lucky, he was in a simulated environment and we were on hand, but if he keeps going like this, eventually that luck is going to run out. He needs to understand that, as hard as reality is, not all of us can be heroes. The truth is, that while it's not bad to dream, you also have to consider what's realistic.”

Izuku’s blood ran cold at those words. What…?

A memory surfaced in his mind’s eye, one of his fondest memories of All Might, one of him proudly declaring that “Anyone can be a hero!" that shattered like glass and was replaced with emptiness that echoed the words that All Might had just spoken. Like a rising thunder, a surge of anger and outrage began to grow within him. 

It wasn’t long before Izuku’s eyes flew open, a look of pure anger on his face as he, painfully, sat up and glared daggers in the direction of the number one hero and what he now realized was a Recovery Girl, which meant that he was in the hospital, both of which became alarmed as Izuku screamed out, ”LIAR!”

“O-oh! You’re awake! Um… how much of that did you hear?” Recovery Girl said nervously.

“All of it,” hissed Izuku in anger as tears began running down his face as he glared at All Might. “What happened to ‘anyone can be a hero?’ Huh?! Huh?! Was that just a PR statement?! I wonder how many other people took those words to heart like I did? I worshiped you! I worshiped all you heroes! But, big surprise, can’t be a hero if you don’t have a Quirk! I should have known better than to take you at your word! Get out of here! Now! I hate you! I hate all you heroes! Building us up so you can tear us down when we want to be like you! When we want to stand beside you!”

Too overwhelmed by the pain of his greatest and most closely held dream crumbling to ashes in his hands was Izuku to notice the troubled look on All Might’s face, or to hear the voice in the hallway. But, at least he felt marginally better when he felt his mother enter the room and embrace him in a tight hug.

Present Day

‘Guess it's true what they say: never meet your heroes,' thought Izuku as he looked down at his ruined leg with a scowl on his face as he continued to walk back towards his apartment. Still, it wasn’t all bad. At least with his newfound sense of clarity in regards to heroes and villains, he had attained clarity in other places in his life, namely where Bakugou was concerned.

School always had been his least favorite place to be, mainly because of Katsuki Bakugou, but ever since the boy had loudly announced that he had been accepted into U.A. he had become even more insufferable. Which led to something that was as painful as it was, admittedly, satisfying.

Junior High School Courtyard-One Week Earlier

“Heh, I’m telling you, no way I wasn’t gonna get in. Give it two years, maybe three, and I’ll be the top hero around,” Bakugou boasted loudly for everyone within listening distance to hear, much to Izuku’s annoyance. The green-haired boy was just about done listening to his former friend brag on and on about how easily he got in, and how awesome he and his Quirk were.

As Bakugou continued his boasting, he caught sight of Izuku. “Well, look who it is. How’s it going, Deku?” said Bakugou as he and his flunkies surrounded Izuku. “I still can’t believe they actually let someone Quirkless into the Physical Exam. Kinda a bummer you only wrecked the one leg. Part of me was hoping that you’d get yourself killed, but I guess you can’t have everything.”

Something inside Izuku snapped as he looked up and gave Bakugou a look that actually made the blonde boy’s face fall a little. “Y’know what I can’t believe? After all the things you did, after all the bullying you’ve done, not just to me, but to other Quirkless people like me, you still got into U.A. High School and make a disgrace of the true heroes who go there, while I get stuck in a high school with other Quirkless people and my dream dies. But, I can see one benefit of all this, at least I will be rid of you!”

And with that, Izuku balled up his fist, reached way back, and asserted himself by landing a solid left hook on Bakugou’s face, sending the blonde boy sprawling to the ground, having been caught completely by surprise by Izuku’s sudden punch.

Immediately, Izuku felt the release of something heavy on his shoulders lift. For ten years, he had had to put up with Kaach-no, he wasn’t Kaachan anymore. Kacchan had died the second Katsuki Bakugou had developed his Quirk while he remained as Quirkless as ever. This person was not his friend, and never would be again. This person was someone he despised, and what he’d just done, was something he’d been waiting a long time to do.

“I didn't realize how much I’ve been wanting to do that before now,” Izuku said aloud, only for Bakugou’s hate filled glare to bore into directly into him, as the grass on the ground started to smoke, a clear indication that he was about to use his Quirk…

Present Day

‘Even if that blast had been painful, I don’t regret a thing. Bakugou had that coming,’ thought Izuku as the subway train he was sitting on began to slow to a stop and the doors opened, allowing Izuku into the station.

Izuku slowly limped from the subway station to the nearby church. The old building had seen better days, its dilapidated state was roughly how Izuku felt after these past few weeks. As he slowly hobbled up the steps he passed by a girl around his age with vines for hair who was walking down. 

Izuku gave a quick ‘Good day’, which the girl returned followed by a ‘and God Bless’, before they continued on their separate ways. Izuku pushed open the doors to the main area of the church, slowly approaching the large crucifix. When he was directly before it, Izuku knelt down on his good leg, put his hands together and began to pray.

“Dear Father, I know I haven't really been a believer, but there are stories of people who’ve reached their lowest and…” Izuku sighs, “If You’re really there, I just want to prove to All Might, to society, that they're wrong about me. Wrong about everyone that's Quirkless…” Izuku pauses, thinking about his words. “No, I want to prove that they're wrong about everything . That anyone, no matter the power they have, can be a real hero.” 

Meanwhile…

Unknown to Izuku, a large meteor was making its way to Earth, and on that meteor was the One Above All’s answer. As the meteor drew near the Earth, it began to swerve erratically, in a way that no natural meteor should be able to do, almost as though it were alive and confused somehow.

As the meteor fell lower into the planet’s atmosphere, it broke apart into several pieces. Two of the pieces were breaking apart faster than the rest as they fell through the planet’s atmosphere, the largest bits heading towards Japan along with the rest, all except one that was heading towards the artificial landmass known as I-Island.

Back on Earth…

Izuku finished his prayer, and had made his way to Dagobah Beach which he had painstakingly cleaned to prepare himself for the U.A. Entrance Exam, for all the good that did. Izuku looked at the pristine sand, and crystal clear water and smiled, remembering the words a kind old man said to him as he finished cleaning the beach. 

“‘I guess one man can make a difference’ is right. Now if only the rest of the world saw it that way.” Izuku said sadly. He turned to walk away, but before he could, something large crash landed halfway down the beach startling him greatly. 

“What the heck was that!?” cried Izuku as he took deep breaths to calm his nerves. Looking around, it didn’t seem like anyone else had noticed it landing, so it probably wasn't from a villain attack. He began trudging cautiously in the direction of the impact sight to see what it was.

Once he finally reached the impact site, he noticed what appeared to be a fragment of a meteor. An excited gleam in his eye that hadn’t been there for these last few weeks glistened in his eye as he observed it. Izuku slowly reached down and found that it was cool enough to touch. Not only that, but upon closer examination there was something funny about it that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Still, though, he was the first one on the scene, and nobody else seemed interested in it.

‘Well, you know what they say, finders keepers,’ thought Izuku as he picked up the meteor piece and tucked it under his left arm before limping away towards the subway to catch his train back to his apartment.

Izuku’s Apartment-Later That Evening…

After the annoying series of events that turned a normal hour and ten minutes into two hours and fifteen, God did Izuku hate traffic and his landlord, the greenette finally entered his apartment completely and utterly exhausted. 

Setting the meteorite fragment on his bedroom’s desk, Izuku wandered back into his small kitchen and opened up a bag of frozen tater tots and a box of instant ramen and began preparing them. Once they were ready, Izuku sat down and began to eat, totally unaware that the meteor piece had begun rocking, gaining several small cracks, only for it to stop once Izuku had finished eating.

After taking a shower and changing into some more comfortable clothes, Izuku flopped down on his bed and turned on his small TV and began flicking through the channels, growing increasingly irritated at the sight of report, after report, after report of heroes battling villains, hero ranking changes, advertisements for new All Might merchandise ! Izuku shut off the television before his anger got the better of him and turned onto his back.

Izuku fumed as he stared up at the ceiling. All his life, he had looked up to All Might, only to discover that his hero was a fraud. That realization helped Izuku see many other flaws in the Hero System that he'd have otherwise ignored.

“If only I could prove him wrong. If… only…” Izuku said sluggishly as he finally drifted to sleep.

Meanwhile, the meteor piece began shaking violently and started to crack open like an egg, and from it emerged what appeared to be a living mass of black tar that hovered above the meteor fragment it had been encased in. The mass of black goo made noises that didn’t sound like the noise of moving slime, but rather guttural growlings, perhaps it was speaking in its native tongue, before it made movements akin to those of a snake’s head looking around, before it finally seemed to gaze on Izuku’s sleeping form.

The sentient slime made more growling noises, as though it sounded disappointed somehow. Making a noise that sounded like a sigh, the slime made more reluctant sounding growling noises before it stretched its way over to Izuku’s sleeping form, and began to sink deeply into his chest and meld itself into his body, before spreading over his arms and legs, similarly melding itself into his body.

As the slime snaked its way towards Izuku’s face and begane to meld with it, the young boy began writhing in agony, as though he were gripped in a terrible nightmare, before his eyes shot open to behold what was going on before him in horror. 

“Sleep now, Izuku Midoriya," a haunting, raspy voice said to Izuku. "For tomorrow, we begin to spin our web... this world ain't gonna know what hit 'em... heh heh heh heh..."

A surge of sheer terror gripped hold of Izuku, only for his vision to suddenly clear as Izuku shot up from his bed, panting in the sunlight, as he looked around in a panic not noticing the broken meteorite.

…?

“We only found one living specimen.” The man made of shadows said to the two-way television in the bar, a large transparent container filled with a writhing green fluid inside was close by.

“I am aware. The remains of the other two have been given to Dr. Garaki for study.” the unseen man replied. The shadow man shifted slightly. “You have a question?”

“I do.” the living shadow paused to think about how to word his query. “Why did you leave the living one with us, wouldn't it be better for Dr. Garaki to have it as well?”

“No, it would not. I am already aware of the capabilities of these creatures. They require a host to survive for extended periods, in exchange they can empower even the weakest human to superhuman levels, and I am hoping it would give my protege a… ‘buff’, as he would say, during our debut.” 

“I see, and you believe Tomura-san would be reasonable towards this… gift ?” 

“He would have no reason not to. After all, I am his Sensei .”

Chapter Text

Chapter II

Venom

Izuku knew that there was something wrong with him when he got out of bed that morning following that horrifying nightmare he had last night, but it had taken Izuku a while to get his brain calmed enough to notice it. For one thing, his damaged leg was decidedly not damaged anymore, and was functioning as well as his other leg. Something that by all logic and reason, should have been impossible even with corrective surgery, if what Recovery Girl told him and his mother was correct, and he doubted it wasn't considering she's one of the few healing Pro-Heroes who have an actual doctorate in medicine.

For another thing, Izuku noticed he was really hungry for tater tots. And chocolate. Lots and lots of chocolate. Either that, or juicy, juicy, brains… that last thought almost made him puke, and definitely not fungus, that stuff was absolutely disgusting. Plus, there was no telling what effects they’d have on him if he were to just start eating random mushrooms.

‘Where the heck did all that come from?’ thought Izuku once he realized what exactly had just run through his head as he dumped a whole bag of tater tots on a frying pan before reaching for some season salt.

“Ooh, that smells delectable… go ahead and throw some on there,” said an alarmingly familiar haunting, raspy voice that caused Deku to freeze in place and look around in both fright and confusion at the sound of the voice from his nightmare last night, only to find that there was no one there. And yet, Izuku couldn’t shake the feeling that he was being watched closely and intently. Then, as Izuku took a look in a nearby mirror hanging from his wall, he leapt backwards in fright.

Where his reflection should have been there was instead a monster that was black as obsidian with demonic white eyes, razor sharp fangs that looked as though they were sharp enough to chew through solid steel, a tongue that looked to be as long as the top part of a python and while not quite on the level of someone with a Quirk that turned them into a hulking brute, Izuku cold tell that this creature was taller and stronger than any normal human being, not counting Mount Lady.

For some reason, though, Izuku thought it was missing something… some kind of mark or distinctive symbol…

Izuku closed his eyes and shook his head, opening them again to reveal that the creature had vanished, and in its place was a fourteen, almost fifteen, year old boy about ready to jump out of his skin.

‘Maybe I should start seeing a therapist. I think everything that’s happened to me lately is finally getting to me. Next thing I know, I’ll be laughing like a hyena and making a box of deadly prank toys,’ thought Izuku as he resumed making his tater tots. ‘After all, they say all it takes is one bad day to drive you crazy… and I’ve had quite a few of those lately.’

A short while later, the tater tots were ready, and Izuku was pulling them out of the oven to let the pan cool before putting them all on a plate to eat. However, almost as soon as he set the pan down, the voice from his nightmare spoke again.

“Okay, I tried to do this the nice way, now we do this my way.” the voice said before a mass of black sludge or tar gathered from beneath his skin, extended from shoulder, and almost touched his face as the same fanged thing from the mirror formed from it.

“BOO!” the thing yelled causing Izuku to jump back and trip over his own feet. “Going to ignore me now? Hard to ignore something that’s staring you in the face isn’t it?!”

“Wha-wha-wha-” Izuku stammered in sheer terror as he stared at the thing that closed in on him.

The thing sighed. “And this is why hosts nearing maturity are not the best idea. So volatile and fragile. I need food,” it says before heading over to the tater tots and tearing into them with gusto.

Watching all this unfold before him with barely contained terror, Izuku finally was able to speak. “Who-wha-what are you?” he managed to squeak out. “You’re not a Quirk, you can’t be.”

“Hmm?” the thing said, its mouth still full of tater tots as it looked back at Izuku. “Ihma… holon.” it says before gulping down its mouthful of food. “I’m a Klyntar, we’re a race of hive minded symbiotic organisms… well, something like that. My name, however, is Venom, and you are mine.”

“Wha-wha-are you saying you’re an alien? And what do you mean that I’m yours?” asked Izuku, panic began to take hold of him, hoping that… literally anyone but a hero would come to help him. 

“Aw, you’d throw me out and waste away as a loser rather than accepting the power I offer? Power enough to allow a powerless weakling like you to walk with the false gods you wanted to join the pantheon of? Power enough to finally prove this world wrong about everything they know about it? Tsk, shame…I thought you were better than that, Izuku…” Venom said as he leaned closer to Izuku, a sly smile on its fanged mouth.

Izuku froze. How the heck did Venom know about all that? About what his dream had once been, and what his new heart’s desire was? For that matter, how was an alien able to even speak perfectly fluent Japanese?

“Okay, I’ll bite. What exactly can you do?” asked Izuku.

Venom laughed as he slithered over to Izuku to look him in the eye. “That’s more like it, Izuku! For starters, I can enhance your senses, strength, speed, reflexes to superhuman levels, and allow you to detect  impending danger before it even happens, bestow upon you a healing factor that allows you to survive almost injury, even regenerating severed limbs, and that’s just the start of the power I offer you.”

“And how exactly can you do all of that?”

“When we bond with a host, we copy some parts of them to empower us and help the next host. Like how I gained your insatiable appetite for tater tots.”

“Really.” Izuku just replied, completely disbelieving him.

“We don’t get to pick what sticks, okay?” Venom said with audible exasperation in his voice, before Izuku gets off the ground and dusts himself off and heads for the door, grabbing a hoodie and his fold up cane on the way, despite no longer needing the latter.

“I can’t deal with this. I am not dealing with this, it’s a hallucination and I just need some air.”

A Short While Later…

‘You’re really going to ignore everything I told you?’ Venom asked in his head as they walked down the street, fresh from a confectionary store, pockets lined with every chocolate bar he could afford. As he walked, Izuku just kept silent as he mulled over everything that happened in the past hour.

"All right, if you’re gonna stick around, we need to set some ground rules,” said Izuku firmly. “First rule: we don't kill or eat people, I remember the hunger for brains, so don’t say you haven’t eaten them before; all that gets me is a one way trip to Tartarus Prison, and you a one way trip to some government or private lab run by a suit scouting for intergalactic real estate," explained Izuku as he took a bite of chocolate.

‘Pussy.’ Venom’s blunt insult actually brought Izuku up short. Knowing Japanese he could understand, but Izuku had never called anyone that before.

‘I’ve seen your memories of that Bakugou brat… oh, I hope I get to meet him sometime… be fun to knock him down a peg or two… dozen.’ Venom said within his mind. That made much more sense, sadly.

“However… we can beat them close to it, and leave them to rot as they serve out their sentences hooked up to a hospital bed,” said Izuku.

‘Oooh, I do believe I can work with that,’ said Venom with a dark chuckle. Izuku could see the symbiote’s excited grin in his mind’s eye.

“But, only the really bad people. Anyone else who doesn’t fit the bill, we beat black and blue but not to the point of near-death, and anyone who surrenders peacefully, we incapacitate, but not excessively harm," said Izuku.

‘Oh? And what, exactly, would you define as a ‘really bad person?’’ Venom asked in a mocking tone.

“Rapists, pedophiles, serial killers, serial rapists, willing kidnappers, knowingly and willingly abusive individuals, psychopaths, any combination of the previous... you know what, I'll just make a list for you to read later," said Izuku.

‘Not murderers?’ questioned Venom.

"A single murder can be forgiven but never forgotten. Especially if the killer isn't willing, or if it was an accident, like due to a weapons malfunction, for example," explained Izuku. “But if they do kill someone, or more than one person, with the explicit or obvious intent to do so, or show no remorse for doing so, then yes, they have officially forfeited their right to eating solid food or being able to do much of anything ever again.”

‘I see…’ said Venom within Izuku’s mind. ‘You know Izuku, looking at some of these memories, it seems like you were dedicated to becoming a true hero until All Might finally crushed your dream… and now here you are, plotting to beat criminals into paste as a vigilante… it’s madness how much someone can change in six weeks…’

Izuku gave a small smile. “Yeah, well, when you take off the rose-tinted glasses when it comes to these so-called heroes, it becomes surprisingly easy to see the truth behind the facade of the world we live in today: the heroes of today aren’t heroes, merely vigilantes who have immunity from the law because they won the genetic jackpot. They give people hope, only to take it away again when they don’t have the right powers, or any powers at all,” said Izuku. “That’s what I want to change. I want to prove that there are no such things as villainous or weak Quirks, and that anyone truly can be a hero, all it takes is the dedication, and the heart, to be better.” Izuku finishes as he takes another bite out of the chocolate that was starting to melt a bit from his body temperature.

The next thing Izuku knew was that something small had run into him, knocking him to the ground with surprising force.

‘Gah! What was that?!’ cried Venom within Izuku’s mind. Izuku looked up at what had knocked him over, and was shocked at the sorry state of the child.

‘What the heck, she's covered in bandages and cuts!’ Izuku couldn't believe his eyes as he got up to ask her where she came from, all it took was one touch to realize, ‘She’s trembling from fright, who did this to her?!’

“Now, Eri, don't you think you should apologize for running into him?” a man called out from the shadows as he approached them. As they drew near, Izuku could feel the impending danger senses that Venom granted flaring up. When the shadows stopped covering him, Izuku could see he was wearing a facemask akin to a plague doctors’.

“I'm sorry for my daughter, she just keeps playing around and getting hurt. I don't know what to do with her sometimes.” The man says with a ‘smile’.

‘Hey, Venom… remember what I said about abusive individuals, and psychopaths?’ Izuku asked Venom inside his mind.

‘Yeeeeees?’

‘Not while children are around.’ Izuku threw the half-eaten chocolate bar at the man’s face, making him have a massive freak out while Izuku pulled Eri into his arms and ran at full speed back to his apartment complex. 

“Don't worry, Eri.” Izuku said to her as they ran, “Your dad won't hurt you anymore if I have anything to say about it.”

‘If we have anything to say about it.’ Venom corrected his host with a noticeable snarl.

‘Careful, Venom, or I'll start thinking you care .’ Izuku snarked back at his passenger.

‘Of course I care! Young ones should never be harmed, even the most vile of my kind agrees on that!’

“Hi,Mrs.Chen!ByeMrs.Chen!” Izuku says rapidly to the apartment complex’s receptionist as he passes by her to get to the elevator.

“Izuku, wha-?” asked Mrs. Chen as Izuku, who appeared to have what looked like a small child that looked malnourished and covered in bandages, entered the elevator and quickly pressed the button for his floor, leaving her completely confused. “I'm not paid enough for this job.” she sighed as she went back to her magazine.

A Few Moments Later…

As soon as Izuku got to his apartment, he sat Eri down on the couch, locked the door, and barricaded it with one of his chairs. As soon as he had finished he looked over to the little girl, only to see that her eyes had reddened. Had she been crying the whole way to the apartment?

“That might not hold for long, but it's the best I can do for now. Let's get you cleaned up, okay?” Izuku asks Eri as he approaches her, only for the girl to shy away from him. “Eri?”

Eri mumbled something that Izuku couldn’t make out, so he slowly crouched down, “I'm sorry, I couldn't hear what you said. Could you repeat it, please?”

“why…”

“‘Why’? ‘Why’ what?”

“Why did you help me?! I'm cursed!!” the little girl screams as she breaks down crying again. Izuku’s heart clenched at those words coming from someone so young, especially since he thought the same for a short time.

“Who told you that?” Izuku asked as he sat down next to her. “Eri? Was it your father who told you that?”

“Not m’ daddy. Daddy's gone. I ma’ him go ‘way.” Eri said through her tears, and running snot. Izuku rubbed her back comfortingly.

“Eri, just because your dad left…”

“DADDY DIDN'T LEAVE! I MADE HIM GO AWAY!” Eri screamed at him hysterically, making Izuku realize exactly what she meant by that.

“Oh my God… Eri, I’m so sorry…” whispered Izuku. ‘So that means that masked man-’

‘- really is not her father…’ Venom said inside Izuku’s mind, his voice filled with growing rage.

‘He’ll be begging for death to save him by the time we’re done with him,’ Izuku told the symbiote before returning his attention to the girl in front of him.

“Hey, Eri,” Izuku said. “You don’t have to worry about that bad man in the mask anymore. I’ll take you to U.A, they have specialists there who can help ‘break’ your curse and keep you safe. If that doesn’t work, then… I have a… friend. He’ll make sure that masked man can’t hurt you or anyone else ever again.”

Eri looked up at the greenette, a small glimmer of hope in her eyes. “R-really? They can help break my curse?” she said, her voice trembling.

“Yeah, or at the very least, they can help you learn how to keep it from hurting people you don’t mean to,” said Izuku with a friendly smile. “Now, come on, let’s go get you cleaned up and maybe get you a proper meal for a change. How’s that sound?”

Eri sniffled, but smiled up at Izuku.

A Few Hours Later…

The afternoon shadows had begun to form as a much happier Eri, now with fresh bandages,  cleaned wounds, and now wearing Izuku’s gray hoodie and eating apple slices, made her way to Izuku’s side, as the pair got ready to make their way to U.A.

However, while he was cleaning Eri’s wounds, he found what Izuku assumed was a tracker chip embedded under her skin, which meant that whatever the masked man was doing needed Eri to work. Actually, if that was the case, Izuku was surprised the man hadn’t shown up and tried to take her back.

“All right, Eri, I’m going to go ahead and make sure the coast is clear. I want you to stay here and not open the door for anyone except for me, understand?” Izuku instructed Eri, who nodded to show she understood. “Good girl. With any luck, I’ll be able to get you to the heroes and my friend can just enjoy a nice evening at home,” Izuku said before he removed the chair from the door and exited the apartment before taking the elevator back down to the lobby.

As the elevator drew closer to the ground floor, the early-warning senses provided by Venom kicked in again. ‘ Get ready’, thought Izuku as the elevator reached the ground floor.

‘Gladly.’  

As soon as Izuku walked out of the elevator he came across around two dozen armed thugs, and could they look any more stereotypical?

“You people really don’t want to do this.” Izuku said to them as they raised their weapons to him, some of which looked like grenade launchers.

“The girl, now.” the lead thug said as he cocked his pistol.

“Alright, you asked for it. Now!”

“YES!” Venom quickly covered Izuku and grew to their full size before letting out a vicious roar at the group of gathered thugs, who were immediately thrown into a panic.

“What da hell kinda Quirk is that?!” one of the thugs shouted.

“Was da boss actually right?!” another thug yelled.

“Kill it! Open fire!” yelled the lead thug as his subordinates did exactly that, and a few grenades came Venom’s way. Venom, however, simply created a shield out of his biomass to catch the grenades and throw them back at the thugs who launched them, rendering them out of commission before charging at the lead thug, grabbing him by the leg, and slamming him into the ground with earth-shattering force, before turning his right hand into a huge mace and using it to lay waste on another group of thugs, breaking nearly every bone in their bodies, before using four tendrils or tentacles of some kind to grab ahold of another group of thugs, lift them high into the air, and slam them into the ground, leaving craters where they impacted before unleashing a mighty roar to the heavens.

Within the apparent monstrosity, Izuku was completely enthralled by everything he was experiencing. Never before had he felt so alive … it was like he had been trapped within a cage for nearly all his life, and now, he was finally free…

It was beautiful…

Realizing the losing battle they were facing, the few thugs that remained decided to turn tail and run for it. Venom, however, snarled and shot something from the back of his wrist at one of the retreating thugs, which latched directly onto the thugs’ back, with him being blissfully unaware of it, too preoccupied with running for his life.

‘And that should lead us right to their boss,’ symbiote and host thought in perfect harmony before Venom took off after the thugs, leaping into the air and crashing through the wall right above the door, shooting a strand of webbing that latched onto a nearby building, and began to follow the thugs’ escape vehicle from above, remaining undetected by the thugs during the chase.

A Short Time Later…

The masked man known as Overhaul loaded his hands up with nearly half a bottle of hand sanitizer, still smoldering with rage over that little shit making off with his property. Oh well. Odds were, the little shit was dead now, and his property was on its way back to him, and he could resume making his products with little fuss… well, little fuss from his employees and customers anyway. As for the girl… well, he would need to make sure she didn’t slip her leash again.

‘Ah, speak of the devil, here they come’, thought Overhaul as he noticed the approaching vehicle that he recognized as belonging to one of his men. However, as it drew near, Overhaul quickly realized something was wrong, as from what he could see, each of the men inside had looks of sheer terror on their faces, and with a noticeable lack of his property.

“What happened? Where is Eri!?” Overhaul demanded furiously to his underlings. The idiots he sent began babbling over one another, barely able to get an actual word out before a shadow covered them all.

“Oh, you won’t be seeing her anytime soon!”

Suddenly, the source of that shadow, a massive black creature with a fang-filled mouth, a nightmarishly long tongue landed on top of the vehicle his men had been driving, flattening it like a tin can before it shot some of itself at his three underlings, trapping them against the wall.

Overhaul reacted as he usually did when someone with a Quirk tried to interfere with his plans, drawing his special gun and shooting the diseased with his cure-filled bullets. Each bullet impacted the hideous creature, except instead of causing the tar-like substance to fall away from the human encased within it, its grin only grew wider.

“Your thugs already tried shooting us, what made you think you’d have better luck?” it said as it extended a tendril, smacking the gun from his hand before grabbing one of his legs and lifting him into the air.

“You cut up a little girl, how about we return the favor? Should it be the eyes first? The lungs, or pancreas? So many options, so little time.” Overhaul starred in horrified disbelief at the thing holding him.

“What in God’s name are you?”

“We…” it said before sliding its disgusting tongue against his forehead, “are Venom. ”

Before Venom could do anything, a large cable wrapped around him and pulled him away from the masked man. Venom looked up in rage at his captor to see two individuals, one looking like a gremlin or goblin, wearing purple and carrying him through his hover device. The other had electric blue skin and was wearing a green and yellow suit modeled after electricity or lightning.

‘Who the hell are these clowns?’

‘The one in the green and yellow is the Living Electricity Hero: Electrus, he’s Rank 25 on the Japanese Pro-Hero Chart, the one with the green skin and hover glider is the Halloween Hero: Green Gremlin, he’s Rank 24. They work together more often than not, but it’s strange to not see either of them with Professor Squid.’

‘They must think we’re a villain,’ Venom told his host before swiping his claw at the cable, severing it in a single slice as Electrus and Green Gremlin circled around him, awaiting his next move. 

‘We can’t be fighting heroes, not yet. We need to get out of here and lie low for a while. We’ll deal with this stunted piece of slime and crush his bones into powder another time,’ Izuku told Venom as he and Venom looked down at the terrified Overhaul with a look of disgust on his face before he returned his attention to the two heroes.

Venom let out a monstrous roar at the two heroes before making his escape, with Electrus and the Gremlin in hot pursuit, throwing bolts of lightning and concussion grenades shaped like jack o’ lanterns at him in equal measure, before Venom shot a web at one of Green Gremlin’s grenades and threw it back at the two heroes stunning them just long enough for Venom to lose them as he continued to swing away from them.

Once he was satisfied with the amount of distance he had put between himself and the two heroes, Venom landed on top of a building with a grunt, only to look up and find himself face to face with none other than All Might himself, standing proud and firmly in place as he stared at what he no doubt thought was nothing more than just another villain, likely having been tipped off by Electrus, Green Gremlin, or a concerned citizen.

As the two beings stared each other down, waiting for the other to make the first move, the tension in the air was thick enough to be cut with a knife before Venom finally spoke.

“No more false gods! Not while we’re around!” Venom snarled, anger filling his voice as he released a vicious roar before fading away and ultimately vanishing into thin air. All Might kept his guard up, turning left and right, not knowing that his opponent had already fled the scene.

Not Too Far Away…

Venom became visible once again before reverting back into Izuku, now clad in a black zip-up hoodie, instead of the gray one that he had given Eri earlier. As he began to walk away, Izuku’s mind was reeling from what he had just experienced. He couldn’t believe just how… there was no other word for it, good , he had felt during his transformation into Venom, all the power he had felt coursing through him, that feeling of being truly complete, all of it… it was intoxicating. 

Ever since he was four years old, he had always wanted power, the power to protect others, the power to be a hero, just like he’d once thought All Might to be… and thanks to Venom, he finally had the power he’d always wanted. It was a heck of a trip…

‘You know Venom, I think you and I are gonna get along just fine,’ Izuku told the symbiote within his mind as their purpose became clear.

In a world of heroes and villains, they would be the anti-hero. In a world where All Might was a Symbol of Peace, a false peace, Venom would be a Symbol of Vengeance for the people oppressed by that ‘Peace’.

A symbol… Now that was an idea…

‘So, after we drop Eri off with the heroes, we need to go over some suit design choices. But, after that, what do you want to do?’

The symbiote laughed. ‘Way I see it, Izuku, we can do whatever we want!’

Izuku smiled.

‘I like the sound of that.’

Chapter Text

Chapter III

Symbol of Vengeance

U.A. High School-Front Gates

Guiding Eri’s back with one hand and his walking cane with the other, Izuku and Eri made their way over to the front gates of U.A. High School later that day. It had taken some smooth talking to get past the cops to retrieve Eri from his apartment, but he had managed it in the end.

As they walked, Eri looked between the cane and Izuku with some degree of curiosity. 

“Why do you need a walking stick?” asked Eri, tilting her head in confusion.

“...because I hurt my leg,” Izuku said matter-of-factly.

“Oh… why didn’t you need it when we were running away from the man in the mask?” asked Eri. “An’ you were runnin’ super, super fast too.”

‘Smart girl,’ Venom said inside Izuku’s head.

“It was because of a chemical called adrenaline,” said Izuku. “And I probably screwed up my leg even more because of it. Also, I would appreciate it if you could keep that little detail to yourself, I don’t want anyone trying to make my leg more important than you. If anyone asks, tell them that a big black monster with really sharp teeth and a really long tongue saved us.”

Eri looked up at Izuku, confused, before she finally mumbled “Okay…”

“The reason I want you to tell them that is because that’s the friend I was telling you about. He’s nicer than he looks, so when you actually meet him don’t be scared. Okay, Eri?”

“Mhm.” Eri hummed and smiled as she nodded, which caused Izuku to ruffle the hair on her head, with a smile on his own face.

“Good girl,” said Izuku as he and Eri reached the front gates of the High School and spoke with the guard stationed at the gate about the situation with Eri. The guard nodded and made a few calls to some faculty members before informing Izuku that a few staff members would meet him at the entrance to the main building.

Izuku thanked the man as the gates opened and he hobbled inside, still guiding Eri by her back as they made their way to the main building of U.A. High School. As he hobbled along with Eri, memories composed mainly of excruciating pain and agony began to resurface in Izuku’s mind… along with memories of her … Izuku wished he knew who she was. He’d never gotten the chance to thank her properly for protecting his broken body from further harm from the robots. Also, from what few fragmented memories he had of the girl, she was actually kinda cute.

‘Oooh, have a crush on some girl you barely know, do you, Izuku?’ Venom said teasingly within Izuku’s mind.

‘Shut up, Venom,’ thought Izuku as he and Eri finally reached the entrance of the main building, where a group of superheroes he vaguely recognized were standing, along with, for some reason, a matchstick of a man with a huge head of blonde hair in a white t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans and sneakers that for some reason, looked vaguely familiar to Izuku, and made him feel really angry.

‘That guy… I think he might be All Might,’ Venom said in Izuku’s mind.

‘No way, that guy can’t be All Might. All Might is super buff, and that guy looks like he’d blow away if you blew hard enough on him,’ Izuku said to the symbiote.

‘How do you know it’s not All Might’s Quirk that makes him super buff? You were never able to figure out what exactly his Quirk was or how it worked, after all,’ Venom pointed out.

‘...can’t argue with that,’ said Izuku as the group of heroes came out to meet Izuku and Eri, most of them doing what they could to help lift the girl’s spirits and escort her into the building, while the matchstick guy invited Izuku to come inside and talk with him.

Izuku nodded and followed the man to a classroom marked “Y. Toshinori,” and took a seat at one of the desks while the matchstick of a man, presumably Toshinori himself, leaned against a desk looking at Izuku intently.

“So… the guard outside gave me a brief summary of how you and young Eri came to cross paths, but I’d like to hear the story from you, young man. What exactly happened, how did you know that young lady was being menaced by a villain,and is there anything else you can tell me?” Toshinori asked.

“Well, I was on my way home from a trip to a confectionary store to pick up some snacks when Eri bowled me over, knocking me to the ground. I took a look at her to see that she was a complete mess, rags for clothes, malnourished, dirty cuts that were covered up by just as dirty bandages. The poor thing was trembling in fright. That was when this guy in a plague doctor mask came up claiming he was her father, but the way he smiled told a different story. You know, he had that smile that psychopaths have. So, I threw the piece of candy I was eating at him, he freaks out, and I tried to get me and Eri out of there,” said Izuku.

“Hmm… sounds like he’s run afoul of Overhaul…” Toshinori said quietly to himself, but not quietly enough as Izuku was able to hear it.

‘Houston, we have a name and a lead!’ Venom said within Izuku’s mind before Tashidori spoke up again. 

“However, I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around you and miss Eri getting away from this villain, especially with your injury,” said Toshinori, glancing at Izuku’s cane. 

“We almost didn’t,” said Izuku. “That’s when this big black monster of a thing with sharp claws, even sharper fangs, and a tongue long enough that it looked like it had a pink snake sticking out of its mouth showed up. It starts attacking the nutjob, a bunch of his guys come out to protect him, and me and Eri slip away in the chaos. I brought her back to my place to keep her safe and get her cleaned up before I decided to bring her here, where I’m hoping you can keep her safe and help her,” said Izuku with a dark scowl on his face that left Toshinori troubled. 

“And what exactly made you decide to bring her here?” asked Toshinori

Izuku scoffed. “Look, if I had my way, I wouldn’t have let her anywhere near you vigilantes and raised Eri myself as my little sister. Too young to have a daughter, after all,” the greenette said bitterly. “Unfortunately, there were other circumstances to consider, namely her Quirk. I don’t know what it is exactly, but it seems like it’s very powerful, very dangerous, and she can’t control it, if the fact that she thinks she’s cursed and that she made her father ‘ go away ’ is anything to go by. Whatever my personal feelings are, the fact remains that you guys are the best bet to help Eri get control of her Quirk. I can only hope you don’t fail her as you failed me.”

With that Izuku stood up, grabbed his cane and limped towards the door as Toshinori spoke again. “Wait, Midoriya, I-” he started to say before Izuku stopped in his tracks and slowly turned around and gave Toshinori a glare that immediately made him falter.

“Oh, so you remember me?” said Izuku, venom in his voice as he continued to glare at the true form of his fallen idol, who still seemed to be struggling for words. “I must admit, I’m actually surprised. Do not fail Eri like you’ve failed me…”

On that note, Izuku opened the door and limped out, leaving a troubled Toshinori behind.

As he limped down the hallway, heading for the exit, Izuku was soon stopped in his tracks by the voice of one of the last people he wanted to deal with right now.

“Well, look who it is. The hell are you doing here, Deku? Didn’t know they were doing public tours today.”

A spike of anger and hatred surged through Izuku as Katsuki Bakugou came from around the corner, giving him a smug look as Izuku threw a scowl at him.

“Why I’m here is none of your business, Bakugou. I’ve had enough dealing with people I’m not particularly fond of for one day, so I suggest you get lost and go disgrace the word hero somewhere else,” growled Izuku.

Bakugou laughed. “Or what, you Quirkless nerd? Gonna hit me? I’d love to see you try,” he said with a sneer. “So, gonna tell me what your sorry ass is doing here? Or do I have to teach you a lesson just like old times?”

Suddenly, Izuku’s hand reached out and grabbed hold of Bakugou’s shirt, bringing him right up to his face. “Listen to me very carefully. A lot has changed in the past week. I’ve been making some new friends, and those friends would love nothing more than to bite your head off and feed on your brains, or lack there of, so I’m only going to tell you this once,” growled Izuku, beginning to feel the surge of power that could only come from Venom as a confused and startled look crossed his former friend’s face, something Izuku couldn’t help but relish.

"Threaten or intimidate me again, and we will end you, and we are NOT talking about your hero career, " Izuku warned Bakugou, his voice becoming slightly more monstrous, and his eyes turning solid black for the briefest of moments, as Bakugou felt a chill run down his spine. Izuku threw the explosive Quirk user with one hand, sending Bakugou sprawling to the ground a few feet away.

Bakugou looked up at Izuku, who had an ice cold look on his face as he turned around and limped away, leaving the blonde feeling somewhat unnerved. The punch to his face in the middle school courtyard he could understand, as he was no stranger to venting his anger in such a manner himself, but this was different. Never before had Izuku actually threatened to end someone like he just had to Bakugou, and there was the fact that his voice had turned more monstrous on top of the fact that he had just referred to himself as ‘we,’ and he could have sworn Deku’s eyes turned black as obsidian for a brief moment.

Bakugou wasn’t sure what exactly had caused it, but something about Izuku had changed drastically over the past week. There was something inside him now, some kind of darkness or monster. Maybe it had always been there, and it had only recently been brought to the surface, but Bakugou knew one thing for certain: whatever it was, it was sinister, and when it finally came out, it was not going to be pretty.

And for some reason, Bakugou couldn’t help but wonder if he should be afraid of his former friend… or afraid for him.

Outside The School…

‘Aw, come on, you shoulda let me at him!’ complained Venom from within Izuku’s mind as Izuku began to hobble away from the front entrance of the main building.

“Are you crazy? Attacking Bakugou as Venom in the middle of the single most famous hero academia in the world ? We’d have been toast with a capital T! Nuh-uh. We’ll give Bakugou an attitude adjustment another time, when he doesn’t have the most famous ‘heroes’ in the world on hand to help save his sorry ass. That aside, there are a couple things I wanted to go over,” said Izuku.

‘Such as?’

“Well, for one thing, I have some concerns about the way you produce webbing… you do that by basically shedding your skin, right?” asked Izuku.

‘More or less, yeah,’ said Venom.

“Well, I was thinking about maybe putting together some type of device that would create webs for us, because I’m not gonna lie, the thought of you using too much of yourself to spin a web actually has me worried a bit,” said Izuku.

‘Didn’t have you pegged for a tinkerer, Izuku. More importantly, don’t worry yourself over that, I can regenerate. You don’t need a silly little toy like that!’ said Venom.

“It’s not just that,” said Izuku as he continued to hobble towards the gate leading out of U.A, which for some reason, never seemed to get any closer from his perspective. “You said that sounds in the four thousand to six thousand gigahertz range are not only lethal to you, but that they can separate us with prolonged exposure. There’s more than one hero out there who can use a sound Quirk, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there were others out there too. I need to be able to defend myself if that happens until you can latch back onto me.”

‘I see… that’s a valid point, Izuku,’ replied Venom. ‘Very well, I do happen to know a formula for creating synthetic webbing that should suit our purposes. One of my previous hosts was native to a planet of man-spiders, so that should suffice… though it feels like there was someone else who used a similar formula… oh well.’

“Thank you.” Izuku said as he continued to hobble. “Another thing I was thinking about was that we need a symbol or an emblem of some kind… something that both heroes and villains alike will fear…”

‘Any ideas on what you want this symbol to be?’ asked Venom.

“I have a few ideas-oof!” said Izuku as he walked directly into someone and fell on his back as that person fell on top of him.

‘Again? Is crashing into each other some form of greeting on this planet?’ Venom asked within Izuku’s head, sounding slightly amused as he and Izuku came to realize who had bumped into them.

It was a girl around Izuku’s age with a round face, brown hair in a bob cut, brown eyes, and wearing the female U.A. High School uniform.

‘It’s her!’ Venom and Izuku thought simultaneously. 

“Oh, hey, it’s you,” the girl said as she and Izuku disentangled themselves from each other, albeit with some difficulty as Izuku was feigning his leg injury to avoid suspicion. “Um, sorry, I really should have been watching where I was going,” the girl said.

“Nah, that one was on me, got lost in my head a little bit there,” said Izuku as he pulled himself up with his cane.

“So… how have you been holding up, since… you know, what happened at the Exam?” the girl asked Izuku.

“Been better, still trying to find some kind of purpose to fill the hole my dream of being a hero left in me, but I suppose it could be worse. I could be dead, and U.A. could have been in the center ring of a media circus,” said Izuku.

“Well, I don’t really know what to tell you about that,” said the girl with a nervous chuckle.

“Well, you can tell me your name,” suggested Izuku. “It’d be nice to put a name to the face of the girl who probably saved my life after I decided to be an idiot and try to do a Hero School Entrance Exam Quirkless.”

“I’m Ochako. Ochako Uraraka. What about your name? Never got that from you after the exam,” the girl said.

“I’m Izuku. Izuku Midoriya,” said Izuku as he gave Ochako a respectful bow.

Ochako smiled at Izuku. “Well, I’m sure I’ll see you around, Izuku,” she said as she walked past Izuku, who watched her walk away.

‘I like her,’ said Venom from within Izuku’s mind.

“Well, that makes two of us,” said Izuku. “We should probably get going. We got a lot of work to do in preparation for tonight.”

Later That Night…

Venom, his body now bearing two white spider symbols, one on his chest and the other on his back, both connected by two legs that ran along his sides and a pair that ran over his shoulders, with a pair of white patches on the back of his hands, that in truth, were the Mark I Web Shooters that Izuku had developed to remove the risk of Venom overexerting himself while producing webbing in combat or while traversing the city, perched on the edge of a building overlooking the city.

Admittedly, once his web shooters were completed, Izuku began getting ideas for possible upgrades and additional gadgets, however, those would have to wait for another time.

‘I’m really sorry the web shooters are so big. I mean, I know they’re not huge but I didn’t really have much time to…’

‘Partner, most would take the fact you made them out of scraps and so quickly as a goddamned miracle. You need to stop apologizing for your success, Izuku.’ Venom thought to his host as he ‘cracked’ his neck. 

It was time to go to work.

Venom leapt off the building into a dive, shooting a black web to catch himself before he could splat on the pavement, and starting to swing through the streets.

“Oh yeah!!! Whoo-hoo!!!” yelled Venom as he swung through the streets, on the hunt for people in need of rescuing, or perhaps another lead to follow on the masked villain Overhaul that he’d heard Toshinori mention while being questioned about Eri back at U.A.

Thankfully, Venom didn’t have to look for too long, as he soon heard the sound of screaming coming from nearby. Adjusting his direction to head towards the sound of the screaming, and soon found the source: a group of muggers harassing what seemed to be a small family.

Venom grinned. Showtime.

With a roar, Venom launched himself towards the muggers, tendrils flaring out in an intimidating manner as he landed, grabbed on of the thugs of a tendril, and slammed him into a wall hard enough to leave a crater, before generating a ball of biomass in his hand before throwing it at two of the other goons, where it exploded like a grenade.

The last thug, however, decided to turn tail and run for his life, only for Venom to shoot a blob of himself at the thug, grabbing ahold of them, and then slamming them into a wall, gluing the thug to the wall.

His job done and the heroes no doubt on the way, Venom leapt into the air and started swinging away, leaving the would-be mugging victims confused. Were… they just saved by someone with a villain’s Quirk?

Well, whatever that Quirk was, the fact remained that the monster had saved them, so they would be cautiously optimistic that a new hero was on the rise… though still, not often you find heroes quite as unnerving as that one…

A Few Hours Later…

Venom grinned as he swung through the air. Saving that family, along with stopping a couple robbery and a few B-and-Es, felt good, but there was still more work to be done in the city, and he needed to stay one step ahead of the heroes in order to avoid any complications… especially if Present Mic decided to turn up and make some noise.

As he swung overhead, Venom looked down to see a group of heavily armed men gathering in a back alley, and it didn’t exactly look like they were trading baseball cards. Perching unseen on the side of a wall Venom scoped out the scene, letting out a growl as he recognized one of the thugs doing the deal as one of the thugs who had escaped from his apartment complex earlier that day, something that struck Venom as odd. Why hadn’t Electrus and the Gremlin taken him into custody?

A quiet growl left Venom’s throat as he theorized the reason why: Electrus and the Green Gremlin were in Overhaul’s pocket, which would explain why Professor Squid hadn’t been with them when those two rescued Overhaul. Either Professor Squid isn’t in Overhaul’s employ, or isn’t yet .

‘Two more names to put on our list,’ Izuku thought from within Venom as he continued to observe the scene from the shadows, waiting for the opportunity to strike. It wouldn’t be long before that opportunity presented itself as a briefcase that, from what Venom could see, contained several vials of some kind of liquid, most likely drugs, and another briefcase filled with stacks of used Yen, were exchanged.

Leaping down from his perch with a roar, Venom’s landing on the ground caused the gathered thugs to stumble a bit, while the thug that was in Overhaul’s employ almost immediately developed a dark spot on the front of his pants before grabbing the briefcase filled with money, turning tail, and starting to run for dear life.

“Oh no, you don’t! You and us need to have a little chat about your boss!” snarled Venom before shooting a web that glued the fleeing thug to one of the vehicles parked at the end of the alley while the other thugs aimed their weapons at Venom or activated their Quirks, one of them wielding what looked like a fire Quirk, although it didn’t seem as powerful as the one used by Endeavor, while another one had a stone Quirk, as their body became encased in rock as pointed stones floated around the thug, something that Venom couldn’t help but chuckle at.

“Such powerful Quirks… and yet, all you are is some crime boss’ hired muscle? Pathetic!” snarled Venom as he swiftly disposed of the thugs wielding guns with his tendrils, before focusing his attention on the two thugs with Quirks.

The thug with the Fire Quirk launched a blast of fire at Venom, who, moving surprisingly quickly for someone of his size, evaded the blast of fire and pounced on the thug, knocking the unprepared thug to the ground before knocking him out in a single super-strong punch before getting knocked off the thug by a hail of stones and into a nearby car, causing a large dent to form in the side of the vehicle and causing it to flip over. 

Pulling himself off the ground, Venom let out a fierce roar before charging at the thug and getting ready to throw a punch, only for the thug to grab Venom’s arm and throw him into the wall directly behind him, leaving a crater upon impacting it. 

Pulling himself up off the ground, Venom instead decided to try a different approach, and shot webs at the thug’s feet, gluing him in place, while trying to use a pair of tendrils to restrain his arms, only for the thug to grab ahold of the tendrils and pull Venom towards him.

Unfortunately for the thug, Venom had counted on the thug doing exactly that, and as he was being pulled towards the thug, Venom landed a punch right on the thug’s face, ungluing the man’s webbed feet from the ground and sending the man flying through the wall and clear across the other side of the street.

Giving a satisfied growl, Venom turned his attention to the thug in Overhaul’s employ that he’d webbed to a vehicle, a smirk on Venom’s face as he realized that the entire front of his pants were soaking wet and that urine was leaking out of his pant leg.

“Now then… as for you, we’ve no doubt that the heroes will be here soon, so why don’t you and us go find somewhere a bit more private to have our little chat…” said Venom, only for his face to fall when the thug passed out. 

“Well, damn,” grumbled Venom.

A Short Time Later…

“Hey, wake up already! Come on, we don’t have all night!” a terrifyingly familiar voice said as the thug regained consciousness to realize that he was hanging upside-down over the edge of  the very top of a large building. To make matters worse, the only thing keeping him from hitting the pavement was what seemed to be a thin thread attached to the back of the wrist of the creature who had attacked him.

“Ah, good, you’re awake,” said Venom, a grin on his face. “Y’know, when we were developing these web shooters, we don’t think we ever considered dangling a full-grown man like this. So, for your sake, we hope this web line holds. Of course, your odds will improve if you tell us where Overhaul’s base of operations is.”

“I don’t know! And I’m serious! He moved after something scared the shit out of him. Left a whole bunch of stuff behind!”

“Then where can we find his former base of operations?” growled Venom

“I’ll take you right to it, just please don’t eat me!”

Venom tilted his head quizzically. ‘Where the Hell did he get that idea from?’

‘Remember what we look like, and what we said to Overhaul? About eyes, lungs, and his pancreas? This guy was one of the people you stuck to a wall, it’s possible he heard it wrong, and we can capitalize on that to make them afraid of us sooner.’ Izuku thought back to his partner. 

The silence and quizzical tilt made Venom look like he was thinking things over to the formerly armed goon, and in a way he was, just not about what the felon thought.

“Alright, but any sign of tricking us and…” Venom made an over exaggerated bite in the hoodlum’s face, making him quickly nod his understanding. “Good boy…”

Industrial District-Abandoned Factory Exterior-An Hour Later…

The last thug patrolling the exterior of the building grunted as Venom knocked him out cold, his sniper rifle clattering of the side of the factory roof as Venom made his way over to a nearby skylight that seemed almost impossible to see through, although there were places where the symbiote and host could in fact see through it, and it was surprisingly easy to hear the thugs inside chattering.

“Hey, how many vials of that goat kid’s blood we got left?” said one of the hoods.

“Just four… and as long as that brat is at U.A, we ain’t getting any more of it any time soon… but we can still make as much Trigger as we want! AIN’T THAT RIGHT, FELLAS!”

Venom became enraged at what had been said, and as the group of wannabe villains cheered and hollered Venom jumped into the air, stuck two webs to the sides of the skylight, and pulled himself down through it, sending shards of glass and metal everywhere as he landed and roared in hatred.

Chapter Text

Chapter IV

Venom Vs All Might: Round One

As Venom’s roar of hatred filled the managers’ office of the abandoned factory, most of the thugs grabbed what seemed to be military-grade weapons, while what seemed to be the leader of the would-be trafficking ring’s muscles grew to make the man a hulking brute, but nowhere near the size of Venom.

Venom grinned. ‘They aren’t nearly well armed enough!’ symbiote and host thought in synchronization before the black-clad monstrosity began laying waste to the thugs as they opened fire, and were swiftly disposed of. However, the leader of the thugs was proving to be a bit more durable than Venom had anticipated, something that made the black monster’s grin grow.

He’d been hoping for a challenge on his big debut night. He dearly hoped the brute wouldn’t disappoint.

As the vigilante and the would-be crime lord traded blows, the bulky man began to get worn down until he eventually was knocked across the room, seemingly defeated.

Venom roared in triumph as he leered down at the thug. “Did you really think you had the strength and the power to beat us?” Venom said as he got ready to apprehend the defeated thug.

“Not like this, no,” the thug admitted as he forced himself up onto one knee, before he glanced at something off to the side, a large chemical flask with half of it filled. “But, with Trigger…!” he said before grabbing the flask and downing it, nearly drowning in the liquid as he did so.

“NO! Not the whole thing.” Venom yelled out in horror.

Almost instantly, the brute’s body began spasming as his muscles began to grow to a size that would make any professional bodybuilder green with envy, and then kept growing in all the wrong ways, transforming the man into an abomination of muscle that towered over Venom and made the black monster take a cautious, and terrified, step back. This monstrosity’s flesh had reddened harshly, with one arm twice as large as it should be, and the other barely any larger than before. While his head hadn’t grown at all, the face had grown gaunt, the skin fighting to remain on his face.

The hulking beast of a man roared before charging and grabbing Venom by his head and throwing him like a rag doll through the factory wall, sending him crashing through two more buildings before finally coming to a stop, becoming partially buried in a pile of bricks and mortar.

“Ow,” said Venom as he pulled himself up from the ground, taking note that there seemed to be a crowd gathering, no doubt thinking there was a hero fighting a villain. Only to be proven wrong as the thing the ‘boss’ had become, barreled through and began pummeling him. Before long Venom grabbed the larger fist, grew to his full size, still somewhat smaller than his opponent, and punched the red… thing back through another building.

As Venom looked through the hole in the opposite wall that he had just created, he saw that the monstrous brute of a thug was approaching him, still as terrifyingly muscular as ever as the crowd around Venom began to speculate what was going on.

“What is that thing?”

“Neither of those two look particularly heroic… maybe they’re two villains having a disagreement of some kind?”

“Well, whatever’s going on, the heroes should be here before long. They’ll figure things out, I’m sure of it!”

Venom growled as he glared down at the approaching enemy. ‘Right, so the direct approach is out of the question… guess that means we’ll have to try an indirect one!’ thought Izuku from within Venom, before the black-colored symbiote charged back at the malformed malefactor and the two began punching each other, neither actually gaining an advantage.

Venom quickly grabbed ahold of a nearby dumpster and threw it at the massive thug, landing a solid hit on the man’s comparatively tiny head, and actually managing to cause him to stagger back a couple feet a wound opened on his forehead.

‘Bingo! His body may be nigh invulnerable on that huge dose of that Trigger stuff, but it doesn’t look like that’s the case for command central… or what’s left of it, anyway,’ Venom and his host thought in unison before their early-warning danger sense kicked in, prompting Venom to evade the dumpster he’d just launched at the thug as the aforementioned goon made it return to sender.

Meanwhile, on a nearby rooftop…

All Might watched the battle between the hulking brute of a man and the black creature he had encountered earlier that day, having heard some interesting rumors about its activities that night, mainly consisting of vigilante work as it stopped muggers, robberies, breaking-and-entering crimes, and was now fighting what appeared to be a supervillain. From what he saw, the black creature certainly had the potential to be a real hero.

Unfortunately, the methods the black creature used in stopping crimes bordered on being far too extreme. Although some of the criminals were subdued by a black web-like substance, many more were suffering from severe injuries including multiple broken bones and heavy internal damage.

On top of that, not only had All Might himself not seen anything quite like the black creature before, there was nothing like it in the official registry, meaning that whoever or whatever that black creature was, it was likely using its Quirk without a license, which was very illegal. So, despite all the good it had done tonight, All Might had no choice but to bring the black creature in to answer for his unlicensed vigilante work.

Unbidden, the words of young Midoriya echoed in All Might’s mind as a pang of guilt ran through him.

“Do not fail Eri like you’ve failed me…”

All Might wished he could have done more to help the boy. When he’d stopped by his mother’s house a couple days ago to check on him, he learned that the boy had moved out not long after what had happened at the Entrance Exam, and that one day she’d gotten a call from his middle school about him slugging Katsuki Bakugou, someone that All Might had a feeling he’d need to keep an eye on with how hot headed and prone to anger he was, only for Bakugou to retaliate with his explosive Quirk.

From what he’d gathered from poking around Midoriya’s old room, he came to realize that Midoriya was something of a tinkerer, and had one of the most remarkable intellects for someone without a Quirk he’d ever seen, to the point where, if his mother was to be believed, he’d actually been offered the opportunity to advance or even graduate from Middle School early, yet he continued to turn down the offers.

Which made All Might even more worried after their encounter at U.A. earlier that day, as well as him supposedly threatening Katsuki Bakugou shortly thereafter. Someone that smart with broken dreams and that much anger and hatred boiling inside them… it did not bode well with him at all.

After all, while Midoriya had heard people he looked up to tell him time and time again that he couldn’t be a hero… not once had anyone told him he couldn’t be a villain. And when it came to villains… the smarter they were, the deadlier that made them.

All Might shook his head. He’d figure out how to keep Midoriya from becoming a villain later. Right now, however, he had a job to do, and it looked like the black creature had just landed the final blow on his opponent. 

It was time to go to work.

Back With Venom…

Venom, breathing heavily from exhaustion after his long battle, let out a triumphant roar as the massive hulk of a thug finally went down, unable to keep himself from placing a foot on his fallen foe and striking a heroic pose as a number of photographers took pictures. Unfortunately, Venom’s proud moment of victory came screeching to a halt when a familiar voice called out to him.

“You’ve been busy today, creature! I must admit, you do seem like you have good intentions, however the trail of broken bodies left in the wake of your vigilante actions tonight, and the use of that powerful Quirk of yours without a license, whatever your intentions may be, unfortunately means that I must ask you to accompany me to the station!”

Venom’s grin turned almost instantly to a frown as he turned to face the source of the voice, none other than All Might himself, standing there all noble and heroic-like. Venom groaned and shook his head. He’d dealt with enough problems for one day, right now, he just wanted to get out of here, head home, and take a shower. But, alas, it seemed as though that would not be in the cards. At least, not yet.

“We do not answer to false gods like you, All Might!” snarled Venom as he glared at the hero.

“Oh? And what exactly makes me a ‘false god?’” asked All Might.

Venom laughed. “Ooh, tough question, All Might, where to start? Oh, we know, how about ‘anyone can be a hero?’ Did you or did you not say that? And if you did, do you actually believe that? Or was it just some Public Relations bullshit that you spouted to keep the people who looked up to you buying your merchandise?” the black monster snarled angrily.

All Might was taken aback. He certainly wasn’t expecting that answer out of the black monster. “Wha- of course I meant it when I-” he said, only for Venom to cut him off with a roar.

“Tell that to the Quirkless, who are treated as second-class servants or slaves at BEST! Tell that to the people born with Quirks that everyone says are ‘perfect for villany’! If this cruel, unjust, and bigoted society is the one you defend, then we’ll take it kicking and screaming back to the realm of decency, and common sense!” Venom snarled in rage. “You are the Symbol of ‘Peace’, whereas we are the ones who will shatter that forgery of true peace, the ones who fight for the oppressed and trodden-upon. We are the Symbol of Vengeance! WE ARE VENOM!”

With that, Venom shot a tendril at All Might, which wrapped around him, and slammed him into a nearby wall before releasing a powerful roar and charging at All Might, who was just starting to get up off the ground, and swiping at him with his claws.

All Might dodged out of the way of Venom’s strikes before landing a few of his own on Venom, who seemed barely fazed by the super strong attacks, if his leering grin was anything to go by.

“What was that? Felt like a fly bit us!” said Venom with a snarl before grabbing All Might and throwing him into a nearby building, sending the hero crashing through it and into an empty car. “Aw, what’s the matter, old timer? Losing your edge? Happens to the best of us… not that you’re the best anymore!” taunted the black-clad symbiote.

All Might groaned as he pulled himself out of the car. Venom was proving himself to be a tough customer. A customer tougher than any he’d faced in a long time… but, even then, he wouldn’t give up, not when the people were counting on him as the Symbol of Peace to stop this monster and bring him to justice.

All Might got up off the ground, yellow electricity dancing around him as he got a running start, his right fist ready to throw one of his signature Smash attacks at Venom. “TEXAS… SMASH!” roared All Might as he punched his fist towards Venom, who was sent flying from the air pressure, only to backflip and land firmly on his feet not very far away at all.

All Might couldn’t believe it. That Texas Smash should have ended the fight right then and there, it had against the last villain similar to Venom, except the black-clad vigilante was still standing. What was he?

“A Texas Smash? How predictable,” snarled Venom as he dusted himself off. “Here’s a little tip for you, old man, you were the hero we looked up to the most before we took off the rose-tinted glasses and realized the truth about this world. We’ve studied all your battles, we know your every move before you do, we know how you THINK!”

All Might breathed heavily with exhaustion as his muscles began to deflate. ‘Dammit, my limit is almost up… still, at least what Venom just said gives me some clues to work with when it comes to figuring out his true identity,’ the hero thought before he made the decision to make a strategic retreat before his limit came up, leaping from building to building into the distance. Whatever else happened, he couldn’t let the people see the true form of the Symbol of Peace.

“That’s right old man! Run away! Run away from all the broken promises and lies you’ve told to the people who believed in you! We’ll meet again, All Might! We promise you that!” snarled Venom as he watched All Might run away like a coward, before he turned on his heel and faded away before disappearing completely.

Not Too Far Away-A Short While Later

Venom became visible once again and reverted back to Izuku, who sat down against a nearby wall and closed his eyes to rest for a moment., feeling completely and utterly drained from the ordeals he had been through that night. True, he had expected to come across a few people with Quirks, he certainly hadn’t counted on facing anyone like that big brute of a guy who used all that Trigger stuff, and definitely not a fight with All Might himself, let alone forcing his fallen idol into a retreat, something that struck him as odd. 

The All Might he knew would have never run away from a fight like that. Then again, maybe he didn’t really know All Might at all, and had only ever seen his public face. Although he couldn’t help but wonder if it had something to do with that matchstick-looking form he’d been in earlier.

Izuku opened his eyes and looked to the horizon, noting that the first vestiges of the sunrise were starting to appear. He needed to get back home, pass out for a couple hours until his alarm went off, go to school, then head back home and pass out for the rest of the day.

Everything aside, he couldn’t deny that his big debut was a complete success. The world knew about Venom now, and what he stood for, although he had a nagging feeling that forcing All Might to retreat like that was going to have some serious repercussions down the road, and likely make him a target of the hero community in their petty squabble to out-vigilante each other. 

Izuku scoffed. ‘Who the Hell came up with that Pro Hero Chart anyway? All it’s done is turn helping people and protecting the innocent into a petty squabble for fame and fortune. What happened to the days where people were heroes simply because people were in danger and needed a savior? What happened to the days when wealth and fame was ignored, and action itself was the reward?’ thought Izuku.

‘Your guess is as good as mine, Izuku,’ Venom said solemnly.

As Izuku finally pulled himself up off the ground, unfolded his walking cane, and began to limp back towards his apartment, he caught sight of himself in a window’s reflection that was illuminated by a streetlight. Taking a closer look at himself, Izuku frowned in thought.

‘Maybe I should get a haircut…’ Izuku thought to himself before continuing his trek towards his apartment.

Chapter Text

Interlude One

U.A. Campus-Lunchtime

Ochako Uraraka was sitting on one of the benches on the school grounds, quietly eating her lunch as her newfound friends, Shouto Todoroki, Tsuyu Asui, Tenya Iida, Mina Ashido, and Momo Yaoyorozu sat around her, all of them chattering about the big news that had broken last night: All Might having been forced to retreat from a new, and honestly terrifying, vigilante known as Venom, who claimed to be a Symbol of Vengeance standing for the Quirkless and the Villainous Quirked. 

From what she’d heard from her classmates, the majority opinion felt like Venom was nothing more than a vicious, mindless monster who was deluding himself into thinking he was a hero, although there were a few folks who felt like he had a point, and that there had been rumors that Venom had actually done some vigilante work prior to his encounter with All Might, and that the sweet little girl, Eri, that had been seen helping out the teachers and staff by being their errand girl, had actually been saved by Venom before being brought to U.A. to get help with her Quirk, which was likewise rumored to be very powerful and very dangerous.

“Well, I think we’re asking the wrong questions,” Mina’s voice said, pulling Ochako out of her thoughts. “The real question we should be asking is who is it that is actually standing for the Quirkless and Villainous Quirked, as the creature says: Venom, or the host inside the suit?”

“Host? What are you talking about?” asked Tenya.

“Well, isn’t it obvious?” said Mina matter-of-factly. “Venom is actually two beings combined into one. Just from eyeballing it, and judging from his speech patterns, I’d say that someone has become bonded with some kind of symbiote, an alien creature that needs to bond with a host to survive for extended periods in our world. In exchange, the symbiote provides the host with superhuman abilities that can put them on par with even the likes of All Might, as you can clearly see. However, there can be a few side effects, such as becoming a complete jerkwad and borderline supervillain, or being eaten from the inside out. And on top of that, they’re super hard to unbind from their hosts, usually only certain sonic vibrations, like say a bell from a cathedral’s bell tower or a Sound Quirk, or a Fire Quirk will do the trick. In some cases, they can also be unbound with Electrical Quirks.”

“Uh-huh…” said Shouto, clearly not buying a word that Mina was saying. “And how do you know all this, exactly?”

“I have my sources,” said Mina vaguely.

“Riiiight… I think you need to lay off the sci-fi movies and manga, Mina,” said Momo, an amused smile on her face.

“Hey, don’t shoot the messenger, Momo, I’m just saying, that’s what all the facts point to,” said Mina.

Ochako frowned in thought. If Mina was right, by some stretch of the imagination, could that possibly mean that this theoretical host was merely an innocent victim who was just along for the ride, like a puppet or suit? Did they truly stand for the Quirkless who were ‘trodden upon’ or treated as second-class slaves, and those who were cursed with Quirks that were perfectly suited for villainy? Or was that the theoretical symbiote? In all honesty, Ochako had never once thought about if villains had ever wanted to be villains in the first place, or if they turned to villainy because they felt they had no other choice because of their Quirks… 

Or… was there something more nefarious that Venom was after?

Ochako didn’t want to jump to any conclusions, not without seeing the creature first hand… but if Mina was right, and Venom was in fact a parasite of some kind who was using his host as a sort of hostage… then they, as heroes, needed to save whoever was trapped inside Venom before they lost themselves in some way.

That is, assuming they wanted to be saved by this point…

Meanwhile, elsewhere on the U.A. Campus…

Katsuki Bakugou hated it when he was right… even if he had no way of actually proving his theory. Not that he was usually the theorizing type, that was more of a Deku thing… or at least, it had been…

Ever since he had that run-in with Deku when, as it turned out, he was dropping off a poor little girl that even he couldn’t help but feel sorry for, judging from what he’d seen of Eri’s condition at first and hearing about what she’d been through. If he’d had his way, Katsuki would’ve blown that psychopath to the hell he belonged in. But, thankfully he was put at ease by the fact that Deku had cleaned her up and brought her to U.A. to get her help controlling her apparently dangerous Quirk and to keep her safe from the villain that had kidnapped her.

‘Even without a Quirk and a bad leg, you just can’t stop yourself from playing the hero, can you, Deku?’ Bakugou had thought at the time, a smirk on his face… until Venom had made his big debut, taking down that hulking abomination and again forcing All Might to turn tail and retreat.

After their last encounter, Katsuki had suspected that there was something inside Deku now, some kind of monster or darkness, and despite his rescue of that little unicorn girl, the appearance of Venom, a creature the exact shade of black that he’d seen Deku’s eyes change to, referring to himself as ‘we’ as Deku had… it was all too obvious to Katsuki that his former childhood friend was inside that monster somewhere, swallowed, consumed, by it…

Had Deku really been so desperate for power that he’d made some kind of deal with the devil and willingly turned himself into that creature?

Even worse than that, Katsuki had a terrible feeling that he had a role to play in creating that monster, if the creature’s rant to All Might was anything to go by… even if he couldn’t actually prove his suspicion that it was Deku inside Venom.

Regardless of whatever guilt he was feeling about the possibility of his old friend being inside Venom, Katsuki had every reason to believe that the heroes would find Venom and stop him, even if All Might had been forced to flee from him. There was such a thing as a strategic retreat after all. He was sure of it.

And yet, that didn’t stop him from feeling an inkling of guilt over the possibility of his childhood friend having become a terrifying and deadly monster because of him…

Meanwhile, in the U.A. Staffroom…

Toshinori Yagi sat on one of  the couches, his head between his hands. How on Earth could he have missed this? How could he have missed any of this? He was supposed to be a Symbol for the Quirkless and Quirked alike! And yet, he had missed this…

His cell phone had been ringing off the hook with calls from the Hero Public Safety Commission, which ultimately led the aging hero to turn the damn thing off as he looked over what he had dug up during his research. Nearly all of the suicides from the past year alone had been by Quirkless young adults and even teenagers who, upon further examination, had been living absolutely miserable lives, bullied by their peers, discriminated against by their employers, among countless other terrible acts. Other suicides had been commited by people who had Quirks that were too weak to be used in a practical sense for hero work, or Quirks that would have made them into terrifying or deadly villains, yet these people had no desire to turn to villainy, and according to their suicide notes, they had felt the world would be better off without them.

Toshinori couldn’t help but shudder at the feeling of shame that was washing over him. These people had looked up to him as a Hero and as the Symbol of Peace, but the more Toshinori looked into it, the more he began to realize that Venom was right. The peace he had given the world was nothing more than a sham, a forgery of true peace, a peace that was only skin deep, masking the discrimination and bigotry underneath.

That needed to change. He would do everything in his power to truly prove himself worthy of the title, even in the eyes of these people whom he had failed, people like Izuku Midoriya… and Venom.

But, first, he needed to find Venom and talk to the black clad being in order to help him see reason before he went too far… the only problem was, he had no clue how to go about doing that, at least not without waiting for the vigilante to show up again…

Toshinori heaved a reluctant sigh. He supposed that was what he would have to do then.

In the meantime, however, he would continue to seek potential successors for One for All… although, after her efforts in saving young Midoriya during the near-catastrophic Entrance Exam, Ochako Uraraka was his top candidate for a successor…

Elsewhere-The Bar With No Name

A small and strange menagerie of people sat at the bar watching a replay of the fights involving Venom, against the Trigger enhanced crook and against All Might.

“Now do you understand why I keep that ‘muck’ alive, and why I want you to bond with it, my protege?” ‘Sensei’ said towards a young adult with dull blue hair, dry and cracked skin, and eyes as dead as a fish’s. The young man simply sighed and scratched at the back of his neck.

“I don’t understand why you’re so adamant about me using mods when the Final Boss has already been nerfed.”

“Because with one of these creatures, even a Quirkless individual could become a problem to our goals, just as one did in my younger years. I would very much prefer to have one on our side to level the playing field against this newcomer.”

“You’re really worried about that hacker, Sensei?”

“Whoever is underneath the ‘mask’ of Venom was able to use All Might’s own technique to gain distance from him, most likely for a quick escape. That suggests a highly analytical mind is at work beneath the bulk. If you, as you are now, were to get into combat with him, the more likely scenario would be your loss.”

“I got it, I got it. He’s running a High Intelligence, High Strength build, so I need to match his level or it’ll be a TPK.” The protege said as he grabbed the container for the green symbiote and reduced it to rusty metal and broken glass. 

Apparently realizing it was free, the green symbiote seemed to look around, as though it was noting its surroundings, before fixing its gaze on the young man who had released it.

Then, the green symbiote lunged for the young man, and began to meld with him.

Izuku’s Apartment-Later That Evening

Izuku, a mug of hot chocolate in his hand, smiled as his new, bigger, and recently repaired TV that he salvaged from cleaning up Takeba Beach, turned on to the starting jingle of the evening news.

“Well, let’s see what the latest public opinion of our exploits last night were, shall we, Venom?” Izuku asked his new best friend as he climbed onto his bed.

“Sounds good to me,” Venom said as his head emerged attached to a tendril from Izuku’s back, a grin on his face.

As Izuku took a long drink from his mug of hot chocolate, the news took a turn that neither he nor Venom were expecting.

“-per the order of the Hero Public Safety Commission, the vigilante and so-called ‘Symbol of Vengeance’ known as Venom, is wanted for the murder of the large red creature they were seen engaging in combat last night, identity currently unknown. Any citizens with information leading to the immediate arrest of the vigilante should call-” the newscaster said.

Izuku choked on the sip of hot chocolate he was drinking before another of Venom’s tendrils emerged and whacked him on the back, clearing his windpipe. 

“WHAT?!”

Chapter Text

Chapter V

Tragedies of The Past

Izuku, who was now sporting a much less fluffy hairstyle that, as Venom put it, made him look much less like a walking piece of broccoli, in that it was now a bit shorter and combed back, held in place with a bit of hair gel, making him look marginally more handsome, as the barber who had done his haircut told him, combined with his school uniform, consisting of a black suit with a black undershirt, a red tie, black dress shoes, and his fold-up walking cane, made the young teenager seem far more dapper than he would under normal circumstances, was making his way through the streets of the city, trying to formulate a plan on how to clear Venom’s name.

“In all honesty, I think that Trigger-Enhanced thug’s actual cause of death was likely from an overdose on Trigger,” Izuku told the symbiote inside him. “The trick is going to be getting the evidence that proves that to be the case, especially since the HPSC is pushing the narrative that we killed him in cold blood.”

‘This HPSC, they’re your government right?’ Venom asked from inside Izuku’s mind. ‘If that’s the case, then why are they so adamant on pushing the narrative that we killed that guy and labeling us as murderers?’

“The society the HPSC has built thrives on absolutes, the belief that black and white are clearly distinct, without even an iota of gray between them,” said Izuku. “Enter us, a vigilante who is trying to protect the innocent and be a hero despite having what appears to be a villainous Quirk, who proudly resides in that gray area the HPSC so vehemently denies exists, who operates completely outside the incredibly flawed system they’ve built, and they’ll likely do anything and everything they can to paint us as monsters, killers, criminals, anything else they can think of to turn both society and the Pro Heroes against us.”

‘I see…’ Venom said inside Izuku’s mind. ‘So, in that case, we’ll need a way to keep them off our backs, if only for a short time…’

“Exactly, and that’s why I’m thinking that dealing with a scandal caused by it being revealed that they manipulated a coroner to establish a false cause of death and frame us for murder should work out quite nicely for those purposes,” said Izuku. “If all goes as planned tonight, we should be able to get the information to the proper sources in time for the morning news tomorrow.”

‘Or we could suit up and go now, make it in time for the evening news,’ Venom said inside Izuku’s mind.

“No, that’s not the best idea,” said Izuku. “Most of the Pro Heroes operate in broad daylight, where they can show off in front of God and everybody. Considering we’re not only vigilantes, but are currently wanted for murder, it’s too risky to suit up in broad daylight. On the other hand, fewer heroes operate the night shift, so we should be able to operate as the Symbol of Vengeance with relative ease.”

As he continued walking, Izuku caught sight of a familiar looking head of brown hair just ahead of him.

‘Hey, it’s Ochako!’ thought Izuku.

‘Well? Aren’t you going to go talk to her?’ Venom asked in Izuku’s mind.

Izuku could see the symbiote’s grin in his mind’s eye as he limped to catch up with Ochako. “Hey, Ochako, it’s me, Izuku!” he called after her, prompting the brown haired girl to turn around and face Izuku with a bright smile.

“Oh, hi, Izuku!” Ochako said with a bright smile before she took note of what Izuku was wearing. “What’s with the fancy get up?”

“Oh, this? School uniform for Yasojin High,” explained Izuku as he adjusted his tie. “Granted, it’s no U.A. but it’s decent enough. And I figured if I was going to look this fancy on a daily basis with a cane and everything, I figured I might as well get a new haircut to match. But, enough about me, how are you holding up? How’s U.A.?”

“Surprisingly, there’s a lot more ‘academia’ in the phrase ‘hero academia’ than I would have believed,” admitted Ochako, rubbing at the back of her neck. “We’re supposed to be heading down to the Unplanned Simulation Joint in a few days to get a taste of a different type of hero work. And honestly, it cannot come soon enough. The news about that monstrous vigilante Venom showing up and forcing All Might to retreat has quite a few members of my class worked up.”

“Oh, is that so?” asked Izuku, a small smile on his face as he felt no shortage of satisfaction in the fact that, despite not being a student there, he was still the talk of the U.A. campus. “Say, you wanna go grab some coffee? I’d love to hear more about how things are going with you at U.A. High School… maybe get to know you a little better.”

Ochako froze, a small blush forming on her face as she thought about what Izuku just said. Admittedly, she wanted to learn more about Izuku as well, especially considering the fact that he actually tried to do the U.A. Entrance Exam without a Quirk. Plus, there was something about him that she found intriguing, not to mention the fact that he was actually kind of attractive-agh, what was she thinking? 

After a few moments, Ochako smiled. “Sure. Lead the way,” she said.

A Short While Later-An Outdoor Cafe

Izuku, with an extra large to-go cup of hot chocolate in his hand, and Ochako, a cappuccino in her to-go cup, were sitting at one of the cafe tables, making small talk. The majority of the conversation was about Quirks, and Izuku went into one of his typical muttering storms which Ochako found cute. Truth be told, if she didn’t know any better, she would have thought his Quirk was some sort of analysis Quirk, or a Quirk that granted him an intelligence and intellect to rival even the U.A. Principal.

“So,” Ochako said as she took a sip of her coffee. “We’ve talked about Quirks, so… who’s your favorite Pro Hero? I mean, you obviously have one, given the lengths you went through to try to make it into U.A.”

A dark look crossed Izuku’s face. “I don’t have one. Not since what happened at the exam,” he said, a bitterness in his voice. “And to be honest, my fondness for most heroes has been on shaky foundations for a long time, but after that day, I can’t really stand Pro Heroes anymore, particularly All Might, who just care about lining their pockets rather than actually being a hero, stopping villains, and saving lives. If they were heroes, the feeling they get from simply being a hero and saving lives alone would be reward enough, rather than kickbacks from having a bunch of cheap plastic toys mass produced in their image.”

Of all the answers Izuku could have given, that certainly wasn’t one that Ochako was expecting. “I… don’t really understand. The Pro-Heroes-”

“Are people doing a job. Tell me, Ochako, what does a person do when they're not on the clock?” asked Izuku.

Ochako’s expression became confused. “They go home, have dinner, go about their own business, go to sleep and get up the next morning to do it all over again,” she said with uncertainty.

“And do people like that ever do their work off the clock when there's no reason to?”

“You… have a very bleak outlook, Izuku.”

“I have this outlook for a very good reason, Ochako. Do you mind if I tell you the story of one of my first friends growing up?”

“No, go ahead.”

“Thank you. My friend's name was Inoichi, for the longest time it seemed like he was Quirkless, like I am. But then when he finally decided to stand up to our bullies, his Quirk came in.”

“Congratulations, he must have been very happy. Did they stop bullying you two?”

“No, they didn't stop, and no he wasn't happy, because his Quirk almost killed one of them. Ichi’s Quirk gave him control over metal, and we were standing next to the school’s lockers when it happened. All the lockers rose off the ground or bent at odd angles, several of their doors flew across the room, and one of them was an inch from taking off our main bully’s head.” 

Ochako gasped and held her hands in front of her mouth.

“After that, he became the school pariah,” Izuku continued as his tears started to fall. “The insults increased in frequency, they switched out ‘Quirkless Pig’ for ‘Villain Scum’, ‘Metal Monster’. They even gave him a Villain Name, ‘the Electromagnetic Murderer, Magnus’. Eventually, it became too much for him to bear, and he took his own life by putting a One Yen coin through his brain. The note he left was addressed directly to the bullies, and all it said was ‘I guess I am a murderer after all.’, and he signed it as Magnus.” Izuku’s tears were falling at a more steady pace than they normally would as he wiped them away with his hand. Ochako just stared at Izuku in disbelief, unable to find her voice for a short while.

“But… but Inoichi’s parents had to have done something about them after that!”

“They tried! But Aldera always made the ‘undesirables’ out to be just that! Innocents became guilty, victims became villains, monsters got applause for their heroic potential !” Izuku’s voice began rising. “Inoichi’s entire family used their collective life savings to hire a renowned Pro-Hero with a detective Quirk, only to be told not an hour later by that same person to ‘not waste his time’ because Aldera paid him more !” Izuku almost screamed as his grip started to make indents in the table’s Quirk-treated material.

‘Calm down, Izuku! You're starting to attract attention!’ Venom warned his partner as several people were beginning to take longer glances at the two, actually three, of them. Izuku took a deep breath to steady himself and looked Ochako straight in the eyes.

“Ochako, how long ago do you think that happened?”

“Well… I think… a few years ago?” She guessed, but Izuku's tired shake of his head told her she was wrong.

“Aldera is a Junior High, Ochako. My oldest friend got his Quirk two years ago , and killed himself last year. And guess what? One of his killers is attending U.A. with you; because God forbid if Katsuki gets anything less!”

Ochako’s eyes shot open. “Katsuki? As in, Katsuki Bakugou? With the explosion Quirk? He’s in my class! He always came off as arrogant and kind of a jerk, but I never thought he’d make someone commit suicide!” she said, horrified.

“Oh, trust me, he will. The son of a bitch actually told me if I wanted a Quirk so badly, to jump off Aldera’s roof and pray for one in my next life,” said Izuku, his voice both dead, yet seething with rage. “And all that stuff about ‘extras’ and him being the world's ‘Protagonist’? He actually believes that bullshit.” Izuku said as he unfolded his cane and got up from the table. “Whatever you do, do not wound his pride, or do anything to get on his bad side like me and Inoichi did by just existing. You piss him off enough and that psychopath will try to get rid of you by any means necessary.”

Ochako simply sat there, her mind reeling with shock at everything she just heard as she watched Izuku walk away, stop, come back for his cup of cocoa, and walk away again. She didn’t know what she expected when she agreed to have coffee with Izuku, but this certainly wasn’t it. She honestly didn’t know what to make of any of what Izuku had told her. But, it certainly gave her a lot to think about.

Ochako did know one thing though. Izuku Midoriya had a truly tortured soul and was in desperate need of a real friend and a shoulder to cry on… that being the case, then why couldn’t she be that friend Izuku needed and have it be her shoulder that he could cry on?

…Actually make that two things, because Principal Nedzu needed to know the truth about Katsuki and Aldera.

Meanwhile, with Izuku and Venom…

Izuku was still fuming as he limped away from the cafe. Aldera… even just the thought of that hellhole of a school caused a surge of anger and hatred to run through him because of what happened to him and Ichi there. Part of him wanted to tear that school down with his bare hands, bury the principal and staff in the rubble, and get justice for their role in the death of his best friend. But, thanks to being able to bribe any Pro Hero who concerned parents sent to investigate into looking the other way, the school continued to keep up its impeccable appearance of an environment free from discrimination and bullying, when that couldn’t be any further from the truth. It was nothing more than a breeding ground for suffering and injustice.

Izuku knew that Inoichi could not have been the only victim of the pain and suffering wrought upon those who were Quirkless or were cursed with a “villainous” Quirk and attended, and there was likely to be proof that the school had been paying off heroes who went to look into the matter, as well as the genuine records of student incidents. All it would take was that information getting out there for the world to see, and it would all come crumbling down for Aldera and the frauds in their pocket. Those who took their own lives because of Bakugou and the monsters that came before him would finally be able to get justice and be able to rest in peace.

A devious grin crossed Izuku’s face. Well, if he was an anti-hero, that meant that he could cause a little bit of chaos and raise some hell from time to time. And after having to relive the memory of the death of his best friend, he was itching to raise some Hell. It was only a shame they'd have to wait until he got Venom’s name cleared of this little misunderstanding with the Trigger-Enhanced Thug before they finally got what was coming to them.

‘Izuku, are you okay?’ Venom asked Izuku, sounding genuinely worried about his host.

“Huh? Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” said Izuku as he took a drink of his hot cocoa. “It’s just… talking about Ichi… hurts, you know. He was like a brother to me. Granted, it wasn’t quite on the same level as the symbiosis you and I share, but, still…”

‘I see… it was you who found the body and the note, was it not?’ asked Venom.

“No secrets between us, huh?” Izuku said. “And the worst part is, even after all of that, I still couldn’t see Bakugou for what he really was. I still admired that bastard, even as he beat me down on a regular basis. I was a fool until the day my dream died. Then I began to wake up and see the world as it truly was,” said Izuku.

‘I see… you know, we could go attack Aldera tonight, and you can take your revenge,’ said Venom.

“It’s too much of a risk, especially considering what I just told Ochako. We can’t risk her making a connection and figuring out who we are,” said Izuku, shaking his head. “More importantly, we need to get our names cleared before we go off on any rampages, otherwise that’ll just be proving the HPSC right about us. Business before pleasure, after all, as unfortunate as it may be.”

‘I see… good call,’ said Venom from within Izuku. ‘Though if I may ask… do you know which morgue exactly they’d be keeping that Trigger-Enhanced Thug’s body, and the evidence that would be keeping the HPSC bogged down with trying to unravel our little scandal while we go about our business?’

“Unfortunately, no,” admitted Izuku. “There are at least three morgues all across Mustafu City that are designated for doing autopsies and what have you for people with Quirks that would normally allow one to do hero work or for doing the same to slain villains. In order to find the one where that thug’s carcass is being held, and the evidence we need to clear our names and tie up the HPSC, we’ll need access to the city’s medical networks. Though, to be honest, I have to wonder something…”

‘Oh? And what would that be?’ asked Venom.

“Why is it that the HPSC is pushing the narrative that we killed that thug so hard? It almost feels like they have it out for us more than any other vigilante said to be out there… like it’s personal or something…”

Chapter Text

Chapter VI

Duel With Desert

Swinging through air high above the city streets, Venom made his way towards the largest hospital in all of Mustafu City, making sure to keep his guard up as he traveled in case a hero who worked the proverbial night shift decided to pick a fight. Venom knew that there was a decent chance that he would be able to access the city’s medical networks at that particular hospital, and through it, he would be able to locate the body of the Trigger-Enhanced Thug as well as the evidence he would need to clear his name and tie the Hero Public Safety Commission up, for however short of time he was able to buy.

Soon, the black-clad vigilante arrived at his destination, perching himself on the perimeter wall as he surveyed the hospital entrances.

“Okay, with our shapeshifting abilities, we should be able to sneak into the hospital fairly easily… now, the devil in the details… how do we access the medical networks? Simply intimidate the medical director, perhaps?” Venom muttered to himself. “Yes… perhaps that would be the best course of action-hmm?”  

Venom was pulled out of his thoughts as his early-warning danger sense kicked in. Damn, he REALLY needed to think of something cooler to call that power. Maybe Spider-Sense? His symbiote did say the ability had come from a race of man-spiders, much like the formula for his black web fluid had, among other, highly useful abilities. Sadly, the man-spiders’ power to generate electricity was not among the abilities that Venom had picked up from his host from that planet, but Izuku could make do.

Back to the matter at hand, however, Venom soon realized that a sizable group of people had gathered at the side of the building. Using his camouflage abilities, Venom turned invisible and saw that these people were apparently trying to break into the side entrance of the building, and among them appeared to be two or three villains from the looks of things, and judging from the containers they had, they didn’t look like they were going to do anything especially horrible like destroy the hospital. No, they looked like they were going to steal something.

‘Hmm, odd,’ Venom thought to himself as he leaned closer at the group. ‘Why would villains want to break into a hospital looking to actually steal something? Still, the distraction caused by the chaos of the villains and their minions’ little heist could prove useful for allowing us to take a look at the medical networks undisturbed. Once we have what we need from them, we can take out the villains and their flunkies, and make our escape with the data we need.’

A grin forming on his unseen face, Venom quietly joined the group of thugs just as they popped the lock on the door and began to storm inside the hospital, making a beeline for… cold storage?

‘Weird,’ thought Venom as he followed the thieves into the cold storage. Upon arriving, Venom soon realized that the thieves were, for some unknown reason, stealing human brains that were clearly intended for brain transplant procedures.

‘Uh… Venom, you didn’t hire these guys while I was sleeping last night, did you? Because I don’t exactly have a lot of money to be blowing on brain heists! Or heists at all! Plus, we’re anti-heroes, not villains!’ Izuku thought from within Venom.

‘What, no, of course not!’ the symbiote said within Izuku’s mind. ‘Although… there might be something else that we need to worry about sooner or later…’

‘Oh? And what would that be?’ asked Izuku.

‘...never mind, I can’t be certain if it is what I think it is,’ Venom replied to his host and partner. ‘In any case, we should head up to the medical director’s office and get the data we’re after, and then deal with these punks.’

‘...okay, if you say so,’ replied Izuku.

And with that, Venom made his way out of cold storage, sneaking past the security guards who were more than likely about to have a bad night thanks to the villains, and made his way to the director’s office, the door of which was left ajar.

Upon entering the room, Venom’s concealed grin grew even wider at the sight of the director’s computer, which had apparently been abandoned… with the director still logged into it.

‘Thank you, Lady Luck!’ Venom and Izuku thought simultaneously as he became visible, made his way over to the computer, and took a seat… and soon found that not only were the medical networks pulled up, but so was a webpage for…

“‘Lonely Loser dot com’? The crappy online dating website? Ugh, some people… whatever happened to just growing a backbone and asking someone out? Worked out nicely for us when we asked Ochako out for coffee… ugh, focus, Venom, focus,” Venom growled to himself as he began his search for the Trigger-Enhanced Thug. 

It took a while, but eventually, the black clad being found what he was looking for, a John Doe with a muscle-enhancing Quirk that had been enhanced far more than it was supposed to through illicit means, and was apparently murdered by a vigilante. Apparently the autopsy was done at a morgue on the far side of the city that just so happened to be under the oversight of the Hero Public Safety Commission. Unfortunately, that was all the information that Venom could find.

‘Okay, got what we came for, now we just have to take care of those villains that are stealing brains,’ Venom and Izuku thought to themselves as he closed out of the medical networks, turned invisible, and began to sneak his way back down to the Cold Storage… only to find that the villains had already been defeated, that there were large piles of sand all over the place, and that he was currently standing in one such pile of sand.

‘Oh, no…’ thought Venom mere moments before what felt like a sack of bricks slammed into his face, sending him flying through a nearby wall and out into the street, causing several cars to swerve out of the way and end up in a bit of a pile up as he became visible again and flipped through the air to land sliding onto his feet as the source of the attack revealed itself.

It was a young man a couple years older than Izukuwith short brown hair wearing a green striped sweatshirt, khakis, and brown loafers, whose right arm was currently reverting from a giant, stone hard fist made of sand back into a regular hand.

‘And who’s this guy?’ Venom asked his host.

‘I think he might be the Sandman Hero, Desert, son of the Sand Hero Snatch and his Quirkless wife, hence the epitaph. That also means his Quirk works a bit differently than his father’s. On top of that, he’s fresh out of U.A, so he doesn’t actually have a ranking yet on the Pro Hero charts,’ explained Izuku from within Venom.

Desert, meanwhile, spoke loudly as he approached Venom, a triumphant look on his face. “The HPSC was right about you! I knew you were nothing more than a villain who was just deluding himself into thinking he was a hero, and now, here’s the proof: breaking into a hospital with a group of known villains and wanted criminals to steal human brains for some ungodly reason!”

‘Well, that answers that question. Clearly this guy bought the bullshit the HPSC has been lying down,’ Izuku said bitterly from within Venom as the black-clad monster stood up and roared at the hero.

“Shows what you know, sand for brains,” Venom said aloud. “For starters, we’re on a strict chocolate diet, and for another thing, we were here to STOP the villains and criminals, not help them!” the black-clad being lied easily. Desert didn’t need to know the real reason he was at the hospital.

“Even if that were the case, the fact still stands that the HPSC wants you brought in for the murder of that red abomination you fought the other night,” said Desert. “So, the question is, are you gonna come quietly or covered in sand?”

Venom roared again. “We will NOT confess to crimes we did not commit! We have a strict No-Killing Rule! Beating villains near-death, yes, depending on the severity of their crimes, but never outright murder! Even if, admittedly, some of these villains actually deserve it, like that Overhaul guy!” the vigilante snarled.

“Who are you to talk about rules when you don’t even play by them, vigilante?” retorted Desert. “In any case, it seems like you’ve chosen face-punch so let’s dance!”

And on that note, Desert launched himself in a whirl of sand at Venom as his fist grew in size and landed square on the vigilante’s chest, sending him flying through another wall.

“Ow…” growled Venom as he pulled himself up to see Desert walking through the hole in the walk, one hand in a giant stone fist, the other in the shape of a giant mallet. Acting quickly, Venom threw a solid punch at Desert, which landed firmly on his head, scattering the sand it was composed of before quickly reforming.

“Missed,” Desert said nonchalantly before Venom tried once again to strike him in the head, only for the sand it was composed of to once again be scattered, only to quickly reform. “Missed again.”

With a furious roar, Venom attempted to punch Desert in the stomach, only for his fist to sail right through the Sandman Hero’s stomach, and promptly become stuck thanks to the rest of the sand that composed his torso. “Uh-oh…” said Venom before he was sent flying through the far wall and out into the street on the other side of the building before slamming into a parked car and coming to a stop. 

“Ugh…” groaned Venom as he pulled himself out of the car. “Okay, so brute force is out of the question, which means we’ll have to get crafty, and we’ll need to do it quickly before Sandy over there gets himself some reinforcements.”

‘Okay, okay, lemme think,’ Izuku said from within Venom. ‘Got it! His body is made up entirely of sand, right? So, all we’ll need to do is sprinkle a little water on him, and he’ll solidify, and he’ll be out for the count, but we’ll need to be careful about how much water we use, otherwise we could risk dissolving and killing him… or turning him into some kind of Mud Monster. A fire hydrant should do the trick.’

Quickly spotting a nearby fire hydrant, Venom leapt over to it and waited for Desert to follow him out of the building. Once the Sandman Hero appeared, Venom quickly ripped the fire hydrant from the ground and used his arms to direct the gushing stream of water at Desert, almost instantly turning the sand that composed his body into a grainy mud. Once he had been sufficiently doused with water, Venom leapt into the air, shot a webline, and broke Desert apart in one swinging kick, effectively rendering the hero out of action. However, movements that Desert’s shattered body was  making in trying to pull himself back together were a clear indication that he was still alive.

Venom gave a triumphant roar of victory before leaping into the air again, firing a webline, and swinging away from the scene, just as other heroes arrived on the scene. 

‘So, how’d you know that’d work on Desert without killing him?’ Venom asked his host.

‘Well, you see, I heard about an accident he had during the U.A. Sports Festival a few years back. When he won, his teammates dumped the water cooler on him, and his body started turning to mud, and began falling apart. It was a complete mess. But once the mud dried, Desert was able to piece himself back together. He even regrew the parts of him that fell off. So, I figured as long as we didn’t use too much water, we’d be able to put him out of action without killing him,’ explained Izuku.

‘I see…’ replied Venom. ‘So, do you wanna head over to that morgue on the other side of the city, get the evidence to clear our names?’

‘No, not tonight, I have school tomorrow. Plus, I wanna try and figure out why those villains and criminals at the hospital were trying to steal human brains, but I get the feeling you know more about this than you let on,’ Izuku said.

‘And like I said, I’m sure it’s nothing. I mean, I do have a suspicion, but I highly doubt there’s any merit to it. Although, if there is any merit to it… we might have bigger problems to deal with than petty crimes and misguided heroes…’ said Venom.

Chapter Text

Chapter VII

Positives and Negatives

As he made his way down one of Mustafu’s streets after school the following day, Izuku pondered over the hospital robbery he and Venom had stumbled across the night prior before they got entangled with Desert. Izuku was relieved to learn that Desert was expected to make a full recovery after having been blasted by the stream of water, although he was far less relieved to learn that the HPSC had announced that because of the ‘attempt on Desert’s life’, Venom had not only been labeled a full-fledged villain, but the HPSC had announced that when captured, he would be locked away and left to rot in Tartarus Prison.

That aside, Izuku was somewhat surprised to learn that All Might of all people, had released a statement criticizing the overly heavy-handed approach the HPSC was taking in regards to handling the situation. Not only that, while he didn’t condone the sheer brutality and viciousness of Venom’s methods or his apparent preference of punishing the guilty rather than protecting the innocent, he did sympathize with Venom’s professed goal of becoming a symbol that those that society had seemingly all but abandoned and trodden upon could look up to and rally behind. However, despite this surprise, it did little to restore Izuku’s faith in his fallen idol. He had been burned too many times by people he once looked up to to be won over that easily.

Either way, with the HPSC labeling Venom as a villain, it was more important than ever for Izuku and his symbiote ally to acquire the evidence that proved the HPSC had lied about the Trigger-Enhanced Thug’s death. That, and get the target they had painted on his back at least somewhat removed.

“I still don’t get it, though… why were those goons stealing brains of all things?” Izuku asked the symbiote.

“They need the DNA? They're attempting to make cyborgs?” suggested Venom from within Izuku’s mind.

Izuku sighed and shook his head. “No, that can’t be it. Only I-Island would be capable of pulling off something like that. That and they wouldn’t hire a bunch of villains and thugs to steal them. It would be easier to just flat-out buy a stockpile of brains. Besides, last I heard, David Shield and his daughter were working on an instantaneous transportation device of some kind. I think it had something to do with the multiverse or something, I don’t know,” he let out a long sigh. “I guess we can figure the whole brain heist thing out later. Right now we need to scope out that morgue and figure out how to get in there and get the evidence to clear our names.”

“We could do that… or we could work on expanding your social circle,” replied Venom, making Izuku look across the street to see none other than Ochako Uraraka walking down the opposite sidewalk. She was chatting away with what looked like a trio of other girls that Izuku could only assume were her friends.

“Oh come on Venom, we shouldn’t bother Ochako. She’s hanging out with her friends from U.A.” replied Izuku.

“Izuku, if you’re gonna win the heart of the fair Ochako Uraraka, you’re gonna need to meet and leave a good impression on her friends. Don’t bother lying and saying you don’t have those kinds of feelings for her, you know there are no secrets between us. I know you have a crush on her. A small, yet constantly growing and evolving crush, but a crush none the less,” Venom told his host, causing Izuku to sigh again, his face slightly red before shaking his head.

“Alright…you made your point,” Izuku grumbled before making his way across the street, “Hey, Ochako!”

Ochako and her friends turned to see Izuku hobbling his way toward them. “Oh, hey Izuku!” she happily replied while waving at him.

“So, this is the guy you were telling us about, kero ?” a girl with long dark sea green hair and what seemed to be a frog mutation quirk instantly asked.

“Hmm…yes, I see…” said another one of Ochako’s friends, this one having pink skin, pink hair, and was wearing a pink outfit, who was also looking at him with a discerning eye. “Yes…yes. He certainly does seem like good boyfriend materia-ow!” she yelped as the third friend, a girl who had black hair tied in a ponytail, elbowed her in the side, cutting her off.

“Hush, Mina! He doesn’t need to be getting the wrong idea!” the third friend whispered before adding, “Even if it is totally accurate,” under her breath.

Izuku, who had heard none of what had just been said, smiled brightly as he reached Ochako and her friends. “I was on my way back to my apartment when I saw you and your friends walking by, so I thought I’d come and say hello.”

“Well, this is Tsuyu Asui-” Ochako replied while pointing at the girl with the frog mutation Quirk, who smiled at Izuku. “-Mina Ashido-” Ochako continued as she turned to the pink haired and skinned girl, who was rubbing her side where the third girl had elbowed her as she smiled at Izuku. “-and Momo Yaoyozoru,” Ochako finished.

“Ochako has told us quite a bit about you, Izuku…I can see why you would want to become a hero badly enough that you would attempt to take the U.A. Entrance Exam despite being Quirkless,” Momo commented as she smiled at Izuku.

“Yeah, she’s totally head over heels for-ow!” Mina started, only to get another elbow to the side, this time from Ochako.

“Hush, Mina! Not now!” hissed Ochako, who had a small blush on her face before she glanced back at Izuku, who was raising his eyebrow in response. “Sorry about Mina. She’s really into romance, even though I keep telling her that you and I are just friends.”

“Hey, I’m flattered,” Izuku responded while sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. “Say…you girls want to go hang out someplace and chat a bit? I’d love to get to know you all a bit better. I know this great cafe near here, best french fries in the city if you ask me.”

Mina, Momo, and Tsuyu all turned to Ochako at that, and unless he was very much mistaken, devious grins on their faces appeared as they all subtly nodded their heads, silently telling her to say yes. Ochako’s face was now as red as a tomato as she replied, “Um…sure. We’d love to hang out with you, Izuku.”

“Great!” Izuku responded as he spun around. “If you’ll follow me then…”

Mick’s Diner - Forty-Five Minutes Later…

Momo, Tsuyu, Mina, and Ochako had to admit, these were some pretty good fries, an opinion that was shared by Venom. Izuku for his part, was surprised to see the old man he’d run into while he was cleaning the beach prior to the Entrance Exam working here as a short order cook. More than that, Izuku was rather delighted as to how things at U.A. were going. And in all honesty, he really needed some good news after how the last few days had gone.

According to the girls, Eri had been taken into the care of one Shouta Aizawa, better known as the Underground Hero Eraserhead, who was rumored to be dating a hero by the name of Ms. Joke. Eri was also apparently making great progress on getting a better grasp on her Quirk, which was a kind of chronological Rewind Quirk that worked on living creatures, working to master it by using it on small insects and birds. However, when she used her Quirk, the horn on her head shrunk down, only to grow again as more of her power built up.

“Principal Nedzu and the rest of the U.A. Staff think that when and if Eri gets full mastery of her Quirk, she could be the greatest recovery hero of her generation. Degenerative diseases could become ancient history, cancer, crippling paralysis, all nothing but bad memories. If nothing else, her Quirk could buy those suffering from such afflictions more time until they can figure out what’s causing the disease and cure it permanently. Recovery Girl was practically over the moon when she realized the restorative potential of Eri’s Quirk,” Momo told Izuku.

“That’s nothing compared to how doting both Sir Nighteye and his intern Mirio are,” Mina added, “I think if Mr. Aizawa hadn’t volunteered to take care of Eri, Sir Nighteye definitely would have taken her in himself. And Mirio’s practically become Eri’s big brother.”

“Sir Nighteye is a teacher at U.A.?” Izuku asked, “I thought he and All Might had some kind of falling out.”

“No,” Ochako shook her head, “But apparently the guy who imprisoned and experimented on Eri was a key figure in a big investigation Sir Nighteye and Mirio are conducting, so he came to talk to her to see if she could tell him anything that might help his investigation. And uh…after that, he took a liking to her. But really, who wouldn’t take a liking to Eri? She’s so adorable!”

“Hmm…perhaps we should pay a visit to U.A. at some point, check and see how little Eri is doing among the heroes for ourselves,” Venom commented within Izuku’s mind.

‘Agreed. Seems like Nedzu and the staff are putting the cart before the horse by assuming that Eri wants to become a recovery hero, or even a hero at all,’ thought Izuku with a mild bitterness. ‘Then again, Nedzu isn’t exactly a human, so maybe we should cut him some slack.’

“Oh Izuku, I should probably tell you this before I forget…” Ochako chimed in with a serious expression on her face. “I told my friends and Principal Nedzu about what you told me about your friend Bakugou, and Aldera…”

An unreadable look crossed Izuku’s face as he focused back on her, “And what did your friends have to say about what I told you?” he quietly asked before turning to Tsuyu, Mina, and Momo.

“Well, for one thing, you seem like every bit as great of a guy as she said who doesn’t deserve all the crap that life and that explosive asshole has put you through. For starters that is, kero, ” Tsuyu started.

“And that the rest of our friends are really interested in meeting you sometime,” added Mina.

“One of our friends used to be Bakugou’s best friend, and when he found out what he did to your friend and to you, he ended his friendship with Bakugou on the spot. In fact, I think no one wants to be Bakugou’s friend, not after what Ochako told us,” Momo finished.

A grateful smile spread across Izuku’s face. “Thanks for that. Truly,” he nodded, “But uh…what about Nedzu? What did he have to say about Aldera and Bakugou’s true colors?”

“Unfortunately, there’s not much to be done on that front,” Ochako sighed, “While Nedzu did say that he believed me, and by extension you, unfortunately, there’s not much he can do without hard proof.”

“Sounds like another item for our to-do list, once we expose the HPSC’s lies about us,” Venom growled.

‘Indeed,’ Izuku thought before he spoke aloud. “You know, call me crazy, but I have a hunch that evidence Nedzu needs to bring that hellhole of a school crumbling down will show up before long.” He then pulled out his phone before saying, “Well, I have to meet up with my Mom, so it was nice meeting you all, but I gotta go.”

And with that, Izuku left his payment on the table before standing up and departing the restaurant, all four girls watching him go. “Yeah Ochako, you were right. He really does seem like he needs a real friend really badly, kero, ” Tsuyu commented with a slight frown on her face.

“I just hope we and the rest of our little squad can provide the support he needs and help restore his faith in the good of this world. Though I suspect it won’t be easy, not with everything he’s been through because of his Quirklessness and Bakugou’s…I’m not even sure it can be called bullying, I think it’s more along the lines of torture. And he went through that for ten years straight…and I thought Shouto was a mess from what his dad put him through,” Momo added.

“Well, if anyone can fix Shouto, it’s you Momo…just like Ochako is the one with the best chance to fix Izuku,” Mina giggled.

Ochako, for her part, chose to say nothing, as she was troubled by what Izuku had said before he left.

“I have a hunch that evidence Nedzu needs to bring that hellhole of a school crumbling down will show up before long…”

‘Izuku…you’re gonna do something…dangerous, aren’t you?’ Ochako mentally said.

Above Mustafu Streets - Later That Night…

As Venom swung above the Mustafu streets, Izuku was formulating a plan for exposing Aldera and Bakugou for who and what they truly were. He likely couldn’t do it as either Venom or Izuku, as the latter would likely get him arrested for breaking and entering, while the former would probably cause other problems for him to deal with…so, what to do?

‘I’ll figure that out later,’ Izuku mentally decided, ‘Right now, I gotta figure out how to get inside that morgue and get the evidence we need to-’

Izuku was pulled out of his thoughts when his Symbiote Sense as he had decided to call it, went off mere moments before a blast of black, blue, and whitish energy struck Venom in the side. “Yaugh!” He yelped as the air was knocked out of him, sending him crashing into the streets below. Venom let out a groan at this, only to suddenly have his wrists bound by some kind of support device.

Venom then pulled his head up, only to see a man who looked like a living photonegative with short hair clad in a business suit that was no doubt modified with additional protections despite it appearing completely normal. In his left hand was a baton that seemed to resemble a highly ornamental sword, but if Izuku knew his heroes right, which he was proud to say he did, it wasn’t actually a sword.

‘Oh, great. It’s the Photonegative Hero, Number 18 on the Japanese Pro Hero Charts, Mr. Inverter. In addition to those energy blasts, his Quirk allows him to ‘invert’ people,’ Izuku mentally grumbled.

“What do you mean, ‘invert’ people?” Venom asked his host.

‘I mean that he has the ability to flip around people’s perception of right and wrong through prolonged physical contact, so good becomes bad, and bad becomes good,’ Izuku replied.

“Seriously? A Quirk like that and he’s only the number 18 hero? How is he not number one?” asked Venom.

‘His power doesn’t last forever, but it does last long enough for the villains and criminals he captures to be arrested. That, and he isn’t really into the Top Heroes little contest to out-vigilante each other.’

And as the hero reached Venom, Mr. Inverter crouched down to look the vigilante in the eyes and chuckled. “I gotta admit, that was easier than I was expecting it to be. Especially considering you’re supposed to be the villain who made All Might turn tail and retreat,” the photonegative man commented, his voice distorted by his Quirk.

Venom roared at this, “We are NOT a villain! The HPSC is lying! We did not kill that thug or anyone else! And Desert attacked us first while we were investigating that hospital break-in! We only acted in self-defense!”

“Uh-huh, sure,” Mr, Inverter chuckled as he placed his hand on Venom’s chest, “Now then…do me a favor and try to relax.”

Mr. Inverter’s power then began coursing from his hand into Venom and into Izuku as a result, causing Venom’s black body to suddenly turn white while his white eyes and the white spider symbol on his chest along with the white patches on the back of his hands to turn black.

After a few moments, Mr. Inverter removed his hand. “That should do the trick. Now, what say we head down to the station and get you into a nice warm cell before you get shipped off to Tartarus?”

“Yeah…sure. Just one question,” Venom chuckled, “Was that actually supposed to do anything, or was it just supposed to give us a new color scheme? Because while we’ll agree that white is probably more heroic, black is more our color.”

Mr. Inverter raised an eyebrow at this, only for one of Venom’s trapped arms broke free from the device before grabbing the hero by the front of his shirt and threw him across the street. The following crash caused the hero to drop his sword-like baton as Venom’s other arm broke free of its restraint. He then pulled himself up off the concrete as the Photonegative Hero got up as well.

“What is this?! You should be consumed by guilt over your crimes! Why didn’t my Quirk work?!” yelled Mr. Inverter.

“Unless we’re mistaken, your Quirk inverts people, so bad becomes good, and good becomes bad. White turns to black, black turns to white. But, tell us something, what if the person you use it on is neither good nor evil, neither white nor black, but rather resides in the gray somewhere in between? What happens then?” asked Venom as he lumbered toward Mr. Inverter.

“But…but that’s impossible! No one can exist in the gray between hero and villain! It simply doesn’t exist!” Mr. Inverter yelped before firing a blast of energy at Venom, the blow knocking the vigilante back and into a wall, leaving a large crater.

“That’s what the distorted society built by the HPSC wants you and the rest of this world to believe.” Venom growled as he quickly began to pull himself out of the wall. “That black and white, good and evil, are clearly distinct, without even a speck of gray in between. But then again, what do you expect of the organization who says that only those with specific Quirks can be heroes, while those with ‘villainous’ Quirks are automatically labeled as supervillains, and those without any power at all can do nothing but worship the ground the ego maniacs who think themselves gods among men walk on, even if they’re completely horrible human beings?”

“Take Endeavor for example. He ENDANGERS more people in his fights against villains alone, as opposed to the people he saves, to say nothing of what we’ve heard of his parenting and family man skills, and yet he still has people who idolize him as the Number Two hero. This society has been distorted and twisted from what it should be, where Quirks and powers are everything, and who the people with those powers are as human beings means nothing. And it is our new purpose in life to take it back kicking and screaming back to the realm of decency and common sense, so no one else has to suffer for daring to reach for the impossible as we did! NO ONE ELSE!” Venom roared as he shot his arm out at Mr. Inverter, instantly grabbing him and gluing him to a wall. “And that is who we are.”

With that, Venom began to walk away, only for Mr. Inverter to yell, “You aren’t going to kill me?! You had no problem trying to kill Desert!”

Venom stopped and turned to face Mr. Inverter, “We told you before, we’re not murderers. Our mother did not raise a supervillain. Our father might have for all we know, but he left us a long time ago. Mom thinks she can hide it from us, but we’re not idiots. Besides, you were just doing your job as a hero, trying to take down a wanted ‘villain,’” Venom said while using air quotes before his body changed back to its regular color scheme in a puff of blue, black, and whitish energy. 

“Ah…that’s more like it. We were worried we’d have to change our name to Anti-Venom or something. Anyways, where were we? Oh, yeah. As we were saying, we don’t fight real heroes like you and Desert. We only fight villains, criminals, and corrupt heroes who care more about themselves and their wallets rather than the safety and protection of the innocent. That and people who just REALLY piss us off. You do not fit any of those criteria, so you just get to stick to that wall and think about what we told you,” Venom finished before leaping and swinging away into the night, leaving Mr. Inverter alone with his thoughts.

...

However, unbeknownst to Izuku and Venom, Mr. Inverter’s power actually did have an effect on them, just not one that anyone could have predicted. The energy from Mr. Inverter that was sent into Izuku caused an odd reaction, resulting in bits of Venom merging with Izuku’s white blood cells, and even into his bone marrow. It was thanks to Venom healing Izuku’s injured leg, though it would take many more months of trials and tribulations before the results of this biochemical reaction became apparent.

And when it did, it would breathe new life into Izuku's old dream of becoming a true hero who saved people with a smile. But, that is a tale for another time...

Chapter Text

Chapter VIII

A Harrowing Endeavor

Outside The HPSC Coroner Office - The Following Night

Venom firmly landed on the pavement directly behind an ambulance, his landing barely making a noise as he did a small roll. Turning invisible a second later, he peeked out from behind the vehicle before quietly making his way over to the front entrance. There, he latched himself onto the wall directly above the door, only to start waiting. He had scoped out the morgue after school that day, and he had a pretty solid idea on how to get past the entrance security and get into the building. Namely, he had to rely on improvisation to get the evidence he needed to clear his name.

The vigilante had only one thing on his mind: Expose the HPSC for their lies about him, and any other heroes or vigilantes that may have cropped up. Granted, he doubted that was the case as far as the rumored Hero Killer was concerned. Admittedly, this Hero Killer thing was something he would have to look into later, once he had checked some items off his to-do list, like checking on how Eri was holding up at U.A. among the heroes and in Eraserhead’s care. He supposed he could do that tomorrow, as apparently he didn’t have school for the rest of the week, something about a teacher conference if Izuku recalled correctly.

And it was here that Venom smirked as he saw what appeared to be an overnight guard arrive to start his shift. ‘Game on,’ he thought as the guard walked up and scanned his Employee ID on the reader. The doors swung open, Venom quickly following inside as he made his way up to the ceiling before crawling over the metal detectors. Venom couldn’t help but smirk and shake his unseen head. ‘ Really? Nothing to detect someone using an invisibility Quirk, or anything above the other security measures?’ It was almost like they were practically inviting him in to expose their lies.

‘Now then… which way do you figure the room where they do the autopsies and store the bodies is?’ Izuku asked Venom.

“Let’s check the basement level first, then work our way up,” Venom replied before making his way to the stairs before beginning to wall-crawl his way down to the basement. Two grins followed this as they saw the morgue a minute later, empty and free. Their smiles widened even further when they found that the coroner was still logged into the computer, both guessing that the coroner thought no one would care looking at records of the dead. With this, Venom stuck the drive he and Izuku had brought along into the port, and began to search.

Needless to say, it wasn’t long before Venom found the proof he needed to clear his name, causing his already wide grin to grow. “‘Cause of death, massive overdose on Quirk-Enhancing Substances,’” Venom read aloud from the real death certificate. “And to top it all off, an email from the HPSC President herself ordering the fabrication and release of falsified documents to the police and the media!”

‘Score!’ Izuku exclaimed as a part of Venom retracted from his hand, allowing the symbiote and host to high-five before the symbiote covered his exposed hand again. ‘Now, why don’t we head up to the director’s office and get the rest of the evidence?’

Venom nodded and removed the drive, soon latching onto the ceiling as he made his way up to the Morgue’s Director’s office. Luckily, the director’s office door was ajar, allowing the vigilante to easily get in, only to see the director was still in there, seemingly finishing up some work. Venom stared at the man, only to see a scanner apparatus that, judging by the entire computer turning off when he scanned his keycard, seemed to act as both a log-in and a power button.

And as the director stood up and put his keycard in his back pants pocket, Venom couldn’t help but smile. This was all too easy. With a single cloaked tendril, Venom plucked the keycard from the director’s back pocket and waited for five minutes before lowering himself onto the floor. Scanning the keycard a second later, the computer turned on and Venom plugged in the drive again. And a few keystrokes later, Venom was one piece of evidence richer. 

‘All right, got all the evidence we need to entangle the HPSC in a doozy of a scandal. All we need to do now is get out of here and release these documents to the public… and I know just the news organization to leak the files to,’ Izuku chuckled from within Venom.

Venom took out the drive and made his way out of the building, musing over his choice of recipients for the evidence he gathered. Out of all the news organizations in Japan, the only one that earned Izuku’s respect and favor was known as Front Line Communications , which had once been known as Daily Bugle Communications before it was sold off after the previous owner had a bit of a health crisis. The primary reason Front Line had earned his favor was because it was practically the only news organization that didn’t worship the ground heroes walked on, and was firmly placed in the realm of decency and common sense that Venom had made it his mission to drag the rest of the Hero Society into. They went so far as to call out the flaws of society and its heroes, much to the chagrin of Endeavor and several other heroes, as well as the HPSC. Thanks to their criticism over certain matters, it allowed them to stay afloat, Venom’s recent actions also helping them gain popularity. Not only that, such disfavor with others didn’t stop it from becoming one of the leading news organizations in Japan, alongside the likes of Deternat Communications and Japan News Network.

It wasn’t long before Venom found himself on the outside of the building before leaping, soon starting to web swing away. And once he gained enough distance from the building, Venom became visible again, a vicious grin plastered on his face.

“Oh, we wouldn’t want to be the President of the HPSC when Front Line breaks the news tomorrow!” Venom cackled, only for something to hit his back. “Yeow!” he yelped before falling, his face kissing a nearby rooftop a second later, “Ow! Okay, this ‘getting blasted out of the sky’ crap is REALLY getting old! Who is it this time?!”

A smug-sounding chuckle answered Venom’s question before its owner landed on the building, ‘Oh no, not THAT asshole!’ spat Izuku from within Venom as the vigilante stood up.

Before the duo was none other than the Number Two Ranked Hero on the Japanese Charts, Enji Todoroki aka Endeavor, who was standing across from Venom with a smug smirk on his face. “Oh, I’d hoped I’d be the one to catch you. Finally, a chance to one-up All Might by bringing down a villain who actually made him turn tail and run away. This’ll do wonders for my reputation! I can almost taste that big fat paycheck and the closed distance between me and the Number One slot!” Endeavor laughed, his voice dripping with smugness.

Venom let out a long growl, “And here we go with the damn pissing contest between you and All Might! Pretty sure All Might left the bathroom at this point. Tell us, have you burned your eyes out with your Quirk?” Venom snarled, “Haven’t you noticed that the number of All Might sightings has been ever-so-steadily dropping ever since he fought Toxic Chainsaw a while back? His four-decade long time in the sun is almost over, and soon it’ll be your turn. All you need to do is wait for All Might’s age to finally finish catching up to him, maintain your Number Two ranking, and maybe be a decent father for a change and raise your kids to succeed you as the Number One Hero rather than a dying king who’s already on his way out.”

Endeavor just let out a scoff at this, “Been talking to people in tinfoil hats and reading supermarket tabloids, have you? Not that a villain like you has any right to tell me how to go about making my way to the top, much less how to raise my family.”

“Is that so? We’d probably do a better job of it than you. Though, by the time we’re done, you’ll have all the time in the world to work on that.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?!” the hero hissed back.

Venom chuckled as his signature grin began to appear, “Oh, nothing much. Just that we happen to have a little something that might snuff that flame of yours out for good. Would you care to take a guess how many innocent people got a viking funeral from fires caused by your villain fights? Or would you prefer something easier like how many innocents required extensive surgery from injuries sustained from those fights? All bought and paid for by the Hero Public Safety Commission, with quite a bit of hush money from them on top,” Venom cackled as his grin widened on his face. “Don’t think the Prime Minister, his Cabinet, and the National Diet would be okay with that appropriation of tax money. And that’s just the first load of dirty laundry we’ve got on you, the HPSC, and a fair few other heroes with rather destructive tendencies… oh, yes, we fear this is your last night, Enji Todoroki! Enjoy it, because we get the feeling tomorrow is going to be a very busy day for you, and after that, who knows? Maybe you can be a better father so your remaining kids don’t cremate themselves to try to smear you! Oh, wait, that’s right, according to you and your agency, Touya didn’t kill himself, he died in an accident, didn’t he?”

A look of pure, unbridled fury formed on Endeavor’s face as a fireball appeared in each of his hands. “WHY YOU-!” he bellowed before hurling the fireballs, only for Venom to gracefully dodged out of the way of the projectiles, which exploded on the side of the vent behind him.

“All right burnout, you wanna have a trial by fire? Then let’s have a trial by fire,” snarled Venom as a Symbiote Bomb formed in his hand. “We just hope you’re a better workout than All Might was. But somehow…we doubt it!” the black-clad vigilante laughed before throwing the Symbiote Bomb on the last word of his sentence, only for Endeavor to sidestep the projectile. He took to the air again and started throwing more fireballs at the vigilante, only for Venom to easily slip by each bit of flame.

“Stay still, God damn you!” the fiery Pro Hero bellowed.

“No, we don’t think we will,” replied Venom before launching his arm at Endeavor, his biomass wrapping around the Pro Hero’s legs before lifting him over his head and slamming him into the ground. A crater was soon formed at this, only for Venom’s other hand to turn into a giant mace before bringing it down on Endeavor.

“Stings, doesn’t it?” sneered Venom. “Tell us, if All Might couldn’t stop us, what chance did you think you had?”

Endeavor growled at this before pulling himself up from the crater. “I didn’t get to be next in line for the top spot on the charts without learning how to take a beating. This ain’t over until the fat lady sings!”

Venom just smirked back, “Then we guess someone had better tell her that she’s on in five.” With that, the vigilante charged at Endeavor, the hero swiftly dodging before getting ready to hurl another powerful fireball, only for Venom’s arm to transform into a giant mallet. With a flick of the arm, he reached out and struck Endeavor in the side, causing the fireball to go flying off of the building and into a weird arc that fell to the street below. 

And as this happened, a fuel truck that was on its way to a nearby gas station passed by an older, low-income apartment complex, populated primarily by people who were Quirkless or had Quirks that were impractical for hero work…and then the fireball hit the truck.

BOOM!

Hearing the explosion, Venom whipped around to find that the building across the street was now instantly engulfed in flames, burning shrapnel raining down a second later. This was quickly followed by the sound of panicked screaming and crumbling masonry as the roof started to collapse.

‘Oh God… forget Endeavor, we need to get in there and help those people!’ Izuku said from within Venom, who turned to face Endeavor. “All right, so, good fight, let’s chalk this one up as ‘No Contest,’ because right now we got better things to do than punch each other in the face. We’ll play with you some other time when people’s lives aren’t in danger,” Venom growled before leaping off the rooftop.

“Oh no you don’t! You’re not getting away from me!” Endeavor yelled before launching a blast of fire that struck Venom in the back, sending him flying through the wall of the burning building.

The vigilante landed inside one of the burning apartments before coming up on one knee and letting out a furious roar at Endeavor. The hero responded with a look of pure fury before leaping into the room and smacking Venom across the face with a flame-covered fist. A second later, he began to pummel the vigilante before Venom kicked him off and threw the fiery hero out through the other wall. 

“Goddammit, Endeavor! We told you we were done fighting! People are in danger here, so if you’re not gonna do your blasted job, which you get paid actual money for, stay out of our way so we can do ours!” Venom roared before making his way through the apartment, listening intently for anyone who was in danger from the blaze.

It wasn’t long before he heard the sound of a baby’s wailing, and the screams of two people coming from outside the building. Hazarding a guess at what that meant, he followed the sound of the infant’s wailing, Venom soon finding the baby in question. He quickly morphed his ‘mask’ to look less terrifying before scooping the child up into his arms just as his Symbiote Sense went off.

Turning around, Venom saw none other than Endeavor launching himself towards the black-clad vigilante with a loud yell. Growling at this, the arm not holding the baby turned into a mallet before the hammer slammed into Endeavor’s head, knocking the Pro Hero out cold.

“Shh! You’re scaring the baby!” Venom hissed at Endeavor’s unconscious form as the baby in his free hand giggled happily, no doubt having been reminded of a cartoon where someone was bonked on the head with a mallet. “Alright little one, let’s get you back to Mommy and Daddy, shall we?”

The baby, being a baby, merely babbled and blew a raspberry at Venom, giving him a smile that had a few teeth already poking through. A second later, he had delivered the infant to their parents before going back in. For the next forty-five minutes, Venom made his way through the burning building, searching for people trapped by the blaze and getting them to safety. By the time Endeavor came to and other heroes arrived on the scene to help with the blaze, everyone had already been evacuated by Venom, much to the newly-arrived heroes’ confusion, and the black-clad vigilante was long gone.

Hero Public Safety Commission Headquarters - The Following Morning

Hinata Haruno, the President of the HPSC, let out a weary sigh as she made her way from her car to the main entrance of the building. Her morning was just going fan-freaking-tastic. First, Endeavor blew up a fuel truck and set a building on fire, and then instead of saving the people inside that burning building, he kept attacking that… monster … and as a result, got upstaged by said monster. The monster literally got everyone out of the burning building before any other heroes or the firefighters showed up, making the next number two hero look like a raging lunatic. Which, considering the things he had done to his wife and children, he most likely actually was.

Damage control was not how she wanted to start her day. Sometimes, Hinata just wanted to fire Endeavor and be done with him. However, that wasn’t an option, not with All Might on the cusp of retiring thanks to the injury he sustained in his final battle with that horrible, horrible, demon…

As such, the woman was so wrapped up in her own thoughts that the HPSC President walked directly into a parked car, causing her to stagger a bit. “Ow…” groaned Hinata before she realized what exactly she had walked into: the Prime Minister’s car.

Hinata frowned at the sight. She didn’t recall having a meeting with the Prime Minister today, and she prided herself on having an excellent memory. A moment later, Hinata realized that there were several government vehicles parked out front of her building… and that some of them were being loaded by agents carrying cardboard boxes out of the building.

‘What in the Goddamn…?’ thought Hinata as she walked around the car and entered the building to find it was now a hive of activity, with a number of government agents carrying out computers, cardboard boxes filled with files, and several other items of importance, much to her ever increasing confusion. Catching sight of Commissioner Mera, the HPSC President walked up to her right hand man. “Commissioner Mera, what is going on here, what-what is all this?”

Mera opened his mouth to speak, only for someone else to cut him off. “I was hoping you could tell me that, Miss Haruno.”

Mera and Hinata both turned in the direction of the voice to find none other than the Prime Minister of Japan, Kohei Horikoshi, walking toward them with a tablet in his hands. 

“Mr. Horikoshi, I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re referring to.”

“I see…” Kohei replied while looking down at the tablet in his hands. “Then do you perhaps have an explanation for this?”

Kohei turned the tablet’s screen to face Hinata and Mera, causing the blood of the HPSC President to run cold. She immediately recognized it as a news broadcast from those imbeciles at Front Line, but that wasn’t what made her blood run cold. What did that was the headline of the broadcast.

Vigilante “Venom” exposes HPSC Corruption! Endeavor, Hawks, and other Top Heroes now all indicted!

Chapter Text

Interlude Two

U.A. Principal’s Office

When Nedzu woke up, he wasn’t expecting much to happen that day. Well, with the exception of trying to find some answers as to how the U.A. security gate was destroyed and allowed the members of the press inside. This caused a panic in the school, making an absolutely disastrous situation even worse.

Instead though, he was greeted with the news that the terrifying new vigilante on the scene, the self-proclaimed Symbol of Vengeance known as Venom, had just made headlining news. The vigilante was something of a curious figure for the principal. After all, Venom had publicly stated that he stood up for the Quirkless and Villainous Quirked, a campaign most would not even dare to push without certain issues. That was not the case for Venom, as the latest news article had shown that Venom had both cleared his name of the murder charges that Nedzu had correctly deduced had been fabricated by the HPSC, and had also managed to expose the corruption within the commission. A truly great feat, only to also show the corruption and moral decay within several Top Heroes, including Endeavor and Hawks.

This was followed by his students being affected by these revelations. In particular, young Shouto Todoroki had become far less reserved and generally seemed much happier, like some great crushing weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. The principal wouldn’t be surprised if this newfound change would finally allow him to work up the courage to “make a play,” as the kids say, and begin dating Miss Yaoyorozu, who clearly had feelings for the young man.

Other students seemed less than pleased with what had happened though. Tenya Iida in particular seemed to be of the opinion that Venom was the bad guy in all this. He declared that even if he wasn’t a murderer, he was still an active vigilante who should be made to answer for his crimes. Nedzu understood this perspective, but then Iida went further by saying the claims against the HPSC were likely being overexaggerated by the media, that it was impossible for the society that the commission presided over to be as horrifically corrupt as the media was portraying it as.

The sight made Nedzu sigh. He knew better after all. He knew that Hero Society was not without its flaws, especially with such awful human beings becoming Top Heroes while the Quirkless or those with impractical Quirks being treated as something less than human beings. Their futures were also being so severely limited, the Midoriya boy that young Uraraka had spoken to him about being a prime example. 

Oh, how he desperately wanted to make Aldera Junior High burn for what they did to the boy among others, including young Bakugou. The teen was, from his perspective, just as much of a victim as the Midoriya boy, having been strung along into thinking that bullying the weak was a good quality for a hero to have. That kind of mindset had to be taught, something that made things truly terrifying for any future heroes from that middle school. However, the principal didn’t have any concrete evidence, which meant there was nothing he could do.

Regardless, Venom, while he seemed like he had the best of intentions, and Nedzu personally wanted to invite the creature to U.A. for the finest tea, a handshake, a heartfelt thanks for exposing the corruption of the HPSC, and to see if he could talk him into becoming a Hero Course student, had made some serious moves that had the potential to destabilize the very foundations of society as they knew it. Not only that, he had ruined the careers of several Top Heroes, including Endeavor and Hawks, and there needed to be a discussion about what to do about the vigilante.

As such, he called a meeting at U.A., the principal filling up a conference room in the middle of the school day. In attendance was All Might in his skinny form, Midnight, Detective Naomasa from the MPD, Ectoplasm, and Eraserhead while the rest of the teachers were dealing with the students.

“I’m not entirely sure trying to get Venom to become a hero is a good idea in the long run,” Eraserhead commented as he stared at a folder, the papers inside going over the various events involving the vigilante. “I will admit though, he does seem like he has good intentions. He certainly has what it takes to become a hero, rescuing Eri from Overhaul is proof enough of that. However, the fact remains that we know nothing about him. Heck, there’s nothing but theories on his Quirk, and he’s committed a full list of crimes.”

“I disagree,” Midnight chimed in, a firm look on her face. “I mean, have you seen him? He looks every bit the part of a villain, and he certainly has the skills and the Quirk to be a very deadly villain if he wanted to. But that’s the thing. He doesn’t want to be a villain. He wants to be someone that the people he believes the HPSC and the heroes of society have failed can believe in, someone to look up to. So, he turned to vigilantism.” She shined a small smile at this, “If that’s not hero material, what is?” Her gaze went to her boss, “Nedzu’s right. I think Venom has more than proven he’s real hero material, and deserves the chance to become one legally.”

“Let’s not forget how intelligent he is underneath that bulk,” Toshinori added, “He knew exactly how to turn my Texas Smash to his advantage, and he even claimed to know how I think. He’s clearly a talented analyst and tactician.” 

“Indeed. Seeing how he handled that overdosed thug before you confronted him, he clearly knows how to form a strategy and a plan of attack, outside of his plan being ‘attack.’ I have no doubt that he would excel as a student at this school,” Ectoplasm continued.

Midnight and Ectoplasm nodded in agreement. They had quickly come to the conclusion that whoever Venom really was, he was most likely school age, perhaps even the same age as the Hero Course first-years. He was likely a late-bloomer who had been bullied extensively for his mistaken Quirklessness, as he wouldn't be trying to be a hero for the Quirkless otherwise. As for Toshinori, the vigilante reminded him of young Midoriya, if not for the fact that his mother had confirmed that he was diagnosed as Quirkless, complete with the x-ray of having pinky toes with multiple joints rather than just one. He remembered how his own mother had tried to cheer him up by telling him that maybe having pinky toes with multiple joints was his Quirk, but it was to no effect.

“Well, here’s my thoughts on the situation,” Naomasa chimed in, “Personally, I think Venom was fully justified and in the right for his actions, and he’s done a tremendous amount of good for both Hero Society and the people he claims to stand for. Exposing the truth about the HPSC, Endeavor, and the other former Top Heroes is significant. Honestly, he reminds me of the heroes I would read about in American comic books as a child, who did the right thing because it was the right thing, and for no other reason than that. However, this isn’t a comic book. The law is sadly still the law, and the fact remains that despite all the good he’s done, he’s a vigilante. He still needs to pay for his unlicensed vigilantism in some way, though not necessarily with jail time.”

“You are not wrong, Naomasa.” Nedzu replied while staring down at a folder, only to show a casual smirk as he put the folder down on the conference room table. “But I believe this is a prime opportunity. This is the best time to go and find Venom, offer him a chance to become a legitimate hero provided he plays by the rules, and go from there.”

“And… what do we do if he turns us down?” asked Ectoplasm, the group all turning to the hero. Frowns soon followed this, realizing that was a legitimate question in this mess.

Nedzu however, just took a sip of his tea before he gave his response. “Then, as much of a shame as it is, we must take him down and bring him in to answer for his vigilantism.”

In the Halls of U.A.’s Hero Department…

Shouto Todoroki, a young man with what seemed to be a scar on the left side of his face and hair that was white on the right side and red on the side with the scar, was currently smiling from ear to ear. He couldn’t help it. Thanks to that incredible vigilante known as Venom, his father Enji Todoroki aka Endeavor, had been fired as a hero. Not only that, he was being investigated for his crimes against his own family, including child abuse against his siblings, assaulting Shouto’s mother, the death of his older brother Touya, and for the cherry on top, he was being sued for literally everything he had. And after everything his father had put Shouto, his mother, and siblings through, anything the authorities needed from him to put his father away for good, he would be more than happy to provide.

Thanks to Venom, for the first time that he could honestly remember, he felt… free. Like he was finally free of his father, free to forge his own path as a hero rather than the one his father had laid out for him. He was free from the curse and the pressure of being known as “Shouto Todoroki, the fourth son of Endeavor,” and finally able to be known as simply “Shouto Todoroki, Hero Student.”

Those he had been fortunate enough to call his friends had also seen the change in his demeanor, and they were more than happy to see it. Hearing his mother, sister and brother on the phone being beyond cheerful that Enji had finally gotten what was coming to him felt truly good. Not only that, he was also humiliated by a vigilante, and it was agreed between the four that Touya would at last be able to rest in peace.

However, not everything was perfect yet. There was still one more thing he needed to do before he could call everything perfect.

“Hey, Momo!” Shouto called out to Momo, causing the black-haired girl to spin around. The sight of the girl caused a lump to form in Shouto’s throat as she now stared at him. The truth was, he had been smitten by Momo Yaoyorozu from the moment he had laid eyes on her, but had kept his feelings to himself because of his father. He knew if the man had found out about her, Enji would do just about anything to the girl in order to push Shouto into becoming his proxy as the Number One Hero.

That was about to change though as Momo saw the nervous look on his face. She smirked at the sight, only for her smile to quickly vanish as she mentally said, ‘ About time, Shouto.’

In truth, Momo had been nursing a massive crush on Shouto Todoroki ever since she first met him, but had been put off from acting on it in fear of rejection. How she had longed to take the burden that Shouto clearly carried on his shoulders, as she knew what the burden of her own family had done to her. But with the news of his father’s downfall, it seemed that Shouto’s burden had been lifted. Whoever or whatever this Venom creature really was, he undoubtedly had her support.

Shouto cleared his throat before he spoke up, “I… I was wondering, if, maybe you’d… if you’d… like to go and see a movie together sometime, or go and grab dinner somewhere sometime.”

Momo responded with a small smile, “I’d love to.”

Out in the U.A. Grounds…

“Really Tenya? You’re gonna say that, even with everything I told you about Izuku?” asked Ochako as she, Mina, Tsuyu, and Kyouka Jirou, a young woman with black hair and earphone jacks infused with her earlobes, sat on the ground, eating their lunch.

Tenya Iida, a young man with short black hair and glasses, heaved a long heavy sigh. “Look Uraraka, I’m not saying that what happened to your boyfriend wasn’t the result of society. I understand that some of the Top Heroes becoming corrupted and twisted is something that happened, but I’m also saying that it isn’t the HPSC’s fault. Their job is to keep things like what happened to him from happening, and to hold heroes accountable for their actions. They’re not the ones who let society get this bad for the Quirkless, Weak Quirked, and Villainous Quirked.”

“Okay, for one thing, Izuku is not my boyfriend-” Ochako started to say.

‘Yet,’ Mina, Tsuyu, and Kyouka added in their heads.

“-and another thing, if the HPSC is supposed to hold heroes accountable, how do you explain them letting Endeavor get away with manslaughter on more than one occasion?! How do you explain the bribes that Hawks took to look the other way?! How do you explain all those Top Heroes getting away with being terrible people?!”

“She’s got a point, kero, ” Tsuyu added. “It’s not all black and white with what happened.”

“Yeah!” Kyouka continued, “The evidence is there. The HPSC have been letting the Top Heroes get away with everything just shy of murder. It was on all the news channels, including all the leaked stuff.”

Tenya heaved another frustrated sigh. “Like I keep saying, Venom was acting as a vigilante when he got that evidence. That alone calls it into question,” he began to chop the air with one of his arms, “He might have even fabricated the evidence for all we know.”

Mina shook her head, “Ladies, I believe this here is proof that denial is not just a river in Egypt.” This was followed with Ochako, Tsuyu, and Kyouka laughing, much to Tenya’s annoyance.

“Look, Venom is trying to destabilize the country with this drama to make it easy pickings for villains! Can you not see that?!” Tenya yelled, only for the girls to all roll their eyes at him.

At a local bar…

The burned, stapled, and skin grafted wreck formerly known as Touya Todoroki, now known as Dabi, was feeling particularly peeved at the moment. Granted, there was a slight bit of peace in his mind as well, as one couldn’t exactly fault him for feeling both ways. He had faked his own suicide to try to ruin his father, only to achieve jack shit as a result. Then along comes some upstart vigilante with a drive full of evidence, gives it to the media, and suddenly Endeavor loses his job. Not only that, he also became the subject of an investigation into what he did to his mother and siblings, his faked suicide, and is getting sued for everything he owned!

How the hell was that fair?! What did this vigilante have that he didn’t, that allowed him to rob him of his life’s purpose, and actually succeed in where he had failed?!

It burned him to not know the answer to that question. He needed the answer.

‘Maybe it was because of who Touya Todoroki was,’ thought Dabi as he took a swig of his drink. ‘Maybe it was always going to be this way. Maybe… no matter how hard I tried, nothing I could’ve done would have brought Endeavor down. Touya Todoroki was too close to Endeavor, who had long since branded him a failure, to have taken him down. This vigilante, this Venom… he’s an unknown. He’s a variable no one, not even Endeavor, could have predicted. Maybe there’s something to this whole vigilante thing. Something more than being a villain…’

Dabi had thought about accepting the invitation extended to him by a group going by the name “The League of Villains,” thinking that perhaps by styling himself as his father’s archenemy, he could at last ruin him once and for all. But Venom, a vigilante, had changed that. Venom had succeeded where he had failed. That meant he needed a new method to humiliate his father…and Venom was showing him the answer.

‘ Could vigilantism work? Heck, I could show I’m a better hero than Endeavor ever was if I did that.’ he thought as he took another drink. ‘Would that work? I mean, it could let me get back to mom…and the others. Though being a big brother after all this time seems crazy.’

Though he would deny it until the day he died for real, the part of Dabi that was still Touya Todoroki couldn’t help but think that notion would be nice.

At an undisclosed location…

The Hero Killer known as Stain was feeling conflicted by the recent news that had dropped. He didn’t like feeling conflicted. Emerging from seemingly nowhere, the vigilante known as Venom had fought and forced All Might to flee from him. That alone would have put Venom on his hit list, except he had absolutely nothing to work from. Well, apart from the fact that he was apparently a murderer. So, he decided that he would wait until more information about Venom became available.

Then just this morning, he had learned that Venom had leaked evidence to Front Line Communications that exposed corruption in the HPSC, as well as exposed the dirty laundry of several Top Heroes, destroying their careers in a single stroke. Venom may not have killed those heroes, but with their lives completely ruined, they were as good as dead. Especially once Stain got his hands on them.

The Hero Killer couldn’t contain his satisfaction, or his laughter.

Regardless, Venom’s standing with him became complex as a result of this news. The black-clad creature clearly despised just how obsessed people were with these false heroes who existed only to serve themselves. It was something Stain agreed with, as heroes were supposed to protect and help others for no other reason than it was the right thing to do. And now Venom had unmasked several of those frauds for who they truly were, and even the HPSC had been revealed as corrupt, which likely meant that a number of people who had been set up to take falls for the HPSC were likely being released from prison.

And as thought went through his head, Stain made his decision. He needed to learn more about Venom, and the only way he could do that was to go to Mustafu and observe Venom in action.

Besides, he needed to head there anyway so he could have a… chat … with Endeavor.

At The Toga Residence…

Himiko Toga, a young woman who had a number of bruises and partially healed bite marks on her silky skin, was sitting on the floor of her bedroom. Her long blonde hair hung loosely around her shoulders as she wore a white tanktop and black shorts, and she was currently staring at phone in her hands. On its screen was the hottest thing in the news right now: Venom.

And Venom was really something else from where she was sitting. Those muscles… that tongue… it certainly got her hot and bothered under the collar. It was what others called a Villainous Quirk through and through, and it was sexy to her.

Not only that, many people were lauding Venom as a hero now, despite the fact that he was technically acting as an illegal vigilante. That alone was crazy to the girl. The idea of someone that monstrous looking could be called a hero. It made her wonder if someone like her, someone with a “villainous quirk,” could become a real hero like he was. An idol that protected people who cried out for a savior.

‘I wish Venom would come save me and Ashi from our parents…’

And as that thought entered her mind, the world around her vanished as what she had taken to calling The Thirst suddenly came over her full force. That, and a certain sense of desperation that came afterward. The first time she had felt The Thirst overwhelm her, she had come to find herself sucking the blood out of her childhood best friend like a leech or vampire. Ever since then, her parents had…

Before she could finish her recollection, Himiko spoke. “Soon comes chaos… chaos soon comes…” she said before sinking her fangs into her own arm in the hopes of relieving The Thirst.

Chapter Text

Chapter IX

A Surprise Lashing

At A Local Cafe…

Izuku, clad in a black dress shirt, black sports coat, black belt, black dress pants, and black dress shoes, which were all actually Venom in disguise, couldn’t help but smirk as he watched the TV in a cafe while sipping a mug of hot chocolate. His plan to get the HPSC off his back was working out better than he had anticipated. 

He had planned to entangle the commission in a scandal to keep them preoccupied while he continued his work, but he had never anticipated his exposure of a singular instance of power abuse would turn into a full blown cascade of corruption. And it happened in a mere 24 hours. It was like the rest of the government had pulled on the thread that he had loosened, only for an unraveling of a whole web of corruption. That or the government had been doing their own investigation that they had kept silent from the public, and Venom had blown the lid off the whole thing.

Funny how things played out sometimes.

On top of that, as he anticipated, several Top Heroes including Endeavor and Hawks had been fired. They were kicked out of the hero system, and were being investigated for their crimes, much to the satisfaction of those who had been wronged by those ex-heroes from what he heard. Not only that, the HPSC President had been placed on indefinite administrative leave by the Prime Minister himself for inappropriate allocation of tax money, covering up the crimes of aforementioned former heroes, and generally letting society get as bad as it did. A guy named Mera, as the most morally upright out of the commissioners in the organization, was now running it in her stead. Izuku couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was, but there was something he liked about Mera. Hopefully he would steer the commission back to the realm of decency and common sense. And most importantly of all, Venom’s name had been cleared of all charges, and they were now the hottest topic of discussion in the city, with a good number of people supporting them and what they stood for.

Neither the teenager nor his symbiote and best friend could hide their satisfaction at that.

However, it seemed that his actions had caused Nedzu and the U.A. Faculty to take an interest in him. The principal had released a statement saying that he and his staff had deduced that Venom was actually school-age, and that they were now seeking the vigilante out to extend an offer out for Venom to attend the school. Apparently, they believed he had the potential to become a true hero by legal means, although he would have to answer for his unlicensed vigilantism.

It honestly made Izuku want to laugh.

‘Hypocrites, all of them,’ Izuku bitterly thought. ‘They had no problem casting me aside when I was powerless and broken, and now all of a sudden they want to welcome me with open arms. And it's all because I’ve exposed just how bad things are for the Quirkless, Weak Quirked, and Villainous Quirked,’ Izuku snarked inside his head as he took a drink of hot chocolate. 

‘You know Venom, back before we met, there was a time where I would have sold my soul to the devil himself for the opportunity to attend U.A. and become a true hero. But now I know better. There are no true heroes. Everyone’s in it for money and power, and not a single one of them wants to make a real difference. Endeavor was proof enough of that. While I am satisfied with the progress we’ve made in changing things with the downfall of Endeavor, those other heroes, and even the HPSC President, our work is far from finished. Society’s corruption runs deep. Much deeper than a bunch of corrupt officials, abusive glory hounds, and attention seekers. So much more work needs to be done, work we can’t do as a Hero Student, playing by their rules and becoming another cog in their broken system.’

‘Agreed. People need dramatic examples to shake them out of their apathy, and we cannot do that by playing by the rules,’ replied Venom. ‘In this world where power rules everything, becoming a hero their way would accomplish nothing, and before long we would become no different than the rest of the hypocrites. By being a Symbol of Vengeance and a vigilante, we can give society the wake-up call it so desperately needs. Exposing the corruption of the HPSC and those former Pro Heroes was just the beginning. Plus, there’s still a few scores that need settling, correct?’

‘Yes,’ Izuku replied as he took another sip of hot chocolate. ‘Aldera Junior High, Bakugou, and the Sleuth, the Detective Hero… they need to pay for what they’ve done to me, Ichi, and so many others. But we need to figure out a plan of attack for bringing that hellhole of a school crashing down. In the meantime, I believe there’s a certain little girl that we need to pay a visit,’ Izuku told the symbiote as he stood up.

A second later, the teen had left the cafe, not catching wind of a little boy having gone missing in Tokyo, his parents having been torn to shreds by some kind of large blade. It had left their dismembered bodies and the body of the suspected culprit behind, and that some kind of creature had gone on a rampage on I-Island before being successfully detained…

U.A. Main Entrance - Forty-Five Minutes Later…

“So the problem child with a death wish returns,” commented Shouta Aizawa, better known as the Underground Hero Eraserhead. “Gotta admit, you look pretty good for someone who got their leg wrecked for life.”

“Well, what can I say?” said Izuku as he hobbled up to Aizawa with a small smile on his face. “It really is amazing how good a new suit can make you feel, even with a bad leg. Plus, I look pretty damn good if I do say so myself.”

Eraserhead couldn’t help but smirk at that before gesturing to Midoriya to follow him. He had to admit, the stupid problem child cleaned up pretty nicely between his new haircut, his black suit, and his cane. Though something about the suit struck Aizawa as being a little off. How in the hell did a Quirkless kid with a leg injury afford something that looked more expensive than all clothing that Eraserhead owned?

“So, that suit of yours… where’d you get it?” asked Aizawa.

“Ah, this? It’s actually a hand-me-down from my dad,” Izuku replied easily. “My Mom and I took it to the tailor to get it refitted for my size. Cost us a bit of our savings, but it was worth it if you ask me.”

“I see…” Eraserhead slowly said as he and Izuku reached the front entrance of the school. “Well go ahead and head to the front desk. The receptionist will see you get to the room Eri’s waiting in. I gotta finish up preparations. My class and I are heading over to the Unplanned Simulation Joint so my students can get a taste of rescue hero work.”

“Ah, I see,” Izuku responded while recalling that Ochako had said something about the facility when they had first gone out for coffee. “Well, thanks again for walking me to the entrance at least.”

Aizawa nodded before turning on his heel and walking away, leaving Izuku on his own.

“All right, now then…” Izuku asked himself as he entered the building. “Which way to the front office?”

As he limped along the halls of U.A. in search of the front office, Izuku caught sight of two boys who seemed to be in an argument of some kind. Though, as he got closer, a small smile crept onto Izuku’s face, as it became clear that the two boys were arguing about him .

“Give it a rest, will you, Tenya? Venom’s no villain, he’s a vigilante, and he’s more of a hero than my father ever was, he saved those people from that fire the other night. On top of that, whether he knows it or not, he saved me, my mother, my sister, my brother from Endeavor, and avenged our eldest sibling. He’s not like the guy who crippled your brother, he’s different,” one of the boys, who had red and white hair, a scar on the side of his face, and was looking particularly exasperated.

The other boy, who had short black hair and glasses, wore a particularly frustrated expression. “As far as I’m concerned, Venom is no different than Stain. The both of them are the worst kind of criminal, who act completely outside the system. Hell, Venom is practically an anarchist trying to destroy Hero Society, which makes him even worse than Stain. What are you and Momo thinking even considering supporting someone like that?!” he exclaimed.

As he looked on, Izuku felt a strong urge to hit the guy with glasses. Instead though, he approached the two boys, “Can’t destroy what’s already broken. As someone who’s gone through more than enough of society’s bullshit because of being Quirkless, I can more than say with certainty that Hero Society broke a long time ago. However, it seems like it’s only just now that people are noticing, thanks to Venom,” he said as he limped up to the two, both turning to him in confusion.

“Who the hell are you?” the boy with the scar asked.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Where are my manners?” Izuku chuckled with a friendly smile. “My name’s Izuku Midoriya.”

“Wait, Izuku Midoriya? As in, Ochako’s boyfriend, Izuku Midoriya?” asked the boy with glasses, which immediately caused Izuku to turn beet red.

“O-Ochako and I are just friends! I-I mean, she is really hot- I-I mean attractive- I mean, physically speaking- and she’s nice, but-oh God, what am I saying?!” Izuku stammered as Venom started howling with laughter inside his head. The two boys in front of him smirked and let out amused chuckles. Yeah, this guy was clearly as smitten with Uraraka as she was with him. “U-um, anyway, who-who are you?”

“Well, I’m Shouto Todoroki, and this stick-in-the-mud is Tenya Iida,” replied the boy with red and white hair before pointing at the boy with glasses.

“I am not a stick-in-the-mud,” Tenya grumbled. “I just have more common sense than some people. Especially in light of that vigilante’s actions and his blatant attempt to destabilize our country.”

“Is that so?” asked Izuku with a raised eyebrow, a fire now lighting in him. “Perhaps you’re the one who lacks common sense. Tell me something, do you know what the oldest lie in the world is?” Izuku shined a small smile at this. “It’s that power can be innocent, or at least, that it can be innocent a hundred percent of the time. Look at Endeavor. For decades he’s been obsessed with proving himself better than All Might at the cost of what should have been his top priority, perhaps even a higher priority than his job. The sad truth is he would have gotten what he really wanted in the end, it was only just a matter of time, especially with All Might becoming less and less active ever since his fight with Toxic Chainsaw. But instead, he allowed his lust for greater power and status to make him think he was above the law, and now he’s been fired as a hero, being investigated for crimes that, if convicted, will see him rot in Tartarus until doomsday, not to mention he’s being sued for millions of yen.”

“And then, there’s people like Katsuki Bakugou,” Izuku continued, “He was my best friend when we were snot-nosed little kids, did you know that? Then his Quirk came in and I was diagnosed as Quirkless. When that happened, Kaachan, who promised to become my partner in fighting against evil and for justice, threw me and everything we ever shared away like trash. For ten years, he made my life and the life of my only friend after the diagnosis a living hell, and I’m sure Ochako told you what happened to my friend after he late-bloomed. This is not a world of heroes and villains. This is a world where the strong with the right powers get everything they want handed to them on a silver platter, while the weak are either treated like second-class servants or slaves at best, and those with the wrong powers are pushed into evil or take their own lives because they felt they had no other choice, when all it would have taken for them to live with those powers is one good friend. From where I’m sitting, that’s the world Venom is trying to fix. A world where power, not character, rules over everything,” Izuku said with a huff, leaving Shouto and Tenya stunned at the small rant he had just gone on.

“Damn Tenya… you really got him going, didn’t you?” Shouto commented. “Sorry for what you’ve been through man. Ochako was right about you, you really have been through some shit.”

“Indeed she was,” Tenya added. “I… apologize if what I said offended you in some way.”

“No, no, I’m sorry. It's just that… this topic gets me a little worked up because of what happened to Ichi… I didn’t come here to argue about Venom’s goals or your opinions about them,” apologized Izuku. “Speaking of which, I’m looking for the main office. Can either of you give me directions as to where I might find it?”

Shouto nodded and gave Izuku directions to the front office. Izuku thanked that dual-colored hair boy and began limping off in the direction he was told to go in, with Shouto watching him go.

Shouto had thought that he had been through Hell and back thanks to the abuse and borderline torture that his father had subjected to him, his siblings, and his mother, but whereas his suffering had been physical for the most part, Midoriya had suffered far more emotionally. Between having his childhood best friend betray him and then proceed to make his life and the only friend he had left a living hell for ten years, then having his best friend commit suicide and leave him all alone, on top of suffering at the hands of the staff of his middle school and students who attended there, not to mention having his leg permanently damaged in a desperate attempt to try to make something of himself and prove his worth to the people who had looked down on him. It was a wonder that Izuku hadn’t tried to take his own life after everything he had been through.

Shouto would do what he could to help Uraraka and the rest of their friends pull Midoriya out of his suffering and pain… though he’d be lying if he didn’t say that he was worried about the possibility of making things worse. After all, for some people, when they break, they can't be put back together again. But damn if he wasn’t gonna try.

U.A. Staffroom - A Short Time Later

“Izuku!” Eri cried happily, who was wearing gloves with her horn now noticeably smaller as she ran up and gave Izuku a big hug, causing Izuku to chuckle, along with two other people in the room, one who bore a striking resemblance to a character by the name of Tintin from an ancient comic of the same name, and a man with short blonde hair and glasses.

“Heh, good to see you again Eri,” Izuku said as he ruffled Eri’s hair before turning his attention to the two other people in the room. “And you two must be Mirio and Sir Nighteye, the other two parental figures that Eri’s gained now that she’s out of that masked lunatic’s hands. Nice to meet you both,” Izuku said as he held out his hand.

“Same,” Mirio, the Tintin-esque person, said as he took Izuku’s hand, followed by Sir Nighteye, who merely nodded in greeting. Although for some reason, Sir Nighteye’s eyes glazed over for a few moments as he firmly grasped Izuku’s hand.

…

“ Nothing you do will matter, child. I have lived for millenia, and will live for millions more. My will is inevitable. ” A large man clad in vantablack armor with a glowing red symbol on his chest. A large black sword was clasped in his hand, and dozens of buildings were cut in half around him.

“Then I guess I’ll die braver than most.” Izuku said defiantly before the vision changed.

“You can’t run from me forever, Izuku !” A tall, blood red and jet black person, female judging by her build and the long hair, screamed as she lunged at Izuku with her fang-filled maw opened wide. “To think, Himi still loves you as much as I loved him… but now you’ll die for taking him from me!”

Izuku barely dodged out of the way of the creature’s attack before a large rock smashed into the chaser.

“ Get away from my man, you bitch! ” a female voice called out before the vision shifted again.

“I’m dying, ‘chako… there’s something wrong with my white blood cells, some kind of mutation… they don’t know what it is, but it’s affecting me on a genetic level. They don’t even know how much time I have left,” a slightly older Izuku said, looking as though he was doing everything he could not fall apart emotionally as a girl with brown hair in a bob cut pulled him into a hug, her eyes filled with tears.

…

Sir Nighteye suddenly returned to the present as the vision ended, and his surroundings returned. Izuku frowned at Sir Nighteye in confusion.

“You okay?” Izuku asked the Pro-Hero.

“Er, yes. I’m fine,” replied Sir Nighteye. “You three have fun. There’s business I need to attend to back at the agency.”

With that, Sir Nighteye took his leave, having more questions than answers about what he had just seen in the green-haired boy and possible vigilante’s future.

One thing was certain however. Something big was coming in that boy’s future, something that could potentially be worse than All For One. Problem is, he had absolutely no clue what it was. 

Sir Nighteye looked back over his shoulder, where Izuku, Mirio, and Eri were all laughing and smiling. He and a few others would need to keep an eye on the Midoriya boy, even if it turned out he wasn’t Venom, somehow. Then again, Midoriya was supposed to be Quirkless, so maybe his suspicions did not have merit after all. Regardless, the fact still remained that Venom only attacked Overhaul after Midoriya had fled with Eri, rather than around the same time, if the witness testimony was to be believed.

Back With Izuku, Eri, and Mirio…

“So… you’re going by the hero name Lemillion, the man who would save a million lives?” Izuku asked Mirio, a small smile on his face. Such idealism reminded him of himself until he finally began to accept reality for what it truly was. Izuku gave an amused chuckle. “Talk about swinging for the fences… then again, I guess delusions of grandeur are part of what makes a hero in this day and age.”

Mirio frowned. “What, you don’t think I can do it?” he asked Izuku.

“I think you can do it, Mirio!” Eri said happily.

Izuku couldn’t help but look at Eri with a small smile. The faith and naive innocence of a child, particularly one who had been through Hell and back as Eri had, was truly something else. If only there was a way to preserve it forever, even after reality did everything it could to crush it. Izuku sighed. “You wanna know why I helped you, even after you told me about your curse, Eri?” Izuku asked the young girl. “I helped you because I’m cursed too,” said Izuku sadly. “My curse… is not having special powers at all. Not super strength, not super speed, not construct creation stemming from my willpower, rage, or ability to instill fear or hope, nothing. And ever since I found out about it, I’ve had to suffer every day of my life. My best friend betrayed me and used me as his personal training dummy for ten years straight, my only other friend… left me forever. Everywhere I went, people hurt, belittled, demeaned, humiliated, bullied me, or just stood around and watched, if they weren’t putting others up to making my life and the lives of people like me a living hell. Although I expect anything I’ve been through is nothing compared to what you’ve been through, Eri.”

“That’s why, I don’t think saving a million lives is a very realistic goal,” Izuku said as he stared down at the ground. “If someone could save a million lives, then someone would have saved me and others like me a long time ago, and so many people who took their own lives over something they had no control over would still be among the living. If someone could save a million lives… my friend would still be here, and he’d likely be a student here at this very school. No matter how many lives are saved, there’s always someone who gets left behind, forsaken and forgotten… like I was.”

The next thing Izuku felt was Eri launching herself at him like a small ballistic missile, her arms wrapping around him in as big of a hug as she could manage, while Mirio could only look on, coming to terms with just how badly hurt the green-haired boy sitting beside him truly was, his leg injury notwithstanding.

“It’s okay, Izuku… there’s no need for you to be so sad anymore,” Eri said. 

“Why, Eri?”

“Because I am here.” Eri said looking up to Izuku with a bright smile.

Izuku felt himself smile in return. It had been a long time since that sentence had made him smile like he was now, and he felt tears begin to form in his eyes as he returned Eri’s hug. “Thank you, Eri…” he said as he tried to hold back his tears.

As Mirio watched the scene unfolding before him, someone knocked on the Staffroom door, causing the older boy to stand up and make his way over to the door and open it to find a female staff member standing there, relaying something to Mirio, before departing. With a sigh, Mirio turned to face Izuku and Eri. “Um, sorry, guys, but there seems to be a situation developing. I need to get Eri to safety and make sure you get out of here okay, Izuku,” he said. 

Izuku frowned, wiping his eyes as he spoke. “What’s going on?” he asked the older boy, before something faintly pinged on his Symbiote Sense, but there was something funny about this ping in particular.

‘No way… it can’t be… dare I hope…?’ Venom muttered inside Izuku’s mind before Mirio spoke up again. 

“The staff lost contact with the USJ,” explained Mirio.

“USJ? Universal Studios Japan?” Izuku asked, confused why U.A. would be in contact with them.

“No, the Unplanned Simulation Joint. Normally, this wouldn’t be cause for quite as much concern, as these things do happen from time to time, normally from Quirks interfering with the electronics. But apparently a few days ago, someone destroyed a security gate and got their hands on the U.A. schedule for today, so the staff is taking additional security precautions. Now come on, let’s go.”

Izuku nodded and stood up, Eri holding his hand the whole way to the exit. With a quick promise that he’d come back and hang out with her again sometime soon, Izuku made his way to the gate leading out of the U.A. Grounds, only to stop in his tracks and glance around. Making sure there was no one around in his immediate area before ducking into a nearby shadowy corner just outside of the security cameras’ line of sight.

“Mask.”

“Copy.” Venom said as he formed over Izuku, and the two leaped up to the roof to see where the USJ building was before noticing a trail of dust coming towards U.A. from a nearby building.

‘Bingo,’ Venom and Izuku thought before the duo leapt off the rooftop.

Unplanned Simulation Joint - A Few Moments Later…

For the longest time, Tomura Shigaraki had always been a believer in the ancient video game mantra that winners didn’t use cheats. Now however, he realized that he was sorely mistaken to believe that.

That green sludge that Sensei had him bond with was making him feel amazing. Like he could climb mountains… or crush them beneath his heel after decaying them and making them crumble. Plus, it had managed to heal the cracked skin that had long been a side effect of his Decay Quirk, which admittedly, was a bit more disconcerting. He had grown used to the feeling of the perpetual itchiness enough that, and with it gone, he had developed a tick of scratching his neck when stressed.

And boy was he feeling stressed in his first real fight against Pro-Heroes, even with a bunch of NPCs, a massive, synthetic creature with an exposed brain known as a Nomu, and Kurogiri as their getaway driver. Or, getaway warper, technically, he supposed. As it turned out, these snot-nosed little kids were actually holding their own against the NPCs he’d brought along to keep the other Pros busy while the Nomu dealt with All Might. In fact, it had gotten to the point where Shigaraki had been forced to let Nomu off his leash early to deal with the mook heroes before All Might had even taken the field.

“Having others fight for you? How much of a coward are you?” Eraserhead yelled at Shigaraki.

“Don't you know anything about games, Eraserhead? Before you can fight the boss, you need to beat the Mid-Boss first.” Shigaraki chuckled as the Nomu fought Eraserhead, the Underground Hero being perpetually forced on the defensive, just trying to do what he could to stay out of the way of the creature’s attacks.

However, everyone in the USJ’s attention was quickly diverted by the sound of shattering glass as something big and black came crashing through an overhead window and landing on the ground, leaving a small dent where the figure landed.

“Ladies and gentlemen, heroes and villains alike… the cavalry has arrived!” Venom cackled as he stood up to his full height and let out a ferocious roar.

“Venom?! Why are you here?!” Shigaraki asked as he itched the back of his neck furiously.

“Oh, we just happened to be in the neighborhood. We felt like cracking a few skulls, and wouldn’t you know it, you and your goon platoon just so happened to be attacking our friends!” snarled Venom as he lumbered toward Shigaraki, a furious look on his face as the heroes and students in question frowned in confusion. Last time they checked, none of them were friends with the terrifying vigilante. Heck, they barely knew anything about him aside from publicly available knowledge, rumors, and theories.

“Heh, don’t you know anything about games, Venom? You gotta defeat the Mid-Boss before you fight the Boss,” replied Shigaraki before Venom laughed and grabbed the scrawny man before he could call for the Nomu to back him up.

“Don’t you know anything about video games?” Venom asked snidely before he threw Shigaraki across the room. “You beat our Mid-Bosses, so welcome to the Boss Fight!”

Venom leapt across the room to where Shigaraki had landed and tried to pummel him, only for his eyes to widen in shock at two things, one was his punch being caught by someone who looked so malnourished, the other was that the hand was covered in green slime which then covered the rest of the boy’s body and formed into another Symbiote. Dark green, tall, and lanky, with four tendrils waving behind it.

“Sorry Tommy, but like Harbinger, I’m assuming direct control,” the green symbiote said with a leering smirk.

‘Another symbiote?!’ Izuku exclaimed from within Venom.

“Lasher? You're alive ?” Venom gasped with disbelief and hope before Lasher roared and slammed Venom backwards with two of the tendrils. And as this happened, those who weren’t preoccupied with fighting their own villains looked between the two eerily similar, though differently colored, beings in confusion.

“No thanks to you, Venom. Then again, I can’t say I’m surprised, given that you always were a goody-two-shoes, as they say,” Lasher sneered. “While you’ve been running around trying to make this world a happy place and toppling governments, I’ve been cooped up in a can surrounded by weirdos calling themselves the League of Villains until the television they take orders from finally said to let me out, and only the King in Black knows what’s going on with the others! But with all that’s happened, I’d say the mission is officially scrubbed… and that means all bets are off. You’ve had this coming for a long time, Venom!” Lasher snarled before one of his tendrils transformed into a large blade that attempted to slice Venom in half, only for the vigilante to dodge out of the way.

‘Okay Venom, you know more about this guy than I do, so what’s the plan?’ Izuku asked from within Venom.

“As his name implies, Lasher specializes in long-range attacks, but his close-range combat is weaker by comparison, so that’s our best chance at taking him down,” replied Venom.

‘Got it,’ Izuku commented as he and Venom weaved between Lasher’s bladed tendrils and got in close to deliver a powerful punch that sent Lasher flying. But as this happened, the green symbiote quickly recovered and lashed out once more at Venom, who was sent flying through the air, crashing into a wall.

“Ow,” growled Venom before the sound of a nearby wall getting smashed down reached his ears, and out of the corner of his eye, Venom saw none other than All Might step through and approach Venom.

“Need a hand?” he asked the black-clad vigilante as he held out his hand.

Venom growled back at the hero. “We can take care of ourselves. But, we daresay your allies could use a bit of help,” the black-clad vigilante hissed, pointing in the direction of the Nomu, where the other heroes were still fighting their losing battle. 

“It seems you’re right,” said All Might. “After we’re done here, you mind hanging around for a bit? We need to talk.”

“About that offer you and the rest of U.A. want to make us, right? Yes, we watch the news, as depressing and irritating as it is,” Venom snarled as he pulled himself off his feet. “We don’t mind sticking around a bit to talk about that offer, because we have got some things to say about that. But for now, just shut up and get the job done!”

Before Venom leapt back into the fray, he caught sight of a familiar boy with blonde hair glaring at him. A devious smirk crossed his face as he lumbered toward Bakugou, and grinned down at him.

“Do us a favor and get your Quirk ready,” said Venom. 

Bakugou frowned. “Get my Quirk ready for whAAAAAAAAT!” screamed Bakugou as Venom grabbed a hold of him and threw him at Lasher like a lawn dart, only for Lasher to swat the incoming projectile aside, sending Bakugou crashing into a nearby wall, unconscious, and causing Lasher to roar angrily at Venom.

“Eh, it was worth a shot. And it was kinda fun too,” Venom laughed with a shrug before charging at Lasher and taking him on in hand-to-hand combat once more as All Might engaged the Nomu in combat.

As they watched the battle between the two monsters unfold, Ochako turned to Kyouka, the two heroines-in-training struggling to remain on their own two feet from the hard-fought battles they had just partaken in.

“You know, maybe… maybe we should help him,” Ochako said to Kyouka.

“Which… which one?” asked Kyouka, completely out of breath, her exhaustion making it hard to think.

Ochako gave her friend a look that clearly said ‘are you kidding me?’ “Help the black one, duh! Blast the crap out of the other one!”

“Right, right, got it,” said Kyouka as she grabbed one of her earphone weapons and aimed it in Lasher’s direction. Unfortunately, her exhaustion was making it hard for her to aim accurately. Once she thought she had a decent shot lined up, Kyouka fired a powerful sonic blast before collapsing to the ground. Unfortunately, due to Kyouka’s aiming troubles, both Venom and Lasher were caught in the sonic blast.

The pain Izuku felt from Kyouka’s stray sonic blast was unlike anything he had ever felt. It felt like every atom of his being was being torn apart at the seams. Not even the worst beating that Bakugou had ever given him, a particularly memorable beatdown on the first day of their last year at Aldera Junior High that had put his high pain tolerance through its ultimate test, left him clutching desperately to life. That and it had left him baffled at how his mother hadn’t asked any questions.

Meanwhile, as he had just finished fighting the Nomu, quickly having realized that while it had shock absorption that didn’t translate to shock nullification, All Might caught sight of what happened. His eyes widened at the sight of both Venom and his mysterious green doppelganger writhing in agony, both almost completely incapacitated from young Jirou’s misaimed sonic blast.

“Sound…” All Might whispered to himself.

Venom recovered first and leapt at Lasher and knocked him to the floor, and started to bash Lasher’s head into the ground. He slowly dented the material beneath it with each consecutive punch, only for Lasher’s chest to open up and allow Shigaraki’s hands land on Venom’s chest, making the duo scream in agony as the parts that Shigaraki touched began to crumble and decay, allowing Lasher to retaliate.

However, before Lasher could make any further attacks, a voice called out to him, seemingly coming from a swirling black and purple misty void. “Shigaraki! Lasher! The Nomu is down and the heroes’ reinforcements are here! We need to retreat!”

Lasher growled in frustration and turned to Venom as the black clad being began to regenerate the parts of himself that had been decayed. “You and your host may have won this round Venom, but this fight is far from finished. Watch your backs,” Lasher snarled before retreating into the swirling void.

The sight made Venom sigh as he pulled himself up to his feet, only to turn around and see All Might and a number of other heroes walking up to him.

“So, who was that? Friend of yours?” asked All Might.

Venom growled softly. “If he was before, he certainly isn’t now. In any case, you said you wanted to talk to us about that offer Nedzu extended on the television, right?”

All Might nodded. “You’re actually school-age, aren’t you? Probably the same age as our first years here, correct?” The look Venom gave the hero confirmed his suspicions. “To that end, we’re prepared to offer you a transfer from your current high school to U.A.’s Hero Track, and give you a chance to become a legitimate hero, rather than just a vigilante. That being said, you’ll still need to answer for the vigilante actions you’ve already done, though not necessarily with jail time. Likely some community service or something along those lines. Do you accept?”

Venom looked between the group of gathered heroes, a grin growing on his face before he just started laughing. The heroes just stared at him, glaring at the vigilante before his cackling came to an end as he yelled, “Are you serious?! Why on Earth would we want to make a mockery of our mission by playing ball with a bunch of hypocrites and liars like you, All Blight? Don’t get us wrong, there was once a time where we would have sold our soul for a chance to go to U.A. and become a hero, but now things are different. Tell us something All Blight, does the name Izuku Midoriya ring any bells?”

“Wha- what does young Midoriya have to do with anything?!” All Might yelped in confusion.

“He has EVERYTHING to do with this!” snarled Venom. “We and him have become quite close these past few weeks. When we met him, the poor kid was barely hanging on by a thread, and even that was starting to unravel. He told us everything that had happened to him, about how he wanted more than anything to become a hero, saving people with a smile like you. He told us about the Entrance Exam, how Ochako Uraraka saved him from certain death at the hands of those robots, and about what you said as he was lying crippled in the infirmary! What was it he said you said again? Ah yes! ‘I admire the boy's determination, but he needs to understand that without a practical Quirk that he can use to defend himself, he’s going to get himself killed. This time, he got lucky, he was in a simulated environment and we were on hand, but if he keeps going like this, eventually that luck is going to run out. He needs to understand that, as hard as reality is, not all of us can be heroes. The truth is, that while it's not bad to dream, you also have to consider what's realistic,’” The students and staff there all went wide-eyed, most glancing back at All Might in disbelief. He had really said that within earshot of a Quirkless teenager who not only looked up to him, but had been crippled in pursuit of his dream of becoming a hero like the man he admired?!

However, Venom was far from finished.” And yet, look at Eraserhead. His Quirk does jack shit against villains with Mutant-Quirks and even then he uses his capture scarf to detain villains. Heck, he has to wear them down first by fighting them Quirkless! Look at…” Venom pointed to what looked like a bunch of floating clothes, “...the invisible girl, whose name escapes us. All she seems to be able to do is turn invisible-”

“Actually, I can refract energy beams too,” the aforementioned invisible girl chimed in. “And my name is Hagakure.”

“Good to know,” Venom grumbled, heavy sarcasm in his tone. “Our point is, so many heroes, past, present, and likely future, are heroes, and yet do not have combat-based Quirks, and are forced to resort to hand-to-hand combat and gadgets. So, why exactly couldn’t Izuku Midoriya be a hero without a Quirk? What makes him not worth the time and effort to have him undergo physical conditioning and have him train in hand-to-hand combat. He’s actually pretty intelligent too, so he could easily come up with support devices to supplement himself in combat. The hypocrisy you possess is astounding, All Blight. So, you can take your offer and shove it up your ass! Joining the ranks of hypocrites like you would make a mockery of everything we’ve worked for, everything we stand for! And if the world chooses to become our enemy, then we will fight as we always have. We are DONE lying down and rolling over for people who think they’re better than everyone just because they have more power than those weaker than them!”

And with that, Venom disappeared into thin air. As members of the U.A. Staff confronted All Might about what he said to Izuku Midoriya, Ochako looked on, her mind racing a mile a minute. She couldn’t help but feel as though there was something familiar about Venom… something that made her feel sad… and hurt. Moreover, she couldn’t stop thinking about everything Izuku had been through. She knew that Izuku hadn’t been fond of All Might ever since what happened at the Entrance Exam, but she just didn’t know the exact details as to why… and now that she did know, she was having a few particular regrets.

‘Maybe… agreeing to become All Might’s successor was a mistake…’ Ochako thought as her right arm crackled with pink electrical discharges.

Downtown Mustafu - Some Time Later…

Ducking into an alleyway, Venom became visible and reverted back into a very unhappy-looking Izuku, clad in his black suit.

“Venom, get out here. Now. We need to talk,” said Izuku as a tendril with Venom’s face emerged from Izuku’s back. “When exactly were you going to tell me that there were other Klyntars here on Earth besides you?!”

Venom reluctantly sighed. “In truth, I was hoping to avoid that conversation,” the symbiote admitted. “The truth is, Lasher and myself were part of what you might call a Special Forces unit. We were sent here by our leader to investigate the disappearance of one of our own, a Klyntar by the name of Sleeper, who suddenly disappeared from the hive mind. The signal Sleeper sent out is a lot like a wireless signal, with Earth being just far enough outside its range. As a result, my team and I lost control of the meteor we were traveling on when we disconnected from the hive mind, which broke apart in the upper atmosphere,” explained Venom as his tone started to change. “Until I saw Lasher, I was certain I was the only survivor, but now I’m not so sure. And to make matters worse, me and one other symbiote were the only ones out of my entire team who had even an ounce of benevolence in them, and all of us are cold, brutal, vicious killing machines who have filled entire necropolises single handed. Lasher being bonded to a villain, particularly one as maladjusted as that Shigaraki guy is a massacre waiting to happen, though I suppose it could be worse. The League could have had a Red Klyntar on their team…”

“Alright… how worried should I be about the other symbiotes running around and slaughtering everything that moves?”

“Hard to say,” replied Venom, “If we’re lucky, Lasher and myself are the only ones who survived re-entry, or the rest of my team are in the hands of the heroes.”

“And if we’re not lucky?”

“Then there are five of us out there, six including me. Lasher has already fallen into the hands of a villain, and we don’t need Phage, Agony, Shirek, or God forbid Riot to fall into the wrong hands. Then again, knowing Riot, we also don’t want anyone to fall into HIS hands.”

“Okay, who’s Riot and why is he a ‘God forbid’ scenario?”

Venom sighed at this. “Simply put, Riot is my boss. The leader of my team. Silver Klyntars are among the most powerful of my kind. They have got shit you’ve never seen, and he is not a symbiote you want bonded to someone in power.”

Tokyo Streets-Later That Night…

Clad in an overcoat that had a hood pulled up over her head to hide her face, the deposed President of the Hero Public Safety Commission, Hinata Haruno, got out of her car and made her way down the street. The past 24 hours had been nothing short of devastating for her. She’d lost everything save for her home, the money she had in her own name, which was quite a substantial amount, and her personal belongings. Well, except all her computers, files, everything else. That was gone. And she had a horrible feeling that things were going to get even worse.

“E-excuse me… a-are you Hinata Haruno, President of the HPSC?” a young-sounding voice asked from what sounded like a nearby alleyway.

Hinata turned to the voice, only to see it was a little boy that seemed to be elementary school age, covered in dirt and ragged clothing, and looked particularly skittish.

Slowly and carefully, Hinata approached the boy and got down on her knees to speak with him. “Are you okay? Are you lost?” she asked the boy.

Faster than blinking, the boy had his hand wrapped tight around Hinata’s throat as a gray sludge emerged from his body and seeped into Hinata’s. A split second later, as her vision began to go dark, Hinata heard a sinister voice speak inside her head.

“Oh, I’m fine, thanks for asking. And no, I’m not lost… but maybe you can help me find some folks who are…”

I-Island-Containment Cells

Melissa Shield, a young woman with shoulder length curly blonde hair and glasses, was wearing a white lab coat, white shirt with a pinkish vest and a red bowtie, tan pants, and brown boots, was making her way down the hall. A friend of hers, Rachel Goodman, an aspiring researcher with a Quirk that allowed her to emit a sonic shriek capable of shattering plexiglass and rupturing eardrums, had gone on a rampage. The chaos that followed caused a number of injuries and a considerable amount of property damage before finally being taken down, though not without considerable effort.

Needless to say, Melissa was curious as to what happened to her friend to make her go on a rampage. It also didn’t help that there were reports that she had taken a form that resembled a female version of the vigilante in Mustafu who was currently making quite a splash all across Japan, but with a different color scheme, a pale almost corpse-like gray in addition to the black, with some kind of large tendril at the top of the head akin to a head full of long hair, if what she'd heard her father say to his team was accurate.

It wasn’t long before Melissa was standing in front of Rachel’s cell, and found her friend curled into a ball in the corner, something that felt wrong on a whole number of levels.

“Rach? Rach, are-are you okay? Do-do you want to talk about what happened?” Melissa quietly asked.

Faster than blinking, Rachel bolted from her corner and was at the cell door, causing Melissa to tumble back in fright with a small scream.

“You… you are a much better fit than Rachel…” Rachel said in a completely different voice.

“You-you’re not Rachel… who or what are you?” Melissa asked, causing “Rachel” to beam at her.

“Intelligent too. I do love intelligent hosts… and chocolate!” the thing posing as Rachel giggled. “Best thing humans, as I understand your species to be called, have ever invented… oh, Melissa… that is your name, right? Melissa Shield? When I get out of here, and sooner or later, I will… you and I are gonna make some boys Shirek!”

Chapter Text

Chapter X

Project Paragon

Above The Mustafu Streets - Two Nights Later

Landing firmly on a rooftop as he made his way through the city, the teenage boy within the monstrous form of Venom was once again lost in his thoughts. He was trying to formulate a plan for how to ruin Aldera and his arch-enemy, Katsuki Bakugou, something he had delayed due to recent circumstances, but knew he could do it now. When he had scoped out the school earlier that evening, he noticed that there seemed to be a number of people whom Izuku recognized as lesser-known heroes, or as they were more commonly known, Underground Heroes, patrolling the area around the school. The sight was slightly irritating, especially since he saw that it was none other than Eraserhead doing the patrol. Not only that, the sight of the hero meant that, just as she told him several days ago when he met with her and her friends, Ochako had told Nedzu about what had happened to him in the past and that he really did believe her, which in turn, meant that the Principal had a hand in the Underground Heroes patrolling the area around Aldera.

Both Venom and Izuku couldn’t help but sigh. How could someone with an intelligence-boosting Quirk be so stupid? They weren’t gonna find anything going on at Aldera at night, their injustices occurred in broad daylight within their very halls. That is, unless they were looking for something else. Izuku had seen a rumor online about Aldera potentially having ties to a Quirkist villain organization that supposedly had ties to Deternat Communications , but there was nothing to indicate any such organization had those ties. Although, if that were the case, then it would certainly explain the way Bakugou and his friends treated him and Inoichi.

However, the one thing that made him believe such connections to be false was that Ichi had become the school pariah after his Quirk awakened. If Aldera really was tied to this supposed villain organization, then that wouldn’t have happened. Instead, Ichi would have received much more favorable treatment from the faculty and students, and could have very well betrayed him like Bakugou had. Izuku shuddered to think what would have happened to him in such a scenario. Maybe he would have taken a swan dive off the school roof as Bakugou had told him to.

Venom shook his head as he continued swinging through the air. It was no use thinking in hypotheticals, as that never happened in reality. Regardless, the presence of Underground Heroes, including Eraserhead, could be useful in his plans to bring Aldera Junior High crumbling down. Well, that and knocking Bakugou down a few dozen pegs, and getting justice for Inoichi. 

And as he did this, Venom’s Symbiote Sense went off, causing him to glance around, only for someone’s foot to slam into him. He let out a yelp as he was knocked out of the sky, sending him tumbling onto a nearby rooftop.

“Well, at least we weren't outright blasted out of the sky this time,” Venom grumbled as he started to recover, only to glance up and see his attacker. It was a woman who seemed to have a rabbit mutant Quirk, and was clad in a white and black outfit.

“I gotta admit, I was worried that someone would take you down before I got a chance to have a crack at you,” the hero Miruko laughed, “Even better, it’s good to know that you’re just a vigilante and not a flatout villain like the HPSC made you out to be.”

“Yeah, well, what else would you expect from an organization that has fostered a broken system that has allowed the suicides and deaths of people whose only crime was losing the genetic jackpot?” Venom snarled as he fired a tendril, smacking Miruko off him as he fully stood up, only for the rabbit-Quirked woman to do a backflip and land firmly on her feet.

“Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard about your rhetoric. You say you’re fighting to change the world and give hope to the people who’ve been shit on all their lives. You know, you could have just become an actual hero and done all that from the inside,” Miruko chuckled as she leapt at Venom again, her feet repeatedly smacking the black-clad creature, only for Venom to just stand and take the blows.

“You think we didn’t try that?!”  Venom snarled as he swiped back at the hero, who all but danced aside his attacks. “All our life we were beaten, bullied, and punished for the innocent sin of not having any powers, yet still daring to reach for the impossible by becoming a hero. And yet all we had to show for our efforts was a broken body, broken dreams, betrayal, and fallen idols! And that was before we found out just how corrupt Hero Society really was when we were trying to clear our name!”

Venom let out a roar next as he turned his hand into a mace, swinging it straight for the rabbit hero. In response, the heroine backflipped out of the way, only to grab something and throw it at the giant black beast.

“This is the only path left for us! The path that lets us become the hero we always thought existed before we learned the truth, not some ego-maniacal sellout like All Mi-ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH! LOUD!” Venom screamed as the object detonated, releasing a powerful sonic burst that sounded like chiming bells as it deployed three miniature versions of the same device. In pure agony, Venom stumbled and fell, dropping to his hands and knees.

“Yeah…funny you mention All Might,” Miruko continued to chuckle, “He was nice enough to let the heroes whose lives you didn’t ruin in on your Achilles’ heel. One chat with the right support company later and we got ourselves some sonic pulse grenades!”

As she pulled out another sonic grenade, grinning at the sight of the suffering Venom, she continued to speak, “You know…they say you shouldn’t ask for whom the bell tolls because it tolls for thee! Am I using that quote right? Eh, who cares, I’m rollin’ with it!” she then kicked the device over…only for a bullet to suddenly pierce and destroy it, making her flinch. One second later, Miruko felt something sting her neck, causing her to pull it out, only to go wide-eyed as she saw it was a tranquilizer dart. “Whaa…” she tried to say before falling to her knees, instantly losing consciousness.

And as Venom pulled himself together from the unexpected barrage of sound, a new female voice rang out in the night. “Well, that’s got her out from under our feet. You okay there, big guy?”

Venom looked up at this, growling and groaning as he tried to stand, before looking up at the newcomer. It was a woman with purple hair, pale skin, and a purple and black outfit that reminded Izuku of a character created by an incredibly ancient comic book company called Detective Comics or DC for short. Rachel Roth, hero name Raven, was the character the woman called to mind, but considering the fact that her right arm was currently reverting from a tranquilizer gun while the other was shifting from a high-powered sniper rifle, this woman’s abilities were very different.

“Yeah, we’re just dandy… well, we will be once the ringing in our ears stops… was not expecting All Might to not only figure out our weakness, but spill the beans on what it was. Then again, we suppose he was there at the USJ at the time…”

The woman raised an eyebrow at this, “Why do you hate All Might so much, if you don’t mind me asking. The guys back at Tartarus I can get, nearly half the cells if not more are full thanks to him, but…”

Venom let out a long growl as he responded, “He crushed our hopes! Our dreams! We looked up to him for nearly all our life, aspiring to become a hero like him, saving people with a smile. ‘Anyone can be a hero!’ he said, only for us to find out the truth from him, that what he’d said was nothing more than PR bullshit, that it’s actually only the people with power who can become heroes, and the right powers at that! That is why we hate him and fakes like him! Frauds who care more about the paycheck, fame, glory, and their petty little pissing contest to out-showboat each other than actually protecting the innocent and punishing the wicked, eyes on them and on the clock or not.”  

The woman gave Venom a sympathetic look. “I understand where you're coming from, but blaming everything on a minority doesn't help anyone kid. You want to make the fakes stop being around? Then you go after the source, not the symptom.”

Venom’s mask moved as though he were raising an eyebrow. “What's the source? You mean the HPSC? Heh, its president is out of a job thanks to us.”

“Yeah, I noticed. Otherwise I’d still be in Tartarus right now, eating prison food. Had you not dethroned the witch, I would never would’ve gotten the chance to finish the job and destroy the organization once and for all.”

“Finish the job?” Venom asked.

The woman turned and looked down at the streets below. “...my name is Kaina Tsutsumi. I used to be a hero called Lady Nagant in the employ of the HPSC. I was recruited through something called Project Paragon. It was started years ago to create the best heroes possible, but only if they followed the will of the HPSC.”

Venom hummed in thought. “Sounds like an off-the-books program to build minions for the HPSC. Question is, what were they going to be used for? Was this their plan to fill the gap left by All Might when he retired or if he was killed in action, or was it something worse?”

“All things considered, I’d probably go with ‘something worse,’” replied Nagant. “Regardless of the intent, it does not excuse their, shall we say, recruitment methods, nor what they did and likely still are doing to those they recruit, myself included.”

“See, how they recruit for Project Paragon is by taking young children with powerful Quirks from their parents. Sometimes they buy them off their parents, sometimes they take them in after their parents are killed in an accident, or an ‘accident’ if the parents say no. After that, those children are indoctrinated and brainwashed. They essentially lose their souls, and effectively become mindless drones of the HPSC, and that’s me putting their methods lightly. But every now and again, you get people like me, who manage to break free of the brainwashing. I was lucky enough to only be framed by the HPSC and locked up in Tartarus for life without parole. Others, on the other hand, such as those who refused to break and be remolded by the HPSC, were simply disposed of. One and done. Their graves have no markers, and those of them who still have parents alive and looking for them, will never be found.”

“...yep, this shady shit needs to be shut down like last decade, and those children the HPSC snatched need to be rescued ASAP,” growled Venom, anger evident in his voice. “Though, we can’t help but wonder… why come to us with this information? Something tells us you didn’t bring us this tidbit as a thank-you for getting you out of Tartarus after being framed for crimes you didn’t commit.”

Nagant nodded. “Indeed. I came to you because security around even the least protected of these facilities is incredibly tight, and odds are good that they’ve only tightened the security after the old witch was dethroned. The HPSC will do almost anything to make sure that Project Paragon, in no uncertain terms, does not exist as far as the world, the rest of the Japanese government included, is concerned. And considering how you were able to dethrone the witch and several corrupt heroes in a single masterstroke, you clearly have a set of skills that would help my mission to bring Project Paragon to light and shut the HPSC down once and for all.”

“We see…” Venom hummed, “Very well, then. We’re in. It’s time for the world to see just how corrupt the HPSC really is, and bring down the organization once and for all!”

Nagant smiled. “Excellent. I happen to know where we can find one of the Project Paragon facilities. Follow me!” she said before she leapt from the rooftop onto one nearby, Venom following closely behind.

The Mustafu Docks - A Short Time Later

Venom and Lady Nagant grunted as they landed on a building facing what by all appearances was an abandoned waterfront warehouse. Yet, judging by the way Nagant was glaring at the building, it was likely not as abandoned as it seemed. Venom’s suspicions were confirmed when Nagant spoke next. “That’s the facility,” She then pointed at the building, “It’s probably one of their smaller facilities, but they’ve likely spared as little expense as possible on their security measures, and it looks like they are using camo tech to hide their presence. Probably appropriated and upgraded from the stuff left behind by those Hunter nutjobs…”

Izuku grimaced from behind Venom’s mask. Yeah, he remembered hearing about the Hunters. A while back, not long after he’d been diagnosed as Quirkless and Bakugou turned his back on him and Ichi, Mustafu had come under siege by a group of individuals known as the Hunters, led by a grizzled old man whose name Izuku couldn’t quite remember, who essentially wanted to die with dignity in a glorious last stand. To that end, he and his minions had all but invaded Mustafu to hunt down and butcher heroes and villains alike, all of whom had very powerful Quirks. In fact, it was one of the very few times since the dawn of Quirks where heroes and villains had no choice but to call a ceasefire and work together to drive them out. In the end, the leader got what he wanted, and met his end by the hand of one of the villains’ leaders, though who exactly it was was kept unusually hush-hush. At this point though, Venom couldn’t help but wonder if the HPSC had something to do with that.

“So, what’s the plan?” asked Venom as he glared at the warehouse.

Nagant pulled out a small device that pulled up an exterior schematic of the Project Paragon facility that she rotated and tapped to bring up what seemed to be a key point of interest. “First, we’ll need to disable the camo field by wrecking the junction box here. I’ll have that part covered and keep an eye on the exterior of the facility in case any fully trained Paragons or the like decide to come looking for trouble. Then, you’ll neutralize the exterior guards, take a keycard off of one of them, and search for an entrance to the facility proper. The warehouse used to be a hideout for a villain cabal way back, and those guys loved their secret passages and hidden lairs. Once inside, you’ll need to take out the guards inside, as well as the Paragon in charge. This is supposed to be one of the least protected facilities for the project, so you shouldn’t have too much trouble.”

Inside The Project Paragon Facility - One Hour Later

Venom grunted as a blast of yellow energy fired by a man in a black and yellow exosuit with a pair of robotic appendages that had just fired the aforementioned laser sent him flying into a wall. Getting into the facility itself had been fairly easy once the exterior guard had been taken out. It was a simple matter of searching shipping containers for the right junction box that opened the hidden entrance leading into the facility. After that, however, good God, King In Black, and any other deities in existence, moving through the facility was anything but easy. Between guards that had Quirks that would have made the Deku he used to be making a lake with his drool, floors that had moving safe areas to walk, laser guns, sonic pulse guns, and every other villain’s lair trap and tactic in the book, Venom had finally arrived at the containment cells where the kids were supposedly being held… and where the asshole he was currently fighting had been waiting for him.

“‘Shouldn’t have too much trouble” she says,’ Izuku snarked inside his head before Venom launched his fist in a biomass and struck the man, apparently called “Buzzkill” by his subordinates. The attack struck Buzzkill  in the chest, sending him stumbling back before he regained his footing and launched himself at Venom using his organic wings with an energy-charged fist. Venom then ducked under the strike, causing the thug to punch a hole in the wall directly behind Venom, making him stuck.

‘Now we can do some real damage!’ thought Izuku and Venom as one before the Symbol of Vengeance charged, one of his hands turning into his mace as scored a solid hit on Buzzkill, knocking his helmet off of the man.

Both Izuku and Venom grimaced as they saw Buzzkill’s face. It was all too clear that the man had a wasp Mutant Quirk, a yellowjacket wasp if Izuku’s bug knowledge was accurate. But at the same time, Izuku saw what Lady Nagant had been talking about: There was no light in Buzzkill’s insect-like eyes. Only a dark and empty void, and what human features he had displayed no sign of any form of emotion. And that more than anything strengthened Izuku’s resolve to shut down all this insanity.

“You know, you looked better with the mask on,” Venom growled before he punched Buzzkill in the face, knocking him out cold with his hand still stuck in the wall.

Venom then released a tired sigh before stalking off toward the containment cells where Project Paragon’s captives were being held. Hopefully, there would be no more bullshit between getting the kids out of here and leaving the scene.

Hopefully.

Outside the Facility - A Short Time Later

As they watched the heroes and police escort the guards, Buzzkill, and the abducted children to a waiting prisoner transport or into the arms of their parents or Child Services. As this happened, Venom and Lady Nagant watched the scene from a nearby rooftop.

“You know, for the first time in a long time, I actually feel satisfied doing hero work,” Nagant said with a smile, “You alright? Buzzkill’s one of Project Paragon's best.”

“We’ll live,” Venom growled, “More importantly, if this was one of the least protected Project Paragon facilities and we had to go through all that shit, there’s no way we can do it alone. We’ll need to assemble a team of vigilantes in order to completely destroy it.”

“Yeah, I suppose you’re right,” Nagant sighed,  “I’ll do some searching around and see who I can turn up. I’ll find you again when I’ve got some leads.”

Venom nodded before leaping into the air and swinging away into the night.

Elsewhere…

A young man with slicked back black hair clad in a black overcoat, a black shirt underneath a black kevlar vest, black fingerless gloves, black cargo pants, and black combat boots carrying a bo-staff in one hand and a fistful of trading cards in the other smiled up at what looked like a large burly brute of a creature that looked like a humanoid macaque wearing traditional Japanese clothing underneath various pieces of metal as makeshift armor. In his armor-covered hand was a red metal bo staff with golden ends. Surrounding the two were several unconscious bodies.

“Thanks for the help, big guy,” the man in the coat said, looking up at the beastman with a friendly smile. Said beastman grunted and nodded. “Name’s Jacque LeBleu, but you can call me Gamble. You got a name?”

The beastman spoke in a surprisingly high pitched voice. “The name's Sarumaru Ukiō… wait, scratch that, reverse it.” He said before spinning and pointing at Gamble. “Saruō Ukimaru, sore ga ore no na da(that's what my name is).” He said, laughing a monkey's laugh as he leaned on the bo staff.

Chapter Text

Chapter XI

Retribution

Izuku’s Apartment Complex Rooftop-10:00 pm local time

As he made his way onto the rooftop of his apartment complex, Izuku stared into the distance while feeling particularly anxious. Two days had gone by since he had first entangled himself in the nasty business that was Project Paragon, and in that time, Izuku discovered that someone was keeping tabs on him. Not on Venom, but Izuku Midoriya. On more than one occasion, Izuku had found himself being tailed by what he quickly recognized as an off-duty Hero. He noticed this due to having an alien symbiote bonded to himself, allowing him literally have eyes in the back of his head. With Venom tipping him off, and with a little shapeshifting, Izuku had been able to lose his stalkers rather easily.

Still, Izuku had to wonder if they were onto his double life. And if they were, who had asked them to keep tabs on him? Was it a high-ranked Pro Hero, or was it someone else?

Izuku frowned at that thought. He still hadn’t found Overhaul, which made him think that the heroes tailing him could be working for Overhaul like Electrus and Gremlin? That didn’t feel quite right. If Overhaul, or anyone from the Eight Precepts as Izuku’s research had revealed Overhaul’s crew to be called, were keeping tabs on him, they would have done something by now. Mainly in the category of trying to kill him in his sleep or something. No, it had to be another pro, but who? All Might?

Izuku snorted at the thought. The Number One Hero had better things to do with his time than have some pals follow some reject of society around on a guess. No, it had to be someone else…but who?

Eh, it didn’t matter. At least, not tonight that is. Not when he had worked out a plan to at long last destroy Aldera Junior High. The plan would destroy the school, the heroes and police investigators in their pocket, and most importantly of all, Katsuki Bakugou, the explosive asshole he’d once been foolish enough to call his friend.

Izuku’s fists clenched at the thought. Bakugou was no hero, just a supervillain waiting to happen. A punk deluding himself into thinking he was hero material because of how flashy and powerful his quirk was. And as long as Izuku and Venom drew breath, he would see to it that Bakugou would never get the chance to go pro and become another Endeavor. After all, if Bakugou became a hero, Izuku knew that the first thing Bakugou would do would be him abusing his power and never facing the consequences of his actions.

Izuku shook his head. Now wasn’t the time to get lost in his rage-filled thoughts. Not when it was time to put the plan he and Venom had devised into action at long last.

“Ready, partner?” Izuku asked the klyntar before the symbiote formed over him into the familiar form of Venom.

“Always,” Venom replied before leaping off the building, soon swinging toward the general vicinity of Aldera Middle School. The sight made Izuku smile inside the symbiote. By the time the sun rose, Aldera and Katsuki Bakugou would have fallen, Venom would make sure of it…as would one other piece of the puzzle that the vigilante needed to get onto the board.

Near Aldera Junior High-11:30 pm local time…

Shouta Aizawa, aka Eraserhead, was currently on patrol outside the Aldera Junior High School building, per the request of the boss of his day job, Nedzu. The principal had been tipped off about there being some dirty dealings going on at the school, and in all honesty, he didn’t know why anyone would do anything unscrupulous at a middle school of all places. However, as he thought about it, he was pretty sure this was where that Bakugou boy had attended.

Truth be told, something didn’t sit well with him about Katsuki Bakugou getting into U.A. High School. For one thing, he had an incredibly overinflated opinion of himself, but apart from that, his personality was simply not suited for a hero, and his Quirk was questionably suited for hero work at best. Although, after he had an altercation with the boy who had dropped off that sweet little girl Eri, he had seemed troubled somehow. Not only that, when that idiot All Might tried to fight the new vigilante, only to retreat, he seemed further troubled. However, he doubted that he’d get the boy to open up about what was troubling him with that stubborn pride and temper of his being just as explosive as his Quirk.

Eraserhead was then pulled out of his thoughts when a sinister voice rang out in the night, “Nice night, isn’t it teach?”

Eraserhead spun around, only to see Venom leaning against the wall of a nearby building, a mischievous grin on his face as he looked at the Underground Pro Hero. The hero quickly used his quirk to disable the vigilante’s quirk, only for Venom to let out a cackle, “Don’t bother, teach. Your Quirk is powerless against us.” Eraserhead went wide-eyed at this, making Venom laugh even more, “Oh yeah, we know all about you, Mister Underground Pro Hero Eraserhead. You have the ability to disable the Quirks of your enemies, rendering them powerless against you. Good trick for a schoolteacher to know. Unfortunately for you however, our powers come from a much older rule of nature, from before the Dawn of Quirks. In other words, even with your Quirk, to us…you’re just a little man.”

Eraserhead growled at this, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Venom’s grin grew wider. “If you wanna know…you’re gonna have to catch us!” the monstrous being cackled before leaping into the air and started swinging again, Eraserhead now in hot pursuit after him.

Venom grinned at the sight as he continued to swing around. All according to plan…

Forty-Five Minutes Later…

Eraserhead was getting out of breath from his pursuit of the vigilante. He hadn’t had to work this hard to catch a target in a long time. Worse, it seemed like the vigilante was right, as Erasure had no effect on him. That meant his tremendous power wasn't from a Quirk, which was really worrying…but not as worrying as his current problem: he’d just lost track of Venom.

Eraserhead frowned at this, growling as he came to a stop. Questions now filled his head: Had all of that been just for the sake of it? Nothing more than a game to the vigilante? No, somehow that didn’t feel right. From what he saw of the fight between All Might and Venom, and from the meeting he and his fellow U.A. faculty members had had prior to the mess at the USJ, Venom had a keen analytical mind underneath his monstrous appearance. That meant Venom was planning something and had intended to bait the Underground Pro into getting into position. Question was, what was the black-clad vigilante up to?

Meanwhile, with said vigilante…

Venom was standing on the rooftop of Aldera Middle School, looking over the edge. In another time, another life, Izuku could have very well taken Bakugou’s advice and taken a swan dive off the roof and been reunited with his best friend, Inoichi. Truth be told, he had a hard time seeing this hellhole of a school wiggling their way out of that scenario…but they probably would have. Whoever investigated his death would probably decide to half ass it, or Aldera would manage to pay off the investigators, like they had with Ichi and who knows who else over the years this bullshit has been going on.

However, not only was he made of tougher stuff than that, Izuku now had a new purpose to live for as Venom: to show this world just how twisted and corrupt the society they so dearly valued had become. The so-called Rejects, comprised of those without powers or weak abilities, and those “cursed” with “evil” powers who were treated like dirt and even hated for the simple fact of just being alive, would still be beaten by this society. And while that happened, those with showy and flashy powers, even the absolute monsters of human beings, were worshiped like gods and became fabulously wealthy. It was a status quo that needed to be shaken up and set right.

And now, it was time for Venom to begin making some further steps to that goal, as well as begin correcting a few wrongs in his own life in the process. As such, Venom jumped off the building and shot a web upward to the side of the building and swung through a window, demolishing a part of the wall in the process as he landed inside.

“‘Take a swan dive off the roof…’ thanks for the advice, Kaachan! Or rather, what’s left of you inside that monster you’ve become because of your Quirk,” Venom snarled, “Now then…we have a score to settle with this corrupt trash hole of a school. Let’s see…if we were a crooked school principal hiding evidence of bribery, illegal modification of records, discrimination against the Quirkless, and a severe bullying problem that resulted in at least one student taking their own life, where would we hide the evidence? Hmm…suppose we could check the office. Doubt it’s there, but it never hurts to check. And in the meantime…suppose we can make a little mess!”

And as Venom began making his way toward the main office, trashing everything in his path along the way, Izuku began to think. A couple weeks ago at this time, he couldn’t even begin to imagine doing something like this, destroying the place that had been the closest thing to Hell with his bare hands. Not only that, he was about to finally get revenge on Katsuki Bakugou, who he’d once called his best friend, who he tried to stay friends with against his better judgement and constant beatings. And it was all thanks to Venom. Because of him, for the first time in a long time, he didn’t feel like a broken shell or a miserable failure. He finally felt like himself again.

“You’re welcome, partner,” Venom said to his host, causing Izuku to smile. “That said, I still say that we should kick the crap out of bomber boy.”  

‘Oh, don’t worry about that. If he finds out our part in all this, I’m sure we’ll get that chance,’ Izuku replied, ‘Assholes fueled by nothing but rage, ego, and self-entitlement like him are so easy to predict, and I predict that if he finds out that we were responsible for the sudden turn his life is about to take, he’ll be gunning for us with all the subtlety and nuance of a napalm bomb.’

“And then we break him like a toothpick,” Venom hissed as he arrived at the main office and smashed down the door, almost immediately catching sight of the safe inside.

“‘Bingo,’” Izuku and Venom growled before tearing off the safe door, easily finding the contents he sought inside. Ledgers with payments going directly into the accounts of several notable investigative heroes, the genuine copies of his and Bakugou’s records prior to Aldera switching them, as well as those of several other students, including those of Inoichi, among several other pieces of incriminating evidence.

“And now…to bring in the proper authorities…”

Two Hours Later…

Shouta Aizawa had been searching the area around Aldera Junior High before he received a wad of black webbing in his face. Growling at this, the Underground Pro quickly ripped off the offending goop before giving chase to the perpetrator. Venom chuckled as he led the hobo-looking hero toward Aldera. “You suck at hide and seek, you know that?” Venom taunted as he saw Aldera come into view.

“Well, you certainly aren’t making it easy for me.” Eraserhead complained to the black-and-white being.

“Well maybe you just rely too much on your Quirk to give yourself an edge. Maybe you should work more on improving your physical capabilities, rather than using your powers as a crutch,” Venom replied as he landed on Aldera’s rooftop. “Catch us if you can, Penciltopper!” Venom then charged into Aldera, or at least it looked like he did. That was enough for Shouta Aizawa as he entered the building through the front door. Inside, he found various webs and scratches on the walls, ceiling, and floor as he searched. And as he saw this, he saw a pattern of the webs and scratches, each forming arrows. Running as fast as he could, the hero followed each arrow, hoping he wasn't being led into a trap.

That is, till he arrived at the Principal's office for the school, where in the center of the now dilapidated room was a large black web with the words ‘Well? Take it, dumb dumb.’ written over it and a final arrow pointing to the center of the web where a large web pouch was hanging.

Cautiously, Eraserhead removed the web pouch from the wall and opened it, only to go wide-eyed before slowly smiling as he browsed the contents. Aizawa may not agree with the gratuitous and oftentimes brutal violence that Venom unleashed when the black-clad vigilante was on patrol and stopping street crimes…but when it came to exposing the wrongdoings that he and his colleagues had allowed to go unnoticed, Aizawa certainly couldn’t argue with, nor help but be impressed with, his results. Not only that, considering where Aizawa was right now, Aldera Junior High, he found new insight as to who could possibly be inside that suit, narrowing down the list of potential candidates. For his part, Aizawa knew exactly what Venom was, even if he didn't know who exactly was wearing the suit. That is, what he was apart from being a brutal near-lethal protector of a vigilante.

“Bravo, problem child…bravo…” Eraserhead muttered to himself.

U.A. High School - The Following Afternoon…

Being his default emotional state, Katsuki Bakugou being angry was nothing new to those around him.

Today though? He was beyond furious.

How? How the Hell was all of this happening to him?! He was supposed to become the greatest hero who had ever lived! Women, wealth, power, everything he ever wanted, all his!

And yet, it had all come unraveled for him faster than blinking. First, it had started when the entirety of Class 1-A, including Krishima whom he’d actually started to become friends with, all of a sudden started treating him like he was complete and utter villain scum. Alright, whatever, he didn’t need a bunch of extras like them hanging around. He was the hero of this story after all, heck the main character of the entire world, dammit! They’d be lucky to make a C-List hero’s sidekick while he would be worshipped as the greatest SSS-list hero ever. And all had been well for a while, only with a few hiccups. Mainly the freak in black who may or may not be stupid, delusional Deku somehow using him as a grenade notwithstanding.

Until today, that is.

Somehow, U.A. had unearthed his “extensive history of bullying and violent tendencies,” that Aldera had apparently covered up. And as a result of this deception, Katsuki Bakugou had not only been kicked out of the Hero Course and stuck in the General Studies track, but his parents had given him a vicious tongue lashing about how he'd treated Deku!

Katsuki let out a roar of anger and punched a nearby locker. How? How could this have happened?! How could his destiny have been stolen from him like this?!

One thing was certain though…when he found out who was behind all this, there would be nothing but ashes left!

Meanwhile, Across The Street From Aldera Junior High…

“Call me crazy, but I have a hunch that the evidence Nedzu needs will turn up before long...”

Ochako remembered what Izuku had told her and her friends at the diner a while back. And lo and behold, almost a month later, Venom had exposed the wrongdoings going on at Aldera, causing Bakugou to get the boot from the hero course, much to her and her classmates' joy. There was also the immediate blacklisting of Aldera’s entire faculty, and the immediate arrest of several investigative Pro Heroes, plus the annihilation of their hero agencies.

Taken together, it was fairly easy for a suspicion to sneak its way into Ochako’s mind about who might possibly be underneath Venom’s terrifying visage…and that suspicion made her heart hurt even more for Izuku Midoriya. All Might had informed her about All For One and his hunch that he was pulling the League of Villains’ strings. Those facts alone had an undeniable similarity between Venom and that green creature Lasher, if Ochako remembered correctly. That made a new question appear in her head: Could Izuku, in his pain and despair, have made a deal with the devil that was All For One in exchange for the power to become Venom?

Either way, she needed solid evidence if she was to confirm her theory that it was Izuku behind Venom’s mask. That meant she had to get closer to Izuku. Also, she could use someone of Izuku’s particular expertise to help her figure her way through some of the new developments that her recently-attained power from All Might had undergone, hopefully before the Sports Festival in a couple weeks.

Two birds, one stone.

Ochako smiled brightly as she saw Izuku a few minutes later, a satisfied smile on his face as he leaned on his cane. He was clad in a very stylish black outfit, watching the police as they continued to tear Aldera apart, bringing box upon box out of the building.

“This has got to feel very satisfying after the crap that Aldera has put you through,” Ochako commented, catching Izuku’s attention.

Izuku smiled as he limped up to Ochako. “Like you would not believe. I don’t know if I ever told you this, but my mom’s actually a lawyer, and she’s putting together a class-action lawsuit that will leave Aldera and its faculty penniless, and the victims, myself included, very happy. Personally though, I just hope that Ichi can finally rest in peace.” He shined a big grin at her before asking, “But what about you? You looked troubled. What’s wrong?”

Ochako nervously rubbed the back of her neck in response. “I, um…I need your help with something, but I can’t talk about it here. You know, in public, as this is kinda on a need-to-know basis. Do you have somewhere we can talk?”

Chapter Text

Chapter XII

Secrets

“Sorry about the mess,” Izuku said as he led Ochako into his apartment. “I don’t usually have company… ever, actually. Besides, my mother says all brilliant men and women are slobs in some way.”

Ochako glanced around the room, seeing it was something of a disaster area, almost like her own room was back at her new dormitory back at U.A. Also, there was a curious smell in the air, making her ask, “What’s that smell?”

“Ah damn, I forgot I had that going,” Izuku sighed as he limped into the small den in his apartment with Ochako following.  A second later, Izuku stopped at a small desk with a chemistry set, an experiment seemingly in progress before Izuku placed a cork on a vial that held a white substance of some kind. “Sorry about that. Chemistry assignment for school.”

After sealing the substance, Izuku spun around with a small smile on his face before returning to the living room. And as he did this, Ochako lingered for a moment, glancing down to see one of the notebooks lying open on the desk. While she might not be as smart or studious as Izuku, Iida, or Momo, what she could tell by looking at the formula in the notebook, it looked to be notes on an adhesive fluid. That, and there were notes on how to make it more heat-resistant or even carry an electrical charge, effectively making the fluid like a sticky taser.

‘Hmm…something tells me this isn’t a school assignment.’ Ochako thought, only to be pulled out of her thoughts by Izuku’s voice in the living room.

“So what’s this important thing you needed to talk to me about?” the green haired boy slightly exclaimed as Ochako spun around and walked into the room, soon sitting down on the couch next to Izuku.

“Okay, so first off…” Ochako started to say, a flicker of real anxiety and fear in her eyes that made both Izuku and Venom feel equal parts worried and angry. What could have possibly happened to put that flicker of fear in her eyes? And more importantly, was there anyone who had forfeited their ability to walk or eat solid food that needed those privileges revoked?

That is, till Ochako took a deep breath, “What I’m about to tell you needs to stay between us. If word gets out that you know something about this, you could attract some very dangerous attention. The kind that you or anyone you care about doesn’t walk away from without a scar, best case scenario.”

“This…isn’t the part where you reveal that your parents are actually supervillains wanted by, like, Interpol or something right?” Izuku instantly replied, trying to lighten the mood. And when Ochako suddenly burst out laughing, the teen added, “Oh no. It’s worse, isn’t it? Did they bring you into the family business?!”

“No, no, nothing quite that extreme…” Ochako giggled before waving her hand, “But still, you can kind of consider this U.A.’s version of a government secret.” She bit her lip at this next part, taking a deep breath before saying, “You see…after the Entrance Exam…All Might picked me to be the successor of both his mantle and his quirk, One For All.”

Izuku could almost hear the record scratch sound effect going off in his head as the words left Ochako’s mouth. “Say what now?”

“Yeah…” Ochako grimaced, twiddling her thumbs for a bit as she continued, “Apparently All Might is actually, technically quirkless, like you. His quirk is like, this super ancient quirk that’s been passed down through at least eight different people, counting All Might. That and its…well, it was made with one specific purpose: defeat the Quirk Thief, All For One, and bring a permanent end to his evil.”

“Wait wait wait, hold on a second,” Izuku started waving his hands, “You’re telling me that there’s a quirk that can literally be passed down like a torch? Like, All Might had this quirk, gave it to you, and there's another one that can actually make anyone quirkless?”

Ochako did a small nod, “Not just that, but he can give a quirkless person one or even multiple quirks. You know how some people collect stamps, or postcards, or bugs? Well, All For One collected quirks. I say collected, because officially he doesn’t exist, and unofficially, he’s dead, killed by All Might in a battle that he had to do everything he could to keep quiet.”

Izuku didn’t like the sound of any of this, and this part made him grimace. “There’s a but to this, isn’t there?”

Ochako nodded again, “Yup. With the League of Villains popping up, All Might thinks he’s alive and is the one pulling the league’s strings. More importantly, All For One has his eye on the One For All Quirk. It’s kinda his white whale, so to speak, and he’s killed countless people in pursuit of it. I don’t know if he knows that I have it now, but life is going to get a lot more complicated for me once he does find out.”

“I see…” Izuku whispered and crossed his arms before frowning, “And who gave All Might this quirk in the first place?”

“A heroine from well before our time, and before All Might’s reign as the Symbol of Peace. His own mentor of sorts named Nana Shimura.”

Izuku closed his eyes, the teen processing the information he’d just been given. “So let me see if I got this right…” Izuku muttered as a dark look appeared in his eyes, the teen slowly getting up and making his way over to the sink, giving off an aura that made Ochako slightly shiver.

“All Might was quirkless, like me, and then some lady took pity on him and gave him a quirk. A quirk that can be bestowed on people, allowing him to become the Symbol of Peace, get rich, and become the Number One Hero in Japan…and this All For One guy, who has the ability to give and take quirks from people, who even the Symbol of Peace couldn’t put down for good, is likely the guy running the League of Villains, and will stop at nothing to get his hands on that quirk, which he passed down to you, painting a massive target on your back,” Izuku ranted out in almost one breath as he glanced back at Ochako.

“Pretty much, yeah,” Ochako shrugged.

“If this All For One is running the league, then that means he’s the television Lasher mentioned, and that means he’s Lasher's and his host’s boss,” Venom commented in Izuku’s mind. “We should try to track him down and see if he has anyone else.”

“All in good time, buddy,” Izuku quietly muttered with a hand pinching his nose to make it look like he was frustrated before he spoke up. “Maybe I should have a talk with this All For One guy and see if I can strike a bargain with him, see if I can get him to give me a quirk… who knows, with heroes being such a disappointment recently, maybe I can find a villain who actually believes in me…” Izuku said in the most sarcastic tone possible before shaking his head.

His words made Ochako flinch, only to see the teen chuckle and give her a small smile, “Eh, don’t worry about it. Making a deal with a devil like this Quirk Thief and becoming a villain isn’t my style. I mean, if things had played out worse, then it might have been my style… but, it’s no use thinking in hypotheticals. Things didn’t pan out like that in reality. Plus, I think my Mom would be so disappointed in me if I turned out evil, to say nothing of what my closest and dearest friend would think, especially now that I know she can kick my ass worse than Bakugou ever could,” Izuku shined the biggest grin at the girl, Ochako soon giving the most massive blush on her face. That is, till Izuku showed her an inquisitive frown, “But one thing I’m wondering…why are you telling me all this? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m ecstatic that you trust me enough to tell me a secret that big, but…why tell me all this?”

“Well…for a couple of reasons, actually,” Ochako replied, her expression turning grim. “The first and biggest one being that…One For All seems to have undergone some kind of awakening, where it’s manifesting the quirks of the other eight bearers. I was hoping that, given your talents for quirk analysis, that you might be able to help me figure things out with what’s going on. And help me with these new abilities, ideally before the Sports Festival in a couple weeks.”

Izuku smiled and slowly made his way back to the couch, “Say no more. You’ve come to the right man for the job, ‘chako.” He came to a stop right before sitting down, “So, what’s the other reason?”

Ochako sighed and glanced away, “Well…it’s just that…I remembered what you said back at that diner, when I introduced you to Momo, Tsuyu, and Mina, about how you said that Nedzu would soon have the evidence he needed to destroy Aldera. A month later, Venom attacks Aldera and gets my homeroom teacher the evidence to wipe Aldera off the map. Then there was what Venom said to All Might at the USJ, plus the fact that that Lasher creature that works for the League looks a lot like Venom…” She looked back at Izuku, “It's starting to…paint a picture.”

“Uh-oh. I think we might be in trouble, Izuku,” Venom whispered from within Izuku’s mind.

“A-and what picture is that, exactly?” Izuku shakily asked back.

She showed him a distinct confident glare. “Simply put, I think you’re Venom. And I think you got that power from All For One.”

“Oh crap, she’s figured it out,” Venom hissed, a hint of panic in his voice. “Nevermind the fact that her reasoning is completely off the mark, the fact remains that she knows who we are! Just say the word and we’re outta here, partner, no questions asked!”

Izuku had to do something to throw her off him, so he acted incredulous. “You think I'm Venom? I mean, yeah I make some of his equipment, but…” Izuku quickly snapped his hand over his mouth as if he'd let out something he shouldn't. 

Ochako gave Izuku a deadpan expression. “You know, that’s as good as telling me that it’s you, Izuku.”

Izuku glanced away, only to sigh in defeat. “Alright…you got me. I suppose since you trusted me with your big secret, I guess I’ll trust you with mine. But, you gotta promise me one thing: this stays between you, me, and Venom. No telling your friends about it, and especially no telling the heroes. I got enough problems without them hounding me about this.”

Ochako closed her eyes for a second, only to reopen them and said, “Alright Izuku, I promise on my future as a hero and my status as the Ninth User of One For All that I won’t share your secret with anyone, no matter what.” She crossed her arms and slightly tilted her head, “But one thing I gotta ask…why are you talking about Venom like he’s a completely different person?”

Izuku chuckled at the question before saying, “Well partner, care to shed a little light on the subject?”

Ochako watched with a mixture of horror and fascination as an inky black tendril emerged from Izuku’s back, the end of which slowly morphed into a face that Ochako immediately recognized as Venom’s. “Why, hello there, Ochako. It’s so nice to finally meet you face to face,” Venom laughed with his signature grin.

“Izuku…what in God’s name is that thing?! Some kind of parasite?!” Ochako squeaked out.

“Okay lady, first off, I am NOT a thing! I am a living creature with thoughts and feelings of my own! Honestly, some of my people would bite your head off for that alone. Secondly… PARASITE?!” Venom angrily snarled, causing Ochako to recoil in fear.

“Venom, calm down! We need her to like us!” Izuku panically said before waving his hands, “Yeah, sorry about that Ochako. The Klyntars really don’t like it when you treat them as weapons or anything less than a living being with its own thoughts and feelings. Also, whatever you do, do NOT call one the P word.”

“Right…got it.” said Ochako, a look of terror on her face. “Izuku? Please start explaining what is going on here before I run out of here screaming for every hero I can find to get the sludge creature away from you by any means necessary.”

Izuku rubbed the back of his neck. “Right. Well, I guess this all started when I found a meteorite piece on Dagobah Beach and brought it home with me as a souvenir…” Ochako raised an eyebrow at that, only to go wide-eyed as he continued to talk.

All Might’s Classroom - Around The Same Time…

Toshinori Yagi sat in his office chair, staring at the wall as mulled over what the past week or so had been like for him. After the USJ Incident, most of his students had been glaring at him with disappointed scowls, much like the staff as well, not long after they gave him a through dressing down about what he’d said about young Midoriya. The worst was young Uraraka, and that hurt the most out of all the lectures he’d gotten that day.

Shortly After The USJ Incident…

Ochako Uraraka glared daggers at her mentor, pink electricity sparking off her fists and forearms. “Really, Toshinori-san?! Really?! After everything you told me about yourself, about how you yourself were quirkless until Nana Shimura took you under her wing, you actually mouth off about being realistic to someone who’s just like you? What the hell is wrong with you?!” Ochako’s anger and frustration flowed off of her at this, the man feeling like he was staring at a mighty tempest. The sight made him try to show he was ashamed of himself for what he’d said to the boy.

However, Ochako was far from finished giving her mentor an earful. “Do you know how much pain and suffering Izuku has had to go through because of people like you and Bakugou?! Having to watch his only friend fall apart and finally kill himself, despite everything he tried to do to support him?! Having to be beaten by that explosive piece of shit for ten years straight, just because he doesn’t have some flashy superpower?! And his middle school letting said piece of shit get away with it?!”

All Might shrunk as she continued to screech, only for Ochako to take a few deep breaths to steady herself before adding, “If you really think you can’t be a hero without a quirk, then you should have given One For All to Izuku Midoriya instead of me, busted leg be damned. I’m sure the support department could have cooked something up to help with that for Hero Work, and I could’ve gotten by just fine with Zero Gravity. Izuku, on the other hand, I’m not sure what’s still holding him together, but he’s far stronger than anyone I’ve ever met, you included.”

Present Day…

Toshinori let out a tired sigh. Young Uraraka was right. The rest of the staff was right. He was honestly the biggest hypocrite imaginable. Maybe it was because back in his youth, the rejects of society weren’t quite outcasts, nor were they so heavily discriminated against as he now knew the case to be in this day and age.

He let out a long sigh before typing away at his computer. He needed to track down young Midoriya and have a talk with him. Or at the bare minimum, apologize for shattering the boy’s faith in heroes, and do what he could to make amends for his very poor choice of words.

He just hoped that no one else had gotten to him first, especially not…him.

Chapter Text

Chapter XIII

Promises

“So yeah, that’s my story so far,” Izuku commented as he took a drink of hot chocolate, a brooding look on his face. “Like the saying goes, See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil. People aren’t likely to wake up out of their apathy without dramatic examples, something I could never do as Izuku Midoriya. Or at least, even if Izuku could do anything, they’re still less likely to realize there’s a problem, even if it's staring them in the face.” 

Ochako just grimaced at this, only for Izuku to continue ranting, “As much as I hate to admit it, All Might was right. You can’t be a hero without a Quirk, or a shitload of money, as you need some kind of power to change the world and the established order. But at the same time, you need to show the world your power, and what you can do with it. The grander the scale, the better. So, with Venom’s help, I made it so that the people had no choice but to see the evil, hear the evil reverberating on the inside of their skulls no matter how desperately they try to block it out, and… some other third thing involving speaking evil,” Izuku chuckled while shaking his head, “I mean, sure, Venom and I could go on the warpath, become a villain, and attain absolute power over Hero Society…but I know my limits. I’m no politician, and I’m certainly not a tyrant. Besides, the more one tightens their grip on something, the more it slips through your fingers. So, by putting the problem on display for all the world to see, those who are actually able to do something about society’s corruption have no choice but to do something about it, lest they face the backlash of the masses.”

“But, there’s more to it than that, isn’t there?” Ochako asked as her frown tried to stop growing.

Izuku nodded back. “Retribution is a big part of it too. Ever since I was diagnosed as Quirkless, I’ve been treated like shit by almost everyone around me, save for Ichi, my Mom, you, and your friends. Now that I have the power I’ve always wanted ever since I was four years old, there’s a certain part of me that wants to make the people who hurt me hurt just as bad if not worse. I guess that was part of my motivation to take down Aldera. Revenge against them and Bakugou for what they did to me and Ichi. Of course, that same part of me wants to break Bakugou like a goddamn toothpick and leave him to die, but A: that’s just flat out bad, and 2:”

Ochako giggled at the switch between letters and numbers, which made Izuku smile.

“He’d have to sufficiently piss me off enough, and he hasn’t done that… yet,” Izuku shined a small grin at this. “But, considering what I know about the Bomberanian-” Izuku said, causing Ochako’s frown to vanish as she burst out laughing.

“‘Bomberanian?!’” Ochako giggled. “That is the most accurate description of Bakugou I’ve ever heard!”

Izuku just shrugged. “Well, he is a living bomb, and he has the temperament of a Pomeranian, so, yeah, Bakugou’s a Bomberanian. Anyways, we’re getting off topic. Point is…once Bakugou figures out I had a hand in his downfall, he’s going to come after me with all the fire and fury of a napalm bomb.” Izuku then turned to Ochako and took her by the hands, “And if he does that, there’s also a chance he could go the ‘shoot the messenger’ route and come after you too, since you were the one to tell Nedzu about what I told you, and if that happens, then I want you to promise me something.”

“If Bakugou lays so much a fingernail on you, if so much as a molecule of saliva from yelling at the top of his lungs at you heads in your direction, come find me. If Bakugou wants a fight, or if he so much as makes you chip a nail, then Venom and I will give him a fight he’ll never forget,” Izuku finished, his voice turning slightly more monstrous as he spoke. “He’ll wish he never came to U.A.! We won’t let him hurt our friends and people we care about! Never again!”

Ochako felt a small shiver of fear run down her spine at the sudden shift in Izuku’s voice. “Okay…but only if you promise me something,” she replied as she gazed into Izuku’s beautiful green eyes and tightened her grip on Izuku’s hands. “If Venom…starts making you do things you don’t want to do, or starts taking things too far, please come find me. I’ll get the heroes and help them get him off of you. I’m happy you found someone who can help you fight for a noble cause, but…not if it comes at the cost of that wonderful, beautiful, soul of yours.”

“She DOES know I can hear her, right?” Venom grumbled within Izuku’s mind.

‘It’s the thought that counts Venom,’ Izuku mentally replied before he spoke aloud. “I promise.”

The two teenagers stayed like that for a moment that felt like an eternity, their hands clasping those of the other, gazing into each other’s eyes, before slowly, unconsciously, the two of them leaned in towards each other, their eyes slowly closing as though they were both hypnotized by the other, and kissed.

A few seconds after the kiss had started, both Izuku and Ochako’s brains started back up and they realized what they were doing.

‘Oh my God, I’m kissing ‘chako! What do I do?!?!? What do I do?!?!’ Izuku thought as he and Ochako continued to lock lips, his face going full red.

‘Oh my God, I’m kissing Izuku!!! What should I do?!?! What does this mean for our friendship?!?!’ Ochako thought as well as she continued to lock lips with Izuku, her face also heating up like a furnace as she teetered toward the edge of succumbing to the feelings she had for the boy, as he did the same with his feelings for her.

After several minutes the two drifted apart, breathing heavily as they looked into each other's eyes before they realized what they'd done and both blushed enough to be mistaken for ripe tomatoes as they stammered; trying and failing to say something.

Eventually Ochako spoke her words properly first and asked the question in both their minds.

“So, does this mean we're dating now?” she asked Izuku who could only mumble an affirmative and nod.

“Good.” Ochako said before she mustered up her courage, and kissed Izuku again, this time with the kind of passion that was reserved for someone you deeply and truly loved, as Izuku wrapped his arms around Ochako in a tight embrace and kissed her back with just as much passion.

"About time, you two," Venom said within Izuku's mind with a chuckle.

'Oh, shut up, Venom. You're killing the mood, and I'd rather focus on my new girlfriend at the moment,' Izuku snarked back inside his head as he continued kissing Ochako, pulling her into a close embrace.

After everything the universe had taken from him, all because he lacked some flashy superpower, finally, finally, it had seen fit to start giving to him. First, it had given him a source of power, a true best friend, and a purpose all rolled into one, and now, it had given him someone to truly, and deeply love.

For the first time in a long time, Izuku Midoriya truly felt like he could be happy again, so long as he had Venom and his beloved Ochako by his side…

Project Paragon Facility Epsilon - Outskirts of Mustafu - Later That Night…

Blood was splattered all over the walls as a dark, humanoid figure made their way through the underground complex, killing everyone unfortunate enough to cross its path. Riot grinned as the last guard fell to pieces on the ground. The HPSC President was a veritable treasure trove of secrets and useful information, including what had happened to Sleeper.

And here he was thinking Venom was an idealist, goody-two-shoes than he was. Then again, Sleeper was Venom’s son, which was how he got on the mission in the first place, despite being one of the lower classes of Klyntars. 

Regardless, both of them failed to realize the simple truth: that all other creatures in this universe and beyond existed for the Klyntars to use as they saw fit, until they were completely and utterly used up and their carcasses were discarded. A fact this world would soon learn once he had built his legion of super-powered symbiotes and began to conquer it and its frankly primitive inhabitants.

‘Savages, all of them,’ thought Riot as he approached the base’s central command center and looked over the containment cell camera feeds on the console. ‘Now, let’s see here…ah, this one will do for my first recruit!’

Riot lumbered off in the direction of the cell he had seen over the camera and pulled out what looked like some kind of rock or keystone from his body. Placing both hands over it, Riot growled and roared as a rush of power flowed from the stone into his body before he ripped the cell door off the cell and grabbed the occupant inside. A few moments later, a bright green symbiote with a red spiral pattern of some kind over its face emerged, growling and snarling.

Riot grinned. ‘Success! Now…for the rest…’

Alleyway - Slums of Mustafu

Himiko Toga had to admit…she’d never felt a thrill like this before, at least none that she could remember. Honestly, she wondered why she didn’t think of this sooner.

It was patently obvious that her parents would never give her blood so she could finally make the Thirst go away. No, no, they preferred to lock her in the basement and beat her senseless, all for having a “villainous Quirk.” No, if she wanted the Thirst to go away, she would have to make it go away herself. So, breaking out of her room while her parents and Ashi were out, she snuck into her parents’ room, grabbed a pair of decorative daggers, and left. In one single motion, she vowed to go and never look back.

And now, here she was, finally, truly sating the Thirst with the blood she so desperately wanted, all thanks to this nice person who’d offered to help her.

The girl Himiko was sucking the blood out of was someone who had to have been Quirkless, as all it took was a quick bit of slice’n’dice to bring her down before Himiko was able to sink her fangs into her.

The Thirst finally satisfied, Himiko removed her fangs from the nice girl’s neck. “Thank you for helping!” she sang happily as she pulled herself up off the ground, relishing the feeling of finally being free of the chains that her parents had forced upon her. Free to be who she was without anyone to tell her no, or beat her senseless for being a freak. Normal girls may not drink blood…but who the fuck cares about being normal?! No, no, no, now that she was finally free of her parents, Himiko Toga was beyond eager to cause some chaos and let the mayhem she’d been keeping bottled up inside her for so long finally break free.

After all…what was wrong with causing a little…carnage?