Chapter Text
Izuku tried to ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach and the little voice in the back of his head that kept insisting that his mom was hiding something from him. He kept trying to make progress on his homework, but often found himself staring at the same problem for minutes at a time without actually looking at it. It seemed like he wouldn't be able to focus until he got an answer, but he didn't know how exactly to go about doing that. He took a deep breath and decided to try and power through.
He finally managed to focus enough on his homework to get it done, and just in time too, since Dad was just getting home. So now Izuku had to pack while also trying to figure out why exactly he felt the way he did. That would be fun.
He sighed, ignoring the quiet conversation that he could barely hear through his door as he began to pack for his stay at his grandparents. In all honesty, Izuku couldn't remember the last time he had actually seen them, rather than just visiting their house. It had to be years, at least. They were always so busy travelling that they never had any time to come home. That was the reason Dad gave to him last time he asked why they were never at their house. Personally, Izuku thought that they were avoiding the rest of the family. Or at the very least they were avoiding Mom and Dad, which kind of hurt. But it didn't really matter, since he got enough attention and love from the rest of his family.
He glanced over at his Hero merchandise plastered all over the wall and sighed, bringing his thoughts back to the problem that was currently troubling him. He could ask outright, but the very thought of trying to confront his mom made him cringe. He didn't want to just accuse her of lying to him, even if the very thought of his parents lying to him made him sick. He flopped down onto his bed, staring up at his large All Might poster that was tacked to the ceiling. It was a limited edition, one for All Might's fifteenth anniversary of being a hero, before the meteor shower fell onto Japan and he underwent a Quirk mutation. Quite a number of Heroes who went out to help with the evacuation or defense of the city underwent Quirk mutations, but the most prominent ones had been in the top ten.
His off-track train of thought was then interrupted by a knock on the door, "Yeah?"
"Hey 'Ku. You ready to travel?" His father's voice seemed raspier than usual, which meant he'd probably overused his Quirk while working. Izuku glanced over at his half-filled duffel bag, and hurriedly began to pack in earnest. He used just a small amount of Solar Battery to get the job done faster, which left Dad chuckling, "I'm guessing that's a no. I'll be back in a few to check up on you."
"Alright! Love you!" Izuku responded, and got two knocks on the door as a reply. He bit his lip, wondering if he should ask Dad, but there was the more than likely possibility of them working together, which was to be expected from them. He sighed, running his hand through his hair before deciding to not dwell on it any longer. He was going to ignore it and have fun with his family! With a smile on his face, he finished packing up, feeling like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders.
He opened his door, greeted with the sight of his father coming to knock on the door. His expression morphed into one of surprise, before smiling at his son. "Hey there Zu. Ready to go?"
Izuku nodded quickly, beaming at Dad, "Yeah! I can't wait to see Auntie Ko and Auntie Mika! And also to figure out what's going on with my Quirk!"
He bounced on the balls of his feet as he walked to the car, rambling on about the different possibilities that Solar Battery presented. Dad made a face as he talked about his Quirk, and that feeling that told him that Mom was lying to him was telling him that Dad was hiding something from him, and it seemed to have to do with his Quirk. Was his Quirk not even Solar Battery? Or perhaps they had information about his birth parents that they were going to tell him now that he's unlocked a new facet of Solar Battery.
These thoughts kept racing through his head as he climbed into the car, looking at his parents communicate silently with just their facial expressions, before they seemingly came to an agreement. He decided not to worry about it right now, and began to try to distract himself while his mom drove out of the parking garage. He did this by looking up the recent Hero news. There was the car accident that he'd been in, although it didn't mention him by name, which he was glad for. He had freaked out a bit about it after he'd talked with Mom, but he was fine now. He was interested in the Hero in the blue spandex who had saved him. Apparently they made their debut chasing that car, and had accidentally sent the car into Izuku, who in turn sent the car into a lamppost. According to the article, they were being fined for their negligence, which was a fitting punishment, since it was Izuku and he wasn't hurt. He hummed quietly to his music as he moved onto the next post.
The next post was about the debut of a new Hero called Lamplighter, who had helped stop a toxic green house fire over in the suburbs of Kyoto. Apparently the house was having new solar panels installed and the workers miswired them, which caused a spark inside one of the panels which then spread to the rest of the house. Only two people were inside, and both of them had made it out alive. The younger one seemed to have made his own way outside by smashing a window, while the older one had been asleep when the fire started and had remained unconscious throughout the whole ordeal. He had been burned badly, and although he was stable, they didn't know when he would wake up. Izuku closed the post and went to the next one. All Might had saved a family of five from being squished by a bus, while the Water Hose duo helped stop a bridge from collapsing. He continued until he was all caught up on the Hero news before turning off his phone.
The tall boy looked out of the window to watch the scenery go by. His eyes slowly grew heavier and heavier until they closed completely. He didn't even notice himself fall asleep.
Izuku woke up to the scene of a picturesque river flowing under the bridge they were crossing. The road they had been travelling on was parallel to the winding river on its right side, while there was a large mountain with innumerable trees on the slope. It was truly beautiful, and an interesting sight to wake up to, despite having seen this view dozens of times. He watched as they passed the river, which went over to their left, while a rocky cliff rose over to their right. He watched lazily as they slowly drove upwards on the winding road, still listening to his music. The trees that had sprung up to block his view of the mountains on the left side fell away to show the large mountains standing behind them before being covered by more trees.
He watched the scenery for a few more minutes, before he pulled his phone out, pausing the music for a moment. He'd been asleep for about five hours, which meant they should get to his grandparent's house soon. He glanced towards the front seat to find that Dad and Mom had switched seats. His father was now driving while his mother napped in the passenger seat. Izuku stretched out and let out a groan as his entire back suddenly exploded in an intense pain. He froze, as to not extend the pain. He was absolutely clueless as to why this was happening; he had no idea what could have caused this.
"You ok back there, son?" Dad's voice cut through his thoughts and brought him back to the present.
Izuku grunted as he shifted slightly; it felt like his entire back was one big bruise, "My back hurts. I don't know what could've happened."
Dad let out a laugh, seemingly in disbelief, "You-you have no idea how your back could've gotten hurt? I don't know...maybe it was the car that hit you, or even the solid brick wall that you went flying through."
"Oh." Izuku froze, tilting his head slightly before cringing from the pain. "But I thought I was invincible?"
"Look...a new Qu-facet of your Quirk just came in. That doesn't mean that it'll be all powerful. When my Quirk came in, I could only make a few sparks come out. This level of progression is normal."
"But- my Quirk was already pretty powerful when they came in, right?"
"Er..yes, but you are a special case."
"What do you mean by that, Dad?" Izuku furrowed his brow as Dad stiffened up, seeming to think over his next words carefully.
"Well.. you're not exactly normal, son. Ah...we'll talk after we stop, okay?" Izuku hummed in response, still lost as to what his father meant. But now he had confirmation that his parents were hiding something from him. He didn't really know what to do with this new information, but it seemed like he was going to get his answers, which was good.
He took a deep breath, stopping just short of where the action would've caused him pain. The silence between them was loud, only broken by the quiet radio spiking in volume every now and then, so he started up his music again. He looked back out of the window to look at the sky, where the sun was peeking over the outline of some clouds. Looking at the sun hanging in the cloudy sky, Izuku had a realization. His Quirk was powered by the sun, which allowed him to be super fast and super strong, and now, invincible. Maybe it did other things as well? It seemed certainly plausible, seeing as how he had never been sick except for the times he ventured further into the mountains around his grandparent's house, and a few other places. His aunt did say that he might be able to utilize his stored sunlight to speed up his passive body processes. Well there was no better time than now to try it, since they were still a little bit from the house.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, searching for his 'core', which is where a Quirk's source is supposed to be. He couldn't find any singular place where it seemed like the majority of Solar Battery was; it was just a warmth that filled his entire body. So he decided to change tactics, and tried to force the warmth to gather specifically in his injured back. The warmth refused to move, and Izuku frowned, just now trying to figure out what he could make the warmth do. He wasn't able to move it to any specific spot, but he could just barely move it outwards before it moved back to its proper place. He sighed, opening his eyes to watch the house come into view.
He began to get his things ready to get out of the car while his dad parked the car. He pulled his earbuds out of his ears before putting them back into their case and pulled his shoes back on. The car stopped and he got out while Dad woke Mom up. He opened the trunk of the car and began to load himself up with their luggage, barely managing to get it all without running out of room. He carefully walked up to the doorway, careful to not drop anything. He carefully opened the door, and walked inside to be greeted with the sight of his aunts lying on the couch together. He looked over them, before carefully shutting the door so as to not wake them up before heading to the bedrooms.
He sat down on the bed, wondering what exactly Dad had to say. He already knew he was adopted; the way he looked was proof enough. He didn't know what they wanted to tell him. Were his birth parents Villains? Was he a genetic experiment for someone to test multiple Quirks with? He shook his head, knowing that asking questions to himself wasn't going to reveal the answers he wanted to know.
He was about to get up to go talk to his parents before Mom's voice stopped him in his tracks as she said, "Izuku, sweetie, we need to have a talk."
He turned his head towards her, watching her fidget with something in her hands as he took a deep breath, "What about?"
"The truth. " His breath hitched as she spoke plainly. She took a deep breath and sat down next to him, grabbing his hand tightly. She seemed to be searching for the right words as they sat there in silence.
"I love you more than anything, Izuku. Your father and I both do. You are a miracle in every sense of the word. I want you to know this."
Izuku stayed quiet as her grip got tighter, "Your father and I had been trying for a baby for so long. We had been to multiple doctors who said that there was little to no chance I would have my own child. We had even been to a few doctors who used their Quirks on us. We had been trying for years to have a child."
Another deep breath as he gently squeezed her hand, "And then the meteors fell. While so many others were missing their families, we completed ours. We found you the day of the meteor shower. "
Izuku glanced at her face, biting his lip. She sounded so emotional, so raw. Her voice was wavering as she looked at the floor in front of them while tears sprang up in her eyes, yet they refused to fall. Dad appeared from the doorway, silent but strong as always. He gripped Mom's shoulder, letting her know he was there. She took a deep wavering breath as Dad began to speak.
"You aren't exactly from around here, Izuku."
Izuku let out a laugh in disbelief, "Th-That's what you wanted to tell me? I knew that already. I'm different looking than you guys; I look like an American, and I'm nearly 190 centimeters."
Dad sighed, looking at him, "That's not exactly what we mean, son. I don't...don't really know how to explain it."
"Maybe it's better if we show him?" Mom's voice was small, and full of unshed tears.
His father thought about it for a moment, his thumb rubbing against his mother's shoulder, before nodding. He helped Mom up, who was still fidgeting with the wrapped item before they began walking out of the room. Izuku followed behind them, intensely confused and slightly worried. They headed for the front door, passing Auntie Mika and Auntie Ko on the way, who were talking quietly until they saw him. Auntie Ko gave him an encouraging smile while Auntie Mika gave him a small smile and a thumbs up. He returned their smiles with a shaky one of his own, before he followed his parents out to the shed.
Dad opened the door to the relatively small building, stepping into the doorway quietly. He turned on the light switch before stepping aside to let them in. He grabbed Mom's hand, squeezing it gently as they looked at the crate in the back that ran the width of the shed. Izuku glanced at both of them as they stepped forward in front of the crate, which had a lock hanging from the lid. Mom took off her necklace, which had a key dangling from the end, and used the key to unlock the crate. She pulled off the lock before Dad opened the wooden lid.
"Like I said, Izuku, you're not from around here." His dad's voice was unusually loud, even in the quiet shed.
Izuku slowly stepped forward to find a spacecraft laying in the crate. Or what he guessed was a spaceship. It was certainly more advanced than any spaceship he'd ever seen. He froze, looking over the highly advanced piece of technology, glancing at the engraved crest on the front. It was a stylistic English 'S' bordered by a weird pentagon. Despite only seeing it for the first time, he felt a sense of deja vu run over him. The symbol seemed familiar, even though he couldn't quite place it.
He ran his hand over the symbol for a second, before turning to his parents, "Th-this is a joke, right? A prank! You can't be serious! There's no way!"
His voice was almost pleading as his heart started to race, while Mom spoke up, "We found you in this spaceship eleven years ago. It almost hit me when the meteors fell. Then it aimed upwards a bit and then we found you inside, along with this."
He stayed silent as his mom unwrapped the object that she had been holding onto, revealing a metal pentagon that was shaped much like the one engraved on the rocket. She held it out for him, and he took it slowly. Dad was the one to speak up next, "I took that to a friend of mine who's a geologist and a metallurgist, and they said that they hadn't ever seen anything like it. Some of the materials on that piece of metal aren't even on the periodic table."
Izuku ran his thumb over the small inscriptions running over the edge of the pentagon as he tried to process this, "You're not kidding, are you?"
His parents didn't answer as he turned away from the ship, the pentagon still in his hand. His voice was quiet as he asked, tears welling up in his eyes as he looked at his parents, "This...this is real? You found me in a spaceship?! I'm an alien!? "
Mom was crying now, nodding, while Izuku backed away slightly, anger in his voice, "Why didn't you tell me?"
"We were selfish. We were afraid that you'd hate us for not telling you. "
"Son... we weren't sure how you'd react. So we kept putting it off," Dad gripped Mom's shoulder tightly, who was wiping off the tears streaming down her cheeks. Their voices were soft, but it seemed like their voices were echoing around the shed.
She clutched the front of her shirt near her chest, seemingly about to fall over, only held up by Dad's grip.
"I...could never hate you guys..." Izuku's voice falters, dropping the pentagon on the ground before he turns around, "I-I don't even know how to react to this! I'm gonna- I need some time to process this."
He can see how Mom reaches out to him out of the corner of his eye, but before she can touch him, he's speeding off into the mountains. Tears blurred his vision as he ran away from his grandparent's house, preventing him from seeing the details of where he's going.
Sosaki Shino was currently relaxing in the hot springs with the other female members of the Wild Wild Pussycats, making small talk.
She leaned back against the warm rock, closing her eyes, "And I'm telling you, there's no way that you saw under Snipe's mask! He never takes it off!"
Tomoko huffed, splayed out over one of the rocks hiding just below the water's surface, "I totally did! He was really handsome! "
Ryuko giggled, leaning backwards to look at both of them, "Enough of Snipe! Did you guys see how cute Ingenium was at the Gala a month ago?" She put her hand on her forehead, pretending to swoon, "Rawr! Mama likes."
Shino opened one eye slightly, looking at the blonde, "Says the one who can never actually go up and talk to him."
Ryuko huffed, crossing her arms under her bust as she turned away, pouting. "I can totally do it! It's just- never the right time!"
Tomoko smiled as she poked Ryuko's side, "Okay then, you have to ask next time we see him!"
Ryuko squawked, waving her arms back and forth as she vehemently made denials and excuses. Tomoko kept prodding and poking her, as Shino smiled at her teammate's antics. She smiled, moving a bit deeper into the hot water, "I'm so glad that we have this day off. My whole body has been aching since we dealt with that landslide a few days ago. "
Her teammates stopped their argument as she spoke, looking at her, as Tomoko leaned against a warm rock, "I know! And then we had to go fight that rock villain-what was his name?"
Ryuko huffed, turning to face them both, "His name was Dirto! And can you believe that he went through all that trouble to get my attention?!"
Shino sighed, brushing some hair behind her ear, "Not this again..." As Ryuko began to go on a rant about how awful he was, thinking that he could possibly date someone like her with his attitude just because they had similar quirks, she felt someone run through her Quirk's range within a second or two. She sat there, trying to search through her Quirk to find whoever had just passed through it, but she couldn't, which was alarming. No ordinary person could be that fast, right? Something didn't feel quite right about the situation, so she got up and began to walk over to her phone at the edge of the hot springs.
Her teammates stilled, Tomoko speaking up as Ryuko gripped her shoulders, "Shino? What's wrong?"
She pulled her phone off of the pile of her clothes, going to check the cameras that encompassed the area surrounding their agency, "I felt someone pass through my Quirk. They were so fast that I'm not sure if there was anybody actually there or if it's something else."
She began flipping through the camera feeds that had caught movement within the past five minutes, and found nothing except some forest animals wandering around. Then, near the base of a mountain, she caught a blur that zoomed past the camera in less than a second. She frowned, stopping the feed when the blur reached the middle of the frame. Then she zoomed in on it, cursing the fact that she couldn't just 'enhance' the photo and get a clear picture. The blur was humanoid, which means that she actually felt someone going hundreds of meters per second go through her Quirk. That was close to some of the Top Ten's speeds, which meant they were dealing with someone that was about as fast as Hawks or All Might. It was unlikely to be one of the top heroes, since most of them preferred to travel in the air. Her hand covered her mouth as she wondered what they were dealing with, before steeling her nerves and turning to her teammates, "We have to suit up. There's an unknown entity capable of travelling at speeds comparable to All Might and other top heroes. I have no idea if they're hostile, or if they're even still in the area."
Everyone turned towards the door, hurrying to the locker room that led to the outside. They all had spare costumes in there, for situations similar to this. While they were getting ready, Tomoko turned towards Shino, pulling on her headgear, "Should we call Yawara? Do we even know where we're going?"
Shino shook her head, "There won't be enough time for him to get here from Nagano, but I did send him a text about it. "
Tomoko nodded, and finished putting on her face paint at the same time that Shino did. Pixie-Bob nodded at the two of them as they exited, crouching down, "Where to, Mandalay?"
Mandalay stood next to her teammates, gripping onto Ragdoll's hand and Pixie-Bob's shoulder, "South. The person entered my Quirk from the north and exited near the south. Our cameras picked them up near the base of the southern mountain."
Ragdoll nodded, and then the ground rose up, wrapping around their legs, hardening slightly, before they sped off. Mandalay closed her eyes, ignoring how fast the world was going past them. She retreated into her Quirk, scanning for anything. She found a couple animals with human-like quirks, according to their weak presence in her Quirk's field. The wind continued to whip past their faces as they travelled to where the cameras had picked up the blur. As they got closer, she felt a strong presence at the edge of her Quirk's range, likely several hundred meters outside of her previous range. She tapped Pixie-Bob on the shoulder, and they slowed down enough to where the wind wouldn't be stealing her words.
"I feel them! They're to the southwest, roughly about 600 meters from us!"
Pixie-Bob nodded, and with their course corrected, they headed towards the speedster.
Izuku had stopped running not long after he had started, finding himself in an area of the mountainous forest that he had never been to before. He wiped his cheeks free of the tears that had escaped during his mad dash out of the shed. He leaned down, gripping the legs of his pants tightly. He wasn't sure how to feel; his emotions were swirling inside him like a maelstrom. He tried to slow down his breathing so he could calm down, but it seemed like a fruitless endeavor. He stood there hunched over slightly for several minutes as he tried not to cry. When he felt as if he wasn't going to burst into tears at the slightest provocation, he stood up to look at where he'd run to.
He seemed to be at an old cabin that seemed to be barely standing. Most of the wood that made up the walls was either broken or rotting. The places where the windows would sit were all broken and devoid of glass, while the roof seemed to have caved it. However, the porch of the cabin seemed pretty stable, from what he could tell. He slowly approached the broken down cabin and carefully took a seat on the steps, the wood creaking under his incredibly dense body.
It seemed quite peaceful out here, with the branches of the trees swaying in the wind and the miscellaneous sounds made by the wildlife. It calmed the emotional storm inside him enough for him to try and process what he'd just been told. He was an organism not of this world who gained power from the sun. He was sent from his home planet in the rocket sitting in his grandparent's shed, and found by his parents the day of the meteor shower. They then proceeded to keep this information secret from him up until now.
Izuku felt betrayed and angry that his parents hadn't told him sooner. He huffed, crossing his arms as he began to think about why they might have felt the need to keep it from him until now. Well, one reason was because this new invulnerability probably wasn't expected. And if he got one new Quirk, he would likely get more, so they were preparing him for that possibility. Another was because he wasn't mature enough to keep a big secret like this. It hurt to admit, but if he had been told a few years ago, he wouldn't have been able to keep his mouth shut, which would've caused a whole host of problems.
He sighed, slowly coming to terms with the new information, leaning his head back against the post holding the roof of the porch up, looking up at the slightly cloudy sky. He felt much better now that he'd somewhat come to terms with it. Not all the way, but enough to go back and talk with his parents about what all this meant. He closed his eyes, relaxing while his mind wandered. Wait, what did this mean for his dream of becoming a Hero? He thought about it for a few minutes, soon coming to the conclusion that it didn't make too much difference. He could still save people with a smile, just like All Might. He just had to keep that information quiet and not let anyone know he was an alien.
He was brought out of his thoughts by the crunching of twigs. He shot up, opening his eyes to the sight of a red Hero uniform that he knew belonged to the leader of the Wild Wild Pussycats, Mandalay. She stood in the middle of the clearing that surrounded the cabin, a smile on her face.
"Excuse me sir! What are you doing?" Her voice was warm, yet it had a hint of a commanding tone.
He stood there, fidgeting with his hands, "I was just thinking, Mandalay-san. I had-" He winced at the sound of his voice cracking and cleared his throat, " I had an argument with my parents and I just needed some air."
She raised an eyebrow at the sound of his voice, "So you just ran a couple hundred meters to get away from your parents?"
"Yes. It's part of my Quirk! It makes me super strong and super fast."
Mandalay sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose with her oversized gloves, which would have looked quite funny in a different situation. She then proceeded to tell him to watch where he was running because he had set off several of their sensors, which had them come running, just in case it was a Villain. He looked at the ground sheepishly as she then scolded him for public Quirk use, before finishing her lecture several minutes later. She sighed, looking at her two teammates that had come out of the trees during her lecture.
"So, do you know where your parents are? Or do you need us to take you? " She crossed her arms over her chest, while he bit his lip.
"I think I know the way back. I am so sorry for the trouble I've caused!" Izuku bowed slightly to the three Pussycats before taking off back to his grandparent's house, feeling better than he had all day.