*INHALES* NOTIMETOTALK!THISCHAPTERISAWEEKLATEANDWEGOTREVIEWSBEFOREWECANEVENSTARTIT!

Scarease: It will be explained how he got the stuff later.

UnlawfulGentleman: Yeah… I don't really read any American comics. All manga for me. And you mentioning a Daredevil show is also the first I have heard of it. I don't really watch TV either. I have no life… You getting the year surprised me. I was more looking for what happened on that day, so I didn't expect someone to get the year.

Izuku is much like Stain in that he doesn't hold any love for false heroes. The only difference is he doesn't hunt them to extinction. In order for Shinso to get trained and be in the hero course, he must first face the task of proving himself.

As for Shinso and Bakugo… Yeah… Bullying has that effect on people, I know that firsthand. Izuku in canon and Shinso in here is me in middle school and Izuku in here is who I wished I could be towards some people in middle school. #StoryOfMyLife

And as for Izuku and Eraserhead… We will have to see if Eraser can recover Izuku's disappointment over his answer on being a hero without a quirk.

Guest: Izuku and Momo, huh? As much as I love those pairings, it simply wouldn't work in this story with the way I have it planned. Momo doesn't really have the stomach for the sort of violence Izuku participates in, and I can't see them getting close. Same for Izuku and Ochaco.

ethanplayz87: Izuku and Aizawa are intentional. It is one of the relationships I felt was missing in canon, as Izuku had a quirk by the time they first met.

Oh, and how did you find out my secret quirk? I even broke my toe to make it double jointed and keep it secret! :P

ProjectIceman: Shinso and Izuku is also another relationship that I felt was missing in canon. It was just too good to pass up!

Jack Redhawke: Alright, let me start off by being blunt and saying I don't like you. Although I appreciate what you are trying to do in making the story better, just pointing out grammar flaws isn't the way to do it. If it really bothers you, offer to beta read or point them out in addition to something else as well. For example, I know I can make much needed improvements to fight scenes, so people saying how I can improve those would be welcome.

I don't mind criticism (read: constructive criticism) and feedback; I use that to improve. I don't care if you trash talk my story and have nothing good to say; I'll just ignore you. But it is really degrading to spend hours in research and writing just for someone to point out I used "knifes" instead of "knives". Please be mindful of that in the future, both for me and others. Thanks.

nedrag94: Thanks! It's right here!

Shullmer: That's what I'm thinking as well. I will probably have a pairing for Shinso, but I'm just not sure if I want to do one for Izuku, despite it having several ways it can work.

All-Bite: Thanks! I do try. The pace might get a little slower these next few weeks as I got a writing assignment for my one of my classes and I don't really think fanfiction would be acceptable. :P

Izuku will have a part in UA. I will not say any more than that other than it will be much different than canon. The numbers I explained in chapter 5. It was really in depth and no one was even expected to get it.

As for Izuku and Ochako… No… Maybe Shinso and Ochako (but even that would be a huge stretch), but Izuku wouldn't fit in this story.

arianamazi1382: Thank you! I took inspiration from a lot of them, but I felt like they were missing the element of ruthlessness vigilantes often have.

As for my update schedule… Short answer is I don't have one. I'll try to have at least one chapter every week (Sundays), and have been good about doing that until now, but the fact of the matter is I go to school full time, work part time and have around 6 or 7 mods I manage on Nexus Mods for Fallout 4. All these things take priority over writing, and if something else comes up that does as well, I may miss a week or two (though I doubt I will miss two in a row). If I miss Sundays, that is usually my day off so I may have a chapter on Monday, but, again, other things in life take priority. I will not abandon the story (I never like leaving things unfinished), but updates may sometimes be irregular.

NOWONTOTHENEXTCHAPTER!ENJOY!

"The feeling of being rejected, disapproved of, or conditionally loved by one's primary caregivers is a monumental, long-lasting burden for a child to carry. It produces chronic shame, guilt, and anxiety. The child is blamed for doing something wrong and in doing so learns to perceive themselves as being bad."

- Darius Cikanavicius, Human Development and Trauma: How Childhood Shapes Us into Who We Are as Adults

"Our son is what!?" Hisashi Midoriya's voice thundered through Inko's phone, making the poor woman flinch at the sudden loudness of his voice.

"Well, since his quirk hasn't showed up, I had him examined and the doctor discovered he had two toe joints. The doctor explained that—"

"I fucking know what having two toe joints means!" Hisashi's abrupt voice interrupted his wife's once more. "I also know that my son cannot have that! There is no possible way that I have a quirkless child!"

"Honey, please calm down," Inko moved her wheelchair away from her son's room to limit him hearing the conversation. "The doctor said it is a 1 in 5 chance for someone to be quirkless, and—"

"NO! This isn't because of chance! This is because of your family. Both your siblings were quirkless! My family is made up of renowned heroes in China, and not a single one of my relatives are quirkless!" Hisashi's fire breath quirk almost seemed to make Inko's own phone heat up in her hands. "I don't care if that child is related to me by blood, that's all he is. I will not send extra money to you to pay for a useless kid!"

"Hisashi! This is our kid whether you like it or not! We have an obligation to him!" Inko's own voice raised as her husband brought up the possibility of giving her only child up because of an extra joint in his foot.

"So, you still plan on taking care of something that will never be able to take care of itself?"

"Our son is not an 'it', Hisashi! And you should feel the same way as me! He's your son too!" Inko screamed over the phone, unaware of the small green eyes watching her.

"No! Not anymore! It is him or me! And I know you can't support both of you with your disability checks!"

"I'll make you pay child support! You have an obligation to—"

"You? How will you make me pay child support? With your family's army of lawyers? Whatever you through at me, I will throw three times as much back. That child will not see another dime coming his way from me!"

"You bastard!" Inko screamed, making the green haired boy who was watching flinch. "Does the fact that in the process of giving up this child that you are making me give him up as well even pass through your mind!? You might not love him, but I do!"

"Yeah. See how far love takes you. You will be receiving divorce papers by next week." Hisashi spoke flatly as he hung up, making his now ex-wife through the phone in anger. The distraught woman slumped down in her wheelchair, defeated and shedding enough tears to fill a bathtub.

"Mom? What's wrong?" The green haired boy stepped out from behind the corner he was hiding behind to comfort his poor mother.

The crying woman flinched at her son's voice, eventually holding her hands out to her son. As they embraced in a hug meant to comfort them both, Inko Midoriya uttered the same words over and over. "I'm so sorry, Izuku."

Izuku's eyes shot open as he snapped himself out of his nightmare, hitting his head on the empty bunk bed above him as his body shot up. Drenched in sweat, he tried to get his breathing and pulse under control and calm down. The words his mother spoke to him that night kept repeating in his head as he squeezed his eyes shut and tried to forget the painful memory.

After about five minutes, Izuku had finally gotten his breathing under control. He swung his legs off the edge of the bed and clutched his throbbing head. That phone call with his father had sent his life down a spiraling path that led him to where he was now, and he held every ounce of contempt within him towards the man. What he could not bring himself to hate, however, was his mother.

Besides his mother and the vigilante who trained him, no one cared about him any more than one cares for a homeless man begging on the street. Everyone saw the quirkless population as people who couldn't fend for themselves, who had to be spoon-fed every part of their life in order to survive. His mother went through extensive research on the orphanages in the area when she realized she had no choice but to put him in the foster system; singling out orphanages with a higher adoption rate so he would have a better chance at finding a family quickly. It didn't work, obviously, but the thought was still there.

A phone buzzed on his dresser, making Izuku turn his head to see what it was. Picking up his new flip phone, an ancient device that Izuku didn't even think was made anymore, he saw that Eraserhead had finally sent some of the files on the recent abductions. Eraserhead had given him a phone to stay in touch with Izuku when he had agreed to help him with his case since Izuku didn't trust the man to have his own number. He couldn't decide whether he regretted that decision or not, because the flip phone he had given him was a pain to use.

Scrolling through the dozens of folders Eraser had given him, each one detailing a different person that had been kidnapped, Izuku sighed and set the phone down. He could study them in detail later. His alarm clock told him it was 5:23, too early in the morning to go on patrol before school at the orphanage started.

Being homeschooled came with both its plus and minuses. On one hand, he usually finished the work early and was allowed to do whatever he wanted afterwards without the fear of someone discovering his alter ego. On the flipside, however, he was always required to be present when school started in the morning as being discovered missing from his room wouldn't be good for keeping what he does in his free time secret.

With nothing better to do and his peaceful sleep ruined, Izuku groaned and stood up; opening his room's door to go downstairs and get something to eat.

Villain. Hitoshi Shinso absolutely despised the word that was all too often used to describe himself. Shinso adored heroes all his life, yet as soon as he turned four, he somehow joined the other side. It wasn't his fault; far from it. Everyone has accidents when their quirks manifest. So how was his different, especially when no one got hurt?

The answer was simple. When he had told the bully who snatched his All Might action figure to give it back, he did it with no hesitation. If he had told him to do something else, it would have been the same story. If he told him to do take his clothes off, he would be naked in seconds. If he told him to eat a rock, he would break every single one of his teeth trying. If he had told him to jump out the window, he wouldn't even have flinched. He had no intention of doing any of these evil things, but the fact was he could.

He had taken the other boy's free will. And that terrified people. He didn't blame them. He would be scared to if he were in their shoes. But he liked to think that he would give himself a chance, despite that fear.

However, life isn't that simple. After discovering his quirk, he became an outcast. No one wanted to be around him, not even his old friends. He tried his hardest to make other people see him as something else, but no one gave him a second thought. He was called names. They didn't even try doing it behind his back.

Villain, they all said.

Don't make the villain mad, they whispered.

Villain this, villain that.

Shinso just learned to take it in stride. He never used his quirk even once after it manifested and had it tested. There was no point. He knew what his extremely powerful quirk was and how it worked. But most importantly, he knew what other people thought about it.

His parents transferred him to a different school. A smaller school. They said it was to hide his quirk so he could befriend others. But Shinso knew better. He could see the fear in their eyes too. They wanted to protect others from him.

He tried to hide his quirk for a while after that. Claimed he was quirkless. In some ways that was worse than having a quirk. Instead of driving people away, it attracted bullies. His classmates kept comparing him to 'Deku', another kid who had long since left. He was beaten, teased and harassed in every way possible, mainly by the one and only Katsuki Bakugo – the school's golden child. With a flashy hero quirk, he was allowed to do as he pleased; and he chose to belittle those lower than himself. But he could do no wrong. After all, with his quirk, the only option for him is to become a hero.

One day, Shinso snapped. He hadn't meant to use his quirk. He didn't hurt anyone. But in stopping Bakugo from bullying another classmate and making him leave the room with a single command, his quirk was again public. He was again looked at with fear.

Bakugo began singling him out even more, despite knowing his quirk. Furious that he had been tricked, and even more mad that he 'lost' to Shinso when he followed his command, Shinso received even more beatings from the explosive blond. He never fought back, but he always voiced his arguments against how the blond could be so abusive and still want to be a hero.

His parents refused to send him to another school. They even went as far as to keep him with the same kids when junior high came around. They saw the beatings he received as a sign that the kids at his school could defend themselves from him. They hadn't seen him as their child anymore since his quirk appeared, and the beatings were not enough to change their minds. In the back of his mind, Shinso almost felt like he should become a villain.

Then that man appeared. A man in a green hoodie, carrying enough knifes to supply a restaurant and two swords that seemed half as long as the man was tall. A man who had stepped out of his way to help Shinso when he was being beaten by Katsuki and his lackeys out of the kindness of his heart. A man who Shinso had no doubt had killed people before yet was shorter than himself. A man obsessed with separating the so called 'true' heroes from the 'false' ones. And most importantly, a man who said he could become a hero.

"When the time comes, I have no doubt you will do what's needed."

Those were the last words the man had said to him when they met two weeks ago. Since then, he had yet to hear again from the mysterious vigilante. With what little sleep the purple-haired insomniac was able to get, the words always appeared in every one of his dreams. They plagued him in every waking moment through his thoughts. It was like a riddle he couldn't figure out and it was driving him crazy.

Shinso growled in frustration as he threw his pencil on his desk, earning a few awkward – but mostly fearful – glances from the students sitting next to him. He couldn't even focus on his homework for tomorrow before class started. How was he supposed to get through the rest of the day?

As if on cue, his homeroom teacher, Mr. Neji, walked in with a panicked expression and holding a thick stack of papers. "Sorry I'm late, everyone. I had to print these out for you." He set the papers down with a large thump, as if the all the pages together weighed as much as a textbook.

Shinso didn't care much for Mr. Neji. The aged man was his homeroom teacher last year as well, and over the time Shinso had learned nothing from the man. Instead of teaching, he was more concerned with making sure everyone in his class was proud of their quirks and told them that they could do anything in life the wanted as long as they put in the effort. He was against discrimination of quirks and bullying; however, towards Shinso, he acted much differently, as with everyone else who knew his quirk. He allowed bullying towards the boy and avoided him like the plague out of fear. It was strange how just having a certain a quirk could make everyone in your life avoid you like a ticking bomb.

Mr. Neji stood behind his desk in the front of the room and picked up the top five pages on the stack, which were stapled together, showing waving it for the class to see. On the top of the first page was the bold words saying 'Career Aptitude Form'. "As you know you guys are third years now. Some of you have turned in forms similar to this last year, but it's time for every one of you to start thinking seriously about what you want to do with your lives." The teacher let his unusual seriousness settle before giving a grin that spread ear to ear. "But who am I kidding? I know you all want to go to the hero track!"

Shinso groaned as the class exploded in to cheers, everyone going for the opportunity to show off their quirks. For once, Shinso had believed his teacher was taking his job seriously. He tuned out the noise and leaned back in his chair to rest his eyes as the teacher struggled to get the class to calm down, not even noticing the explosive blond who so often bullied him bragging about himself having the only shot at UA and becoming a hero.

"Shinso, don't you want to go to UA too?" Shinso opened his eyes at the sound of Mr. Neji's voice to see the entire class staring at him with a mix of fear and surprise. He didn't even need to strain his hearing to overhear the whispers. Whispers of the villain.

'Of course, he would single me out.' Shinso grimaced as he sat up straighter to speak his mind. The beating Bakugo would undoubtedly give him for what he was going to say next didn't even cross his mind. All that was in his mind was the inspiring words the hooded vigilante said to him just over two weeks ago. "Yes. I'll be a hero and my quirk isn't going to stop me."

"Don't you think you were a little hard on Shinso today, Bakugo?"

The teenager in question grimaced as one of his friends pointed out how cruel the beating he gave Shinso was – even by his usual standards. "It's his own fault for saying he's going to UA. I'm the only one from our crappy school that's supposed to get in. The worthless villain has to learn somehow."

"Yeah, but he didn't really deserve getting blasted in the chest that hard. That last hit was uncalled for. I'm surprised you didn't break anything." Bakugo's other friend scratched his rocky hair as he averted his gaze from the hate filled glare that the blond was giving him. "I mean, if you hurt him, won't that affect you going into UA?"

Bakugo scoffed, unconcerned with the possibility. "Yeah, right. No one is going to report it and people won't believe a villain over me."

His other friend glanced at their rocky companion with a wary look before turning back to Bakugo. "Let's just get it off our mind. We can go to the arcade by the station if you feel up to it."

"Or we can go to the new bar near there. Pick up some ladies." The rocky boy said with a smirk.

"Idiot! If we get caught for that, there is no way UA would let me in!" Bakugo turned to yell at the ignorant boy, unaware of the shadow forming over him.

The two boys with him paled, pointing behind him. "What's that?"

Bakugo turned, seeing a huge green pile of sludge growing in height behind him. The sludge creature's pale-yellow eyes stared at him and it opened its mouth of white teeth. "Perfect! I like a skinsuit with some fire!"

Author's Notes:

I know what you are going to say. This chapter is both late and shorter than usual with only just under 3 K words dedicated to the actual chapter. I am sorry. I just had a writing assignment in my class and had to focus on that before this, not to mention that my mom's birthday came around last Sunday and I wanted to spend time with her rather than writing. So, I am sorry for the delay, and I won't even try saying it won't happen again because it will. Real life always takes priority.

I want to do a shout out to rawrxsushi for his story 'Of Smokes and Mirrors'. I was really inspired on how he explained Shinso's past in his story without the use of flashbacks and if you read his story, you may see similarities like how I italicized the word 'villain' in it. I thought that was a nice touch and I shamelessly copied that. I really like his story on Shinso and the OC's are actually not that bad, so I can't recommend his story enough.

So… Now that that is done… We are finally on the canon timeline! We will not have a training montage skipping 10 months, rather the next 10 months will get an entire arc in the story dedicated to it before UA. We also had some insight on both Shinso's and Izuku's past, both having similar experiences with completely different circumstances. The abduction case will start in earnest next chapter, along with Izuku's second meeting with Shinso.

Again, sorry for the delay, and until next time!

Author's Side Notes:

I am currently working on 2 more fanfics that I might be posting soon. One is another MHA fanfic, inspired by Griffin Strange's 'Prohibited Power' story (I really liked his idea on Izuku having All for One, but unwilling to use it to be a hero, as well as his relationship with the villain), and another is a Tokyo Ghoul fanfic! Yes, you read that right. The anime for :re sucked and the manga's ending really turned me and obviously a lot of the fan base off, as it's not as big anymore, but in all my reading of the Tokyo Ghoul fanfics, I have yet to find one where Kaneki is still human. I won't spoil much more than he will be a human on the side of the ghouls and it is in for a huge divergence from what we read from the manga for that reason. If any of you guys are interested in that, I should be coming out with those stories late October or early November when I finish planning the outlines for them and can actually start writing.

Fun Fact:

The homeroom teacher's name, Neji (written as 子師), contains the characters meaning child (子) and teacher (師).