I don't own My Hero Academia or any of the characters.

A passion project of mine, will be posting at least monthly, what happens if Izuku walks a different path with a different support group.

We hope you enjoy what we have been cooking up...

*EDIT* 12.5.2020 - some minor tweaks to help the flow, as well as adding notes to the bottom regarding OC's after their first chapter appearance. Will do going through the other chapters and doing similar updates over time.

Chapter 1

"Without power, can one become a hero? No, I should think not." He had been hearing variations of this his entire life, but to hear it from the one man he looked up to the most; the man who he found out wasn't who everyone thought he was. From All Might, the number one hero, who was the greatest inspiration in the boy's life. It did one thing that the rest of his life had failed to do completely.

It broke his heart and his dreams, coming from the only person in the world he could ever listen to on the matter was simply too much for him to deny. Seeing an explosion, All Might transformed and leapt into action, hurtling away to save the day as he always did, leaving Izuku behind, slumped to his knees.

Maybe Kacchan was right, he thought to himself as he dragged himself to his feet, battered and bloody from the encounter with the villain and his trip with All Might. Exiting the building, he scribbled a note in one of the least burnt pages. Tearing it out, he tossed the burnt notebook into the trash, sighing as it bounced off the rim and went flying down an alleyway. He didn't bother to go back for it, he was beyond caring as he staggered off in a daze, heading away from the fight behind him.

He didn't see the figure who had been lurking there, who had been hit with the notebook and came close to gutting him there and then, until she looked down at what had hit her; blonde pigtails bobbing in surprise. Frowning in confusion when she realised it wasn't an attack, she flipped it open, flicked through the first couple of pages, then the next few, and the next few. Having quickly glanced over it, she couldn't believe it. Someone was writing about quirks, all the possible uses and counters you could want, and this wasn't even the first volume! Something like this could be worth a fortune to the right buyer.

She had to have a talk to this kid and from the looks of things he can't have gotten far, staggering around and covered in blood and bruises like that. Setting off after him, her interest peaked at what she had just chanced across, forgetting her current victim who was just abandoned in the alleyway as she took off. Who just throws away something like this…

The city spread out below him, in the distance he could see the aftermath of whatever villain All Might had shot off to face, smoke billowing in the air as sirens converged on the source. Stood on the edge of the roof, the first skyscraper he could get easy access to the roof of, his tears blowing away in the wind while he grinned. He had climbed over the railing running around the edge, but was holding on while he thought; the constant pull of the wind threatening to send him plunging off even if he couldn't go through with it. He had seen the true face of heroism, bullies and fakes who held others to standards they could never reach themselves. Swaying in the breeze, his mop of green hair already a mess; he wasn't sure if he wanted to laugh or cry more. His dreams had been torn to pieces, with time to think it wasn't just All Might's words, but seeing how heroes acted. Accepting that the kid he had looked up to all his life was nothing like a hero should be and that he had accepted the abuse for too long, without need. His hastily scribbled suicide note was even pinned to his bag behind him, ready for anyone to find.

"So, you jumping or just admiring the view?" came a voice from behind him, causing him to blink and look over his shoulder. He saw a blonde haired girl, probably around his age, maybe a little older, wearing a schoolgirl uniform; she was looking at him in interest but there was something he couldn't quite place in the way she regarded him. This threw him off, he stood on the edge, a drop he could not survive below him, yet she didn't seem bothered. She seemed more interested in if he would, licking her lips as she looked him over and smiled.

"Honestly, still trying to make my mind up" he sighed, facing away from her again.

"So what brings a bloodied kid here and not the hospital, or his parents?" she sat down a couple of meters to his left, dangling her legs over the edge while resting her arms on the safety bars; still smiling slightly.

"Why are you here?" he shot back, "You don't look like someone who takes interest in random people standing on rooftops."

"Well, I got hit by this thing when I was having lunch, then I just had to talk to whoever wrote it" she gave him a toothy grin, reaching into her bag and pulling out the burnt copy of the latest volume of his Hero Analysis for the Future notebook; gripping it in her hand as the wind threatened to send it flying into the sky.

"Oh, that thing" he was practically emotionless now, his face going blank, "that's just something that made me the target of people claiming to be heroes. It has brought nothing but pain."
"Oh, you've seen their hypocrisy too?" Blinking, not sure he had heard correctly, he turned to face her again. "My quirk is blood based, so because of that I get labelled a villain, all because of something I can't help. They do as they please, use their powers to do whatever they want, but if I do the same, they look to lock me up. More and more of them care only for wealth and fame, while stepping on anyone who thinks there's something wrong."

"So if you're not a hero, and not a villain, what are you?"

"Someone who does what they have to, to survive in this world, someone they consider a villain, while being shunned by society. Someone tired of being treated badly for how I was born, while fighting back against the fake heroes, someone like Stain…"

"Stain?"

"He's a hero hunter, shutting down the ones who use it to profit or for abuse."

"I've never heard of someone like that.."
"Do you think the heroes will admit that someone like him exists? Their power exists in part because people think no villain can beat the strongest heroes. Look at All Might, while many villains would love to take him down, no one has come close and that made people safe. Also given other heroes the chance to leech off his success and claim they are part of that safety. Demanding everyone follows rules they don't bother with."

"So what does that have to do with me?" Izuku queried, his interest peaked, having never encountered someone who spoke of heroes and villains like there was a third option. Or even someone that thought there was something wrong with society itself. He didn't have any friends, so this was all new to him.

"Your book was amazing!" she gushed, "I have never seen someone analyze quirks like that before, but you gave me new ideas just from this one book!"

Izuku gaped at her, before his nerves took over and he scratched the back of his head, getting a giggle from her.

"I wrote those to prepare for being a hero, but now that's not possible, All Might himself dashed any hope of that. They're worthless" he declared, glaring at the book.

"Worthless? I know people who would love to get this sort of data analyzed!" When Izuku looked at her in confusion, she continued. "You wanted to use them to take down villains and help heroes right? Well people like me could use this stuff to defend ourselves from both and even control more dangerous quirks they struggle with." When he looked thoughtful, she pushed the point more. "They dismissed you, put you down, but I know plenty of people who would love to get these kinds of analysis! If we had this stuff, we could defend ourselves when attacked, maybe even show those fake heroes they're not all they claim to be. You might even be able to make enough money to do what you want, if that helps?"

Izuku stood there, deep in thought. The idea that his notes might be of interest to others was new to him, having been mocked for them all his life. In fact, apart from his mum, this girl was the only person who had been nice to him in as long as he could remember. She had only nice things to say, the only person to show interest in his notes, what harm could it do to listen…

"Alright, so assuming I'm interested in what you have to say, what's the next step?"
"Well, how long would it take you to get all your notes typed up and organised?"

"Erm, a couple of weeks maybe, I have a lot of books, but no computer of my own…"
"First stop is the computer store then!" she declared, jumping to her feet and giggling at his look of confusion at the sudden shift. "Or maybe get you cleaned up first, so you don't draw more attention to yourself, as good as you look like that..."

They found him a public restroom a couple of blocks away to clean himself up in, with her standing guard while he locked himself inside. It wasn't until he looked at himself in the mirror that he realised how battered he actually was. His uniform was cut in several places, he managed to get the worst patches of blood out, then cleaned himself up and dressed the wounds with what they had been able to scrounge up from nearby shops without causing too much of a fuss.

Pulling on a plain hoodie the girl had acquired for him, while stuffing the remains of his shirt and jacket in his bag, he stepped out again, feeling better for it and for the smile he got. He was avoiding her comments about how he looked good covered in blood, but he had a feeling it was something he might have to address down the line.

"Right, I know a good place to talk" she said, taking his hand and leading the way, thankfully either not seeing or ignoring the deep red Izuku had turned from just this simple contact.

She took them to a little restaurant down some back streets. Telling him to order whatever he fancied, they soon had a Katsudon in front of Izuku and a bowl of noodles in front of the girl and they both dug in hungrily. Once they had eaten and the bowls had been taken away, she ordered drinks and made sure they were alone in their part of the establishment before introducing herself.

"I'm Himiko Toga by the way, should have said sooner, but more important things were going on" shaking his hand and grinning, her fangs fully on display which made him pause for a second before replying.

"Erm, I'm Izuku Midoriya, nice to meet you, though I guessed that would be earlier… I'm rambling again, sorry, bad habit, it's been a long day, sorry…" he wasn't expecting her to giggle as a reaction, pausing while she regarded him across the table.

"No wonder you're able to come up with so many details about quirks, you can barely keep your brain from overflowing huh?"

"Well, never had it put like that before…" scratching his head and looking away, unsure how to deal with someone not finding him weird, let alone a girl he was beginning to notice was rather on the cute side…

"Well you just haven't been around the right people" she reassured him, unable to believe how easy his buttons were to press. If she didn't know better, it felt like this was the longest he had spoken to a girl before in his life. Maybe the longest conversation without abuse given how he kept apologising and flinching. Something she could sympathise with after all this time.

"So, you said people would be interested in seeing my notes?"

"Oh boy, yes! I have a contact who, for a fee, could circulate them widely, to the highest number of customers. I tend to take jobs that suit my quirk, so for a small cut I will help get you in touch with them, if that's alright with you?"
"How much were you thinking?"

"Well, let's get you a laptop, then when you get the notes to me, we can talk about that afterwards, deal?" He hesitated as she held out her hand for him to shake, before taking it. He didn't really have any other prospects now, this job as a sort of blogger, if it could support him, then he would happily take it, at least until he worked out what he wanted to do with his life. At the very least, it was a way to help people that he was being encouraged to pursue.

"Deal." he said, shaking her hand again.

"I just have one question, why did the heroes tell you to give up on your dream?"

"Well, you see, I'm quirkless…" She blinked at that before shrugging.

"Shows what they know, discarding us both for accidents of birth rather than seeing what we can do." Driving the point home again and angling to make him identify more with herself and less with heroes. "That notebook alone shows you can do things they wouldn't even dream of!" she stated as they got up to leave, seeing his thoughtful expression and already knew he was listening to her arguments, which was a good start.

They got a cheap laptop when they had finished their meal, nothing fancy, but something for Izuku to type up all his notes on. To start with, she gave him a list of a dozen or so heroes and villains to do, all but one he had notes on, but promised to get them done over the weekend. Swapping numbers, she bid him goodbye for now and left him dazed at the sudden shift his life had taken as he watched her bounce off down the street. For someone declared a villain, because of how she was born, she was nicer than the heroes he had been meeting lately, especially the ones in training.

In the end, he got so excited about the prospect of using his notes like this, he stayed up all night to get them finished, sleeping through the morning and contacting Toga after lunch. She was so surprised he had finished already, she couldn't meet that day, arranging instead to meet for lunch the next day and advising him to get started on the other notes if he could.

Hanging up, she turned to regard her latest victim, who was tied to a chair and already passed out from blood loss. This kid could be very useful indeed, she thought, setting about tidying up, her enthusiasm having left a lot to clean.

She treated him to lunch again, before going over his notes, staggered by the detail of the first one. It not only went into great depth about what the heroes power was and its current uses, but also went into new ways to use their quirk, ways to counter them and even quirks that would compliment it. Not even bothering to check the others, she knew she had hit the jackpot, even these dozen would be more than enough to cover her investment and this was just the start!

"You really are something else," she told him, genuine surprise and affection in her voice, giggling as he blushed. She might be using him for her own ends, but his work ethic and enthusiasm was something else.

"It's been a long standing hobby of mine, having someone else actually take an interest, it's being great motivation!" he admitted, looking away as his cheeks grew pink and she giggled.

"Well glad to help, I will be in touch when I've met my contact and see what they're worth, but I think this is going to be the start of a great partnership." Parting ways again after eating, Izuku headed for home, while Toga pulled her phone out and made a call.

"So I have the results of the job you sent me yesterday, as well as something new I think you will be very interested to see."

Toga was an expert at infiltration. Her skills were well known in certain circles, to say she didn't try sneaking up on this particular person, but walked out in the open said a lot. They didn't bother patting her down, both sides knew the shapeshifter wasn't comfortable without at least a couple of knives on her, but she was trusted so it was allowed to slide.

Quickly being ushered in, she deposited a bag on the table. It was inspected and put to one side, the funds for the job being handed over. It was then she gave them the memory stick from Izuku, grinning as she told them to look at the contents.

It was quietly presented to a figure sat at the far side of the room, almost obscured behind a mass of cabling and computer equipment which looked to be largely made from scratch. Opening a port on the side of its head, the figure plugged the stick in, taking a few seconds to open and process the data.

"Where did you find this?" was the blunt statement, sounding more electronic than human.

"Let's just say I came across someone who takes a great interest in this. Think you could find buyers?" Light glinted off cybernetic eyes, off human teeth as it smiled.

"I can find a buyer for anything. For information like this, I might want to get you and your 'friend' on retainer. Information like this will be in great demand, especially if you are willing to take requests."

"I will have a word with him, I'm sure that won't be a problem. Now let's talk money…"

While Toga might not look like it, she was a shrewd negotiator. Most people underestimated her, or were put off by the way she smiled, showing off her fangs for full effect. The creature known as The Broker however, was a different story. Thanks to her quirk, which allowed direct interface with machinery, she was more machine than human now, in more than one way; intimidation like that just didn't phase her.

They eventually came to an agreement, The Broker would take twenty five percent of the money as her fee, then would leave Toga to split the rest how she saw fit. She quickly left The Broker's lair, taking her payment, a shopping list of quirks for Izuku to look at and plans of her own to make.

She sent the list to her new partner, there hadn't been a set time limit, which she made clear, to avoid him working himself to death. She needed her new cash cow to stay nice and healthy for as long as possible. Would probably be worth keeping an eye on him just in case, though…

Aside from his new side business, things continued as normal for Izuku. He attended school, though Kacchan was absent, something about All Might saving him from a villain. By the end of the week, he had finished the list Toga had given him, as well as working on writing and expanding on his notebooks.

He told his mother that he had decided to go into blogging for now, to see what he wanted to do, which while she was hesitant, she was relieved he finally had turned away from his impossible dream. He had set up a blog site, started posting snippets of his notes, which had already gained a following. It was all just a cover, but he couldn't believe his eyes when he checked his bank balance at the following weekend, before meeting Toga again. That week alone, just short of 150,000 Yen had been deposited.

When he asked Toga, she told him that that was fifty percent of the takings, the other fifty had been split equally between herself and her contact. He had also got more requests, after he handed over the newest batch. It seemed the details in his notes was proving wildly popular with certain groups and demand for more information was made very clear.

Her contact, who she called The Broker, was also very interested in meeting with him to discuss business opportunities. She confessed to being unsure what to expect, but told him she could arrange a meeting if he was happy with it. He confessed to being nervous, so she offered to give him some self defence/training lessons. It wouldn't be much good if things went wrong, she knew the kind of people they were dealing with, but it might help him get over his nerves long enough to strike a bargain.

As they parted ways, he agreed to a meeting two weeks from then, as long as she was with him and would give him some tips beforehand. He didn't know what he was in for, but the way his new partner talked about it with confidence, he felt he would be alright with her assistance.

Izuku spent most of the following week either writing and updating his notes, or with Toga. Reluctantly, she took him to an abandoned warehouse that she used, before running him through some combat drills. Thanks to his interest in hero training, he had some hand to hand ability and while far from being unfit, he still wasn't in as good shape as he could be.

After testing him, she showed off what she could do. Bouncing around the space like a trained acrobat, moving fast enough that Izuku could have sworn she had a speed element to her quirk. He would need to see her in action properly, but he was already coming up with ways she could improve or adapt. In response, she set him to work, using the ruined building as a makeshift gym, running fitness, close combat and parkour drills.

As was expected, it was going to take time, but his confidence was already growing by the end of the first week, as he handed over a dossier of thirty more quirk files to her. His bank account had already gone up by half a million Yen in just two weeks, it seemed that The Broker was also laundering the money for him, to avoid raising suspicion, but at a slight cost he agreed to via Toga.

By the time it came for his meeting, he was more confident in his mental and physical abilities, thanks to his new found partner.

When it came to the big day, he met Toga beforehand, she handed him a mask to hide his identity, which he donned within a couple of streets of the meeting point; she followed suit with her villain mask.

It was to take place on a dockside storage site, a representative of The Broker and a bodyguard, to keep things equal. Toga explained that due to the nature of The Brokers quirk, moving around was difficult, but if he gained their trust, he might meet her face to face one day. The way she spoke implied this was a big deal, which didn't help his nerves.

To sweeten the deal, he brought enough files with him to bring the total to over one hundred files, The Broker was practically rubbing her hands through the video feed her assistants setup for the meeting; a massive grin plastered across her face from the second she had appeared on screen.

"Selling like hot cakes these files are, set fee for each person to access each one, it's turned into a nice little sideline." Izuku got an impression of glowing eyes and teeth, though that was probably more for show than anything, or strange lighting, he had no way of knowing. "I would like to offer you a position doing this and more, it will be disguised as an office job, so to those outside you're just going to be a paper pusher, leaving you free to work on these notes. I'm sure you've seen how lucrative it can be for us both…"

"Well, I will need to finish school first, would you be willing to wait until then?" He had discussed it with Toga and they had agreed it would make life easier if he was upfront.

"Hmm, will give us more time to get things in place, that shouldn't be a problem, especially if you continue to make notes like you have! It will also allow for a better cover story, that blog you started, that can be how you get noticed and recruited by my new company." Izuku gaped at the screen, not realising his blog had been spotted yet. "Oh don't look at me like that, knowledge is power and I excel at that particular power" Broker told him, the grin growing wider.

"Alright, but I have one condition, besides keeping my identity secret, Toga is part of it as well." She stared at him in complete shock when she realised what he had just asked for.

"Well now that is a surprise," Broker leaned forwards, some of her features becoming illuminated as she watched him in interest. "Now based on her expression, not that she knew what I wanted, but you haven't even talked this over with her. Are you sure it's wise?"

"We are partners and I trust her, if you want me involved, then she is the only one I trust to help me. Her skills will be especially useful in plans I would like to try, with the right backing." Toga looked at him in complete shock. This kid trusts way too easily, he's just secured me a pay deal and I was using him for this! Though it sounds like he already has more up his sleeve...

Broker laughed, falling back in her seat, everyone present staring at the screen in amazement; even her closest allies had never seen her react like this before.

"So Izuku, you have a deal, as long as Toga agrees, the details can be worked out later, but for now you're one of my little helpers." she looked ecstatic, like Toga had upon first seeing the notes, she couldn't wait to see what this interesting little mind produced.

"Thank you for everything!" was Izuku's response, bowing low in respect. To everyone around him, it seemed like he was out of place, a good person in a den of villains, but they didn't see what was ticking away in his mind. He had met so called villains and been treated well by them, accepted despite his quirkless nature even. He had seen the dark side of heroes and been rejected by them, he would drag them down to his level and show the world just how flawed the whole system was. Then, he would build a new one.

New OC's

The Broker - Real name unknown - Quirk: Connection Point, her hair can change into any hardware connection point she likes, due to cybernetic upgrades she performed on herself she can function as a mini super computer, but it forced to stay in one place or lose her network connection.