Broken, but saved

Chapter 4

As the years went by, I found myself growing closer to Shirakumo. We would often eat our meals together (although separated by a concrete wall) just like brother and sister, and would always comfort each other after our respective experiments. We spoke of our lives we had lived before coming to this place, sometimes talking for hours on end. The hardest part was when he came back with memory loss. They were trying to make him into SOMETHING, and it seemed to require completely wiping him of his old life. On the occasions he came back with missing memories, I would step in, retelling all he had told me so he could remember again. The guards or scientists had no idea, he was excellent at hiding it and seemingly becoming the 'puppet' they wanted him to be, Answering to them by the name "Kurogiri".

"Hey, Cat?" He asked me one night, 'Cat' being his preferred nickname for me after I told him of the alterations the first quirk had given me.

"Yeah, what's up Oboro?" I asked him, sitting in front of the wall to hear him better.

"I overheard two of the guards. They still think I'm under their complete control, so they plan on moving me out of here to a different location where I can 'better suit their needs'."

I stared at the wall, wondering WHY. Why were they doing this? What purpose did it serve them? What was I going to do?

"What am I going to do without you?" I said, tears beginning to form up in my eyes. The pain just wouldn't stop coming. He was silent for a moment, then spoke.

"I don't know, Cat. I really don't know. I just felt like I needed to tell you before they moved me."

I was quiet, then asked, "When are they moving you?"

"Sometime next week."

I sat quietly, wondering what. What had I done to deserve this? Then I made up my mind. If they WERE taking him away, the one person who had kept me sane through my trials here, life wasn't worth living for me anymore.

"Good bye, Shirakumo. Please remember me." I choked out, before turning away from the wall.

"Cat? Cat, what are you doing?" He asked, his voice shifting to extreme concern.

"Taking my last breath." I said, before I took my sheet from by bed, tied it around my neck, secured it to the toilet bottom, forcing my head into the water inside the tank. I soon panicked, and tried getting out, but I had tied it off before the panic had set in. I thrashed, but nothing happened. My fingers fumbled for the knot, but I slipped into blackness before I could do anything. My last thought was of Shirakumo. 

____________________________________________________________

The guard walked over to the cell whose inhabitant was banging on the door. "What do you want, Subject 121?" He demanded through the door.

"Help the girl in the cell next to mine! 119! I think she's trying to commit suicide!" The voice in the cell replied. The guards eyes widened, then he shot over to cell 119, opening it as quickly as he could. When he opened the door, He went cold-the young girl had apparently tried drowning herself in the toilet tank. He quickly rushed to free her, undoing the knot on the rope keeping her head in there, and pulled her out. He checked her pulse, and found it. She was alive-for now. He reached for his radio. 

"We have an attempted suicide at 119! I need medical assistance for her, quickly!" He shouted into his radio. Within minutes, a gurney was pushed into sight, with two doctors rushing towards them. They secured the girl onto the stretcher, wheeling her out.

**With our three musketeers**

"C'mon, sensei, don't lump us in with these losers! We'll be top pro's, but these guys will be lucky enough to end up as sidekicks to some busted D-listers." Bakugo said, sneering in his arrogant way. 

"Ah yes, you, Toga, and Midoriya are all aiming for UA, right?" The teacher said, looking at his sheets. The class bust out laughing.

"Huh? Midoriya? You really still thing you can be a hero without a quirk? No way!" They all jeered at him. He quietly sat there, wishing that he could show them. Sure, the entire school knew he had good fighting skills- as proven at the beginning of the year when he had beat up a dude for trying to force Toga into a relationship- But the three of them, commonly referred to as 'The Three Musketeers' had decided to hide his greatest achievements from anyone else, ensuring that no one would be prepared for his next actions. 

*Timeskip to the sludge incident*

"Agh-what-" Midoriya sputtered, before being engulfed in sludge.

"Your a real hero, kid. Now just stay still so I can HIJACK you!" The villian said, before suddenly receiving two explosions to one of his eyes. "Ack! Who-" He spun around, then froze. He could have sworn he had seen a boy and a girl, but instead looking at him was two identical teenage boys, both with explosions coming from the palms of their hands.  "What is- nevermind. Just stay back, or I'll drown your friend!" He screeched at them, still secretly trying to hijack the boys body. Then he heard it.

"Fear not. I AM HERE!" A booming voice said.

"Oh, shi-"

"Texas.....SMASH!!" A shockwave rode out underneath the bridge, causing the villian to break apart and Midoriya to go flying for some feet, where he landed coughing.

"All Might!" Bakugo shouted, causing Izuku's head to shoot up. Was he really here? Had he really just been saved by the Number-1 Hero of Japan?

"Fear not, kids. You're all safe now." The hero said, smiling bright. "Now, could you do me a favor and help me contain the villian in these bottles?" He said, puling out to large-sized soda bottles- presumably rescued from a recycling unit just for this purpose.

"Sure! No problem." They said, before helping push all the little bits of the Mudman into the bottles. Then All Might turned to leave.

"Wait! All Might!" Izuku's voice rang out before he could stop himself.

"Hmm? What is it, young man?" The tall, muscular hero looked down at the boy. Let me guess, he wants my autograph.

"Is it- is it possible for me to become a hero, even without a quirk?" Izuku cried out, now fully committed to asking even this one question. The question took All Might by surprise so much, he lost grip on his muscular form, transforming into a thin, skeletal figure. "You're- are you really All Might?" He asked.

"Yeah, kids. I am. May be a surprise, but this is actually what I look like most of the time these days." He said, sitting down before lifting his shirt to show a severe wound on his stomach. "Ever since a villian did this to me about five years ago, I've wasted away. I can only do my hero work for about three hours a day now."

"Five years... was that when you fought Toxic Chainsaw?" Bakugo asked. Toga flinched at the name.

"That lowlife? He got a few good hits in, but no. I made sure the fight that gave me this would remained hidden from the public." All Might said, getting up from his spot on the ground. "As to your question kid..." All Might started to say, then looked Midoriya in the eyes. He SAW something in them, something he hadn't expected to see: Determination. What the- this kid's so intent, will it even matter what I say? He thought, then sighed. "To be honest, kid, I don't see a way for you to be a hero without a quirk."

"You-" Bakugo started forward, but All Might held up his hand, smiling at Midoriya.

"So prove me wrong, and show everyone that it CAN be done. That you can be a hero, even without a quirk."

Hello, everyone! I'm here to explain something a lot of you might be confused about. With enough practice, Toga can use someone else's quirk while in their form. That's why the Sludge villian saw two Bakugo's, both with the explosion quirk. This is actually supported by the manga in book 24. Go check it out!