To Become A New Symbol

Introduction

Hiya, this is my first ever fan fiction so I hope you like it. If there are any glaring issues please feel free to let me know. Also if you have any comments (don't be too harsh xp) again, feel free. That all being said, I'm hoping to add more parts (and potentially a cover) to this of course, but have no real schedule for it at this point. So, ummm, yeah, enjoy.

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The room was dark, and damp, with a slight chill that seemed to permeate throughout. In the past, it had been an old tannery, then later a canning plant. Now, it was little more than decaying rubble.

Midoriya sniffed, then grimaced. "This place, I'll never get used to the stench." The scent of rust and debris were one thing, but it was the lingering notes of whatever had been once produced and stored there in the past that proved most offensive.

"Why did Shigaraki have to choose this disgusting place for us?" Midoriya scratched the back of his head in annoyance. His orders were clear, to wait here with Spinner, and Himiko. They were going to launch an attack on a special anti-crime forum. The main problem was that the city that the forum was to be hosted in was totally unfamiliar, and rather far away from their usual territory. Supposedly it was going to be big, real big. The mayor, a large number of the higher-ups within the police themselves, and a few other important figures within the government would be attending. Of course, it also went without saying that a decent number of high-ranked heroes would be in attendance as both protection and guests. Then again that wasn't for a few more days. For now, they were told to merely lie in wait, and take the lay of the land, sort of speak. Still, it was a pain nonetheless. He was well aware of the importance of information, but patience also could prove quite boring, particularly when he was excited to act.

The day seemed to go on forever. Spinner had gone out to get lunch nearly an hour ago and still hadn't come back, while Himiko, well, he rarely knew what she was up to. Midoriya looked at his hand, before squeezing it tightly into a fist. He loosened it back up, staring blankly. He looked back up in front of him. There was a large, heavy table that had been built into the floor itself, attached with several thick bolts. On it lay several abandoned pieces of equipment, including what appeared to be an empty steel container. Midoriya smirked, lifting his hand until it was in line with the container. He formed his fingers into a pistol shape, motioning as if he had fired something from them.

"Thwack!" The container burst open as if it had been penetrated from one side and out the other. The object itself went soaring until it landed several meters away with a series of clanging sounds.

Midoriyas' smile widened, but only for a moment. Soon after his face returned to the dull, somber disposition it had been before. He sat back in his chair. Now all he could see was the ceiling. It was worn and broken in a multitude of places. Here and there liquid would drip out, splattering on the floor low below. As he looked on, eyes half shut, he tried to remember that moment, the moment that had affected him so, that had led him to be where he was now, who he was now. Images of his hero, the man he looked up to, but whose name he refused to utter, even in his mind. It brought with it too much anger, resentment, and what he could only define as abject disgust. He remembered how he had come upon him one day, the man to whom he had looked up to for so long, only to be told off, to be thrown away and discarded as trash.

"I'm sorry child, you will never become a hero. You should give up now, before you hurt yourself, or end up getting someone else hurt in turn."

He shuddered at the mere thought. Then again, it was undeniable that in the end, he was better off for the meeting, regardless of the misery it brought with it. Without that, he would have never met his new hero, the leader of The League Of Villains, All for One.

"Hey Deku, you ready for lunch or what!"

It was Spinner, apparently, he had returned, and early at that.

Midoriya tilted his head forward as Spinner's shadow cast wide across the adjacent corridor. While large at first, it shrunk the closer he came, until turning the corner and entering the main room. All the while Midoriya tried to listen but found that as usual Spinner moved silently, or at least as close to it as one seemed able. In fact, if he had refrained from yelling as he had then it would have been difficult to know he had entered at all.

"I'm here, I'm here, what did you bring? I hope something sweet like I asked." Midoriya pulled up a chair to the workbench and sat, arms across his knees, looking up at his approaching comrade.

Spinner stopped at the bench and placed down the three brown paper bags that he was holding. "Of course I did, do you think I'm senile or something?"

"No, not really, but that hasn't stopped you from forgetting this and that before, or need I remind you of the incident of our last job together where you forgot the meetup location, not to mention to bring your cell phone." Midoriya chuckled. "It took you an hour and a half to find someone willing to let you borrow theirs before you managed to call and get the right address, and even then it took you quite a while before you found the place. "

Spinner grimaced, "Look, That only happened, besides, the reason it took me so long to find someone willing to lend me a cell was that I'm obviously so badass lookin that they couldn't think straight, peh."

Midoriya cocked his head to the side. "Honestly I can't tell when you're serious, or trying to tell a joke." He smirked once more. "Regardless, that was still a good one"

Spinner sighed as he reached into the bag and pulled out a large choco bun before shrugging and then tossing it towards Midoriya. The bun slid smoothly across the bench's surface, stopping short of the edge. Midoriya picked up the bun and tore off the wrapping halfway.

"What about the drink?"

"Oh yeah, that's right. ''Spinner reached into the bag until he felt the cold touch of the soda bottle within. As with the bun, he tossed it, causing it to slide and roll across the table, only to fall off and be caught by Midoriya.

Midoriya briefly inspected the bottle to make sure the flavor was right, and it was strawberry. "Thank you, this is exactly what I wanted! I'm sorry if you thought I was criticizing you before, this really is my favorite flavor ever!"

"Pen. " Spinner replied acidly, "Don't give me your false praise, I'm not Mr. Compress. Unlike him I don't really like it when you try and act all cute, it's irritating."

"Always so suspicious, you're going to die of stress if you keep it up," he answered back before biting off a large chunk of the bun.

Spinner turned his head. "Whatever, where's Himiko? I have her stuff in here too."

Midoriya swallowed his bite before washing it down with his soda. "Not a clue, she was around here earlier but then disappeared, said she wanted to explore the place a bit more. Then again you know her, who knows what's going on in that creepy head of hers."

"It's always weird to see you of all people call others creepy, even if I agree with you." Spinner put the bag with Himmiko's stuff down. "Screw this, I'm going to leave her crap here, if she wants it she can come get it herself. " He then took the last bag with his own and began towards where he was staying in another part of the building. "I'm out, don't bother me unless it's important, alright? "

"Righto Sir Spinner," Midoriya replied cheerfully

Spinner didn't reply, only grumbling to himself, annoyed at the boy's antics.

MIdoriya watched as Spinner vanished within the bowels of the building, leaving him alone once more. He sat back, tearing off a rather large piece of bun hungrily. "At least that was kinda fun." This was his thought regarding his conversation with Spinner. Playing mind games with others was often an interesting experience, whether they knew the truth or not. Then again sometimes he made it painfully obvious what his intention was, although rare. With Spinner, and the rest of the league it was usually the former rather than the latter, with only some exceptions. He liked to play the fool, not simply because of the reactions of others, but in order to make it easier to avoid, or perhaps dampen the emotions that he sometimes felt. They swam about inside him, and although he had attempted various amounts of self-analysis, it often ended abruptly with no final conclusion. Whatever it was, smiling in front of others, acting like the child he appeared to be made him forget who he really was inside, the person that he often became when there was no longer an audience. And again, the smirk vanished.

Midoriya had finished his lunch and left the remains of the packaging and napkins on the bench beside Himikos's bag. He wondered what she had ordered and reached out into the bag to reveal a hoagie, seemingly dripping in ketchup. "Gross", he thought, before placing it back in, careful not to get any on the thin, black, kevlar gloves he often wore.

He inspected the gloves to make sure none had in fact dripped from within the saran-wrapped food and was relieved to find that none had. He only owned so many pairs of the gloves, to which he took special care. They were expensive but more than that they had been kindly supplied by Mr. Compress, being of the same design that he wore. In other words, they were not only useful and attractive, but unbeknownst to him he also harbored a certain sentimentality towards them.

He looked back at the bag and felt it best not to bother rummaging through it. He had done so in the past, that is, took note of what it was she tended to eat and drink. It rarely mattered, whatever she tended towards it was almost always red, or at least, had a high composition of such.

Midoriya was bored at this point, but also a bit restless. The mission was not supposed to occur for a while now, days, and it was too late to begin the proper reconnaissance. Tomorrow perhaps would be a good day for hunting, now he was simply trying to figure out what to do until then. Regardless, he had already done a decent amount of research beforehand, before they had even arrived. Research after all was one of his skills, a skill that he did not have to be given by All For One, a skill that existed even long before he had been turned down by his hero. No, this ability was his from the very start, one that he had honed with years of effort and suffering. Still, there was more to be done, it was why they were there after all, and when he could he was going to make the best of it. At least for now, they had the place secure. It would do well as a proper base in this area, even when the rest of the team for the operation was to come shortly before the attack itself, there was plenty of room so as not to cause any real issues.

He shrugged before rising slowly from his seat. "Things should be getting real interesting soon." The boy then walked towards where he had decided to stay, in the back, a good deal away from where both Himiko and Spinner had taken as their own private quarters. By then there didn't seem much else to do besides sleep, or perhaps do a bit of reading. If it had been up to him the choice would have likely been to sleep as he was admittedly exhausted. Then again that had been the case for a while now, but he rarely satisfied himself to this end, he almost never slept. It wasn't that he didn't want to, he did, very much so. The fact was that he simply couldn't. Part of him could recall the days when he slumbered normally, peacefully, before he had made the deal with All For One, before he had received his quirk. Still, to him it was worth it, one of only a few side effects of All For One's more recent abilities, Manifestation, the ability to cause the creation of quirks within those who had none, all without having to give up any of his own in return.

At first glance, Manifestation seemed to be a boon for anyone who had the unpleasantness of being born quirkless and yet was willing to follow in loyalty to All For One. Sadly it wasn't necessarily so easy. Anyone who received a quirk from his ability risked a significant chance of dying outright, nearly thirty percent of them did soon after. Of those who managed to survive, many suffered side effects with most of the abilities gained having a lower ceiling of potential than those born with quirks of their own. That is, even with training there was only so far one could go with their new quirk before the quirk itself stopped improving. To some, this would have been a detriment, but for Midoriya, no, he embraced All For One, his new abilities, and yes, even the side effects of receiving it. Insomnia, the occasional head-splitting migraine, and a slightly dulled sense of touch were a small price to pay to have what he had gained.

Before exiting the room Midoriya briefly caught a glimpse of a large, partially boarded-up window off to his side. It had cracks, and shards missing, but otherwise was well intact enough that he had caught his own reflection. He stopped, eyeing the face that looked back. He moved closer, examining himself with a combination of disgust and pride, contrary as it was. He was thin, sickly almost. His eyes had dark bags under them and had grown noticeably pale. The combination of a lack of sleep, poor nutrition, and avoiding the outdoors had taken its toll. This, he had watched for the past few months as they came and went. During that period if he hadn't been assisting All For One in one mission or another much of what he did was composed of training, mostly his mind, on concentration and focus, as this was primarily the driver of his quirk. In doing so he had managed to make it his own, using his creativity and knack for strategy to make up for its weaknesses.

Midoriya's eyes were fixed on those in the window, as if he had become lost in what he now had become. Another smirk cut across his face and in an instant the window vibrated and shook, causing the cracks to multiply, and wooden planks to squeal and jerk apart until they suddenly stopped. If he was to be honest with himself he would have preferred to blow the window out until nothing remained, but he knew well enough not to cause such a commotion. Still, the desire was hard to contain as he relished in using his quirk. This was especially so when it came to destroying what others had built, both physically and mentally, something he had found his manifested abilities well suited for if used properly. In a way this desire was similar to Shigaraki, except it was more focused. Revenge was what he wanted first and foremost. Revenge on the one who had denied him, revenge on those who had ignored and belittled him. When that aim had been met his sights would be on the delusion of hope itself. After all, he had wanted to be the symbol of hope once, now he would become a new symbol, the symbol of despair.