Born To Be A...

Subject One

Izuku's first few memories were of people in white coats looking at him like he was a project they were heavily invested in. His early life was filled with tests, learning, and sitting in a white room with a bed in it. He learned many things, he liked to learn. He learned about the world, its history, and what he was created to be.

There were many people always watching him and taking notes on their clipboards. When Izuku asked what they were doing, they never gave him a clear answer. It was always something along the lines of 'their jobs' or 'just some work'. Izuku was never given a clear answer for anything other than what they taught him. Even if he asked for their names. Izuku got his name from a nice woman, but he never saw her again.

Izuku learned about Japan and the people outside. About things called quirks and how varied they are. How there are peacekeepers called Heroes that stop people from hurting other people. How the place he lived in was training him to become the greatest hero of all time. He sure did enough training for it. It was mostly stretching at first, then it was balancing on a pole, and then running. He did a lot of training. He didn't like it all the time. Especially when he was punished for not doing well enough.

The punishments were always different and sometimes scary. If he didn't want to eat a certain food, he was locked away in his room for hours. If he disobeyed someone giving him an order, they didn't feed him for the rest of the day until he did what he was ordered to. If he hurt someone by accident, they put bracelets on his hands that made him feel sick.

Izuku didn't understand what was going on most of the time. He felt like something was wrong but he could never figure out what. For example, he hurt people without trying to. People around him were very delicate but he had to figure it out himself. Why didn't no one tell him? For what reason did they want to make him a hero? Why couldn't he go outside? He didn't find out until much later.

One day, he asked about quirks. He was fascinated by quirks ever since he learned about them. He already knew he had some sort of strength quirk but when he asked about it, they changed the subject. When he asked about their quirks, they just said they weren't interesting. He grew angry at getting no answer and as a punishment for getting angry at them, he was locked in a dark room for hours. It didn't matter too much, his eyes are very good at seeing in the dark and he had gotten used to being bored.

When it was time to learn, there was only one other person in a small room with him. They always watched him work on homework or made sure he was listening to their lessons, no matter how boring they got. If he missed a single question, he was punished. He became very good at learning things. The books he read had no colors, only facts and diagrams. He never learned what storybooks were until much later.

There were a few times when he left the place he was allowed to walk around. It was always with people dressed similarly to the people he knew. It was very exciting for Izuku the first time, leaving the place he only knew was exhilarating. He was escorted into a new area with a new man there. There were never new people around and Izuku focused on the tall man. He was bald with a black beard that covered his chin. His eyes were emotionless as he watched Izuku in return. He wore something other than the white coats everyone else wore. His shirt didn't have sleeves and his shorts hugged his legs to not be caught by a grasping hand. And one thing he saw for the first time was that he had muscles. All the people he knew didn't have muscles like the man.

The room was bigger than the place he was always at. It had lots of things he didn't know the function of and cameras just like the other place he was always at. The man introduced himself as his trainer for fighting. Izuku didn't understand but followed along with what was instructed. He did complain when he was ordered to put on the bracelets which made him feel weak. He knew he was going to be punished for that later.