Apotheosis

The Infinity Gauntlet

It gives me great pleasure to finally present you all with this title.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: THE INFINITY GAUNTLET!

"Hello. Can I help you?" The door opened to reveal a middle aged woman with a bit of weight on her who bared a striking resemblance to Izuku Midoriya.

"My name is Toshinori. I'm a representative of U.A. I was hoping to talk to you about your son Izuku," The gaunt man said.

"Oh. Come in," Inko Midoriya held the door open letting him inside. Toshinori walked in and sat down at the dining table when offered. "So what's this about U.A?" She had yet to hear from her son about this, so she was tad lost.

"I spoke with Izuku earlier today. We offered him a transfer into our support department and he accepted," Toshinori explained. "I just wanted to know more about him before he enters the program."

"What do you want to know?" The woman asked.

"It's my understanding that he's quirkless. Can you tell me about his childhood, what it was like for him?" He had his fears that it was similar to what his life was like back when he was young and still quirkless, before he met Nana Shimura.

"He was always a good boy. Izuku wanted nothing more than to help people, he believed it was always the right thing to do," Inko began, smiling fondly at the memory. "He grew up watching hero videos, mostly about Allmight," Toshinori swallowed nervously. "It was his dream to be a hero, he didn't want to be the best, but just being one would have been enough," It was here that Inko's face turned sad. "When he was five and his quirk didn't manifest, I took him to the doctor and he was diagnosed as quirkless."

'I know how devastating that can be', Toshinori remembered how he felt when he was a child and the same thing happened to himself.

"It was after that when people and other children started to treat him differently," She got a bit angry thinking about what her child had to go through. "They treated Izuku like there was something wrong with him, like my boy had a disability," Inko stared forward in anguish. "Even his best friend Katsuki Bakugou turned his back on Izuku and started picking on him. Izuku never told on him, but I could tell what was going on."

'I knew young Bakugou was rough around the edges but I didn't think a kid who aspired to be a hero would bully the weak', He was surprised to hear the two boys had a shared past. "If you knew why didn't you approach him or anyone else about it?" Toshinori asked.

"I tried," Inko sighed sadly. "I really did, but Izuku insisted that he was alright and the schools didn't seem to care. Whenever I called the school about the burn marks on my son's skin, they just chalked it up to kids playing. They said that children with quirks can play a bit rougher and that maybe it was Izuku's fault for not looking out for his own safety."

"Even after all that he still wanted to be a hero?" Toshinori stated with a curious tone.

"Yeah, he never gave up, until..." She trailed off.

"Until?"

"About a year ago something happened," Inko started. "He came home one evening looking much more depressed than I've ever seen him. I believe it was the same day that Katsuki was attacked by that villain," Allmight clenched his fist underneath the table trying to hold back the guilt. He remembered that day.

"He threw out all of his hero merchandise that evening," Inko wondered what was going through her son's head that time. "Actually I managed to keep it without him knowing and stored it away in case he ever returned to his old self."

"His old self?" Toshinori questioned.

"He doesn't talk about heroes anymore. His face used to light up whenever he spoke about a new or current hero," Inko teared up a bit. "He comes to visit on most weekends, he's still somewhat the same, but different in a way I can't describe."