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Izuku Midoriya lived a happy life. His father, Hisashi Midoriya, often worked late into the night to support the two. His mother, Inko Midoriya, had died in a car crash. When she died, both Izuku and Hisashi were hit hard. Both had lost the most supportive of the family and didn’t know what to do without her. Then Izuku was announced quirkless, and Hisashi struggled even more, trying to keep his reputation afloat while taking care of his only child.
Izuku didn’t want to tell his dad about the bullying at school, because he didn’t want his father to be even more stressed, so he learned to hide his pain, and bottle his emotions if they weren’t good for him.
Then one day, Izuku knew, today was going to be a particularly difficult day. It was just a feeling when he woke up, but something was telling him to listen to his instincts. When he reached the school, he was attacked by an onslaught of slurs, insults, and threats. When he arrived at the class, he was met with the sight of spider lilies. He knew it was there to hurt him, but he didn’t react. He knew reacting would get him hurt more than what was already coming.
The first time it happened, he started crying, then he was sent to detention for disrupting the class. No matter what happened, it was always “shitty deku’s” fault. Deku was a nickname given to him by his ex-best friend. He was given it because if you misread his name, it was read as Deku. Deku means useless, and that's what everyone told him he was.
As the class approached, so did his tormentors. They never stopped bullying him. Whether it is about the fact that he’s quirkless, or that he doesn’t have a mother, they always find something to bully him about. Even as he braced for the kicks, he was still unprepared for the worst of it all.
As they began using their quirks on him, a shock of cold encased him. This cold was from one of his classmates who had the ability to chill liquids down to freezing temperatures. Followed by a feeling of his skin burning. This was caused by another classmate, who could force a solid to heat up, using only a touch of his fingers. It did not matter if it was organic or not, it would heat up.
When the bell rang, the teacher walked in, and started taking roll calls. By the time she had finished taking roll, Bakugo had walked in. Bakugo was the leader of Izuku’s torment. He had known Izuku since birth, and then he turned his back on him when he was announced quirkless. The teacher praised Bakugo for being early and scolded Midoriya for being late.
By the end of the day, Izuku had been attacked 6 times. Twice in class, 3 times during lunch, and the last time on the way out of school. The last one had been the most hurtful. He was told by Bakugo to “Take a swan dive off the roof and hope for a quirk in your next life.”
This hurt him more than anything else, for he had known the other since before they were labeled as a future hero and useless Deku. No matter what he did, he couldn’t escape that name. Even people who he’d never seen, have called him the name.
His walk home was silent, the sound of the city being muted to him, his thoughts the loudest thing in the world to him. As he turned into the alleyway that was a shortcut to the house, a sewer grate started to shake. Izuku didn’t hear it because he was too busy in his head. Suddenly, he was encapsulated in a slimy substance. In a panic, he didn’t fight back, and only realized what was going on when it was almost too late.
As he started going unconscious, he heard a bang, followed by the feeling of strong winds, before he blacked out. As he was coming too, he was greeted by the sight of All might. He started talking about how he just barely made it in time. Izuku didn’t hear that, because he was too focused on his thoughts As he saw All Might begin preparing to leave, Izuku shouted, “Wait, I have a question!” Hearing this, All Might thought he could spare a little bit of time, so he stopped to listen. “Can a quirkless kid like me be a hero?” He asked, tears already welling up in his eyes. He knew the answer, but he just wanted one person to believe him.
All Might didn’t want to have the blood of a child on his hands, so he decided to take the safest reply. “The world is a dangerous place, I think you would be better off joining the police or the military.” He then jumped off, not sparing a moment to see how Izuku reacted.
Izuku had just stopped. His brain came to a complete halt as his role model told him he can’t be a hero. His brain didn’t register him walking home, nor him even going to sleep. When his father got home, he was met with the sight of his child crying in his sleep, covered in burn marks, and smelling like the sewer. This concerned Hisashi, but he thought nothing of it. Instead, he decided to try and get his son to wake up so he could shower and eat dinner.
Gently, he woke his son up, only for Izuku to be unresponsive. He shook him harder, and harder, until eventually, he called the ambulance, fearing that something had happened to his child. It was already hard enough trying to act like he didn’t know about his son's bullying, so having his child not respond to external movement, scared him deeply. He feared his child could die and didn’t want to lose the only thing motivating him to keep going.
Meanwhile, in Izuku’s mind, he was going through a series of trials, and battles, trying to work down to the core of his trouble. He was stuck inside his mind, and also stuck within his quirk.
His quirk, labeled as WRDN, is a simulation within his mind, forcing him to go through a series of “rundowns” that trained him to survive. They gave him tech to survive, gear to defeat wave upon wave of enemies, and enough battle wounds to seem like he fought in two wars. It didn’t matter what the objective was, he was forced to do it alone. He knew he wasn’t alone down there, as he could hear the occasional gunfire of other missions, but he also knew that the WRDN was treating him with the most respect. The logs left by previous missions told him of their conditions. About how the WRDN treated them like prisoners, or how it sent them on death missions to get intel.
On the outside, he was in a coma. His coma was said to have been from overworking his body without medical care for his wounds. As time passed, he was cleared for visitors, with the doctors saying that he was healed enough to wake up, but his mind was going through something completely different than the normal coma.
It wouldn’t explain the seizures he occasionally gets. The seizures were him dying in his quirk, whether it was from a crawler, a shooter, or even a stalker, he always died at least once per mission within the rundown. As time passed in the outside world, Izuku had become proficient in every weapon or item within the WRDN.
He knew that he could eventually get to the bottom of this, but he first had to finish the WRDN’s instructions.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
CHAPTER 2//:DECODED SUBSURFACE TRANSMISSION
>...
>..THEY REACT TO LIGHTS AND SOUNDS!
>..STAND STILL! [UNINTELLIGIBLE SCREAM]
//:END OF SUBSURFACE TRANSMISSION //:DECODED WRDN TRANSMISSION
>MSGCAT::OBJ.NEW
>
>FIND HYDROSTASIS UNIT HSU_885 AND RETRIEVE A DNA CORE SAMPLE
>
>MSGDEC_STATUS::E_DONE
> _TRANSMISSION CHECKSUM 682991419
//:END OF WRDN TRANSMISSIONThese were the messages that Izuku received as he was dropped down into the assignment by WRDN. He knew that he would struggle, but he was surprised when the pod that dropped him opened up and supplied him with a uniform instead of keeping him in his boxers. After he suited up, he realized he was also given two guns, a sledgehammer, and an odd flashlight-looking object, that had a screen showing little white blips in the direction he was looking. This was the D-Tek Optron IV Bio Tracker, used to find and scan enemies.One gun was a bulky-looking revolver, and his visor supplied him with a name. Mastaba R66 Revolver. The other looked to be a bulky, yet streamlined rifle, with a drum magazine. This weapon was the Malatack LX Assault Rifle. As he looked around, he noticed more information popping up on his screen, it seemed to be his ammo count at the top right, along with a compass at the top, and finally, a list of objectives to complete at the top left.As he finishes gearing up, he roams around the room, in the distance he can hear faint gunshots again, along with aggravated roars. Suddenly, he hears a very intense clicking sound nearby. He freezes and pulls out the bio scanner, desperately hoping that it isn’t one of the monsters or people he hears fighting. Immediately, a white blip pops up, with a distance of about a meter between him and the enemy. Slowly, he pulls out his hammer.From what he can hear, the gunshots from earlier seemed to aggravate the monsters, waking more of them, and causing more chaos than he needs. He hopes that he can muster enough strength to kill it. He knows, from the roars he heard earlier, that these monsters are not human anymore, and if anything, in more pain than he was back at home.As he turns the corner, he comes face to face with the monster. It's a pale, bloody, and veiny humanoid monster. Its head was split in half and turned into a bloody mess, as teeth try and turn its whole head into a mouth. The moment he finishes rounding the corner, it starts lifting its head up from its previous position of curling up on its knees and arms on the ground, with its back facing the roof of the caverns.As it’s head rises, its chest begins to glow a warm yellow color. The light it emits is enough to cause its skin to glow. Then, as it reaches its peak height, it stops, and begins making a clicking noise. Izuku freezes out of panic, not knowing what to do, and hoping it doesn’t wake up. Eventually, after about ten seconds, it lays back down and the light fades away. Izuku decides that he is going to hit the “sleeper” as he dubbed it with the sledgehammer.As he lifts it, he realizes it is too heavy for him, and he accidentally drops it. The moment it hits the ground, the sleepers body turns bloodred, and it screeches loudly, awakening all the other sleepers in the room. In seconds, Izuku was overrun, and he died.In the real world, his body undergoes a seizure whilst being examined. Immediately, the doctors rush to get everything under control, even if a few are looking at his sleeping form with disdain. After the seizure stops, they all start looking at the neurologist. He immediately tells them to put him in an MRI scan, hoping to see what's going on within his brain.Back with Izuku, he wakes up within the pod that dropped him in last time. This time he is able to get a better view, and he now notices that he's not in his boxers like last time, but in the full jumpsuit they supplied him with last time. The pod is held up by a claw, featuring 3 other arms with pods. The other pods all are illuminated, allowing him to see that the doors to all of them are shattered, and the people within are gone, leaving them empty. This reminds Izuku that he is alone, with only the sounds of the lift dropping, and the distant gunfire to tell Izuku that he is alive. He doesn’t want to think of his death, only that he needs to get out. Suddenly, the messages from the first time pop up on his HUD, only difference is that a third message pops up.//:DECODED WRDN TRANSMISSION
>
>To leave, you must complete all 8 rundowns.
>
>MSGDEC_STATUS::E_DONE
> _TRANSMISSION CHECKSUM 850908342
//:END OF WRDN TRANSMISSION
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
CHAPTER 3//:DECODED WARDEN TRANSMISSION>MSGCAT::OBJ.NEW>>RETURN TO THE POINT OF ENTRANCE IN ZONE 256>>MSGDEC_STATUS::E_DONE>_TRANSMISSION CHECKSUM 314902168//:END OF WRDN TRANSMISSIONAs Izuku reaches the WRDN scan, another sleeper charges at him. Crawling on all fours, and glowing a brilliant red internally. Hearing the screech, without turning, he whips his Mastaba R66 Revolver around and fires a singular shot. Instantly, it hits the sleeper's head, killing it. The moment he steps into the scan, he hears a muted ticking sound, and then the lift’s brakes squeal and scream as they approach. By the time it reaches Izuku, there is a horde of sleepers, giants, and even a few chargers, which are essentially armored sleepers.As he finally straps into the lift, the horde approaches and reaches the big hole, reaching the bottom of the dig site. Immediately, the lift’s brakes release, and after a four-foot fall, it starts to rapidly ascend through the tunnel. Suddenly, he sees another WRDN message begin to appear within his view. This time, it merely congratulates him, and then explains what caused him to be put into this hellscape.||DUE TO ME BEING LAZY, I AM NOT GOING TO WRITE THE USUAL WRDN MESSAGE||“You were transported into this dimension by something called a ‘Quirk’ in your world. It seemed that your quirk’s awakening had put you into a coma, and then dragged you into this dimension. The reason I had you go through these rundowns was to slowly grab mechanisms or activate power sources to run a machine that would be able to return your mind to your body. In theory, it would give you all the weapons you’ve used within these rundowns, along with the ability to summon a singular monster from within the rundowns. Ammunition is not infinite, nor will it ever be, so you will be given access to a theoretically infinite-use ammo pack, along with a similar medipack, tool ammo pack, and disinfection kit, do not expect these to actually be infinite. I have merely hoarded a large selection of packs and will restock them if given the chance. The consumables you found within the rundowns are also stored, but these are limited, so use them wisely. Now, I believe it is time to send you back to your home. Thank you for helping me complete the rundowns.”By the time he had finished reading the message, he began to hear a loud whirring sound, similar to a security door opening, and when he looked towards it, all he saw was a lone sleeper. This sleeper was suddenly shot by a group of prisoners, whom he had heard ever since the beginning of his journey. He made eye contact with what seemed to be the leader, and they nodded, then the group as a whole looked towards him and saluted. They each knew he was the one behind the scenes, lowering the horde's difficulty, and drawing the attention of the major enemies while they recovered. It seemed they knew he was down here, and both groups had covered for each other when needed.The group then walked away, and he saw a bright light start to encompass him from above. He closed his eyes to block them from the amount of light flooding the area. As he looked up, he was met with the sight of a desolate land, the whole compound was buried in sand and dirt. The lift let him down after bringing him to a safe location, and then retreated to the darkness of the main tunnel. To his left he saw a simple lever, connected to a very strange, piston like machine. Thinking about what WRDN said to him, he knew it was his ticket out.As he pulled the lever, he was met with the sound of heavy machinery moving, then in the back of his head, he noticed the sound of an EKG machine beeping, its pulse slowly speeding up. His eyesight was slowly fading out, and when he blinked, he found it difficult to open his eyes. His body felt numb, and his throat burned.~~~~~~~~~The moment Hisashi saw his son start to move, and his heart rate picked up, he called the nurse fearing something was happening. He was beyond worried he’d lose his son tonight, and when he saw how his son’s eyes began to flutter, he knew. He knew his son was fine, and had finally woken up. He waited for Izuku to look at him. As he saw his son finally begin to look around, he saw something different in the way he moved. He looked to be on edge, as if he had gone through hell and back, and was expecting a fight.Once Izuku looked at him, he noticed that Izuku’s eyes were cold and calculating. He knew it was his son, from the way his hair bounced with every slight movement, to the way his own hair had slowly rolled around from the air conditioning. “Morning Izuku, did you have a good nap?” He asked, and when Izuku didn’t respond, he thought he messed up, only to be hit by a rather weak hug from Izuku. “DAD!” He shouted. Izuku’s already lightweight had only gotten smaller and smaller, till he now weighed about 100 Lbs. His arm’s muscles had atrophied, and the hug he had given Hisashi was the most strength he could muster.~~~~~~~~~As Izuku looked around, he realized that he was in a hospital. His body felt like lead now, and he heard the sound of an air conditioner. Slowly, he looked to the left and was met with the sight of his dad. “DAD!” He shouted. He lept out of the bed and grabbed onto his dad with as much force as he could use.“Woah buddy, you should get back into bed, you’ve just woken up. You don’t want to get hurt because you slept for so long.” Hisashi replied, knowing that the doctors were probably on their way. Izuku just numbly nodded, having realized that his dad’s hug felt weaker than usual. It felt like the hug he got from him on the day his mom died. He knew he must have been exhausted, so he decided that he should listen to him. Right as he got comfortable in the bed, the door was opened by a nurse, followed by two doctors. They began to run some tests with him, such as following the light with his eyes. They then had him test his grip strength, along with some minimal weight-lifting tests. He knew he was weak, but this was WAY below his average.“Well, time to start training.” He thought.END CHAPTER 3