Act I - Ravages of Time
Izuku's PoV
The girl wasn't working with the League, despite my previous assumptions. No, the beaten and binded with a solid piece of rope low ranked thugs hired by the League of Villains were the proof - no, "Iris" was working with an outside group or entirely alone. And I didn't know which option was worse than the other one. Detective Tsukauchi deduced that "Iris" was a peer or younger, but definetly not older - her manner and the way she talked indicated her age. But I wasn't chasing her to capture her - no, I wanted some anwsers.
She protected me when I was fighting the Hero Killer and she single handedly fended off a few Nomu's - she was strong, their was no doubt. However her Quirk remained unknown due to the fact that she used it only when it was necessary. She emitted some kind of silver energy - from that she was able to create silver flames, electricity or even strong gusts of wind. Her Quirk remained a mystery, even for me.
But then, I accidentally caught her in a dark alley when I went out for a walk. She was fighting a Villain, while protecting a shivering 6 - year old little girl. Without a second though I first escorted a girl to safety - when I came back, the fight was over and the Villain was tied up with a scratchy rope.
"Iris" turned around and, behind the black mask she looked me into eye. Her glare was piercing, sharp like a blade and cold as ice. I could sense that she was ready to take me down if things were to escalate. A knife appeared in her right hand, coming from her hoodie's sleeve. Every instinct in my body was telling to run for my life - she was dangerous there was no doubt about it.
-"What do you want, Pro - hero in training 'Deku'?" - Iris asked hoarsely, her voice scratchy but cold
-"I want anwsers" - I replied honestly but ready to activate One for All
-"Everyone wants that" - Iris brushed it off -"Even me. I still have unanwsered questions, especially about my past. But speak, I'll try to anwser them to best of my abilities".
-"Why did you help take down the Hero Killer?" - I began questioning her
-"Believe it or not, Tensei was one of my very few allies in the Hero system. We respected each other, even though he openly encouraged me to stop being a vigilante" - Iris explained quietly -"What I did was revenge for what he did to Tensei. In fact, I was no different than Tensei's younger brother in that situation. Though Nomu's are a different story".
-"What do you mean by that?"
But Iris only shook her head, not wanting to anwsers that question.
-"Why are you a vigilante?"
-"I don't like the current Hero system and I don't see myself fit into that shitshow" - Iris replied sharply -"Police also is out of question because I have a bad history with them".
So "Iris" wasn't a fan of the Hero system and she holded a grudge towards Police. Well, that made sense but it didn't confirm anything about her possible identity. But still, as much as I hated it, I had to capture - she was a vigilante. I thought I have no other choice.
-"I know that you have to capture me, so let's get into it. But I'm not going down without a fight"
And just when I activated One for All to 5% and a silver energy started emitting from "Iris" the Villain woke up. He had barely enough stamina with his wounds but he a weird multicolor aura started leaking out of his skin - Iris and me started to run, but we were too late. The energy from that weird aura started to accumulate - the temperature, gravity and the air pressure went haywire. Whatever it was doing, the two of us were greatly slowed down.
The uncontrollable gravity around us, ripped out the mask out of "Iris" face revealing her appearance. She had middle length dark blond hair, gray eyes and a long ugly scar on her left cheek. Before I realised what was going on, half of my support gear was lost and torn to shreds. That was when I panicked - whatever the energy was leaking out through Villains skin, it isolated all three of us into some kind of bubble.
I ran towards the Villain to stop him but some kind of external force pushed me far away. I bumped into the barrier with a grunt, but I could feel my strength weakening. Maybe that Villain was sent after Iris to lure me out? Maybe the Villain was working for the League, for All for One. But I didn't have time to think about it. I looked to my right saw that "Iris" was looking also for a way out. Busted knuckles on her fist were a proof that she tried to fight the Villain.
I released a punch into that barrier with One for All but it didn't even leave a scratch. I felt an elbow in my ribs - I turned around saw that the Villain went deadly pale - the accumulated energy finally released. The Villain's body exploded the moment all the energy was set free - the world went blindingly white and I lost my consciousness, admists sounds of screams and explosions.
Whatever that Villain did, I hoped that it only affected me and "Iris". Otherwise, I could imagine that effects of this energy release could be catastrophic - after all, the Villain sacrificed his life to make that happen.
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I woke up with a grunt - my head felt it was split open. I was lying on the bare ground, in some kind of apocalyptic fallen city. Homes burned down, buildings collapsed and cars broken all around me. Whatever happened here, it didn't look good. I got up from the ground, and tried to look around, to reach someone. But it didn't happen - there was no living soul in 50 meter radius. Truly a desolate fallen city.
Not far away, I saw "Iris" looking for me. I ran towards her, not caring that a minute ago we almost fought each other. When I got to her, I saw glimmer of relief in her eyes but her face was panicked, stressed and shocked at the same time. Her black oversized hoodie was covered in dust and dirt - she had a small bruise on her right cheek, probably when she tried to fight the Villain. The knuckles on her hands were also bruised.
-"Oh thank Kami, I thought that whatever the Villain, it might have killed you" - I said honestly -"When did you wake up?"
-"Around 15 minutes ago, and I immediately started looking for you" - "Iris" anwsered, looking all around us -"While I was doing that, I also started gathering some clues of our whereabouts...and the results are...well honestly terrible. In other words, we are fucked".
-"What do you mean by that?" - I wanted to know, that's all I cared about at the moment
-"Midoriya...we are 200 years in the past, just when the shit hit the fan and Japan as a country, pretty much collapsed" - Iris revealed grimly -"We are standing in the ruins of Osaka, a city that fell due to extremely violent Anti - Quirk movement. Meaning, that's when the Dawn of Quirks began in Japan. With the fall of Osaka".
I stared at her, shellshocked. The Villain sent us both to the past, to the Dawn of Quirks. What was more terrifying is that I didn't sense warmth of One for All coursing through my body. No I felt a strange, weakened Quirk that felt different - it felt like it was a part of One for All. But weirdly enough I knew the Quirk's name.
Gearshift.
Notes: Sorry for my shitty English, it isn't my mothers tongue. Anyways, thanks for reading Prologue and see you next time.
List of Acts:
Act I - Ravages of Time
Act II - Admists Riddles
Act III - Violence in Necessary for Change
Act IV - Strangers in Strange Land
Act V - Marigold
Act VI - Masquerade of Mimes
Act VII - Tough Times Need Tough Measures
Act VIII (Finale) - Let Us Dance One Last Time