Chapter Text
Episode 1:
First Response Part 1
Prelude Start
I am aware that individuals are not created equal. It all began in the town of Qingqing, China, with the birth of a mysterious luminescent baby. Shortly after similar phenomena popped up, the trigger of these new-found powers was never determined, but as time progressed, what was once extraordinary became ordinary, and dreams became a reality.
Of the world's population, 80% have developed unique abilities known as quirks as we entered a new age. In this flourishing society of superhumans, greed became rampant, as those with power soon began to abuse it, causing levels of crime to skyrocket into historical records. But as it is, with the rise of crime, few men and women everywhere rose up to combat the threat as superheroes. As time went on, heroes went from firemen and policemen to the costumed warriors with income from the state and fame unlike any other. From basic acts of chivalry to sponsored acts of glory.
But not all in this world is as wonderful as it appears. Despite living in a golden age, 20% of the world's population were born without quirks and began to be known as quirkless. Being born without power, they are seen as weak and useless to society as a whole and are prone to discrimination and prejudice.
Even those with quirks considered unnatural or mutant-like are treated with discrimination and even criminalization. Humanity as a species lies ununited to face the dangers that will soon appear.
Prelude End
6 years before the start of UA
A young Izuku Midoriya had entered the movie theaters with his mother in order to watch the new All Might movie that had just come out. Although the boy seemed happy on the outside, in reality he's what the world classified as quirkless. The young boy is a prime target for society's discrimination. Abandoned by his father due to his quirklessness and ridiculed for it, his mother and his dream of being a hero were the only things keeping him from eternal darkness.
They entered the theater to see the new blockbuster about All Might fighting against a giant monster. Inside their screening room, the seats were brimming with children of all ages and their parents who had brought them here, both to support the symbol of peace and give their children the chance to have fun. The room boomed with the fight on the screen depicting All Might fighting some monstrous beast with four arms, until the building they were in began was rocked by what most would guess explosion, and the structure began to collapse around them. An earthquake damaging some gas pipeline, maybe?
At once, everyone ran for it, parents carrying their children on their shoulders or leading them out. But in the commotion, no one noticed that both Midoriya's mother and child had been left behind in the far end of the room.
They had been trapped within by pieces of the ceiling as the room collapsed around, debris quickly blocking any and all paths and emergency exits they could see.
The green-haired child whimpered as he hugged his mother, eyes tightly closed. "M-mama, I'm scared."
The woman's heart tore at the terrified whimper of her son, and she hugged him back, keeping his small, shaking frame close to hers. "Don't worry, Izu, we'll be rescued; I know it." Inko replied with a shaky smile to her child's fears, but she knew it was simply false reassurance. She could feel the temperature of the place rising and patches of fire growing, their chances becoming smaller by the second.
But then a voice boomed from the outside. "Hello, is there anyone still in there?." His voice, while stern and grave, carried his worry. Inko didn't care who it could be, just to scream and get her baby to safety. "HELP! WERE HERE!"
And then there was a lone firefighter with an ax in hand that broke into the screening room. Desperately, he madly rushed to the area he thought the screams had come from, and there he found both mother and son, huddled on a corner. Once near the debris trapping both of them, he didn't waste anymore time and readied his axe, holding the handle with both hands. "Hold on there!" He cleaved with purpose, trying to make the opening big enough for the two to walk through.
He yelled out, trying to sound reassuring yet still a tiny bit frightened himself; he was probably a rookie. "Don't worry, I'll get you out!" It felt like an eternity for the three, the smoke getting ever thicker as everything around burned. But finally he cleaved a big enough opening for the two to squeeze through, albeit not without scrapes and burns, and then were led out by the firefighter, who shielded them from the flames with his own body. Before Inko had the chance to thank him for saving them both, a crackling sound could be heard above the three. "LOOK OUT!" He had shouted the firefighter atop his lungs before he pushed both of them forward and out of the screening room. Inko and Izuku couldn't see as they were both carried out by other firefighters, but she knew for a fact that the young man that had saved them hadn't gotten out in time before everything caved in.
5 Years Later, Post Sludge Villain Incident
"Young man, you too can become a hero!"
Some would say that Izuku was, in fact, a crybaby; most would use it in a mean statement. But right now, he had a true reason to feel like this, kneeling on the ground, clutching his racing heart, and bawling his eyes out, all in front of a lanky, gaunt blonde who looked like he had a foot on the grave already.
He was crying like this because the lanky, weird guy who watched over him as the sun was setting was THE All Might in the flesh, and he had just vindicated his life dream. The Symbol of Peace, his idol of all people, believed in him.
"And I can help you on your first steps!." He said, his right, bony hands clenched as he lifted them into the air, his oversized clothing blowing in the air like a tangled cape.
"Whuh" Izuku looked up once again confused, his brain overwhelmed with all the emotions he was feeling, and the words just didn't make enough sense to him. "What do you mean, help me? H-how?" It didn't help his confusion that All Might then began to laugh at his face instead of being straight up.
"HAH-HAH, you should see your face right now, Fanboy." He finally stopped laughing at the poor boy's confusion-ridden, tear-stained face before helping him up and handing him a, thankfully, clean handkerchief. Then he actually explained himself. "You see, recently a friend of mine began to look over a training program, pretty selective stuff. After what I witnessed today, believe that you, Young Midoriya, are a perfect fit for such a thing." His voice didn't waver once, he didn't giggle, nothing.
He meant that just as much as he did his proclamation. Izuku's face scrunched up with emotion again before a thought came to him. Was All Might. . . talking about first responders again? "All Might, you still believe that I should be a-'' His voice came out with a tinge of disappointment before the hero chuckled and patted him on the back, egging him to walk forward with him.
As they began to walk, the hero kept talking from where Izuku had left. "First Responder? Yes and No." That piqued his interest, honestly. . . He meant the Self Defense Force? "I don't have all the details here; bunch'a of technical talk I can't really spew out for you, kiddo." Well, that was a bummer. It didn't give him as much closure on the whole deal as he wished, but All Might was willing to vouch for him. "I can tell you, however, I have faith that you'll kill it in this program."
Izuku still had a lot of questions, but the sheer conviction sparkling in the hero's blue eyes made him nod, determined to not fail his idol. 'I've got no reason to let him down.' "Right, I'll do it."
The gaunt blonde's face was split in half by a massive, toothy grin as he looked forward again. "Didn't hesitate a lot; that's the answer I hoped for, young man." Again, he patted his back and laughed slowly. 'I've got to turn this jacket into an actual heirloom!' Izuku's mind yelled out. "But that's enough business for today, kid, let's get'cha home."
"R-RIGHT!"
A Few Days Later
Izuku ran up the stairs, thankful for yet another quiet day at school. Like, yeah, he was still picked on by his classmates and pretty much everyone around, but Kacchan was, at the very least, acting like he didn't exist at all.
Finally, he reached his apartment's door, and as he unlocked the door, he yelled out. "Mom, I'm hom-!"
When he opened the door, his tongue shriveled up, died, and rolled into his throat at the sight. He was greeted not only by the common sight of his mother sitting on the couch, but she was joined by "DAVID SHIELD! ALL MIGHT'S BEST FRIEND AND LEAD RESEARCHER OF SUPPORT ITEMS IN THE WORLD!" He practically squealed like a piglet at the sight of the man holding a tea cup in one hand while he reached for one of his mother's cookies. "OMYGOSHOMYGOSHOMYGOSH, This is a dreaaaam!"
While the greenete seemed to be in his own personal piece of paradise, with stars and sparks of pure excitement in his eyes, his mom and guest were both mildly concerned for him and somewhat amused, respectively. "Oh, I-Izu calm down, honey; y-you had enough excitement that could last for years now." Inko would slightly scold him, as she couldn't help but fret too over his baby going crazy.
Giving him credit, Izuku managed to reel himself in and had the decency to look ashamed of his outburst. "R-Right, Sorry!" He bowed down slightly before speaking in a much more composed tone. "Hello sir, I'm Izuku Midoriya; welcome to our home," he says with a bow.
With a grin at both the manners and hospitality, David replied calmly. "Thanks, young man. I was just discussing something with your mother regarding you." He also had to admit that he liked the boy's enthusiasm, even if it looked like it could generate enough energy to create ionizing radiation.
That brought Izuku's memory back to his talk with All Might. 'He's the friend All Might spoke about then?' But he also complied, taking off his shoes before he sheepishly sat beside his mom with a 'sorry'.. "A-about me? Can I ask w-what's it about?"
David nodded. "Well, that's fair; just let me do a recap." He took a sip of the green tea in his cup before sighing. "You see, recently an old friend of mine contacted me, something about a young boy he met." He grinned as he recalled that call, as hammy as it was. "One with the 'heart of a hero' in his words, that would be perfect for a project I'm overseeing."
The green-haired teen hummed, nodding knowingly. 'That's absolutely All Might.' Izuku thought in his head, feeling incredibly inadequate, embarrassed yet happy, and if he was smiling, neither adult brought it up.
Mr. Shield continued, "I was a little skeptical about these claims at first; I won't lie. . ." Even if he was yet again doubted, he didn't really feel discouraged by it. "But I decided to do some research on you before coming here." He really was serious then, about him and the program... or was this All Might's word being just THAT valuable?
"From what I could gather, Midoriya, you're a good student; IF your record at Altera is to be believed, you've never broken the law with malicious intent. . ." He stopped a bit, the corners of his slips tugging upwards into a small grin. "AND, surprisingly to me, during the summers you have attended a firefighter camp for the last six years, never missing a class!"
Midoriya once again felt both flustered and proud of himself, which was weird that he felt like this twice a week, let alone a month, although he also felt a tinge of sadness alongside it all. "Y-yeah, mom told me about a firefighter that saved us when I was little... . . a-and I kind of wanted to honor him. . ."
Inko took this chance to speak up again, looking rather saddened too. "His name was Maki Tachiiri. He had just joined the Corps, and he was Quirkless like my little Izu." She regretted that he gave his life to save them both, but living it to their best ability was one way to honor him.
David couldn't help but share their melancholy over such an anecdote. "That's rather noble of you, young man." But then he reached for something at the other side of the table, and what Izuku saw there made his heart freeze entirely. "But, what impressed me the most, though, were these." He had reached for Izuku's Hero Analysis notebooks on the side of the table.
The horrified squeal that tore itself out of Izuku's throat was nothing short of hilarious for the man, who opened one of the notebooks, the page being about the up and coming hero Mirko."These notes on quirks are highly detailed not only when it comes to description but also on how to strengthen them and their weaknesses as well; pretty impressive for a plain and simple teenager, if you ask me."
Izuku shifted from stunned horror to looking like a tomato, given how embarrassed he felt. And yet, he was immensely thankful that someone like David Shield thought it wasn't a weird, creepy hobby, but actually something impressive and remarkable in a good way. "T-thanks a l-l-lot , sir."
"Now that is out of the way, let me ask you about this young man." David's gaze then locked onto Izuku, his expression morphing from warm and friendly into serious on a dime. The boy couldn't help but feel under heaps of pressure all of a sudden.
"What does it mean to be a hero?" At the question, Izuku actually felt more at ease, since he knew for a fact that this was not only his area of expertise but also something he had decided long ago.
As he tried to piece together his exact answer, he looked down, eyes focusing onto his own notebooks before speaking. "You know if my life had been different. I would have said a hero is someone who used their quirk for the betterment of others. To me, a hero is not someone defined by what they have." His mind went back to the Pro-Heroes' failure to save Bakugou and hiding behind the "uselessness" of their Quirks in the situation as an excuse, "Or... I guess what they don't." He recalled when All Might, of all people, had said that he believed in him, and then he finally remembered the fireman that saved his and his mother's lives, no matter how fuzzy his memory was. "Being a hero is about giving it your all, in the face of danger not for yourself but for others; even at the risk of losing it all, they will do it because they are here."
After saying those words, not a single stutter messing with him, Inko began to tear up, proud of her baby's determined words. While David, who was now grinning warmly and proudly, looked at the boy and gave his own two cents. "Seems that friend of mine was right; you'll kill it at the program."
Izuku's chest swelled once again with a warm feeling, as continued. "Izuku Midoriya, I would like to invite you to join a group of promising youngsters like you." The boy was certain there was an implication in there somewhere, but he was by far more interested in hearing the man out. "You see, I head an organization known as the Special Response Force. I'm sure you have heard of it."
Izuku gaped at that, just now remembering the organization."W-w-wait, isn't that the organization that works with the UN and specializes in non-hero first responders?!"
The man's grin slowly turned upside down into a small scowl. "Yes, we do Midoriya. But in these last couple of years, funding for both fire and police departments all over the world has drastically decreased, to not say they have been gutted entirely." A sigh, tired and frustrated, escaped him; he hated to have his mind on it. "And more resources have been placed on pro heroes and villain containment."
Inko and Izuku would look aghast with the revelation, with the former speaking up, feeling both mortified and outraged. "They never talked about this in the news! How can they just keep this under the rug?!"
"That's the thing, Miss Midoriya; they want to keep this hidden for as long as possible and don't want to disrupt the peace that All Might created." In all the reunions he'd been at, David had heard quite a lot that this would be a gradual shift so as not to throw the stability Toshi brought overboard. It didn't mean he liked it one bit. "But even I know it's a foolish idea to defund emergency equipment and training. Crime may have decreased due to All Might's mere existence, but that doesn't mean he will always be around. I believe there is a need for first responders to answer the call." David said with a serious expression as he took in a breath and looked over to his hosts. They look equally shocked and outraged over the whole ordeal, their eyebrows slightly furrowed into a scowl.
"Which is why I'm here today. We live in a world where pro heroes can only do so much; it's time we help the heroes who have been with us. And you show young man, not only high promise, but a spirit that is hard to come by in this day and a-."
Abruptly, the boy's mother cut him off. "Will the training be any dangerous?" She'd asked worriedly, already feeling her emotions bubbling wildly again. She couldn't help but remember how Maki had just given his life to get them out of danger and that he could've easily been her son.
David gave her a resolute nod, not caring in the slightest about being interrupted. She had the right to know. "I will not lie nor sugarcoat this for you, ma'am; it will be dangerous, although training will be held in a controlled environment." Izuku was already feeling his chance slip through his fingers because of the hesitation and fear that he could see taking a hold of his mother's face. He should've seen this coming.
"Though, Miss Midoriya, if both you and your son do accept, he'll be transferred from his current school to our training facility for 7 months, with three extra months to prepare himself for whichever high school he may choose, as well as spending time with his family once again."
Inko kept quiet for a while, no doubt thinking over the proposition. It was scary, truthfully, but looking back at her baby, she could see none of that excitement from before, only crushed hopes. "Izu, honey..." She began, her mind reluctantly made up as she grabbed her son's hand and gave it a tight yet comforting squeeze. "I know I haven't been as supportive as you might've needed all these years, b-buy if this is what you want, I'll support you all the way through it."
To say Izuku was blindsided would be an understatement. He'd expected this chance to be turned down in favor of his 'safety' once again, but just like his mother, his emotions exploded. "M-mom, I-i..." Tearing up just like his mother, he gave the man a shaky nod, eyes shining with tears and determination. "If I can save people this way, I'll do it without hesitation.""
David couldn't help the smile that took hold of his face. "Then, I would like to welcome you to the S.R.F., Cadet Midoriya." 'Toshinori was right; this kid was special,' he thought.
Unknown location
"Soon, very soon, the Sun and Moon will align, and we'll finally be freed from this prison!." A creature of green, glowing eyes proclaimed at the nothingness with a deep voice that was seemingly coming from everywhere and nowhere at the same time.
Another creature, this one with two glowing, and rather massive blue glowing orbs for eyes, called out. "Patience, my Prince, we must have patience; soon the eclipse shall come, and we'll claim this realm!." In stark contrast, this one's voice was high pitched as he screeched.
"And on this Earth there is no one who can stop us!"
The two creatures maniacally laughed in delight, voices echoing within the void they existed within.
To be Continued…
Hope everyone enjoyed the first chapter of Going Beyond the Emergency. I would like to thank my Beta Readers UncleAsmos and his friend. The next 2 chapters are completed, just need some editing and will be out very soon. This is the start of the Pre-UA arc and not to worry, there's more to come.
For those wondering, this story will follow an original ranger team, with original suits and Zords with some surprises along the way. Art will be available soon.
And before anyone asks, Izuku will not get One for All, he is staying quirkless as well as another character from class 1-A. Bakugou will not be a ranger.
'Till next time, may the power protect you.
A version of the story on Fanfiction.net is also available.