-Rain of Sins-

-Dark Revival: Ch 7-

“It was once said that sufficiently advanced technology would be indistinguishable from magic. This, beyond all other things, is true, because the greatest technological advancements in our history have been the ones that exploit newly discovered fields of science.

NASA launched a rocket last week with a probe charted for the asteroid belt. It's equipped with the fastest communication method known to humanity at the moment, a remnant technology from before the quirk collapse, that puts two subatomic particles in a state of quantum entanglement. When one particle’s charge is changed the other matches it instantly, no matter the distance between them, until the particles eventually decouple. The device uses several pairs of these, and changes their charge between positive and negative to mimic binary, and enables instantaneous transmission to a dedicated receiver which contains the other half of each pair.

If you were to give this device to a group of the world’s greatest scientists in 1920, they would see it as magic, because it works on a branch of science that they were not aware of at the time, and would actively break the theory of classical mechanics that they used to understand the universe.

If you gave a radio to scientists in the 1700s, you would get the same result.

To them it would be magic, because it would defy scientific reasoning.

Quirks defy my scientific reasoning, and my progress in understanding them has slowed to a painfully slow crawl.

I am getting exponentially better at copying them, at recreating them, at transferring them, at editing them, and at taking them away.

But understanding them? Not even close.

Even the basic ones, such as a simple strength enhancing quirk have pieces in their structure that don’t seem to do anything. At first I dismissed it as the inefficiencies of evolution, but now when I look at them, I have the dreadful feeling that I’m looking at something I fundamentally don’t understand.

Then there are the ones like [New Order], the quirk of “Star and Stripe”, North America’s top Hero, and second only to All Might. That quirk allows her to set “rules” that the world around her has to follow- it lets her rewrite the laws of reality at a whim.

(Note* The number of these rules is limited, and she has admitted in interviews that one is continuously being used to keep her as physically close to All Might as her body can handle. The sheer creative bankruptcy, and squandered potential of her underdeveloped mind is so extreme that it makes me nauseous thinking about the wasted potential.)

If my theory is true, that quirks really are a creation of pre-collapse humanity, and I don’t see any realistic alternatives, then that leaves a horrifying question.

In the darkest depths of whatever underground government facility these powers came from, what terrifying discovery did they make, before the end, that allowed them to make things capable of reforming the floor of reality like playdough, and led to the collapse of their world?

What forces are at play in the farthest reaches of the universe that break the laws of physics so completely? Or, even more chilling a thought, what unknowable forces might be acting upon me as I write this? And how much influence do they hold over me, that I am not aware of?”

Excerpt From Izuku Midoriya’s logbook, October 15th 20XX

-Rain of Sins-

The dictionary definition for the word Abyss is “a bottomless or unfathomed depth, gulf, or chasm; hence, any deep, immeasurable, and, specifically, hell, or the bottomless pit.”

This, Izuku thought, was a perfect description for where he seemed to have found himself. An Abyss. There was nothing in any direction, just a blackness that stretched out into the beyond.

No sky, no sun, no buildings, no clouds, no people, nothing. That was just Izuku and the abyss. Impossibly, he was visible, despite there being no active light source. Izuku frowned as he raised an arm. His hand was perfectly illuminated, with no shadow, nor any light gradients. It was perfectly lit up at an even level across the entire surface- his whole body was.

His gauntlets, mask, and tail were gone, but he still had his thick black lab coat and boots. Small mercies.

With nothing else to do, he started walking.

The ground felt spongy beneath his feet, and sunk ever so slightly with every step- something that was quite remarkable considering there wasn’t any ground for him to be standing on in the first place, just more nothingness.

Was… Was he dead?

“If this is what death is, I’m gravely disappointed.” Izuku scoffed and put his hands into his pockets as he came to a stop. Without an environment around him, it felt as if he hadn’t actually moved at all.

“In a way you’re right, but you’re also wrong on a fundamental level. That seems to be something of a pattern with you.”

Izuku blinked, his brain taking a moment to process what his ears had told him.

Slowly he turned himself around to find himself face to face with a Heroine who hadn’t been there a moment prior.

She was a tall and muscular woman with dark shoulder-length hair that was styled in a half-up-half-down bun. Her hero costume consisted of a dark, sleeveless bodysuit with a high collar, yellow elbow-length gloves, and white knee-high boots. Around her waist was a belt with an angular golden buckle, a small cape attached around the back which hung down to her knees, and over her shoulders was a longer cape, buttoned to the shoulders of her bodysuit.

Izuku’s brows furrowed, and he pulled upon the years and years of useless Hero trivia he had obsessed over as a kid. It took a few moments, but the knowledge did come to him- bits and bobs scattered over various online forums.

“With enough time, each and every one of the greatest minds in history have been proven to be fundamentally wrong. None of us truly know anything, we can only hope to attempt to structure the incomprehensible universe that has created us, into dumbed down mathematics that our fleshy three dimensional brains can understand.”

The woman’s frown deepened but she didn’t respond.

“Not in the mood to play philosopher? Fine, I’m not really either, so let’s cut to the point. I recognize you. I don’t know your Hero name, but I do recognize you. You were a brash and somewhat unorthodox Hero that broke into the top 30 several decades ago, only to die fighting against an unknown Villain shortly after. You had some sort of levitation quirk, but paradoxically preferred fighting up close and personal, internet forums referred to you as the caped breaker.” He tilted his head slightly. “Why are you here?”

“To pass judgment.”

Izuku scoffed and crossed his arms.

“Yes, well, you’ve been dead for years. Bo judgment from you would carry much weight.”

“I don’t think you understand the gravity of the situation, do you have any idea where you are?”

“Nowhere, obviously. This place physically couldn’t exist- I’ve likely gone into shock, been knocked unconscious, and started hallucinating.” Izuku scowled and began pacing in a circle. “I’m such an idiot! I really took in All Might’s power without preparation! Of course it would be too much, I need to immediately reinforce my body somehow when I wake up.”

“I won’t matter how much you reinforce yourself, you can’t handle One for All.” The woman cut in. “You’re not worthy.”

“I’ve had people telling me that my entire life, and I proved them wrong. A hallucination spewing my own self doubt back at me won’t change anything.”

“I’m not a hallucination, my name is Nana Shimura, and I was a previous holder of One for All.” She explained and raised a fist to her chest. “I received the quirk from my mentor, and I used it to fight against the darkness for many years before passing it to my own successor, Yagi Toshinori- All Might.”

A small purple star bloomed in her palm, casting her face in a soft light.

“Every time One for All is passed down, it takes pieces of its previous holders with it. It absorbs our quirks, and with them, pieces of our souls. I’m a vestige, a ghost, sworn to stand as a Hero until the very end.”

“First of all, souls don’t exist. I of all people would know, and I have found zero evidence to support them.” Izuku counted on his fingers. “Secondly, there’s a massive hole in your story. In his early years as a Hero, All Might was mentored by Gran Torino, then traveled abroad to the USA where he learned various hand to hand combat styles, and tutored under some of the greatest American Heroes.”

“Gran Torino was a close friend of mine, and he fulfilled an old promise of mine. I asked him to take Yagi under his wing if anything ever happened to me.”

“I used to be one of the biggest All Might fans of all time, if there was a fact about All Might, I knew it. You never came up even once.”

Izuku shook his head in dismissal, and turned away from her to study the void. How was he supposed to wake himself up? A jolt of adrenaline would be good, but there wasn’t anything to throw himself off of, or to hit himself with.

“That’s because he kept it a secret, or at least never spoke about it publicly. Questions about me would lead to questions about my killer, about All for One, something both the HPSC and All Might wanted to leave in the past.”

“Souls, All Might’s secret teacher, and now it was All for One that killed you. With every sentence your story becomes more far fetched and less credible. A fight with that maniac would have leveled a city, you can’t just hide that.”

“I fought him on an island…” Nana added with a slight wince, already knowing it wouldn’t help her case. “It, uh, it sunk.”

“And now there’s sinking islands as well.” Izuku rolled his eyes. “I don’t know why I’m even arguing with you. You’re not real, souls don’t exist.” He spread his arms. “And even if we assumed, hypothetically, that they did, where’s the rest of you? Where’s the long line of Heroes who wielded this quirk?”

Izuku slowly spun, gesturing to the empty void around them. “Where is All Might!?”

Nana let out a deep sad sigh, and couldn’t hold Izuku’s eyes. “You have to understand, when someone new takes on One for All, each of the previous vestiges get access to their memories. The others… no one feels right about doing this, not after what you’ve been through, but it has to be done. I volunteered to do it in their place.”

“If you truly had my memories you would know why I have to do what I’m doing, and you would know that I’m right.”

“I know why you believe you have to do this, and I know you believe with all your heart that you’re doing the right thing.”

Nana took a deep breath and steeled her resolve as he locked eyes with him.

“For what little it’s worth, Izuku, I’m truly sorry that no one was there to save you when you were younger, and I’m heartbroken for what happened to Inko. She was a wonderful woman and didn’t deserve that. But what you’re doing will only lead to the death and suffering of countless innocents.”

As if flipping a switch, Izuku went from aloof, to laser focused. “You have no right to speak her name!” He hissed.

“And you have no right to throw the world into chaos.” Someone said from behind him.

A bright, searing, light exploded into existence, burning Izuku’s skin. He whirled around to face it, arms raised to defend himself. For a brief moment Izuku could make out a line of figures, each holding a small star- White, Blue, Ruby, Green, Orange, Purple, Gold.

And at the front was a man with white hair, lowering his hand to Izuku’s face-

Then.

Pain.

-Rain of Sins-

“AAAHHHHHHGGGGHHH!” Izuku screamed as his eyes flew open. He convulsed and thrashed uselessly on the cold metal floor as foam and spittle and blood dribbled from his mouth.

Lighting, the overwhelming raw energy of the quirk, crackled around his body. Each blast of it burnt away his skin and ripped apart his flesh.

With each blast of lighting, his eyes flashed between the colors of the stars he had seen the vestiges holding. They glowed white, then blue, then purple, then green, then ruby, but never gold. Izuku didn’t notice it at the time, nor would he ever, but the color of the largest star, the one held by the largest figure at the very end of the line, never struck out against him.

“AHHHHHHHH!”

A different energy lashed against One for All- it was the deep blood red of his hyper regeneration quirk. Compared to the crackling arcs from OfA, its electricity was more efficient, spreading over his skin in brief flashes that pulled him back together.

The Amalgam and the Singularity grappled with each other, relentlessly pushing and pulling in a horrible tug of war that left Izuku in total agony.

He couldn’t feel anything other than the horrible sensation of being ripped apart from the inside out, all of his limbs were staticy jello. He couldn’t see anything beyond the violent flashing of lights. He could hardly even think beyond the excruciating agony that was fraying every nerve he had.

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But even still he managed to roll himself over, and slowly begin clawing his way towards his control station.

“Not yet…” He grunted as blood poured from his lips, and lighting scorched the metal floor black.

“Not! YET!” He seethed as his lungs popped and he painted a tail of blood behind him like a Grotesque paintbrush.

“I’m not! Dying! Here!” He howled in fury as he grabbed the edge of his desk and hauled his torso up on top of it, ignoring how the lighting immediately fried the computer and electronics.

“DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH I’VE SACRIFICED!?” He shouted as he grabbed a vial of Entropy, knocking over many more as he did so.”I WON’T LET YOU TAKE MY ACHIEVEMENTS FROM ME!”

He raised the syringe and stabbed it deep into his chest, directly over his heart. The pain was horrible, but it was nothing compared to what he had already endured. Leaving the glass embedded, he reached out and grabbed another and then another.

Again and again and again he stabbed himself, flooding his veins with the drug.

Even as the lighting began shattering the vials as he picked them up, almost as if it realized what he was doing, he rubbed his open wounds in the puddles it made on the floor.

He was Prometheus, the Sovereign of Sin. He wasn’t about to die to a userless quirk, of all things.

-Rain of Sins-

On the floor beneath Izuku’s personal lab, was the newest and deepest level of the Origin Lab that had been created specifically for Project Rapture. There was the massive vat that Charybdis had been grown in- so massive that the entire back wall was just a viewing port into it. But there were also plenty of normal sized ones, hundreds of the most advanced artificial wombs science had ever created.

Only a quarter of them were filed anymore, the rest of them were empty, dormant, abandoned. All that was left on the entire floor was the pitifully small “Batch E”, that had barely started out with over 70 specimens.

Even with the most invasive part of the planned process, a complete lobottomy of the brain’s upper functions, temporarily skipped, their numbers had already dwindled into the 30s.

Different variations had been tried, in a blind attempt to increase survival rates, but it hadn’t worked.

But in one of the vats, surrounded by the dead corpses of its siblings, there was one of the precious few surviving candidates. Not even halfway through the growth process, and with numerous surgeries planned in the future (the last of which being the lobotomy), its odds for survival were abysmally small.

Still though, for the moment at least, batch E Variation 3, was alive.

Ev3 stirred in the thick fluid inside her tank, as a horrible noise reached her ears. Two brilliant green eyes opened, barely visible through the tangle of jade hair that floated around her.

Words had been given to her, definitions and language directly implanted via computer so she could understand verbal commands. Slowly she began putting them together- something the lobotomy had originally been placed so early in the process to prevent.

‘Someone… is hurting… Someone… outside…’

With great effort, a small frail hand reached out and ghosted ever so lightly against the glass.

‘If I help them… will they… help me?’

The whole tank seemed to shift as golden pinpricks of power flickered in the black of her pupils.

The computer nearby let out a BEEP, as it registered the power spike, and immediately injected the tank with sedatives.

Ev3 could only sob helplessly as the burning weight in her chest that promised freedom was ripped from her grasp, and she was forcibly put back to sleep.

-Rain of Sins-

“GET THE FUCKING DOOR OPEN!” Kuin screamed as she repeatedly kicked the airtight metal door to Izuku’s lab, which was as thick as a bank vault.

There were a few singes and dents from where she’d tried detonating her bees, but that was the only sign that anyone had been trying to get it open for over half an hour now.

She could hear Izuku screaming in there! He needed help!

“OPEN THE DOOR!”

“We don’t have access.” The scientist behind her said meekly as he swiped his card uselessly again, only to get a red light for the hundredth time.

He whimpered as Kuin turned on him.

“THEN GET US ACCESS!” She hissed as she grabbed him by the neck and yanked him nose to nose with her.

“U-Ujiko’s not responding! He said he was going off grid for whatever reason, and completely cut himself off from the network!”

“Are you about to try telling me that there’s nothing we can do, other than listen to him die in there!?”

“I-I-I- Uh, w-well-”

Kuin was about three seconds from ripping his head off, before the ground started rumbling like a stampede was on its way.

“GET OUT OF THE WAAAY!” Yuyara shouted as she was dragged along behind two massive nomu she had on leashes, as if she were skiing. “MOVE!”

Kuin and the scientist dove to the side, just in time to avoid being turned into paste. The two nomu slammed into the door with enough force to shake the hallway and bend it inwards. Then they started to wail on it, bruising their knuckles as they mindlessly threw punches at the metal.

“NO! RAISE IT, YOU STUPID ANIMALS!” Kuin screeched. “RAISE IT UP!”

“LIFT!” Yuyara commanded.

The nomu’s punches slowed for a second, like they were having to process the order. Then they squatted, grabbed at the bottom of the door as best they could, and slowly began lifting it up.

Kuin and Yuyara could only watch slowly as the thick sheet of metal was raised inch by painstaking inch.

For the first time in her (relatively short) life, Kuin thanked the fact her chest was pretty fucking flat, as she dove to the ground and began wiggling her way through the growing gap. For the first time in her life, she also cursed her host for having a fat fucking ass, as her backside got caught for a few seconds before squeezing through.

A few moments later, when the gap was bigger, Yuyara followed her through- rolling through sideways in one single movement, for less of a chance of getting chopped in half, if the nomu lost their grip.

““IZUKU!””

The two shouted and rushed their boss (applies to both) and guilty crush/little bro stand-in. (one for each respectively.)

Izuku… Izuku looked horrible.

His clothes were in ruins and soaked with blood, his hair was a static charged mess, the area around him was burnt, and shallow flickers of weak red lightning would occasionally spark around him. His chest and arms were pincushioned with dozens of Entropy syringes, and the ground around him was littered in broken vials.

Kuin slid forward and grabbed him gently by the shoulders, while Yuyara hovered behind her, too scared to even touch him.

Slowly his burnt eyelids opened to reveal glossy green orbs that had a dull sheen to them as they slid to Kuin.

“...et e.. u ah.. nk…”

“W-What?” Kuin leaned in closer, her forehead inches from his own. “I can’t hear you.”

Izuku raised a bloody hand and grabbed ahold of her.

“Get me to a tank.” He grunted, each word feeling like sandpaper with glass shards in it as they were dragged past his throat. “I need to get this thing out of me.”

“A tank! Yeah, a tank! That’s perfect!” Kuin said as much to herself as she did him, as she gently scooped Izuku up, as if he was made of glass. “Yuyara, can you-”

“Already on it.” The mint haired girl snapped, whipping out her phone and rushing to unlock the door with Izuku’s ID card. “Quick, follow me!”

With one last nervous look back at the mountain of broken Entropy vials, the Queen Bee did just that.

-Rain of Sins-

Ujiko tapped his foot impatiently as he watched the numbers on top of the elevator doors slowly countdown.

He hated cutting himself off from his lab network, it always felt like he was missing something! It was a kind of strange and unusual torture for the perfection obsessed micro manager, but he couldn’t disobey an order from his master.

…

His tapping picked up speed.

Couldn’t this damn thing go any faster!?

“Calm yourself, doctor.” All for One chuckled as he placed a heavy hand on Ujiko’s shoulder. “Men like you and I, we have all the time in the world, you should learn to savor it.”

“We have teleportation quirks. We could already be there.” He grumbled.

“And spoil the surprise? The best moments are made by the buildup. If you skip to the climax you lose the impact of the scene, the rush of your emotions.” All for One smirked. “You know, I learned that from an acting class. Many lifetimes ago, before I was All for One, the orphanage sent me to a small school, and that specific lesson has stuck with me all these years.”

He looked out into nothing, playing back memories in his head.

“Because it’s never been proven wrong.”

…

“Teleportation would have still been faster.”

“Small things, doctor, small things. The little sights, sounds, and tastes, I never realized until I lost them, but they make the grand achievements so much richer when you know how to take everything in.”

The elevator dinged, and the door slowly slid open to reveal a sterilized medical room, which was completely dark except for the single spotlight over the table in the center.

“What was that? Is someone there!? Please! Help me!”

Ujiko raised an eyebrow and walked towards the blond man strapped to the table.

“Please, you have to help me! I need- I need iT!” The man strained against his metal bindings, the veins on his head visibly pulsing. “NO! No I don’t! YES! I do! I neEd it! I caN feel it! No I can’t! I CAN! I FEEL HIM!” He threw his head back and shouted. “PLEASE PUT MY MASK BACK ON!”

All for One snapped his fingers and the man fell silent, muted even as mouth continued to move.

“This is my new friend Jin, who likes to go by his Villain alias of Twice.” He said as he walked to the head of the table with his hands behind his back. “Jin’s quirk has given him severe dissociative identity disorder, but it’s power more than makes up for it.”

“Are you worried it might interact poorly with some of your current quirks?” Ujiko furrowed his eyebrows and stroked his mustache, trying to figure out why he had been brought here.

“No, I won’t be taking his quirk. It would be far too dangerous to me.” All for One shook his head. “His quirk is called Double, it allows him to create copies of people with their quirks and personalities fully intact. It’s a truly marvelous quirk, isn’t it? I would take it myself if the clones didn’t have free will.”

It was so tempting. For the first time in his life he had the chance to talk to someone who saw the world the way he did, to talk to someone who understood. But it was too risky.

“Most notably he can copy himself, and since his copies have his quirk, they can create copies of themselves. Exponentially. Forever. The only limit is the energy needed to make them, and that each generation of clones away from the original are more and more fragile.”

The self proclaimed Demon Lord patted Twice on the head condescendingly, a truly evil smile on his face.

“But don’t worry Jin, I think we’ll be able to solve those problems for you.”

“Wait.” Ujiko’s eyebrows shot up as he realized what his master had brought him here for. “You want to make a nomu out of him.”

“Not just any nomu. I want to create a true devil, a nightmare brought to life! An unkillable tide of monsters that can physically bury all of Japan beneath their claws if they have to! What better way to retake control of Japan than with an army that outnumbers its entire population?”

All for One smiled and held out his hand.

“What do you say, doctor? Want to test the limits of your art? You’ll have every quirk at my disposal to make a masterpiece. To make your true magnum opus.”

“Master… Do you even need to ask?” Ujiko rolled up his sleeves and walked towards the table with a manic and broken look on his face.

“But shhh, don’t tell your protege just yet.” All for One grinned wolfishly. “I know he’s been working on those Rapture projects of his, so the next time he deploys one I want to surprise him with a… competing product.”

-Rain of Sins-

Dixie let out a puff of smoke as he lowered his cigarette. Really he wasn’t supposed to be smoking on the clock, but then again, when Kino found out about this the smoking was the least of the things she would be flipping out over.

“That’s a terrible habit, you know.” The Korrean ambassador said beside him. “It’s horrible for your health.”

“My entire job is horrible for my health.” Dixie said as he flicked the stub into the ocean, and brought another one to his lips. “But it helps me ground myself when I’m about to do something risky. Keeps me focused.”

He snapped his fingers a few times, lighting the cig with his weak flame quirk. He took a drag and offered the box to the ambassador.

“Want one?”

The ambassador shook his head. “I already have too many bad habits.’

“Fair ‘nough.”

They were a strange duo. A short man with glasses in a business suit, and another in an CSC combat uniform wearing a black leather cowboy hat. They were leaning against an unmarked CSC vehicle, on the edge of Tokyo’s largest dock. Four Safety Commission agents, all technically off duty, and all loyal to Dixie, stood bodyguard.

“This third person you said would meet us today? How do you know he won’t back out?”

“Because.” Dixie drawled. “He has something to prove.”

A distant horn sounded, and a shadow slowly fell over the harbor as a massive ship approached.

The Independence-class Juggernaut USS Freedom Fire. It had the firepower of entire fleets, the airframe count of multiple ground bases, and was absolutely huge! The Independence-class Juggernauts were the second largest movable man made thing in the world. One fourth the size of I-island, and entirely dedicated to nothing but sheer overwhelming firepower.

And the US had two of them.

A helicopter took off from one of the numerous landing pads on the behemoth and sped ahead of the ship, directly towards their location.

“It’s about time.” Dixie adjusted his hat and stood up as the helicopter landed in front of them, blasting them both with wind.

The rotors died down, and the doors opened to reveal a surprising but predictable guest.

“Mister President!” Dixie smiled widely. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Frank Roosevelt, current president of the Unified States of America, adjusted his tie and stepped out of the chopper with all the confidence he could fake.

“Mister Dixie.” Frank said as he shook Dixie’s hand. “The head of my intelligence agency has had nothing but good things to say about you and the Safety Commission.”

“I’m glad to hear it! The HPSC used to work with the NAIC from time to time in the past. You know, you had me worried for a moment. You went through all that trouble to get in contact with me instead of Kino, and then two minutes later I was told you weren’t coming.”

“Yes, that’s because I was also told I wasn’t coming. By congress, by my advisors… Even Star said I shouldn’t…” Frank trailed off for a moment but shook his head and focused. “But I am the head of my country, I will go where I please, and do what is best for my people.”

The painted face of Washington staring down at him. Judging him. Pitying him.

Frank grit his teeth and clenched his hands. No more benchwarmer President.

“Well then, I reckon this should be more than enough weight to throw around.” Dixie clapped his hands. “Let's go get the breakthrough of the century before some reactionary dumbasses throw it away, eh?”

-Chapter End-