Chapter 10

As far back as he could remember, Denki Kaminari had always been the class clown. But it had never been on purpose. He didn't like his quirk. Sure, it was powerful. The ability to generate a thousand volts at will always would be. But there was a major drawback. He called them Blackouts, those times were his brain short circuited. Until he could reconnect it, his body danced around like an absolute moron. Ever since others found out about that little quirk, everyone stopped taking him seriously. And he hated that fact.

He pretended to accept it, reluctantly forcing a Blackout just to make others laugh. Pretended he was perfectly fine with the face people were getting laughs out of his misery. But, deep down, he hated them all. They didn't think about him. They just wanted a cartoony dunce dancing around with his thumbs up, making stupid noises just for their enjoyment. He was their clown. But even clowns had their bad days.

He asked a lot of people to help with the problem. Teachers, Quirk Counsellors, his parents. None of them figured it out. None of them could fix him. Kill the clown. Stop the Blackouts. Whatever. He was trapped like that for fifteen years of his life. But he had one last hope.

UA was the greatest Hero School in the country. They had access to everything. Resources, personnel, anything that would make a Hero the best they could possibly be. If anyone could fix his problems, he'd find them there. So he applied and went through the entrance exam, narrowly avoided a Blackout after short circuiting enough robots to pass and made it in. UA. Where his prayers could be answered. Or so he thought.

The first Blackout of UA came on day 2. He was facing off against Akitani and Komori in some kind of capture the flag sort of mission alongside Jiro. He charged a little bit too much power into his attack and bam. Blackout. He woke up half an hour later in Recovery Girl's office. " Are you alright now?" She asked.

" Yeah. I'm… used to it." Denki sighed.

" A drawback of your quirk, if I must guess."

" Yeah. I don't know why it happens. It's just… I use a bit too much juice and I knock myself out. Except my body keeps moving. I just can't see it."

" I see. That sounds hard."

" It is." He looked up. " You wouldn't happen to know a way to fix it, would you?" She shook her head. " Damn."

" Sorry. I'm a nurse not a quirk counsellor."

" No. It's fine. Don't worry about it." Denki told her, trying to sound upbeat.

" If you ask your homeroom teacher, we can try and set something up for you Denki nodded.

" Thanks Recovery Girl. Can I go get changed now?"

" You may." Denki nodded. With a small bye, he headed back to the changing room to get out of his costume. He felt a pang of worry . He'd heard the whole "ask your teacher" answer before in Middle school. He'd followed that line of inquiry before to no avail. Apparently, his quirk had no fault. The reason that it happened must have been a outside problem. They blamed him, offering no solutions. Denki sighed. Maybe UA would be a lost cause after all.

The next morning began strangely. He'd barely sat down at his desk and begun to relax when a pair of hands slammed down on his desk. Looking up, shocked, he saw Akitani bearing down on him, grinning. H-Huh? Akitani? What are you-" He started before being cut off.

" Sorry, Kaminari. But I need to see your shoes." Denki blinked.

" Huh?" He said blankly. "My… shoes? Why?"

" Oh. That probably sounded really weird huh?" Akitani laughed nervously. " Uh, I just wanted to check something real fast." Denki was confused. Maybe Akitani just wanted to check the make but this was a really strange way of asking. Regardless, he raised his foot onto his desk like he was asked. He became even more confused as Akitani began prodding at the bottom of the shoe. After a few minutes, he laughed. " Ha. He was right."

" What?"

" Oh. Yeah I guess I should explain, huh? Sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself."

" Sit down, Akitani." Aizawa said, entering the room. " Whatever you and Kaminari are talking abut, it can til lunch."

" Yes sir." Akitani nodded. He looked back at Denki. " Wait for me at lunch. I'll explain." Akitani walked back to his desk, leaving Denki wondering what had just happened. Akitani seemed to have figured something out. Something to do with his shoes? What? It left Denki distracted through the rest of the morning. Akitani didn't strike him as someone who was very eccentric. His quirk was strong and he seemed pretty smart. He had a bit of a rough, snarky streak, especially towards Bakugo. These two definitely didn't get along. He heard he had a breakdown because of Bakugo after Denki had left for the day. Clearly, he had his own problems. Maybe that snarky edge and attitude that seemed to just deflect everything, good and bad, coming his way was his way of defending against a rough life. He had a slight limp with his left leg. Maybe that had something to do with it. Who could say? But it did make him wonder. What had he found?

He got his answer as promised at lunchtime. Akitani asked to see the boots in Denki's costume. He didn't know why he was so focused on his foot wear. Still, he let him. Akitani's smile widened as he looked them over. " So it's the same."

" What are you talking about?"

" You know how they make the soles of shoes out of rubber?" He asked. " Cause it's a really sturdy material. It protects your feet from all sorts of damage wandering around out side could bring."

" Where are you going with this?"

" Rubber's also a really good insulator. The best in fact."

" I mean, yeah. You're talking to the walking lightning rod. My house is covered with the stuff." Denki shrugged. " My whole family have some sort of electrical based quirk, so we need to stay safe. So practically everything we use is made of rubber so we don't accidentally break it."

" But that's the point. Because of it, you're a broken circuit." Denki gave Akitani a strange look. Was he insulting him? " Let me explain. Do you know how circuits work? Positive to Positive. Negative to ground?"

" Uh. I think I heard that on a cartoon once?"

" Well, if a circuit doesn't have that Negative to Ground connection, it overloads. The electricity can't disperse anywhere.

" I don't get it." Akitani sighed.

" Fine. I'll get to the point. The soles on your shoes in your suit are made of rubber."

" Yeah? Why wouldn't they be?"

" Because they're made of rubber, your quirk can't discharge the excess electrical energy you produce with your quirk into the ground. So, you overload." It finally clicked.

" Are you talking about my Blackouts?"

" Is that what you call it when you start…Uh..." Izuku started doing a strange motion with his thumbs up. Denki sighed, recognising the motion from recordings of himself.

" Yes. That's what I call it."

" I can work with that." Akitani nodded. " Anyway, right now this is just a theory but I think it's pretty likely that this is the root of the problem." He looked up from the boots at Denki. " Mind if we test it?"

" Like… right now?"

" I mean, we can get lunch first, but during Lunch time, definitely." Akitani nodded. " If that's alright with you of course." He wondered if Akitani was playing a trick on him for a moment? Leather soles in his shoes. It sounded ridiculous. Like he'd notice something so simple yet so obviously detrimental. Or someone else would have. But the Quirk Councillors on focused on his quirk, not the conditions surrounding it. Denki also wasn't exactly the brightest of kid. If he'd listened a bit in science class, then maybe he'd have learned what that whole negative to ground thing was about. Maybe cause neither his parents nor his sisters quirks involved discharging their electrical powers through their body like his did was how they didn't notice it. It sounded like it should be a lie. But the more he thought about it, the more sense it made.

The two got lunch to go from the cafeteria and headed over to the gym, eating and chatting about things, mostly around the pairs quirk. Izuku explained about his quirk, Tempest, and how he could gather wind in his legs and expel it in various ways. However, the gathered wind tended to create pressure that crushed his legs if he left the gathered air alone for too long. He mentioned how he accidentally broke one of his legs that way when he was first learning how to use it, the bone shattering from the pressure and his flesh torn up. It was also why his left leg was weaker than his right.

Denki was somewhat surprised when Ectoplasm, the person on guard, just let them in to the gym. He assumed it was because they were part of the hero course so they could get away with training whenever. At Akitani's request, the man even granted them a clone to use as a test dummy. Denki kicked off his school shoes and socks, feeling to cold of the wooden floor with his bare feet. Akitani stood off to the side. " So, you just want me to fry Ectoplasm?"

" With the same power as you did yesterday."

" Is that… alright?"

" It is fine." The Ectoplasm clone stated. " My clones tend to be used as training dummies by the hero course in lessons, as I'm sure you'll soon find out."

" R-Right. OK." Denki looked down at his hands. He was a bit worried. What if Akitani was wrong? What if it wasn't the shoes? Maybe he was just damaged. After all, Akitani had called it a theory. But he wasn't going to get anywhere second guessing himself. He calmed his nerves. Maybe he could finally kill the clown. He felt as his body started to become charged, electricity crackling around him. He focused the power into his arms and began charging the power into physical form. He looked up at the figure of Ectoplasm's clone and unleashed all he had as a powerful beam of lightning. Watching the lightning arc through the air before colliding with his target, electrocuting the clone into non existence. Then he waited. The power was the same so the feeling should come soon.

But it didn't.

He felt an odd feeling as the electricity he charged exited his body. Instead of feeling an intense heat and pain in his head, he felt like he was cooling down. He shook his hands of a slight numb feeling from the lightning beam he fired, but other than that he felt fine. Better than fine. Just… normal. After an attack like that, normal is the last thing he should be feeling. Hell, after a small discharge, he usually felt some discomfort. But not this time. He felt better using his quirk now than he could ever remember being.

" Hey. Kaminari? Are you feeling alright?" Akitani asked

" Y-Yeah." Denki said, dumbfounded. " I'm… perfectly fine."

" Looks like you managed to discharge the excess power successfully then." Akitani smirked. " Guess he was right after all."

" He?"

" Oh. A friend of my Uncle." Akitani leant back against the Gym wall. " He works at the establishment I live above. My uncle runs it and his friend works behind the counter. The way your power bugged me. It was him who suggested you may not be grounded."

" And, this grounding issue? It's all because of rubber in the soles of my boots?"

" Yep. Seems like it." Akitani scratched the back of his head. " I was reluctant to believe it was that simple as well, to be honest."

" No. You…" Denki was dumbstruck. Was it… over? Now he knew the problem, he could have it fixed. He was sure of that. But, after all this time… would the Blackouts stop? Had he finally killed the clown? " Thank you, Akitani. Seriously."

" Ha. Don't mention it. I'm just glad I could help."

" I apologize for interrupting." The two looked over as the real Ectoplasm re-entered the gym. " However, Lunch period is almost over. I must request you return to your classroom now."

" Yes sir." Akitani nodded, kicking off the wall. Denki, reluctantly now, put his shoes back on. " Are you good to get going, Kaminari?"

" Yeah." Denki nodded happily. Maybe UA wasn't such a bad place after all.

Denki and Mikumo started hanging out a lot after that. He learned a lot about the wind controller. For one, he had a bit of a mischievous streak. His cold snark at Bakugo wasn't just for show. On more than a few occasions, Denki would see him flash his cruel smirk in Hero Training before coming up with some scheme to completely shut down the opposition. He was a fast learner too. Without even being told, he was able to figure out the inner workings of peoples quirks. He figured out Tokoyami's weakness to light from a shift in movements the bird boy had in certain scenarios, closely judged Yanagi's weight limit for her quirk and was able to help Aoyama work out a few kinks in regards to the stomach cramps he had after using his quirk for too long. He even predicted Bakugo's fighting style down to his opening move, a strong right every time. A lot of their classmates came for him for help.

But he also learned that, for everything he said about heroes and his love for them, he had a cynical side as well. He sometimes talked heroes who caused far too many casualties, like Endeavour or Mount Lady, complaining on how he was sure the Hero Commission was covering up for them, even showing off some news stories buried deep in search algorithms. He had a bit of respect for certain Villains too, specifically those who didn't harm civilians. He brought out research data about how people become Villains, saying most of them start from a place of desperation and either lose control or become too deeply involved to quit, assuming they even reached that far before getting taken down by heroes without even getting a hearing or help. Denki tried to argue against it, but he had to admit. It was pretty unfair. Not getting the help you needed. He knew that feeling all too well.

Denki found himself agreeing with some of Mikumo's arguments more as the weeks went on. Honestly, thinking back on it, the commission always had seemed a bit shady. But everyone was too distracted by the flashy heroes to see it. It was admittedly way too easy to ignore but, looking into it on his own time, he could see where Mikumo was coming from. But, he imagined that with such a strong personality and ideals, Mikumo would become a hero and fight from within the system to change it. It's probably why he was in UA in the first place. To get recognition and convince others in the system to help him out so, when he became a pro, he could gather enough traction to reform the system.

That's when Denki came across a chatroom in his research. A chat room with six individuals and six stories. Six people failed by the system fighting for change, or at least who could connect with each other through that factor. He watched them talk like some kind of therapy group for half hour before, boredly, Kaminari decided to make an account

-Blackout has joined the chatroom-

Usagi: Ooh. A new challenger approaches.

Blackout: Don't mind me. This place seemed interesting is all.

Usagi: No. It's cool.

Usagi: Welcome.

Toxicity: Hiya.

Violet: What's up?

Singularity: So. What's your story?

Blackout: My story?

Usagi: You don't have to share if you don't want too.

Crucible: We don't force it out of people.

Blackout: Actually, I'm kinda here cause of a friend.

Blackout: He was going on about problems in the system and I kinda started my own research

Blackout: Brought me here.

Brainstorm: independent or newspaper

Blackout: Where just students, dude.

Blackout: Though, I did have a few quirk related problems

Usagi: Did you get help?

Blackout: Tried too.

Violet: Let me guess. They told you you're quirk was working fine right?

Violet: That any problems was a personal issue?

Blackout: How did you guess?

Violet: Cause I was the same. Quirk Counsellors are crooks.

Toxicity: Just like the people who send them

Usagi: Amen

Violet: Amen

Singularity: Amen

Violet: Jinx

Singularity: Damn it.

Crucible: Children.

Denki laughed. He continued talking with them for a while. Interestingly enough, it seemed they all had similar ideas to Mikumo about things, even if a lot of them seemed a lot less willing to look for reform and were just angry at being let down so many times. He decided to tell Mikumo about Venality the next day.

" Oh. So that really was you last night." Mikumo said, laughing. Denki was taken aback.

" Huh?"

" I'm Usagi. I knew the writing style reminded me of something. I was worried to ask in case I was wrong."

" Wait, but I though Usagi was…" Denki cut himself off. Mikumo was smirking again.

" Come with me after school. There's someone I want you to meet. I think it'll help you understand everything a lot better." Perhaps Denki should have mentioned this to someone. According to Venality's blog posts, Usagi created the site. But there was a problem. Usagi was Quirkless, or so he claimed. Mikumo, however, had an amazing quirk. He wondered briefly is Usagi was a shared account. Maybe with a friend or even his Uncle. That didn't make sense either though. Everyone in the server mentioned they were in High School now. Besides, what reason would Usagi have to lie about such a thing? Denki was curious about who this person Mikumo wanted him to meet was. He trusted his friend through. So, at the end of the day, he texted his folks that he was going to hang out with a friend after school and went with Mikumo.

When he woke up, Denki didn't remember the face of the man he had met. He didn't remember his voice, the room they were in or even passing out. However, he remembered crystal clear the words that they shared. And it became clear to Denki what Mikumo, or Izuku as he learned his name actually was, was truly doing in UA. He wasn't a hero wannabe with revolutionary ideals. He was a spy. A villain.

Before UA, that news would have shook him to the core. His friend? A villain? No way. He would have ran away. Found a cop. A hero. Exposed everything he'd heard and let them deal with the aftermath. But now? Denki wasn't sure what to think now. Cause he knew everything that man had said was true from experience. People were abandoned or mistreated because of their quirks and misdiagnosed as faults when they really just needed a bit of help. He knew that. But the suggested answer to that was to tear down society and seize the reigns of power for themselves. A lot of people would be hurt in that process. A lot of people wouldn't come out the other side alive.

It took a while to process everything before he even realised he were he was. A small bedroom in, he assumed, the Kamino Ward bar Mikumo or Izuku or whoever brought him too. He throat was way too dry. So he decided to move. Outside his room, he met an older man with deep purple hair and scars all over his body. Despite the appearances, he was friendly. He helped Denki to the bar, asking if he was alright after dealing with "the old man" as he called him. Apparently, his first meeting was the same. No real memories of the enigmatic man himself. Just what had been said.

He met Mizuko in the bar, who handed him a cold soda and introduced him to Shoto and Hitoshi. The other two boys were pretty quiet but Mizuko more than made up for it. Denki admitted. He was conflicted. Hell, he didn't even know what to call his friend. He was pretty sure he could still call Mizuko a friend. He suffered a lot. He remembered him fully explaining his story. Apparently, Bakugo was more of a prick that Denki ever thought possible but that was a feeling he'd get to another day.

" So. Now you know." Mizuko said.

" Yeah." Denki nodded.

" I trust you as a friend, Denki. That's why I figured I'd give you the chance. If you want, you can join us."

" As in… this… what was it called again?" Mizuko hummed at the question.

" So far all we have is 'League' as a definite. League of what, we don't know. It's the only word any of us could agree on."

" Right, so this League. You're… villains right?"

" That's how the world would class us as." Shoto agreed.

" I… think that should bother me far more than it should."

" Probably." Hitoshi nodded.

" But it doesn't?"

" No. It doesn't." Denki sighed. Then he looked up. Mizuko was smirking. Denki could only chuckle upon seeing it. That boy was crafty. And, admittedly, Denki was alright with that. The clown had haunted his life. But, where everyone laughed at him and gave the clown life, Mizuko had seen that he needed help. And he helped him. The clown was dead. Now, there was only Denki Kaminari. And he made his choice.