Chapter Text
A thick liquid surrounded the nomu as he felt himself slowly gaining consciousness, his eyes fluttering open. Tubes were embedded into his flesh, and he felt almost weightless inside of the tube. Colours swirl in his vision, shapes starting to form.
Everything was coloured in a slightly blue-ish tint, seemingly the colour of the liquid inside of his tube. There were two distinct shapes outside, presumably people. He leaned in closer to the wall, pressing his hand against the thick glass.
“---o sure this one is not a failure? And it has all of the different needed parts?” A raspy voice called out, peering at the nomu. His red eyes locked with the nomu’s green ones, seemingly staring into its soul.
“Yes, I’m sure. I even triple checked to make sure. This is the best nomu we’ve made so far. It even has its own consciousness.” The smaller man paused, pondering something for a moment before continuing, “The biggest side effect could be that this one has some free will. If it poses a problem to you feel free to send it back and I will fix it.”
The nomu’s eyes widened slightly. Fix it? How would they fix itme? His bright eyes staring at the two of them. The man with the raspy voice was wearing… hands? There were so many, he couldn’t keep count.
“I believe it is time to release the nomu. Here, give me just a moment.” The short man moved over to a panel next to the nomu’s tube, pressing a few buttons.
“There, the nomu will be put back to sleep while we remove i—” The nomu’s consciousness faded away, back into the darkness. His eyelids felt heavy as he closed them, embracing the darkness.
- - - - - - - - - -
Consciousness slowly started to come back to the nomu, but he simply did not wish to wake. The floor was oddly comfortable to lay on.
The nomu stretched his limbs out, yawning slightly before sitting up. Looking around, he seemed to be in a kind of bar. To his left were booths, to the right was a bar with stools and a massive alcohol rack behind the counter. A man made of dark purple mist and wearing a suit was cleaning a glass with a rag behind the counter. His golden yellow eyes flickered towards the nomu for a moment before turning to face the other person in the bar, the man with the raspy voice from earlier.
“Tomura, he’s awake.” The mist man’s voice was comforting. The nomu turned towards the Tomura and saw that he didn’t have all of the hands from earlier. Where’d the hands go?
“Get up, nomu.” Tomura spat, staring him down. He quickly stood up, staring at Tomura with a curious gaze. The red eyes glaring back at him did nothing in stopping his green ones from being filled with curiosity.
“Your name is Shepherd. You will listen to what I tell you to do, understand? Do not disobey me, I will not take kindly to it.” Tomura’s tone indicated no disagreement.
Shepherd had no reason to go against these orders, so he nodded quickly. He stared at Tomura, taking in as many of his features as he could. The man had sunken bloodshot eyes, deep eyebags, dried skin and lips, and what seemed like scratch marks all over his neck. He was wearing a loose fitting black shirt and baggy sweatpants. He had messy pale blue hair that framed his face, covering his forehead and parts of his eyes.
“We have a mission for you. You are to infiltrate UA high. The entrance exams are in two weeks’ time,” The mist man called out, facing Shepherd again. “We will train you to be able to pass and get into the hero course. You are to act as our spy and tell us information about the different students and teachers.”
Shepherd nodded once again, his black and green curls bouncing and happiness welling up inside of him. My first mission!
- - - - - - - - - -
His first mission was not going well. Well, more specifically, the training was not going well. While Shepherd seemed to have an innate talent for analyzing different quirks and battle strategies, it was a whole other beast on actually using them.
He had tried sparring with a few different partners, but mostly sparred with Tomura, or as he was told to call him, Shigaraki. It was difficult, as he was still trying to figure out his own powers.
One of the coolest aspects that Shepherd had discovered is his dog-like powers. He could extend or retract sharp teeth and claws, or if he focused enough could turn into a massive 10-foot dog.
Shepherd had also met with the doctor, the short man that he saw when he first woke up in the tube, to figure out more of the exact powers that he possessed.
Shigaraki was always wearing artist gloves when they sparred, but he would always end up getting a 5-finger grab on him, causing the sparring to end. He was getting better, but it was still extremely difficult. Every time Shepherd got slightly better, Shigaraki would up the difficulty immensely.
“Get up nomu. I can’t have a weak party member. We are grinding your levels so you can get into UA. Being weak isn’t an option.” Shigaraki stood over Shepherd, glaring at him.
“Don’t wanna. Floor time.” Shepherd pouted, because the floor was really comfortable. He stretched his arms out, soaking in as much of the floor as he could. The blue-haired man kicked him in his stomach, causing him to curl in on himself in pain.
“You can do whatever the fuck you like to do on the floor later. We still have to train.” Shigaraki sounded disappointed, and Shepherd didn’t want to make him disappointed. He stood up, getting back into a battle stance. He was not going to disappoint Shigaraki.
Shepherd put his hands up, claws extending out and waited. His teeth grew sharper and his hair started to grow down his spine slightly. His form also got larger, muscles refining and bulking. A partial transformation, but not fully turning dog. His ears grew and pointed a little, fur sprouting out from the back.
A deep growl was released from Shepherd’s throat as he lunged towards Shigaraki, who simply raised his hand in the nomu’s path. This caused him to jump over the blue haired man and instead attack his back. Reacting quickly, Shigaraki twisted back and jumped away, causing deep gashes to form on the ground from Shepherd’s claws.
Quickly recovering, Shepherd lunges again, this time aiming for Shigaraki’s arm. He manages to get one gash through it before he is grabbed and slammed to the ground again with a massive thud. Shigaraki steps on his chest, glaring down.
“You have two days before the entrance exam, and this is the best you have? You really are at a low level. I'm done with this.” He stepped off and walked away, leaving Shepherd on the ground. The very comfortable ground.
Rolling over to the side, Shepherd looked at the damage that was dealt to the training ground with bright eyes. He felt like he was doing better, but felt bad that he couldn’t please Shigaraki. Or Handy Man, his nickname. Not that he would ever say it out loud without fearing for his life.
The hoodie that the nomu was wearing was very torn up as well, with the front pocket completely ripped off as well. He fiddled with the loose strings, tugging a few of them out.
Will I really be able to do this? I don’t want to disappoint Shigaraki, but what if I don’t get in? Sadness welled up in Shepherd, and he curled in himself a little. His claws and teeth were fully retracted at this point, with only a little extra hair on his neck and cheeks left. The coldness of the ground was a comforting feeling.
It didn’t take long for Shepherd to sit up, toxic green eyes looking around for something. He spotted his notebook in a corner, and ran over to start writing.
It just seemed natural for the nomu to write things down, mumbling incoherently at the same time. His hand moved fast across the pages, scribbling down all of the information he could from the fight. Over the past two weeks he had been documenting all that he could in the notebook. It seemed to help.
After returning the notebook and pencil to its corner, Shepherd finally stood up, shaking extra dust off his body and sauntered back to the bar.
The mist man, or Kurogiri, was there behind the counter, as usual. He politely greeted Shepherd as he sat down at the bar. A few moments later a cup of coffee was placed down in front of him, which he accepted readily.
Kurogiri was always fascinating to Shepherd, and he loved to just sit and watch him work. His bright eyes would simply watch as the mist around Kurogiri’s head would flicker and seem to disappear out of a certain radius. Every time he's tried to touch it though his hands are warped away, causing mild frustration. It just looked so fluffy.
“Do you need something else?” The voice startled Shepherd out of his daze, and almost fell off of his chair. Kurogiri’s eyes were small slits, and it was hard to determine what he was feeling. Maybe concerned? The smell of cigarettes filtered in through Shepherd’s nose as he turned towards the door right as a silver-haired man walked in smoking a cigarette.
“Ah, Kurogiri. I have the documents that you requested. I assume it's for this one?” The man said, pointing his thumb at Shepherd. His voice was deep and slightly gravelly. Toxic green eyes watched his every move, soaking in as much information they could.
“Giran, just on time. Thank you for always providing when we need it.” Kurogiri thanked the man, shifting through the files. Everything seemed to be in order, as the mist man nodded towards Giran.
“Good to see I didn’t miss anything. I’d like a whiskey on the rocks please,” He said, sitting down a chair over from Shepherd.
A moment later, Kurogiri put down the whiskey on the table and slid it over to Giran, who took a big gulp before setting it back down and turning towards Shepherd. “So, I’m assuming you’re aiming for class 1-A? I have your false documents all sorted for you to turn them in before the exam. Your name is Izuku Rima, remember it.” Giran grabbed his glass again, downing the rest of his whiskey.
Giran stood up and flashed a grin towards Shepherd and Kurogiri before exiting. He had a missing tooth.
“So do you want to see your documents?” The soothing voice called out, pulling Shepherd attention to the multiple papers placed on the counter. Birth certificate, quirk certificate, social security, along with a few others that UA needed.
Shepherd pulled his legs closer to his chest and stared down at the documents for a while, absorbing the information as fast as he could.
“Izuku Rima, age 15, quirk Wolf. Don’t I have more than just Wolf though?” Shepherd asked, head cocking to the side.
“Yes, you do. But you are only to display Wolf while at UA. We can’t let the heroes know you work with us. So, if you see us at any time or another villain, treat us just as your classmates would. We can’t afford to have you blow your cover too quickly.” Kurogiri’s mist seemed to move slightly faster as he talked, more curls forming.
“Understood.” He couldn’t stop a grin from spreading across his face in excitement.
- - - - - - - - - -
UA was huge. I mean, it was always huge, but today it felt massive. Shepherd walked into the gate, uneasiness rippling through his body. There were people everywhere, and he felt a few eyes watching him. The spy did look a little unusual, with large dark brown and gray spots all across his neck, arms, legs, and torso, similar in colour to the other nomus he's seen.
Too focused on the eyes on his back. Shepherd didn’t notice the small notch in the concrete, falling forward. He pressed his hands into the concrete to do a front flip, landing nicely a few feet in front of where he was originally. A brown-haired girl with wide eyes was staring at him, hand outstretched. Ignoring it, he stood up and brushed small bits of dust off and walked into the building.
“How did you do that?” It was the brown-haired girl, now standing next to him. Her large eyes still staring at him.
“How did I do a flip? It’s not that hard.” His cocked his head in confusion.
“No, no not that. I mean, that was pretty cool, but your body, twisted to avoid my hand when you jumped.”
Shepherd stood there for a second, confused. “Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do? Not let the other person touch you?” he asked, even more confused at this point. The girl made no sense. She made even less sense when she seemed confused too.
“Alright, bye I guess.” Shepherd started to walk away, but the girl kept following him. She was starting to get annoying.
“My name is Ochako Uraraka! What’s your name?” she said in an overly cheery voice.
“She- Izuku Rima. Nice to meet you.” He gave a small nod before walking a little faster. I just need to get to the auditorium and then I’ll be fine. What are the odds she’s also trying out for the hero course? There’s many other classes, it’s unlikely.
Except Uraraka was, in fact, trying out for the hero course. They ended up walking into the auditorium together. Shepherd sighed, accepting the fact that he's most likely going to be seeing her a lot more.
Sitting down in an empty seat, Shepherd was glad that Uraraka sat down elsewhere. There were too many people in here as well, all packed together. It overloaded Shepherd’s enhanced senses, and a headache started to form in the back of his head.
Suddenly, a man wearing leather pants and a leather jacket with hair that stands impossibly tall calls out “Hello little listeners!” His voice boomed out over the crowd, causing everyone to fall silent.
Seems like a voice quirk. He’s too loud.
“Welcome to the UA entrance exam! I first would like to go over some of the rules of the exam, as well as give you a briefing on what is to be expected.” Shepherd shrunk back slightly, his ears still ringing from the first call. There was no reason for someone to need to yell so loudly just to get people’s attention.
“First of all, If you little listeners don’t already know, my name is Present Mic! Throughout the exam, you will be tasked with taking down robots. You should all have pamphlets for the test, so feel free to look it over. I will show you the robots on the screen now,” Waving his hand towards the screen caused it to light up with three different robots, labeled 1 point, 2 points, and 3 points. “These are the robots you will be fighting. You will gain points for each one you take down…”
Present Mic continued on, but Shepherd started to focus elsewhere, at the different students. He already knew what to expect from the exam due to the League telling him, so there was nothing to lose from not listening. Some of the students looked confident, but a few looked rather nervous. Maybe they had quirks not fit for fighting robots.
“Excuse me, but the pamphlet says there are four types of robots. Why are you saying there are only three?” A blue haired student with rectangular spectacles stood up, hand chopping the air as he asked.
“Ah, that is because the fourth one is a zero pointer. It’s best to simply ignore that one, you won’t gain any points from defeating it.” Present mic replied, his voice still loud. It was grating slightly against Shepherd's brain now, the quirk aspect making his voice sound unnatural.
After a while, Present Mic concluded the presentation, and called out a final time for the students to go to the testing area. Everyone filed out, but the nomu hung out behind a bit, as to not get squished from the crowd.
He immediately regretted it when the bubbly girl appeared by his side with a grin and wave. Maybe I should have just taken my chances with the crowd.
“Are you ready for the practical, Rima? I have a few ideas on how to do it, but it depends on how heavy those robots are. Oh yea, my quirk is zero-gravity! I can control gravity, that's what I was trying to do to you earlier so you wouldn’t fall. What’s your quirk?”
Shepherd considered not telling her for a second, but decided there was no harm in telling her. “My quirk is wolf. I can turn into a giant dog.” He carefully watched Uraraka for her reaction. Sadly, she had the exact reaction he had expected her to have.
“A dog?” Her eyes lit up and her grin got even wider. “I love dogs! What kind of dog do you turn into? Or is it not like any regular breeds? Can I see?” Her deep brown eyes staring straight into his toxic green ones.
“You could probably see during the exam, though I might not go full wolf. I mostly just do a partial transformation. See you there.” He started to walk out now that the crowd had thinned. Hopefully, she would get the hint that he wanted to walk alone, and this time she seemed to understand.
The halls were a comfortable quiet, with only a few stragglers left behind, and only a few quiet conversations here and there too. The same could not be said when Shepherd got to the huge doors that led to the practical exam. There was noise everywhere, from talking or exercising.
Shepherd closed his eyes and took a deep breath, causing a small growl released from his throat when he breathed out. A certain smell caused him to look around and see Present Mic standing on a building, just in time for him to call out the start of the exam.
“START! The exam starts now!” The loud blond called out as the doors swung open, and Shepherd applied pressure to his legs and leaped over the crowd into the testing area, claws and teeth extending while he jumped.
Landing on a bot, Shepherd grabbed its head with the claws and ripped it off, flinging it towards another one, causing both to malfunction. He needed to show off, needed to prove his worth to the school, needed to get in. He can’t afford to fail.
Jumping from bot to bot, points were quickly racked up. With every attack, the nomu appeared to be more and more wolf-like. More fur spreading across his skin, his body becoming larger and leaner, teeth and claws getting longer. By the time Present Mic called out the time left, Shepherd was more dog than human.
Focused on the bots, he almost didn’t notice the massive bot that was dropped in the middle of the arena, if not for the panic from the other examinees. Looking up, Shepherd saw the massive zero-pointer robot, its hands knocking over buildings.
“They call that to have zero points? How could you ignore that?” Shepherd’s eyes narrowed, but his senses didn’t pick up on any other robots in the area other than this one.
He shrugged, turning into a full- wolf before lunging at the massive bot, leaving deep gashes in its front armor. He might as well take this down before going to find any more smaller ones.
Shepherd burrowed into the bot’s chest, claws and teeth gashing at any wiring and mechanics inside. It didn’t take long for the bot to fall over, the inside mechanics destroyed.
As soon as Shepherd emerged from the rubble, he heard the familiar yet annoying voice of Present Mic, calling out for the end of the exam.
Jumping down, Shepherd once again saw Uraraka, who seemed to have a twisted ankle. It appeared like she was trapped under some of the rubble from the bot, but managed to get unstuck.
“Were you trapped?” He asked, stalking over towards the girl. Her eyes were wide as she responded.
“Yeah, thanks for saving me! You really do look like a giant dog!” She replied, one hand scratching her head. Remembering he was still in wolf form, he quickly changed back, his body shrinking and becoming bipedal once again. The only show that he was once a wolf was the bits of fur sticking to his cheeks and neck, as well as sharper than normal canines.
“Seems like you got your wish afterall, to see me as a dog.” he sneered, running his teeth across his teeth. The feeling helped ground Shepherd after transforming. Mostly the lingering bloodlust that stayed after being in the wolf form and not seeing enough blood when he was ripping through the robots.
“Now now, have some candies.” A short woman holding a giant needle cane said, handing three small candies to an examiner. “If you have any injuries, come to me.” She grinned, looking out over the crowd.
- - - - - - - - - -
Shepherd was tired and agitated after a long day at the entrance exams. His eyes drooped slightly, and his aura radiated malice. He wanted badly to just tear something up to watch it bleed.
Opening the door to the bar, Shepherd saw Shigaraki sitting on one of the chairs, holding a handheld console. He sauntered over and sat down, leaning his head against the villain’s legs. His presence made Shepherd calm down in an unusual way.
Shigaraki glanced down towards the new presence before snorting and returning to his game. He simply ignored the nomu clinging to his legs, and focused solely on what he was playing.
If Shepherd had his tail out, it would be aggressively wagging. He had tried to sit next to Shigaraki in the past, but almost always would get pushed away. He wrapped his arm around the villain and closed his eyes, taking in the calm atmosphere.
“So?” A raspy voice called out, bringing Shepherd’s focus back. He looked up to see Shigaraki staring down at him. “Did you get in?”
“I hope I did. I think I did well at least. We will know by next week when the letter arrives.” Shepherd stared back, his eyes glinting.
“I have a small mission for you to do while you wait. There's someone that’s been getting on my nerves recently and I need you to get rid of him.” At Shigaraki’s words Shepherd stood up and stared at him, eyes wide.
“Who?”
“He goes by the alias Cyclops.”
- - - - - - - - - -
Shepherd stalked a few paces behind Cyclops, his eyes focused on the man. He was trying to get the man alone, but he kept staying in crowded areas. It was starting to get really annoying, and his thirst for blood kept growing with each passing minute.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, the man ducked into a secluded alleyway, away from prying eyes. Shepherd followed behind, staying close to the shadows. A quick sneak attack could be managed now, but he wanted to get a little further away from the crowd so he could hear the man scream.
Cyclops was clearly on edge, but continued to walk into more secluded areas, until eventually Shepherd wasn’t able to pick up a single person in the area other than him.
“Who are you and what do you want? I know you’ve been following me.” Cyclops called out, his voice smooth and almost liquidy. It held an air of confidence, as he activated his quirk.
In a second, Cyclops’s muscles had thickened, and the man grew tall. He was around 12 feet now, but that height was perfect for Shepherd.
The sacrifice villain widened his eyes at the sight of a dog the same height as he, but quickly recovered and got into a fighting stance.
Shepherd grinned, a wide toothy grin that revealed his sharp fangs. He lunged at Cyclops, who put an arm out to block his attack.
Wrong move Shepherd thought as his jaws clamped around Cyclops’s arm, tearing through flesh and ripping large chunks of skin and muscle off.
The villain screamed a guttural scream and blood poured out of his open arm and swung with his other arm.
The nomu jumped back off of his arm, blood dripping from his mouth as bits of flesh were caught between his teeth. Oh how delicious his blood tasted. He lunged again, and this time Cyclops had the wits to dodge instead of block. The villain might have advantage due to his strength and size, but Shepherd was not about to lose in agility.
Lunging again, Shepherd aimed high, but feigned and ducked, biting Cyclops’s left leg, tearing at flesh just like he had with his arm. The villain buckled under the weight imbalance, falling over onto his back.
Shepherd stepped on top of Cyclops, pinning him down as he leaned forward and clamped his jaws one more time around his neck.
Unfortunately, the man did not want to go down without fighting even more, as he used his injured arm to try to pry Shepherd’s maw open, while his good hand grabbed something and pressed it into his fur.
A moment too late the nomu realized what the object was, and jumped off of Cyclops, a bullet sinking into his leg, instead of his heart where it was aimed.
The pain from the wound seared through Shepherd, causing his fury to increase two-fold. He bit back down on the villain’s arm, ripping it off of his shoulder and tossed it to the side. He was going to make his death hurt.
He raked his claws and teeth through any limb he could grab, watching with bliss as the villain was reduced to a pile of blood and gore, his body was unrecognizable by the time he was done, the only part salvaged was the arm that was ripped off earlier. That would be taken back to the bar as proof of completion.
The only problem was the gunshot wound that was most certainly starting to hurt after the initial adrenaline started to wear off. Transforming back out of wolf form, Shepherd messaged Kurogiri his coordinates, and a portal was opened nearby in a few seconds.
Limping back into the bar, Shepherd held Cyclops’s arm in his mouth, saliva mixing in with the metallic blood taste in his mouth. He flopped down on the ground, causing blood to get all over the floor.
Looking up, Shigaraki stood over him, a frown on his face.
“You look like shit.” He taunted, taking in the wounds.
“Yea well, didn’t expect him to have a gun.” Shepherd retorted, pointing dramatically at his shot leg. “Could I get some help in the leg department?”
Shigaraki walked away. He simply walked away. Like Shepherd wasn’t just bleeding out on the floor. He called out after him, but the villain simply ignored him.
Kurogiri sighed, and took out some gauze and walked over to Shepherd. He picked up the wounded leg and checked the wound.
“Appears to be a clean shot. The bullet went right through. I’ll patch you up.” He said, and Shepherd let his head hit the ground again with a small thud.
Peering over his brows, Shepherd saw Shigaraki sitting on the chair he was earlier, playing on his console once again. Slight annoyance crossed his face before he sighed and closed his eyes for a moment.
Reopening his eyes, Shepherd twisted his head to the side and grabbed Cyclops’s arm, and held it in his mouth, chewing slightly like a stress ball.
It didn’t take Kurogiri long to finish cleaning and dressing the wound, and soon left to go back behind the bar, leaving Shepherd on the ground, who simply decided to just stay there. He doubted he could move if he wanted to, from the lingering pain in his leg after all.
“Why are you eating a dead guy’s arm? Gross.” Shepherd spun around to stare at Shigaraki, who stared back.
“is’ tasty.” he shrugged, continuing to stare at the pale-haired man.
“Ew.” Shigaraki scoffed, but his lips curled upward slightly. Shepherd laughed, which caused Shigaraki to glare at him again.
“I definitely like it here.” The nomu sighed, rolling over onto his back again.
“It’s not like you have a choice.” Shigaraki replied, returning to his game.
- - - - - - - - - -
The following week fell easily into routine. In the mornings, Shepherd would spar with Shigaraki, during the day he would lay around the bar, and in the evenings Shigaraki and Kurogiri would meet possible new members for the league.
After a few people left, Shepherd spoke out, “It seems like the only people you’re hiring are the standard thugs that are gonna go down easily.” He was flopped over one of the booths with his head hanging a few inches off of the floor.
“We just need numbers for what we are doing. If we get strength it's a bonus.” Shigaraki replied in his raspy voice.
“Hm. And why won’t you let me be in on this attack you’re doing?”
“Because you wouldn’t be a very good spy if you were teaming up with the villains, would you.”
Sighing, Shepherd accepted his fate. He wouldn’t be allowed to help if Shigaraki refused, even if he wanted to.
“It seems that your letter has arrived, Shepherd.” Kurogiri said, placing a letter on the table in front of him. Shepherd quickly got up, bouncing over to one of the bar stools and leaving the dismembered arm on the floor.
Ripping open the letter revealed a hologram of All Might, which Shigaraki promptly got up and left the room after glancing over.
“Izuku Rima, you have been selected to join UA High in class 1-A. I look forward to seeing you-” As soon as the hologram finished saying that he was accepted, it was thrown violently against the wall, smashing into bits. Shepherd was not going to be listening to the number one hero's talk any more than need be.
“Well, it looks like I got in! Now the mission can really begin.” The new UA student couldn’t stop the grin from spreading across his face at the thought.