Fanfic / A Dangerous Game

A Dangerous Game is a My Hero Academia fanfic by tsukithewolf. In this story, Izuku becomes a villain after his capture and torture, and is sent to the UA Academy as a spy.

When Midoriya Izuku is 13 years old, he is kidnapped on his way home from school by a villain. One year later he is found and returned home with some scars, no memories of the events he went through, and a latent fire quirk. Izuku has to live a double life if he and his loved ones are to survive, even if that means lying to everyone and committing deeds that he’s not sure the heroes would forgive him for. Bakugou Katsuki is certain that Izuku has been lying to everyone since the day he was rescued. And he’s going to figure out his secret.

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A Dangerous Game provides examples of:

• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: See Adaptational Back Story Change below.
• Adaptational Backstory Change: In this universe, Midoriya had been kidnapped, tortured, and experimented on by All For One and his followers. After being able to acquire a quirk of his own, he is trained to become a villain and works for his master prior to being sent as a spy to the UA.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: Bakugou. He is genuinely worried about Izuku after his disappearance and stops bullying his former childhood friend after his return. He also prevented his other classmates from bullying Izuku.
• Adaptational Personality Change: Midorya. While he retains most of his canon counterpart's traits, such as his meek personality, social awkwardness, and admiration for heroes, some of them are more or less an act he maintains to fulfill his mission. Thus, Izuku is a lot more self-deprecating, snarkier, and much more violent, both physically and vocabulary-wise.
  • In contrast, Bakugou in this iteration is slightly more mellow than his canon counterpart, noticeably less violent towards his peers but definitely retaining his colorful vocabulary. He undergoes Character Development much earlier in the story, due to the role he comes to play in Izuku’s life.
• Adaptational Superpower Change: Midoriya doesn't get One For All. Instead, he starts manifesting a fire quirk, among others, after the experiments conducted by All For One.
• Adaptational Villainy: Midoriya. He has admitted, to himself, that a part of him did like being a villain and would act accordingly.
• Anti-Hero:
  • Izuku. He’s an undercover villain acting as a hero-in-training and while his goals are protecting the ones he cares about and freeing himself, his methods are morally questionable at times. He would stop at nothing short of lying, deceiving, and even killing people if it meant achieving his goals.
  • Bakugou is noticeably less selfish and actually has the drive of a hero who wants to save people. That’s not to say he’s less arrogant or hot-headed.
• Anger Born of Worry: In chapter 69, after Katsuki learns that Deku, who had been with Stain the night he attacked the Iida brothers, was the same masked kid who was hanging out with Himiko, he confronts Izuku, worried that he might fall into the hands of the villains again. Little did he know...
• The Atoner: Katsuki tries to be this to Deku, feeling guilty about bullying him for years and that his brash attitude has caused Izuku's kidnapping in the first place.
  • Averted, at first. While Bakugou genuinely feels guilty about Midoriya's kidnapping, he only approached him to earn his confidence and get answers out of him as to why he's putting on a mask.
    • Played straight later on. Bakugou feels that by becoming Midoriya's friend, he can help him to atone for his past. That doesn't mean he doesn't want answers, though.
• Being Tortured Makes You Evil: Downplayed with Izuku. He becomes a more dangerous character as a result of his year captured by the villains, but his goal to become a hero remains unscathed throughout the horrific experiences he undergoes.
• Beneath the Mask: Izuku seems to be the same shy, wimpy kid as he is in canon, only that is a mask to hide his more snarky, ruthless personality. Enforced and exploited, when Katsuki sees through that mask, thus trying to figure out Midoriya's secrets.
• Break the Cutie: Canon isn’t very kind with Todoroki and Iida, and neither is this fic with Izuku and Himiko.

• Darker and Edgier: WRIT LARGE, even compared to most Villain!Deku fics. The premise of Midoriya being a double agent for both heroes and villains comes with deep psychological struggles and physical torment.

• Everyone Has Standards: Katsuki stopped bullying Izuku after his return, and even protected him when it was necessary.
• Faux Affably Evil: All for One’s relationship with Izuku. He would often treat Midoriya quite nicely, until he disobeys his orders...
• Guilt Complex: After bullying Izuku, which indirectly caused his abduction, Katsuki begins to blame everything that goes wrong on himself.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation:
  • Izuku, to a larger extent than his canon counterpart. He admitted he hates himself, and that is a mild example.
  • Katsuki also admitted hating himself after losing the UA Sports Festival final to Izuku. He's conflicted between his Guilt Complex over Midoriya's kidnapping, the fact that he wasn't able to fight at his fullest against him, and his desire to win.
• It's All My Fault: Katsuki blames himself for Izuku’s kidnapping, as the latter has been captured by the villains after he told Midoriya to stop following him. Izuku took a different route on his way home, which resulted in his abduction and torture at the hands of All for One.
• I Will Punish Your Friend for Your Failure: Izuku fears that All for One might kill his mother or Katsuki if he openly disobeys him, so he makes sure to act as loyal to him and Shigaraki as he can.

• Kick the Dog: After winning the UA sports festival, Izuku is punished for disobeying All for One's orders to not use his Quirk past 20% of its strength.
• Living Lie Detector: Katsuki is this for Izuku.

• Odd Friendship: Midoriya's closest friendships are this.
• Pet the Dog: The villains, particularly Himiko, nurse Izuku back to health in chapter 44, after he receives his punishment for disobeying All For One's orders to not use more than 20% of his power at the UA Sports Festival. Even Shigaraki agreed that All For One went too far this time.
• Stepford Smiler: Izuku acts just like his canon self would in front of the UA students, his mother, and pretty much everyone who isn't the villains or Katsuki.
• Stockholm Syndrome: Downplayed. Izuku's goal is to free himself from the villains once and for all, but regards the League of Villains as comrades and views All For One with respect, admitting he does feel proud whenever his master acknowledges him.
• There Are No Therapists: Averted. Izuku frequents one, but… it doesn’t really help.
• Training from Hell: Izuku and Himiko experienced this after being kidnapped by the villains. They were one of the Quirkless kids who had been lucky enough to pass that said training and received Quirks from All For One, but there were a lot of other kids who died during that programe.
• Villainous Friendship:
  • Izuku’s relationship with the League of Villains and All for One, in spades. Despite wanting to free himself from his master, he regards all of them as his friends, even Shigaraki.
  • Deku aside, the League of Villains have this kind of dynamics among themselves. They treat each other as friends, albeit in a very dysfunctional manner.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Izuku and Katsuki. Despite their constant bickering and arguments, the two really care about each other.
• Willfully Weak: Due to posing as an inexperienced teenager, and the fact that he didn't have his Quirk for more than two years, Izuku is not allowed to use more than 20% of his strength while posing as a hero, because it may raise suspicions.
• Yandere: Himiko is still one for Izuku. With the big difference that they are friends and she doesn't try to kill him. Not as much as in the original, at least...

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