Chapter 23: Return to the USJ
He wanted to watch as Izuku's mastery grew. He wanted to witness the moment the meek child he'd met under a bridge fully blossomed into the self assured young man beginning to take shape before him. He wanted to see his successor become the unstoppable hero he could see in him.
He would crush All for One and defy fate itself if he had to.
No matter what it took, he would be there for his boy.
Izuku pulled on the white gloves of his updated suit, then inspected them closely. Just as he'd sketched, there were now small rigid vents positioned behind his knuckles. A large circle of vibrant red that matched his belt and boots dominated the center of his palms. The DNA leather was tough on the outside and supple within, adhered to his hand by a specialized DNA Gel Matrix; a necessary addition for Quirks that generated something tangible rather than just transmitting an effect. The material extended up the belly of his fingers in a thin stripe, and ended in an inverted teardrop shape at his fingertips.
Carefully, he extended a wispy tendril of Blackwhip from a fingertip, then made the base travel down the thin trail of leather until it reached his palm. From there, he widened the strand into a much thicker cord, which waved happily.
Satisfied, he released Blackwhip to play in the knuckle vents, then glanced around the changing room. He was among the stragglers this time, having taken longer to inspect the updates that had been finished over the weekend.
Thankfully, they'd been complete in time for class Monday, because Aizawa had announced they'd be returning to the USJ for the day not a second after he strode into class.
Almost everyone had stilled at that, then the class had rushed to collect their suits and get changed. Izuku had understood that hesitance; regardless of the additional precautions Nezu had implemented, he couldn't deny that going back to where they'd all nearly died was unnerving.
Unfortunately, they needed that training. He knew first hand just how big the gulf between theoretical knowledge and practical application was. He'd been lucky that there'd only been one death from the building he'd evacuated, and he wasn't going to leave that to luck ever again if he could help it.
Izuku shook himself from his thoughts, then glanced towards the other two boys left in the changing room.
"Mineta! I must insist that you not waste time!" Tenya called through the stall door. "I understand that you want to make a grand entrance, but Mr. Aizawa won't be pleased if we aren't changed in a timely manner!"
"The girls usually take an extra minute or so to finish changing. I'm only waiting a little longer than that." Mineta grumbled. "That'll be, like, another 15 seconds. Can you PLEASE just work with me on this?"
Izuku shook his head with a chuckle. "I'm heading for the bus. Maybe you can compromise and wait by the door once I'm gone?"
There was a pause before Mineta grudgingly agreed. Tenya nodded to Izuku appreciatively, then made his way to stand by the door. As Izuku stepped down the hall, he heard the stall door swing open.
"...Huh." Tenya grunted, sounding genuinely surprised. "That's certainly a change of pace."
…Damn it. Izuku was really curious now.
He made his way down UA's halls, letting himself adjust to the new feel of his costume as he went. It wasn't all that different, just a few new places where the weight had shifted or there was a breeze because of the vents. Even so, his mind was swirling with new possibilities up to the moment he reached the bus.
The first person he noticed was Yaoyorozu. That wasn't particularly surprising, given that he didn't even recognizeher for a moment. Sure, he'd seen the sketches of individual parts, but the final product was a day and night difference.
The base was a deep red DNA leather, much as her notes had indicated. The pristine white of the bone-based armor paneling contrasted sharply with it, the pieces arranged like advanced body armor to retain flexibility. A red helmet with a dark visor concealed most of her head, though her distinctive ponytail still emerged from the back.
All together, she had a dramatically more intimidating presence than she had before. Or at least she did until she tapped the side of her helmet, which retracted the visor and revealed the nervous look on her face.
"...Wow." Izuku said after a moment, at a loss for words.
"I know, right?" Kaminari called, nodding enthusiastically as he gestured at Yaoyorozu. "That has to be one of the most badass costumes I've ever seen!"
"I may have gone… a bit overboard." Yaoyorozu murmured sheepishly, fidgeting with some of the paneling. "I focused so much on the functionality that I didn't entirely account for how… menacing it might look."
"It was surprising, sure, but it's nowhere near as menacing as some other Heroes." Izuku shook his head. "I know you had exacting specifications for just about everything in your new costume. If this design improves your effectiveness as much as it should, I don't think it being a little intense is any reason to redesign it. I'm really curious to see how it works in action!"
"Then go sit down so we can leave faster." Aizawa grumbled. Izuku quickly followed the directive, making his way to the seat he saw that Ochako had kept open for him.
Her costume had also changed, though far less drastically than Yaoyorozu's. The wrist braces had been expanded into full gauntlets that ran up to her elbows now that her hands didn't need to be bare. Several holes ran around the enlarged wrist of the gauntlet, likely to accommodate the grappling lines she'd wanted. A band of bright pink ran across the knuckles, the same color as a series of dots he could see on her fingertips and elbows as she raised a hand to wave him over.
Her gauntlets weren't the only change, however. There was more light pink armored paneling around her shoulders, chest, and waist, both to add greater protection and to accommodate the propulsion fans. He thought he could pick out a few of them by the circular contours within the larger structures, but the designers had done an excellent job of making them near seamless. The additions were smooth and sleek, lending her costume a look reminiscent of the 'futuristic' space suits from old sci-fi movies.
"The updates look fantastic, Ochako!" Izuku said as he sat next to her. "It looks like you got most of what you wanted!"
"Yep! Fans and grappling lines and tethers galore!" Then she mock-pouted. "But that's all I get, after everything you had to say about Yaomomo's? I'm hurt, Izuku."
Izuku huffed. "W-well. The rest of you looks fantastic too, but there's nothing new about that."
Ochako let out a little eep as her blush exploded. Izuku practically choked on his own tongue as his brain caught up with his mouth and tried to intervene, but it was far too late.
"Oh ho!" Sero crowed, a wide grin spreading across his face. "Midoriya's got game!"
Ashido was frantically patting at her suit, grinning like the cat who caught the mouse. She was likely trying to find her phone for more 'Documenting their romantic progress' as she'd put it to Ochako. Apparently the picture she'd taken during the movie night had been instrumental in getting Ochako to make a move, so he couldn't really complain.
Daigoro, of course, pulsed merrily.
'You're a terrible influence.' Izuku thought in his direction, but that only made the pulsing more intense.
On one hand, it was embarrassing to have so many people watch him stumble his way through flirting. On the other hand, the flustered little smile on Ochako's face made the embarrassment entirely worth it.
Also, it was objectively true. The new additions to her costume definitely looked good, but that was like putting artwork in a slightly nicer frame. It was completely secondary to her… well, everything.
An everything which he'd been looking at for longer than was probably appropriate, he belatedly realized. Embarrassment redoubled, he quickly looked away… and found something completely and absolutely unexpected.
Roman Gladiator style armor, complete with ornamented greave-boots, arm guards, and a chest piece with artistically sculpted muscles. The torso and legs were partially covered by a toga, which was held closed by a deep purple sash belt that also held an assortment of supply pouches. Hanging below it was a brown coil which Izuku suspected to be a whip, though there seemed to be odd protrusions along its length.
Atop the ensemble was a classical legionary helmet decorated with grape vine designs and purple enamel. But rather than a horse hair plume, a line of purple spheres emerged along the top.
"...Damn." Izuku blinked. "Yeah. Yeah, that IS a change of pace."
As one, the class turned back towards the front of the bus, a wave of surprise rolling through them as they did so. Mineta puffed up under everyone's attention, a smug smile spreading across his face.
"Damn right it is!" Mineta reached up with his left hand, twisting it so a purple circle on the bracer faced outwards. "Introducing The Vineyard Hero: Bacchus!"
With a flick of his wrist, the circle clicked outwards, and a small white shield folded out and into place. It had the look of Roman pottery wrought in purple on white, with a grape motif much like the rest of his armor. Mineta brought the shield down in front of his chest and took a stance, a wide grin on his face at the stunned silence from the class. He opened his mouth-
"We've burned enough time." Aizawa grunted, leveling a glare at the back of Mineta's head. "Both of you, take your seats."
Mineta wilted, then scurried further into the bus. Tenya was on his heels, looking chagrined at the reprimand he'd known would be coming. As Tenya sat down on Izuku's other side, Mineta flicked his wrist to collapse his shield into his bracer once more, then hopped up to sit next to Kaminari.
"Damn, man!" Kaminari elbowed Mineta lightly, grinning. "That's an awesome new look! I can see why you were trying to keep us all in suspense!"
Mineta crossed his arms and huffed as the bus began to move. "The grand reveal didn't exactly go the way I was hoping, but… yeah. I'm really happy with how it turned out. Everything's all non-stick like my old costume, but it should do a better job of actually protecting me. The helmet has a lining to keep blood from running into my eyes too, which I hope I won't need too often. The shield and the whip both have a few functions that I'm still getting used to, but they're awesome! Hatsume really came through on those."
"Wow. You mentioned a woman without drooling." Jiro snorted, but then gave him a grudging nod. "You were right about this being a big improvement, I'll give you that. The Roman empire isn't really my thing, but it'll definitely go over with the public better than your diaper."
"...You know what, I'll take it." Mineta grumbled after a moment, apparently willing to accept the compliments where he could get them, back-handed or not. Then his eyes went distant. "As for Hatsume… you've never been one-on-one with her, otherwise you'd understand. She's a force of raw, untethered invention. Even if she were interested in something other than building gear, I'm not sure I'd come out the other side without her installing something."
Mineta paused, consideringly. "Not that I'm inherently opposed to the idea, but given that she somehow made version three of my gear explode, despite mostly being fancy vacuums…"
Kaminari warily eyed the brown coil, then not-so-subtly scooted further away from it.
Mineta popped a thumb in Kaminari's direction. "More or less that, yeah. Self preservation instincts kicked in and kind of overrode everything else."
Jiro scoffed derisively. "And those instincts didn't trigger when you were perving on girls who could melt you, beat your ass into paste, or literally pop a cannon out of their skin?"
Mineta stared her dead in the eyes. "No."
Jiro paused, considered, then her eyebrows rose. "...well shit."
Mineta nodded seriously. "Her gear is worth it, though. Just don't actually try anything out in person until at least version five. But that only took her, like, two days. Either she doesn't sleep, or she has some kind of time dilation Quirk and her zoom-in eyes are just a vestigial mutation that still works."
"Or she just ignores personal safety regulations until later on in the process." Hagakure added from nowhere. Mineta yelped and nearly jumped into Kaminari's lap at her words, and she giggled as her gloves and boots returned to the visible spectrum in the empty seat to Mineta's left. "That's what I would guess, given that everything apparently explodes at least a few times."
"Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense." Mineta put a hand over his chest as his breathing started to slow. "Also, we're going to have to put a damn bell on you now, aren't we?"
"And ruin the fun?" Hagakure giggled as she faded completely out of sight once more. When she next spoke, her words sounded oddly distorted and directionless. "Why would I let that happen?"
There was a long pause as everyone digested that. Then, Mineta hesitantly reached out to poke a finger roughly where Hagakure's knee would have been.
Then waved a hand through where the rest of her shouldhave been.
Nothing.
"...Well that bodes well." Mineta grumbled.
Izuku planted a foot against the craggy stone of the artificial mountain, Blackwhip giving him traction on the vertical surface, then took another bounding leap upwards. His trajectory carried him away from the stone edifice, but a quick strand of Blackwhip pulled him both higher and back in to repeat the process. With both Quirks used in tandem, he ascended the cliff at a staggering speed, aiming for the ridge Koda's recon bird had indicated.
After Thirteen had met them at the main entrance, flanked by Hound Dog and Cementoss, they'd delved into everything they hadn't gotten to last time; A general overview of the various zones, an in depth explanation on the various dummies they'd be rescuing, and an earpiece connected to each other and the teachers. From there, they'd set off for the Mountain Zone.
With a last heave, Izuku pulled himself onto a large ledge. A gray dummy clad in hiking gear was slumped against one wall, right arm twisted in a distinctly unpleasant way. A second hunched over it, posed to convey worry. Both had readouts across their chest, though currently they only displayed names.
Moving quickly, he checked for the injured dummy's pulse, then scoured both for any additional injuries. He found a few small lacerations leaking bright red faux-blood across the injured mannequin's back and hands, but they didn't seem to be substantially injured beyond the arm.
Izuku tapped his coms, then pulled a roll of bandages and a collapsible splint from one of his pouches. "Deku reporting in. Emi and Botan Inoui have been located. Boon and first aid are being administered to Botan. Initial assessment indicates lacerations and a broken arm, but no sign of specific head or spinal trauma."
"Excellent. Bring them back to base camp once they're mobile." Thirteen's voice replied. "There are several critical patients in need of your assistance."
"Roger." Izuku carefully guided Blackwhip to envelop the dummies with a sequence of desire and intent, then pulled them up under an arm each. A quick leap and a series of Blackwhip threads to control his descent later, and he touched down at the bottom of the artificial mountain.
Other students occupied the area around him, all doing their own jobs. Jiro had her jacks plugged into the rocks, helping to direct the other students alongside Koda and his flock. Asui leapt over Izuku's head to begin another climb, Shoji passing him by hot on her heels. Sero swung down from above on a strip of tape, several dummies bound together and strapped to his back. A series of dummies slid down an icy slide in the distance, the forms of Tenya, Kaminari, and Kirishima ferrying them towards the base camp from there.
One for All sparking beneath his skin, Izuku ran for the base camp himself. Within, he briefly glimpsed Hagakure and Aoyama tending to one of the dummies with a frantic edge. He quickly extended a tendril of Blackwhip to tag the dummy as he passed. "Boon on Invisible Girl and Twinkling's patient."
Aizawa nodded from behind his control station, and a moment later some of their tension eased. Izuku continued on towards 13, depositing his charges in an open spot as he went. "Where am I needed?"
"You've already helped address the most urgent on your way in, excellently done." Thirteen said, giving him a thumbs up. "Second up is Pinky's. Go touch base with her for now. There are another few inbound who will need your help."
With a quick scan around the base camp, he picked out Ashido in the far corner. He leapt over to her, then crouched down to inspect her work. The dummy already had most of its wounds bandaged, though there was a particularly nasty gash along its ribs. Ashido looked more serious than he'd seen her in quite some time, though she spared him a small smile. He reached down to tap the dummy, and the readout across the chest beeped as Aizawa marked Boon's effects.
"Thanks for the help." Ashido said as she cupped her hands, a small pool forming between them before she let it trickle into the gash. Apparently certain types of weak acid were an excellent antiseptic, which made her better off in the medical pavilion this exercise. While she could climb the rock face easily, she wasn't especially well suited to bring dummies back down with her. "Already disinfected the wounds that needed it. Just need some help binding this one now."
With a nod, Izuku disengaged his gloves and held out his hands. A quick splash of weak acid later, he leaned down to press the sides of the wound closed. A few threads of Blackwhip proved immensely helpful as temporary sutures while also freeing his hands to help Ashido wrap the bandages.
Less than a minute later however, he heard Thirteen's voice over the coms. "Deku, those inbound patients are almost here."
With a nod from Ashido, Izuku finished his latest knot before he leapt back towards the main entrance. Even as he arrived, so too did the patients.
Ochako touched down with the low humm of her new fans, face drawn and slightly green from Quirk use. Around her floated no less than two dozen dummies, mostly in disheveled school uniforms, connected to her by tethers. One was strapped to a rigid stretcher, which probably didn't bode well for their back. Another looked to be missing an arm, while a third had two badly broken legs.
He quickly moved to settle the weightless dummies onto the ground, calling out each time he 'used' Boon on one. He specified a higher amount for the one strapped to the stretcher, even as the memory of Tenya in a similar condition flashed through his mind.
Once the dummies were all firmly on the ground, Ochako tapped her fingers together. She nearly stumbled under her own weight as her gravity returned, but she managed to keep herself upright. She swallowed hard, and was about to set off again when Thirteen put a hand on her shoulder.
"You're doing exceptionally well, and this on its own was an out of this world performance. But you also need to pace yourself, so you don't take yourself out in the middle of a disaster." Thirteen advised, then offered Ochako a bottle of water. "Drink. Help treat the injured. Settle yourself. If a situation that requires you is called in, move quickly, but give yourself a minute or two to recover before you head back out."
For her part, Ochako seemed torn between vibrating in joy that Thirteen was praising her performance, frustrated that she couldn't keep going, and vomiting. In the end, she just nodded, accepted the water, and plopped down to start binding wounds.
"Good." Thirteen said, then patted Ochako on the back. "Just so you know, nobody has claimed my time slot for Quirk Training this Thursday."
Ochako perked up, then smiled excitedly despite the greenish cast of her face. "I'll put in a request tonight!"
"I'll keep an eye out for it!" Thirteen replied, then moved off to oversee Kirishima's work on a dummy he'd just brought in.
Izuku worked for a moment, disinfecting and binding wounds. "That really was incredible, you know."
"If you say so." Ochako murmured, then took another swig of water before she pulled out more bandages. "It worked, but trying to keep all those cords from tangling together was like herding cats. I felt a little ridiculous."
"Be that as it may, I stand by what I said." He replied. "It was actually kind of like All Might's Japanese debut, except instead of climbing over debris you descended from the heavens like some kind of angel."
That got her blushing again, but she couldn't hide her smile. His girlfriend, a status that still hardly felt real, was so god damn adorable it made his heart skip a beat.
'Smooth.' Daigoro chuckled encouragingly from the back of his mind.
They worked in companionable silence for a time, working their way down the line of new patients. Then Ochako paused, took a deep breath, and tapped her headset. "Roger. I'll be there shortly."
"Duty calls?" Izuku asked as Tenya swept in to deposit another two dummies.
"Earphone Jack managed to narrow down the last people, and they're trapped in a cave behind a massive stone slab." Ochako nodded, then took another sip of her water as she stood. "It's just a bit too precarious for Sugar Man to move it safely, and there's no point in him risking it when I'm available."
Izuku eyed her. She wasn't completely recovered, and it sounded like this might take quite a bit out of her. "Tenya? Are you heading back for anyone else?"
Tenya shook his head. "Our section of the zone is officially cleared, and those on their way aren't in urgent need of medical attention. I and the others can take over attending to the injured here if you're needed elsewhere."
Izuku nodded thankfully, then turned back towards Ochako. "Want a lift?"
He knew it really wasn't the time. But part of him still thoroughly enjoyed the feeling of her in his arms, holding tight to his chest as he sprinted up the rock face once more.
Izuku swam as quickly as he could while towing several life boats, which with Full Cowling was still pretty quick. Even so, Asui had handily outpaced him several times over. This was undoubtedly her domain.
Given how few people in 1A were particularly well equipped to deal with the Flood Zone, they were lucky she was so well suited to it.
Thankfully, Shoto was shaping up to be another zone MVP, as he had in the Mountain Zone. Asui had rapidly deployed him to the ship, where he'd plugged the hole and built up a small island of ice around it to make doubly sure it wouldn't be sinking. Izuku could see him forming a bridge of ice back to dry land, which could expedite the boat evacuation greatly.
Unfortunately, it was slow going for the time being. Izuku's life boat taxi strategy was probably a good plan in the long run, but it wasn't particularly fast. Both Tenya and Bakugo were able to traverse the distance to the boat quickly, but were limited in how many people they could bring back. Ochako was once again proving absolutely instrumental to the efforts, though she was limiting herself to a smaller number of tethered passengers than she had in the Mountain Zone.
Above, Izuku caught a glimpse of Sero taping up the white water rapids slide, which the coms indicated had already helped rescue several dummies. That was pretty good, considering how uncertain Sero had been going in. Izuku was pretty sure Sato, Jiro, Ojiro, Tokoyami, and Yaoyorozu were all at different points of the slide, extracting anyone they came across.
Compared to the constant stream of reports he was hearing, his comparatively slow plod towards the boat felt frustrating. It would be worthwhile, but he just wasn't equipped for rapid water traversal. That would mostly be rendered moot once he unlocked Float, but in the meantime he just had to paddle his way along.
Once again, Asui raced past him, several dummies ensnared by her tongue trailing her. Each strong kick propelled her forwards, amplified by her flippered boots.
Izuku slowed slightly, an idea striking him. Carefully, Blackwhip emerged from the vents along his knuckles and legs, stretching out to affix itself to his fingers and the opposite legs. In a moment, a thin sheet spanned them, and he gave an experimental kick. The way he had to undulate to make it work wasn't horribly intuitive, but even unrefined it was a dramatic improvement. He set off once more, now kicking up a wake as he went.
He heard several of the vestiges laugh, though it was Nana's voice who called out "Mermaid Man to the rescue!"
The way that had sent Yoichi into uncontrolled howling laughter had seemed excessive, but he'd had bigger things to worry about.
Izuku drank deeply from his water bottle, then dumped the remaining contents over his head. They'd just finished their round in the Conflagration Zone, and he was feeling wildly overheated. He hadn't expected to long for another trip to the Flood Zone so quickly, given how horrid his costume had felt while soaked and clinging, but here he was.
The Conflagration Zone had been brutal. Where before they'd generally had some time to figure out how to best approach the situation, the ever spreading fire had put them on a very short, very inconsistent timer.
A timer which had run out before they arrived, in several sobering cases.
The Evacuation Line, a conveyor belt there to simulate civilians capable of self evacuation, had helped a great deal. However, everyone had been pressed to their limits trying to clear buildings, especially those who's Quirks hadn't actively helped them deal with the incredible heat.
The zone MVPs had once again included Shoto, who'd frozen structures and instantly snuffed fires. Yaoyorozu had skipped the middle man and simply shot streams of fire extinguishing foam from her hands. Ashido had been another huge help, her least corrosive acids at high viscosity having proved extremely effective at smothering the flames. Izuku himself had used a combination of Blackwhip and Smokescreen to choke out fires, though he was limited in what he could do without making the smoke filled environment worse.
However, there were some students who weren't simply ill suited to the fiery environment, but were actively unable to participate.
Asui wasn't that surprising; her vulnerability to both heat and cold were well known, and this had CERTAINLY qualified. She'd worked even harder in the medical pavilion to make up for it, though her stellar performance in the previous two zones would doubtless cover for her weakness here.
Bakugo had, reluctantly, admitted that his participation in the zone would be a catastrophe waiting to happen. The sheer heat of the zone would have had him sweating through his suppressant gloves faster than he could burn it off. He'd been seething every time Izuku had seen him in the medical pavilion, but he'd performed his duties with his usual level of perfectionism.
Even among those who could participate, the Conflagration Zone had been a difficult challenge. Apart from himself and Todoroki, only Kirishima had any kind of notable resistance to the heat, which left many struggling. Dark Shadow had barely been able to help in the bright, all-consuming flames. Sero's tape melted and burned, as did Mineta's spheres. Animals refused to enter, no matter what Koda said. Tenya's Engines overheated near instantly, and never cooled properly. Ochako was largely bound to the ground to avoid the clouds of smoke churning the air.
A trickle of water trailed into his ear, and he automatically shook his head to clear it, sending a spray of droplets out around him. Behind him, Hagakure spluttered. "Hey! Watch where you're spraying!"
Izuku startled, both at her presence and the clear irritation in her voice, then turned to face her. She was maybe a foot behind him, arms crossed and a few drops of water revealing the rough location of her face. "Sorry! I didn't realize you were there!"
"Story of my life." Hagakure sighed harshly, and he winced. Hagakure groaned, then her arms fell to her sides. "Sorry, that was completely uncalled for. I'm just a little irritable right now because I haven't been able to help much in these trials. Invisibility is great at what it does, but search and rescue definitely isn't its thing. In a real rescue situation, it would probably be actively detrimental 90% of the time."
Izuku gave her a sympathetic smile. "I'm sorry, Hagakure. I think you've been doing a great job, but I can definitely see how not being able to help as directly as some of our classmates must be frustrating. Honestly, I thought you'd probably be better suited to this Zone than most."
The droplets of water still clinging to her skin gave away that she'd just cocked her head. "Why on earth would you think that?"
"Well, you'd be as susceptible to the ambient heat as the rest of us, but most of a fire's heat comes from the Infrared Light it emits. Given you're invisible, I figured most of it would just pass through you. But if it didn't, then you're probably only invisible to the visible spectrum. If that's the case, then infrared cameras will be a problem." Izuku brought a finger to his chin, eyes narrowing. "That might be something you could learn to change through training, though. Your Quirk is clearly some kind of emitter rather than a mutation that lets light pass through you, given anything inside your body is hidden. Not to mention that you can somehow see despite light passing through your eyes. Emitters usually have some level of control to them, even passive ones. If you could expand the ranges of light you're invisible to, you could dramatically decrease the danger fire presents to you. If that works, it might be worth looking into how far you can push it. UV Light? X-Rays? Gamma Rays? That kind of immunity might be niche, but would become vital in any situation where it became relevant-"
"Woah there! Hold on a second. You're saying a lot of things really fast." Hagakure held up her hands wardingley. "I mostly lost you around the halfway point."
Izuku paused, then coughed into his fist. "Sorry. I, uh, do that sometimes. I hope that wasn't too weird."
"Not at all!" Hagakure shook her head vigorously enough to dislodge the droplets of water, leaving her head once more completely invisible. "Actually, it sounded like you had some pretty neat ideas in there, at least the ones I could pick out. You're right that I can control my Quirk a little, kind of like my Dad can."
Hagakure raised a gloved hand, then turned it invisible. A moment later, a faint multicolored light began to glimmer across it. It was like a cut diamond in a ray of sunlight, though it was fainter than the bright colors such a prism would have produced.
"He always called it a parlor trick, and Mom always jokingly complained about how she didn't get to have instant glitter whenever she wanted. All she got was boring old complete invisibility like me, rather than partial invisibility with sparkles." Hagakure giggled, then trailed off as a finger came up to tap at either her chin or lips. "But… now that I think about it… she and I both really like a fire in the winter, while Dad never enjoyed one as much. Really, he's always been sensitive to cold weather. If that's because he wasn't getting warmed up by infrared light, while we were…"
"Partial invisibility?" Izuku asked, curiosity piqued. "Is he just transparent?"
"Nope. He's usually completely invisible, but you can see him with enough violet or ultraviolet light." Hagakure said. "He's only just barely there with really intense violet light, but he's fully visible with UV light. None of those had an effect on me, so the doctors just marked my Quirk down as the same as Mom's until I figured out how to do the sparkle trick a year or so ago."
"So your Mom is invisible to the Visible Spectrum, but is affected by Infrared. Your Dad is invisible to infrared and most of the visible spectrum, but also has some level of light manipulation. You definitely have a combination of the two." Izuku grinned. "I'd bet that your Quirk has the capacity to be invisible to full spectrum light, but that it's something you'll have to actively do with the light manipulation you got from your Dad. If you can manage that, then it's also likely that you can expand your range of invisibility to protect yourself from all those other wavelengths of light I mentioned!"
"And if I can expand the range… Do you think I could shrink it, too? Could I make myself visible?" Hagakure asked, voice tremulous.
Izuku paused, surprised at the wavering in her voice, then considered the question. "...Possibly? I saw clear reds and blues in those sparkles, so you can probably influence most of the spectrum. If I'm right and you can use that to hide from Infrared, I think it's pretty likely you could do the opposite."
"I… I need to start working on that." Hagakure began to pace as she spoke. "I didn't really practice the light trick much after I finally figured out how to do it. I was in the middle of preparing for UA, and I didn't think a little light show would help with that. But if I can use it to do more… If I can really do what you think I could…"
She wiped at her eyes with a gloved hand, and he was startled to realize that there were droplets on her face again. There were tears. Then, her posture straightened, and she pumped her fists before herself.
"Alright! First, get through the rest of today. Then, Quirk training until I can't see straight!" She thrust a fist into the air, enthusiasm radiating off of her once more. "Thanks, Midoria!"
Hagakure scampered off towards the Central Plaza, where several other students were already making their way. Izuku watched her go, more than a little thrown by the sudden and complete changes in mood. He hadn't expected his suggestions would have that big an impact, but it was clearly something important to her.
He really hoped it would work.
'I'd put money down that Mr. Aizawa had a hand in choosing the order of the Zones.' Izuku mused as he raced along the streets, Blackwhip coating his boots for traction in the wet environment. Both he and Kaminari, who he was carrying piggyback, were absolutely soaked despite their Yaoyorozu-made ponchos. 'Drench us, make us miss being drenched, then remind us how miserable being drenched is. That seems like his M.O.'
'I don't think anyone's fool enough to take that bet, Izuku.' Daigoro chuckled.
The Downpour Zone was a primarily urban environment in the midst of something resembling a monsoon. Torrential rain made a low drone in the background, though that was generally overwhelmed by the roar of the wind. Flooding was very much back on the menu in parts of the city, along with fallen trees, blown debris, outright blasts of wind able to take a person off their feet, and a motley assortment of other hazards.
The class had divided up a number of pre-registered emergencies among themselves. Trees fallen across roadways and into buildings, evacuations, flooding, missing persons reports, etc, all while keeping an eye out for civilians lost amidst the storm. He and Kaminari had volunteered to tackle a building evacuation on the far side of the city, where a power line had fallen into the water flooding the lower floor of the building.
He pulled to a stop a half block before the building, a few feet from the edge of the water surrounding it. The deluge of falling rain made his vision blurry, even with the new goggles built into his hood. Between that and their current vantage, he couldn't pick out anything useful.
"I'm taking us up on the side of the building. Are you ready?" He asked even as he wrapped strands of Blackwhip around Kaminari.
"Yeah." Kaminari replied, sounding anything but. "Let's get going."
Izuku nodded, then cast out chords of Blackwhip towards a section of wall about three quarters of the way up. Firmly anchored, he leapt, then yanked. Kaminari shrieked as they flew, though it didn't take long for them to reach their destination.
"...Can I change my answer?" Kaminari squeaked, then gave a weak chuckle. A moment later, he reached over Izuku's shoulder to point at a section of water. "Looks like the downed lines are over there… along with the entire pole. Crap. I'm gonna have to go in, aren't I?"
Izuku clambered in the direction Kaminari had pointed, though that earned them more than one blast of unmitigated wind as they lost the cover of buildings. He eyed the submerged tangle of wire and wood critically, then nodded. "Looks like it, yeah. At least Creati sent along those shears just in case."
Kaminari sighed dramatically. "Well, time to go swimming again. Yayyyyy…"
Izuku carefully slung Kaminari off his back, though that left his passenger to briefly sway in the wind. A line of Blackwhip shot from the strands already wrapped around Kaminari and splunked into the water, then pulled taught. With an anchor in place, Izuku was able to lower Kaminari along the line like some kind of eldritch ski lift.
"SHIT, that's cold!" Kaminari hissed as one of his feet dipped into the water. "Get it over with and drop me so I can get to work. I'll let you know when it's safe for evac."
"Roger. See you on the other side." Izuku released Blackwhip, and Kaminari submerged. A moment later he burst from the water with a muffled shriek, then began to hurriedly push his way towards the downed pole.
Izuku swept a quick glance over the zone before he pushed inside the building to begin gathering dummies for evacuation. He could make out an embankment of ice along a river in the distance, which had likely prevented even more flooding. He caught the flash of Tenya's engines at work; apparently his suit had retractable cleats for low traction environments like this. A large shape moved through the darkness in the distance, and it took him a moment to realize it was Dark Shadow acting as a barrier against the elements.
Even those he couldn't see were clearly hard at work from the comms chatter. Everyone was organizing to most effectively tackle the situations at hand, and were responding to changes dynamically.
'Really, it's stunning how well all of you are doing, given how little time you've been training for this.' En commented, with a smattering of agreement from the others. 'When I was going through The Academy, you wouldn't have expected this level of coordination out of anyone below the best second years. I can't tell if UA's methods are just that good, or if the lot of you are freakishly competent.'
'It's probably a combination of the two.' Izuku replied as he forced open a hallway window and slipped into the building. 'It's a good thing either way. I'm afraid we're going to need it.'
The Landslide Zone had seen them dispersed to the site of two landslides, where they'd searched the destroyed buildings and churned earth for survivors. For Izuku's group, Jiro's efforts had massively expedited the process. Within minutes, they were closing in on the most dire cases, and it wasn't long before nearly every dummy that was still alive had been found and rescued.
Which made the rumble beneath their feet that much more of a surprise.
Izuku had been tending to an injured dummy in the medical pavilion when he felt it. For a second, he'd been afraid that there was a genuine earthquake starting, but a glance at Thirteen and Aizawa had mitigated that concern. They'd been completely unphased, and had simply watched the students around them.
He'd leapt to his feet and dashed out of the pavilion, then looked up at the slope above him. There, he'd been faced with a fresh wave of earth, stone, and rubble picking up speed on its way down towards him.
Towards the medical pavilion.
"NEW LANDSLIDE ON THE NORTH SIDE! EVERYONE RESPOND!" He shouted into his comms, then sprinted back up the slope. It wasn't until he was nearly half way up that he began to wonder how, exactly, he was going to stop a literal landslide.
Blackwhip was his go to response, but that had countless issues. He couldn't haul off with One for All to blast it away for obvious reasons. None of the other students in the pavilion had been heavy enough hitters to contend with a landslide even if he'd hauled them all up with him.
Thankfully, he wasn't the only one who'd leapt into action.
Ahead of him, he noticed two people on the slope; Sato was hurriedly slamming metal posts into the ground, body bulking up each time as he used his Quirk in bursts. A dark material strung between the posts, forming a barrier across the path of the landslide. Near the other end of the barrier, Yaoyorozu was slumped in an exhausted heap; That much material must have taken a LOT out of her.
Unfortunately, despite how efficiently Sato was working, he wouldn't be fast enough. If he didn't turn back soon, he'd likely be caught dead center in the landslide.
"SUGAR MAN!" Izuku called. "THROW THEM TO ME AND GET BACK TO THE OTHER SIDE!"
Sato glanced up, then hurled the bundle of material he was holding towards Izuku. A strand of Blackwhip retrieved it, then he pulled it taught and heaved it downwards, sending a wave along the length of the material. With a staccato series of ringing impacts, the stakes were driven into the ground in a line between them, spanning the entire path of the landslide.
At the far end, Yaoyorozu hauled herself upright, then slapped a hand against a red button on the side of the post. Another series of sounds rushed down the length of the barrier, likely some kind of anchor extending to help keep the barrier in place.
That would likely help a great deal, but there was no doubt in Izuku's mind that the landslide would overwhelm the hasty barrier quickly; The sheer volume would overflow or surge out around the sides before long even if the landslide didn't just crush it. But the barrier would help break its momentum, which could let others respond in time to fully evacuate or protect the pavilion. He extended Blackwhip along the barrier in a lattice, binding the bottom edge to the ground and reinforcing it, then braced for impact-
There was a flash of light.
Izuku peeked around the edge of his post, examining the hillside above him. He barely saw the new trench carved in the slope before the landslide rolled over it, a spray of earth bursting up as it did so. With another flash, Aoyama carved a second trench in the hillside before Tenya picked him up and resumed his sprint downwards. The process was repeated a third and fourth time before they passed the barrier and continued on down to the pavilion.
From above, a rain of small shapes began to fall on the landslide and the ground before it. Izuku glanced upwards to find Mineta hanging weightlessly in the sky, throwing a relentless volley of spheres down into the churning flow of earth and stone below. Where they struck, lumps of rock were bound together, becoming uneven roadblocks that slowed areas of the landslide.
From the side, Ashido cast gobs of thick liquid into the tide of earth. Where they struck, the earth turned lumpy, binding together and flowing less freely.
Then, the top of the slope froze. The ice field didn't extend across most of the landslide itself, but what it did cover was stopped in its tracks, and likely wouldn't be moving again any time soon.
That was the last intervention before the landslide struck Yaoyorozu's makeshift barrier. Their classmate's efforts had done a great deal to slow it, but it was still a massive amount of earth and stone moving with tremendous force. That much momentum would take a great deal to halt entirely, far more than they were able to provide.
The barrier bulged under the pressure, the stakes digging trenches and bending under the weight of the initial impact. A spray of dirt kicked up and showered over them, leaving the air dusty and nearly opaque. Earth and rubble began to tumble over the top, much less than the landslide had been but more than enough to still present a problem for those below. It took just about everything he had to both keep a grip on Blackwhip and keep himself and his end of the barrier firmly rooted. Even then, he could feel the pressure pushing him backwards.
He could hear the continuous roaring crash as the overspill continued down the hill. Each grinding crunch as boulders bounced downwards only made him more anxious. Just before he dreaded he'd hear the sound of shattering masonry, he instead heard shouts of effort and the sound of breaking stone. Straining, he glanced over his shoulder.
Near the bottom of the hill, he saw the remains of a second barrier, this one made from tape. While it had been torn open, there were multiple potentially dangerous chunks of rock and debris still bound up by the strips.
Further down, Ojiro smashed a boulder into the ground with a spinning tail strike, then turned his momentum into a leap. Midair, he twisted again to bat another airborne chunk of rock to the side, sending it wide of the shelter.
On the ground, Tenya zipped among the rolling debris, crushing midsize rocks underfoot and kicking larger ones to divert their course. His engines fired in sequence, manuvering him in ways drastically more complex than his originals could have on their own.
A large chunk of destroyed building tumbled down the hill, rebar bristling from it. Kirishima lunged in front of it and braced before it slammed into him. There was a screech as metal scraped hardened skin and bent rather than piercing, but the impact still pushed Kirishima back a dozen feet. Izuku could barely hear Kirishima's cry of triumph over the tumult around him-
Then, a boulder struck the chunk of concrete and bounced over Kirishima to continue on its path unchallenged.
Izuku's stomach sank at the sight. He was too far away to do anything, and the distant booms that indicated Bakugo's approach were still too distant. He couldn't see anyone close enough to intercept.
'Shit, shit, shit, SHIT-'
There was a sharp crack, and a streak of purple blurred down to strike the bolder. The projectile deformed on impact, spreading into a wide circle on the stone. The boulder rolled over it and lurched as its rotation abruptly stopped, its momentum carrying it only a little further before it rebounded back and fell still.
It took Izuku a second to properly understand what had just happened, but once he did, he looked back upwards.
Mineta still hung in the air, but now his whip was in his hand. As Izuku watched, Mineta lifted the handle to his head, and his spheres were sucked into it. He cracked the whip in a sharp series of movements, and Izuku saw the spheres pop from the protrusions along its length. They streaked downwards, striking other potentially dangerous pieces of rubble to halt their descent.
Then, with a boom Izuku could feel in his gut, Bakugo finally arrived.
He struck the incoming waves of rubble like a guided missile. The blasts came fast and sharp as Bakugo, finally presented with something suited to his specialty, went to work. Each explosion shattered a bolder or killed some of the flowing earth's momentum, easing the load on those behind him. That let them push further up the slope, expanding the safe zone in front of the pavilion.
The state of emergency finally came to an end when Shoto appeared around the side of the hill. In a flash of crackling frost and creaking ice, what was left of the landslide froze solid. Izuku's breath misted as he stepped back from the now glacial barrier, a thin sheet of ice crumbling from his gloves. Across from him, Sato did the same, then knelt down to check on Yaoyorozu.
"Excellent work, everyone!" Tenya's voice called over the comms. "Let's finish this quickly, before anything else has time to happen!"
To say working in the Ruins Zone was unsettling would be a wild understatement. He'd expected to have issues in the Flood Zone if anywhere, due to his experiences the last time he'd been in the USJ. However, it seemed he wasn't entirely over what he'd gone through in Hosu. Each time he took to the rooftops, his sprint over a ravaged city in search of Tenya flashed behind his eyes. Every building he entered brought to mind the terror of his attempted evacuation.
Discovering dummies they were too late to help hit him like a truck, because he knew how that REALLY felt.
Thankfully, Ochako was sweeping a nearby area, and they bumped into one another often. Even just a small reassuring smile shared between them from afar did a great deal to help settle his nerves.
'I wonder if she's doing that because she knows this is bothering me.'
'Given that she tends to read you like an open book, mutual crush incident aside, I'm inclined to think she is.' Nana replied. 'It's not that hard a connection to make regardless. I'd be surprised if none of the others have made it as well.'
Izuku grimaced. While he'd appreciate their concern if it was offered, the idea still rubbed him the wrong way a little. This was a fundamental part of heroics, and he didn't want people treating him with kid gloves around it. He hadn't let it slow him down; if anything, he'd been pushing even harder here than he had in the rest of the zones.
He had to prove to himself that he could do better this time.
'For what it's worth, I think you're doing exceptionally well.'Kinenkō added. 'Your particular skill set is incredible for this kind of work. High speed response, better treatment skills than most thanks to your extra training, and Boon for the emergency cases. You've already evacuated, what, at least 20 dummies from this zone? Several of which probably wouldn't have survived with anyone else? Had more heroes like you been around, I'd have had both far more and far less work all those years at the hospital.'
That actually took Izuku by surprise. He knew he'd evacuated quite a few people, but he hadn't actually kept any kind of count. The numbers weren't the point, and he had far more pressing things on his mind. But it was admittedly rather nice to know what he'd achieved.
Which, naturally, meant it was time for the universe to ratchet things up a notch.
A sharp crack rang out through the Zone, and the sound immediately put Izuku on edge. His gut told him that sound was absolutely NOT a good sign in an environment this unstable.
Izuku spun slowly on his rooftop, eyeing the ruins around him. He didn't see anything unusual at first, to the point he almost, almost convinced himself someone had just accidentally knocked a chunk of concrete off a roof. Then, there was another ringing crack, and he caught the trail of falling debris.
It was one of the few remaining buildings that were mostly still standing, and it was the tallest one at that. If it collapsed… at the very least, it might kick up dust and debris that would make rescue in that area drastically more difficult. More likely, it would crush several other buildings nearby, killing dummies and setting off other collapses.
Which meant it needed to be stopped.
Frantically, Izuku looked around. He could spot several classmates nearby; Aoyama and Ojiro on the ground, Asui poking her head out an open window, Shoto standing on an ice spire, and Ochako floating above the rooftops.
"Uravity, Shoto, we're stopping that collapse!" He yelled, then cast out a thread of Blackwhip to retrieve Ochako. She'd responded almost instantly and was already floating towards him when Blackwhip met her in the middle. With a tug, she was reeled in even as he landed near the peak of Shoto's spire. He easily pulled them onto the top, then wrapped an arm around Shoto's ribs.
"Uravity, zero us. Shoto, I'll drop you at the base. Please try to make some supports around it. Both of you, hang on!"
Even as he felt their weight vanish, he snapped out threads of Blackwhip from the vents at his hips. They struck two relatively stable structures on either side of the ruined street, anchoring them.
Then, with a flicker of 7%, he pulled-
The three of them streaked forwards like they'd been shot from a gun. The ruined cityscape whipped past beneath them as they flew, grays and browns blending in a disorienting blur. They almost reached their destination before he could get his bearings, and it was only another series of hastily cast Blackwhip strands that kept them from slamming into the side of the building.
At his side, Ochako groaned, looking decidedly more green than she had just seconds ago.
'What the hell happened?' Izuku wondered, mind abuzz. He shook his head, marking the curiosity as something to address later.
He adapted quickly, twisting to send Shoto down towards the ground even as he pulled himself and Ochako through a broken window. A moment later, he heard the telltale sounds of ice engulfing the building, followed by a relieved groan from Ochako as his weight returned. He looked around… and found an extremely odd scene.
The inside looked… pre-collapsed, for lack of a better description. There was more rubble scattered around the ground than should have been possible in a building that was still standing. He could see most of the way to the ground floor through various holes, and each level bore the same odd appearance. He could pick out dummies, or parts of them at least, beneath the rubble.
Then, he noticed another oddity.
There was a… whining sound, with undertones of clicking and strained metal. He'd expected more sounds of imminent collapse, like he'd heard in Hosu, but this was definitely different.
Then, it clicked. It was all well camouflaged, decorated with broken masonry, wood, and assorted other material. But once he spotted the pattern, it was undeniable. Mechanical supports stretched throughout the building, and seemed to be straining.
Not to keep the building upright, but to collapse it.
"MIDORIYA, URARAKA, TODOROKI! GET AWAY FROM THERE, NOW!" Aizawa's voice was loud and harsh in his ears, mic peaking and crackling. "THIS WAS A PLANNED SEQUENCE NOBODY SHOULD HAVE BEEN ANYWHERE CLOSE TO! WE'VE HALTED IT, BUT CAN'T GUARANTEE THE BUILDING'S INTEGRITY! GO!"
Izuku tightened his grip on Ochako as he scrambled back through the window, which Shoto had thankfully left unblocked. Shoto himself was adding further support structures, though he abandoned his efforts once he saw both of them hurtle back out. With a crackle-flash of ice and flame, Shoto began his own escape.
"Wow." Ochako breathed as they came to a stop on a distant rooftop. She still looked slightly out of it, though she was recovering quickly. "We actually moved fast enough to ruin the simulation. What was that? Another of your Quirks?"
"No, it wasn't." Izuku hesitated. "I don't think it was, at least. That didn't line up with what I'd expect from FaJin or Float. So unless Kudo decided to let me use Gearshift out of nowhere…?"
'There was a similar type and level of physics fuckery happening, but that wasn't Gearshift.' Kudo denied, though he sounded contemplative. 'I think that was her, but gravity nullification shouldn't have allowed for what just happened. The lot of you barely had any acceleration time, you just reached maximum speed almost instantly. The only way that could have happened is if something suppressed, manipulated, or entirely bypassed your inertia.'
That gave Izuku pause. More than once, he'd mused on how odd Zero Gravity was for more or less exactly what Kudo had mentioned. Gravity nullification shouldn't have let Ochako do half the things she regularly did, to his understanding. But that was often the case with more esoteric Quirks, or Quirks that influenced fundamental forces; No matter how much he enjoyed picking them apart, there always came a point where trying to explain them with traditional logic broke down.
This explanation fit better than most he'd tried to put together. That said, it still had issues. If anything she applied Zero Gravity to lost its inertia, then theoretically simple air resistance would stop it the moment an outside force stopped acting on it. That obviously wasn't happening… so perhaps there was…
"Yen for your thoughts?" Ochako asked, a small smile playing at her lips. "From the mutter storm, I take it you have some guesses as to what happened?"
Izuku shook his head as he came out of his feuge, then nodded. "Ochako, were you still touching Shoto and I when we shot off like that?"
She seemed to mull that question over for a moment. "No. We shot forward so fast that I lost my grip."
"Kudo suggested that your Quirk might not just affect gravity, but inertia. I think he's right, but I suspect it's only while you maintain contact, sort of like how your mom's Quirk is." Izuku explained. "I'd bet it's a subconscious thing right now, something that comes out depending on what you want to do when you use your Quirk. On top of that, I think it actually has a variable level of effect, instead of the all-or-nothing way you remove gravity. If you applied your Quirk to us with the intent to help us move quickly…"
"...Then it might have suppressed our inertia when we started moving. Then, when I lost my grip, it returned and kept us moving." Ochako murmured, eyes flicking back and forth as her mind clearly raced. Then, a look of embarrassment crept across her face. "It's kind of obvious there was something else going on with my Quirk in retrospect, but I just wrote it off as Quirks being weird. I could swing around concrete pillars easily and toss around boulders, so I just kind of rolled with it. But if it's another part of my Quirk that I could learn to control…"
"It's understandable. Quirks work in weird, physics-defying ways all the time. Marking a few oddities down to that isn't a bad thing. I did it too." Then Izuku smiled widely. "But now that we know what to look for? It might open up a whole new WORLD of possibilities! You might be able to stop a runaway car in its tracks just by touching it! You could drop your own inertia to zero, then jump off as fast as your legs could extend!"
Her own smile widened to match his own. There was a glint in her eyes, an intensity that stoked the fire within and made him want to push himself even harder. "You're helping me figure this out as soon as humanly possible."
"I'm looking forward to it!"
Izuku scrubbed at the remarkably defiant bit of food clinging to the bowl in his hand, then rinsed off the suds once more. He inspected his handiwork critically, tilting it under a light to make sure there wasn't any lingering residue. Satisfied that it was finally clean, he handed the bowl to his mother for drying, who shortly thereafter handed it to Jiro to be put away.
While he'd been the one to draw the much maligned Dishwasher duty today, it wasn't really that bad. It was a simple and methodical task, which was actually relieving after the sheer intensity of the day. Even if Boon had soothed most of his aches and weariness, his mental exhaustion still hung heavy around him.
Perhaps taking some time to recuperate after the end of class would have been wise. But when Ochako had said 'As soon as humanly possible,' she'd meant it. The combination of puppy dog eyes and goading challenge Ochako had aimed at him the moment they walked into the dorms had been absolutely unfair. He could have been inchworming around with one functional limb and that look would have still gotten him into the gymnasium to help her experiment.
That testing had borne some fruit, even if they hadn't had that much time. Though she lacked much in the way of active control, they'd gathered enough data to tentatively confirm his hypothesis; She could slow herself in mid air by focusing on wanting to slow down. Similarly, if she jumped while focusing on moving faster, her leap carried her noticeably faster than it would otherwise.
Importantly, it didn't seem like she strictly needed to maintain her five finger contact to influence her own inertia, though she did find it much easier if she did. So long as she was already under the effects of her Quirk, she could effect her inertia at will.
Unfortunately, active application of this newly discovered facet of her Quirk came with a downside. By Ochako's description, the more substantial changes in her movement were deeply disorienting. Each time she moved faster than she should have, or slowed with no outside force, she experienced varying degrees of motion sickness. The side effect was less severe when she applied the effect to something or someone else, but it still had a significant impact on her.
Apparently, it was a somewhat familiar sensation. There had been times in the past where she'd felt a bit of it while using her Quirk, though she'd generally attributed it to her usual nausea. The severity of the motion sickness grew proportionally with the degree to which she suppressed something's inertia, but that didn't seem to be the only factor. A jump that sent her a little faster than it should have was disconcerting, but still relatively familiar. Suddenly slowing in the air, however, was horribly jarring and made her feel dizzy and awful.
"Oh, great!" She'd groaned after a particularly nasty bout of nausea, voice thick with false cheer. "A SECOND way to make myself barf on command… yay… urgh…"
Izuku was broken from his memory as he reached into the sink, only to find it empty. Either he'd worked much faster than expected, or he'd been lost in thought for much longer than he'd thought. He quickly let the water drain, then hosed down the remaining suds. To the side, Jiro put the last of the dishes delicately into the cabinets with a barely audible click, then departed with a curt nod and a wave of a jack.
"Thanks for the help!" Inko called after her, then turned to face Izuku. "Same goes for you, Sweetie."
"Of course!" He replied, then paused. His mother looked… nervous. "Are you ok?"
"I'm fine! Just…" Inko sighed, looking apologetic. "I've been trying to think of the right way to say something for a while now, but I'm still struggling to put it into words."
"It's ok if you need more time to figure it out. You just seemed upset. Sorry I put you on the spot like that." Izuku gently squeezed her shoulder, smiling down at her.
Inko returned his smile as she covered his hand with her own. "I appreciate that, but this is something better addressed sooner than later. Would you mind if we talked in my rooms?"
"Of course!" With another squeeze, Izuku stepped back, then they both made their way to the Dorm Supervisor's suite.
It wasn't much more than the student dorms. There was a small living room, barely enough for a couch, a recliner, and a wall mounted TV, with three doors on the far wall. One was open to the office beyond, where he could see stacks of paperwork next to her laptop. The other two lead to her bedroom, and a small bathroom that connected the three other rooms.
Inko gestured for him to sit on the couch, while she settled into the recliner across from him. There was silence for a time as Inko seemed to think, then she took a deep breath and met his eyes with a determined gaze.
"The past week has been… to call it a rollercoaster would not do it justice. So many things have changed, to the point the world feels like a completely different place. But through all of it, one thing hasn't changed at all. I'm so incredibly proud of you." Inko beamed at him. "The progress you've been making with your powers is incredible. I know how happy it makes you, and that makes me happy too."
Then, Inko's face fell slightly. "But I also know how far out of my depth I am with all of this. The others who know are all incredible heroes who can help you, or will be some day. I want to support you however I can, but I know that I can't offer anywhere near as much as they can."
"Mom, stop." Izuku raised a hand, frowning. "You're my mother. You don't need to help me fight to support me. You encouraging me, and helping me through things when I need it, means so much. Nobody else can be my Mom."
Inko smiled softly, then reached across the space between them. Izuku grasped her hand and squeezed it gently, while she ran her thumb tenderly over his knuckles.
"I know, sweetie. Though it warms my heart to hear you say it. Most boys your age probably wouldn't be caught dead being mushy with their Mom." A faintly teasing smirk made its way to her lips. "But there is another way I think I can still help you. In fact, it's something I think I'm uniquely qualified for among those in the know."
"Oh?" Izuku raised his eyebrows curiously. "Do tell."
"Like I said, all the others are either heroes, or are training to become ones. They all need their Quirks on a regular basis, and need fine control of them at that." Inko placed her free hand on her chest. "I, on the other hand, don't strictly NEED my Quirk at all times. As a result, I'm the perfect person to help you learn whatever you can about your ability to transfer them."
Izuku's eyes went wide. "You're offering me Attraction?"
"I am." Inko squeezed his hand. "To begin, I thought we could pass it back and forth. That would probably give you some useful information. But if Attraction might be able to help keep you safe, I'd let you keep it in a heartbeat."
Izuku nodded, ideas churning. "Passing it back and forth would be extremely helpful. If we can manage to do it in specific intervals, it might give us some insight into how quickly Imprints form. I could even give you Boon while I have Attraction to get a second reference point, and see what happens with Dr. Kinenkō's Vestige, at least assuming he's ok with that. Maybe we can figure out more about how Melding works this way as well…"
Izuku pulled himself out of his mumble storm. "But if we do this, it seems likely that it'll change how Attraction works, at least partly. You'll probably have to re-learn how to use it. Are you absolutely sure you're ok with it?"
"That's another advantage of doing things this way. While I love my Quirk, I don't need it to do my job every day. I have time to learn things from the ground up if I have to." Inko paused. "Another bonus is the fact that Attraction is weak. I'm not likely to accidentally rip the building down while I practice."
"Limited doesn't mean weak, Mom. I've seen how hard you can pull things when you really want to." Izuku shook his head. "Depending on how One for All empowers it, you might be able to rip the nails out of the furniture, or just throw the furniture itself around."
"...so I'll do most of my practice in the nice empty gymnasium, then. Bring a few foam balls to make sure I don't accidentally concuss myself if Attraction is that much stronger afterwards." Inko murmured after a pause. "But that doesn't change my decision. This is a way I can really help you with all this, and I want to do it."
Izuku stood, then carefully pulled Inko up and into a hug. "Thank you, Mom."
"Of course, sweetie." Inko murmured as her arms tightened around his ribs. "I love you, Izuku."
Izuku smiled into her hair. Even now, a hug from his mother eased his worries. "I love you too, Mom."