Chapter 5: Deku No More
"TEAM J, BEGIN!"
Sero and Sato entered the building, covering each other's backs as they made their way up to the top floor.
Sato produced a sugar capsule from his belt and swallowed it as he walked towards the closest window.
Grabbing the frame, Sato pulled the window clean from the wall, setting it down on the floor.
"Sero, you're up."
"Right."
Climbing through the hole in the wall, Sero jumped out into the open air as he fired his tape, latching onto the outside wall and swinging.
Starting from the top floor, Sero checked each window as he swung around the building.
"Found them, third floor, room at the north-east of the building."
A reply came via the micro-transceiver in Sero's ear. "Understood, meet me back on the top floor."
Sero angled his arm and fired, his swing giving him the height to slip in through the hole where the window used to be.
"Are they both with the bomb?"
Sero nodded. "Yeah, Aoyama's hiding to the side of the door, ready to ambush."
"Then we'll have to make our own door. Where's the bomb?"
"Corner of the building, Koda's directly in front of it."
Sato paused, thinking. "I'll smash in via the ceiling, away from the bomb so it doesn't get damaged, you swing in through a window at the same time."
"I'll wrap up Aoyama, you should take Koda, you're about the same size."
"Good idea, you wait here and I'll let you know when I'm in position."
Sero nodded in agreement. "Got it."
Sato made his way down to the fourth floor and found the correct room, moving to stand at the opposite corner from where the bomb sat in the room below.
Sato activated his micro-transceiver. "I'm in position."
"I'll head out now, give me twenty seconds, then go in."
Sato made a grunt of agreement, taking another sugar capsule and steeling himself.
"GO!"
Sato slammed his fists down on the floor below him, landing in shower of rubble and dust.
Grabbing a smashed section of floor, Sato held it up, blocking a shot from Aoyama's Naval Laser.
Using his enhanced strength, Sato hurled the concrete block at Aoyama, forcing him to dodge, and stopping him from firing again.
Sero smashed through the window, firing off three strands of tape, sticking Aoyama to the wall.
" Zut !"
Sero skidded to a halt next to Sato as the two turned to face Koda, only to be met by the sight of two bears protecting him and the bomb.
"Bears?" Sero took a step back.
Sato nodded. "Bears."
Sero sighed. "That's not good."
The bear on the left charged at Sero, forcing him to swing out of the way, while Sato met the other bear head on, entering a battle of strength.
Sticking to the wall, Sero aimed at the left bear.
Koda spoke.
Lefty, dodge the tape.
The newly named Lefty avoided Sero's tape.
"FIVE MINUTES REMAINING!"
The sound of All Might's rattled the room, drowning out Koda's next set of orders.
Sero landed back on the floor and fired again at Lefty twice, each strand was dodged, but the bear didn't attack.
Why didn't it attack?
It couldn't, because it couldn't hear Koda.
"That's it! Sato, open the doors."
Sato punched the other bear, forcing it back, before glancing at his partner. "Really?"
"I've got a plan."
Sato paused for a second before nodding. "On it."
Aiming an arm at each bear, Sero prepared to fire as Sato heaved the doors open.
Lefty, Righty, dodge the tape.
Sero suddenly changed target with his left arm, aiming at Koda and firing.
The strand of tape wrapped around Koda's mouth, silencing the already very quiet boy.
Turning his focus back to the bears, Sero fired a short burst of tape either side of Lefty and Righty, watching as they both dodged away from it, as Koda tried in vain to remove the tape over his mouth.
Continuing to fire, Sero pushed the two bears further and further back as they dodged his tape, until they moved all the way back into the corridor.
"Now!"
Sato slammed the doors shut, holding them there as Sero taped it securely.
Turning back to Koda, Sero fired two final strands of tape, binding the mock villain's hands and feet.
"VILLAIN TEAM IS CAPTURED! BOMB SECURED! HEROES WIN!"
Izuku watched on as the MVP of the match was debated among the class, while Teams J and F stood at the front of the surveillance room.
"Koda should be MVP, it's impressive where he got those bears from."
"Yeah, I'm kind of worried that U.A. has bears so nearby."
"Nah, Sato was better, he's so strong."
"How about moi ? Was I the MVP?"
No one answered.
"Sero should be the MVP."
The class turned to look at Izuku.
Feeling fear seeping into his bones at suddenly having the entire class' attention, Izuku called on Quirkspace, feeling Tokusei's confidence in his analytical ability wash it away.
"Sero was the most able to adapt, the plan he and Sato had went to pieces, but he deduced Koda's weakness and exploited it."
Yaoyorozu spoke up. "But isn't it the same as Match 1? Sero was just lucky that it worked."
"Match 1 was totally different, there Team C's plan relied on being underestimated, something no Pro Hero should do." Izuku paused. "But Sero's plan wasn't luck, in a real battle there's always going to be plenty of loud noises."
"Well said, Young Midoriya." All Might flashed a toothy smile. "Young Sero, you are the MVP of Match 3!"
With the focus of the class shifting back to All Might, Izuku released his hold on Quirkspace, breathing a sigh of relief.
"The next match will be Team H versus Team E!"
Izuku crossed his fingers, hoping that Bakugo was on one of those two teams. The last thing he wanted to do on his first proper day at U.A. was to fight his former friend.
"Fumikage Tokoyami and Tsuyu Asui will be the heroes! The villains shall be Ochako Uraraka and Mina Ashido!"
Izuku cursed whatever power had decided to have him fight Bakugo.
"HEROES, YOU MAY COMMENCE!"
Tsuyu tilted her head. "He's so loud."
Tokoyami nodded in agreement as Dark Shadow carried him up to the third floor. "Think how Jiro must feel."
Clambering up the wall of the building, Tsuyu made a sound of agreement.
"Try this window, kero."
As Dark Shadow kept him in place, Tokoyami pulled on the window, opening it.
The two heroes-in-training slipped in through the window, careful not to make any loud noises.
"Let's split up and search this floor first." Dark Shadow returned to its resting place inside Tokoyami. "Radio if you find them."
With that, Team H went their separate ways.
Tsuyu strained her ears as she made her way down the same corridor for what felt like the fourth time.
She was lost.
A shout sounded from behind, prompting Tsuyu to turn.
Ashido was sliding towards her on acid at high speed.
Tsuyu dodged Ashido as she flew past, the pink girl's hand brushing her ear.
Ashido continued to slide on and around the corner.
"Need to get back to Ochako."
Hearing Ashido's statement to herself, Tsuyu bounded after her.
"Tokoyami, I'm following Ashido, she's on her way back to the bomb room."
No reply.
Reaching up to touch her micro-transceiver, Tsuyu found it missing.
Ashido must have knocked it out on her way past. Tsuyu didn't have time to go back and look for it, she'd have to do without.
At the other side of the building Tokoyami was repeatedly attempting to contact his teammate. With no success.
He had found the bomb room pretty quickly, Uraraka and Ashido had made it so obvious Tokoyami was surprised there wasn't a sign on the wall outside.
Asui wasn't replying, Tokoyami could only think of two reasons why.
She was fighting either Uraraka or Ashido, or she had already lost.
Making his decision, Tokoyami summoned Dark Shadow and smashed through the wall of the bomb room.
Uraraka was standing at the opposite side of the room, the papier-mache bomb floating behind her. Between them, rubble from a broken pillar hung in the air.
Pressing her finger to her ear, Uraraka spoke. "Mina, Tokoyami is in the bomb room."
Tokoyami sighed.
It was a trap.
Uraraka agreed with Ashido's reply and turned her attention to Tokoyami.
Dark Shadow rushed at Uraraka, who struck a floating section of rubble, right at Tokoyami, returning its gravity at the last section.
Tokoyami called Dark Shadow back to him, using it to shield himself.
Two more concrete projectiles fired at Tokoyami, forcing him to dodge one and block the other.
He was stuck on the defensive, every time he got any ground, Uraraka would force him back again.
All Tokoyami could do was wait for her to make a mistake.
Five minutes later, it came.
One of Uraraka's projectiles went wide, hitting the outside wall, allowing Tokoyami to charge at Uraraka, using Dark Shadow as a shield.
The outside wall where the projectile hit crumbled, allowing light to flood into the room.
The sudden change in light level startled Dark Shadow, forcing him back inside Tokoyami, leaving the hero-in-training open to a projectile.
Tokoyami grunted as the rubble struck him in the chest, driving the air from his lungs and knocking him to the ground.
Capture tape wrapped around Tokoyami, binding his arms and legs.
"Sorry, Tokoyami!"
Gravity left Tokoyami, before Uraraka threw him out of the hole in the wall, leaving him floating in the blinding sunlight.
He had lost.
"TIME'S UP! THE VILLAINS HAVE DEFENDED THE BOMB! TEAM E WINS!"
Tokoyami was still floating in the air five minutes later when Uraraka returned with Sero in tow.
A strand of tape attached to Tokoyami before being pulled back, taking the teen with it.
"Sorry about that, Tokoyami!"
Capture tape removed, Tokoyami landed back on solid ground as Uraraka returned his gravity.
Tokoyami bowed his head. "There is no need to apologise, Uraraka. You bested me. But I do have the question."
Tokoyami, Uraraka and Sero set off for the surveillance room.
"Shoot!"
"The wall, why did it collapse then, Dark Shadow deflected a number of your projectiles into the walls before that?"
Uraraka beamed, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "I asked Mina to weaken it with her acid during our setup time."
Tokoyami nodded as he processed the information.
"Uraraka, you should be the MVP, you figured out my weakness and exploited it."
Uraraka was flustered. "No, n-not at all, it was Mina's idea to split the two of you up like that."
In the end, Tokoyami was proven right.
Uraraka was declared the MVP of the match, in time for the final battle to begin.
Izuku was standing outside the training building, next to Yaoyorozu, trying to keep himself calm.
"You do not need to be so worried." Yaoyorozu placed a hand on Izuku's shoulder. "All Might is a far less demanding teacher compared to Mr. Aizawa."
"It's not that." Izuku paused. "It's facing Kacchan, I mean Bakugo. All my life every time I've stood up to him I've ended up losing."
"Then change that, beat him. Today, right here, right now."
Izuku clenched his fists, calling on the confidence Explosion provided. "You're right. I can't live in his shadow any longer."
Yaoyorozu raised an eyebrow, taken aback by the fire that had suddenly burst into existence within Izuku. "We need a plan."
Izuku slipped straight into analysis mode.
"Bakugo will come straight for me, he wants to prove he's stronger than me."
"He knows you have super-strength, right?"
Izuku chuckled, breaking the tension he was feeling.
Yaoyorozu smiled.
"Not literally stronger, he wants to prove his quirk is stronger than mine. Besides super-strength isn't that impressive these days, who doesn't know someone with super-strength."
"Like Sato?"
"Not quite, most strength quirks only provide a passive boost, double or triple the holder's base strength, Sato has to consume sugar to activate his strength, but what he was doing earlier was more like six times, or five times boost if I'm underestimating Sato's base stre-"
Izuku looked up at the sound of giggling.
It was Yaoyorozu, with her hand over her mouth.
"You were distracting me from worrying about Ka-Bakugo."
Yaoyorozu nodded. "Of course, there was no way you'd be able to focus while stressing like that. You seem to enjoy analysing quirks, beside I find what you say quite insightful."
Izuku felt his cheeks heat up. "Normally I just get told to stop muttering."
"I'm going to need your muttering if we're going to come up with a plan to beat Bakugo and Kirishima."
Izuku nodded.
"Right, so Bakugo will come for me straight away, that's your chance to slip away."
Yaoyorozu nodded. "Bakugo will leave Kirishima to guard the bomb. He is pretty straightforward, I doubt he will make any attempt at setting traps."
"I don't think he'd consider traps very manly."
Yaoyorozu laughed again, making Izuku smile.
He wasn't used to laughter not being at his expense.
"I was watching Kirishima at the test yesterday, his hardening doesn't apply to his whole body."
Yaoyorozu nodded. "Then I need to overwhelm his defences. A flurry of rapid strikes could be faster than Kirishima could adapt to."
Izuku nodded in agreement. "You have weapons training?"
"Of course, I am trained in Bojutsu mainly, but I am proficient with many other weapons as well."
Izuku suddenly felt very small, his combat skills were pretty much limited to aim and punch, as well as a few basic throws.
"What is your plan for fighting Bakugo?"
Izuku shrugged slightly. "I'm not really sure, not without breaking my bones again."
Yaoyorozu looked confused. "You copied his quirk, you can at least match his power."
"Not really, when I copy someone's quirk it manifests as it did when they first received it. My copy of Bakugo's quirk is little more than spark right now, I've still got a lot of training to do to improve it."
"But yesterday, the explosion you used when you threw the ball, that wasn't too different from Bakugo's."
Izuku was panicking internally, searching for something to say that wouldn't reveal the existence of One For All. "R-Right, I did, my quirk is kind of hard to explain."
"We still have five minutes before the match starts."
Rubbing the back of his head, Izuku nodded, covering his internal screaming. "T-The first quirk I copied, it's less power amplification, and more like a stockpile of power. I can use it to enhance my body, it can also enhance my quirks for a few seconds, but I've not really explored that yet. Oh, and I can only use one active quirk at a time, passive quirks don't count, Stockpile is the only passive quirk I have."
Yaoyorozu nodded. "You were right, your quirk is complex."
"I know, I'm still working trying to understand it."
"You said yesterday you used to think you were quirkless, when did your quirk manifest?"
Izuku blushed again. "It was, er, i-it was the day of the entrance exam."
"The entrance exam?" Yaoyorozu questioned in disbelief. "So you were trying to get in without a quirk?"
"Y-Yeah, they removed the rule disallowing quirkless applicants a few years ago..."
Yaoyorozu smiled at Izuku. "You know, I thought you were pretty shy, but to go into the U.A. Entrance Exam without a quirk is pretty courageous."
For the third time in as many minutes, Izuku's cheek lit up like he had a furnace in his mouth. "T-Thanks."
"And reckless."
Izuku stammered. "I-I-I, w-well-"
"TEAM A, YOU MAY BEGIN!"
Yaoyorozu watched as Izuku's entire manner suddenly changed, the green-haired pulling his mask over his face and putting his mouthguard in place.
Izuku looked to Yaoyorozu. "Let's go."
Ignoring the main door, Izuku and Yaoyorozu moved to the side of the building.
"Can you use Uraraka's quirk to float me up to a window?"
Izuku shook his head, making the ears of his mask flop around. "Uraraka gave me some tips, but I haven't managed to increase my weight limit beyond 15kg yet."
Frowning, Izuku looked over to see Yaoyorozu repressing laughter.
"What's wrong?"
Yaoyorozu shook her head. "Nothing."
"Right, I have an idea, but I need some rope."
"Then you'll have some rope." Yaoyorozu held her palm out to Izuku, creating 10 meters of rope in seconds.
Izuku coiled the rope around his shoulder and nodded. "Thanks."
Activating Attraction, Izuku pulled on the building, his comparatively much smaller mass sending him flying up, allowing him to catch himself on a windowsill.
Opening the window, Izuku slipped inside and threw the rope back down to Yaoyorozu. Izuku kept watch as his partner climbed the rope, helping her through the window when she reached the top.
Pulling the rope up, Izuku coiled it diagonally around his torso in case it was useful later. "This place has lots of blind corners, we need to watch out."
Yaoyorozu created two heavy, ornate mirrors, clearly made of some kind of metal, handing one to Izuku and keeping the other for herself.
Team A set off down the corridor, working together to check around each corner before making a turn.
Izuku clenched the mirror in his hand. There was no way he could use One For All, he still couldn't regulate its power, 100% would kill anyone who didn't have some kind of physical resistance.
So, all he had was Explosion, Zero Gravity and Attraction.
It would have to be enough.
Izuku heard it before he saw it, Bakugo leaping out from a corridor, an explosion already blossoming from his palm.
Pulling on the wall behind himself, Izuku shot back to where his partner stood, leaving Bakugo's attack to disperse in empty air. Like Izuku had predicted, Bakugo had completely ignored Yaoyorozu, gunning for his former friend instead.
"Yaoyorozu, go now."
Pausing for a few seconds before nodding, Yaoyorozu turned and ran, away from Bakugo and Izuku.
"Nice dodge, Deku."
Izuku watched carefully, ready to go on the defensive as Bakugo stood and turned towards him.
"That was Auntie's quirk, right." Bakugo's eyes bored into Izuku. "I guess it's just like you then, not as weak as it looks."
Izuku was confused.
Was Bakugo complimenting him?
"It'll make me look that much stronger when I crush you! I'm going to mess you up, but not just enough for you to be disqualified!"
There was the Kacchan that Izuku knew and tolerated.
Bakugo charged at Izuku, right hand aimed right at his head.
Twisting, Izuku grabbed Bakugo's outstretched arm, negating 15kg of the boy's weight and flipped him over, smashing him into the floor hard enough to crack the tiles.
Izuku raised his guard. "You always lead with your right."
"Deku, you read my fucking moves?" Bakugo pushed himself into a crouch, glaring at Izuku.
"I never had a quirk, so I analysed the quirks of the Pro Heroes I looked up to." Izuku was vibrating with tension, at some point half his mask had been ripped away. "You were in that notebook, the one you blew up. I looked up to you, we were friends once!"
"Fuck you, Deku!"
Bakugo launched himself at Izuku again, kicking off the wall to flip over his opponent.
Calling on Attraction again, Izuku pulled on Bakugo's gauntlets, slamming him down into the floor.
Bakugo growled as he pushed himself back to his feet.
"What the fuck was that?"
"I negated part of your weight earlier, that makes you lighter than me."
"Still relying on Auntie's and Round Face's quirks? Use mine! So I can prove I'm better than you, Deku!"
A hot feeling in Izuku's chest rose to a crescendo before the dam burst.
"Stop calling me that!"
Izuku charged One For All into his left arm and released the weak explosion, barely more than a few sparks, supercharged by All Might's power to larger than one of Bakugo's regular explosions.
The large fireball nailed Bakugo in the chest before the other boy could react, sending him tumbling away.
Wincing, Izuku flexed his arm experimentally, he hadn't broken it since he hadn't hit anything and had only used a weak explosion, but he'd definitely given it a rattling. He could probably only do that again once or twice before he broke his arm.
"I'm not Deku!"
Launching himself at Bakugo, Izuku suddenly pulled himself to the ceiling, kicking off it and pulling himself back down behind Bakugo, kicking him in the back.
"Not anymore!"
Sparks danced around Izuku's palms as he glared at Bakugo.
"I'm Deku no more!"
Releasing Zero Gravity's hold over Bakugo, Izuku rushed at the other boy as he was caught off-balance by his weight suddenly increasing.
"What I said about not trying to compete."
Izuku placed his palms against Bakugo's chest, before releasing two weak explosions, sending Bakugo flying onto his back.
"I take it back! I'm going to crush you!"
Bakugo growled in frustration, igniting his palms to propel him backwards and give himself some space.
He had underestimated Deku.
As the dust cleared, Bakugo prepared himself to launch at Izuku, but found the corridor empty instead.
The coward had run away.
Releasing a roar of rage, Bakugo sprinted away in the direction he assumed Izuku had gone.
After a few seconds had passed, the window slid open, allowing Izuku to climb back into the building.
Taking a few deep breaths, Izuku re-centered himself. He had let Bakugo get under his skin, the other boy wouldn't make the mistake of underestimating him again.
Pulling his ruined hood off, Izuku let his mouth guard fall to rest on his collarbones.
Careful not to make too much noise, Izuku set off after Bakugo. He had to keep him distracted, to give Yaoyorozu the time to beat Kirishima and secure the bomb.
Momo moved her mirror out, using it to survey the bomb room.
Kirishima was pacing in front of the bomb, clearly on edge. No doubt Bakugo wasn't communicating, too focused on Midoriya to think critically.
Lowering the mirror, Momo created a metal staff, hardened steel to match Kirishima's quirk. She cursed the fact she had not mastered the tear gas and smokescreen grenades yet, they were still liable to go off the second she created them.
A hand suddenly smashed through the wall, grabbing for Momo. Acting on instinct, she twisted her body and brought her staff down, the force great enough that anyone without a quirk like Kirishima's would now have a broken wrist.
A pained grunt sounded, before the hand retracted.
Falling back, Momo moved into a defensive position, waiting for Kirishima to make his new move. The wall burst into a spray of rubble as Kirishima smashed through it, his arms hardened.
Creating a circular shield to protect herself from the rubble, Momo charged at Kirishima, bashing him with it.
The shape of Kirishima's hardened face appeared in the shield, the metal buckled and bent. Planting her foot, Momo spun on it, slamming the edge of the shield into Kirishima's chest.
The red-haired boy wheezed as the air was knocked out of him, his hardening failing under the amount of damage he had taken. Capitalising on Kirishima's broken guard, Momo drove one end of her staff into the same spot on the red-haired boy's chest, sending him stumbling back through the hole in the wall.
Pressing her advantage, Momo delivered a flurry of strikes with her staff, each one targeting a different part of Kirishima's body, forcing him to constantly switch where he hardened. With one final strike, Momo smashed the end of her weapon into Kirishima's knee.
Momo was winded from the effort. "You can switch your hardening faster than I can hit you."
Kirishima dropped to one knee, before cheering.
Momo paused, of everything she was expecting her opponent to do, this was not on the list.
Standing, Kirishima hardened both his forearms and charged at Momo.
Swinging her staff, Momo barely managed to block Kirishima's forearms.
"I thought I would only be able to go all out on Midoriya since you don't have a physical quirk." Kirishima hardened his fingers, holding his hand with a flat palm, before chopping clean through Momo's staff. "But you're way stronger than I was expecting."
The dark-haired teen blocked a hardened punch with one half of her staff, now reduced to a baton in each hand.
Momo took a step back, swinging her batons. "I would not want it any other way."
Izuku was starting to regret including sneakers in his hero costume.
He had been following Bakugo, waiting for an opening to launch a sneak attack.
And then his sneaker had decided to squeak, alerting Bakugo to his presence.
All this had led Izuku to where he was now, standing with a blown out wall behind him, a three-storey drop waiting for him to make one wrong move.
"You've been laughing at me behind my back this whole time!"
Bakugo fired an explosion, Izuku dodged, more of the wall was blown away.
"Hiding that broken-ass quirk of yours!"
Izuku used Attraction to pull himself out of the way of another explosion.
"Do you really think I would hide a quirk?" Izuku snapped back at Bakugo. "I wanted a quirk more than anything else, to not be mocked and derided for something I couldn't control!"
"You're lying! Stop looking down at me!"
Izuku sighed, Bakugo was beyond reason.
The next explosion came faster than Izuku could fully dodge, clipping him and nearly sending him out into the void, if not for a well-placed pull from Attraction.
"The sweat glands of my palm secrete some sort of nitroglycerin, that's how my explosions work, although I'm sure you know all about that, quirk-thief."
Bakugo raised one of his gauntlets at Izuku, pulling the handle backwards, arming it.
"If the support idiots honored my request, then this has been storing up sweat since this started."
All Might's voice boomed through the speakers. "Bakugo, don't do it! You could kill him!"
"Only if he doesn't move!"
Bakugo pulled the pin, a massive explosion surged at Izuku, ready to consume him.
"YOUNG MIDORIYA!"
Chapter 6: More Than The Sum Of Our Part
The students of Class 1-A watched the video monitors with bated breath.
All Might activated the microphone. "Young Midoriya, are you okay?"
Todoroki noticed the panicked tone to All Might's voice, beyond what was expected for a teacher.
The monitors swapped to an angle from inside the building, behind where Bakugo was standing, his outline visible through the smoke and debris filled air.
"Bakugo, stand down, the match is paused." All Might had gripped the microphone so tightly it had bent.
This did not escape Todoroki's attention either.
The dust slowly settled, allowing the class to see Bakugo properly, standing at the edge of the building, Izuku nowhere to be seen.
"Where's Deki?"
Momo and Kirishima had stopped their fight before All Might's announcement, the massive explosion worrying both of them.
"Do you think Midoriya is okay?" Kirishima rubbed his forearm awkwardly.
Momo gave a worried sigh. "I do not know, I hope he is safe."
"Bakugo doesn't do things by halves, does he?"
Raising her eyebrows, Momo turned her head towards Kirishima.
Kirishima rubbed the back of his neck. "R-Right, but he is pretty strong."
"Strength doesn't make a hero."
Back in the surveillance room, All Might made a decision. "Young Iida, please run and get Recovery Girl."
Iida charged up his engines. "Yes, Mr. All Might!"
"I-I'm fine, I can go on."
All Might activated the microphone. "Young Midoriya, are you okay?"
"I got out of the way."
Grunting with exertion, Izuku pulled himself up a rope, the same rope he'd tied around his body ten minutes earlier.
Izuku gave a small smile, muttering to himself. "Thank you, Yaoyorozu."
Reaching the top of the rope, Izuku gripped the mirror the rope was tied to, buried deep into the concrete of the wall.
The concrete around the mirror suddenly crumbled, forcing Izuku to pull on the building with Attraction, lifting himself up to grab the edge of the building, the rope falling to the ground below. Releasing a sigh of relief, Izuku clambered up and into the building, revealing his burnt and ruined costume.
The elbow guards were completely gone, blown off, along with the torso of the jumpsuit, the material hanging around his waist, revealing Izuku's bare chest.
"Young Midoriya, are you safe?"
Izuku nodded, before realising All Might was speaking over the tannoy. "I-I mean yes, I am."
Bakugo growled.
"Young Bakugo, if you use that attack again I will be forced to disqualify your team and declare Team A the winners."
"Sure. Whatever."
Izuku sighed, that wasn't encouraging.
"Well then, the match shall recommence. GO!"
"Come at me, shitty Deku!"
Pulling to one side, Izuku moved behind Bakugo, launching a kick.
"I'm not falling for that!" Bakugo ignited an explosion in his left palm, spinning his body out of the way of Izuku's kick, before delivering one of his own.
Izuku rolled away, forcing himself to a stop.
"Get up and fight me!"
Tightening his fist, Izuku pulled himself towards the wall, reaching out with both hands. With a mix of his natural strength and twin explosions from his palms, at the right angle, Izuku launched a powerful kick at Bakugo.
Firing off an explosion, Bakugo tried to move out of the way, but was too late, getting clipped in the shoulder.
Dropping to one knee, Bakugo glared at Izuku.
"Stop fucking looking down at me!"
Igniting both palms, Bakugo shot at Izuku.
Izuku pulled on the wall behind Bakugo, surging towards the other boy.
Kirishima smashed his hardened fists together.
"Let's get back to this!"
Momo nodded. "Let's."
Racing at Kirishima, Momo swung a baton to meet Kirishima's fist, before jabbing him in the gut with her other baton.
Kirishima stumbled back, closer to the bomb.
"You won't get the bomb." Kirishima hardened his cheek as a baton smashed into it, bending as it did.
Looking at her now useless baton, Momo tossed it aside and attacked with its remaining counterpart.
It bent over Kirishima's shoulder.
Sending the last baton to join its twin, Momo dodged a hardened punch from Kirishima, creating a pair of thick rubber gloves around her hands, stretching up to her elbows.
Lashing out with her left fist, Momo winced as it struck Kirishima's hardened chest, the thick rubber covering her hand protecting it from serious harm. Creating a new, stronger staff covered in purple crystalline powder from her left inner upper arm, Momo grabbed it with her right hand and pulled it clean from her skin.
"HEROES, YOU HAVE FIVE MINUTES LEFT!"
"I'm sorry about this, Kirishima."
A flurry of blows struck Kirishima, who met each with her hardened skin until he eventually managed to chop it in two, taking one of the halves in the process.
Both Momo and Kirishima threw the staff half they were holding away.
Momo rushed at Kirishima with her fist.
Kirishima raised his arms in an x-block, activating his quirk.
It hurt.
Making distance between himself and Momo, Kirishima looked down at his arms, finding them covered in red chemical burns. Checking the rest of his body, he found his bare torso covered in burns.
"I coated the second staff with potassium permanganate, in the right quantities it burns the skin." Momo turned her left arm to reveal a burn where the staff had been created from. "I guessed your quirk would not work if your skin was damaged, it paid off."
Rushing at Kirishima, Momo swung at him, her fist slamming into the red-haired boy's forearm, his instincts betraying him.
Crying out in pain at both the force of the punch and the burnt skin, Kirishima stumbled back.
Dropping onto one knee again, Kirishima wasn't cheering this time.
He was losing, his quirk, as weak as it was, was beyond his reach.
Unless…
...he went beyond!
Instead of focusing his quirk on the largest possible area, Kirishima focused instead just on the small area of his knuckles, managing to harden them slightly beyond his normal level.
Surging to his feet, Kirishima struck out at Yaoyorozu, hitting her rubber armored forearms, knocking her clean off her feet.
Momo stared up at her opponent. "Your quirk, it's pretty strong."
Kirishima was taken aback, all he'd ever been told was that his quirk was weak, not when common quirks like Steel or Shield could do what his did better.
"But you need better situational awareness."
Momo pushed herself up, onto her knees, reaching out to touch the bomb.
"THE HEROES HAVE SECURED THE BOMB! TEAM A WINS!"
Izuku gave a sigh of relief as he came to halt, wiping the sweat from his forehead.
"Phew, at least I didn't break anything this time!"
Bakugo stared blankly ahead, unable to process All Might's announcement.
"I lost?"
Izuku took a step backwards, he knew that tone.
"I fucking lost?"
"All Might, I think we might have a problem."
"WE FUCKING LOST?!"
"Young Bakugo, please calm down!"
Bakugo growled, his eyes boring into Izuku. "Stop looking down at me! You hid your quirk, you mocked me! Was I not worth using your quirk on?!"
Explosions danced in the palms of Bakugo's hands.
"You wouldn't use your quirk then, and now you won't acknowledge me with your full power!"
Bakugo raised his gauntlet, lifting the handle.
"YOUNG BAKUGO, NO!"
"SO I'LL MAKE YOU USE IT!"
A supercharged explosion blossomed from Bakugo's gauntlet, surging towards Izuku.
Izuku entered his quirkspace. Time slowed.
Taking a deep breath, Izuku stared at his quirks. He had three minutes to find a solution, preferably one that avoided falling three stories.
"Zero Gravity is a no-go. Even if I weighed 15kg less the drop would still be potentially fatal."
"Explosion is the same, even with both palms the explosions won't be strong enough to counteract the force of Bakugo's explosion."
Izuku scratched his chin, supercharging them with One For All at his maximum would break both his arms immediately, he needed a sustained force.
Attraction was too weak for it to be able to pull him back into the building, but it might be able to get him to the building at the opposite side of the road.
Doing the calculations, factoring the force of Bakugo's supercharged explosion, an estimated weight of the building and the width of the average road, Izuku sighed.
Izuku sighed. "Even with Zero Gravity as well I would hit the ground before I could cross the distance."
That left Izuku with two options.
Use One For All in his legs, breaking them, and jump to the opposite building. Use Attraction to pull a nearby piece of rubble into the path of the explosion to shield himself.Putting the first option on the back burner, Izuku began to troubleshoot the second.
The first, and largest, problem was the weight of the rubble. By Izuku's calculations, factoring in the average density of concrete and an estimated volume, any piece large enough to shield him was so close to his own weight it would require multiple pulls and time he didn't have.
The second problem was that a single piece of rubble would not be able to shield Izuku entirely, he'd have to use Attraction to pull himself back into the building, and even then that might not be enough.
This plan would require unlikely amounts of luck to work.
An amount of luck Izuku wasn't comfortable with.
Izuku's eyes drifted to the representation of One For All, its structure was far more complex than any other quirk he had, even Quirksmith.
It was almost like it was two quirks in one.
Izuku's eyes widened.
"It is two quirks."
That meant that merging quirks was possible.
"This changes everything we know about quirks."
But Izuku didn't have time to think about that.
Expanding Attraction and Zero Gravity, Izuku took a deep breath and pinched the node that represented Attraction's weight limit, equal to the holder's own weight.
Pulling, a strand of light appeared from the node, leading to Izuku's fingers. Reaching out with his other hand, Izuku snapped the strand within Zero Gravity that led to its own weight limit node.
Plucking the loose end of the strand, Izuku moved the two strands, one green, one pink, towards each other.
The two strands bonded together, glowing with silver light at the joint.
Izuku breathed a sigh of relief, he had been worried that the quirks would-
Attraction and Zero Gravity began to denature.
"No, no, this has to work!"
Panic surged through Izuku's veins as the nodes began to fade, the strands between them loosening.
With one last desperate idea, Izuku called on One For All through the mental representation of his arms and plunged one into each quirk.
Light blue lightning surged down Izuku's arms, and into the quirks, crackling all around them.
A flash of bright light forced Izuku to look away, only dimming after a full ten seconds.
Blinking the spots in his eyes away, Izuku turned his head back to Attraction and Zero Gravity.
The two quirks were gone.
In their place was a single quirk, larger than any of his other copied quirks, coloured silver
"I did it."
Izuku smiled.
Reaching out with one of his aching arms, Izuku activated Tokusei's quirk.
"Slingshot, created by Izuku Midoriya, aged 15, on April 12th 2179. Type, Emitter. Compound of Attraction and Zero Gravity, allows the holder to manipulate a maximum of four objects below their weight limit with their mind."
That was unexpected, the merged quirk had mutated, more into a moderately powerful form of telekinesis than attraction of small objects and minor gravity manipulation.
More than the sum of its parts.
Izuku smiled.
Returning to the real world, Izuku activated Slingshot for the first time, pulling on the four largest pieces that were below his weight limit, 116kg.
It was higher than Izuku expected for the composite of the two quirks, as Attraction had used his weight, 81kg, and the limit he had cultivated with Zero Gravity had been 15kg.
Izuku moved the four blocks of concrete between himself and the explosion, creating a shield.
The fireball struck Izuku's shield, shattering the concrete and forcing him back.
As the dust settled, Izuku glanced over his shoulder to see he was at the absolute edge of the building, the heel of his back foot overhanging.
"You'll have to try harder than that." Izuku levelled a stare at an enraged Bakugo.
Bakugo roared with rage, his hands popping with explosions, rushing at Izuku.
Izuku's feet moved, he didn't even think, the sound of Bakugo's raving and All Might's shouts fading to muffled noise.
Racing to meet Bakugo, two more explosions were fired at Izuku in quick succession, each one intercepted by a piece of rubble.
"Fucking die already!" Bakugo lurched forwards, releasing the strongest explosion he could at his former friend.
Reaching out to points on opposite walls, Izuku pulled on the much heavier objects, slingshotting over the explosion with ease and landing behind Bakugo.
Reaching out with one hand, Izuku pulled a piece of rubble directly at himself, while attracting the far wall with his other, tugging his body out of the way.
The rubble slammed into Bakugo as he turned towards Izuku, knocking him off his feet and sliding close to the edge of the building on his front. Bakugo gasped, sucking air back into his lungs, his arms under him.
Before Bakugo could react, Izuku placed his sneakered foot on his chest, using his foot as the anchor point to gently pull on the floor below, trapping his former friend's arms under himself, negating the use of his quirk without injuring himself.
"Young Midoriya."
Izuku looked up, All Might had appeared at the doorway to the destroyed room, Yaoyorozu and Kirishima standing a few steps behind him.
"A-All Might-"
"You can let him go, kid."
Aizawa dropped down, landing on the edge of the building, his eyes glowing, his hair floating around his face.
"M-Mr. Aizawa."
All Might gestured to Izuku as the boy released Bakugo. "Young Midoriya, your arms."
Izuku looked down, finally seeing that his arms were purple and bruised, aching like they'd been run over.
At least they weren't broken.
All Might wrapped a blanket around Izuku's shoulders. "Young Yaoyorozu, would you please accompany your teammate to see Recovery Girl."
Yaoyorozu nodded, leading Izuku away.
"Young Kirishima, we shall rejoin your classmates in the surveillance room."
Now, Aizawa was left alone with a fuming Bakugo, the cameras used to monitor the building disabled at the underground hero's command.
Bakugo stared at his palms.
"I'm erasing your quirk." Aizawa sighed. "Are you going to calm down now or do I need to make my dry eye even worse?"
"Whatever."
Aizawa's scarf lashed out, binding Bakugo's hands against his chest.
"What the fuck?!"
"You didn't give me a straight answer."
Bakugo growled, before calming down. "Fine, I won't use my quirk."
Aizawa cancelled his quirk and recalled his scarf.
"That's a start at least." Aizawa moisten his eyes with drops. "Let me say this, if you do anything like this again, you will be expelled. Immediately."
Bakugo didn't respond.
"Understood?"
"Yeah, sure, I understand." Bakugo fumed quietly. "Fucking Deku."
"You're going to stop calling him that as well." Aizawa made his eyes briefly glow for emphasis. "Call him by his actual name or not at all."
Bakugo growled. "I'll do what I goddamn want!"
"No, you won't. As I said, this is your final warning, with your current behaviour you have no potential as a hero."
Bakugo didn't react.
"You clearly have issues you need to sort out."
Aizawa sat down on the edge of the blown out wall.
"Hound Dog provides counselling at U.A., if you talk to him I'm sure he can find a slot for you, you should give it a try."
"Or what, you'll expel me?"
Aizawa sighed. "No, I can't and won't force you to go to counselling. The only person who can improve you is yourself. No one else can do it for you."
"Tch."
"Fine, it's up to you. If you're not going to talk to a counsellor, at least talk to someone, anyone you trust."
With that, Aizawa dropped out the side of the building, using his scarf as a grapple to swing away.
Landing on the top of the building opposite, Aizawa rested on the edge, watching as Bakugo slowly climbed to his feet, rage pouring off him in waves.
It was a shame, after he got Midoriya to stop holding back the day before, Aizawa had thought that class may finally be the class where he didn't have to expel any of them.
And then Bakugo had gone and proved him wrong.
The boy was self-destructing, ironic considering his quirk. Aizawa doubted he'd be able to overcome his pride and ask for help.
He wouldn't last the week.
Katsuki lashed out, punching a wall, pain blossoming through his fist despite his rubberised gloves. He'd waited until he knew Aizawa could no longer see him to do it.
"Fuck!"
He swung with his other fist.
"Shit!"
"You okay, Bakugo?"
Katsuki turned his head, it was Kirishima, with a fucking dopey-as-shit smile on his face.
"Fuck off, Shitty Hair!"
Kirishima chuckled. "That's not a nice thing to say to your teammate! Anyway, All Might dismissed us for the day, I came to let you know."
The sharp barb on the tip of Katsuki's tongue died before he could speak it. The two boys set off back for the changing room.
The red-haired boy was watching him with an unguarded look, nothing to hide, nothing to gain.
An open book.
Is this what that fucking scarf weirdo meant? Someone he could trust?
"Can I talk to you?"
Kirishima beamed. "Aren't you already?"
"Don't get mouthy with me, you Crimson Riot knockoff."
Katsuki groaned both internally and externally as this only seemed to make Kirishima happier, if such a thing was even possible.
"Thanks, Bakubro, that's totally what I was aiming for, I know he's pretty retro, but Crimson Riot's my favourite hero! All Might is a pretty close second though."
Katsuki twitched at Kirishima's nickname. "Don't call me that!"
Kirishima shrugged. "You give everyone nicknames, I thought you might want one as well."
Katsuki pinched the bridge of his nose. "Those aren't nicknames, they're meant to be insul-"
Kirishima's innocent face stared back at Katsuki.
"You know what, fuck it, never mind."
Kirishima slung an arm around Katsuki's shoulder, ignoring the audible growl, as they walked down the tunnel towards the changing rooms.
"So, what is it you wanted to talk about, Bakubro?"
Katsuki gave a reluctant sigh. "Goggles gave me a final warning."
Kirishima patted Katsuki on the shoulder. "I'm sure Mr. Aizawa was just tryna scare you so you don't go too far again."
"No. If I slip up, he'll expel me." Katsuki's palms fizzed with sparks. "He said I should be counselling, I don't fucking need therapy!"
"Can't hurt though, right?"
"What?!"
Kirishima shrugged. "It can't hurt, you just talk to someone for a while, you don't even need to talk if you don't want to, and it'll get Mr. Aizawa off your back as well."
Katsuki stopped in the doorway of the changing rooms, everyone else had long since changed and left, even Deku's bag and clothes were gone.
Shitty Hair was right, Katsuki begrudgingly admitted to himself, but it was more than that.
Katsuki knew he'd gone too far, he'd known it the first time he used his supercharged explosion, but he'd kept on going, he couldn't stop himself.
"See you tomorrow, Bakugo!"
Katsuki looked up, watching as Kirishima waved to him, changed back into his school uniform.
"Tch, whatever."
"T-Thanks for bringing me, Y-Yaoyorozu!"
Izuku bowed to Yaoyorozu, his bruised arms hanging limply at his sides.
"See you tomorrow, Midoriya."
With that, Izuku was left with a less than impressed Recovery Girl.
"Three times."
Izuku chuckled nervously as he sat down on the bed.
"This is only the first day of classes."
"Y-Yeah."
Recovery Girl sighed. "Well, at least you didn't break any bones this time."
"O-Oh, well, that something at least-"
"Your muscles are shredded, they're basically mush. I have no idea how you managed to do it or keep moving your arms."
Izuku shuffled slightly. "I used One For All in my quirkspace, I managed to merge two of my copied quirks into one, stronger quirk."
"SMOOCH!"
The purple faded from one of Izuku's arms, leaving it aching but functional, a wave of tiredness washing over him.
"So what you're telling me is that you and I are going to be doing this often."
Recovery Girl watched as Izuku spluttered a response.
"Fine, watch what I do when I heal your other arm carefully, you might as well learn how to use my quirk while you're here."
Recovery Girl's lips extended, kissing Izuku's still injured arm.
Slipping into his quirkspace, Izuku felt the energy emitted by Recovery Girl, comparing it to the ambient energy given off by his copy of Heal.
He could feel it draining his stamina, burning through it astounding speed. No wonder Recovery Girl had to heal her patients in individual sessions. Izuku wondered if there was some way he could make it more efficient, surely a more reliable power source than the target's stamina.
There was, of course there was.
And it was staring him in the face.
One For All, by its very nature it was a stockpile of power, just waiting to be tapped into. Reaching out, Izuku's turned the drain caused by Recovery Girl's quirk from his stamina to One For All.
Immediately, Izuku felt the stamina drain vanish, instead Heal was pulling on One For All's reserve of power, unable to use it faster than it replenished.
Opening his eyes, Izuku returned to the physical world to find Recovery Girl watching him, his arm fully healed, with no aching tiredness left in place of his former injury.
"I thought All Might made the right choice in you at the entrance exam." Recovery Girl paused. "Now I'm certain of it. All that musclebound oaf used One For All for was to point and smash, but can do so much more with it."
Izuku blushed, unused to praise coming from anywhere other than his mom and more recently, All Might.
"Well then, we're done here, I'll leave you to get changed. Just leave your costume behind, I'll have it sent down to Support for repair." Recovery Girl patted Izuku on the head and turned to leave. "Oh, and by the way, I'm afraid there's no gummies for you today, if I give you them every time you end up in here I'll end up rotting your teeth."
Izuku smiled.
Ryo was finishing up for the day, submitting the report Nedzu asked for just after lunch.
A knock sounded from his door.
Clicking send, Ryo minimized his email, leaving the desktop on screen.
"Come in."
The door slammed open with more force than was necessary, revealing Katsuki Bakugo.
Ryo didn't even blink, gesturing for Bakugo to take a seat on the couch.
"What would you like to talk to me about?"
Bakugo shrugged. "Aizawa told me I should see you about counselling or whatever."
"Did he, now?" Ryo scratched behind his ear. "Do you want counselling?"
Bakugo looked. "Tch, sure, I'll do it."
Despite his arrogant words, Ryo knew the teen was pushing his pride to one side to ask for help in his own way.
What kind of hero would he be if he didn't take the hand that was reaching out to him?
"I've got half an hour free, what do you want to talk about?"
Bakugo growled. "Aren't you supposed to be the one asking me questions?! About feelings and shit like that?"
Ryo shook his head. "We'll talk about what you're comfortable talking about, it can be about your day, interests, or nothing at all if you want."
"Huh, what about the whole lying on the couch shit?"
Ryo chuckled. "I mean, you can if you really want-"
"I DON'T FEEL LIKE I CAN BE A HERO!"
"So we're going to cut straight to chase, then?" Ryo paused. "Can you tell me why you feel that way?"
Bakugo seethed. "When I was growing up, all my teachers and classmates would tell me was that my quirk was perfect for being a hero."
"I was told it again and again until I believed it, I would be the perfect hero because I had the perfect hero quirk."
Ryo nodded. "And then something happened."
"Deku, the little shit went and saved me." Bakugo paused, he had heard what All Might had said that day, when the sludge villain had taken him hostage, that Deku had been the one who spurred him into action.
"Deku?"
"Midoriya." Bakugo grunted through clenched teeth.
"Ah, from Class 1-A, Aizawa was complaining about him yesterday, he doesn't usually warm up to a new student so fast."
"But you said he was complaining?!" Bakugo groused.
"That's how you know Aizawa likes you."
"Sounds like he needs therapy as well."
Ryo chuckled, he wasn't expecting the teen to actually have a sense of humor, no matter how sarcastic it in fact was.
"This Deku, Midoriya, how did he save you?"
Bakugo growled.
"Okay, we don't have to discuss that, how about what led you to come here today."
Clenching his fists, Bakugo forced himself to speak. "I went too far, I was just so angry, I couldn't stop myself."
Bakugo sighed, the tension melting from his body, his head falling.
"I lost control. What kind of hero can't control their temper?"
Ryo cracked his neck. "My quirk means that if I get too angry I lose the power of speech, all I can do then is bark."
Bakugo's head rose to look at Ryo.
"Anger isn't inherently a bad thing. Just so long as you control it, or it'll control you."
Ryo scratched his snout. "Anger can be a weapon, honed to perfection, to give you that drive to win when you're on your last legs."
Bakugo stilled. "How do I do that?"
"You need to know what is making you so angry."
"Its fucking Deku, looking down at me all the time!"
Ryo sighed. "I can assure you it isn't. That is a lie you tell yourself, you need to look deeper. What exact moment today made you realise you'd lost control?"
Bakugo paused. "The costume."
Silence hung heavy in the air, almost deafening.
"The costume that Auntie Inko made for Deku, the one my old hag said she worked so hard on, I destroyed it."
For the first time in years, shame filled Katsuki Bakugo, threatening to swallow him whole, with anger rising to meet it.
"Then fix it, I'm sure there is someone in the Support Department who can."
The shame in Bakugo didn't falter or diminish, but he didn't feel like he was drowning anymore.
He knew what he had to do now.
Chapter 7: Shatterproof Heart
Shota didn't bother to knock as he entered the principal's office.
"Come in, Aizawa. Take a seat." Nedzu continued to sort through paperwork, not even batting an eye.
This was a common occurrence, after all.
Aizawa sighed, before sitting down across from the rodent principal.
Nedzu laid his paperwork down, turning his attention to Aizawa.
"So, is this about the Katsuki Bakugo incident? My calculations gave a 41 percent chance you would immediately expel him."
"I haven't expelled him."
Nedzu nodded. "Since I know you would not allow him to continue without punishment I assume you gave him a final warning."
Aizawa gave a noise of agreement.
"Well then, are you here for the 37 percent chance Katsuki Bakugo would immediately take an action that would have you expel him or the 58 percent chance that that he will not seek help?"
"Neither, I just got an email from Inui, Bakugo came to see him, they have another session scheduled for next Monday."
Nedzu placed his paws together. "So, if you are not expelling Katsuki Bakugo, why did you come to see me?"
"Costumes."
"Costumes?"
Aizawa nodded. "Or more accurately, the costume designers who work for U.A."
"What is the problem with the designers?"
"They appear to be taking certain liberties with the design of costumes."
Aizawa placed an image on Nedzu's desk, a professionally produced piece of concept art. It showed a different version of Yaoyorozu's costume, complete with shorts and a thinner window in the torso.
"This is what Yaoyorozu submitted to the design agency. This is what she received."
Aizawa added a second image, concept art of the costume the girl had worn earlier that day.
Nedzu studied the two images. "Hmm, this is troubling."
"Yaoyorozu's costume has been altered to show the maximum amount of skin allowed for a pro hero."
"But Yaoyorozu isn't a pro hero yet, as she is still a minor she is subject to different regulations. Her draft costume was already showing the maximum allowed skin for a minor."
Aizawa sighed. "This isn't the only example."
Another pair of images landed on Nedzu's desk.
"Uraraka, costume changed to be skin tight."
Two more sets joined them.
"Ashido and Asui, skin tight costumes again, with the same designer as Yaoyorozu."
More images.
"Hagakure, literally a pair of gloves and boots."
"Tokoyami, just a black cape and boots."
"Jiro and Kaminari, same designer, almost identical costumes barring support items.
Aizawa drew one final image, handing it directly to Nedzu.
"And possibly the most egregious, apart from Yaoyorozu's, is Minoru Mineta's costume."
Nedzu stared at the image.
"Is that a diaper, themed after a fruit bowl?"
Aizawa inclined his head, with a small sigh.
"I assume this is not what Minoru Mineta requested." Nedzu placed the picture down, joining the others.
"It isn't, I looked at his request, that diaper bowl should be a pair of white shorts, over the rest of the costume."
"Hmm, ah yes, as a homage to a fictional pre-quirk hero."
Aizawa shrugged, he'd never bothered much about fictional heroes from before superpowers were a reality, it always seemed too unrealistic for each hero to have four or five separate powers.
Then again, Aizawa had to admit it was a bit more realistic now he had a quirk like Midoriya's in his class.
Nedzu sighed. "It seems the design agencies must be taken in hand. Inappropriate, mocking and lazy costumes not only undermine our integrity as an educator of heroes, but the integrity of these future heroes."
"What course of action do you want to take?" Aizawa questioned.
A worryingly maniacal laugh slipped from Nedzu's lips.
"I will handle the agencies by myself. I will also send a request to Power Loader to alter Yaoyorozu's costume."
Aizawa shrugged and stood. "Fine, I'll inform the rest of class that they are allowed to wear their gym uniforms for now if they want."
Nedzu nodded. "An excellent idea, have a good evening, Aizawa."
Katsuki pushed the door to the 3-G Support Workshop open, deafening noise greeting him.
This was where Dogface had said Deku's costume was sent to be repaired.
"Oi, where's Deku's costume?!"
Katsuki's yell was lost to the droning of machines, the banging of hammers and the grinding of metal.
"Deaf fucks." Katsuki watched as the support students went on with their building, forging and tinkering.
He could see at least two sets of powered armor, three flamethrowers, countless grapple guns and what looked like a 10ft tall armored robot.
Finding the emergency stop on the wall, Katsuki pressed it.
Instantly the sound of the workshop went dead, replaced with shouts of disbelief and anger.
"What the hell did you do that for, newbie?!"
Katsuki ground his teeth together, forcing himself to stay on topic instead of raging at the stupid extra.
"You thick skulled extras couldn't hear me over your stupid toys!"
"Did he just call us extras!"
"Thick skulled?!"
"These aren't toys, you fucking-"
Katsuki released a small explosion. "I don't care what you shitstains have to say, I'm just looking for the costume from 1-A that got wrecked!"
One of the support students stepped forward. "Oh, that piece of crap, we trashed, all it was good for was junk."
Katsuki's fists tightened.
"You fucking dick bags!"
Another student joined the first. "Was it yours, newbie? Did your mummy make it for you?!"
Katsuki growled, his palms dancing with weak explosions.
"Stop being dicks to the kid."
A tall student, dressed in oil stained overalls, stepped in between Katsuki and the other students, his pale red hair smudged with grime.
"No wonder all the other classes don't like us when you guys go round acting like this."
The first student rolled his eyes. "Tch, whatever."
Katsuki frowned.
With that, the machines restarted, the support students going back to their work.
"Follow me." The red-haired student set off towards a side room.
Katsuki shrugged. "Why should I listen to an extra like you?"
"Follow me."
Katsuki's clothes lurched, dragging him off, after the student.
"What the fuck?!"
"My quirk, Limited Fibrokinesis, allows me small-scale control over fabric and its fibers, it's the perfect Support quirk." The red-haired student glanced over his shoulder. "I'm Matsuro Sen."
"Matsuro Sen, sounds like dumb fucking name!"
Sen laughed. "You must be Katsuki Bakugo then, the whole of U.A. is abuzz with what happened today."
Katsuki sighed. "Great."
Sen released his hold on Katsuki as they entered the side room, the door dulling the racket from the workshop.
"I saw those clowns throwing that jumpsuit away." Sen moved over to a workbench. "So I took it, to give it back to the kid it belongs to."
Katsuki stepped forward, seeing Deku's jumpsuit on the workbench, each scrap of cloth laid back in its correct place.
"Could you repair it?"
It was barely a whisper, the words forced from Katsuki's lips with all his might.
Sen glanced over at Katsuki. "Huh, what did ya say?"
Katsuki growled. "I said could you fix this stupid jumpsuit!"
Sen chuckled. "No need to shout, kid."
"Don't call me that!"
"Sure thing, kid."
Katsuki's eye twitched. "Can you do it or not?"
Sen shrugged. "Sure, why not."
Holding out the first two fingers of his left hand, Sen moved them in line with the tear of the mask.
Fibers from each half reached out, reconnecting and joining the mask together seamlessly.
As if Katsuki had never blown it apart.
Sen moved on, repairing each tear and rip until the jumpsuit was whole once again.
"Here you are, it may look like whatever happened to it never happened, but it's still pretty weak. The kid will need a new one, made here with better materials."
Sen folded up the jumpsuit.
"I can tell this was made with a lot of love." Sen held the jumpsuit out to Katsuki. "Make sure it gets back to the Midoriya kid safely."
Katsuki grunted, stuffing the jumpsuit in his bag. "Thanks or whatever."
Sen sighed, before smiling. "Good luck, hero-in-training kid."
Katsuki snarled.
Izuku stared at the wrecked fridge-freezer in front of him.
Even after all the work he'd put into cleaning up the beach junk kept on washing up from the sea.
But that just meant Izuku wouldn't stop, after all the hard work he'd put into this beach, he wasn't going to let it slide back into being a dump now.
It also gave him plenty of chances to work on his quirks.
And right now, he was focusing on his newest quirk.
Slingshot.
Reaching out with his hand, Izuku pulled on the fridge, receiving only a slight wobble for his effort.
"Too heavy, how about..."
Holding his hand out again, Izuku activated two of Slingshot's strands.
The fridge rocked and fell over.
"Then this should work."
Using all four strands, Izuku latched them onto the fridge and lifted it into the air.
Grunting at the exertion, Izuku realised this was the same effort it required him to carry the fridge to this spot in the first place.
That was it, the weight limit of Slingshot was not a combination of the two quirks' weight limits, but the force he could produce with his limbs.
94kg.
Exactly half of what Izuku's could bench comfortably, when using two of his limbs.
That meant that by increasing his strength and muscle mass the weight limit for Slingshot would increase.
Just like how One For All would become less harmful to his body with greater strength and muscle mass.
The fridge dropped into the sand.
But that wasn't to say Slingshot didn't come with disadvantages of its own.
Izuku had quickly found he couldn't alter Slingshot at all, any attempts to even manipulate the inner workings of the quirk had threatened to denature it.
While Slingshot was now a single quirk, it still took up the quirkspace of its constituent parts. Similarly, any attempts he had made to recopy Attraction from his mom had failed.
The last, and most annoying, limitation of the new quirk was its lack of effect on people and animals. Attraction had held a similar limitation, but Izuku had hoped it would take after Zero Gravity in that respect.
But at least the nausea from Zero Gravity had vanished when the two quirks had merged.
"You're mumbling again, Young Midoriya!"
Izuku was shaken from his thoughts, raising his head to the sight of All Might standing in front of him, in his true form.
"All M-"
Izuku cut himself off.
"I mean, Mr.-"
It was at that point Izuku realised he didn't know what to call the man.
"Yagi."
Izuku stared at astonishment at his idol, his worries about All Might's fear of his quirk momentarily forgotten.
All Might had told him his name, well, just his surname. But it wasn't any less amazing, All Might's identity was a closely guarded secret, no one knew it.
Just like One For All.
"R-Right."
All Might nodded. "I thought I might find you here."
Izuku shrugged nervously. "That pass to train with my quirks you gave me is still valid until next week, I thought I'd get some practice with Slingshot before it ran out."
All Might guided Izuku over to a bench, the two taking a seat.
"I actually wanted to talk to you about that quirk, if you don't mind."
"S-Sure."
All Might smiled. "I was just curious where you got it from. I have an idea but I didn't want to be presumptuous."
Izuku's thoughts turned negative for a few seconds, before he forced himself to banish them.
"I created it, during the fight, I merged my mom's and Uraraka's quirks."
All Might hummed in agreement. "As I thought."
"I never knew it was possible, it was a bit of Hail Mary." Izuku paused. "But now I've seen what a merged quirk looks like, I've realised something."
"One For All is a two-in-one quirk."
Izuku's head snapped round to look at his mentor. "Y-You knew?"
All Might sighed. "I did, the only reason I chose not to tell you was because I didn't want to burden you with One For All's history."
"One For All's history?"
"It's not a pleasant one." All Might ran a hand through his hair. "As you know, you and I are the eighth and ninth holders of this quirk."
"The first holder wasn't born with One For All, but one of the two quirks that formed it. The ability to pass on his own quirk, he was believed to be quirkless."
Izuku nodded, listening intently, enraptured by the story.
"The first holder, he had a brother."
All Might's voice caught in his throat.
"His name was All For One."
"All For One?" Izuku frowned, surely no-one would inflict their child with a name like that.
"It's an alias, after his quirk, his real name has been lost to time, more than one holder of our quirk has been forced to choose a successor during battle. Doesn't exactly leave much time for training or learning its history."
All Might stopped, giving Izuku time to process what he'd just said, well aware of the sombre tone he'd set for the conversation.
"One For All is derived from All For One, a quirk that can steal the quirks of others and make them the holder's. But it can also give quirks as well."
"All For One, everything for one person."
All Might nodded in agreement.
"This all happened at the dawn of quirks, before society collapsed. The law and order of that era could not adapt to cover the quirks that began to appear. Progress ceased and decay set in."
Izuku followed All Might's eye line up the moon, hanging in the twilight sky.
"'If superpowers had never appeared, then humans would be taking interstellar holidays by now.' I remember hearing that once, on the TV."
"That's true. In that age of chaos, All For One united many of the quirked peoples, promising them a future without discrimination, freedom from the quirkless." All Might lowered his gaze.
Izuku's eyes widened. "The First Demon, I thought that was just a myth."
All Might shook his head. "I'm afraid it isn't, All For One, he stole the quirks of any who stood in his way, even from those who didn't, and sometimes just because he wanted one that interested him."
"He offered the quirkless of that era, those who wished to be quirked, the power they wanted, in exchange for servitude, and so he built an army. He ruled Japan, he had sights set on the rest of the world as well."
"Until he made a mistake." All Might looked to his protege. "He forced a quirk onto his brother, he was ashamed of someone as almighty as himself having such a weakling for a sibling, a sibling that resisted his rule."
"So that created One For All?"
"Yes, the quirk All For One forced on the first holder allowed the user to stockpile power, it merged with his natural quirk to become One For All, far weaker then, but still a potent force, stronger than most quirks of that era."
"So One For All is kind of like a compound quirk. Like Todoroki has."
All Might nodded. "Exactly like that. Compound quirks are rare, a union of both of the parents' quirks. All compound quirks have one commonality, they have dual functions, like Young Todoroki's ice and fire."
Izuku frowned. "But Slingshot only has one function, I can manipulate a maximum of four objects with my mind."
"Perhaps you just haven't found it's second function yet." All Might offered reassuringly. "But back on topic."
All Might laced his hands together. "Many quirks All For One passed on mutated or were influenced by natural quirks, harmonising with them. But, One For All was the first time, and until today, the only time two quirks have become one."
Izuku looked down at his hands, thinking back to the muscle damage he'd caused by activating One For All inside his quirkspace, right as Zero Gravity and Attraction began to denature.
"Then that makes sense."
All Might raised an eyebrow at his successor's words.
"When I tried to merge those quirks today, I was failing, they were falling apart, I activated One For All in the hope I could stop it."
"So that's how they merged." All Might tapped a finger against his chin. "One For All's power was the source, it provided the energy."
"C-Could it be?" Izuku stopped, worried to continue.
"You can say it, Young Midoriya."
"Could it be that your description of the first holder's original quirk is wrong?"
"Very possibly, what do you have in mind?"
Izuku paused. "You said his quirk could pass itself on, but what if it had another dimension to it."
All Might realised what Izuku was thinking. "The ability to merge quirks."
Izuku nodded. "Y-Yeah."
"Or maybe it was just because the power you used from One For All has the signature of a merged quirk."
Izuku started, thinking over his mentor's words. "A template for Slingshot to work from, it could be."
All Might shrugged. "Maybe, I'll leave the deep quirk analysis up to you, it was never my strong suit."
A silence fell over the mentor and mentee, heavy and cold, freezing Izuku's lungs.
All these weeks of seeing the distrust in All Might's eyes, now Izuku knew why.
"You think my quirk is like All For One's, don't you?"
All Might flinched.
"Young Midoriya-"
"Why? Why would you fear my quirk just because it's similar to his?!"
Izuku's outburst took All Might by surprise, the boy was surprisingly loud when he wanted to be.
"I'm not afraid of your quirk, Young Midoriya."
"Then what else is it? You trusted me with One For All, then as soon as you find out about my quirk you shut down, I can see it in your eyes."
All Might stayed silent.
"That's it, isn't it? You think I'm related to him, to All For One!"
Izuku's hand tightened, gathering fistfuls of his tracksuit pants.
"Just because All For One may have been one of my ancestors, why does that mean I can't be trusted? Because of a man who's been dead for decades!"
All Might spoke. "I killed All For One six years ago, the same day he gave me that injury."
Izuku felt the world drop out from below him.
Six years ago.
It was six years ago, that day when Izuku had gone to bed and woke up to find his dad was gone.
Whenever he'd asked his mom where he was she'd just cry and tell him that his dad got a job overseas.
Izuku collapsed forward onto the sand, on all fours.
"No, that's impossible."
"All For One stole a longevity quirk during his reign of terror, he used it to remain unaging." All Might placed a hand on Izuku's shoulder.
"Don't say it."
"I hoped it wouldn't come to this, that I would be wrong." All Might paused. "I'm sorry, Izuku, but your father was All For One."
"No!"
Izuku slammed his fist down, spraying up sand, mixing with the tears streaming down his face.
"Young Midoriya, it's okay to be angry."
"Angry, this isn't angry." Izuku stopped, his arm hanging limp. "Angry is what happens when you get punched by a bully, angry is what happens when you get told to kill yourself for being quirkless."
Izuku pushed himself to his feet. "My dad is kind, he loves me, I know that."
All Might reached out to his protégé.
Izuku slapped his hand away. "If what you say is true, then I'll never get to see him again, because you killed him."
Before All Might could react the boy was gone, racing away from him as fast as he legs could carry him.
Toshinori sighed, seeming to deflate even more than he already had.
"Well, that was a fine mess, wasn't it?"
Toshinori froze.
That voice.
The same voice he'd heard every time before he had his ass handed to him when he was still in training.
"Gran Torino."
A short, grey haired man with a cane walked down the stairs and onto the beach.
"We meet again. It's been a long time, hasn't it."
Toshinori nodded glumly as Torino hopped onto the bench next to him.
Torino chuckled. "The circle is now complete. When we last met you were but the learner. Now, you are the master."
"The master of screwing up, you mean."
Torino rolled his eyes. "Don't be so dramatic Toshinori, some of the arguments we had during your training were far worse than that."
Toshinori looked at his former mentor questioningly. "I just told him I killed his father, that seems to be a bit more than an argument."
"He's a teenager, he'll get over it." Torino paused. "Besides, if you're right, and his father is All For One, he's going to need your support."
The two men fell into a companionable silence, Toshinori could almost believe the last thirty years hadn't happened, that he and Torino were just taking a break from his training.
Toshinori's wound ached, reminding him that wasn't so. Those days were gone, and they were never coming back. Since he'd finished his training with Torino, Toshinori had seen him maybe five or six times, only ever in a professional setting, one of those being that day.
"Funny to think this place used to be a dump."
Toshinori nodded in agreement.
"Six years, feels like longer since we fought All For One on this beach."
"It's why I chose this as Midoriya's project." Toshinori looked down at his hand. "Not just to make him a suitable vessel for One For All, but to change the place I got this injury into something else."
Toshinori closed his hand into a fist. "Something better. Hopeful."
Torino chuckled. "You're still the same idealistic idiot I used to beat up, aren't you."
Toshinori started.
"Good." Torino paused. "Don't ever lose that."
A small smile crept onto Toshinori's face. "I promise."
"Quirkless!"
BANG!
"What a freak."
BANG!
"No wonder his parents abandoned him, he's less than nothing."
BANG!
Mikumo slammed the hammer down harder, trying to drown out those words.
The words he heard every day, the words that threatened to shatter his hope, his ambitions.
Mikumo couldn't let them.
BANG!
He had been hesitant at first, partnering with Hatsume, but already Mikumo knew it had been the right choice.
With her insane building speed and his eye for design flaws, together they had managed to design a 3D model for a set of armor.
It was only for a prototype, but it was the next step on Mikumo's path to being a hero.
Hatsume had left to go home, but Mikumo had stayed, starting work on the first piece of the armor, a new set of gauntlets.
Each was equipped with grapple units, upgraded shock absorption and multiple repulsors along the back of the forearm.
They would boost both his punching power against villains and his lifting strength for rescue work.
Mikumo lowered his hammer, the metal plating for between each of the fingers was now bent over to meet the palm of the gauntlet.
Moving over to the welding station, Mikumo secured each metal strip to the palm.
Mikumo would rather be here, working on his project, than go back to that place. For long as possible.
Filing the excess metal on the joints down, Mikumo returned to his workstation, slotting the hand section of the gauntlet into the rest. Wiping the sweat from his brow, Mikumo smiled, creating this kind of stuff was how he felt at home.
Hammers didn't mock you. 3D printers wouldn't tell you to jump off the roof. Plasma cutters didn't wish you'd never been born.
Here, in his work, Mikumo was safe.
Mikumo twitched, someone was in the workshop.
Spinning around, Mikumo scanned the semi-lit room, but there was nothing to be seen.
A chair moved minutely, someone without Mikumo's years of watching out for the fists of his tormentors would never have seen it.
"I-I know you're here!"
Nothing.
Something in Mikumo's mind clicked.
"You're that invisible girl from 1-A, I heard the others talking about you guys."
"Ah, jeez."
The voice came from the left of Mikumo, making him jump.
"I was hoping you wouldn't notice me."
Mikumo's face flushed at the realisation of what the girl's lack of corporeal form meant. "W-Why's that?"
"I'm training, with my quirk being a stealth hero is my only option and I can't really train with people who know I'm there."
Mikumo rubbed the back of his head. "I guess that's true."
"Huh, you kinda remind me of someone in my class."
"R-Really?"
"Yeah, you're not Midoriya's brother or something, are you?"
"What?!"
"Does that mean you're not, cause guys practically look like twins, except the eyes, his are more innocent."
Mikumo sighed. "I only met Midoriya yesterday."
And he's already made such an impression on me.
"So that's not a no then?"
Mikumo started, going to react, before coming to realisation.
Was he related to Midoriya?
But Mikumo couldn't imagine someone as caring as Midoriya's mother dumping a child on the streets.
Even then, he'd seen the looks she was giving last night. Almost like she knew there was a chance he existed and seeing him had just been confirmation.
Could he and Midoriya share a father?
The main lights of the workshop came to life, illuminating Mikumo's surroundings and making him blink rapidly.
"You still in here, kid?"
Mikumo turned, it was Power Loader, sans costume.
"M-Mr. Power Loader, I w-was just putting a bit of extra work on mine and Hatsume's project."
Power Loader's eyebrows quirked. "It's seven-thirty, don't you have a home to go to?"
Mikumo didn't respond, but Power Loader could see he'd hit a sore spot.
Power Loader changed the subject. "You here by yourself then? Hatsume gone home?"
"Y-Yeah, she did." Mikumo nodded. "But I'm not alone, I was talking to-"
Mikumo's eyes widened.
"Sorry, I didn't ask your name."
There was no response from the invisible girl.
Mikumo tilted his head. "Hey, are you still here?"
Power Loader frowned. "You talking to yourself, kid?"
Shaking his head, Mikumo pointed to the left of himself. "The invisible girl from Class 1-A, I was talking to her."
Power Loader opened his phone, scrolling to the right app. "Hagakure left campus hours ago, her ID logged it on her way out the gate."
Mikumo was at a loss, he knew he'd been talking to her.
"You must be pretty tired if you're imagining things like that."
I can't really train with people who know I'm there.
Mikumo's eyes widened, before he nodded, deciding to let the matter drop.
Power Loader moved over to Mikumo's workbench. "Damn, you and Hatsume designed this in an afternoon, and you've already started building it! I couldn't have done that at your age, hell, I don't think I could do this now."
Mikumo nodded mutely, taken aback by Power Loader's sudden change in behavior.
Power Loader picked up the designs. "These are pretty impressive, I don't get many first-year students who can come up with this sort of stuff."
"Hatsume came up with most of the ideas, I just made sure that they were possible." Mikumo activated the screen built into his workstation and pressed a button.
A hologram made from blue light appeared above the workbench, showing a 3D model of the prototype suit.
Power Loader whistled in appreciation. "Designed for both combat and rescue work, that's a lofty goal if I've ever seen one."
Mikumo shrugged awkwardly.
Power Loader straightened up. "So, kid, you guys got a name for this thing?"
Nodding, Mikumo stared at the 3D model. "Yeah, I've come up with one."
"Quirkless!"
"The armor, I call it-"
"Die already, you waste of space!"
Mikumo's fists tightened.
"Shatterproof."