Chapter 2: Blackout
The morning Izuku packed his bags for his first day at U.A. felt surreal. His mother wept tears of joy as she rounded up his textbooks and school supplies, and as if the tears were contagious, he started crying with her. He felt guilty, knowing he would disappoint her on the first day, after they had splurged on katsudon to celebrate.
Worse still was the feeling of dread that had been building up in him since he had woken up that morning. His new future was murky beyond his imminent expulsion from the hero course, possibly a side effect from having the future reset on him, but he knew that U.A. would get attacked by villains at some point, and further beyond that, villainy would rise in the background of his new life. The news would cover villainy attacks on a daily basis, people would shun the streets out of fear of being the next victim, and the heroes would stretch themselves thin, fighting a losing battle to save a society tearing itself inside-out. Izuku hoped it wouldn't take long to get back to normal.
Letting the goodbyes and tearful hugs drag out as long as he could, Izuku took the latest possible train to U.A. Arriving late as he did, he only had to slip by a handful of students before making it to classroom 1-A. Anyone that saw him was too busy making sure they weren't late to their own classes to bother him.
The timing of his arrival couldn't have been better. Kacchan and the guy with glasses that had called him out on mumbling to himself during Present Mic's explanation were in an argument over the merits of their respective middle schools. Uraraka made a beeline straight for Izuku, introduced herself, thanked him profusely for helping her during the exam and congratulating him on passing, which drew the attention of the entire class. Some students smiled at him, some studied him impassively, but most had sour frowns that promised hostility.
Kacchan was halfway out of his seat when their homeroom teacher cleared his throat. Everyone stared in shock at the bedraggled man in the yellow sleeping bag as he scooted his way over to the teacher's podium, stood up, and unzipped the sleeping bag like a moth emerging from its chrysalis.
Even having the benefit of knowing the teacher's face ahead of time, and knowing he had to be a pro hero, Izuku's search through his hero journals and online forums had come up with nothing on him. That narrowed it down to the underground heroes, which had proven difficult to research given their tendency to avoid the spotlight.
"Eight seconds. That's how much time you wasted before being quiet." Their teacher pulled a sack of uniforms out of his sleeping bag and tossed it on his desk. "Put on your track suits and meet me outside."
The other students gawked as Izuku stripped out of his clothes right there in the classroom, threw on a track suit, and sprinted out to the training grounds. His Quirk gave him the benefit of knowing exactly where he would find his teacher.
The teacher glanced at his watch as Izuku ran up to him. "That's a new record."
"Heroes need to respond quickly to emergencies." Izuku answered. He knew the answer would get a subtle smile from his teacher, though it wouldn't stop the inevitable outcome of the Quirk Assessment.
Kacchan had made it seconds after him, the shirt of his track suit on backwards, winded from trying to beat Izuku outside. Spiky red-hair and guy-with-tail weren't far behind, followed by a large clump of guys, one of whom was carrying a short kid with bulbous hair under one muscled arm, holding him easily despite the smaller boy's furious attempts to head back inside the school. The girls made it outside two minutes later, most giving purple-hair disapproving scowls.
"One minute and thirty-six seconds," their teacher said. "That's the time of the first student to arrive. Five minutes and thirty-five seconds. That's how long it took all of you to arrive."
One of the girls stepped forward. "You expect us to get changed in front of that creep?" she asked, pointing at the shorter student.
The teacher gave the offending kid a stern frown, but he said to the class, "Forty-eight seconds. That's the average time it takes for a mugger to assault their target and make their escape. Depending on their Quirk and the surrounding environment, you might not even have half that time."
A girl with jacks sticking out of her earlobes stepped forward. She couldn't quite meet the teacher's eyes. "Still, asking us to change in front of the boys…"
"I'm not asking you to go that far. From now on, I expect you all to get changed in your respective locker rooms." With another glare at the bulbous-hair-boy, he added, "I will not tolerate any form of sexual harassment in my classroom, and should I receive complaints, I will expel you. Is that clear?"
His stern tone compelled nods out of the whole class. Glasses held a hand high in the air and asked, "May I speak, sir?"
The teacher sighed and said, "Go ahead."
"Aren't we supposed to be at orientation right now? That's what the syllabus says we're doing today."
"An illogical waste of time. I have three years to teach you how to be heroes, and I'm not going to waste a single second on something so frivolous as introductions. Do it on your own time."
"I see. Then what are we doing out here?"
"I'm glad you asked Iida." The teacher tossed Kacchan a baseball. "You had to do fitness tests in middle school, correct? This time, you'll be using your Quirks. Once you know where you start, you know where you can improve. So, go ahead and give it a try."
Kacchan's explosion-powered throw went 750 meters, to the amazement of the crowd. The students grew excited. When the pink-skinned girl gushed about how fun it was going to be, the teacher frowned. Izuku braced for what was about to come.
"Looks fun, huh? You think this is just a game?" The teacher's insidious grin chilled the whole class, Izuku included. "How about this? Whoever comes in last place across all eight tests will be expelled."
At first, the class stared at their teacher in shock. Gradually, heads turned towards Izuku. A few people grinned to themselves, no doubt imagining the same result Izuku already knew was coming.
"Expelled on the first day?" a kid with yellow hair asked. "Isn't that a bit much?"
"This is U.A. The teachers here are given free rein to teach how they see fit. The way I see it, it's better to have you expelled than killed by some two-bit villain." He gestured at the nearby track and said, "We'll start with sprints. Get moving."
Izuku's work over the summer had paid off, for in each event, he had set a new personal record. Despite the progress, months of pushing himself couldn't compete against the years of rigorous training the other students had. He came dead last on the sprints and hovered in the bottom five for everything else, while everyone had at least one test they excelled in, from using acid to slide across the 50m dash to asking a bird to carry the baseball. Even students without beneficial Quirks, such as the invisible girl, outclassed Izuku with pure physical conditioning.
By the last event, the ball toss, it became evident to the whole class that Izuku wouldn't make the cut. Ochako and the others with acid and hardening Quirks cheered him on as he stepped into the circle, but the rest heaved sighs of relief. Meanwhile, the teacher watched him, impassive, no doubt having already decided to expel the Quirkless failure.
Izuku buried his rising anger and shame, resolving not to let himself cry. He knew he wouldn't, not when he had seen this coming before he had even started. As Izuku raised his arm, he realized that he couldn't see himself throwing the ball clearly. Everything up to that point had been crystal clear, everything after the toss hazy, like a dream half-remembered as he went for a glass of water. Gritting his teeth, Izuku wound back and threw the ball with everything he had.
Black. The repository of future knowledge went dark, as if someone had yanked a television's cord out from the socket. Izuku froze mid-throw, the ball flying limply from his fingertips to land a measly ten meters away. Deprived of the knowledge his Quirk offered, he couldn't be sure, but he could have sworn it was supposed to be a fifty-meter toss.
For once in his life, he had no idea what to do. Terror set in. He felt the world spiraling out from under him. His breathing quickened. His heart thumped against his ribcage like a trapped animal. Sight and sound were muffled until the present moment threatened to slip away like his future.
Izuku could feel the eyes on him. Judging, questioning, mocking, pitying. He had to do something. Say something. He turned towards his teacher. His hair and scarf hovered around him, revealing glowing red eyes and a pair of yellow goggles. The hours spent on internet forums came back to him, and in a moment of clarity, he had figured out what had happened to him.
Izuku stammered wildly as he said, "You're Eraserhead."
Mr. Aizawa's eyes widened with surprise, but he didn't blink. "How do you know that name?"
As the teacher grew suspicious, Izuku felt his brain melting. Izuku cursed the fact that, out of anything that could have possibly come out of his mouth that moment, he had to have picked the worst possible thing to say. Now Eraserhead had to know he had a Quirk. A Quirk he had hidden from the Quirk registry. An illegally unregistered Quirk that he had used to cheat his way into U.A.
Izuku took a deep breath and clenched his hands. Eraserhead couldn't keep his eyes open forever, but until he blinked, Izuku had to salvage the situation. Somehow. He made himself make eye contact with the teacher, though the stammer stayed in his voice and his thoughts remained in disarray. "Sorry sir, I was trying to figure it out throughout class today. I knew you had to be a pro hero of some kind, but I didn't have any idea who you were. I figured you were an underground hero, though I didn't know for sure which one, because there's not a lot of info out there on underground heroes, that's kind of the point, and–"
"You're rambling," the teacher cut in. "Don't waste time."
Izuku felt himself blush. "Sorry. Bad habit. Anyways, I figured it out mid-throw, and I, um, kinda got surprised."
He could feel the raw skepticism in his teacher's expression as he raised a single eyebrow. "You just figured it out? Right now?"
"It's the goggles," Izuku said, pointing to the eyewear hanging around Eraserhead's neck. "They're to keep villains from knowing where you're looking at any given moment, so they don't know whose Quirk you are erasing." Izuku wondered if it was wise to mention Mr. Aizawa's Quirk, whether or not it would make him look more suspicious if he mentioned what that Quirk is or hope that his teacher will think he didn't realize Eraserhead has a Quirk-erasing gaze. Since it's what the hero's most well known for, Izuku decided to include it.
The teacher held his gaze for what felt like an eternity. Izuku felt himself wavering before the teacher's cold, calculating expression. "I see," Mr. Aizawa said. He closed his eyes. Izuku felt the future come rushing back in, like a river that broke its dam, and nearly wept with relief. Mr. Aizawa tossed him another baseball. Startled, Izuku fumbled the catch. "Since I would like an accurate baseline of your physical capabilities," Eraserhead said, "And I would like to think you can throw a ball more than ten meters, you may try again. Don't waste any more time."
There were a few snickers from the crowd as Izuku wound up another pitch. This time, Izuku got the fifty meters he had previously predicted, a personal best, but still at the bottom of the class.
As the class gathered around Mr. Aizawa, expectantly waiting for the test results, Izuku braced himself for his impending expulsion. His vision of the future rushed forward, giving him vertigo as he tried to make sense of the information overload. Eraserhead displayed the results, showing Izuku in dead last, as expected.
"Alright, let's head back to class."
Those weren't the words Izuku remembered. Raising a shaky hand, Izuku asked, "Um, excuse me, Mr. Aizawa, what about me?"
"Didn't you hear what I just said? Head back to class."
Kacchan's hands popped with miniature explosions as he glared at the teacher. "What, you're not going to expel the worthless shrimp?"
"Nope. I was lying about the expulsion."
The class erupted in an uproar. Izuku, for his part, was too stunned to say a word. What had happened to the outcome he had seen before his Quirk was erased? Now that he felt calmer, he could see the future take shape, a future where he stayed in the hero course, despite his failure. What had changed? How? Why?"
"Silence, all of you." Eraserhead's words cut the chatter like a knife. "It was a logical ruse to draw out your full potential. Anyone who can't operate under pressure doesn't have what it takes to be a hero. Now let's go."
Izuku could feel himself breaking on the inside. As his future crept outward, he was five again, rolling on the floor as ten years of bullying and a death by suffocation played out while the All Might video played on loop above him. Two fingers on his left hand snapped, and he could feel shards of bone grinding against one another as he moved his hand. Izuku choked on his scream. Desperate to break away from the crowd before the pain got worse, he took the out his Quirk showed him. "I – I need to use the restroom. Is that okay?"
Eraserhead studied him carefully, with an emotion on his face that Izuku couldn't read. "Make it quick. We have work to do."
"Yes sir!"
Izuku sprinted to the nearest restroom, locked the stall, and collapsed onto the toilet seat. Sobs broke out of him, and tears ran down his face as the future spread outward. A dull echo of the pain from breaking fingers lingered in his left hand, and his right itched from a burn. As his future crept outward, exhaustion deadened his muscles, making him too weak to move. Each day of his new future weakened him, until he felt a bone-deep exhaustion that made him want to close his eyes.
The panic he had held back with everything he had came rushing in full-force, a feeling of helplessness and confusion from having his entire future ripped out from under him like a tablecloth. He couldn't imagine how people could live like that, not knowing what their every action would entail, how to speak, how to act, where to walk, every minute detail laid out for him in a picture-perfect script. The anger and fear of the present grappled with the exhaustion of the future, sending his heart into an arrhythmic patter.
The future had changed. Again. He still wasn't sure what had happened the first time, but this time, his Quirk had been erased. For just a moment, he couldn't see what he was supposed to do. He had messed up. He had given in to panic, and now, Eraserhead knew he had a Quirk, a Quirk Izuku wasn't supposed to show him, and somehow, it had changed what was supposed to happen.
Anger simmered inside Izuku. For the first time in his life, he felt that he could hate a hero. Even Endeavor, for all his sour attitude and rudeness, could be respected for his tireless efforts to apprehend villains, but his teacher changed his mind about how much Izuku was worth because he had a Quirk. He was supposed to expel him, bottom of the class, Quirkless, weak loser he was. The only thing that could have changed his mind was his Quirk. It explained the sudden shift in his future perfectly.
As he huddled into a ball on the toilet, chest bursting with anger and hysteria, his new death came to him. Swirling black void, villains on a ship, a nightmarish monster with unfocused eyes, a hand reaching for him from darkness, the classmates and heroes gathered at the center plaza, safe, the villains ready to retreat.
Izuku felt his skull ripping itself apart. Each fleck of skin, flesh, and bone that turned to dust drove another lance of pain through his head. Izuku stuffed a hand in his mouth, stifling the scream that tore itself from his throat.
After what felt like an eternity, the pain stopped. Izuku picked himself up off the bathroom floor with shaking arms, breathing deeply. Tooth marks bit painfully into his hand, almost drawing blood, but the pain was distant, numbed by his having felt it already.
Two weeks. He had two weeks to prepare before villains will attack his school and try to kill his classmates and his teacher. He didn't have time to cry. He washed his face in the sink and let his hair hang low to hide his puffy, red eyes. On his way back to class, he took a detour to the library and checked out a book on sign language.
Izuku hoped that, this time, that the future wouldn't change on him.
Once Shouta had the rest of his students back in their seats, he told them, "I need to speak with the principal for a bit. Pick your class representatives before I get back."
"But we just met each other!" Momo said. "We don't even know each other's names."
"Then fix that."
As he left, he heard one student ask, "Did he even say when he'd be back?" Shouta didn't trouble himself to give them a time limit. If they couldn't handle being left alone, he'd just expel some of them.
The teacher's lounge was empty. Half a pot of coffee was left in the machine, lukewarm and gritty. Shouta drank it anyways. The influx of caffeine did nothing for the sheer emotional exhaustion he felt at that moment.
He sank into a chair and rested his head in his hands. Thinking about the expression Izuku had as he froze his Quirk twisted a knife in his chest. He had seen countless reactions to Quirk erasure over the years – anger, shock, even fear – but never had he seen someone look so lost, so terrified, so close to having a full-blown panic attack that he had readied his capture scarf to keep him from collapsing.
As a teacher, he knew he had to instill respect, sometimes even fear, in his students. Despite what the media portrayed, the world was not a kind place to heroes, and any that weren't ready when they left his care would have their throats slit within a month, their deaths buried underneath the latest news report on All Might. The thought of seeing one of his former students left in some garbage bin in an alley kept him awake some nights.
He had seen traumatized students, some even in his own class, shaken by a close encounter with a villain or a class exercise gone wrong, but never in all his years teaching at U.A. had he ever personally traumatized one of his students. It made him feel sick inside. Worse, was the visible, herculean effort Izuku had shown forcing that terror back, mustering every scrap of courage he had to meet Eraserhead's Quirk-erasing gaze head on. Shouta had never been so simultaneously horrified and awestruck to see someone so young and so small stand tall in the face of debilitating fear.
After seeing that kind of courage, how could he expel him?
After forcing some drops into his eyes, Shouta went to Nezu's office. The principal already had a cup of tea waiting for him. "You just had to do it outside, didn't you?" Nezu asked. "Do you realize I don't have good camera angles out there?"
"You were right. Midoriya has a Quirk."
"You're sure about that?"
"Midoriya reacted the instant I erased his Quirk," Shouta said. He tried not to think about the slow, dawning horror that twisted Izuku's features as the ball flopped to the ground.
Nezu tsked. "Well, there goes my theory."
"What do you mean?"
"Think about it. If Midoriya could foresee the future, like Nighteye, wouldn't he have known that you would erase his Quirk?"
Shouta washed the coffee grit off his tongue with a mouthful of tea as he pondered Nezu's point. "So, if his Quirk isn't foresight, what is it?"
"Hard to say. Either it's a foresight Quirk with mechanics not immediately obvious, or his Quirk is something else entirely. Maybe an intelligence Quirk. I really hope it's an intelligence Quirk. I've been looking for someone to play Go with. Chess is too boring." Nezu sighed and sipped his tea. "Either way, we'll need to do more tests."
"No."
Nezu paused. "Is something the matter?"
"Whatever I did terrified Izuku so badly he looked ready to pass out." Shouta closed his eyes and took a deep breath, calming himself so he wouldn't start shouting. "I don't think I can do that again."
"Unfortunate, but I trust your judgement." Nezu tapped the edge of his teacup. "Terrified? Is his Quirk always active, or was he using it at that precise moment for some reason? What was he doing?"
"Throwing a baseball. He was winding up for the pitch when I used my Quirk. Made him fumble the throw."
"Smart. Not sure yet, but probably the former. Hard to say given the lack of data."
Shouta shifted in his seat and adjusted his scarf. "I think Midoriya needs counseling."
"We can't. It would single him out, as there's nothing obviously wrong with him, not to mention we don't even know what his Quirk is. We can't help him if we don't even know why he needs help."
"He was almost certainly bullied."
"Unless Midoriya comes forward with that information himself, we don't have proof. I can't just assign someone therapy because I suspect something's wrong, or I'd have half the school seeing Hound Dog on a weekly basis."
Shouta gave the principal a skeptical look. "Half? Really?"
Nezu sighed and sipped his tea. "Todoroki Shoto, domestic abuse, Bakugo Katsuki, dangerously egocentric, Tokoyami fears his own Quirk, Yaoyorozu has low self-confidence, Koda has anxiety issues, and the less I say about Mineta, the better. And that's before we get into what Hero training will put them through." Nezu set his cup down and stared thoughtfully at his tea. "If you're that worried about Midoriya, I'll arrange for counseling with the first compelling excuse I can find. And who knows? Maybe he'll open up to Hound Dog."
Izuku was back in his seat when Shouta returned from Nezu's office. The red eyes and hunched expression as he read his book didn't go unnoticed by the teacher, and he immediately regretted not pressing Nezu harder on the counseling. Guilt wormed its way into his heart, and he found himself wondering what he could do to make it up to him. If he couldn't help him overcome his past traumas, maybe he could help him get physically stronger.
"I take it you've decided?" he asked the class.
Iida rose his hand. "Yaoyoruzu-san and I were chosen to represent the class. We will do our best, sir."
"Good. Yamada-sensei will be here in a bit for English. I'll see you all at the end of the day."
Shouta didn't normally bother to check in on his students at the end of the day. Doing so was an irrational waste of time. Today, however, he needed a private word with a student. After Shouta dismissed his students, Midoriya lingered behind, perhaps already aware of what he was planning to ask. Bakugo lingered as well, glowering at Midoriya with an expression Shouta recognized all too well, but after a glance back at the teacher, Bakugo evidently decided to leave without making a scene.
Once they were alone, Midoriya closed his book. Shouta caught the title before he shoved it in his bag and wondered how sign-language had caught his interest. From the barcode on the cover, it was from U.A.'s library. Shouta mentally shook himself, resolving to investigate it some other time, and tried to put on a friendly expression for Midoriya. Friendly expressions were not his forte.
"A word, if you don't mind."
Midoriya glanced at him with smoldering eyes and a clenched jaw. Aizawa felt his heart twist at the sudden anger, but it was only logical that the boy hated him after what he had put him through.
Shouta took a form from his desk and handed it to Midoriya. "If you're serious about becoming a hero, you'll need to work on your physical conditioning. I'm willing to coach you after school hours. You'll need parent approval, and–"
"Thank you, Aizawa-sensei." His words were blunt and cold, betraying controlled anger beneath them. "I'll have my mom sign it tonight."
Nodding, Shouta said, "We'll start tomorrow, then. Meet me at Gym Gamma after class. Bring whatever weapons you're comfortable using."
As Izuku left his classroom with his backpack clutched in his arms, an old habit to keep him from being grabbed by its straps, Shouta wondered if he could ever earn the boy's forgiveness.
Chapter 3: Second Impressions
Izuku stared at the green cloth in his hands. It wasn't supposed to matter what hero costume he chose, he was supposed to get expelled on the first day and spend his miserable student life in General Studies, but there he was, holding the hero costume he had designed when he was six, getting ready to fight against real hero students. It looked and felt like the childish fantasy it was, impractical and gaudy, arrogant, even, given how much inspiration it drew from All Might's aesthetic. Just thinking about wearing it, the goofy plastic grin on the face mask, the oversized gloves, and worst of all, those green flaps of plastic sticking up like All Might's hair, made him want to rip it to pieces. Despite all that, even though he already knew what would replace that outfit, it felt right to indulge in his childhood fantasy for the upcoming fight.
Once everyone had their costumes on, they went to Ground Beta. The grounds had been built in imitation of Musutafu's streets, complete with multi-story business complexes, cars parked in the streets, and working power lines criss-crossing the infrastructure. From a vantage point inside Ground Beta, the class could see the target building from multiple camera angles along with the giant window overlooking the miniature city.
The building for their training exercise towered over its neighbors, offering multiple points of entry on the lower floors, which had more spacious layouts, and forced students to fight in narrow corridors higher up. Elevator shafts, stairwells, emergency stairways, power lines, even the rugged concrete façade itself all offered different avenues of reaching the target. Anyone defending the bomb would have to decide between covering entry points at the risk of letting someone sneak past them or hunkering down by the bomb and losing the advantage of holding a perimeter.
Drawing lots from a coffee mug with the barcode still on the bottom, the students sorted themselves into pairs. Koda looked less than thrilled standing next to Izuku.
"I'd hate to be the group going up against Bakugo and Todoroki," Kaminari said, shivering as 1-A's two powerhouses held up strips of paper with J's at the end.
"This seems quite arbitrary," Iida pointed out. "Are you sure this is the best way to assess our abilities?"
Izuku said, "Heroes often have to work with whichever hero that happens to be on the scene with them. Making it random like this tests our adaptability and ability to coordinate with others."
All Might looked relieved that Izuku had made the counterpoint. "Why, yes, exactly young Midoriya, well said." He cleared his throat. "Now, let's get the matches started. First up, we'll have Team C as the villains. Your job will be to guard the bomb hidden in the target building. You win by either holding out for fifteen minutes or capturing both heroes with this capture tape."
Izuku offered his partner a reassuring smile. Koda looked ready to shrink into his shoes as they walked forward. His classmates commented on how unlucky they were, and he even caught a stray whisper of someone hoping to go up against them.
"And the heroes, who are tasked with either incapacitating the villain team or securing the bomb before time runs out, will be… Team J!"
Kacchan smiled like Christmas had come early. Todoroki was staring at them as though they were a pile of laundry. Koda quivered and hid behind Izuku's back. Hushed whispers made a tumultuous background noise as All Might struggled to calm them down.
"Come on, that's hardly fair!" Uraraka said.
All Might looked shaken by the one-sided matchup. "Well, maybe we should–"
"Should what?" Kacchan roared. "Go easy on the Quirkless Deku? If he wants to be a hero so fucking badly, then he needs to be ready to have his ass handed to him."
"Watch your language!" Iida said. "That's disrespectful to your classmate."
"Like I give a shit!"
"Kacchan's right," Izuku said, staring at his friend. "If I want to be a hero, I can't go easy on myself. People will be counting on me, and if I'm not strong enough to save them, what good am I?"
All Might looked back and forth between the two teams. "Are you really sure about this? There's no shame in fighting someone closer to your skill level."
Koda looked ready to beg for a new matchup. For his own part, Izuku felt sick to his stomach. Knowing what was about to happen, he couldn't help but want to curl up on the floor, beg All Might to put him in General Studies, and go back to being the school's punching bag. But he couldn't. He was supposed to protect his classmates.
Izuku smiled and said, "I'm sure."
"Well, if you say so." All Might handed them two rolls of capture tape and wireless earbuds. "You have fifteen minutes to prepare before the heroes arrive. The timer on the bomb will start counting down once you enter the building. After that, the heroes have fifteen minutes to reach the bomb before time runs out."
Koda fidgeted in silence as they took the elevator to the top floor. The bomb was at the far end of a wide-open room, empty save for a few concrete pillars supporting the roof and a pile of cardboard boxes in one corner. Izuku went to the circuit breaker next to the elevator and turned it off.
"Your Quirk allows you to control animals, right? Are there any around?"
Koda shook his head. After some hesitation, he made gestures in sign language indicating he was mute. Izuku signed back that he was still learning, but he could understand him. A brief flash of happiness crossed Koda's features, but it vanished when the reality of their situation came back to him.
"What about insects?" Izuku asked with hand signals. "Can you control them?"
Koda cringed, shaking his head and hiding his face. Izuku put a reassuring hand on his shoulder and spoke softly to him.
"Hey, everything's going to be okay. We can do this. We can win, but I'm going to need your help."
Koda stared at him in disbelief, tears welling in the corners of his eyes. With shaking hands, he signed "Are you sure?"
"Absolutely. I know Bakugo. He's going to run ahead and come straight for me. I can take him out, but I need to know which way he'll take. Can you find that out through some insects? There's bound to be a few around here."
After some hesitation, Koda signed that he was too terrified of bugs to talk to them. Izuku knelt next to him and signed back that it was okay to be afraid, that he would be right there and make sure everything was alright. Looking into Izuku's calm, smiling face, Koda swallowed and went whispering for flies.
Within minutes, he had a small swarm gathered in one corner of the room. Izuku helped him relay instructions, scattering flies across the floors and sending some outside to watch the perimeter. A few others served as runners, relaying messages back to Koda. The few mosquitos he had found were on standby, hovering a safe distance away from them. All the while, Izuku kept a hand on his shoulder, telling him that they weren't going to hurt them, everything was okay, he was doing a great job. Koda trembled throughout the process, but he didn't stop controlling the insects.
All Might warned them over the intercom that their fifteen minutes were up. As they went downstairs, Koda got updates from his network of flies and signed Kacchan's location to Izuku. Without having to consult their map, Izuku led them to the hallway where he knew he'd fight Kacchan. The whole structure, walls and floor alike, were lined with metal to keep the whole building from falling apart. The hallway was too narrow for Kacchan to maneuver easily with his explosions.
While they waited, Izuku signed his plan to Koda. His partner looked ready to faint from panic, but after another reassuring smile, Koda hid himself behind a doorway.
"Deku, where are you?" Kacchan called, his voice echoing through the narrow hallway. Koda squeaked and shrank behind the doorway, but Izuku didn't twitch. He heard the footsteps coming closer, step by step, growing louder and louder as Kacchan strolled through the building. Izuku kept his back to the entrance Kacchan would take, knowing that his friend wouldn't resist the temptation to pounce when he wasn't looking. Izuku waited, hands limp at his sides, envisioning the moment Kacchan will attack him.
"Die!"
Explosions from both palms boomed through the hallway, and the shockwave of them slapped against Izuku's back. As Kacchan rocketed towards him, right arm cocked back for a punch, a manic grin on his face, Izuku waited, counting his heartbeats. One. Two. Three.
Izuku pivoted his right foot back and turned. Entrenched in his vision of the future as Izuku was, it felt as though his limbs moved of their own accord. He swung his left fist in a massive roundhouse, meeting Kacchan's eyes for the brief instant before it connected. It felt like he was punching a truck. The shock from the impact numbed his whole arm as it was thrown back. Blood gushed out, spattering the floor and walls with red flecks and drenching Izuku's hand. Izuku felt spikes of pain from two of his fingers as Kacchan's nose crumpled under the impact. Kacchan's own fist, sparking with nitroglycerine explosions, clipped Izuku's ear, singing the fabric around his head.
While Kacchan's head flew back, the rest of his body flew forward, flipping him over as he fell. The back of his head hit the ground with a gut-wrenching thunk. Groaning, Kacchan tried to stand. Izuku sat Kacchan up against a wall, took the radio out of his ear, and pried the gauntlets off his hands.
"Deku," Kacchan said between gritted teeth. "What the hell…"
"Sorry Kacchan. I'm going to need these."
Izuku removed his own top and tucked the green tracksuit behind Kacchan's head. He took Kacchan's arm-length gloves and put on his equipment. The grenade-like gear strained his shoulders, but he didn't let himself slouch. He pulled on the oversized steel handles on the gauntlets, exposing the firing pins underneath, and cocked them back in place.
"Koda, help me tie him up."
Koda stared at the two of them, mouth moving silently as his hands shook violently, unable to form coherent signs. When Izuku smiled and said it was alright, Koda took a deep breath, knelt with Izuku, and wrapped Kacchan's wrists.
"Bastard," Kacchan said. His voice was growing faint. "You aren't supposed to be here. Just a pebble…"
"I know," Izuku whispered, "But I have to do this. Sorry, Kacchan."
Izuku gave Koda Kacchan's extra grenades. The timid boy looked at them as though they'd explode any second. "We shouldn't need those," Izuku signed, "But we shouldn't leave Kacchan with them." Into his radio, he asked All Might, "Can you send someone to get Bakugo-kun? I don't think he should stay here for the rest of the test."
"The medical bots are on their way," All Might said back to them. "Continue with the test."
"You haven't told Todoroki-san what happened, right?"
"I haven't," All Might confirmed. "That would interfere with the test."
They left Kacchan sitting up against a wall, too weak and delirious to chase after them. The walk downstairs was silent, with Koda occasionally signing to Izuku that Todoroki was still waiting outside.
When they made it to the ground level, Izuku and Koda took positions on either side of the door. Izuku signed his plan. Though Koda initially looked frightened, he looked at the gauntlets Izuku wore and nodded resolutely.
Careful not to lean out too far, Izuku threw open the door. He waved at Todoroki and motioned for him to come inside. As Todoroki approached the door, Koda signed that he was coming and whispered to the mosquito he had found.
Just before Todoroki made it inside, the mosquito bit him on the cheek. Todoroki swatted at the insect. At that moment of distraction, Izuku leapt out from behind the doorway. Todoroki's eyes widened as Izuku's fist headed towards his left side. Fire involuntarily sprang up, darting at Izuku. He let Kacchan's flame-resistant gloves take the heat and scored a clean hit on Todoroki's chest.
Reeling back, Todoroki slid across a sheet of ice and raised a giant wall in front of him. Izuku cocked the left gauntlet and pulled the pin. A deafening explosion erupted before him, flinging Izuku's arm back. The blast ripped apart Todoroki's wall, spraying bits of ice everywhere.
While Todoroki was blinded, Izuku readied the second pin. He sprinted through the glittering haze of ice crystals, right arm pointing back, left hand gripping the pin by his three unbroken fingers.
"Rocket punch!"
He pulled the pin. Izuku twisted with the force of the explosion, driving his right arm into Todoroki's stomach with enough force to knock his feet out from under him. Todoroki rolled to a stop on the ground, wheezing and clutching his stomach. While he was still down, Izuku pulled out his capture tape, and, ignoring the pain from his broken fingers, tied a knot around Todoroki's arms.
It took five seconds before All Might called out, "Both members of Team C have been captured. The villains win!"
Two more medical robots came for Todoroki, but he waved them away. Rolling to his knees, Todoroki tried to stand. Before he could fall, Izuku wrapped an arm under his right shoulder.
"Let me help you up," Izuku said. "Are you feeling okay?"
"I'll be fine," Todoroki said with a rasping voice. "Just winded."
Izuku made some clumsy signs with his right hand. Koda ran out from his hiding place inside the building and took Todoroki's other shoulder. The robots followed along as they walked back to the observation deck.
"So, you can use fire too?" Izuku asked.
Todoroki's face hardened. "That was an accident. It won't happen again."
"Is that why you have that scar?" Izuku winced. "Sorry, forget I asked."
Izuku knew it wasn't the moment to have the conversation Todoroki needed, not with Koda on the other shoulder and the other students watching them from the observation deck. Gritting his teeth against the throbbing pain from his broken fingers and the burns on both hands, Izuku prepared himself to greet his classmates with a smile.
Ojiro Mashirao didn't like the look in Midoriya's eyes as the green-haired youth calmly stared down Bakugo, who had the feral grin of a maniacal serial killer, and agreed to fight him. On paper, the Quirkless student that had placed at bottom of their class in yesterday's assessment paired with Koda, whose Quirk needed animals that were absent from the training ground, was a guaranteed loss against the two most powerful Quirks in the class, but thinking back to the fact that Midoriya had nearly set a record on the entrance exam and watching how he stared down his opponents without so much as a nervous twitch made Mashirao wonder if the Quirkless kid had a plan to turn the tables on them.
"Dude, this is going to be brutal," Kaminari whispered. "Do you think they'll be okay?"
"All Might-sensei won't let it go too far," Shoji pointed out. "But it still doesn't feel right."
"Well, he asked for it," Jiro said. "He'll only have himself to blame when he gets blown to pieces."
"Or turned into a popsicle," Sato added.
"Well, I think he can do it." Their pink-skinned classmate waved her arms at the camera. "You can do it, Midoriya-kun! Show them what you got!"
Uraraka's face reddened as she added her own cheer. "Yeah! Go Midoriya-san!"
Mineta glowered at the girls from his seat. "No fair," he grumbled. "He has his own cheerleading squad."
Once the Villains made it to the top floor, Midoriya started talking to Koda. The cameras caught their conversation, for all the good it did when they started speaking in sign language.
"Wait, are they using hand signals?" Kirishima asked. "That's so cool!"
"Looks like sign language, actually," Yaoyorozu chimed in. "It's actually a really smart idea. By using sign language, they can communicate without letting the enemy know or giving away their position."
"I wish I knew what they were talking about, kero."
"I too, wish I had learned sign language. I admire their diligence! Learning such a useful skill before coming to school shows excellent foresight."
"I don't think it'll work for me," Hagakure said, waving her hands. "No one will be able to see my hands."
"You're wearing gloves," Kaminari said. "We can see just fine."
"Oh, right!"
When All Might announced that the heroes could enter, Bakugo sprinted through the doors, leaving Todoroki behind, shouting for Todoroki not to get in his way. After watching his partner leave, Todoroki made himself a chair of ice and sat in front of the doors.
"Doesn't seem like they're working together."
"Do they really have to? Either one could take both of them."
"Wait, they're leaving the bomb?" Yaoyorozu asked. "What if Bakugo goes around them? Seems like a reckless plan on their part."
Mashirao looked at the Villains' camera feed. Both Midoriya and Koda were heading downstairs. On the digital layout of the building, with each student marked with a colored dot, he saw that they were both heading straight for Bakugo.
"I'm not sure I want to watch."
"I hope he doesn't get hurt too badly."
It was over almost too quickly for Mashirao to process. Bakugo blasted himself across the hallway, pouncing like a panther towards Midoriya's back. In a fluid turn, Midoriya moved aside at the last possible second and raised his own fist directly in Bakugo's path. The sharp, meaty smack that came over the speakers, followed by the metallic thud of Bakugo's head hitting the floor, silenced the whole crowd. Mashirao felt his stomach heave, watching blood gush from Bakugo's broken nose. An unspoken question hung in the air, a collective wondering if the rest of the combat training will entail blood and broken bones, conveyed in slackened jaws, nervous sideways glances, and apprehensive stares at All Might. Once Midoriya helped Bakugo into a sitting position, the silence broke like a dam.
"Midoriya, that was so manly!"
"I think I'm going to be sick."
"Dude, was that Bakugo's nose we heard?"
"So flashy! I'm a bit jealous."
"How did he punch so hard?"
"What a mad banquet of darkness."
"I'm actually kind of scared of Midoriya now," Sero said.
"Wait," Kaminari said, "Bakugo's the one that blasted himself across a hallway shouting 'die!', and you're scared of the Quirkless kid?"
"Well, yeah. He wasn't the one that had his nose broken with one punch."
"Okay, that's fair."
Midoriya's punch bothered Ojiro. If Izuku's crooked fingers were any indication, he hadn't balled up his fingers correctly, a sure sign he had no idea how to throw a punch, yet his reaction was perfectly timed, whirling when it was too late for Bakugo to change course, his fist aimed correctly without even looking, and his footing set wide enough to keep Bakugo's sheer momentum from knocking him over.
Ojiro watched All Might, wondering what their teacher's reaction would be. For a fraction of a second, his ever-present smile faltered. Staring at one of his students bleeding out on the floor, he looked out of his depth. He flipped through his Teaching for Dummies book, fingers shaking as he turned each page.
Looking back at the screens, Ojiro saw Midoriya take off his shirt. Cold horror gripped his chest as he saw the burn marks that covered Izuku's arms and back, but judging by the class's reactions, they had missed that detail.
"He's making sure Bakugo is comfortable," Iida said. "Very commendable."
"And he's doing exactly what you're supposed to do for someone with a broken nose," Yaoyorozu said. "Disarming him is also smart."
"Wait, he's putting on Bakugo's costume?" Sato asked. "Is that allowed?"
"I don't see why not," Asui said. "But does he even know how to use them?"
Midoriya checking the pins on Bakugo's gauntlets quickly answered that question. Ojiro could tell that Midoriya and Bakugo spoke to each other, but they were both speaking too quietly for the cameras to pick up. Midoriya's voice over the radio snapped All Might out of his shock. Galvanized to action, All Might had the medical robots take a hidden service elevator to get Bakugo while Midoriya and Koda headed downstairs.
"Do you think he's going to beat Todoroki too?" Shoji asked.
"No way!" Mineta said. "He just got lucky with Bakugo."
"It doesn't look like Todoroki realizes what happened to Bakugo," Yaoyorozu said. "Maybe they could ambush him, but it'll be nearly impossible to beat his Quirk."
Ambush was exactly what Midoriya had in mind, judging from how he and Koda set themselves up around the front doors. Todoroki was still sitting on his throne of ice, watching the building with an impassive expression and checking the time, while the Villains exchanged a last set of hand signals.
With a gauntleted hand, Midoriya opened the front doors and waved at Todoroki, motioning him to come inside. A collection of gasps rose from the students as Todoroki watched the waving hand.
"No way."
"He's not going to fall for that, is he?"
Todoroki stood, melting the chair with a wave of his hand, and went towards the door.
"Oh my god, he is."
"That has to be the stupidest, yet most incredible plan ever."
"Doesn't seem very manly though."
"What darkness lies beyond that door?"
Todoroki paused just before entering. At first, Ojiro thought he had noticed the trap, but it turned out a mosquito had bitten him. Midoriya chose that exact moment of distraction to spring the ambush. As Midoriya threw his punch, fire leapt up from Todoroki's left side, scorching the stolen gauntlets.
"Wait, he can do fire too?" Jiro asked. "How OP is his Quirk?"
A wall of ice rose impossibly fast between Todoroki and Midoriya, but a single explosion turned it to dust. As Midoriya shouted the name of his improvised attack, a second explosion threw his fist into Todoroki's stomach. The whole fight was over so quickly it took five seconds for All Might to call Midoriya's win.
"Midoriya already has a super move?"
"But that wasn't even his own gear!"
"His brightness is almost as dazzling as mine."
"I call dibs!"
Ashido's shout brought the excited conversations to a screeching halt. "Dibs?" Kirishima asked. "Dibs on what?"
"Midoriya. Dibs. I'm calling it."
Hagakure wrapped an arm around Ashido's shoulder. "Ooh, you're going to ask him out?"
"Yep! He's totally my type."
Kirishima gave her an uneasy smile and a rock-hard thumbs up. "Well, go get'em, Mina-chan!"
"Thanks, Eiji-kun!"
Mashirao felt his heart go out to Kirishima. Judging by Ashido's easy smile and casual attitude, she had no idea he had a crush on her. Meanwhile, Mineta was sobbing into his shirt and shaking with rage, muttering to himself about how unfair it was that the Quirkless kid had better luck than he did. For him, Mashirao felt no sympathy.
Midoriya and Koda each held one of Todorki's shoulders as they entered the observation deck. After gently setting him in a chair, they stood next to All Might at the front of the class.
"Excellent job on the exercise! I'm impressed with the creativity and tenacity you have shown, Midoriya. Now, can anyone tell me why Todoroki and Bakugo lost?"
Iida's hand snapped into the air. "They were completely lacking in teamwork. Bakugo charged into the building without a plan, while Todoroki waited outside, providing no support to his teammate. Had they stayed together, I don't believe Midoriya would have had a way to win against Todoroki's ice."
"Well said, Iida. It's important for heroes to work together and communicate in the field. Peoples' lives depend on how well you can coordinate a rescue response and contain a villain. Now, does anyone have any suggestions on how Midoriya and Koda could improve?"
Silence greeted the question. Mashirao was tempted to point out Midoriya's broken fingers, but Yaoyorozu raised her hand. Staring directly at Midoriya, she said, "It was reckless to leave the bomb undefended. Had you failed to intercept Bakugo, or if Todoroki had decided to enter the building by a different route, they would have easily taken the objective."
"Very true," Midoriya said coolly, meeting Yaoyorozu's stare. "It's a good thing we knew exactly what Bakugo and Todoroki were doing."
Yaoyorozu was taken aback. "How?"
Midoriya glanced at his partner, and he made hand signs in response. "Koda asked some flies to watch them both. We knew which stairs Bakugo was taking, and we knew Todoroki was waiting outside." Midoriya smiled and added, "We would've never won against them if it wasn't for Koda."
Koda blushed and hid his face behind his hands. Midoriya turned back to Yaoyorozu and asked, "Do you have any other concerns?"
Yaoyorozu scowled for a fraction of a second before her face was back to its usual impassive, calm expression. "Yes. You were excessively forceful against your classmates. One had to be carried off on a stretcher, and the other's lucky he doesn't have any broken ribs. That first explosion could have easily killed Todoroki. Furthermore, if this was a real combat scenario, Bakugo would not have been well enough to be left alone."
"To that last point, heroes can't always hover around an injured civilian. Sometimes, they have to leave someone for rescue later so they can apprehend a villain actively targeting other bystanders. I made sure Bakugo would be stable until backup arrived and left to deal with an uncontained threat. To the others, we're training to be heroes. Injuries happen. Villains aren't going to hold back. I don't want to hurt anyone, but if it's to protect others, I will."
All Might hastily shoved his book in his back pocket and stepped between them. "Alright, we can discuss the specifics of this later. For now, we should send the next groups out there."
"Actually, can I go to the nurse's office?" Midoriya asked, holding up his left hand. "I broke two fingers."
"Ah, yes, of course." More surprised mutters and awed whispers came from the students as All Might's eyes darted across the room. "Could you take Todoroki as well, we should have Recovery Girl check on him just in case."
"Sure. Todoroki-san, can you walk?"
Todoroki tried to stand, but he winced and fell back in the seat. "Still hurts," he said in a rasping voice.
Mashirao stood and offered Todoroki a hand. "All Might-sensei, is it alright if I go with them?"
While All Might hesitated, Midoriya said, "Thanks, I appreciate it."
All Might cleared his throat and added, "Yes, of course. Come straight back once you get there, alright? I don't want you missing out on this class."
With Todoroki leaning on one shoulder as they walked through U.A.'s empty halls, Mashirao wondered what he was trying to learn from Midoriya. Was he genuinely concerned about a classmate with way too many scars for a minor? Did he think Midoriya was hiding something from everyone? What questions could he even ask?
All Mashirao knew was that he needed answers.