Chapter 9
Nise Kao walked into her luxury apartment after a long day of serving as one of the top bodyguards of the Midoriyas.
She quickly slammed the door behind her and shut every lock in a quick but thorough manner.
Afterward, she moved swiftly to her bedroom, slamming the door behind her again.
Nise went over to her vanity and pulled open one of the drawers, and retrieved a phone.
She dialed in a number and instantly someone picked up.
"Mask." Said a deep voice on the other side.
"Sir," Nise responded. "I have news on the Izuku Midoriya situation."
"Go on." The voice told her.
"Midoriya's friends and wife have all failed at diswaying him from his actions, it appears he will continue his so-called, Iron Man project for the foreseeable future," Nise reported.
"I see. Damn that Chisaki! We were all profiting just fine off of Midoriya's technology but he had to get greedy and inform him of our actions!" Growled the voice, before whoever it was quickly regained their composure. "If Midoriya isn't going to listen to logic. Then we'll just have to show him the dangers of playing hero. Whiplash should show him the flaws in his logic."
"You're going to kill him, sir?" Nise asked.
"Hopefully not. I only intend on having Whiplash scare him. His inventions are too useful." The person responded. "However should he persist in his foolishness, then we will have no choice but to end him."
"But what if Whiplash fails?" Nise asked.
"Whiplash has fought seasoned veteran heroes. Midoriya is simply a pretender in a powerful suit. He will not fail." The person responded. "Speaking of which, why have you not acquired the designs for the Iron Man suit yet? I thought I told you that was of the utmost importance."
"I apologize sir, but it's too heavily guarded. I only managed to get to the computer where the designs were held once, and I couldn't break the digital defenses. It would most likely require someone on Spymaster's level." Nise explained.
"Hmmm then perhaps we should prioritize that rather than Midoriya." The person said.
"I wouldn't sir. The Iron Man suit may not be as useful as you think." Nise said. "It requires someone with an extreme level of intelligence to operate it, otherwise they would simply hurt themselves."
"I see...how disappointing. Still, I would like those designs. Our friends at Hammer may be able to make them more useful to us one day." The person said.
Nise scoffed. "Doubtful."
"Regardless, I'm sending Whiplash to transport a shipment of Midoriya's technology." The person stated. "I'll make sure it's easy to find."
"Yes sir," Nise said.
"If that is all, then I will leave you to your work." The person said. "Do not disappoint me."
"Of course sir," Mise said. "I will not fail you."
Two days later in Izuku's home lab.
"Alright sorry about the wait, here's your armor." Izuku handed Mirio a suitcase.
"Thanks! Just in time too!" Mirio smiled brightly as usual while taking the suitcase. "I still can't thank you enough for these!"
"Oh, you shouldn't thank me too much, like I said Melissa pioneered the technology I just made some adjustments," Izuku told him. "Anyway, while you're in America, try not to go over a hundred percent. I know you like to plus ultra and everything, but me and Mei are here and Melissa's on I-Island, so no one will be there to repair your gear if it gets broken."
"I make no promises!" Mirio teased, only half-joking. "And try not to get into any trouble while I'm gone."
"I uh...make no promises." Izuku awkwardly laughed as he returned the half-joke.
BRRRR! BRRRR! BRRRR!
"Unauthorized shipment of technology detected." The alarm on Izuku's computer sounded.
"Deploy armor!" Izuku said almost instantly as a cylinder in his lab opened up revealing his armor.
"Hey I could go with you if you want, I'm sure we could wrap this up before my flight leaves." Mirio offered.
"No, no I've got this. If you miss another flight because of something like this your P.R. agent might actually kill you." Izuku told him.
Mirio cringed at the thought. "Yeah you're probably right, still remember if you need help you can always call Tamaki and Nejire. Don't get in too over your head."
"I'll be fine," Izuku reassured him. "Now go."
Mirio nodded, before running out the door at super speed, kicking up winds behind him.
Leaving Izuku alone with the armor.
"Alright, time to go." Izuku steeled himself for battle.
Seven minutes later.
After a couple minutes flying at top speed, Izuku slowed down when he reached the signal that his stolen tech was emitting. At a warehouse near the harbor.
"Looks like the technology is being stored inside that truck," Izuku noted.
He landed down behind the truck and scanned it.
"Scanning...one heat signature detected."
Izuku looked at his scanners and realized that not only was his tech inside the truck but so was someone else.
And that was all Izuku could deduce before suddenly an energized whip wrapped around his helmet.
"Wha-ahh!" The whip threw Izuku around, cutting through the side of the truck and tossing Izuku to the side.
Crash!
"Ahh!" Izuku grunted as he crashed through the concrete wall and into the warehouse. "Ow."
Izuku pulled himself up slowly and noticed that someone was walking in through the hole Izuku made.
He looked up and saw the villain in question. They were intimidatingly tall and had red hair, but that was all Izuku could see past the armor he was wearing. Armor made his stolen tech. He had two whips by his side, crackling with blue energy.
"That doesn't belong to you!" Izuku growled as he got up and shot two repulsor blasts from his palms at the villain.
The villain moved his whips, swatting the two blasts into nothing, and striking Izuku in the chest.
"AHHH!" Izuku was sent flying back a few feet, but before he could hit the ground he activated his repulsors and stopped himself in the air.
Izuku distanced himself from the villain, flying as far back as far up as he could in the enclosed space they were in.
He swatted away my repluser blast. Even at that level of power the reaction time and precision needed for that is insane. Izuku noticed the dent in his armor from where the villain hit him. He even dented my armor!?
"Scan villain data banks," Izuku told his armor. I have to know who this is what I'm working with
"Villain recognized. A-rank villain, Whiplash. Quirk-energize. Allows the user to cover objects in blue energy, increasing their power and making them deadly weapons. However, this normally causes those objects to degrade in durability and fall apart." The armor read off the villain's file.
"Any loss of durability in the whips?" Izuku asked the armor hoping he found a weakness.
"None." The armor quickly dashed Izuku's hopes.
They must have used my tech to make whips that move the energy around within them. This would keep them from degrading. Izuku grit his teeth with frustration. If I just use more repulsor blast he'll block them.
"Let's see what happens when you try to whip this!" Izuku raised his arm and a missile rose up from the armor ready to fire once Izuku's targeting system locked onto the villain.
Before Izuku's targeting system could finish, however, Whiplash swung his whip at Izuku, forcing him to dodge as the whip just missed his arm.
But that wasn't all, Whiplash maneuvered the whip, causing the tip to suddenly veer to the left, and just barely hit the missile.
KABOOM!
"AGGHHHH!" Izuku shouted as he was knocked out of the air by his own explosion and smashed against the wall of the building once more.
The armored hero groaned as he groggily pulled himself out of a wall, the explosion going off so close to his head left him stunned and momentarily out of it.
But a moment was all Whiplash needed, as he flung his whips at Izuku.
"AHhHHH!" Izuku cried as the wipes hit his back, causing visible damage to his armor.
Whiplash didn't let up, attacking Izuku again and again in multiple places. His arms, his back, his legs, all were slashed by the energized whip as Izuku took more and more damage.
"Armor integrity at 63%" The armor announced. "Right arm repulsor unoperational."
"Ah!" The latest attack hit Izuku in the helmet, the pain shocked Izuku out of his stunned state and acted fast. "Deploy flares!"
The armor's shins opened up, and flares flew out of them at Whiplash while emitting a bright blinding light.
Whiplash flipped backward and to the side, jumping out of the way of the attack but the explosion from the flares filled the building with light.
Fortunately, Izuku's helmet filtered out the light.
This is my chance! Izuku thought.
"Increase repluser power to fifty percent!" Izuku shouted as he aimed his repluser at Whiplash.
Unfortunately, while Whiplash couldn't see anything, he could hear Izuku shouting that he was about to attack at the top of his lungs.
Whiplash swatted the blast out of the air and attacked Izuku once more, the whip hitting the armor's side and sending him flying once more.
Izuku grabbed the ground as he was hurling through the air, slowing him down and eventually stopping him as he landed on his knee.
Ok. I probably shouldn't have shouted that. Izuku thought. Ranged attacks won't do me any good. If I want to win, I'm going to need to use my strength and speed. And also some tricks.
"Fire shoulder missiles," Izuku whispered this time as he got up on both his feet. "Don't target just fire in his direction."
The armor's shoulders rose up and missiles fired out at Whiplash.
The villain cracked his whip, and swiped at all the missiles, causing them to explode and make a smokescreen in front of him.
Suddenly Izuku rocketed out from the smoke, flying at high speed right toward Whiplash.
Whiplash barely had any time to react, as he ducked back to avoid the attack. Barely managing to do so as Izuku was so close, their masks touched creating a screeching sound as Izuku flew past his target.
CRASH!
After missing his target Izuku flew straight through the warehouse wall. He managed to stop himself midair before he could go too far past his opponent but before he could turn around, Whiplash's whip wrapped around Izuku's waist and arms, and pulled him back inside.
"Gah!" Izuku was once again forced to the floor of the warehouse.
"How much is the armor's durability?" Izuku asked as he pulled himself back to his feet.
"51%" The armor reported.
I have to end his fast. If I could just punch him once or twice then that would end it. Izuku thought up a plan. I can't keep flying. I have to stand my ground otherwise he's gonna keep knocking me around. I'll just have to rely on my leftover durability, my strength, and my speed."
Izuku ran at Whiplash, and the villain retaliated by attacking him with his whips.
Izuku tanked the blows, opting to let them hit him if he could get closer to his foe.
Thankfully it only took a couple seconds to close the distance and get into punching range.
Izuku threw a punch at Whiplash, who crouched down to avoid it, and whipped Izuku's side.
"Gah!" Izuku grit his teeth and raised his fist, before bringing it down to the villain, who flipped backward to avoid it and whipped Izuku twice in the face.
"Ahh!" Izuku was stunned momentarily from the hits, and Whiplash took this opportunity to strike at Izuku some more, hitting him with attack after attack from his whips.
"A-armor in-integrity at 24 percent." His armor started to malfunction as it took more damage.
Desperate, Izuku asked, "How much power do we have!?
"Seventy-nine percent." The armor announced.
"Fire Uni Beam!" Izuku shouted.
His arc reactor powered up with a strong hum, and Whiplash stopped his attacks as he realized that whatever was about to happen next would be dangerous for him.
BRRRRRRRRRRRR!
A large beam of energy fired out of the arc reactor, heading right towards Whiplash.
The villain barely managed to jump out of the way, getting his armor singed in the process.
Izuku turned to hit Whiplash but the villain kept dodging and running away. The Uni beam cuts through everything in its way, boxes, crates, the building itself, it's support beams.
"Change the left repluser from blast to beam!" Izuku was going all out, he aimed his repluser beam in front of Whiplash, cutting him off while the Uni beam was catching up.
"Power down to thirty percent." His armor warned.
"Doesn't matter how low my power is if he cuts through my armor!" Izuku grunted as he kept trying to hit Whiplash.
Whiplash cracked his whip up at one of the platforms above him and narrowly avoided the two beams.
He pulled himself onto the platform, before using his whips to destroy two more support columns, before leaping out a nearby window.
Suddenly, the building began to rumble, and cracks appeared in the walls.
"Building collapse imminent." His armor warned.
Izuku's eyes widened as the building started to come down around him. He fell backward and shouted. "Uni beam! Full power!"
The ceiling started to fall apart, but before it could come crashing down onto Izuku, his Uni Beam suddenly exploded in power and size, destroying most of the ceiling above and around him.
After about five seconds, Izuku's armor shut down. He had run out of power.
The rest of the building came down around him, but none fell on him. Leaving him a circle surrounded by debris.
I can't move! No! Not like this! Izuku tried his best but without any power, his armor would not move.
He heard footsteps approach his helpless form, and soon he could see Whiplash walk up to him, staring down at him.
The villain kneeled down to him and simply said. "Your no hero."
And with that, Whiplash stood up and ran away. Fleeing the scene.
Many emotions filled Izuku in that moment. Relife that he was apparently still going to live. Rage at the fact that the villain would now get to run free, still using his tech.
But most of all. Despair. At his crushing, and absolute loss.
Chapter 10
"You couldn't have waited for backup?" As Izuku suspected, Ochaco didn't wait long before scolding him, having only just gotten home from the hospital.
After his loss, Tamaki found him in the rubble and brought him to the hospital, and after a few hours of treatment he was released.
Now he was in his lab, with a very upset Ochaco.
"I didn't think that an A-class villain would show up," Izuku explained while he typed on his computer. "Most of the villains I've fought before don't even have rank let alone one that high."
"Izuku, our tech is the most advanced tech in the world," Ochaco stated the obvious. "Naturally every villain from the highest rank to the no-names would want to get their hands on it for one reason or another. It was only a matter of time until the guys at the higher level got tired of you taking down their goons and making their lives harder."
Izuku paused. "I...guess. I just didn't think they would go from no names to A-rank."
"I mean it's pretty effective," Ochaco said. "If they wanted to beat you before you could become more experienced or upgrade your armor."
"But then why would he let me live?" Izuku asked.
"Because you're more useful alive." Ochaco theorized. "My guess, and Chizome's, is that they intended to scare you out of being Iron Man, and hoped that you would eventually take the company out of lockdown and make new tech for them to steal."
Izuku scowled. "Well, that's not happening."
Ochaco sighed. In truth, she kind of hoped this experience would stop Izuku from continuing his "crusade". But deep down she knew it wouldn't be that easy. "You could have died Izuku."
Izuku stopped what he was doing for a moment, and turned his chair to face Ochaco. "That was because I made some mistakes. If I just performed better than I'm sure I would have beat him."
Izuku turned back towards his computer. "Which is why I'm reviewing the armor's feed to see what mistakes I made so the next time we fight, I'll win."
Izuku and Ochaco watched the battle from Izuku's armor, while Izuku scribbled down things in his notebook.
"You're not gonna beat him with just notes."
Izuku and Ochaco looked at the doorway and saw Chizome leaning in the doorframe.
"Chizome, how long have you been standing there?" Izuku asked.
"Long enough to know your in over your head." Chizome walked closer to them and looked at Whiplash. "This guy's not just a villain. He's a professional villain. Experienced. Maybe even...no definitely trained. You're not gonna be able to beat him just by not making the same mistakes. And even then I'm not convinced you won't make the same mistakes. You're too inexperienced. Untrained. The gap between you and him in skill is too wide."
Izuku looked back at the footage for a few moments. "You may be right."
"So what are you going to do?" Ochaco asked him. "We could get you a trainer."
"That takes too long," Izuku stated firmly. "In that time who knows how many people could be getting hurt by my tech...my tech...he's using my tech."
"Yes we get it Izuku, they must be stopped." Ochaco sighed.
"No, no that's not what I meant," Izuku said. "He's using my tech. So I should be able to use that against him."
"You mean with the disk?" Ochaco asked.
"No, if I tried to use the disk on the whips, assuming he didn't just hit them out of the air, they would be instantly destroyed by the energy pulsing through them," Izuku explained. "What I mean is, what if I build an armor to counter his whips."
"And what if he has more than just the whips?" Chizome asked. "You of all people should know that anyone worth their salt will have more than one trick up their sleeve."
Izuku nodded, thinking deeply about what Chizome said. "I'll have to take that into consideration while building the armor. I'll analyze his quirk and see what other applications I can think of and how to counter them. Thank you Chizome."
"I would really recommend combat training, I think you're underestimating its benefits," Chizome warned him.
"I'm not. I'm just not underestimating how much time it will take." Izuku said, returning his focus to his work.
Chizome and Ochaco gave each other worried looks.
Both of them had a very, very bad feeling about this.
A week later.
Izuku looked at his newly finished armor, looking between it and his blueprints to check for discrepancies.
This new armor was different from his old one. It was pure black, except for the white vein-like lines that ran along the entire armor, all connecting to the arc reactor. The chest plate also was a bit bulkier, but not too much so, and the rest of the armor was about the same size.
"Okay, everything looks good," Izuku said while looking it over.
"Everything's good?" Eri, who had once again acted as his personal lab assistant, asked.
"It seems so," Izuku told her.
After a bit more looking, he stopped when he reached the helmet, noticing something.
He picked up the helmet, taking it off the rest of the armor, and getting a closer look at it. "This plate is sticking out. That means there's a wire sticking up and that could mean one of the wires is uneven and could snap. And from what it looks like that could mess up the targeting system. Eri hand me my wiring tools in drawer 2-C."
Eri nodded and moved over the drawer's locating drawer 2-C, opening it, and taking out some tools, before quickly delivering them to Izuku.
Izuku took the tools and sat down, before adjusting the helmet.
Eri went beside him, Izuku stopped for a second to help up onto a stool next to him, and watched him work intently.
After a few moments, Eri spoke up. "Are you gonna beat that scary whip man?"
Izuku paused. "Yes Eri, I'm...altering my armor to make it easier to beat him."
"How?" Eri asked.
"Well, Whiplash's whips are only dangerous to me because of the energy flowing through them. When the whips hit or slash me the energy burns through the armor." Izuku explained.
Izuku pointed at the white lines on his armor. "Do you see these?
Eri nodded.
"These will absorb the energy from the whips, and redirect them to this special arc reactor," Izuku explained. "So any time he hits me with the whip, it doesn't hurt me, it makes me stronger."
"So you steal his energy...like a para...para...parasick?" Eri asked.
"You mean a parasite?" Izuku corrected, receiving a nod from Eri. "Yes I guess it is like a parasite, where did you learn that?"
"Mommy taught me. She kept yelling about parasites trying to steal her happiness and that she was going to do very bad things to them." Eri explained. "She also said humans can be parasites too. Like Ground Zero fans."
Izuku facepalmed. "Looks like I'm going to have to have a talk with mommy about what is and what is not appropriate to teach you."
Eri gave another look at the armor. "Is this gonna be your new armor?"
"Not permanently." Izuku shook his head. "This armor was made to fight against people who rely on energy attacks. It doesn't have many nonenergy based attacks because I had to make room for the absorption system. And the armor is not very energy efficient."
"That means it runs out of power quickly." Eri pointed out.
"Yes, it does, very good." Izuku patted her on the head. "I probably won't use the armor again after I beat Whiplash, although it should be useful to keep around, just in case."
BERRR! BERRRR! "Whiplash energy signature detected!"
Izuku had altered the search and alert system, to look for Whiplash's energy signature, basically, if Whiplash used his quirk, he could track him.
This hadn't been the first time Whiplash popped up in the last week, but now, Izuku could finally do something about it.
"Time to go!" Izuku finished up the modifications on his helmet, running back to the armor and re-attaching it. "Add to the suit up machine, set to prime."
The armor sunk into the wall, which closed up as the armor was transferred.
Izuku walked over to the circle in the center of his lab, waiting for his armor to be placed on his body.
"Are you going to fight that strong villain?" Eri asked.
"Yes, Eri. I am." Izuku answered, as the circle lit up, and the suit up process began.
"Be careful," Eri warned. "And good luck!"
Izuku smiled, as the machine finished placing the armor on Izuku's body, it powered up and he was ready to go. "Thanks, Eri. I will."
FWOOSH!
Sometime later.
The current location of Whiplash put him deep in the forest. Most likely at another warehouse because if there was one thing villain's loved, it was warehouses.
Izuku flew above the trees, he really couldn't see anything below him.
But that was ok, because he had all of his scanners and radar on, so there was no way something could take him by surprise.
KABOOM!
And then suddenly a large rocket flew out of the trees and blasted Izuku.
"GAH!" Izuku cried as the rocket hit him dead on, knocking him higher into the air.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
More rockets, capitalizing on Izuku's stunned state, pelted his armor with explosions, knocking him higher and higher into the air through clouds of smoke.
Eventually, Izuku managed to get his head back in the game, and dodged to the left.
"Armor integrity at 91 percent." His armor announced.
Well, at least they aren't doing much damage. Izuku thought as he dodged more rocket barrages.
Izuku flew through the sky dodging rockets left and right while trying to scan the location of whatever the source of this attack was.
"What's going on? I can't get a lock on its source!? GAH!" Izuku got distracted and was hit in the face with another rocket.
"AH! What's going on? Why can't I detect anything?!" Izuku thought about it for a moment, before he realized something. "They have my tech, they're using my anti-radar tech. Of course, I can't track them."
Okay, what do I do? These are most likely coming out of turrets because I'm not getting any heat signatures or any other signs of humans firing these. I could wait until they run out of rockets but that might not be good for my battery. Wait a minute. Izuku thought of a solution.
"Armor, track where these rockets are coming from, take into account homing properties, wind properties, and my location in relation to their place of origin," Izuku ordered.
His armor obeyed his command, scanning the rockets and where they were being fired at, tracking down the source while Izuku dodged more rocket fire.
"Sources located, adjusting H.U.D." His armor finished after half a minute.
Red dots appeared on Izuku's map, allowing Izuku to finally see where the attacks were coming from.
Izuku flew straight down, landing right behind a big rock.
I can't afford to fly down here. Too many trees, I'll bump into everything, I have to be careful. Izuku looked at the red dots on his map. Ten turrets, I can do this.
Izuku stepped out from behind the rock and ran through the forest.
He approached the first turret in seconds, and as soon as Izuku got close, the turret turned to him and began to fire.
No longer having the air advantage, Izuku struggled to dodge, moving left and right as fast as he could, causing him to trip.
Fortunately, before the turret could take advantage of this, however, Izuku managed to shoot a repulsor blast at the turret, causing it to explode.
Izuku breathed a sigh of relief. One down, nine to-
KABOOM!
"Darn it!" Izuku shouted as he was blown away by another rocket.
He had been so focused on that one turret, that he didn't notice he entered the range of two others.
Izuku rolled out of the way of the rest of the rockets, eventually pulling himself up and running through the forest dodging rockets.
Thanks to his speed, Izuku was able to avoid the rockets pretty well, the tree's however, despite being completely still, somehow proved to be harder to dodge.
Izuku crashed through another tree after dodging a rocket, before crashing through another tree.
Eventually, Izuku got close to one of the turrets and blasted it with a repulsor blast, destroying it.
Izuku jumped out of the way of more rockets, before unleashing another repulsor blast and destroying that turret too.
At this rate, I'll run out of power trying to destroy all these things. Izuku thought. "Switch to beam."
Izuku held up his palm in the direction of the nearest turret, which he couldn't see due to the trees but thanks to his map he did know its location.
BRRRR!
Izuku blasted a repulsor beam that cut through the trees until it reached the turret.
BOOM!
The sound of the explosion signaled the destruction of the turret, leaving Izuku to blast a few more.
BRRR! BRRR! BRRRR!
Izuku let out beam after beam, making holes in, if not just straight knocking down trees, as he blew up turrets in every direction until finally they were all destroyed.
The armored genius let out a small sigh of relief.
"What is the level of armor integrity?" He asked.
"Armor integrity at 82 percent." The armor reported.
"And my power?" Izuku asked.
"Power at 57 percent." The armor answered.
Izuku grit his teeth. This armor's efficiency is really bad. I better find Whiplash soon before-
"Threat detected, behind you." The armor warned.
CRACK!
Izuku felt a small impact on his armor, but it didn't even budge him.
"Power absorbed, power at 64 percent." The armor told him.
Whiplash. Izuku turned around, and of course, standing there was the enemy he had been looking for.
"So that's what you came up with," Whiplash said, looking at his whips.
Izuku wasted no time and ran right at the villain, knowing that the whips could no longer harm him, but could still swat his repluser blast out of the air, so he had to take a direct approach.
Whiplash dodged a punch given by Izuku, the armored man's fist plunging into the cliffside and cracking the rock.
Izuku took his fist out of the cliff and kept charging at Whiplash, letting out a flurry of blows at Whiplash that the villain promptly dodged.
Same as before, his punches are sloppy, unfocuses, predictable. But damn strong. And fast. Without my whips, I can't keep him at a distance, or even hurt him. His punches are too fast for me to dodge for too long, eventually, he will hit me, and I will go down. Whiplash thought about how to best solve this issue.
Whiplash deactivated his quirk, turning his whips into normal metal whips, before he shot out one of his whips at a nearby tree branch, and pulled himself towards it.
The villain landed on top of the tree branch and then jumped away through the treetops.
Is he trying to escape? Izuku ran after the villain, knowing darn well that he had no chance of jumping from branch to branch like he did.
Instead, Izuku fired a repluser blast at the tree's Whiplash was jumping on, but the villain was simply too skilled. Every time Izuku blasted down a tree, Whiplash had already moved onto another tree, his movements were sporadic and unpredictable, and using his whips, and could swing onto trees that were much farther than he could jump.
Soon enough, Izuku had lost track of him in the dense woods.
Izuku tried to use his scanners to track him, but nothing was showing and results.
He must also be using my stealth tech! Izuku couldn't put into words how infuriating it was to have his own tech used against him like this. It made his blood boil and his desire to beat Whiplash increased exponentially.
Suddenly, Izuku heard a branch snap in half and fall to the floor.
Izuku reacted and blasted the spot where he heard the noise, however, nothing was there.
He heard another rustling in leaves, and blasted that area, only to hit nothing.
He keeps hopping from tree to tree! I need to get rid of these stupid trees! Izuku thought. "Blast to beam."
Izuku brought his hands out to the sides, before firing the repulsor beams.
The beams cut through all the tree's in their way, Izuku then spun around in the circle.
Hundreds of thuds were heard as trees fell all around the forest, clearing a large area around him so he could finally see.
Note to self, have people replant the trees in this area. Izuku thought, feeling a bit guilty for the massive destruction of nature.
THWACK!
"AH!" Izuku was suddenly swept off his feet by a tree trunk hitting him in the back.
He still found a way to sneak attack me!? Izuku was about to pull himself up and throw the tree trunk off of him when two more tree trunks fell on top of him.
Whiplash used his whips, to pick up the fallen trees and throw them on top of Izuku.
Soon enough, Izuku was covered in a stack of fallen trees, buried under a mountain of wood.
Once Izuku was completely entombed, Whiplash stopped, and waited for Izuku to escape.
Then, a blue glow started to emanate from the pile, leaking through the openings between the branches, until-
BRRRRRRRRRRR!
The shining beacon of light that was the Uni-beam, burst through the center of the stack, causing some of the trees to roll or even fly off.
The beam dissipated, and the stack started to rumble and move.
"RAHHHHH!" Izuku burst up into the sky using his thrusters, finally free of trees.
He looked down at Whiplash, he really, really wanted to attack him right now.
However, there were some things he had to check.
"Status update," Izuku told his armor.
"Armor integrity at 78 percent. Power at 36 percent." The armor reported.
Damn it! At this rate, I'll run out of power again! Izuku grit his teeth in anger, his armored fist clenched as he glared at Whiplash intensely.
He wanted to beat him. It took every bit of restraint he had not to attack him where he stood.
But he thought of Ochaco and Eri. How they would react to his death. And it held him back.
If he continued to fight Whiplash there was a large chance he would run out of power, leaving him a sitting duck. And if Whiplash wasn't as merciful as last time, it would be the end of him.
In the end, he had to retreat.
And so with a heavy heart, he turned the other way, and flew at max speed away from Whiplash, leaving the villain behind in seconds.
Another loss. Not as crushing or terrifying as the one before it. But a loss nonetheless.
Chapter 11
"Breaking news!" Said a newswoman on television. "C.E.O. of Midoriya industries, Izuku Midoriya aka the non-vigilante vigilante Iron Man, was defeated in battle. He was seen retreating back to his home. Apparently, this is not the first time Midoriya has suffered defeat, as according to our information, that A-rank villain Whiplash, notorious for killing several pro-heroes, has been giving the billionaire trouble for a while. However Midoriya has managed to leave alive, he has always suffered defeat at the hands-off-"
PEWW.
The T.V. turned off in Izuku's lab, and the owner of said lab placed the remote on the table.
"Always suffered defeat." Izuku quoted irritably. "I only lost to him twice."
"Once would have been enough for him to kill you." Ochaco reminded him.
Chizome was looking at the battle footage from Izuku's helmet, watching the fight intently.
"Damn it," Izuku growled, he sat back in his chair, thinking of how he could beat Whiplash. "He's too good. And he keeps ambushing me!"
"Well maybe stop walking into his obvious traps," Ochaco suggested, also extremely irritated with the situation, but for different reasons. "You know how to track his energy signature. Any time he uses his quirk we know where he is, just avoid him, go back to fighting grunts and low-level villains, and wait for the heroes to take care of Whiplash."
"But they can't catch him!" Izuku argued. "I've left him alone for the heroes to catch before. He knows the patrol routes of all the heroes, and he's deliberately chosen locations that are far away. By the time other heroes would be able to arrive he's already gone. The only people who can get there before he leaves are me and Mirio, and he's out of the country."
"Then just wait till the heroes eventually track him down and take him out!" Ochaco countered.
"Who knows how long that might take!" Izuku rebutted. "How many people could he hurt with that tech in that amount of time! I need to stop him!"
"You're not going to save anyone by throwing away your life in a fight you can't win!" Ochaco shouted.
"But I can win!" Izuku said almost as loudly.
"Not the way you are." Chizome suddenly interjected, causing the two to turn to him.
"I'm repeating myself but what I say needs to be repeated. You're too inexperienced." Chizome repeated. "Even if you have the most powerful weapon in the world, experience almost always beats power. If you did have the experience, you would have known that hunk of junk armor you made was a downgrade in every sense of the word."
"The parasite armor was made to counter him-" Izuku tried to say before getting interrupted.
"It's too situational," Chizome said. "Firstly, you took away his main method of attacking, a good idea, but it wasn't worth the cost. Power is the most important thing about your armor, without it, you are defenseless, so making a suit that uses too much of it isn't a good idea. You could replenish your power by getting attacked, but since his attacks weren't doing anything to you, it's obvious he wouldn't attack. You could have still beaten him if you managed to trap him in close quarters, but you lack any of the necessary combat prowess and training to do that, so any competent opponent could either wait until you ran out of power or retreated, or attack you with other things...like trees."
Darn it...he has a point. On paper, the armor sounded perfect. But I guess I was too reliant on the idea that he would be helpless without his quirk...oh. Izuku suddenly realized why he had gotten that idea.
"That armor is almost entirely useless, it could come in handy but only in extremely rare circumstances," Chizome explained. "You made a common mistake. Thinking that the tool was a fault when it's the man using the tool that needs improvement. Your old armor was far superior. You need training to beat this opponent. You don't need to be more skilled than him, but you need to close that skill gap enough so your other advantages can win the fight. I'd say a few months should-"
"We don't have that much time!" Izuku interrupted. "They're not gonna stop using my tech until-"
"You stop them? You can't stop them if you die. And eventually, Whiplash or whoever is in charge of him, will run out of patients and kill you." Chizome said bluntly. "Boss, I hate to break this to you. But just because you have power now, does not mean your All Might."
Izuku's eyes went wide, and he almost seemed to recoil at that statement, before sheepishly composing himself. "I know that-"
"Don't kid yourself." Chizome didn't let him finish. "I've seen the way you fight. Head on, charging in fist first as fast as possible. You're trying to fight like All Might. But I'll say it again. You, not All Might. You're not that fast, and you're that strong. If you try to fight like him, you WILL die."
Izuku didn't respond. He just stood there looking at the floor. Thinking.
After a few moments of thought, Izuku eventually spoke up.
"I just need to keep working," Izuku said. "If I keep working on my armor. Increase the power efficiently, speed up the thrusters. Maybe find a better way to use the Uni-beam. Then I can do it. But I can't just stop."
Chizome sighed, rubbing his temples to ease the headache that was quickly developing.
The bodyguard was ready to keep on arguing with his boss when Ochaco stepped in.
"Chizome, can you give us some privacy?" Ochaco asked in her serious, no room for argument, tone.
Chizome looked at her. Her expression lacked the frustration she had before. There were still some there, but she looked more...resigned. A little sad even.
He didn't fight it. And Chizome nodded and left the room.
Izuku and Ochaco stared at each other for a while, Izuku growing increasingly nervous the longer the silence went on.
How does she always manage to make me like this? Izuku wondered.
"Do you remember that time, in the days leading up to the sports festival, when you were desperately trying to make more and more support items so they could get shown off by Mei during the festival?" Ochaco asked him. "It was during the second year. Do you remember the conversation we had?"
Izuku spent a moment searching for the memory, before nodding.
He knew exactly what conversation she was talking about. It was, as she said, a few days before the sports festival. Ochaco had been Izuku and Mei's manager for quite some time at that point and had been friends with him for about the same amount of time.
As he was prone to do, he had been overworking himself, even more so with the sports festival looming near. Mei was going to use their gear and show it off during the event, as she had done last year.
The chance to show off during the sport's festival was not to be taken lightly. And so Izuku had really been pushing himself beyond his limit, and that was taking a toll on his body.
And Ochaco let him know exactly how she felt about that.
Several years ago, at the U.A. support lab.
"You're overworking yourself!" Ochaco argued.
"I-I'm fine Uraraka," Izuku said, looking away from her.
"Midoriya, I can see the bags under your eyes!" Ochaco pointed to said bags, making Izuku flinch from how close she was.
"I-I-I-uh-" Izuku tried to come up with an excuse, but his panicked state combined with his sleep deprivation was making that rather hard for him.
Ochaco glared at him. "What have I been telling you and Mei about taking care of yourselves! I swear, I scooped up the best partner out of the support course, and Mei, but I have to make sure you don't kill yourselves anytime I turn around!"
Izuku cringed with guilt. "I-I'm sorry."
Ochaco's gave him a skeptical glare. "Does that mean you're going to sleep and take better care of yourself?"
"W-Well I still need to work on the gear." Izuku stuttered. "I need to work harder than everyone else. People won't want to buy support gear made by a quirkless kid, so I need to make sure that everything is top of the line...You took a chance partnering with me, I need to do what I can to make sure you didn't make a mistake."
Ochaco glared softened, before dissipating with a sigh. Damn it why do you have to be so sweet and considerate?!
Unable to stay mad but not willing to drop it, Ochaco decided to try a different approach. If Izuku wouldn't look after himself for his sake then maybe he would for her's.
"Izuku, this isn't good for either of us. If you're working while sleep deprived then you're going to make mistakes. And that will only make the quality of the gear worse." Ochaco pointed out. "Don't lie to me and say that it hasn't been getting harder to work on the gear without sleep."
Izuku didn't respond, but the look of worsening guilt on his face gave away the answer.
"Whether I get into the hero course like I want and use your gear, or I stay in the management course and sell it, it's best if it is the best it can be. And that will only happen if you're working on it at 100%." Ochaco continued, giving Izuku a pleading look, really hammering in the guilt. "And besides."
Ochaco grabbed Izuku's face and made him look at her. "You're my friend. Don't be so considerate and kind, and make me care about you, only to kill yourself by overworking. You can't do that to me."
Izuku broke, as did the dam holding back the waterworks. "I-I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry," Ochaco told him. "Just promise me you'll take care of yourself."
"I...I promise." Izuku told her.
Back in the present.
"You promised me. That you would take care of yourself." Ochaco reminded him.
Izuku felt the guilt well up in him, and he knew that his resolve was starting to crumble. "I…"
Ochaco gave him a sad smile. "It's funny, this isn't the first time you threw your health and potentially your life away without a second thought. Caring for you is hard you know. Your self destructive, you're stubborn as hell, and despite being a genius you can be really dumb when you get tunnel vision. It's hard Izuku, it really is."
Izuku was trying really hard not to let his guilt consume him. Every time Ochaco really wanted to convince him, she would guilt him. And it almost always worked.
Ochaco took his hand, the care and warmth put into that gesture, nearly caused Izuku to crumble right there.
"But I wouldn't have married you if I wasn't up for a challenge," Ochaco said tenderly. "Because I know that you're worth it."
Tears were welling up in Izuku's mind, partially because of guilt, partially because of how touched he was.
"But you can't do this," Ochaco told him. "You can't make me love you, help me achieve my dreams, marry me, make me the happiest woman in the world, and give us a child, only to throw your life away. You can't do that to me. To us."
He never stood a chance.
All of his resolve and will to argue died right there. And once again, he started to cry, but to his credit, it was only a little.
"I...I've been being stubborn again. Haven't I." Izuku admitted? "I-I'm sorry. I keep making things difficult."
"I just told you, I'm up for a challenge." Ochaco reminded him. "I'm just glad you can see reason in the end."
Izuku sighed. "I'm...gonna have to train. Aren't I?"
"Yup. Like Chizome said, at least a few months." Ochaco told him. "And you will be taking breaks. Training won't help if your body collapses, and I don't want you neglecting our daughter during all this."
"I...understand," Izuku said with no small amount of hesitation. He didn't like how slow this was going at all, but...he didn't really have a choice at this point. "I'll go see who I can get as a trainer."
"Nope," Ochaco told him. "I'll be taking care of that. As well as your scheduling, because I know you're still terrible at that. I'll get in contact with our hero friends and see who can train you. Also, I'll get our contacts in the police to focus on tracking down Whiplash, next time you two fight I don't want it to be you flying into an ambush. For now, you can work on improving the Model 2 armor, and I'll call Mei so she can work on the armor while you're training."
"That's...you're doing a lot." Izuku pointed out. "You just scolded me for overworking myself."
"Izuku, I'm just making some calls, sending some emails, and writing down a schedule. It's fine!" Ochaco reassured him. "And you're out there risking yourself. I can't just stand on the side sending you disapproving looks, no matter how much I hate this. If we're going to do this, then we need to do it right. And as a team. Like we always have."
Izuku smiled at her. "I guess I really am hopeless without you."
Ochaco giggled. "I thought that was obvious. Although to be fair I doubt I'd be anywhere near as happy without you."
The two of them laughed until they heard a knock on the door.
"Are you two done making out yet?" Chizome asked.
Izuku was about to tell him to come in when Ochaco suddenly grabbed him.
"Not yet!" Ochaco called, before kissing him right on the lips.
Izuku was taken off guard, and by the time he truly realized what was going on, it was over.
"We can spend more time like that once Whiplash goes down." Ochaco teased him. "Now let's get back to work."
"Y-yeah." Izuku was too stunned to say anything else.
Ochaco let go of him, and walked away, opening the door and leaving the lab.
Izuku heard a short conversation between her and Chizome before it ended and Chizome walked into the lab.
"You know if there is one thing I've learned from you boss, is that the power of love is real, and it is strong." Chizome half-joked.
"Well...yeah," Izuku admitted with a fierce blush still adorning his face.
Chizome shook his head with a small smile on his face. "I'm glad you're going for training. I've always liked your strong sense of justice, but you can't let it kill you for stupid reasons."
"Sorry for making you worry." Izuku apologized.
"Wasn't worried, more frustrated." Chizome denied. "But on a different topic, you know I could teach you a few things. Hand to hand combat, how to aim without assistance, and how to deal with armed opponents."
"Well you'll have to talk to Ochaco, she's making the schedule." Izuku chuckled. "Meanwhile I guess I'll go get back to work on my armor. Can you go get Eri for me?"
"Gonna have her help you out in the lab again?" Chizome asked.
"I think she likes it," Izuku admitted.
"I think she just likes spending time with you," Chizome said.
Izuku paused. "Well, another reason not to die I guess."
Chizome shook his head. "I guess sir. I guess."
Chapter 12
Izuku and Nejire were currently standing in a forest.
He was in his armor, and she was in her hero costume, and they were both here for the same reason.
Flight training.
Or to be more accurate, Nejire was here to teach Izuku about flying.
"Sorry for taking up your time Nejire." Izuku apologized, blushing under his faceplate.
"It's no problem! It's more than worth it to make sure you don't kill yourself." Nejire said bluntly without losing a bit of enthusiasm or cheer.
"Hehe, yeahhhh." Izuku blushed even more.
"Ok, so first let me see what you can do! Get up there and show me your moves!" Nejire instructed.
"Right!" Izuku activated his thrusters and jetted up into the sky.
Nejire then proceeded to test his abilities by commanding him to do certain things.
"Sharp turn!"
"Loop de loop!"
"Fly slow!"
"Now fly fast!"
"Now fly fast and do a sharp turn!"
This went on for quite some time until Nejire eventually told him to get down.
Izuku landed a few feet from Nejire. "How did I do?"
"Well you have some experience, but it's pretty clear you're untrained," Nejire told him. "Your movements were all sloppy and I don't think you could pull off a smooth sharp turn to save your life. If we were in a city you'd probably crash through a whole bunch of buildings."
Izuku slouched dejectedly. "Oh."
"Don't worry, don't worry we'll fix that right away!" Nejire told him. "But first, we need to see how you fly through tight spots. Try flying through those trees, slowly."
Izuku nodded and activated his thrusters once more before taking off into the forest.
At first, he was doing ok, he dodged the trees relatively well while having a few close calls.
Then he hit one tree.
Which made him hit another.
And another.
And another.
Until he just kept hitting trees.
All while Nejire watched with that ever-present smile on her face. Knowing that this was gonna be a lot of hard work.
Later in the gym.
"Alright let's get this training started!" Kirishima said, hitting his hardened fist together.
"I'm honestly surprised you'd ask me to help me with this." Said hero, Tail Man, Aka Mashirao Ojiro.
The Midoriya's were only somewhat acquainted with the lesser-known hero via his girlfriend Toru. This combined with the fact that as a hero, he was pretty overlooked, made it pretty shocking when Toru told him that they were asking him to teach Izuku hand to hand combat.
"Well, you're one of the best martial arts heroes around. Plus you teach martial arts at U.A. so if anyone could help me with this it'd be you." Izuku explained.
"Oh." Ojiro blushed a bit, not used to having praise heaped upon him. "Well, then I guess I'll just have to do my best. Get in a stance and we'll go from there."
"Uh...right," Izuku said, as he slowly and awkwardly got into a battle-ready...pose?
Ojiro sighed. He'd seen that type of stance before many, many times.
It was the "I watched too many movies stance"
Ojiro shot Kirishima a look, and the two turned their attention back to Izuku.
"Try attacking him and see what happens," Ojiro told him.
Izuku heard the wording and tone Ojiro used and realized that he was doing something wrong. Despite this, he went along with it, Ojiro was teaching him so he would follow his instruction to the letter.
Kirishima had been chosen as Izuku's sparring partner simply because...well...despite Ojiro having way more skill than Izuku, the sheer gap in defense, offense, and speed capabilities meant that he didn't make a very good sparring partner. Kirishima on the other hand could take a hit from Izuku's armor and dish one back, making him more than adequate for training.
He charged at Kirishima and threw out a punch aimed at the hardened hero's face.
Kirishima easily deflected the blow with his hardened arm and went to uppercut him in return.
Izuku barely reacted in time and moved back to avoid the blow, however, Kirishima noticed that this made his footing unstable, so he crouched down and performed a sweeping kick and sent Izuku to the ground on his back.
"Ah. Ow." Izuku groaned. It didn't really hurt too much or damage his armor, but it still wasn't a pleasant feeling by any means.
"All right." Ojiro sighed. "Now the real work begins."
Sometime later in the gym.
Izuku stood, in his armor, opposing his foe on the opposite side of the indoor gym, Chizome, wielding two whips, connected to a device on his back.
"You ready boss?" Chizome asked with a vicious grin.
"I have to be," Izuku told him.
"Good answer." Chizome pressed a button, his whips, and the deceit of his life came to life, filling his whips with blue electric-like energy.
Meanwhile on the sidelines, was Ochaco and Momo, watching the two of them go at it.
"Those whips are designed to mimic the effects of Whiplash's quirk," Ochaco explained. "And with Chizome's skill, while it may not be a perfect simulation of fighting against Whiplash, it'll be very close. When he gets better at fighting him like this we're gonna start simulating some different environments so he can get used to-"
Ochaco stopped when she noticed that Momo wasn't paying attention to her, and was instead watching Izuku getting absolutely owned by Chizome.
"Why are you enabling this Ochaco," Momo asked her in a serious tone. "Overlooking the fact that you are blatantly exploiting a loophole in the law to commit vigilantism, do you think that just a few months of training can allow him to fight at the level of pro's who have been training for years?"
Ochaco sighed. "The suit-"
"Is a tool." Momo cut her off. "And something I learned a long time ago, is that a tool is only as good as the person using it."
Ochaco glared at her. "And what are you trying to imply with that?"
"I-" Momo paused to choose her words more carefully, not wanting to seriously offend her friends here. "Look at him."
The two looked at Izuku still fighting Chizome, making stupid mistakes that he would capitalize on in an instant, leaving openings that would be exploited mercilessly.
"He's just...some people have things that they're good at, and ways they can help people. He's already been doing that with the company." Momo argued. "He doesn't need to-"
"Stop," Ochaco told her, shutting the black hair girl up immediately.
"Let me ask you something Momo," Ochaco said. "If I asked you to become a villain, then would there be anything I could say that would convince you to do that?"
Momo was taken off guard by the question and shot the girl a strange look. "No. Obviously not."
"That, this is that. The same way I could never convince you to become a villain, I could never convince Izuku to stop trying to stop these guys." Ochaco told her.
"But you're his wife!" Momo pointed out. "Surely there-"
"Momo." Ochaco's voice was firm. "Do you think I like watching him go off and put himself in danger? Don't you think if there anything I could say to get him to stop, without either ruining our marriage or ruining him, I would have said it already?"
Momo didn't respond, also not looking Ochaco in the eyes.
"Besides, I know how he feels," Ochaco said, the edge that had been in her voice fading. "I'm furious about our products being used by villains. I won't rest until I know that tech is out their hands, and back into ours. But it's worse for him. I just sell this stuff, Izuku MADE it. He put his heart and soul into developing that tech, to help save innocents and stop villains. Having villains use them to HURT innocents, is a spit in the face of everything he's been trying to achieve. He's not stopping. I can't stop him. So if I can't stop him, the only thing I can do is help him succeed."
Momo didn't respond. Instead, she just looked at Izuku, getting back up, ready to try again.
Days later in the lab.
"So I've been looking at the interface and the designs, and I realized that it'd be normally impossible for someone to make full use of the armor's speed," Mei told Izuku as the two of them stood over a table with pieces of her armor on it. "I mean, it doesn't matter how fast the armor is if the human inside can't control it."
"Right, if anything it can make fighting harder at times," Izuku said.
"Yes, yes, so I thought about possibly adding a neural interface in the helmet and back, so that way a person could have their reflexes and reaction speed boosted to be more on the armor's level," Mei suggested. "This could also be used to get rid of all those audible commands that make it obvious what you're gonna do next, as well as a few other benefits."
"I mean, that would help but it would also cause unbearable headaches and nausea both during and after use." Izuku countered.
"Yeah, but you could get over that." Mei waved it off, only to get an "are you serious" look from Izuku.
"No, I'm serious!" Mei reassured him. "After enough exposure, a person's brain could get used to the interface, and eventually all those side effects would vanish!"
Izuku paused for a moment, doing the calculations in his brain until he eventually found himself at the same conclusion she was at. "But that would take weeks, months of adjustment."
"Right you are! Luckily, you have that kind of time." Mei told him.
Izuku took a deep breath and sighed. Honestly spending all this time not fighting crime was killing him. He knew there were villains out there, using his tech, and he wasn't stopping them.
But he couldn't let himself act on these thoughts. He just had to prepare.
Weeks later.
Izuku and Nejire were back near the forest, but this time Nejire had set up a bunch of targets around the area.
"Ok, so today we're gonna be working on your shooting," Nejire said. "Try shooting something using your aim system thing."
Izuku nodded and held out his palm.
After a few moments, he fired a repulsor blast at one of the targets, hitting it dead in the center.
"Twenty seconds." Nejire said "You're definitely going to need to improve that a lot or learn how to aim on your own. Try doing it without it."
"Ok." Izuku knew that twenty seconds was a lot. It didn't seem like a lot of time, but in a battle, twenty seconds could make a huge difference.
He kept his palm raised and fired at the target.
And missed.
Izuku sighed. Looks like he still had a lot of work to do.
A few days later back in the lab.
"Ok, the neural link should be good to go just put on the helmet," Mei told Izuku, who was standing a few feet away, already in most of the armor except the helmet.
"Right." Izuku slowly put on the helmet, which latched itself onto the armor.
There was a moment of silence, and then Izuku fell over.
"Oh! OH! Ah! God! Ugh!" Izuku shouted out in agony. "My head! Ohhhh! I'm gonna...bwagh!"
"Wait no not the helmet!" Mei cried as Izuku vomited inside the helmet.
Later that day.
"Whew! Ah, gah." Izuku was breathing heavily, as he and Ochaco ran laps around their EXTREMELY large house. Only made worse by the fact that Izuku was carrying Eri on his shoulders.
"You can do it, daddy!" Eri cheered him on.
"Come on honey! Got to build up that endurance!" Ochaco told him. She'd been doing this kind of exercise for years so she was fine.
With the two of them cheering him on, Izuku pushed past the pain and kept on running.
Later that night.
The door to Izuku and Ochaco's bedroom burst open, as the husband and wife duo walked in, or in Izuku's case, limped in.
Once the two had made it in and Ochaco closed the door behind them, Izuku unceremoniously fell face-first onto the floor.
"Everything hurts," Izuku whined. "I wish I didn't do that helmet test on the same day as the exercise."
"Was it really that bad?" Ochaco asked, using her quirk to lift him off the floor and onto a nearby chair.
"Imagine using your quirk on yourself for an hour," Izuku told her.
"Eeee." Ochaco cringed as she imagined what that would feel like. "In that case, let me go make you some tea. You're probably really hungry but can't stomach any actual food right now."
"That's what it feels like." Izuku groaned.
Ochaco went over to their tea brewing set and started making expensive leaf water, taking great care as she did so. "You're doing great, you know. With your training. You're making a lot of improvements."
"Still doesn't feel like it," Izuku answered honestly. "I still don't think I'm moving fast enough."
"You're progressing as fast as you can," Ochaco stated firmly. She had been very watchful of Izuku since he started his training, making sure he didn't try to overexert himself with extra training like she knew he would if she ever allowed him out of her sight.
The room was silent as Ochaco poured the tea into a cup and served it to Izuku.
"This should help with your stomach." She told him.
"Thank you," Izuku said as he took a long sip of the beverage. "Is there any news on Whiplash?"
"He hasn't popped up as often anymore. It seems he's stopped trying to bait you." Ochaco reported. "But we haven't managed to pin down a location."
"So we have no leads?" Izuku frowned, setting down the tea.
"Unfortunately no," Ochaco said solemnly.
There was a long pause, as Izuku brooded over the fact that Whiplash was still out, there, somewhere, hurting people with his tech.
Ochaco put a hand on his shoulder. "He won't get away with this. We'll take him down."
"I feel so worthless," Izuku said, before taking another sip of his tea. "Have you seen the news?"
Ochaco scowled. "What have I told you about listening to the news...don't."
"They think I gave up." Izuku continued.
"They don't know you," Ochaco told him firmly. "You never give up when it comes to helping people. Never."
"They say it's impossible for someone like me to beat Whiplash," Izuku said.
"...Maybe it is," Ochaco said.
Izuku gave her a shocked and slightly betrayed look.
"But that's just what you do isn't it, the impossible." Ochaco smiled at him and took his hand into her own. "People said that your breakthroughs in support gear were impossible. A lot of people would say it's impossible to break out of Yakuza base with nothing but some supplies they hand you and a little girl. But you did it anyway. Your amazing Izuku. You achieve miracles! Who cares what they say? I know you can do this."
Izuku didn't react at first, just staring at Ochaco in awe, before returning a smile. "You always know what to say."
Days later in the lab.
"So I had an idea," Mei told him.
"You've been having a lot of those lately." Izuku pointed out.
"I can't help it! Ever since I saw this beautiful baby my mind has been full of wonderful, wonderful ideas on how to improve it!" Mei gushed. "I can't believe it took you so long to show this to me!"
"W-well I was pretty busy at the time." Izuku defended himself. "S-so what's your idea!?"
"So, do you remember the Jarvis project?" Mei asked him.
Izuku gave her a confused look. "Yes. It was the project to make a semi-sentient A.I. to assist in certain tasks in ways that were too complicated for normal A.I. but it was shut down because we didn't have a way to...efficiently...power it...oh."
"You're too focused on your armor Izuku." Mei scolded him. "The arc reactor can do so much more than just power a suit! For now, let's focus on Jarvis! If we gather a lot of combat data on heroes and how they act, fight and react, then we could make an A.I. that can really help you out in combat."
"That's...a great idea!" Izuku smiled as ideas filled his head. "Eri."
Eri, who was watching from a nearby perked up.
"Why don't you come with me while I gather footage on heroes," Izuku suggested. "We can watch it together."
"Y-yes!" Eri immediately accepted.
"Great! I'll get working on a new arc reactor and the framework." Mei said. "Since it's not going to be portable we shouldn't have to worry about it running out of power for the next century or so."
That was the biggest failure of the Iron Man armor. It wasted so much power. If they could find a way to fully optimize the Iron Man armor to work with the arc reactor, then it could power an Iron Man armor for years.
This was less because of how much power the armor used, and more because of how new the arc reactor tech was.
Having just been created, no one knew exactly how to make the most of this astounding breakthrough in technology, not even the person who created it. It was a miracle he was able to shrink it down and make it portable, however, this portability came at a price. An energy leak. Seeing as the arc reactor had way more power then than what it was powering could actually use, this would result in a lot of that energy leaking out, rapidly draining it until it no longer had any energy.
Of course with a stationary arc reactor, they could make new devices to keep this leak from happening.
"Ohh I can't wait! Let's start immediately!" Mei said.
A few weeks later, in the gym.
"Again," Ojiro ordered.
"Haaa!" Izuku went to punch Kirishima in the face, who in response, deflected the punch with his hardened arm and went to punch Izuku in the chest.
Izuku caught this fist, and pulled Kirishima closer, and then kneed him in the stomach.
This didn't do all too much damage to the hardening hero, who smirked in response to this blow. "Nice."
Kirishima tried to push Izuku away, but Izuku held onto his arm tightly and punched Kirishima in the face.
The redhead tried to punch Izuku to get him to release his grip, but Izuku moved his head to the side and countered with a punch to the gut.
"Enough." Ojiro stopped the fight.
Izuku let go of Kirishima, and the redhead started laughing.
"Man, that suit packs a punch. I actually felt that." Kirishima smiled at him.
"Are you ok!?" Izuku asked quickly. Concerned he might have hurt his friend.
"I'm fine! I'm not a high ranking hero for nothing!" Kirishima told him.
"You've improved significantly." Ojiro stepped in. "You're no master martial artist, but you're just above a novice. Which is impressive considering we haven't been training for that long. Toru was right, your drive is outstanding."
"Ah...thanks." Izuku blushed heavily under his faceplate.
"But we're not anywhere close to done," Ojiro told him. "Now that we've gotten base hand to hand combat down, we need to start working in your replusers and thrusters."
"Right, I knew I could use those in close combat but when I tried doing that before...it didn't end well." Izuku sheepishly admitted.
"Well, that's what practice is for," Ojiro said. "Honestly I think Ground Zero would be a better teacher for stuff like this, but when I mentioned it to your wife...she refused."
Izuku cringed. "I can imagine."
"I don't get the beef between you guys!" Kirishima scowled. "Seriously, I don't understand why she hates him so much!?"
"It's...complicated." Izuku sighed. "Let's just start already."
Weeks later, outside.
"Um...Nejire." Izuku said.
"Yeah?" Nejire smiled at him.
"What's with all the rocket turrets?" Izuku asked.
This time, scattered around their usual training area, were many, many rocket spewing turrets.
"Well, it's time for you to practice dodging while flying! So what better way to help that than with a few dozen homing rockets!" Nejire said. "Oh and also I'll be flying around trying to hit you!"
Izuku groaned. He could already feel the pain.
A Month later
Izuku, Mei, and Eri were back in the lab, as Mei and Izuku put the finishing touches on the Jarvis mainframe.
"Alright! Finally! All we have to do is turn it on!" Mei said eagerly, before looking at Eri. "Want to do the honors?"
"C-can I?" Eri walked up the console hesitantly.
"Of course Eri, you helped gather the data after all." Izuku exaggerated. In truth, all she did was sit and watch some hero footage with him, but he wanted her to think she helped.
Izuku grabbed Eri and lifted her up so she could press the button on the console.
Eri reached out, and slowly, pressed the button.
BRRRRRRR
The system booted up, and within moments they heard a British accented voice speak out to them.
"Hello, I am Jarvis." The computer said. "All systems are fully operational. Is there anything you require of me?"
"It works...why is it British?" Izuku raised an eyebrow at Mei.
"Well, it's kind of like a digital butler if you think about it. And you know what they say, not all brits are butlers but all butlers are brits!" Mei explained.
"...No one says that, but ok." Izuku moved on, the less he tried to figure out what happened in Mei's head the better. "Jarvis, you should be able to connect to the house, and my armor's systems."
"Already done sir," Jarvis said.
"He's inside the house?" Eri asked, looking around at the walls.
"I am part of the house now ," Jarvis said. "Observe."
Suddenly the lab door closed, and then opened again. Various things started turning off and on, showing that Jarvis now had total control over the house.
"Wow," Eri said. "Are you going to help my daddy fight?"
"Young lady, it would be my genuine pleasure," Jarvis responded.
Weeks later in the lab.
"Alright," Izuku said as he prepared to put the helmet back on. "Let's do this again."
He placed his helmet back over his head, as it latched itself to the rest of the armor and locked.
The neural link-activated, and for a moment, Izuku suffered a terrible headache.
But then...it was gone. And it seemed like the world had changed.
"Woah." Izuku moved his armored hands in front of him. It was hard to tell from his perspective, if he was moving faster, or if the world suddenly became slower.
"Looks like the side effects have finally subsided," Mei said, as she looked for something in her lab coat. "Let's test it out!"
Suddenly, Mei pulled out a gun and fired it at Izuku.
"Woah!" To Izuku's surprise, he reached out and grabbed the bullet mid-air.
"Success!" Mei raised her arms in celebration.
"Mei!" Izuku shouted at her. "You can't just shoot people!"
"Oh come on, you're worried about that!? Your armor is bulletproof!" Mei defended herself.
"But what if it bounced off and hit Eri!" Izuku pointed at Eri who had hidden under the table the moment the gun was drawn.
"Actually calculating the trajectory, it'd be impossible for the bullet to hit her from where she was sitting," Mei said.
Izuku facepalmed and gave a long, painful sigh. "Just don't do it again."
Later that week.
Izuku stood off against Chizome, wielding both the energized whips.
The green-haired man was now equipped with the latest and greatest version of the Iron Man armor. The Mk 4.
The Mk.4 was the product of months of R and D. Complete with Jarvis, a neural link that enhanced one's reflexes, better power efficiency,
"You ready boss?" Chizome asked, cracking his whip.
"You ready Jarvis?" Izuku asked the A.I.
"Of course sir," Jarvis said. "He will most likely begin with a sideswipe followed by an overhead strike."
"Alright," Izuku said. "I'm ready!"
"Hmph. Rah!" Chizome did exactly as Jarvis said he would, swiping one whip across and lifting one in the air, covering a large area.
However, instead of trying to go over the whip, he allowed himself to fall under it and then used his thrusters to rocket his way towards his employee.
Chizome barely managed to jump over Izuku's charge, and Izuku propelled himself into the air behind him.
The bodyguard was about to try and whip him out of the air, but suddenly Izuku was in front of him and batted the whip out his left hand.
Chizome backflipped a few times, dodging a few point-blank repulsor blasts, and used the whip to sweep across the room in an attempt to hit him.
Izuku jumped over the attack, and charged at Chizome, moving so fast that by the time he could see what was coming it was already too late, he had knocked down Chizome, and kicked the other whip out of his hand, before keeping his foot on Chizome to pin him.
"Agh, nice." Chizome gave his boss a feral grin. "Looks like your training's done."
"And not a moment too soon!"
Izuku and Chizome looked towards the door and saw Ochaco running in.
"Ok, firstly, that was amazing, and secondly, we have a lead!" Ochaco told them enthusiastically. "The heroes captured one of the villains selling our tech, and he's willing to give up some of his friends for a plea deal. Including Whiplash."
Izuku's eyes widened. "Then...is it really time?"
Ochaco nodded with a big smile on her face. "That's right. It's time for Iron Man to return!"