Chapter 6: Hero Class, Part 1

The next day, Izuku came to a rather odd realization. Despite being the number one most prestigious hero school in the country, UA was remarkably… normal. Just like in middle school, they had the standard classes of Math, History, English, etc. The only exciting bit was that they were all taught by Pro Heroes, but even a fanboy like Izuku couldn't really keep his excitement up listening to Ectoplasm drone on about derivatives.

But then came the class they had all been waiting for: Hero Class.

When All Might arrived for class (clad in his Silver Age costume for some reason) and opened the compartments for their costumes, Izuku couldn't help but feel apprehensive. He, Katsuki, and Ochako had spent days after the exam going over their ideas for costumes, each of them having several ideas, both good and bad. Izuku had fretted over his own extensively, trying to come up with a design that would cover all his necessary bases. He finally decided on one to send for UA to make, but he was worried that they wouldn't be able to craft it exactly how he'd drafted it, given it's… unconventional design.

As he stared up at the suitcase that held his costume, he couldn't help but swallow slightly. He reached out, grabbed it by the handle, lifted…

...and nearly had the case drag him to the floor, hitting the ground with a heavy thud.

The noise drew the attention of most of the class, gaining him startled looks. "Woah, dude," Said Sero, the boy with the Tape Quirk, looking between Izuku and the case. "You okay?"

Izuku took a moment to blink down at his case. He tugged at it slightly, measuring the weight of it. Then a wide grin spread out over his face. "Yeah," he replied with a disbelieving laugh. "Yeah, I'm great." With a bit of a heave, he lifted the case off the ground. Now aware of just how heavy it was, he could lift it with little issue.

Sero gave him and the case a dubious look, then just shrugged. "Okay, if you say so."

Izuku nodded for him, then made to follow All Might down to the bus.

Once they reached Ground Beta, the same fake city that the Entrance Exam had been held at, All Might herded the students into a set of locker rooms to change into their hero gear. Once Izuku had opened his case, he couldn't help but just stare at his costume for a moment. If it hadn't been for Katsuki yelling at him to hurry up, he might have just sat there in the locker room for the rest of the day in a stunned stupor.

At first glance, the suit wasn't all that impressive. On the surface, it looked like a simple jumpsuit, mostly a light green broken up by solid bands of silver running along his forearms, around his waist, and up the middle of his chest, all the way to his neck. There was a pair of red boots with a matching utility belt, and a pair of thick, fingerless white gloves.

(Katsuki had nixed the hood design and mouthguard he'd wanted, on the grounds that it made him look like a 'bootleg All Might plushie'. Izuku tried to defend his design, but when Ochako voiced her apologetic agreement with Katsuki, the dejected fanboy gave up on the idea.)

Pretty basic looking, honestly. But there was a reason for its simplicity.

Decked out in his new hero suit, Izuku flicked a finger against the silver band running up his chest. He beamed when it made a sharp metallic ting!-ing sound, betraying its true nature beneath the clothlike appearance.

His appraisal of his suit made him the last one to exit the locker room, finding the entire class gathered in front of All Might at the entrance to the fake-city. He couldn't help but gawk a bit at everyone else's costumes, his mind already trying to work out the purpose and advantages of all the bright colors and intricate designs.

He briefly made eye-contact with All Might. The Number One quickly looked him up and down, giving him a subtle nod as his ever-present smile grew wider. Izuku felt his cheeks warm a little at the praise.

"Deku! Over here!"

… then felt that warmth turn to fire as he turned to see Ochako in her skintight bodysuit.

Trying valiantly to fight down his blush, Izuku met her smile with his own. "Wow, Ochako! Your suit turned out great!"

Ochako giggled slightly, her cheeks tinging as she looked down at herself. "Thanks. I still kind of wish I had a puffier suit, though. Like Thirteen's."

Izuku nodded, well aware of her wish to emulate her favorite hero. "I know, but this suit gives you more mobility. Thirteen's Quirk forces them to usually stay pretty stationary when they're on the job. But your Quirk lets you be more mobile, and a big suit like Thirteen's might restrict your movement-"

"Zip it, Deku," Katsuki cut him off, rolling his eyes as he approached with his arms crossed. "We already agreed with the changes you made. You can stop patting yourself on the back now."

Izuku ducked his head a little, frowning. "Do… you not like how yours turned out?" He asked hesitantly, eyeing Katsuki's costume for any notable flaws.

Katsuki huffed under his breath, lifting one of his gauntlets up to eye level. He made a show of spinning it back and forth, his eyes trailing over the four separate barrels ringing around his wrist. Izuku cringed a little, remembering the fuss Katsuki had made when he suggested halving the size of his gauntlets and installing four smaller collection tanks, rather than one massive one.

After Izuku had started to physically squirm under the silence, Katsuki smirked, re-crossing his arms. "They'll do."

Izuku let out a sigh, visibly sagging in relief. Ochako patted him sympathetically on the back, giving Katsuki an annoyed glare. He irritation just made him grin more.

Ochako rolled her eyes away from the blonde bomber, then gave Izuku a curious look. "So… did your costume turn out like you hoped?"

Instantly, Izuku's grin returned. "Yep!" He said with a disbelieving chuckle. "It's exactly how I wanted it!"

Ochako nodded slowly, looking him over. "It looks good. But… are you sure it's not too heavy?" She poked the silver part on his forearm curiously.

Izuku just grinned, making a show of rolling his shoulders. "Not really. It's a little bit of an adjustment, but I think I can get used to it." As if to prove his point, he raised his left arm high above his head, inadvertently making the silver parts of his outfit gleam in the sunlight.

Ochako still looked a little unsure, humming lightly. "If you say so…"

"Aw, just drop it, Round Face," Katsuki butted in, waving the conversation off dismissively. "Deku's not that dumb. He knows what he's doing."

Izuku blinked, then smile. "Oh! Thanks, Kacchan!"

"...probably."

"...oh. Thanks, Kacchan." Izuku gave his smugly-grinning friend a deadpan look, causing Ochako to let out a small giggle.

"All right, everyone," All Might's voice suddenly boomed, drawing the attention of all. "Gather 'round! Today we start you on the path to becoming true heroes!"

From there, All Might explained the objective: an indoor battle between Heroes and Villains, with the Heroes trying to capture a bomb that the Villains had to defend. It seemed relatively straightforward, and Izuku felt that he had a fairly decent chance of winning for either side, so long as he was allowed to team up with Katsuki or Ochako.

Then All Might announced that the teams would be chosen randomly. And before he could even cross his fingers to be paired with one of his friends…

"To start us off, Team A is: Ochako Uraraka and Katsuki Bakugo!"

...of course.

After that, Izuku was in full-on panic mode, dreading whoever he would get paired with. Nothing against his new classmates… but that was just the thing. He didn't know any of them that well yet. He didn't know how all their Quirks worked, their mindsets, their personalities; he didn't know how well he could work with any of them. Or if they'd even want to work with him.

Plus, there was the complication of his Quirk. All Might had made it very clear that he didn't want Izuku to hold himself back. So, if the situation arose, he might have to fuse with whoever his teammate was. And that thought came with its own set of worries, chief among them making sure that All Might's secret didn't bleed over into their minds the moment they unfused. Luckily, he'd been working on dealing with that.

He remembered the day a few weeks back when, out of the blue, he received an e-mail from All Might, forwarding him a personal message from the Pro hero Mandalay. Once he'd gotten over his fanboying at having one of the Wild, Wild Pussycat's contacting him, he found that she had compiled a list of tips for how to guard his thoughts and form mental blocks. She'd noted that the information mostly came from her experience with villains doing such things to block her own Quirk, Telepath, but she felt confident that it would help him with his 'situation'.

Izuku had yet to ask All Might if Mandalay knew the full extent of his 'situation', but he accepted the information gratefully and started going through the mental exercises she had provided.

Honestly, he was more concerned about how his teammate, heck, how his whole class, would react to Human Fusion. He could already hear the whispers and jeers he might soon be receiving.

So, all he could do was fret and sweat where he stood and wait for his name to be called. He was dimly aware of Katsuki and Ochako standing on either side of him, Ochako eyeing him with concern, while Katsuki just focused on All Might, ignoring that he was practically shoulder-to-shoulder with his panicking friend.

Team B, Shoji and Mineta. Team C, Sato and Koda. Team D, Iida and Todoroki. Team E, Aoyama and Ashido. Team F…

"Izuku Midoriya and Momo Yaoyorozu!"

All the breath in Izuku's lungs fled in an instant, a near silent wheeze passing his lips. He slowly looked through the crowd to find the Creation girl. She was already looking to him, his brows lifted a little in surprise. He swallowed nervously when she gave him a kind smile and a little wave, feeling his face heat up again.

Beside him, Katsuki snorted. "So, think you'll be able to strategize without stuttering?" His chuckling was cut off by a sharp elbow to the side.

Izuku didn't feel too bad about the glare he received.

He did feel his stomach drop once All Might announced the first matchup.

"First up is… Hero Team F verses… Villain Team D!"

It took a moment for Izuku to remember who Team D was. When he did (and his heart restarted), he dimly turned his head until he found the people in question.

Iida, clad in a full suit of intimidating armor that made it completely impossible to tell what he was thinking. And Todoroki, whose expression was so blank and unfeeling he might as well have been wearing a mask himself.

...I'm so dead.

Ten minutes later

Izuku stared up at the 'Villain Headquarters', clenching his hands in fists in the hope to stop their shaking. In just a few minutes, he was going to have to charge into the building and be expected to beat two people in a straight-up fight.

Part of him (a rather loud part that sounded suspiciously like Katsuki) wondered why he felt so nervous. This was the exact kind of thing that they'd been training for since they were kids. To protect people, beat the bad guys and save the day.

The rest of him couldn't help but remember that the only real fight he'd ever been in was against that Sludge Villain… and that he'd been taken down with one hit. If he hadn't have been able to fuse with Katsuki…

"Midoriya? Is something wrong?"

Momo's voice pulled Izuku out of his musings, startling him a little. He smiled nervously up at her, doing his best to look at her face and not her… rather minimal costume. Knowing about her Quirk, he couldn't deny it was a functionable, effective design. It just didn't really help his already limited ability to talk with girls.

"S-Sorry. I guess I'm a little nervous. I've… never really been in a real fight before," He admitted sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

To his relief, Momo merely nodded. "Understandable. Honestly, I'm a little concerned myself. I had expected us to receive some type of training before being put in open combat with each other. But, I suppose UA is known for its unconventional teaching."

Even as he nodded in agreement, Izuku couldn't help but remember the few times he'd caught All Might skimming through a copy of 'The Dummy's Teaching Guide' in the months he'd been training him and Katsuki.

"Still," Momo continued. "I believe we can succeed if we do our best. Don't you?"

Izuku smiled at her confidence, shrugging. "I hope so."

Momo hummed to herself, looking up at the building. "So, how do you think we should go about this?"

After getting over the shock of her actually asking his opinion, Izuku put a hand to his chin, thinking. "I'm not sure. I can think of a few basic plans to search for the bomb, but without knowing the full extent of Iida and Todoroki's Quirks, I don't know how effective they'll be."

Momo nodded. "Well, we can expect Todoroki to try and freeze the whole building." At Izuku's startled look, she explained. "We both got into UA on recommendations, so we took our entrance exams together. From what I saw, he seems to stay mostly stationary and let his ice overwhelm his opponents."

Izuku nodded, going back to his thoughts. "Then he'll likely stay close to the bomb and attack from a distance. Coupled with Iida's speed…"

He muttered lightly under his breath for a minute-or-so, long enough that Momo started giving him an odd look. "Midoriya?"

Izuku blinked, his cheeks tinting a little. "Sorry. Lost myself for a second. But I think I had a few ideas."

Momo's eyes lit up a little, giving Izuku a wide smile. "That's great! But, um, before I forget..."

"Yes?" Izuku asked, wary of Momo's sudden hesitance.

"Sorry, but I just realized…" Momo looked Izuku up and down briefly, unknowingly making the boy blush harder. "Do you need me to make anything for your Quirk? I doubt I'll have time to do so once the battle starts."

To her surprise, Izuku beamed at her. "Oh! Thanks, but you don't have to. I already have that covered."

Momo's brow raised in surprise, her giving the boy another look over. "You do?"

Izuku's grin widened as he tapped his knuckles against the silver stripe running up his chest, Momo just then noticing how it gleamed in the sunlight. "Yep!"

His smile dimmed as a thought struck him, one that he'd been battling against since the teams were announced. As much as he worried (dreaded, feared, was-practically-immobilized-by-thinking) about how Momo would react to it, he really needed to tell her about the full extent of his Quirk, on the not-so-slim chance that they needed to fuse.

Taking a deep breath, he hesitantly looked up into Momo's eyes. "Yaoyorozu?"

Momo blinked at the sudden seriousness in his tone. "Something wrong?"

"Um…" Izuku scratched the side of his head nervously. "Not exactly, but… there's something about my Quirk that you should-"

"All right!"

On the top floor of the building, Team D was having a similar discussion.

"Forgive me, Todoroki, but I see a rather glaring flaw in your plan."

Todoroki looked up at the armored Iida cooly, his face not betraying any emotion. "And what's that?

Idia's expression couldn't be seen behind his helmet, but his tone carried an unmistakable level of uncertainty. "If you freeze the entire building, I will be greatly hampered in my ability to support you. I… have not had the best of experiences running on ice."

Todoroki grunted in acknowledgment, but then just faced forward towards the open doorway at the far end of the room. "Don't worry about it. Once they're caught in my ice, the battle will be over. You won't have to do a thing."

"That's… not quite the point I was getting at." Iida gave Todoroki a long look, trying to tell if the half-iced-over boy was being purposefully dismissive of him or not. "What if-"

"All right!" All Might's voice suddenly boomed throughout the building, making both boys look up. "It's time for the first combat match of the year! Hero Team F vs Villain Team D! Begin!"

Before Iida could say anything more, Todoroki's single visible eye narrowed. The temperature of the room dropped in seconds as ice spread out from around his feet, racing across the floor and up the walls, encasing the fake bomb behind them in a thick cocoon of ice.

As the ice reached the doorway and spread out down the halls, Iida couldn't help but huff slightly under his breath. Now seeing the full extent of Todoroki's power, he couldn't deny the logic behind his teammate's plan. While Midoriya and Yaoyorozu each had impressive Quirks, he found it unlikely that either of them could escape the frozen prison Todoroki was fashioning around them.

It didn't stop him from feeling a bit disappointed, though, despite how unprofessional it was. He'd been hoping to show off his abilities, to prove, in front of All Might no less, that he could match up to his brother.

I supposed I'll just have to wait until next class to prove myself, Iida thought, crossing his arms as he waited for All Might to call the match.

…

…

Nothing happened.

Iida looked around the frozen room, a bit perplexed. "Does it usually take this long to freeze a whole building?"

When he looked to Todoroki, he found the boy looking just as confused. "I finished freezing it thirty seconds ago."

It took another ten seconds of silent staring at each other for them both to fully process what that meant.

"... I don't suppose you thought of a back-up plan?"

Across Ground Beta, All Might and the rest of Class 1-A stood in the viewing room, watching the battle from the numerous monitors filling up one wall.

"Yeesh," Sero said as he looked at the building, encased in several layers of solid ice. "Todoroki's Quirk is on a whole nother level. I'm glad we didn't end up against him."

Tokoyami nodded slowly at the sight. "Indeed. Such overwhelming power casts quite a shadow on the rest of us."

Tsuyu put a finger to her chin as she looked over the screens. "I feel kind of bad for Iida. It'll be hard to run on all that ice."

Mina let out a bright cheer. "It doesn't seem to be slowing the other's down, though. Go, Yaoyorozu!"

Kirishima was cheering right along with her, his massive grin showing off his shark-like teeth. "Look at Midoriya move! Keep going, man!"

As All Might watched Team F move through the facility, he couldn't help but feel a bit of exasperated humor behind his perpetual grin. When Izuku had asked his opinion on his planned hero costume, the Pro had noticed one minor detail that could cause his successor problems. He'd been tempted to point it out, but given that the flaw was merely cosmetic and left his student in no danger, he decided to let Izuku find out his mistake on his own. He was here to learn, after all, and the most effective lessons were learned through experience.

Across the room, Ochako leaned over to whisper to Katsuki. "Did Deku plan on showing that much skin?"

Katsuki snorted loudly, a manic smirk on his lips. "The way his mind works? He probably didn't even think about it."

Ochako looked back at the screen, feeling her cheeks warm a little. "Well, judging from the look on his face, he's definitely thinking about it now."

As the frozen hallways passed by in a blur, Momo couldn't keep the small smile tugging at her lips off her face. The worry she had felt seeing the approaching ice had fled within seconds once she and Izuku started moving. Izuku's solution to the ice had been so simple, she was almost embarrassed she hadn't thought of it herself.

Seriously, how had she not considered making ice-skates?

Years of figure skating lessons were being put to incredible use as she skated up the icy passageways, the only thing slowing her down being the occasional set of stairs. At the rate she was moving, she would find the bomb in no time.

But more impressive to her was the figure keeping pace right behind her. She spared a glance behind herself as she raced down a third-floor corridor, taking in Izuku's less graceful, but more mightful path through the ice.

Whereas Momo skated atop the ice, Izuku just ran right through it, his metal-infused body smashing through the ice like it wasn't even there. It baffled her a bit how simply combining himself with metal allowed him such strength and speed, but she could not argue with the results.

His attitude, on the other hand…

"Midoriya!" She called back to him. "Are you okay?"

"I-I'm fine!" Came the stammering reply. If she already didn't know better, she would assume the cold was making him stutter. "Let's just… keep moving."

Momo giggled lightly as she saw his cheeks warm under all that metal. Honestly! she thought to herself. His costume isn't even that revealing.

She had to say, the idea behind his costume was quite clever. All the silver areas of his suit had been made from metallic fiber, woven together so tight and fine that it gave the appearance of cloth. Tantalum-tungsten alloy, he said it was, one of the strongest metals ever made. The costume contained enough metal that Izuku could fuse it throughout his body, always available to him at a moment's notice.

It was a brilliant idea… in theory. But Momo had a sneaking suspicion that, once Izuku had hit upon the idea, he put all his focus into figuring out the function of the suit and not so much the aesthetics of it. Because once he absorbed all the metal in his costume, what he was left with was… lacking.

The result left him in little more than knee-high shorts and a loose cropped jacket that ended at his elbows, which billowed behind him like a cape as he ran. Frankly, looked to Momo like a green, male version of her own costume, save his boots and gloves.

It did have an appealing contrast against his silvery metal skin, she had to admit. But unlike herself, who had spent quite a lot of time getting over her Quirk's need for exposed skin, Izuku didn't seem to have considered the need for such conditioning, given his visible embarrassment just before the match started.

"All right. If you're sure." Momo grunted slightly as she leapt over a particularly jagged block of ice, hearing it shatter seconds later as Izuku barreled through it. "How long do you think we have until we run into Iida?"

"Not much," Izuku called back. "Once they realize we weren't frozen, Todoroki will likely start melting the ice. Then there'll be nothing to slow Iida down."

Almost as if on cue, a blast of hot air billowed out from the nearby stairwell. Momo skidded to a stop, bracing herself against the resulting wind. Izuku merely stood beside her, unaffected by the rushing air. She and Izuku watched as the ice around them quickly started to melt, leaving a then standing in ankle-deep water as more flooded down from the floors above.

"Well," Momo said as she quickly ripped off her skates, reforming her usual boots. "I think they've realized."

To compound their situation, they could hear the revving of engines echoing from the stairwell, growing louder by the second. Izuku hunkered into a fighting stance, while Momo summoned a bo staff and did the same. They faced the stairwell and waited.

They didn't wait long.

Iida's armored form came flying out of the stairwell feet first, aiming a jump kick right at Izuku's head. Izuku flinched, crossing his arms in front of him, Iida's blow barely making him move.

Undeterred, the engines in Iida's calves lit up as he rocketed a kick towards Momo. She ducked out of the way, swinging her bo staff to block his follow-up kick. Iida pushed off against her swing, backflipping until he was back in front of the stairwell.

Izuku and Momo readied themselves for his next attack.

What they weren't ready for was for Iida to start laughing.

Loudly.

"Haha! As to be expected from a pair of true heroes. But! It matters not! I shall not allow you to interfere in our nefarious plans!"

Momo and Izuku blinked at him in confusion, before glancing at each other.

"... I guess he's really into character?" Momo offered. Izuku shrugged in response, and the two faced forward again.

Iida put his hands on his hips, drawing himself up to his full height. "If you think you stand a chance, then by all means, hit me with your best shot!"

Iida launched himself forward again, engines roaring as he sent another kick towards Momo's head. She ducked out of the way, Iida's boot swiping past her ponytail. In the brief moment when Iida skidded to a stop through the water, she and Izuku locked eyes.

They nodded to each other.

Then Momo lept towards Iida, at the same time Izuku took off running for the stairwell.

Momo dug her bo staff against the floor, using it to propel herself forward for a kick, Iida ducked under her, then twisted his body to throw her further down the hallway. He whirled around, shouting out to the retreating Izuku.

"Nice try, hero, but I will not allow you to advance!"

He bent down to launch himself after Izuku, his engines revving up...

Suddenly, pain.

Iida's entire body shuddered as he was wracked with intense pain from everywhere at once. His muscles locked up, causing him to fall forward. He let out a strangled yell as he crashed to his knees

Just as soon as it had appeared, the pain vanished, making Iida gasp in relief. Gritting his teeth against the intense aching in his muscles, Iida managed to force his head to the side enough to look back. His eyes widened.

There Momo stood, grinning as she held her bo staff just above the water's surface, the end of it split apart to reveal a sparking taser within. When Iida's eyes drifted down to her feet in confusion, Momo cheerfully explained, "Rubber boots!" She then looked up, shouting down the hall. "Keep going, Midoriya!"

Izuku looked behind himself briefly, flashing Momo a nervous grin with a shaky thumbs up, then disappeared into the stairwell.

Iida could only stare in surprise and shock for a moment, before quickly putting a hand to his earpiece. "T-Todo… Todoroki…" He wheezed out, hoping his partner could hear him. "Midoriya… he's..."

"I can handle him." Todoroki's voice was cool and collected, as if he already knew the situation and wasn't concerned in the slightest. "Just take care of Yaoyorozu."

While Iida was a bit miffed at apparently being dismissed, he had no time to voice his complaints. The sloshing of water behind him made him look back, seeing Momo approaching with the capture tape.

Fighting against the sharp stinging still coursing through his body, Iida fired his left engine up to full power, spinning him into a sudden roundhouse kick. Momo leaned back from the blow, blocking it with her bo staff and bring the taser end to bear. Undeterred, Iida then revved his right engine, reversing his momentum and catching the bo staff under his right foot, ripping it out of Momo's grasp. The staff clattered against the wall, it's taser sparking out, before falling into the water below, out of sight.

Momo gasped as her weapon was torn away from her, then yelled as Iida took advantage of her surprise to kick her in her midsection, sending her sprawling to the floor. Momo quickly pushed herself to her feet, finding Iida squaring up for a fight.

"Well, then! As my nefarious cohort has your partner handled, that just leaves me to subdue you, my lady!"

Despite the pain in her ribs, Momo couldn't help but grin at Iida's hokey acting. After focusing for just a moment, her forearms lit up with red light, two steel tonfas bursting from her skin. She caught them, getting into a fighting stance of her own.

"Not if I beat you first, Iida!"

Izuku practically flew up the stairwell and through the fourth floor, his every step producing a heavy impact as he ran. He checked every room he passed in case Todoroki had moved at the same time Iida had. He was ninety-percent sure that the half-hot, half-cold user was on the top floor, given how he and Momo had watched the building freeze from the very top down.

Their plan was simple. Once the Villain team split up, Momo would keep Iida distracted while Izuku hunted down Todoroki. Knowing that the ice user would likely stay close to the bomb and freeze it and himself inside the room, Izuku would simply punch through the ice and, while Todoroki was stunned from the shockwave, leap across the room and touch the bomb, ending the match.

Momo had voiced her concern with whether or not Izuku was strong enough to break through Todoroki's ice. But once they started moving through the building and she saw him just run right through the ice without slowing, she accepted the plan with no issue.

Izuku wasn't too worried, for once. Yes, Todoroki's power was impressive, almost overwhelming. The ease off which he'd completely frozen the building within seconds was intimidating, no doubt. But Izuku had seen All Might's feats of strength a million times, even once seen him shatter a glacier during a natural disaster. He now had that same power inside him, and was ready to he could use it.

As he reached the fifth floor, the sudden drop in temperature told him that his chance had come. Halfway down the hall, one of the open doorways was completely iced over. He approached it slowly, just in case Todoroki had some way of retaliating. When nothing happened, he stood in front of the ice wall, taking it in.

It looked like a solid sheet of ice, trails of steam lifting from its surface as it touched the relatively warmer air. Izuku couldn't see through it, implying that it was likely several feet thick.

Not a problem, Izuku thought as he lowered into his standard punching stance, tensing his legs for the coming run. Taking a deep breath, he pulled his arm back, feeling the now-familiar rush of One For All rushing just below his metallic skin.

"Steel Smash!"

The sharp crack of breaking ice echoed throughout the hallway. Izuku grinned widely as his arm blasted right through the wall of ice…

Then stopped.

Izuku blinked in surprise, his smile fading fast. His eyes darted between his metal arm and the wall of ice, which remained standing with only a small ring of spider web cracks surrounding where his arm pierced through. With a sharp yank, he pulled his arm free of the wall. A quick look showed that he hadn't even reached the other side of it.

"What?" he said softly in confusion. After looking at his arm for a moment, his brow furrowed. Pulling back his other arm, he fired off another punch. "Steel Smash!"

Another impact echoed throughout the hall… but was met with a similar result, just a few cracks showing his efforts.

"Steel Smash!" Bang! "Smash!" Bang! "Smash!" Bang!

Nothing. Izuku's panted as he stepped away from the ice wall, the scattered cracks along its surface mocking him.

It didn't make any sense! He remembered that day on the beach, when he had tapped into One For All for the first time. The overwhelming, awe-inspiring power that let him split the sea with a single punch. He could feel it right now with every punch, it was nearly identical!

...nearly.

Izuku's eyes shot wide, cold dread building in his stomach.

He stared down at his metal arms in disbelief. Clenching his teeth in desperation and denial, he pulled back his arm. He focused on the blazing feeling of One For All coursing through his muscles, putting all his weight into the blow as he screamed.

"SMAAASH!"

With a thunderous blow that shook the building, Izuku's arm crashed through the wall of ice, creating a cracking crater six feet across. Concrete and ice rained down from the ceiling, broken by the meer shockwave of the impact, the floor cracking under Izuku's feet. The concrete walls on either side of the doorway were blasted apart, crumbling to rubble.

But the ice wall still stood.

Izuku pulled his arm back slowly, a feeling of numbness coursing through him that had nothing to do with the cold. He stared at the crater he'd made in mounting horror.

I… I put everything I had into that punch. If I hadn't been fused, I would have broken every bone in my arm. But…

He looked up and down the hall incredulously. The concrete walls in front of him had crumbled away, revealing the layers of ice hidden just behind them. It stretched the entire length of the revealed section, and the part of Izuku that was still coherent bet that it stretched all the way around the room Todoroki was holed up in. Likely the ceiling and floor as well, if he was a smart as Momo said.

Izuku then turned back to the hole he'd made in the ice wall. It sank a few feet into the wall, but didn't seem anywhere close to breaking through to the other side. He'd barely made a dent in it. Just how thick had Todoroki made it…?

Izuku couldn't focus on that question, however. He was slowly realizing just what had happened… and what it meant.

One for All doesn't work right when I'm fused.

He recalled during the entrance exam, how his punches had been far weaker against the test robots then what he knew All Might was capable of. But, he'd just chalked that up to nerves, inexperience. Maybe some instinctual desire not to cause the devastation he knew One for All was capable of. He'd thought… he'd assumed that, when the situation called for it, he'd be able to tap into the greater power within him.

I… I don't get it. Do… I just not have the right mindset? Or… maybe it's a biological thing? Does One For All just not work right with metal muscles? Do I have to be flesh and bone like All Might to use it correctly?

As Izuku tried to understand what he had done wrong, and panicked over the ramifications of what it meant, he didn't notice that the hole he'd made in the ice was quickly starting to fill back in. He was so engrossed with his musings that he didn't realize until a five-foot ice spike nailed him in the chest.

Izuku gasped as the ice shattered against his silvery skin, more from surprise than pain. Still, the force of the blow made him skid back a few inches. He looked back up at the wall, yelping in fear as more ice started shooting out of the ice wall.

He jumped back out of the way of another spike, only to slam to the floor as his feet slipped out from under him. Looking around in confusion, he found that more ice was starting to spread out from the wall, washing across the walls and floor like a wave. Izuku scrambled to his feet. After one look at the incoming ice, he took off running down a random hallway.

Dang it! If I get caught in that ice, I might not be able to break free. Izuku felt his eyes water as he turned a corner, the ice right on his heels. Not that it really matters, because I'm not strong enough to get through that ice wall anyway!

He let out a loud groan, racking his brain as he tried to think of a solution. Unfortunately, there was only one that he thought had even a chance of working.

If she'll even go for it. His reservations were quickly forced down when he caught sight of another wave of ice surging towards him from the front. He ducked into a side hallway, the two ice waves crashing into each other with a thunderous impact. He put his hand to his earpiece. "Yaoyorozu!"

If Momo was asked to sum up her fighting prowess in one word after battling with Iida, that word would definitely be lacking.

Prior to UA, she had been content with her training in basic martial arts and weapon use, expecting that it would give her a decent edge against her fellow students. Her assumption had been that they would all be coming in with from rather equal skill sets in terms of combat, given that they were all civilians.

But in the case of Tenya Iida, she had been never been so monumentally wrong.

Momo knew how to spar.

Iida could fight.

She had never quite understood the difference between the two terms until she found Iida leaping and dodging over her every attack, while somehow knowing exactly how and where to hit her to cause the most damage.

Already her ribs ached from the numerous kicks she'd received, her left arm almost numb from a particularly hard hit that nearly cracked one of her tonfas in half. The fact she was somehow still fighting was something of a miracle to her.

She ducked under another spin kick aimed at her head, barely blocking the following blow with her right arm. Momo took a little satisfaction in that Iida had ceased his 'Villain voice' for the time being, having to put his focus towards fighting in order to keep the upper hand. But there was no escaping the fact that she was tiring, having been on the defensive for nearly the entire fight.

The tipping point finally came when Iida landed a solid blow to her left arm. The kick shattered her tonfa, digging shards of metal into her skin along with the bone-shaking strike. She let out a yelp of pain, before being struck hard in the chest by Iida's follow-up kick, sending her sprawling across the damp ground, all the water from before having drained away to the floors below.

As she pushed herself up to her elbows, Iida straightened out of his fighting stance. "Well," he said, a little out of breath. "It was an impressive bout, Hero… but in the end, the forces of evil have won out!"

Momo took ragged breaths as she tried to force down the pain. She felt a shot of dread run through her when she saw Iida pull out his capture tape.

No! I can't be stopped now!

Gritting her teeth, she tried to push herself to her feet…

"Yaoyorozu!"

A small gasp escaped her as Midoriya's voice yelled through her earpiece, sounding panicked. She glanced up at Iida as he approached. An idea hit her. She focused.

When Iida was nearly at her, a few light clatters sounded through the hall, like something metal hitting the ground. He looked down, finding two small round canisters just in front of Momo, the girl's eyes clenched shut.

"Wha-?"

A blinding light went off right in front of him, making Iida yell out in surprise. He stumbled back, pressing his gloved hands to his face. Once he'd finally blinked the stars out of his eyes, he found Momo nowhere to be seen, her flashbangs still smoking at his feet.

"Hmm…" He looked up and down the hall, trying to gauge which way she might have gone. "Clever." Making a decision, he fired up his engines and tore off down the hall.

From the opposite end of the hallway, Momo slowly peaked around the corner. She waited until Iida's engines faded into the distance, before letting out a sigh of relief. She placed a hand to her earpiece. "Midoriya?"

"Yaoyorozu!" The relief in Izuku's voice was overwhelmed by the desperation it held. "Yaoyorozu, I couldn't get to Todoroki. I… I'm not strong enough."

Momo winced, both at what he was saying and the utter despair in his voice. "I… understand. Iida's too powerful for me as well. I…" She sighed deeply, her shoulders slumping. "I don't know what to do."

The line was silent for a moment, broken only by Izuku's tired panting and the ominous creaking of approaching ice.

"I… I think I do." Izuku eventually admitted, hesitancy plain. "It… it's kind of my last resort, but… there's something I can do with my Quirk that I think we can use to win."

Momo perked up in an instant, feeling a spark of hope bloom in her chest. "Really? What?"

"I could fuse with you."

Momo's eyes widened. She rapidly blinked a few times, before furrowing her brow incredulously. "Ex...Excuse me?"

Izuku let out a noise that sounded suspiciously like a whimper. "My Quirk doesn't just let me fuse with objects. I can fuse with people too. And my Fusions are always way more powerful than me and whoever I fuse with. I'm not strong enough to get to Todoroki, but I bet… I know our Fusion would be."

Momo opened her mouth to… well, she wasn't quite sure what. Get more information? Call him crazy? Ask why he hadn't told her about this before?

"Midoriya…" She said slowly, hesitating. "I-"

"I know!" Izuku cut her off with a high shout, bringing her up short. There was… pain in his voice that hadn't been there before. "I know it's really weird and creepy and I completely understand if you won't even consider it, but-gah!" The sharp ringing sound of cracking ice drowned out Izuku's voice for a moment before he spoke again, breathless. "I can't get through Todoroki's ice and he's starting to freeze over the building again." He took a shuddering breath, and Momo couldn't tell if it was from exhaustion or desperation. "I've tried everything else. This is all I have left."

Momo fell silent as she absorbed his words, her eyes darting back and forth across the ground and she tried to grasp what Izuku was asking. Fusing together… into a single person? Is that even possible?

"You've… done this before?" She eventually asked, hesitance clear in her voice.

"Huh? Oh, yeah!" Izuku's answer was quick, almost distracted, as he likely kept dodging Todoroki's onslaught. "Loads of times with my friend Kacchan, er, Katsuki. And a few times with Ochako too!"

Momo's mind went to Izuku's two friends, the explosive blonde and cheerful gravity-defier. They both seemed like okay people, if a little irritable on Katsuki's part. Still…

"And… it's safe?"

"What? *Ugh!* Y-Yeah, it's safe. Nothing's ever gone wrong before, at least!"

...not perfectly encouraging, but better than outright agreement. Momo gripped her sore arm tightly, mulling over her options. Finally, aware of the dwindling time in the match and despite all her doubts, it all came down to just one question.

"Midoriya…" She swallowed down her nerves and sudden awkwardness. "If we… fuse… do you really think we could win?"

Her earpiece buzzed with static for a moment, intercut with the sounds of desperate dodging and cracking ice. When Izuku finally answered, his tone was both tired and firm.

"Honestly, Yaoyorozu? Right now… I think it's the only way we can win."

Momo swallowed nervously. Frankly, she had no idea how to feel about what Izuku was proposing. But, she had to face the facts. She could think of no real way to incapacitate Iida. He was just too fast and too strong. And even if she did, there was nothing she could do against Todoroki. Any idea she had for getting through his ice would take too much time, time the ice user would use to freeze both her and Izuku. They were going to lose, unless…

Taking a deep breath, Momo steeled herself. "What do you need me to do?"

There was a beat of dead silence from the other end, before Izuku's voice came back, breathless but strong. "Do you think you can make it to the ground floor?"

Momo blinked, as she knew Izuku was on the upper floors, but chose not to question him. She peeked around the corner again. She knew that the stairwell was just around the far end of the hall, but she could still hear the sound of revving engines going up and down the halls near it. "Iida's guarding the stairs. I don't know if I can get past him."

"What about the windows?"

She looked around. She could see light farther down the hallway, away from the stairs. With one last glance behind her, she took off running. She found a wall of glassless windows just around the corner, facing the street below. "I'm there."

"Can you make it to the ground?"

Momo looked around briefly, judging the distance between each window. With a nod, she unbuckled the front of her jacket, focusing on her Quirk on creating a spool of rappelling rope. "I think so," She said as she started securing the rope between two windows.

"Great! I'll meet you down there in… oh, shoot!" Izuku's voice cut off in a sharp burst of static, making Momo wince.

"Midoriya? Midoriya, what happened?" When all she received only more static, all Momo could do was take a nervous breath, slipping on the harness she had created. Fastening the rope to her harness, she crawled out onto the windowsill.

"There you are!"

Momo looked up sharply. Iida stood posed at the end of the hallway, the lenses of his helmet gleaming in the sunlight. His engines fired as he ran forward, arm outstretched.

Letting out a surprised squeak, Momo lept backward out of his grasp and into the open air. Iida's arm missed her by mere inches as she quickly scaled down the side of the building, heart hammering in her chest.

"Darn it!" Iida growled, smacking the window frame in frustration.

Momo's feet hit the ground within seconds. "Midoriya!" She called into her earpiece as she pulled herself out of her rappelling harness. "I'm outside. Where-?"

Crash!

Momo and Iida both looked up in shock as part of the building's top floor suddenly exploded outwards. Something small and silvery hurtled out of the debris, followed by a wave of ice that reached out towards it, before quickly folded back over the hole and outside wall.

As the glinting object neared the ground, the two students soon realized what it was once they heard it screaming.

"AAAhhh!" Izuku yelled in fright as he flailed through the air, rushing towards the ground at high speed.

"Midoriya!" Momo called out in fright. Even Iida watched him fall with open eyes, bracing his arms against the window sill as if to jump out after the falling metal-man.

Before either could do anything, Izuku crashed into the middle of the street headfirst, sending up a plume of dirt and debris that hid him from view.

Momo gasped, covering her mouth with both hands before rushing forwards. "Midoriya!" She ran through the cloud of debris, finding that Izuku's impact had created a small crater in the street. Miraculously, she found the boy already pushing himself up to his knees, looking none the worse for wear save for him holding a hand to his head. He looked up as she approached.

"What do you need me to-"

Her breath caught in her throat when Izuku suddenly thrust his metal arm forward, holding his hand out to her, panic clear on his face. "Just trust me."

Momo froze, realizing from Izuku's earlier words what he was asking. Her mouth parted slightly, a question on her lips, but… then she caught the look in his eyes. Fear, worry, desperation. But also… resolve.

Swallowing down the last of her nerves, Momo gently reached forward, a nervous smile on her lips. "Ok."

For a brief moment, Izuku looked completely shocked by her acception. Then he smiled brightly, his grin larger then any she'd seen from him before. He leaned forward, meeting her half-way.

The two grasped hands.

And disappeared in a flash of green light.

A/n: I really wanted this to be all one chapter, but I decided to split it into two after I passed the ten-thousand-word mark. Plus, Izuku's first public Fusion kind of deserves its own chapter, doesn't it? Expect the next chapter in a couple of days.

Some kind soul actually went out of their way to make a TV Tropes page for this story. To whoever you are, thank you so much. It completely made my day when I stumbled across that.

If you need help visualizing Izuku's costume, just look up the suit he used in the actual episode. Its nearly the same, except that the point where he has those black arm and kneepads is instead where the metal parts of his costume start, running all the way down to his gloves and boots, plus the band around his waist and running up his chest. When he uses his Quirk, the metal bits are absorbed into his skin, leaving him with just the shorts and open-jacket combo.

See you all very soon!