Chapter Nine: Technology vs. Quirk

"Don't want to."

"Please," Izuku said. "It's my only chance."

"I have my own stuff to do," Mei said, inspecting her attachment bars. "Like how I'm going to remain upright without this thing snapping my spine in two. Hand me the torque adapter, will you? I'm in the tournament, too, in case you forgot. I don't have time to design a weapon for your petty problems."

"Petty? The head bolt's loose, by the way."

"It's a just a tournament, Izuku," Mei said with an exasperated sigh. Grunting, she tightened up the bolt. "Who cares if you win some dumb tournament? The companies – now those are guys you need to impress. If I get their attention, I'll secure enough funding for the rest of my life, and my babies will spread throughout the world!"

"If I beat Todoroki, that'll be great advertisement."

"If you beat Todoroki, and that's not very likely even with my excellent engineering capabilities. How does it look?"

"Looks fine," Izuku said as Mei protracted and retracted the steel bars. "You're my only chance, Mei. Without you, Todoroki will destroy me."

"Aren't you getting ahead of yourself? You still need to beat Shinso."

"I don't think that'll be much trouble."

Mei inspected the blueprint, which he had hastily scribbled in his notebook. "This thing looks pretty complicated. We don't have much time."

"Most of it's already built," Izuku said excitedly. "It's just a matter of assembling the parts. For the generator, we can use that fusion core left over from that robot you built (and destroyed). The coils we can get from that heating system you designed (and destroyed). The gloves are all we have to build by hand, and we just need to modify those power gauntlets you made (and destroyed). If we work together, we can finish just in time."

"Well, I won't say no to a good challenge," Mei said, cracking her knuckles. "And when you beat Todoroki, you better damn tell everyone you did it with my products."


Beating Todoroki! How easy it seemed when he spoke with Mei, how easy it seemed when he drew up his plans. Beating Todoroki! It was only after you faced him on the battlefield, after you saw him display the full might of his power – a sheet of ice that exploded out of the stadium like a river flash-frozen in flight – that you realized how impossible it was.

"This next match is a battle of geniuses! Izuku Midoriya, the student who broke the record at the UA entrance exam, against the best of the best, the strongest of the strong, the son of Endeavor – Shoto Todoroki! And what's this? Izuku seems to be wearing something! What does he have in store?"

The announcer was playing him up – nobody seriously expected him to beat Todoroki. Nobody expected anyone to beat Todoroki. Carefully, Izuku adjusted his gloves, stretching out the coils that connected to the generator on his back. The thing had worked in the few trials he had managed to fit in with Mei, but the fuel consumption had been far higher than expected. It also weighed thirty pounds. Being out-of-breath before the fight even began was never a good sign.

"Don't disappoint me," Todoroki said.

"Start!"

The ice blossomed from nothing. The battlefield sat hushed in expectation, and then the battlefield vanished beneath a sky of white. Izuku barely had time to hold up his gloves before the ice overtook him, spreading out behind him like a tidal wave breaking against the rocks. The air was cold. He shivered. And yet the air in front of him shimmered from heat. A gaping hole in the ice lead back to Todoroki, who looked straight back with shock – the first emotion Izuku had ever seen on his face.

The gloves worked, at least, though the heat was almost unbearable. His hands felt like they were inside an oven.

He raced forward. The gloves only emitted heat to a few feet. His ranged options were limited. If Todoroki kept his distance, it would be impossible to win. He wished he could use the binding cloth, but the gloves made fine manipulation difficult. Todoroki fired off several more blasts that Izuku easily melted. Izuku swung his fist. The extra weight unbalanced him, and his punch went wide. Dancing behind him, Todoroki delivered a sharp jab to his flank that sent him sprawling. Instantly, a sheet of ice hardened over the bruise. Todoroki arched his arm back for another ice blast, leapt back just in time as the grenade at his feet exploded. The smell of smoke and char. Picking himself up, Izuku faced Todoroki once more.

"You're prepared," Todoroki said.

"Your ice is powerful. Trying to break it physically would be like trying to break concrete. But melting it? That's a whole another story."

No trace of Todoroki's surprise remained. Like Bakugou, Todoroki's Quirk was not the most dangerous part of him. He lacked Bakugou's brute cunning, but he more than made up for it with composure and judgement. Already he was keeping his distance. Izuku raced forward once more, tossing out two grenades – one regular, one flashbang. Todoroki froze both instantly. Izuku tossed out more grenades, not even bothering to prime them, each one dropping out of the air like diamonds. But they had slowed down Todoroki enough. Izuku swung, and this time adjusted for the extra weight. The punch connected with Todoroki's shoulder. He gave a cry of pain as the metal scorched his flesh, a black ring of char sprouting around the wound. Reflexively, his other hand shot out another ice wave, but this was easily melted. Izuku's second punch sank into his stomach. Gasping, Todoroki sank to the floor. He gave off the smell of cooked meat.

He raised his head, and the hatred in those eyes froze Izuku more surely than any ice. No, not hatred. Fear. Panic. Something wasn't right, Izuku realized.

And then he saw the scar.

He had seen the scar many times, of course. The other students, too, were doubtlessly curious, but asking about Todoroki's scar was like asking a rabid dog about its teeth. The scar covered the upper left part of his face, a red, shriveled patch that swallowed his entire eye before merging with his scalp at the hairline. Its appearance left no room for what it was.

Todoroki had been burned.

"Stay away!"

The hailstorm came haphazardly. It swallowed the battlefield, cloaking the air in a shroud of chill mist – a pointless, extravagant waste of power. Why destroy a battlefield when your opponent was right in front of you? A thin layer of frost coated Todoroki's skin. The wounds at his shoulder and abdomen wetly glistened. He had also begun to shiver. Izuku advanced. Todoroki backed away, his eyes as wide as a pig's on slaughtering-day, and Izuku could smell the dirty, animal panic that came off him in waves. Todoroki barely seemed awake, throwing wild, fumbling ice blasts at imaginary enemies.

Save Todoroki's cries, the stadium was silent. The crowd rippled uneasily. Even the announcer trailed off into nothing.

The fight was over. Defeating Todoroki now would be as simple as grounding an ant beneath his heel.

"So this is all you are," Izuku said. "A fraud who'll live in his father's shadow his entire life."

Was this how a hero wins? Dredging up past trauma? Picking on someone weaker than he was, who knew pain as he had known it, weakness as he had known it? Even the strongest, it seemed, bore their own terrors.

"You were born with every advantage," Izuku continued. "I don't know what happened in your childhood, and I won't trivialize whatever happened. There is one thing we both understand. I am winning. You are losing."

Todoroki stared at him in a daze.

"You probably think it's pride that holds you back from using your left side. You made a vow to yourself – you'll rise to the top without using your flames. You think it's noblethat you're angering your father, refusing to do what he wants. All I see are chains. Not even the lowliest hero will be satisfied at achieving only half his potential. There are kids in the world without Quirks, and you think you can ignoreyours? Are you proud right now? Do you feel noble? You're losing to a nobody. And you'll continue to lose – to me, to others, to villains. And one day you'll lose for the final time, and as you lay dying you'll realize why. What you are now is not strong. You are not a hero upholding some sacred promise. You're a weak, worthless joke of a hero shivering in a cage of his own creation.

"To win, you must break free."

The heat of the spring sun melted away the frost and fog. The water clung to Izuku's clothes. Silence filled the stadium.

"Thank you," Todoroki said. "And sorry."

The blast of fire caught Izuku in the chest. He had seen it coming, but the speed of it was impossible. It was like getting hit with a little piece of an eruption. Pain coursed through him, so intense it whited out all other sensations. He found himself lying on the dirt. He took a breath, and it was like someone had set fire to his lungs all over again. The generator on his back gave a hiss of steam; it had overheated. There wasn't much fuel left anyway.

Todoroki stood over him, wreathed in a halo of flame.

With the last of his strength, Izuku tapped the dirt.

"I surrender."

The world turned black.