Shoto
The day of the recommendation exam came soon enough. I tuned out my father's requisite posturing and just barely manage to suppress an eye roll when he tells me "don't you dare embarrass me" for the umpteenth time.
The testing center has several students milling around already. I don't see Izuku yet, he said he'd be here though.
"You're just like him!" Some shouts right next my ear startling me.
"I'm sorry?" I tell him, not sure why he's suddenly yelling at me. "I was looking for someone."
He scowls doesn't bother answering, and stalks off.
Ok then. No idea what that was about.
A few minutes later, Eraserhead comes out of a side door with Izuku following behind him looking rather annoyed. Which… does not bode well for the rest of us.
"Were going to start now." He announces, the sparse conversation dying out completely. "The exam will be a simulation of a villain attack. Through the doors behind me is a mock city, my intern" he claps a hand on Izuku's shoulder and Izuku gives us a beaming smile that makes my stomach drop. "Will be acting as the villain."
I can hear muffled scoffs from behind me. Obviously, underestimating Izuku. Where I am seriously contemplating just saying screw it and leaving. Because, facing Endeavor will probably be less painful then facing Izuku when his smile is promising bloody retribution.
I softly groan when Izuku pins me with a stubble glare, clearly knowing what I'm thinking and daring me to go through with it. The girl beside me gives me an odd look. But I'm too busy trying to figure out how not to die to care.
"Izuku will have 10 minutes to prepare, then you'll be let in the city. You will have an hour to catch him with the capture tape we will be distributing."
He nods to Izuku who glares at Erasurehead as he enters the city. "Your 10 minutes start now."
"You know him?" the girl from besides me asks, curious at my previous reaction.
"Yea. And whoever made this test was feeling particularly sadistic. Izuku in a good mood is a pain to fight. In a bad mood..." I wince. "We'll be lucky if it's not a massacre."
"He looked to be in a good mood though?"
I choke on a laugh. "Yeah you'd think so, but that was his if I have to suffer, I'm dragging all of you down with me smile."
"Which means?"
"We're screwed. I only hope the teachers told him to go easy on us."
"Maybe it won't be that bad?" She tries to be optimistic, but it falls flat. I give her a pitying look, she'll learn. Just like everyone else here who is underestimating him because he plays the I'm just so innocent I couldn't hurt a fly card a little too well.
"It will be. If you don't mind, we could work together? We'd a least have a better chance."
"I'd like that. I'm Yaoyorazu Momo, my quirk is creation, I can make anything I know the composition of from my fat cells." She extends her hand.
"Todoroki Shoto. Half-hot, half cold. I make fire on my left side and ice on my right." I shake it. "Let's do our best not to die."
"What can you tell me about him?"
I glance at the clock; we don't have much time. Maybe 5 minutes before we begin. Barely enough time to give a brief overview. I give her a quick run down of Izuku's abilities and what handicaps he may be working with. "I highly doubt they'd let him use that knock out technique or his long-range capabilities, which are horrifyingly destructive. So, he'll likely be limited to short-ranged augmented by his flames and his intuition. I wouldn't recommend engaging him in hand to hand if you can help it. I have years of training, and I've never won against him."
"Then what do you suggest?" Finally starting to get the picture that Izuku is a well-rounded powerhouse on par with the pros.
"Try to stay on support. Create openings for the others to get hits in. The best way to fight Izuku is to not fight him at all. He picks on threats directed at himself and reacts faster to them than if he were to get hit by a stray attack that wasn't aimed at him at all..."
"And with all these people, there will be a lot of big attacks flying around." Her eyes widen in realization.
I nod, it's likely none of these people have worked together I a group. They'll be constantly getting in each other's way, simply because they don't know how not to. "Instead of getting caught up in that mess, our focus should be trying to corner him so someone else can capture him."
"Times up." Erasurehead announces. "I hoped you used your time wisely."
When I take the capture tape and walk through the door into the city, I try to ignore the feeling like I'm marching to my death.
I fail.
Aizawa
"So," Nedzu asks standing beside me in the observation room. Only a few of the teachers are overseeing this exam. Vlad, Present Mic and All Might, addition to myself and the principal. It had come as a great shock that this sickly man was actually the number 1 hero "out of curiosity, how did you get him to agree?"
"I don't know how, and I can't prove it, but he definitely has a hand in the disaster going on in Endeavor's agency."
"Ah yes. I heard about that." From the humor leaking into his voice, he's done more than just heard about it. "Apparently, Endeavor's office was… redecorated several times last week."
I snort, that's one way to describe it I guess. "It's apparently been going on for months. It's just recently escalated to the point it can't be suppressed anymore."
"Did you ever figure out who was doing it?"
"No, Izuku was annoyingly tight lipped about it." Which could mean a variety of things, but in this case probably means the person is involved in some less than legal activities.
"I'm sure we'll end up meeting them at some point."
"I'm somewhat dreading it." Because I don't doubt we will. And because it's Izuku we'll probably meet in the most problematic and destructive way possible.
"Erasurehead!" Present Mic slings an arm around my shoulders.
"Get off." I scowl and shove him off, he laughs good naturedly.
"You roped your favorite problem child into giving the test? You sure are feeling mean." He teases.
"You know him?" Vlad asks, curious. "I know he's your intern Erasurehead, but isn't he the same age as the others?"
"He is." Nedzu answers "But it wouldn't be fair to the other applicants if he took the same exam. He's far above them in ability."
Vlad watches the monitors skeptically. There's not much going on right now, a few of the robots Izuku was given control of are causing some havoc but haven't actually hit anyone yet. The monitor focused on Izuku, shows him lying on the roof of the tallest building one leg crossed over the other bouncing, while he messes with the tablet showing the schematics of the city and the robot's controls.
"What do you think he's planning?" Present Mic asks.
"He probably going to try to take them out all at once. He doesn't like long drawn out battles." I respond.
"But he's not even doing anything!" Vlad argues, gesturing to the screen.
"I wouldn't underestimate him." Nedzu warns. "His favorite thing is when people underestimate him."
"Which is what the majority of them are doing." All Might comments for the first time. "They'll end up paying for it. It's subtle, but young Midoriya is slowly drawing them to his location, while simultaneously wearing them down. By the time they get there, they'll be tired, frustrated and unwilling to work with each other. So far I've only seen 2 people work together."
"Todoroki Shoto and Yaororazu Momo correct? I'm a bit surprised Todoroki was willing to work with someone considering…" Vlad trails off, but we all know he means Todoroki's relation to Endeavor.
"It's not when you realize him and Izuku are friends, and he's well aware how much of a terror Izuku can be."
"If you say so." He acquits shrugging, still not entirely believing it. It's pointless to argue with him, he'll see it for himself eventually. And words really don't do Izuku justice.
Slowly but surely the applicants are funneled into the plaza below the building Izuku's on. The robots repositioning to prevent them from escaping. 15 minutes before the end of the exam, Izuku makes his move.
He leaves the tablet on the roof and takes a running leap off the 20-story building, letting out a burst of flame from his hands just before he hits the ground. Without waiting for the others to recover from the shock, he launches himself at the closest person to him and knocks him out with a brutal uppercut to the chin.
Without a pause he moves on to the next person, who is able to at least get his guard up, not that really does them any good. He jumps up, higher than a normal person should be able to and aims a kick that lands squarely on the side of the kid's head. He drops and Izuku moves on to his next victim.
The others have finally recovered but are completely uncoordinated and are getting in each other's way. There's tall boy with a wind quirk that keeps getting led into hitting other people with his quirk rather than Izuku. The others are starting to get very vocal with what they think of that.
Izuku, on the other hand is laughing freely, as he knocks out person after person. Flitting across the battlefield like he truly belongs there.
The sad, and somewhat expected thing is, not one person has been able to even touch him.
Not one.
In this mess I try to find Todoroki, he'll have the best bet in capturing Izuku. I finally find him, lurking on the outskirts with Yaoyorazu to avoid getting caught up in the cross hairs. Yaoyorazu's quirk isn't suited for this type of melee, any long range weapon she makes would just result in friendly fire and few can match Izuku in close range, so it seems she's helping direct where Todoroki should throw his ice or fire to protect other students and attempt to corner Izuku into one of the other applicants. She also uses a riot shield she made in order to block any stray attacks that come their way, freeing up Todoroki to focus more on offense.
It's not the large overwhelming shows of power Endeavor is known for either, each attack is small and precise. He's actually gotten close a few times, but Izuku manages to slip away in the nick of time.
It comes down to the last minute when Izuku finally makes a 'mistake'. When he goes to dodge another burst of wind coming straight for him, his foot slips on a patch of ice left over from one of Todoroki's previous attacks. Allowing just enough time for someone to slip the capture tape around his wrist. The buzzer goes off, signaling the end of the exam. Izuku knew it was there, his situational awareness isn't something you can laugh at.
"He let them win." All Might comments, likely catching the same thing.
"He did, I asked him to lose." Nedzu confirms. "If I allowed him to go all out, it would have been a complete massacre which would have put off these children from becoming heroes."
"Surely, you can't…" Vlad starts but cuts himself off when he observes the aftermath of Izuku going easy. Of the 40 students taking the exam, Izuku directly knocked out half, and injured the rest either with his own attacks or by leading them into the path of another.
Izuku alone, stands uninjured in the middle of unconscious and moaning bodies. Completely unaffected by the battle that had just taken place. His eyes are still slightly glowing orange, and the flames covering his hands haven't been extinguished yet.
"Midoriya Izuku, is a prodigy the likes I've never seen." Nedzu praises, proudly puffing out his chest.
He's right, no one can deny it. But somehow… I don't think prodigy is the right word.