My Iron Giant

-Something Comforting-


"YOU!"

*WACK*

"ABSOLUTE!"

*SMACK*

"IDIOT OF A MAN!"

*CRACK*

Recovery Girl's cane finally broke from abusing the shrunken form of All Might. They stood with a few other teachers in her private emergency wing of the school that was used for surgery. In a bed with several machines pumping away was Izuku Midoriya who looked like he was struggling with each puff of air. Off to the side was Monoma, who was resting in a bed of his own with nothing but a pillow and blanket to keep him comfortable.

Yagi kept his head hung, not even daring to say anything against the woman. Recovery Girl stormed over and grabbed a chart from next to Midoriya and came back. "Every single wire, cable, hose that was connected to him was directly a part of his vital organs, AND YOU JUST RIP IT APART! If I didn't know you I would have accused you of trying to kill him."

Nezu stepped in between the two before there was another attempt on the number one hero's life. "How likely is it that Midoriya will recover?"

Recovery handed him the clipboard. "He's lucky to even be alive, but full recovery is way beyond his reach. With the one piece of machinery connected at the back of his head, it was attached to his senses, motor functions, and his nerves. When it was cut it nearly fried everything in him. It would be a miracle if he even woke up, but then he'd have to live with being paralyzed and stuck relying on a respirator."

Nezu nodded, his typical smile gone. "And Monoma?"

The topic let Recovery Girl sigh in relief. "He's much better. Whatever was attached to him removed themselves when he was ejected. While they left some bits behind all he'd have to worry about is a metal detector going off."

She went over to the sleeping blond and grabbed some images that laid next to him. It showed three ports attached to the bottom of his ribs and the back of his neck resting above his shoulders. Several small tubes and wires ran through his system, but they hardly seemed to disturb his organs.

"Have we informed their families yet?" Snipe asked.

Nezu shook his head. "Not yet, we wanted to see what we could do for them before making a choice on the matter. For Monoma's case we will need to ask what he saw from all of this and what he was thinking moments leading up to using Midoriya's quirk. For Midoriya, we will need to keep quiet about this and send someone in person to retrieve his mother. I don't need to remind everyone what the media would think if we allowed the most anticipated future hero to be crippled for life in his first training exercise."

After his instructions, the others left. Now only Nezu, All Might, and Recovery Girl remained in the room with the two unconscious students. Yagi finally spoke, despite the potential to be smacked again for even moving.

"What will we tell young Uraraka?"

The sentient mammal sighed, putting his paws behind his back. "As much as I hate to let her see Midoriya like this, this directly concerns her. She should be brought to his side very soon."

Hearing someone question her medical expertise again Recovery Girl started to pull out another cane. "Care to explain why we should break his quarantine?"

The Principal held his paws in the air. "I mean no offense, I'm sure with anyone else these injuries would be crippling for life."

"But not for Midoirya?" She skeptically asked.

The Principal nodded. "His quirk, if we can still call it that, has continued to adapt and change over time against what we believed to be presently possible. Who knows what he could be doing a week from now, especially with the one person who it follows and serves."

With a decent excuse to not be beaten, Recovery Girl accepted his logic. A stirring blond made them look over to Monoma. Seeing as how they couldn't talk about private information with him waking up they moved to the next step.

"Yagi?" Nezu asked. "When he's feeling well enough please bring Monoma to my office."


The void, the ever expanding darkness, it was terrifying for anyone to imagine that's what awaited them after death. But Nana Shimura was no stranger to death, this place was familiar to her.

And she wasn't alone.

"Nana, welcome back." A thin man with white shaggy hair greeted. His voice was bland with a hint of curiosity.

"Yeah, I'd say it's good to be back but I'm not sure if it is." She replied. Looking around she didn't see anyone else. "Where are the others?"

The man shrugged. "Not too sure, after you managed to get out to the real world the others have been trying to find out how you did it. What happened out there?"

Nana visibly shrunk, clearly distraught thinking about it. "I messed up, bad. I got a chance to interact with the world with Midoriya, and I got selfish. The last I remember was Toshi trying to rip Midoriya out of this giant robot his quirk made."

A shiver went through her, remembering the pain, to be disconnected from reality by force. Honestly it was probably the second worse experience she ever had besides actually dying. "What could everyone else see?"

The only other company she had grumbled to himself. He always took things pretty seriously, but he was gentle about it. Similar to an understanding father trying to teach his children a lesson. "We could feel certain things when you or Midoriya used One for All, and whenever he was awake we could see clearly, but we were still in the dark a lot of the time."

She winced, hearing what he had confirmed. "So, you saw when-"

"When Nine went mute? Yeah, we saw, but you didn't do that to him."

Nana's mind slammed to a halt. "Wait, how do you know?"

"Because we felt Midoriya activated One for All, or, used it to do whatever the robot part of him does. Right after that he couldn't talk." He finished somberly.

She..didn't make him mute? If that was the case then it was Izuku who didn't want to be heard. It relieved some of the guilt, but there was enough still left over from kicking Mirio out and shutting Izuku out. He must have thought she didn't want to hear him anymore.

"If it's any consolation, you didn't seem too much like yourself out there." The albino man said, bringing her back to the surface from her mind.

"What do you mean?" She asked, disturbed as to what his words meant.

"How do I put it? You seemed like there was a filter over you, or maybe a funnel directing your personality to wherever it faced? Either way, your priorities weren't entirely the same."

She tried thinking back to what mattered to her when she was out there. Obviously keeping Izuku safe, doing what she could to help him, but wasn't that what she normally would do? "I'm sorry, I'm a little lost."

He waved his hand. "No worries, I think the best way to explain it is when you were fighting with Midoirya. Did you ever once think that the person you were attacking wasn't really a threat?"

Remembering back, there was the Bakugo kid. He clearly was out for blood, but did he really pose a threat? She doubted he could have damaged them, so restraining should have been easy with a palm over him. Then why didn't she think of that? Same with the new robot, sure he was a bigger challenge than Bakugo, but he was so inexperienced and predictable.

She kept going for the options to eliminate the threat, not detain like any normal villain she faced.

"You think.." She paused, horrified about what happened. "Izuku's quirk used me as a tool to do what it prioritized?"

"I don't know if we can call it a quirk anymore." He said a little more seriously, almost gravely. "One for All works similarly to my brother's quirk. It not only stock piles that person's individual strength but it assimilates the user's quirk to better combine the power. This isn't the case, this time One for All is being assimilated to the user."

Nana was startled by what he notioned, but it was making too much sense. After all the generations of quirks all of them had seen, none of them ever saw something so mechanical based and completely overrule any decision One for All made. It was true, One for All seemed to just be an interchangeable battery to this thing. They could make suggestions, and it could use the energy provided to complete the task.

That begs the question, just what was a part of Izuku?

"That's it! I give up!" A taller man with a bald head and goggles over his eyes materialized. He was fuming, stomping around until he set his eyes on the two.

"Oh, you're back."

She gave him a little wave. "Hey, I was told you were trying to find a way out?"

He sighed and plopped down on the floor. "Yeah, but we haven't found anything. We tried to follow the way you left but something was stopping us. This whole thing is ridiculous."

"So, who's the runt you brought?"

"Runt?" The albino asked. Him and Nana turned to see where their comrade pointed. In the darkness a smaller figure stood, overcome with shadows and lines of energy circulating within him. He stood there, unmoving and unresponsive. But the hair on top of his head was familiar to a certain dead woman.

"Kid?"


Monoma had never felt so...powerless before. Yes, he wrecked several buildings, yes he had the strength to fight one on one with a giant robot, yes if it was almost anyone else he would have easily one.

But he wasn't in control, and that's what scared him. Something overpowered his mind and used him to do what he last thought to do. The Principal had been very serious with him, he nearly lost his chance to be a hero if he did any of that on purpose. Every time he tried to remember what happened it was..murky.

He wished he could just put it behind himself, to never touch Midoriya again and be done with it. But it was still there, he felt it, that damn quirk was still in him waiting to be used again. It felt empty this time, hopefully that meant he wouldn't randomly change if he got a little more determined than usual.

Walking back to the dorm building, he kept running the scenario over and over in his mind. All this could have been avoided if he just thought a little differently, wanted to simply capture the other students, or defend the bomb, anything but beat the other team. Was that who he was? Someone who just wanted to beat the other person to win?

That….didn't sound very heroic. If he ever thought like that again and that quirk activated, it could be devastating.

"Hey."

Oh, he's been standing outside the dorms for a while hasn't he. Kendo was looking right at him, but what was with that face? Concern? Anger? Disappointment? He hasn't said anything yet has he?

"Hello Kendo." He tried greeting back, but he didn't have the heart in it. Too many thoughts lingered in him.

Whatever that strange look was vanished from Kendo, and only concern remained. "Wow, that didn't sound like the usual you. You doing ok?"

"And what do I usually sound like?" Monoma went to rub the back of his neck, reminded of the stupid metal bit inside him.

"Do you want the easy answer, or the harder one?"

Monoma sighed, this was getting nowhere. "Whichever one is more accurate."

Kendo shuffled on her feet, probably rethinking how she expected this conversation to play out. Finally she gave in and complied with his request. "Well, you always seemed to be cocky, stubborn, and belittled whoever you were talking about in every sentence."

Was he really that bad? "Thank you for your honesty. I've got a lot to think about so if you don't mind I'll just be heading to my room."

He went to open the door but Kendo's strong grip halted him. "Wait, before you go in just know there's a lot of unhappy people in there."

"And they shouldn't be happy, I nearly killed all of them with ease...was that accurate or was that me being cocky again?"

She chuckled. "At least you're now seeing it. Look, I don't exactly know what happened with you, but I don't think you actively chose to put everyone in danger. And from how you're acting right now I think it shows you regret what you did. Right?"

Did he regret everything that happened? Abso-fricking-lutely. A quirk took control of him, used him, and rampaged around the campus. Now he has to find a comfortable way to sleep at night. Sleeping on his back obviously won't be the same, what if his pillow got caught in his neck piece, neck port? Whatever the hell it was.

He just nodded, and Kendo let go. "I'll talk to them, but I think an apology from you would settle their nerves. Who knows, maybe Shiozaki will think you had a coming to Jesus moment and vouch for you?"

He giggled at that, squeaking with every little one. He hated his laugh, it sounded so awful. Years of trying to teach himself not to laugh like that and he still couldn't get rid of that disgusting noise. "Sorry you had to hear that, I've been trying to change that for a very long time."

"Hold on, you mean that condescending haughty laugh you do isn't to make others feel stupid? You just fake laugh to hide your real one?!"

"...yes? Don't plenty of people do similar things?"

Kendo smiled at him. "I don't think there is anyone I've met that's as confusing as you are Monoma."

"Well I think we can agree on that. After today I realized I might not be the person who I thought I was."

She placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him a gentle thumbs up. "Don't worry, I'm here if you need help to figure that out. Just, don't do anything like that fake laugh. The real one is better."

"Ugh, and I thought we were on the same page."

Kendo laughed at that, really laughed. It felt strange to him, when was the last time anyone smiled like that around him? Wanting to escape the weird emotions bubbling within he opened the door and-

*POOMF*

Something small and hard hit him dead center in the crotch. He fell down to his knees, hoping to preserve his future lineage. A mushroom, a really hard mushroom, laid next to his feet.

"WHERE'S MIDORIYA JACKASS!" Komori shouted in his face. Did he deserve that? Maybe, but couldn't she have gone for literally any other spot?


Mirio, as soon as he got a text from Ochaco about Izuku, rushed to the private nurse room. It didn't explain a lot, but hearing that he was in bad shape was enough to have him running. His uniform was gone, left behind, his hero outfit remaining to keep himself presentable. Falling through the last floor he landed right in front of the door holding Izuku, Ochaco, and most likely Recovery Girl.

Gripping the handle he let himself in. His eyes first caught Izuku, laying in a bed, beeping monitors around him informing everyone he was alive. But his face looked like he didn't enjoy it. Right next to him was Ochaco, sitting there with a far away look in her eyes.

He went over to her and pulled a seat to be next to her, to stare at Izuku. Hardly anyone at the school got a chance to interact with him when he was awake. Only a select few were lucky enough to do so. All Might had known him the longest, well there was Bakugo but he didn't really get to know who Izuku really was. Ochaco got to meet him as a stranger and see his timid yet heroic spirit.

But Mirio, he got to talk to Izuku nearly every night and learn more about him. He was kind, determined to help, naturally shy, obsessed with heroes, and alive. Seeing him like this felt wrong, he actually began to prefer when he was hooked up to the giant. At least then he seemed to be doing something, instead of lying here barely keeping himself out of a grave.

"Please tell me it's not as bad as it looks." Mirio pleaded quietly to the girl next to him.

Her voice came out as a whisper of monotone, reciting from memory what she had been told. "Recovery Girl said he's lucky to be alive. If he ever wakes up she doesn't think he'll be able to move again, or have all his senses."

Oh, it was bad, really bad. A hero would normally smile, let people know it would be alright, but he couldn't keep the despair from reaching his face. People were given hope when they needed saving, to give them something to reach to. But he couldn't save Izuku, and if Recovery Girl didn't think he had a chance then what could he do to say she was wrong?

Ochaco continued before he could come up with something to say. "Principal Nezu thinks that his quirk might do something, but nothing has happened yet."

He just nodded. Both began to drown in the silence. The only reminder that they were alive was the soft beeping next to Izuku. The mask over his face fogged briefly with every shaky exhale. Mirio felt like he might throw up.

"You shouldn't go in there yet." A voice came from outside the hall.

"I was informed he is barely hanging on a string, we need to act now."

"Mirai wait."

The door opened, letting both teens see who the two arguing outside were. Nighteye stood in the entryway to glance at Izuku with hardened eyes. Right after he noticed the others. "Good, you're here already, and even Uraraka is present. Then we can get started."

Toshinori arrived right behind his former side kick in a more agitated manner. "He's not dead."

"No, but he mine as well be." His words cut into each of them, stinging them with part of a truth.

Mirio finally stood up to acknowledge the two men. "Sir, I didn't expect you to be here."

"Under normal circumstances I wouldn't, but as we know this is hardly normal." The pro gave another look to Izuku, then back to his intern with a firm posture.

"Mirio, it's time."

Toshinori cut between him and Izuku, not sounding happy. "It doesn't work like that and you know it."

With a lack of details, but enough context, Mirio's insides started to boil. "You want me to take One for All from Izuku while he's unconscious."

"In short, yes, but he'll give it willingly." Nighteye informed, then put a hand up before the two blonds could argue.

"We need One for All, and Midoriya can't use it. Even if he wakes up he won't be able to use his body."

He didn't want to hear this, so Mirio turned around and looked at Ochaco instead. She seemed odd, clearly something was on her mind and he hoped she didn't actually consider what Nighteye was telling them.

All Might narrowed his eyes at Nighteye. "It's not your choice."

"No, it's not, it's Uraraka's."

They stopped, how was she responsible for-you gotta be shitting us. Sensing that they had come to the same conclusion Nighteye continued only talking to Uraraka.

"He obeys you, and as long as he's alive he's capable of passing along One for All. We need to do this before the most powerful quirk is gone."

Mirio paled. "This isn't right, he's not a slave!"

"A man chooses, a slave obeys. Midoriya hasn't been a man for quite some time." Nighteye countered. Mirio didn't dare look at him, otherwise he didn't think he could go without punching him. But it was even more tempting when he placed a hand on his shoulder.

Nighteye attempted to reassure the boy. "Lemillion, I respect your care for every person alive, but we can't sacrifice the greatest tool for justice because we deny the fact that Midoriya can't wield it any longer."

"And I'm supposed to be the one to wield it?" Mirio asked back.

Nighteye smiled and nodded. "Yes, you always were."

All Might was about to say something, but Mirio beat him to it. He slapped away Nighteye's hand from him, and gave him a glare that he didn't know he had.

"Even if this works, I will not hold One for All. It was given to Izuku, and if it dies with him then so be it. But I am not just the next All Might, I am Lemillion, and I have worked harder than most to be able to use my quirk not someone else's. Not Midoriya's."

This was the first time he had ever seen Sir shocked, stunned by what just happened. It was kind of refreshing to be honest. If that surprised him, then Mirio's next words would hit even harder.

"I quit, don't expect me at your agency anymore Sir." Mirio finished bitterly. It felt humorous, but he didn't feel like smiling. Nighteye certainly didn't appreciate the comedy of the situation. All Might seemed just as shocked, but in his eyes was a glimmer of pride. Why was All Might proud of what he did? Was it because he defended Izuku or just managed to tell off his former sidekick? Maybe both.

Nighteye started to turn red, clenching a fist he raised his voice slightly. "Do any of you realize that without One for All we won't have a symbol of peace?! The society that All Might worked so hard to achieve will crumble in weeks after his retirement. We don't have long an-"

The chair under Ochaco squeaked against the tile. This whole time she was silent, but now she had something to say. "I just have to tell him and he'll do it right?"

Mirio's mouth fell. She actually thought this was ok?! "Ochaco, we can't-"

"I can, I can tell him to do something and he'll do it." She voiced as if it was the discovery of the century.

Nighteye relaxed at this. "See, she understands what's at stake."

Mirio grabbed her shoulders. "No, we can't do this."

"Togata is right, young Uraraka." All Might tried to reason. "This should be Midoriya's choice, and taking advantage while he's so injured would-"

"Midoriya, if you're listening right now, please.." Ochaco placed her hand over his head, brushing some of his curly green locks away from his forehead. "Get better."


He tried to think, but every thought swirled away into a deep abyss. It was dark, he knew he was somewhere but everytime he tried to figure it out he kept forgetting. It was like a fever dream, his mind unable to keep anything straight for five seconds before it reset.

There were recurring things he could process. Pain, breath, dark, stiff, but he wasn't alone. Anytime he tried to move, to do something, no response was given. Fingers, no, eyes, no.

Breath.

It was hard, he had to keep doing it. Someone was there, or someones. There were many but they weren't there as well. A voice, a familiar voice was next to him for real, not the same as the others. Whoever was talking was important.

Breath.

It hurt, he couldn't move, but maybe he could listen a little more.

"Mi...listen...please.."

"Get better."

She commands, and he obeys.

[Activation Sequence started.]

[Rebooting…]

[Alert-Multiple systems experiencing catastrophic failure.]

[Life support systems offline.]

[Detecting Faults and updating all systems]

[Activating One for All energy core and begin updating and repairs]


Nana's albino friend had called for all members to arrive to investigate the anomaly. Seven of them and a wispy image stood circled around the stranger.

"It certainly looks like the kid." Nana said, poking the shadow frame.

"But we can't interact with him." A short man with short black hair mentioned. His jacket collar reaching up past his mouth.

"What if it's an intruder?" A very built man with longer hair and a large cape said.

"How could anyone get in here?" Baldy asked in disbelief.

"Well, it could be whatever is a part of the ninth." Albino said, making them all reexamine the figure.

Just as one of them reached out, the circuit lines across the mystery person's body shot out and reached across the expansive floor. All of them jumped surprise, but recognized the feeling of power being channeled in precise areas.

"Updating interface options…Restoring previous settings."

Nana was overcome with green lines flowing over her person. "This better be good."


"Hatsume, come on, we need to help gather all this together." Powerloader gently patted the pinkett's hair.

Mei's eyes were puffy, tear stains littering her cheeks. With a sniffle she nodded and went to help gather more parts laying across the battlefield. She was handpicked to aid in recovering what remained of Midoriya's body and gather it together with the main body. Cementoss had constructed a large structure around it to hide from the press or others with aerial capabilities that might leak this info.

But, every time she grabbed another piece, another torn apart portion of the wonderful metal, it felt like it was a part of a dead body. She thought she would be happy to scavenge this, to try and repurpose it into all new babies, but that would be disrespectful. All this time she looked at him like an object, but looking back there was life in every piece held together by a soul. That's what made the giant so unique, what captivated her.

If she ever got to see something like this again, man and machine joined in one, she would not take them for granted. Maybe even be friends with whoever it was, now that was a wonderful idea. To be friends with a robot would be a dream come true.

*Wiiiir*

She snapped her eyes up to the head unit. The eyelids were opening, and a soft glow started to develop in his pupils. Mei stood in fascination as they started to blink gently, inviting whatever it was in contact with.

*beep, beep, beep*

That noise came from the piece she was holding, and the one next to her, and every single one of them! Each had a light somewhere on them, all in sync as they responded to the call. As soon as the bolt she was holding started to jostle she placed it on the ground, to watch what it would do. It began to roll its way to the head, as if it was designed to do that from the beginning despite having no visible function to do so.

Something bumped her foot, nearly causing her to trip. A finger digit was crawling with smaller pieces of machinery coming out from the broken section towards similar parts. They all started to link, to connect, having an effect on her that made a huge smile appear on her face.

Midoriya was fixing itself! He was alive!


Next Time on My Iron Giant, hope for our resident Broccoli boy. Mirio also files for unemployment until he finds a new agency. I know it's been a little bit since I last updated, but I needed a small break.

Some may have noticed a new cover art for the story. This was done by CorvidsAreNice. I'm always happy to see fanart and will almost always feature their artwork in the story or a mini plot of their choosing.

Any suggestions, ideas, comments are extremely appreciated. Thanks for the support.

RSmallz:

Thanks!

Nickiel:

So, with Eraserhead he would need to look at the actual body of Midoriya, not his metal shell. That is if it wasn't a mutant quirk or something else. Also, Monoma couldn't really copy it himself. He attempted to and the giant noticed and pondered over the idea of implanting a smaller system into the boy.

adislt:

Glad you liked it! For All Might's case it is pretty rare he can't just punch his way out of something, and over the years he has become dependent on it.

Team5dsforever:

Not everyone will get to see his body, but enough have. Next chapter I'll have his mother involved and Ochaco's parents.

Vilkath:

Well, both were the same size. Even if Midoriya has more power that doesn't mean the hardware will automatically be stronger. It's like having batteries in two identical rc cars. Izuku has full power all the time, but Monoma has a limited time starting at around 20%. All Might had also just begun the class, he hasn't been holding his form for very long that day yet and had plenty to work with.

With his fight against Midoriya, imagine if you wore simple armor, but had to fight a living bullet that could smack you around? Also, he took it very seriously, wanting to end it as fast as possible.

I tried to think of how the fights would go down, some were happy, others were not. In the end, fights are hardly predictable so I tried to make this one entertaining while also progressing characters for future events.

Saramus92:

Oh yeah, All Might knows that for sure. For the "drift" You're already close to what I have planned, but I don't want to mention too much down here in case people get mad for spoilers.

Hurtturnip:

Does this chapter help clear things up? If not what are you confused on?

RunOnSentences:

It's a common theme, but lots of people are dumb. I will say that plenty will be learning and not repeating mistakes.

Xperior:

That's right! Progress baby! Next chapter will have the press break in, and maybe part of the USJ incident.

wolves567:

Almost, but he's still alive and getting better!

Animeguy1101:

That sounds like a cool little part to add, I think something like that can happen right after the USJ incident. I don't know if he has a deviant art, he sent the image to me over email. If you want I can forward it to you but reach out over pm for that.

He can turn into an optimus prime, but not turn into a truck. He pretty much stays in humanoid form.

ZeroExia:

Are you...are you talking about his head?

Zabkiel:

This chapter was a little longer of a wait, but I'm happy you were incredibly invested in the last one.

Random65:

Yeah, he's not the brightest at times. Especially when he has solved everything by punching it.

Joyeuse X:

I know about Megaman a tiny bit, but I don't know about the others. I'm curious how you think they would help out the situation.

Apex Redeemer:

I've actually been taking a lot of time out of my personal life to write these. Around four hours a day on average with work and school. Trust me when I say you can always find the time, you just might be more exhausted when you do though. That's part of the reason why I had to take a break.

Sweet Kagamine Kiss:

Monoma is getting better, he now sees he has to change and is more watchful of his attitude. Old habits die hard though, so let's see how the others end up feeling about him.

d1n0s:

She's already dead, kinda hard to double kill a character. But I'm glad you liked it!

Benji the Monocat:

Yeah, we haven't seen much Bakugo and for good reasons too. We will see him briefly here and there before I run out of use for him.

Jack Redhawke:

I first made Izuku's robot form pacific rim sized. I am aware of how big the Iron Giant is but in this fic Izuku can alter his size to what he feels is useful.

Muhammad Ibrahim Faisal:

Thanks!

Ezylryb:

Probably, but I haven't looked into those. We might see a similar version coming up soon though.

evanonymous:

They may be idiots but they're learning idiots.

Oberon1211:

I'm glad you like it! But I don't really have plans for Izuku dying so fast in the story.