Mark of a hero

by Sonnie Celanna

The first time he met the black eyed-man, it had nothing to do with his abilities or lack thereof. It had nothing to do with the boy's emotions or fears. It was mere coincidence he came during a moment when his life was in danger. "Izuku Midoriya, aren't you quite the interesting puzzle piece of history." "I am the outsider...and this is my mark."

7. Chapter 7

Midoriya cringed as his and Uraraka's footsteps reverberated off the walls. Neither of their costumes were designed with stealth in mind. The green and pink colours would stand out like sore thumbs against the buildings harsh greys. His shoes at least weren't hard to mask thanks to the rubber soles but Uraraka's stabilizers were made of solid plastic so she was much louder.

After his frustratingly vague and mostly one-sided conversation he had started looking at this exercise from an angle other than pure combat. Why risk a fight with two people who would be so much better at fighting when they could sneak past entirely?

The dark long halls could be an advantage at a distance where it not for the brightness of their costumes. The halls were narrow and long, there were no ledges he could use for a higher vantage.

"Careful, there's a lot of blind spots." The greenette half-whispered back to his teammate. He stared up at the roof and the length of the hallway, if he was going to figure out how he could use Far Reach in this environment safely he'd have to do it now. "Hang on I'm going to try something, be ready in case it ends up being too loud if I mess up."

"Ok!" The girl said with a firm nod as the boy aimed his left hand towards the roof. He could feel different amounts of pressure in his hand depending on if he'd be able to reach or not he'd found out yesterday. Using the pressure he had learned how to visualize a kind of marker and right now that marker couldn't reach quite up to the roof however it was close, he could use the wall! 'Lets try this.'

The feeling of his hand being wrapped around in tendrils that was quickly becoming familiar to him he felt yet again and he watched as the purple tentacle shot out fast, latching onto the wall before he felt the sensation of being pulled off his feet into the air.

It took less than a second to cross the entire hall, he heard Uraraka whisper-shout something that sounded like 'Nice!' He motioned to the girl to join him and after waiting for a moment she was beside him again. It was good to know he had a way to get around quickly if need be then.

'If we do run into Kacchan what can we do to escape? I still have basically no control over One for All so a head-to-head fight could be suicide and even if I did try a one hundred percent smash It could kill someone. I have to rely on Uraraka's zero gravity and what I know about Far Reach and the notes I've spent so long collecting. If I could get Kacchan off his feet for just a moment and Uraraka floated him…..No, that wouldn't work, he'd still be able to move about with his explosions, dammit! Maybe if I could reach higher ground just for a moment without him seeing me, I could use the momentum from the fall to knock him out? Seems too risky, so I guess not. What about if-'

The greenette didn't get more time to consider how to proceed as Bakugou flew out from the corner, turning in the air aiming for both of them. The greenette reacted on instinct, dodging and jumping towards Uraraka, pulling her towards the ground with him. "Uraraka, you okay?!"

"Im fine, thanks!" The girl said, coughing slightly from the sudden smoke. Midoriya scowled as it cleared, showing the crater in the wall left by Bakugou's attack. The blonde boy barely even looked fazed. The right side of the greenette's face had been exposed in the fight. "Deku!"

"Its's just a mask." The boy assured her. 'Dammit, I still don't have a plan yet!'

"I knew you'd come at me first, you'd try to catch me by surprise. You want payback for the ball throw." The greenette explained why he was unfazed. Unfortunately Bakugou wasn't someone he could keep distracted by talking, as the blonde started charging at him! 'Look out for his right hook!'

"I won't hurt you so bad they have to end the fight! Just close!" The blonde exclaimed with a malicious grin, pulling his right arm back and throwing a punch. 'Now!'

Without another thought the shorter of the two boys rushed forward, wrapping the explosive boy in an awkward hug. One of his arms wrapped around the blonde's gauntlet while the other wrapped around his chest. He could feel the momentum still from the blonde's charge as he started to pull up over his own head as he turned around.

The greenette let out a shout, physical enhancements or not, Kacchan was heavy. The boy watched as the blonde smashed into the ground on his back, briefly bouncing back into the air. The blonde didn't make any quick moves to get back up.

"Kacchan…" The greenette breathed out as the blonde slowly started to rise. "You always use a big right hook to start a fight, I know because I've watched you for years! I analyzed every amazing hero, even you! I wanted to learn everything I could about them, even if I had no way of replicating them because I needed to know to survive. It was all in the notebook you burned and threw away."

"-but you know what? I like Deku, it's like 'I can do it!' I think it would make a great hero name!"

"You can call me Deku, but I'm not the same helpless, defenseless kid anymore! You hear me?! FROM NOW ON DEKU IS THE NAME OF A HERO!" The greenette shouted, as his emotions got the better of him for a moment. Out the corner of the boy's vision he could see Uraraka's eyes widen in surprise behind her visor however he had to focus on the blonde, as he had finally gotten back on his feet and was glaring daggers at him. The greenette cursed how his body was shaking, giving away how he really felt.

"Deku…" The boy growled as he hunched over, his hands making claws as the palms started to glow and some sparks started igniting. "Your shaking in your boots, you're so scared! But you want to fight me anyway, THAT'S WHY I HATE YOU!"

The greenette didn't have time to reply as he suddenly put a finger to his ear, his look of hatred briefly morphing into one of annoyance. "Just shut up and defend the weapon! I've got more important things to worry about."

The blonde continued to angrily yell into the earpiece, apparently getting into an argument with Iida. Midoriya took his chance while they argued to pull out the capture All Might had given him before the exercise from his pouch. 'I still don't have much of a plan but I can't let that stop me now.'

The greenette didn't have any more time to think as the blonde threw a hand behind him and rocketed towards the boy using his quirk, his leg prepared for a kick. "Uraraka! GO!"

Time seemed to slow as the blonde rocketed towards him, the smaller boy threw up his arm up to block the incoming kick, while letting the capture tap unravel while falling through the air, catching it with his other hand.. 'Now!'

"Ballsy move! Think you can take me alone?!" The explosive boy asked snidely. The greenette however didn't answer, instead focusing on the blonde's attacks. He had started wrapping the capture tape around the blonde's leg when he finally noticed. 'Hero notebook number 10, page 18, Eraserhead! Luckily I got to see his moves in action. What will Kacchan do now? Knowing him he'll be impatient and try another big punch!'

Just like the boy thought, the explosive teen went for a punch. The greenette dodged, rolling across the ground as he heard the wall behind where he had just been standing explode. 'I was right! He's not pulling any punches, not that I expected any less.'

As the greenette panted, he continued to analyze the blonde. 'He kicked first this time, he's switching things up so I can't predict his moves. Does that mean he's worried?'

The blonde's hand shot behind him, ready to propel him. Midoriya scowled and ran off down the hallway he was beside, trying to create some distance. 'He's completely focused on me, so Uraraka is free to find Iida. I need to stay away for now until I can come up with a plan to beat Kacchan!'

"Get back here Deku!" He heard the blonde shout in surprise and anger. He didn't hear in explosions though, did his sudden retreat catch the boy off guard? The marked boy shook his head, it didn't matter why! He just had to be thankful Kacchan didn't because it put him at an advantage. The greenette shot his left arm forward without aiming so he could increase the distance between the two faster. 'I can't risk any more close-range encounters, I need to figure out a plan. Think, is there anything you don't know about Explosion?!'

The greenette saw his opportunity as he entered a maze of hallways, disappearing into the one and continuing to run. He could hear the explosions behind him as Bakugou followed, but now they echoed and he had no idea if they were close or far because of the acoustics of where he choose. 'Crap, that's not good.'

As the boy hid in the corner of one of the halls, he heard the blonde's shout. "DAMMIT! YOU WERE TRICKING ME FOR YEARS BY ACTING WEAK! BET YOU'VE BEEN LAUGHING BEHIND MY BACK, HUH! WHERE'S THAT FLASHY POWER OF YOURS NOW?! LET'S SEE HOW IT COMPARES TO MINE! QUIRK OR NO YOU'LL NEVER BEAT ME DEKU! "

The greenette flinched and clutched the wall slightly, a wave of guilt washing over him. 'Kacchan…' Then the boy's eyes widened in surprise as he realized what he had been stupidly forgetting, his advantage over the blonde. 'Dang it! I've been focusing so much on Bakugou's quirk and what I know about it. I should be focusing on what he DOESN'T know about mine!'

Finally, the boy had a plan. He flinched as he heard an explosion and a loud clattering. 'Did he just blow a door in?!' Again the greenette cursed his luck as the blonde's footsteps reverberated throughout the whole hall. Why did he have to pick the one place where he couldn't tell how close the blonde was?!

The greenette let out an almost inaudible growl. 'Dammit if I just knew where he was I could start putting my plan into motion!' The boy unclenched his left hand from a fist and waved it around, mostly trying to remove the heat he was experiencing in his hero costume, wishing he could see through walls instead of having super-strength he couldn't use cause of what would happen to his bones.

The greenette blinked, when he opened his eyes he was in for a major surprise. 'WHAT THE?!'

His vision now had a sepia like tone, the black walls now looking a light beige instead. He fell backwards surprise, accidentally colliding with the wall, making a relatively loud thud. The boy turned, worried he had alerted the nearby blonde but to his surprise, instead of seeing an angry kacchan flying through the air all he saw was three traveling white lines that seemed to be fading. When the sound finally stopped, the lines dissipated. 'Was that…?!'

The greenette tapped the wall lightly, seeing much smaller but similar lines moving around, once again disappearing as the sound stopped. 'I can see sound?'

As it turned out that was not all the boy could see, as in the hall just beyond his normal vision suddenly a big yellow human-shaped blob appeared. It had two tiny white pinpricks near the top and a white cone of light seemed to beam out of them. However what caught the boy's attention was the two massive round shapes near where the hands would be. 'Wait is that Kacchan!?'

The boy got his confirmation as the blonde called out, sounding extremely close even despite the reverb. "Come out now Deku and maybe I'll go easy on you!"

Recalling his moment of wishing he could see through the wall the boy almost gave away his position by shouting in surprise as he realized what happened. 'Ok, calm down, it's just ANOTHER power, not the end of the world. Not normal but neither was Far Reach and you figured that out well enough… Well ok technically you freaked out until the Outsider gave you some indication to what it was and still continued being freaked out but tomato, tamato. Is it from the mark or One for All though, this power?'

Finally the greenette recalled the words of the outsider during his 'visit'.

"So after this visit the rest of your powers you must figure out on your own."

The boy wanted to slap himself, he should have realized then and there that something was going to happen. He had been distracted by the pain in his head of his memories coming back and focusing on the fight but he still should have picked up on that. He was an idiot!

The marked boy shook his head. Whether he should have realized or not it was happening now, he had unlocked a new power, one that could be much safer to figure out in the midst of battle than Far Reach. He saw the yellow silhouette of Kacchan getting close. 'With this power, I can implement my plan even more effectively than before!'

The glow stopped and his vision returned to normal, causing the boy to look around in shock. 'A time limit? Crap! Ok, I can still use this. Kacchan will be here any minute now, so be quick, once you do this what do you know? I can't go after the weapon with Kacchan following me. If I bring him back to Uraraka we'd run out of time before we beat him. But there's a way, where we barely need to fight at all, so long as I'm smart about this.'

Finally, the boy started to walk out. Just before he rounded he had one last thought 'Kacchan, every last thing I've said about not trying to compete with you…I take it all back.'

The greenette stepped out calmly, making no move to make any attacks or get closer. "Were you being serious about going easier on me?"

"Yeah right! NOW IM GOING TO KILL YOU!" The blonde yelled in his usual angry tone. Midoriya couldn't help it, he smiled.

"That's what I thought!" The boy replied, summoning his Far Reach and throwing it right at Bakugou. 'He knows next to nothing about Far Reach so he shouldn't be keen to let it hit him. Which means….'

Much like the greenette was expecting, the blonde's eyes widened in surprise and he set off a massive explosion at the appendage trying to destroy it, creating a massive black smokescreen around himself. At that same moment Midoriya let the massive tentacle disappear and waved his hand, trying to summon the power from before, trying to replicate his emotions and gestures. 'Come on, let me see through walls or whatever got you to activate!'

In an instance, like a pulsing wave he saw everything change in color, the sepia tones returning and Bakugou's yellow silhouette shined through the smoke. The greenette grinned and immediately lifted his hand up, aiming higher up the walls and firing off Far Reach. 'I don't have time to be glad about my powers working, I need to keep moving!'

As the greenette soared through the air, he kept an eye on the blonde beneath him, the white pinpricks and cone following him. 'Are those his eyes?! The cones smaller than before, which would makes sense if that's his field of vision. He can't see exactly what's happening, he's only seeing the movement of the smoke and my shadow among it.'

As the greenette landed he took off in a sprint, he looked back to see the smoke clearing. Kacchan was looking right at him, royally pissed off. "DEKU YOU FUCKER, GET BACK HERE COWARD!"

The greenette rounded the corner and immediately fired off Far Reach again while the blonde couldn't see him. 'I need to make sure Kacchan doesn't see me travelling using Far Reach at all. If he does then we're screwed. We're on the third floor, from the map All Might gave us, just around this next corner there should be a massive empty room.'

"Deku, I found the bomb on the 4th floor!" He suddenly heard Uraraka in his ear panicking, causing him to flinch. "But Iida found me!"

'Crap!' Midoriya cursed. If Uraraka was captured, he'd lose a massive ally. His plan, while still possible without her would be a lot less likely to succeed if anything went wrong after she was caught. From the boy's mental count, there were only 7 minutes left of the match. "Don't focus on the weapon, just don't get caught for now. I have a plan but I need a little more time. Stay calm."

The boy let go off the earpiece as he finally saw the room he was looking for with Bakugou a sizeable distance behind him. As the boy rushed in he slammed the door shut behind him, loud enough to attract Bakugou. The boy looked up and so, much to his relief that there were metal bars holding the roof together. Activating Far Reach once more he scaled up the bars and waited.

It didn't take long for the blonde to arrive, however he didn't explode the door open like he did others, and he rushed in and closed the door behind him calmly with a malicious grin. "Stupid move, Deku now your trapped in here with me and only one exit. You aren't going to get away from me again!"

The greenette fired off his Far Reach, deliberately shooting it slightly to the side of Bakugou, getting his attention. The blonde looked up and smirked, an evil glint in his eyes. "You missed!"

In an instant, an explosion happened under the blonde and he was airborne, not too far from Midoriya. He flew across the air and Midoriya took his chance, the blonde would expect a quirk retaliation which meant he had to choose a different route.

The greenette leaped into the air towards the blonde, causing said boy to widen his eyes in surprise as the greenette started to fall towards him, delivering a swift kick that the blonde blocked. When he blocked however, he stopped making explosions throwing him off-balance and the two fell.

Midoriya grabbed onto the bars while the blonde stopped his fall by setting to explosions off. The greenette didn't allow the blonde to regain his bearings, firing off Far Reach yet again, this time aiming to make sure the tendril grabbed this time.

Before it was able to connect though the blonde fired off an explosion throwing him away from the tentacle. The greenette however was unfazed, he hadn't let the power dissipate this time and swung it around towards the blonde like a whip.

The blonde had to set of multiple explosions, firing him all around the room, dodging the tendril before flying straight towards the boy controlling it. "JUST DIE ALREADY!"

The power dissipated at last and Midoriya stepped off his perch, allowing himself to fall through the air. The blonde followed after him, rocketing towards the boy, getting closer and closer until…

"NOW YOUR FUCKED DEKU!" The blonde practically screamed with a manic grin and insane look in his eyes. The greenette did his best to ignore it as he raised his left hand once more, his power surging forth and wrapping around the blonde.

As the two fell, Midoriya put all his strength into twisting the two around in the air, hurling the blonde down into the ground. As he continued to fall he aimed and landed with both feet going into the blonde's stomach before jumping back and rolling away.

As the greenette stood, he watched the blonde get up slowly, slower than usual. He must have been winded with that last attack. The blonde just seemed to stare for a moment but then his gauntlet glowed, attracting both boys attention.

The blonde smirked while the greenette looked on curious. The blonde lifted his fist. "I'm all loaded up."

"What does that mean?" The smaller boy asked, though he had a fairly good idea. He wasn't sure whether it was a massive problem or an unforeseen blessing.

"Why haven't you come at me at 100% yet? You haven't shown that strength you did in the tests!" The blonde's eyes seemed to shrink to pinpricks as a haunting smile graced his features. "Don't tell me you're underestimating me Deku! Why don't you man up and show me what you're really made of!"

"Kacchan…" The greenette started, his eyes hardening into a determined stare. "I'm not afraid of you anymore!"

The blonde's smile quickly morphed into an angry frown before lifting back again into a smiling. The explosive teen aimed his hand with the gauntlet that had glowed before at him.

"Since you're such a damn stalker, you probably know by now how my quirk, explosion, works. How it's my sweat causing the explosions. And this gauntlet has been storing it all up for one big blast! None of your stupid notes or that fucking tentacle can stop it!"

Both the boys could hear All Might in their ears as Bakugou prepared to fire it at him. "DON'T YOUNG BAKUGOU! YOU'LL KILL HIM!"

"He'll be fine as long as he dodges!" The blonde said back. Seeing he was not going to back down, Midoriya felt panic rising, he had to make a choice now, either he dodged like the blonde said, which is what he wanted or…..

The greenette summoned Far Reach and swung it out way to the side of the blonde, swinging it towards the blonde full force much to his surprise. "THAT BLAST ISN'T GOING OFF AT ALL!"

It was a bluff, baiting the blonde. He knew he didn't have the power to do anything to that blast if it fired but Bakugou didn't! The explosive boy swung his gauntlet around towards the incoming tentacle. "IM GETTING RID OF THIS STUPID FUCKING THING FOR GOOD!"

Finally the blast fired, the tentacle flailing way back before dissipating. The blast didn't care and continued to destroy the wall on the other side of the room, kicking up a massive black cloud surrounding the two boys. 'Finally, now's my chance!"

His placement hadn't been random when he had landed, he had purposefully kept lined up with the door, just slightly to the side. Now he got lined up while the blonde was still reeling and blinded from his own blast. Far Reach flew through the air, wrapping around the handle of the door and yanking it open hard, causing a bang. The tentacle dissipated once more and Midoriya silently took cover behind a nearby pillar that had survived the blast.

The small boy activated his vision power for the final time. He could see the explosive teen recovering and sprinting to the door. He took the bait! "GET BACK HERE DEKU, WE'RE NOT DONE!"

The greenette let out a sigh and made sure to wait a few moments, he had been lucky, the room he choose was just underneath the room with the bomb, he could see two yellow silhouettes above, one smaller one barely avoiding a larger and much faster one. Listening to the blonde's footsteps disappear along with his yellow silhouette. 'Probably only four or five minutes left, I need get to Uraraka and Iida now!"

The greenette got up and rushed to the window leading outside. The whole reason he had come here was to get the blonde off his trail and escape out the window. Now he knew which floor and even better which room he could use the outside of the building to climb. With Bakugou on a fruitless search for him, he opened the window and climbed out, looking for the windows he could climb in.

When he saw the ledges, he realized he'd have to jump and turn in the air. The greenette looked to see the drop, it wasn't deadly but it would hurt 'Ok, don't panic, if you can lift All Might's body weight, you can do this.'

Midoriya pushed off the building and jumped, turning like he planned and trying to fire Far Reach. This time however the tentacle didn't come, leaving him to plunge to the ground. 'CRAP, WHAT?!'

The boy then realized how much he'd actually kept the tentacle manifested in that fight, he was tired from it so his body wasn't letting it activate! 'CrapcrACRAPCRAP! What the hell do I do?!'

The boy recalled the plan he had come up with at the exam and how Bakugou had avoided colliding with the ground in their fight. He remembered All Might telling him how One for All was more powerful in him than it should be. He wasn't at risk of dying here so he just had to give it a shot.

The greenette put his fingers together on his left hand and aimed at the ground, summoning One for All into his finger. He flicked his finger and the ground beneath him suddenly exploded from the pressure, rocketing him back up the way. He didn't feel the pain in his finger and stole a quick look, seeing it uninjured. 'Recovery Girl's theory was right then! I better use this while I still can!'

The boy aimed another flick at the window he had been intending to climb up to before, sending another smash at it. The wall caved in and he could see Iida and Uraraka look back in shock, Iida in the midst of rushing at the heroine-in-training.

Midoriya aimed one final flick behind him, angling it so it propelled him right towards the room, in no time at all he was rolling across the floor and into an upright position. Iida was still moving in to attack Uraraka, unable to alter his course. 'Perfect!'

"URACHAN!" The boy shouted, flinging his left hand forwards and summoning Far Reach. Now he knew he had reached his limit he could force it to appear anyway, but it hurt. The fingers in his hands finally breaking didn't help. The tentacle flew through the air and wrapped around the tall boy's leg. "JUMP!"

The greenette yanked back hard as the girl did what he said. The engine-quirk wielder fell over into the ground, his engines still running sending him right into the wall on the other side of the room. The gravity girl was floating In the air towards the weapon, she must of used her quirk during the jump. As she touched it, a loud explosion sounded behind Midoriya.

"DEKU!" Came the unmistakable screech of Bakugou but before the blonde could get close enough to do anything, All Might's voice was heard over the radio.

"THE HERO TEAM WINS!"

The four teens froze. Uraraka sat down to take a breather with a look of relief on her face. Iida sat against the wall he had smashed into, feeling defeated but also happy that it was the 'good' guys who prevailed. Bakugou seethed in rage, sparks igniting from his hand. However Midoriya just felt tired and nothing else, in fact a a nap sounded great right about.

And with that final thought, Midoriya passed out

A/N: For those who read this chapter before it was fixed, sorry about that. Fanfictions doc manager has been a total b*tch to me lately. Thanks for reading.