My Iron Giant
-Nowhere Man-
Endeavor, Japan's number two hero, was unofficially it's number one now. He scowled at the tv, another sob story revolving around the death of All Might. Even if he felt angry towards the constant smiling face of his rival, this was not how he should be treated. All Might was never invincible, he didn't have unlimited strength, that's just what the masses concluded on their own. They worshipped him as a god, and with him gone the public felt like the only thing to look forward to was death.
Everything was frustrating, the League of Villains' announcement to the world, UA sending back all the students to their homes as they tripled down on security systems, and the lack of answers from anyone. Endeavor, believe it or not, wasn't a workaholic. He wished he could take vacations, spend time relaxing, but there was always work to be done and no one seemed to step up to it.
The time he did spend at home was agonizing. He knew his marriage wasn't built like others, but he made sure Rei fully knew what he had planned. Once the oldest had passed away, he tried to make it up to him by making sure Shoto would be able to carry the family name beyond what he could do. It only made things worse, Shoto hated him, Natsuo was very verbal about it, and Fuyumi would do nothing which might hurt the worst out of all of them.
What was he supposed to do to fix this? Fix Japan, fix his family, and somehow fix his wife who has been being treated for so long.
"UA and the Hero Commission refuse to mention anything regarding Izuku Midoriya or Ochaco Uraraka. Japan needs a symbol of peace, and they have shown to prove themselves already defeating the 'Nomu' that managed to take out All Might. Some are even requesting that their learning be accelerated, or that they at least take the provisional license exam to help Japan find its feet again and take care of the League of Villains." The reporter spouted off.
Endeavor looked closer at the image of the two high school students displayed on the screen. One was of a student ID picture of Midoriya, his shaky smile and anxiety on full display. The other was an image of Uraraka nervously speaking into a microphone in front of her from the press conference. He didn't look far into the two of them, merely asking Shoto to keep an eye on them and report back what he noticed.
Not that he would really do what he asked but it would have kept him alert for the sport's festival. Leaning forward he noticed that the Midoriya boy looked oddly familiar.
The curls, the freckles, they resemble someone he knew for years.
With nothing else to do he decided to give the person a call. It was late here so it wouldn't be too early in America. He pulled out his phone, scrolling through recent calls until it reached near the very bottom, reminding him just how long it had been.
*click*
*ring ri-*
"I DON'T HAVE A CAR SO QUIT CALLING ABOUT IT'S WARRANTY!" A man's voice screamed in english. While the flame hero knew english this didn't make too much sense to him.
"What are you babbling about?"
"Oh, is that you Enji?"
"Yes, it's me."
"You calling to gloat about getting the number one spot?" He sounded very accusatory, obviously this was one more person in his life that didn't like him.
"No, I just saw something that reminded me of you and realized it had been a while since we talked."
"Was it some other washed up hero? I'll have you know I've done well for myself over in the states."
"Being a vigilante may be easier over there, but I hardly call it success."
"I'm fully licensed now." Endeavor could feel the smugness coming from the other side, not that being licensed in America was a difficult thing to do. Quirk laws over there are hardly restrictive.
The man on the other side took on a more somber tone. "Heard All Might's gone now, is Japan doing ok?"
"They're all running around like chickens. They depended too much on the man and are trying to get a highschooler to take his place. What a joke."
"Huh, a highschooler stealing your spot as number one. It wouldn't happen to be your perfect creation would it?"
"You haven't looked much into what's happening here have you?"
"Give me a break, it's barely been one day and I hardly watch international news as is...You know why I left Japan right?"
"You mentioned some woman was involved, but I admit I didn't care too much as long as you did something with your life besides fooling around. Did you cheat on your wife or something?"
"I wouldn't go that low. You actually gave me the idea. Finding someone with a quirk compatible with mine and creating a more powerful legacy."
"Shoto is more than that."
"Well my kid wasn't. I thought he would get some kind of pyrotelekenetic quirk, should have easily been able to control fire more than you could have."
"So your plan was to make someone that could beat me?"
"It wasn't the whole plan, but it would be funny to see my kid take your spot. Show that weak quirks could do something more. But it didn't turn out like that."
"So, why did you leave?"
"He ended up being quirkless, embarrassing, I know. When I tried to convince Inko to have another kid after that she caught on to what I was doing knowing how your family was doing. So we got a divorce, and I ended up starting life over in the US to get away from it all."
Endeavor was quiet, he did find the whole thing humorous, but it was just too pitiful. His brother was always trying to chase him, trying to do things better, yet he never succeeded.
"So, tell me, who's the kid that's going to challenge Endeavor's spot at number one?"
"His name is Izuku Midoriya."
"..."
"What is it Hisashi?
"You gotta be shitting me."
Izuku watched the sunrise over the white mountains. The way it reflected off the snow, the birds awakening, life coming back to the wonderland. He stared blankly at it, what would be blinding light was filtered through the advanced eyes on his robotic form.
"Hmmm." A content noise made itself known right next to him.
His organic eyes looked down to the still sleeping Ochaco clinging to him. A slight blush came back to him, but he quickly pushed the feeling down. He didn't want to stir her awake with his..ahem..appendage.
Overnight he had been thinking, mostly about what was going to happen next. He wasn't sure where he was, but he knew he should at least get Ochaco back to her parents. So, he watched the stars, pinpointing where he was by some knowledge he didn't think he had. It felt strange, the way they were all aligned. It felt wrong, but the stars didn't move.
Well technically they were moving but not at a noticeable rate by the naked eye.
The ray of sunlight started to crawl towards them, wrapping them in warmth as it made its way up their feet and over their bodies. Izuku thought about shutting his robotic eyes to spare Ochaco's own, but it was probably the best way to wake her up.
Sure enough, when they touched her eyelids they twitched. They fluttered to life, the lazy orbs looking over everything in the headspace. Once they met Izuku's they stopped. He didn't really know how to respond so he just smiled and waved.
'Good morning.' Oh, right, she couldn't hear his thoughts right now.
Ochaco blinked, slowly, her mouth slightly open with a tiny bit of drool running down her chin. Clearly she wasn't a morning person, her head flopped right back down on his chest.
"Hrm, ten more minutes."
Well it's not like he could argue with her given a lack of voice. Wait, didn't he talk using the robot once? Yeah, when he saw her memories, they were watching a movie on the dorm roof and she asked what he wanted to watch. He couldn't remember it himself, but she did, and he could remember her remembering.
He tried to say something again, anything.
'Banana'
'Quirk'
'Ice Cream'
'Death is a preferable alternative to communism.'
Woah where did that come from? No, no noise, and if the way that Ochaco had clung tighter to him on their bean bag bed thingy it showed that she was still in dream land. He could have been embarrassed by her actions, but she needed this. With all the stress he knew she was going through pushing her away was not an option.
'Let's try again.'
What was different, he knew how to talk but couldn't. In her memory his voice sounded like his own but through a speaker...Of course! It was completely different than using his vocal cords so he couldn't talk like he normally did. He just had to find the right muscles, er, wires.
He twitched his exterior fingers, feeling the difference between moving his flesh versus his metal. There were similarities, but noticeable ways he did them differently. Next, he moved his eyes without moving his head. His own eyeballs he could feel were being moved around by the muscles surrounding them, but his digital eyes had their movements controlled by the mechanism attached to the sensors.
Ok, now he just had to feel for his voice outside his normal body.
Should start with something simple, something around him. Like that rock.
'Rrrr, come on, rrrrrrr'
*SQEEEAK* The exterior speakers of the giant scared the nearby forest creatures. Dozens of birds flapped away to escape as Izuku adjusted.
"VVVKKKKKKKBBBBBRRRRRRR"
He knew he was being loud inside, luckily the headspace was soundproof right now thanks to earlier work. It could be quieter though, he was practically yelling right now.
"RRRRRrrrrr."
Good, he made an r sound, next step. Vowels.
"Rrraaaaoooo. Rooooog"
Not quite there yet.
"Roog, g, c, c"
Almost!
"RoooK, rok, rock. Rock!"
YES! HE...he managed to say rock. Oh man, he's going to have to learn how to talk all over again isn't he? Well, at least he already understood everyone.
[Alert-Proximity Alarm]
Izuku's body shot up from the bean bag hoisted by the arm on his back. His own arms were still clutching Ochaco, but now they were clinging tightly.
Nothing was going to hurt her!
NOTHING!
"WAH!" Ochaco's sleep was interrupted by being yanked into the air. Her eyes blinked out the lingering moisture and locked onto the boy practically snarling ahead.
"Izuku! What's wrong?!"
She turned around to the screen, a radar sensor of some sort displaying five large objects heading their way.
The giant's eyes were glowing red with narrowed pupils, promising quick death to whoever challenged him. His metal arms looked odd, carrying an unseen person in them and mimicking the arms of Izuku's inside the head.
His eyes locked on to the first thing that broke the nearby tree line. A large spider bigger than a car made of dirt charged forward.
"AH! Spider! Big spider! Kill it!" Ochaco shrieked from inside.
She commands, he obeys
*BRRRR*
The threat disintegrated under his rays, a steaming hole left where it stood.
"ROOOAR!" A massive lizard also made of dirt came from right behind where the spider was.
*BRRR*
It too, didn't stand a chance.
The dirt under the giant started to shift, twisting into tentacles and trying to drag them under. The wings on his back began to emit a high pitched noise, charging up the funnels. Dirt exploded as he shot into the air, hovering a hundred feet off the ground.
His eyes scanned for the other threats, soon finding one flying towards him.
"Get em Izuku!" Ochaco cheered, hopping out of his arms and watching through the screen.
Channeling energy back into his eyes, he prepared to finish off another beast. Zooming in he targeted the head of the makeshift dragon that was carrying-
"Wait, are those?" Ochaco noticed the odd way the two women were dressed and riding the dragon.
'THIS IS MANDALAY OF THE WILD WILD PUSSY CATS, WE MEAN YOU NO HARM! PLEASE CEASE FIRE!' A voice screamed in their heads.
Izuku was still on edge, so he did a deep scan of the persons. True enough, everything he could detect proved it was them. Their age, their quirks, even their sizes. Ok he didn't like to admit it but he memorized all the hero trivia he could and it just so happened it was a common theme to know the sizes of the heroes.
His pupils returned to their calm state, his posture relaxing as he descended back to the ground. The advanced sensors locked onto the two heroes that approached, letting him hear their conversation.
"Seriously Pixie Bob?! You nearly got us killed!"
"Hey! Next time a huge ass noise wakes you up early in the morning I won't stop it."
"To be fair" The voice of ragdoll joined in over their private intercoms, but not private to Izuku. "You told us to get to our battle stations as soon as it woke us up."
"I might need to get my hearing checked out." Tiger joined in.
Sorry, guess he should practice more quietly.
Tenya Ida was sitting in his family's living room, reviewing over his notes for the twentieth time. There was nothing else to do, except wait. Where was she, was she alright, was she even alive?
"Hey." He turned his head at a frightening speed to the source. His older brother was slouching over the couch, leaning on his folded arms and looking at Tenya. Tensei was still wearing his hero costume armored pants, his dark long sleeve undershirt the only thing he kept on his top.
"What you working on?"
"I've been doing what you've recommended." He said turning back to his notes.
"Oh, and what's that?" He asked, putting on a smile. Things have been hard for everyone, but he could only imagine what his little brother was going through. It was his class that was attacked, and the girl he had been talking for weeks about was missing.
"I have been writing down my personal feelings about a variety of topics and previous interactions I've had." Tenya recited robotically, but his perfect posture dropped a single degree.
"I'm very confused Tensei, I've tried doing what you've recommended but my classmates seem to not take kindly to my actions."
"Oh?" He came around and sat next to his brother. "Like what?"
Tenya lowered his head more, thinking back to everything. Somehow, someway it all revolved around Midoriya. Her going to watch films with him to give him more adaptable forms, her being watched by him every second, her being guarded by him from everyone. It didn't make sense why the others defended him. Was it pity towards his inability to choose? Either way it was still his actions that confined Uraraka to a life within the walls of UA.
"Well, there was this one girl in my class who did not appreciate the time and effort I have been spending cooking for Uraraka."
"What? She jealous or something?"
"That is precisely what I thought as well!" Tenya chopped to get the point across. "When I brought it up, she denied it and..impacted my nether regions harshly."
"Oof."
"Yes, big 'oof' indeed." Tenya cringed, recalling the feeling.
"Well, has anyone else said anything?"
Tenya shook his head. "No, but it's clear that the others think similarly to some degree. It is discouraging that so early into the year my peers are starting to distance themselves from me."
"Yeah, this is going to be one hell of a year for you Tenya."
"Language! gAH!" Tenya was smacked on the head by his brother's hand. While it was one of his chops with significantly less force, the engines in his arms brought considerable weight behind his movements.
"That, might be part of why they aren't so happy with you. I was hoping this was a middle school phase but you've always been like this." Tensei chuckled, remembering the small little Tenya marching around and trying to order some dogs to walk single file. Then he got a little more serious, his brother was going through a tough time now. Who knows how on edge the other kids in his class will be when they go back to school.
"Listen, Tenya, things are going to be much different from now on. All of them are going to be harboring some ill feelings about this whether or not they're tied with you."
Tenya nodded, already writing down notes. Good.
"If you try to 'remind' them of the rules every time they might not be following them, they're only going to close themselves off to you. Remember, a leader doesn't push people towards a goal, he runs to achieve it himself and simply invites others to join him. He seeks constant self improvement, like you're doing now, and points out when people are doing good."
His little brother nodded again, making sure to get every word down.
"But Tensei, what if they do things that are unheroic? Or other things that would lead them away from the goal they wanted in the first place?"
Tensei brought his arm around Tenya, bringing him into a half hug. "Then that's their choice in the end, and if you think it's really hurting them then talk to them about it. Try to understand why they're doing it first before accusing them of anything. One time in UA I saw someone smokin-"
"HOW DEPLORABLE! To smoke on the sacred grounds of-gah!" Tenya got smacked again by his 'loving' brother.
"Don't interrupt, anyways I tried to get him to stop and brought him to a teacher. Do you know what happened?"
"Hm, he was reprimanded for his actions?"
"Nope."
"What?"
"Turns out, his quirk was smoke based. He could store up smoke in his body and manipulate it. If he got them dense enough he could make walls or clouds to ride on."
"But, what about the content?! Surely all that tar building up along with the nicotine would be very bad for him."
"Actually, that's part of how he got his clouds to be so thick. He also had to keep smoke going through his system to be healthy, so even if he had a nicotine addiction, it was a part of his daily diet. It's like being addicted to water, even if there is an addictive chemical put in it we still need it to live."
"I see." Tenya hummed to himself. "So you're saying before I point out a flaw in someone, I should ask them about it and see if it truly is something to be corrected?"
"That's a slightly different twist but yeah."
"Then I shall be sure to apply this advice immediately! Thank you for your wisdom Tensei!"
"Anytime." His phone buzzed in his pocket. As he reached for it he saw Tenya about to say something about phones being used during conversation, but restrained himself. Instead he asked a question.
"Tensei, why are you answering your phone during our talk?"
He smiled at that, his brother sure learns fast. His tone could use some work still, but if anyone got to know him they'd know he's just always punctual and passionate about things.
"It's my hero phone, I might be getting an emergency alert for something or another big thing could be going down in the area."
"Ah! That is a very reasonable explanation."
"See? Asking good questions will help get to know people instead of driving them away." Tensei checked his alerts, and went wide eyed.
"What is it?" Tenya asked, incredibly curious.
"They found Midoriya and Uraraka." He smiled turning back to his little brother. Tensei could feel the tension in Tenya relax, but there was still some there tucked away. Not that he could blame the teen, Japan was still trying to figure out how to survive without All Might and he's had to work double time to keep his patrol areas safe.
"Wow, this is way more comfortable than riding one of Pixie Bob's beasts." Mandalay noted, standing in the giant's palm. His stomps crunched the snow underneath them as he made his way forward. With her was Pixie Bob and Uraraka.
Soon after the Wild Wild Pussycats had made contact with the two, they revealed that they had landed near their private woodland area still in Japan. Uraraka came out to talk to them, still wearing her special plug suit that kept her heated, and explained their situation best they could.
For now the plan was to simply get the kids back to their base where they could figure out what to do next.
"So Uraraka?" Mandalay got her attention.
"Hm?"
"We watched your interview, good job handling that after barely getting into highschool."
"Hehe." He shuffled in place, a little bashful thinking about the experience. "Well, I did have a lot of help."
"Don't sell yourself short, you did great!" Pixie Bob complimented, then eyed Midoriya's metal face. Feeling the woman's eyes he turned to look down at her. Pixie Bob's voice turned softer."By the way, we know it must have been really hard back there at the USJ. But we really appreciate you willing to step up to the challenge. I don't know who else could have beaten that thing."
He didn't reply, only looking to the ground and nodding. Ochaco rubbed the finger next to her, trying to help sooth his feelings. Then a thought occurred. "Wait, if you know about that fight, how many others know about it?"
"Um." Mandalay scratched the back of her head. "Everyone? The fight was broadcasted thanks to some news station on a rooftop."
"Oh, so, everyone saw us?" Ochaco nervously asked back. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to feel knowing that, but she preferred it if it was at least on a need to know basis. That fight was brutal.
"Yeah." Pixie Bob nodded. "Everyone knows, and that's why they're placing a lot of hope in you two."
"Wait, why?"
"You kicked that Nomu's ass that's why." Pixie Bob punched her gloved hand, but then looked a little worried. "By the way, did you two manage to, you know, take care of it?"
Ochaco nodded, actually relieved to remember that detail of the fight. "We took it to space and hit it with a big blast. I don't think there's literally anything left."
"Thank goodness." Pixie Bob let out a breath, the air from her mouth visible with the cold.
Izuku came to a stop next to the large wooden cabin covered with snow. Outside were Tiger and Ragdoll wearing thick comfortable winter styled costumes that matched the other teammates. They waved over to them from below as Izuku lowered his hand to them.
Mandalay and Pixie Bob were the first to hop off. Ochaco briefly looked back to Izuku and gave him a sweet smile. "Thanks Izuku."
"Uuur, Eeelkum."
"What did he say?" Ragdoll asked.
"Do you want me to say it outloud or keep it to myself?" Pixie Bob grinned to the others.
"Gross." Tiger said.
"Pretty sure it was 'You're welcome." Right Midoriya?" Mandalay asked above, getting a nod from the giant.
Ragdoll walked up to Ochaco, keeping her grin on the girl. "Well, let's get you inside and fed kitten. It's been a while since you've had anything to eat right?"
At the mention of food Ochaco's stomach grumbled like a lion. Too embarrassed to reply she nodded her head and slid down the hand. As soon as she touched down to the snow her suit became highlighted by a green light. Dematerializing and leaving only her original hero costume. The cold nipped at her immediately making her shiver.
As she was walking inside she couldn't help but turn back to Izuku who was waiting outside. Of course he couldn't fit in the large cabin, but it was still sad to see him having to wait alone. She would come back to visit him soon, maybe bring something for him to eat.
"Wow, so that's what it's like in there? Sounds super comfy but if there's no food or water then I guess it's not really a place to live." Pixie Bob commented eating alongside the teenage girl. Ochaco had changed into some of Ragdoll's spare clothes, losing the whole hero look and settling for pajama girl.
"Yeah, but I don't know how I'm going to ever sleep in my own bed again. The bean bag was suuuuper comfy. Like a cloud filled with angel feathers." Ochaco recalled how wonderful it was in the headspace. No wonder Mirio would stay in there so long.
"I bet it was more comfortable cuddling with Midoriya." Ragdoll added, grinning playfully.
"Yeeeah." Ochaco didn't bother to correct her. Even thinking about how comfortable it was started to make her feel loose and lazy.
The two women with her started to laugh, shaking her from her imagination. "What? Was it something I said?"
"Haha! Don't worry about it kitten! You're just fun to be around." Ragdoll just waved her worries off.
"So, tell us." Pixie Bob turned more serious, something about her attitude shift rubbing her the wrong way. "Is he single?"
"Pixie, no." Ragdoll warned.
"Oh come on! He would be perfect! Imagine it, cuddling away with a strong boy who's shackled by fate but strives to do what's right. You know it sounds amazing!" Pixie Bob reasoned, making Ochaco wonder if revealing what she did about Izuku was a good decision.
"I'm not denying it, but he's too young and already has his eyes on someone. Literally." Ragdoll pointed to the giant sitting patiently outside. Even if they couldn't see his face, all knew he was watching.
"So if he was a little older than you'd shoot your shot?" Pixie Bob asked back, forgetting the existence of Ochaco who wasn't liking this conversation very much.
"Yeah, I mean, we both have green hair. Imagine the kittens we'd have." Ragdoll halfheartedly mentioned, just playing along with her teammate's antics. She stopped when she noticed how red faced Ochaco had gotten.
"You ok kitten?" She asked, Ochaco furiously nodded before suddenly shooting up from her seat.
"I-I'M GOING TO CHECK ON IZUKU!" and just like that she bolted to the door, leaving the two women behind.
K, so I know I'm not updating this story as often as before, but for good reasons.
I'm also working on other stories and updating them as well.
See reason 1.
Any questions, comments, or jokes are welcomed. As long as they're funny.
Ezylryb:
There will definitely be more wholesome scenes between the two. It will be a nice change of pace.
Reishin Amara:
Well, we see that the interface ability was converted to be the new processing power to allow Izuku to have full control of his body. If we do see one for all manifest it's personages it wouldn't be in the same way unless sacrifices are made.
Zabkiel:
Well, what military would pass up a giant walking weapon to use as they see fit? Even if they couldn't convince Izuku to do it they would at least make sure nothing was posing a large threat to them.
In a way yes, there are a lot of things that aren't directly communicated in those scenes but show more so raw desires and emotions for us to discover about them. True, neither had someone they could consider a close friend so now that they're suddenly super close they've latched on to each other.
The way it works is more complicated than that. Even if Izuku thinks "I want to talk." it wouldn't respond. Previously we saw that Izuku believed that no one wanted to hear him talk anymore and that he was annoying. In its most raw form, his wish was for him not to talk anymore. It can't just be a surface desire like a random food craving, it has to be a want like 'I really want some nicotine and I'd do just about anything to get some.'
Weird example but I hope that makes sense. Overtime he'll learn how to do things easily, but right now he's just super inexperienced. The only real experience he had was doing small things in the headspace because he couldn't do anything else.
Animeguy1101:
As you know I did get caught up in the manga.
Snipe was just good enough with a gun to fake having a quirk. Not like they medically test you to register it. Izuku still has his toe joint after all. Snipe also kept it a secret so he could be a hero, otherwise he'd be stuck being a vigilante to help out.
There's only so much I can give away right now just because I want to slowly reveal Snipe's full story and make a closer bond with Ochaco and Izuku.
Saramus92:
When I try searching it there's still too many varieties. Maybe try PMing me a link?
Benji the Monocat:
It was a good spot to take a break, but now we're getting back into things.
fencer29:
I believe they were in New York. Last I heard Amy had published a book.
That's actually a good idea, maybe I'll use that but it won't be until later.
Fable Philo:
Well I'm glad you're liking the story!
KumaNoIkari:
I just couldn't think of a real way he could have survived that.
JotSomethingDown:
I'm sure Izuku will still be very protective over her and keep an eye out for trouble. Kimiko will probably come back to the rooftop and have a one sided conversation with him again sparking a further friendship.
Training will be different for him. It's not a matter of combat prowess, but adaptability to different situations now. For control, he knows how to activate base commands like moving around or using weapons he's familiar with. Other than that he's going to have to feel them out like new muscles, similar to him speaking in this chapter.
Team5dsforever:
It is strange how we're happy for them even if they're not.
gabrispaul20:
Izuku will not be transforming into vehicles, this is a big robot story. Also, the interface option was sacrificed to let Izuku control the robot. If the users of One for All do manifest it will be in different ways, or because Izuku sacrifices his control.
Bemarti:
Nah, he's never going to be fully human again. Also the rule so far is anything he creates must be touching him, when it leaves him it vanishes so no making weapons or other things for others. The only reason Bakugo has his robo arm is because Izuku controlled the assembly machines in the support class to use the resources they already had.