My Iron Giant
-Stressing Normal-
Izuku's main optic blinked, the boy having projected quite a lot of memories in the past few hours. Ochaco sat next to him on a chair right outside her bedroom on the roof.
The others who just witnessed the events the two had experienced were silent, sifting through the mass amount of information they just received.
"So." Nezu took a sip of his tea, glancing to David Shield who was also entrusted to keep this secret. "I assume you all feel the same that this should not be mentioned to anyone else?"
"Even Melissa?" The scientist asked. "She was there when they disappeared."
"Knowing the lives of our interdimensional counterparts could distract us." The Principal reasoned. "Their Melissa clearly strove to become a hero while being inspired to create new technology. While she is successful, knowing that a version accomplished that goal would influence our own's ability to choose based on her own skills and desires."
"That is a good point." David rubbed his chin while deep in thought. "Now I know I could have finished the quirk enhancer, but who knows what people would do to get their hands on it."
"We really can't tell anyone else?" Ochaco asked the adults. "I mean, we can even leave out the part when we talked about One for All. That way we could include just about, wel, anyone we wanted really."
"I.." Izuku began to speak, his Ion titan form sitting with his legs in his arms. "Don't know, if that's best."
"Why not?" Ochaco asked her friend with no judgment.
"New things, are hard to be-lieve." His single eye pulsated along with his somewhat choppy words. "Might be seen, as a lie."
"Midorya is correct." The Principal nodded along with the assessment. "Your claim is hard to prove, and can't accurately be disproved. If you were to attempt to persuade a common mind it would be easy for them to accuse you of lying. A comparison would be to share that you had a personal divine experience. Others are only able to go on your word, and nothing else. Even if you did have such an encounter, it would be the easiest explanation for the common mind to claim it as a lie and move on."
Ochaco grumbled, folding her arms as she took it in. Yeah, it was different going over to their universe. There was already the suspicion with Knight being a foreign element to their world. When they showed up, they pretty much confirmed the theory just by their presence.
Here though? The time traveler brought them back pretty much the moment they left, hidden in the smoke. Izuku was even in the same form as before, the only difference was that Ochaco had her new hero suit packed away in his body.
Being apart of a science club and having resources to make cool tech, someone would just say that it was made there.
Ugh, but she can't lie to Snipe. He caught on to her lies faster than her parents and would punish her twenty times worse.
"So, I trust you'll keep this between us?" Nezu asked the two. Izuku nodded his single optic, while Ochaco fidgeted in place as her uncertainty still stirred in her head.
"What about my new suit?" She asked the two.
"If anyone asks-" David got up, stretching his back from sitting for hours. "-just tell them I wanted to run some ideas through Midoriya."
The two adults, if Nezu was considered one, began to leave the two alone on the rooftop. "As exciting as these events must have been, you two should get some rest. Classes resume tomorrow after all."
Ochaco perked up, jolting at the reminder. That's right, after so long she forgot that there were normal things to do.
"But keep in mind." Nezu's eyes lingered on the two. "We will be speaking about these events in the near future."
With that warning, they were left with their thoughts. Well, Ochaco only really had sleepy ones left.
*Yawn* She got up, wobbling from one foot to the other as she made her way towards her room. Glancing up at the moon that hovered over them, Ochaco took in the night sky. Smirking to herself as she recalled the fact that she had been to space, twice.
"Goodnight Izuku." She gave his leg a brief hug. "Can't wait to actually have classes with you this time."
Izuku smiled inside his metal body, using one hand to return the gesture. "Goodnight."
Once she made her way inside, the titan sat beside her room, keeping watch over the school from his vantage point. One of his cameras mounted on his shoulder remained locked onto a position on one of the buildings nearby, a man who had remained there the entire time watching through a scope.
The distant figure rose from his prone position, tilting his hat towards the metal boy as he left.
To Izuku, Snipe knowing about their adventure was one of the lowest things on his priority list. Now that he had time to think about, well everything that was happening it was a lot. He had just participated in fighting a man, not a monster, that was able to throw him around. A club was formed for him to use his technology to create machines to help mankind so it wasn't so quirk reliant. His father had returned from America and had been spending as much time as he could with him. All for One was alive somewhere here, and was able to create something that rivaled his own strength. A time traveling alien had dropped him and Ochaco off with a machine that baffled his own understanding of spatial theories. School was starting up again, and for the first time he would be consciously participating in classes. Ochaco had been thinking of several ways for them to make money, and that involved interacting with the public a lot. Endeavor was his uncle, the number two hero who was unofficially the number one. The pressure with All Might being gone and everyone talking about him being the next number one hero. The multiverse was real, and for a short moment he got to meet All Might again.
He wished he could have asked the man more, if he was proud of his accomplishments, if he was doing the right thing, but that wasn't his All Might.
There was so much. So, so much on his mind and he was beginning to feel overwhelmed by it all.
[Alert-Proximity Alarm]
*Creak* His glowing green optics turned towards the door, a familiar, relaxing face greeting him with a small smile.
"Hey." Komori waved to him with one hand, carrying a pot in the other that shimmered in the light. She had on a simple beanie with a baggy dark shirt and leggings. Moving her way over to Izuku, she smiled up to him. "I'm pretty excited for school to start back up. Are you?"
He lowered his gaze to his feet, unsure if he was or not.
"I get it." She patted his leg. "It's probably your first day, so it's nerve wracking."
Yeah, it was.
"I was scared for a second when I heard that boom from the support studio." She admitted, examining his armor plating. "But you don't look like you have a scratch."
True, he avoided any damage when they fell into the void between universes.
"Are you ok though?" She questioned. "Like, overall?"
He…couldn't answer that. Not because he was incapable of it but because he was worried what answer he might come to if he really started asking that to himself. Physically though, he was fine.
"I'm ok."
She quirked her head, not prying any further but still concerned for her friend. "You're talking is getting better."
He nodded, agreeing with her assessment. Giving further attention to her pot, he pointed at it with one finger on his lumbering arm. "What's that?"
"Oh!" The girl happily bounced with it in her arms as she showed it to him. "This is Gliophorus psittacinus! Though it's nicknamed the parrot waxcap mushroom! I always wanted one of these because they look like glass sculptures! I can make them with my quirk, but it feels extra special to get one that was made by nature. I gave up looking for it years ago, but when I saw one of your forms had really glossy green metal, it reminded me of it. A really special mushroom that's rare to come by."
She moved over to her little shroom garden, planting it alongside the bioluminescent one. Izuku doesn't think he had ever been compared to a mushroom before, but it made him happy.
"Thank you, Kinoko."
She spun around, holding the little trowel in her hand. Kimori was taken aback by his sudden use of her first name, but she felt her heart swell. With a beaming smile, she held the shovel out to him. "Here, Izuku, why don't you try?"
Tenya Ida was attentive, awake, and productive. Whisking the eggs with his well cared body, he smiled at the opportunity that was presenting itself today. He began with a morning jog, cleaned himself up, and now was preparing a nutritional meal alongside a quick study in his other hand.
He was always up first, before anyone else to make sure that things went smoothly in person.
*ding*
Tenya couldn't help but smile as the elevator door opened, one other person did early morning training, and that was-
*Stomp*
The mechanical whining of motors, the clanking of metal, the heavy footsteps, Midoriya stepped out of the elevator with Ochaco walking beside him.
How did he even fit inside of it? Hold on!
"Midoriya!" Tenya called out, setting his book down and marching towards them. He was ready to reprimand the boy, but recalled his brother's advice. "How much do you weigh?"
The single eye blinked, turning towards Ochaco who was more clueless about the subject.
"I think he's at least twenty." Ochaco estimated off the top of her head from her pool of construction knowledge.
"Twenty what?" Tenya questioned.
"Tons." Izuku finished, giving Tenya on what stance he should take.
"That far exceeds the weight limits of any residential elevator!" He swung his arm in the air to get the point across more firmly. "To not only disregard the safety regulations of buildings standards on top of bringing someone less durable than yourself is begging for-"
"Oi." A grumbly Setsuna came down the stairs, exhausted as she dragged her body to the kitchen. "I don't wanna hear that shit this morning."
"Oh wow." Ochaco saw her dark eyes, the girl looking pretty miserable. "Did you not get much sleep?"
"I had this weird dream." The girl rubbed her eyes. "I was some blonde psycho who invaded I-island, stabbed a chick, drank her blood and became her, got killed by a cyberguy who looked like human Midoriya in front of another Midoriya, then somehow got the memories of the one chick I killed who was apparently an alien, got inside a weird time machine that was bigger on the inside-"
Izuku and Ochaco flinched.
"-then changed to look like me, went all across history to set up events to get with an alien Midoriya, accidentally started an alien invasion on Earth, then died again."
Once she peeked through her squinty eyes, Setsuna saw how stiff the two were. "You didn't just get spooked by a nightmare you didn't have right?"
"Haha!" Ochaco forced out a laugh. "No! It's not like any of that could actually happen! Right Izuku?"
His optic nodded furiously in front of the tired girl, then looked out towards the glass windows to see if there really was an impending alien invasion. With how crazy things have been it wasn't exactly out of the picture.
"Well. Imma make some oatmeal." Dragging her feet, Setsuna began her sluggish morning routine, putting her body on auto pilot.
"What a strange dream." Tenya muttered. "Anyways Midoriya, I hope you learned your lesson about the safety of elevators."
Gaining the titan's attention, Izuku nodded along. "I scanned it. It can hold me."
It didn't fully satisfy Tenya, who adjusted his glasses. "Even if UA and the Uraraka family managed to make remarkable quality for us, we should respect the limits that they established for the elevator's use."
"Ida." Ochaco addressed him a little more formerly. "You do know the weight limit of a Class C9 freight elevator right?"
He stopped, thinking on the topic for a moment and coming to a conclusion. "I can't say I do no."
"They can lift up to a hundred sixty tons." Ochaco stated. "Well, that's the base amount. It can safely support a hundred and fifty percent its capacity before actually exceeding the safety limits."
"Ah." Tenya muttered, a little dumbfounded about how strong their residential elevator was. What exactly did they have in mind it would be used for when building it? Midoriya was far greater than the size of the building when it was constructed. "I did not know that."
"It's fine." She waved it off, looking over to see some of the food was was partially prepared. "Hey, what did I say about cooking for me."
"I was waiting for you to come down so I coud ask you to join!" Tenya quickly defended himself.
"Great!" Ochaco smiled, going right to it. "I'll get some milk out to add to the eggs. Then we can start on some rice."
He smiled, joining her near the stove as he finally felt things were going back to how they should be.
"Izuku!" Ochaco called out to her friend. "Would you get started on that?"
Halting his egg whisking, he eyed the titan standing behind them. "I don't think he would be of any service."
"Trust me." Grabbing a few measuring cups, Ochaco laid them out to find the one she needed. "He'll be just fine. Plus this is the first time that he's been in a kitchen since, well, becoming a big robot."
She was too kind for this world.
"Ok." Izuku's large hand nearly shoved Tenya away as his fingers barely reached into one of the cabinets, pulling out a bag of rice that was a salt packet compared to him. Tenya was too distracted watching Izuku make the rice, his large fingers moving so slowly to make sure they didn't spill a grain, dumping it in a metal bowl, and reaching with one finger to-
"Midoriya!" Tenya yelled, stopping the boy's assault on the rice. "Do you plan to wash your hands?"
Izuku checked his finger, seeing there was some lingering dirt on it with fertilizer from last night. "Sorry."
"Just." Tenya took a deep breath to control himself. "Leave it to Uraraka and I. There's no point in helping since you can't eat it."
"I…just want to help." Izuku gazed a little longer at his finger, seeing his finite control over the circumstances. He just had to be better.
[Command Recognized and Confirmed]
[Searching for optimal designs….Design found]
[Upgrading..]
The metal digit began to glow red hot, Izuku's entire hand radiating a field of condensed heat around itself. It soon stopped after it started, Izuku showing off his perfectly sanitized hand to the two. "I can help."
"That's great Izuku!" Ochaco stood in awe of his creativity. "Now there's nothing stopping you from making the rice!"
Tenya did his best to keep his body still at the moment. He was doing a marvelous job managing his temper as Izuku crushed the rice under his finger in the bowl, making small dents with each move. His body practically took up half the kitchen, being a constant obstacle from him and anything he wanted to get to. Ochaco was on the other side of him, perfectly content with the situation as Izuku continually made sure to not be in her way. Looking over to the empty bag of rice, Tenya spotted a new issue. "Midoriya, you're using the wrong rice! That's glutinous rice! Not only that but you are washing the rice too hard and too fast! It's become a paste at this point!"
Izuku stopped, his shoulder drooping as he gazed down. "Sorry."
"Hold on." Ochaco looked over, seeing Izuku's work in progress. "Are you making mochi?"
His single optic nodded, making Tenya leak out some of his anger.
"Midoriya, our meal does not call for-"
"Awww." Ochaco patted Izuku's arm with a sweet smile. "Thank you! You didn't have to do that for me. I know you've never made mochi before."
"Excuse me." Tenya cut in between Ochaco and Izuku. "But this clearly isn't what we were trying to do. Midoriya clearly doesn't have experience or skill in this, and still insists on making something that he won't even eat himself."
"I know right?" The girl just happily recognized that fact. "It's probably really hard for him, but he's making my favorite treat on the first day back to school!"
Tenya was flabbergasted, wondering if Ochaco was truly oblivious to the chaos that was erupting right before them. Taking his sight away from the two for a moment, he looked up and saw his class sitting at the dining area watching them, watching him with wide grins on their faces like they were enjoying the scene.
"Sucks to suck." Manga said in a chipper tone, before putting a spoonful of cereal to his two dimensional head.
Bakugo kept his hands in his pockets, avoiding as many people as he could as he made his way towards class. There was only so much time until the sports festival, and he had to make sure he was his absolute best. Now that classes were back, he didn't have as much time to do "monitored quirk exercises", but now they had classes again. He would be able to do some sparring, get some experience under his belt.
Reaching out his metallic hand, he paused at the door handle. Dammit, even in the simplest things Deku was a reminder. The arm felt natural, but any time he saw it he was reminded on how the shiny metal ass looked down on him. Giving him back the very arm he took away, like Deku had complete control over his life.
Slipping a glove over the metal hand, he was able to imagine it was his own flesh and blood underneath. If he really was going to prove he was going to stand alone as the number one hero, he wouldn't use the pity of others. Using his left, real hand, he reached out to the handle to-
*stomp*
He froze, the hallway silent as everyone parted ways for the murderer.
*Stomp*
The titan made his way through, his bitch smiling right in front of him as she held his hand, leading him through the hallways. While Deku refused to look his way with that single eye, there were plenty of other smaller ones on his torso locked onto Bakugo. He huffed, daring him to try something.
"Even if this is the smallest you've managed to get." Bakugo overheard round face announce, pretty easy to hear when all the background characters were just taking pictures or keeping their voice low around him.
"I'm super happy you can join us in the classroom." She finished, smiling brightly at Deku in front of the reject club classroom. The girl briefly turned towards Bakugo, scowling for a second before entering the room with him in tow.
"So there is something between you two." Big tits suddenly said to his left.
Bakugo growled in her face, the rich girl hardly flinching at it. "Mind your own damn business."
She kept her gaze against his, locking eye contact against Bakugo. "Any business around Uraraka Ochaco, is my business. Besides, the consequences if you step out of line are much higher than my own."
The ravenette then returned back into the class, glancing over her shoulder. "Besides, any business revolving around a pupil of Snipe is my business."
What the hell was she talking about? Bakugo could get it if some weakling hung around round face or Deku to get more popular, get more attention, hell maybe even the smallest chance of getting stronger. But this girl, she was interested because of some outdated hero?
Great, now there was something else on his radar for the upcoming sports festival. It better not interfere with any of his plans.
"Welcome." Vlad King announced to his students, who were sitting a little closer to make room for Midoriya to sit in the back. "Before we begin, I want to say how happy I am to see all of you decided to remain in the hero course. This was your first experience with real villains, way before you should have. With All Might gone, there's a big gap in the hero industry that he left."
"Don't worry." Awase just turned around, giving a finger gun to Midoriya. "We've already got our next number one."
"You think he's invincible?" Vlad King questioned the boy harshly, making him retreat into his seat. "Everyone thought All Might was invincible, and we were stupid to believe it and he paid the price."
Honenuki raised his hand, earning a nod from the teacher to continue. "But Midoriya killed that thing, so what's the worry?"
"And what nearly took out Midoriya?" The man asked again, Monoma raising his hand but getting smacked by Kendo.
"You lost that fight." The redhead reminded him.
"I think I could win a rematch." Monoma muttered to himself.
A large metal hand rose towards the ceiling, accidentally tapping it earning everyone's attention.
"All Might." Izuku answered.
"Correct." Vlad announced.
"That's a really intense game of rock paper scissors." Manga mentioned.
"A game that we hope to never play." Vlad spoke gently. "We all have weaknesses, and pray to whatever deity you have that your enemies never discover it. You can never rely on one person to carry all of us, so don't be a hindrance, be strong enough to stand by your allies and cover each other."
Ochaco glanced back to Izuku, thinking about the different times that they had done just that. It seemed like everything was pushing them closer and closer together, her future becoming infinitely harder to imagine without him.
The hero grabbed a remote from his pocket, clicking it to reveal the hero costumes stored in the room. "In preparation to instill class unity, we will be doing some team sparring. We've got some time until the sports festival so use this time wisely."
There wasn't a costume option for Izuku, and Ochaco didn't retrieve her case. Instead, once they were in front of the locker rooms Izuku opened up his torso for Ochaco to retrieve her own items.
In the boys area, Izuku just tried to get through to the other side but was bombarded by a few of them.
"Come on!" Manga pleaded. "If we're on the same team, you gotta be something like Metroplex, or Fortress Maximus!"
"Do Voltron!" Tetsutetsu called out. "He's a classic!"
"Why not an Eva?" Rin suggested.
"I already did that." Monoma tugged at the sleeves of his updated hero costume. While it bore resemblance of a suit like his last outfit, the material had hints of circuitry interwoven together to make up his suit and pants. There were points alongside his costume that appeared like durable disks, placed right over the points of his body that had the permanent ports. "Besides, if he chooses a larger form would this really be a battle?"
"You're one to talk." Kuroiro huffed. "You can also turn into a massive robot."
"I already get enough practice with that..quirk..in my afternoon activities." The blond boy carefully chose his words. "I'm not a copycat of Midoriya, I am my own hero who utilizes the strengths of everyone around him."
"I wouldn't blame you if you were a copy cat." Bondo shrugged. "I'd always want to use Midoriya's quirk too."
"So Mibroiya?" Tetsutetsu asked the titan who was trying to sneak out as well as a twenty foot walking tank could. "You going as is or you going to try something new?"
"I, stay like this." Izuku answered. "Harder to, step on you."
"Oho!" The silver haired boy grinned. "Giving us a handicap eh? Well I accept your challenge!"
"Midoriya." Tenya addressed the boy. "While I don't see how any of us could defeat your larger forms, it is still rude to-"
"Would you quit it already!" Awase yelled at the stubborn boy. "No one wants to hear anything 'advice' you have to give! It's rude, condescending, and treating everyone like they haven't actually thought things through! We don't even know the rules yet for the exercise!"
"He's right." Kamakiri stood tall in front of the armored speedster. "We're all tired of your holier than though attitude. I thought Shiozaki might be bad but holy shit she's actually respectful of people. Even if she doesn't agree with some of us, she still understands she's not perfect either."
"I never claimed to be perfect." Tenya defended himself. "I am aware that I have flaws, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't warn others of their-"
"Now hold on everyone." Monoma came forward, putting a hand on Tenya's shoulder. "While we all have grievances for Ida's constant barrage of pointing out our flaws, we shouldn't immediately dismiss them because of his direct criticism."
"Thank you." The speedster let out a lungful of building stress.
"We should ignore him because he has no authority." The blond reasoned.
"What?!"
"Whatever he commands us to do-" The blond reasoned. "-he cannot back up with any consequence to us. Think about it, what can he do if we ignore him without avoiding punishment himself?"
The boys thought it over, listening to Monoma's words for a change.
"All he can do is tell a teacher." Manga thought aloud.
"Yeah." Awase nodded. "But Ida doesn't really tell us to do anything that the teachers enforce either."
"Exactly." Monoma clapped his hands. "So, we are all in agreement to ignore Ida and to only cooperate with him if a teacher asks us to. All in favor, say aye?"
"Aye!" Nearly all of them shouted.
"Why should we listen to you?" Kamakiri asked the blond. "You nearly killed some of us."
"Because I'm kept in line by our class president." Monoma refuted. "You can ignore me if you wish, but Itsuka has authority that can't be ignored."
"He's going about it weird but he's right." Manga shared. "I mean, he really has improved since the battle training incident. Not really fun to hang around, but he's kept under control."
"Excuse me!" Tenya shouted as he marched to the center of the group.
"You're excused." Kuroiro interrupted briefly, before walking out. "Let's not keep Vlad Sensei waiting guys. After his injuries at USJ, let's make sure to give him as much respect as we can."
"Right!"
"Man I totally forgot about that."
"We're really lucky to have Recovery Girl."
"Let's not bang each other up too much for her sake."
Tenya stood aghast at the scene, everyone ignoring him just as they said they would. It didn't make any sense, they all acted more behaved out of spite towards him, who was only trying to get them to do what they are doing right now? A headache started brewing, the teen really needing to chat with his brother about how to resolve this.
*click*
The girls were taking longer to get ready.
*Chk*
Every move made them more nervous.
*Tk*
They couldn't take their eyes away in fear of what might happened if they turned their backs.
Ochaco was piecing together her gun on one of the benches. Checking over her equipment one more time before heading out.
"Please tell me you're not going to actually use that right?" Kendo pleaded.
The military styled brunette, geared up in her I-island suit made by the help of her interdimensional friends, glanced up from her handiwork as she inserted the magazine. "Don't worry, I'm using nonlethal rounds."
"Still." Shiozaki came over. "It is a very…concerning thing to know you are holding something that could easily take our lives."
"I think we'll be fine." Setsuna shoved her nervousness of the weapon inside herself. "Snipe trained her, so she knows what she's doing. I bet the odds of her killing anyone are pretty low compared to what some of our quirks can do. Right?"
Ochaco pulled out her sidearm, holding it in front of her, she pointed dead ahead towards a random locker where no one stood. Her finger went over the trigger, imagining it all over again.
*clickclick*
It was easy, so easy. She thought it would mess her up, be a mess after it. Yet she felt fine, she knew what she did and why she did it. Not even a nightmare. Did that make her a bad person? Or just a good killer?
Sliding a mag with some rubber bullets into the gun, she re-holstered it as she marched out with her rifle.
Izuku was first to arrive, watching as the others would join them in just a few moments. His sensors identified The Principal alongside Vlad King, whispering to each other for a few moments before the man hesitantly nodded.
The furry one then approached Izuku, holding his paws behind his back. "Given light of your recent 'activities', I have requested a change in plans in an attempt to assist you."
Izuku squatted down to him, wondering what would be different. "What's happe-ning?"
"After some review over everything you have done, it seems you have never actually had the chance at a mock fight." The Principal began to explain. "Each combat scenario you have encountered, was real, and you responded as well as you could with deadly means. We don't blame you, but ourselves for not preparing you properly to receive proper training on how to combat those without causing serious harm, or even in practice."
Lowering his optic to face the ground, Izuku thought on each fight he had whether he was aware or not. The entrance exam he squashed robots, Bakugo he cut his arm off, against Monoma he went for the kill, USJ he killed a villain and a Nomu, dirt monsters in the forest he obliterated, I-island he broke people's ribs and vaporized plenty of robots, and never did he consider to actually take Wolfram in alive. Izuku was beginning to see a growing pattern in his fighting, to end it quickly with overwhelming force and hardly caring about doing harm.
He was scared, all of it coming to him so naturally. He shouldn't be here, with his classmates, otherwise he might-
"I trust you Midoriya." Nezu put a paw on his metal foot. "You are now in an environment that you can start small, test how to restrain and capture without injury. You have demonstrated great care in keeping Uraraka unharmed, I believe you can do the same with the others. Of course, bruises and the occasional broken bone will happen whether you participate in the exercise."
That took him by surprise. "I can sit out?"
The Principal nodded. "Yes, but I don't recommend it. You need as much practice as possible before the sports festival. I am not allowed to say this, but you need to win first place."
While Izuku didn't fully doubt he couldn't get first place, he still believed that some of his classmates were clever enough to work around his abilities. "Why?"
"Because the world already sees you as the next All Might." The Principal reasoned. "We are on the edge of panic, a villain society taking out our number one hero was devastating and crime is already starting to escalate. But they saw you, fighting and winning against a beast who killed the unkillable. Mass panic is placed on hold because of their confidence that you are already taking up the mantle. It is wrong, but if they see that you too can be defeated, by students no less, than their faith will crack, and the fear will finally rise to the surface. We can only hope that once you graduate that society has learned to not rely too heavily on one person."
Two of Izuku's cameras rotated to face behind him, seeing others emerging from the locker rooms. Nezu took that as his cue and began to leave, but not before leaving some final words. "While we at UA will always support you, things may become difficult if you do not meet the expectations placed upon you by society. But I'm sure you understand the struggle of those don't you?"
Izuku stood up, watching the Principal leave. He felt stiff, uncomfortable despite being able to move freely. It was as if a sudden weight he never noticed was pressing against him at all sides, just now becoming unbearable.
"Hey Izuku!" Ochaco ran up to him, the boy giving her his full attention. "You think they'll let us be on the same team? I hope so, I kind of wanna show off our jaeger with the cool laser sword."
"Actually." Vlad King spoke loud enough for the arriving students to hear him. "No one will be on Midoriya's team."
No one really complained, besides Ochaco who just pouted. Izuku was confused though, was he not going to participate afterall?
"Also, Monoma?" The man called out.
"Yes sir?"
"I'd appreciate it if you didn't use Midoriya's quirk. It's not against the rules but it won't give you enough experience with the versatility of your own."
"I understand."
"Excellent." Vlad King held up a ball. "To put it simply, we're playing king of the hill with two teams, only this ball is what makes you the king. You get points by how long you stay the king. Whoever has it the longest will get double points, and whoever has it last gets triple. All of you will be graded individually, so keep that in mind. There will be civilian robots in the area, and you will be docked points for hurting them or for collateral damage. Any questions?"
A single hand rose up, the class groaning as they saw it was Ida's. "Yes! What teams will we be on?"
"Weren't you listening?" Vlad tossed the ball over to Ida who fumbled around with it. "No one is on the same team as Midoriya."
Izuku looked over the class, that weight becoming a lot more heavy. The realization began to dawn on all of them, the gate to the mock city opening up.
"Time starts, now." Vlad King announced.
Everybody panicked, sprinting towards Ida as he tucked the ball into his arms.
"Give it!"
"Dude! Over here!"
"Why aren't you moving?!"
"EVERYONE!" Tenya tried to push past the crowd. "PLEASE! MAKE WAY! OTHERWISE-"
*Crunch*
Two metal fingers crushed the back of his armor, plucking him from the center of the crowd and lifting him out.
"TOSS IT!"
"THROW IT!"
"COME ON!"
Thinking fast, Tenya undid the fasteners on his chestplate, freeing himself from the prison and pressing a foot onto someone's face. Tetsutetsu recoiled, his face turning to steel on instinct as Tenya launched off his head.
He zoomed off with the ball, the rest of the class rushing to follow him.
Izuku was about to chase after him, but felt his legs sinking into the ground. Glancing at the person who was swimming away, Honenuki gave him a lazy salute. Using his arms, he tried to push himself out but found that solid ground was outside his reach.
"Sorry man!" Honenuki apologized. "But I'm your kryptonite."
It all became solid, trapping Izuku in the ground with only part of his torso sticking out. At this rate he wouldn't win, and he doubted changing sizes would work right now. If this was the sports festival, the people would already lose faith in him for getting trapped like this. Even if he won, this single moment would spark doubt. How could he fix it?
What would All Might do?
His metal arms whined, the ground cracking around him. Honenuki stopped swimming away, watching the impossible sight. "No way, he doesn't have any leverage!"
*CRACK* One of Izuku's arms broke free, his hand slamming into the ground as his other one soon followed. He began to push himself up, lifting himself out of the makeshift prison.
"Oh no you don't!" The boy reliquified the ground, Izuku sinking farther into it with his arms shooting back down.
Fighting seemingly overwhelming odds with confidence, all while demonstrating power. That's what All Might would do.
[Activating Flight Systems]
A hum emerged from the back of Izuku's torso, two vents opening up as he shot out of the ground and into the air. His feet left scorch marks on the Earth as they ejected condensed green flames.
"Damn." Honenuki witnessed Izuku soaring over the city. "I knew this would be hard but…damn."
Everyone was having a hard time keeping up with the speedster, which was natural given his quirk's power. Though there was someone keeping up.
"I see him! Give it to Kuroiro!" Monoma shouted from his left, using Tenya's quirk to keep up.
"No!" Tenya turned a sharp corner, running against the wall until he could place his feet back on the ground. "While you may temporarily have my quirk, I am able to best avoid-"
*SLAM*
Izuku landed fifty feet in front of Tenya, the boy's momentum carrying him towards the Ion titan. A metal hand reached out, and no matter how minute of a change Tenya made in his course Izuku mimicked it.
The moment Tenya was in his shadow, Kuroiro popped out of the ground and stole the ball from his arm.
"Tsunotori!" The shadow boy shouted, throwing the ball up in the air.
A horn shot out towards the ball, knocking it away from an intercepting metal arm.
"Gots it!" The horned girl shouted, steering the ball with her horn to-
*ZAP*
It was disintegrated under Izuku's gaze, the ball left in free fall as the giant leapt to intercept it.
The ball suddenly changed directions, just avoiding the teen's fingers. Yanagi used her quirk, zooming it away from the fight. "Stall him."
"POW!" A massive word smacked right into Izuku, clanging against his armor and pushing him back ten feet.
"Holy crap that worked?!" Manga shouted.
Izuku's arm became red hot, slamming through the conjured word and burning through it like butter.
The comic boy sighed. "Well, that's cool too I guess."
"Keep hitting him!" Bondo called out, catching up and spraying Izuku with as much of his quirk as he could. Izuku wasn't stopped, bringing his foot up but taking a large chunk of the road with it. He eyed the obstacle, knowing that he would be docked points. Just like his arm earlier, he heated up his foot until the tar and glue melted off the appendage and back into the hole. The single optic turned blue, emitting a chilling ray and repairing the damage quickly.
"He has freeze rays?!" Kamakiri yelled as he caught up.
"I mean-" Manga replied. "Monoma did, and he copies Midoriya so-"
"He's getting away!" Bondo warned, Izuku escaping with a burst of energy from his feet to leap into the air.
"Come on!" Tsunotori called out to them, picking them up with her horns and flying off. "We catch up with friends!"
"Shrink it." Monoma huffed as he caught his breath in an alley, Kodai altering the size of the ball to make it the size of a marble. "It might be small enough to avoid detection."
"I doubt it." Setsuna mentioned as she folded her arms. "From what I've heard from Uraraka, that guy can track every bug on campus."
The current group turned to Ocahco, the girl shrugging in response. "I mean, he doesn't specifically do that all the time. It's more like background noise that he tunes out."
"Great." Kendo chuckled a little. "If he tries he could track a fly, or more specifically the ball."
A roar of jet engines were heard from above, a shadow falling over them.
"Everyone!" Shiozaki warned. "He is descending from the heavens!"
A piercing green light flashed over them, everyone shielding their eyes from it.
"He's lasering us!" Kuroiro cried out in expected pain.
"No!" Ochaco's visor readjusted itself. "He's making your shadow quirk useless!"
"Give it here!" Setsuna held her hand out, Kodai giving her the marble. She swallowed it, then split herself up and soared off. "Find a good spot indoors he can't get into!"
*BOOM* Izuku landed next to them, moving his hand to stop Setsuna before she could get away.
"You can still feel this right?!" The green haired girl grinned, licking his hand and getting the flinching reaction she expected. "Haha! Girl power for the win!"
"That hardly counts as girl power!" Kendo shouted as Setsuna flew off.
"I don't know." Monoma thought about it as they began to run again. "I believe that would work against me."
"Same." Kuroiro admitted.
"S-such thoughts are forbidden!" Shiozaki sputtered.
Setsuna flew over the city, more like through it. Any open window she took advantage of and flew through. She didn't remain in them very long, as Izuku simply shot out a hand connected to a cable to try and intercept her body through said buildings.
"Woah!" Setsuna dodged one of the limbs. "When did you get all of these powerups?!"
"I had some be-fore. Made more at club."
"Geez, and you still can't turn into mecha godzilla?"
"Can not do tail."
"Shame, that eliminates like, most of my suggestions." Setsuna flew parts of herself into a ventilation shaft, hoping that would pause the boy. He hovered next to the vent, placing his hand over the opening of it.
A blue field of light projected itself from it, similar to a continually flowing shield. The dinosaur lover felt the parts of her that were in the vent suddenly freeze up.
"Woah woah!" Setsuna felt tingly as Izuku pulled his hand away, her body following as if it was locked at the same distance from his hand. "Don't tell me that counts as having the ball!"
"It does." Vlad King warned over the city speakers. "I'm not encouraging him to pluck it out of you, so please release it."
"Fine." Setsuna's floating head groaned as she split her stomach in half.
The ball lingered in the air, Izuku lowering himself to the ground and reaching out with his other hand to carefully grab the marble sized ball in his grip. The moment he released the shield, the ball zoomed away from him.
Monoma managed to catch up, holding his hand out as he brought the ball towards himself and-
"RECIPRO BURST!" Tenya shot between them, grabbing the ball in his hand and dashing off at a much higher speed.
"Damnit!" Monoma shouted, seeing many of the others catching up.
Izuku was about to launch forward, until Tetsutetsu hugged the boy's leg and turned to steel. Awase slamming his hands on the two of them, welding the teens together.
"Hah!" The boy cheered, sweating at the constant running. "Got em!"
Weighing the options in his mind, Izuku realized there wasn't a way to safely remove it from himself. So, ever so carefully, he made sure to test the mobility of his leg. While his ankle joint couldn't safely move, he could compensate by balancing with his back thrusters.
"Stay hard." Izuku warned the boy as he rushed off.
"I so regret this!" Tetsutetsu cried as he was being carried off, stuck to the ion titan.
Tenya weaved through artificial crowds, sliding over vehicles in the streets as he sprinted with full speed. He could hear the roaring behind him, Izuku behind him but being stalled by a number of obstacles.
Yes, they could do this, they could keep the ball away from-
A hand wrapped around his chest, Tenya swearing he was hundreds of feet ahead of the boy. The cable reeled itself into Izuku's arm, the hand bringing Tenya with it.
"BOING!"
Manga created a spring of his word between the arm and the hand, rocketing Tenya out of Izuku's grasp. Unfortunately the force was so great that the teen couldn't hold onto the ball.
"Got it!" Pony yelled, shooting several horns only to be intercepted by lasers. "Don't got it!"
"Shroom shroom!" Komori created a field of mushrooms to attempt to clog up Izuku's joints, but they only got crushed as he marched ahead.
A vine intercepted the ball, bringing it back towards Shiozaki.
*SHING*
A sword erupted from Izuku's wrist, slicing the plant as the ball landed on the flat side of his blade.
Kendo rushed forward, turning her hand large to smack the underside of it to launch the ball into the air. Izuku leapt up, Tetsutetsu screaming the whole time.
*Zip*
A grapple connected to Izuku's wrist, Ochaco zooming forward to grab the ball for herself. Quickly thinking, Izuku gently held onto Ochaco's leg, not hurting her due to her current weightlessness. Before anyone else could surprise him, he pulled the girl towards himself, opened his cockpit, and placed her inside along with the ball.
He landed, softly for the sake of Tetsutetsu as all of the students surrounded him.
"What now?" Rin asked as he was one of the last to catch up.
"Figure out a way inside I guess." Tsuburaba asked.
"You two have literally done nothing so far." Manga commented.
"Ok." Tsuburaba turned to the comic teen. "How exactly are either of us going to match up to that?" He pointed towards Izuku, who simply stood there observing them.
"A-awase." Tetsutetsu pleaded. "Get me off."
"Ah, right." The welder quirk user came up, freeing the steel teen from Izuku's leg.
"Uraraka has the ball though." Kendo came over, examining the situation herself. "So maybe it counts towards us?"
"She has been captured alongside the ball." Vlad's voice came from the speakers. "Izuku is currently gaining the points."
"Well now we need to get in there!" Kamakiri shouted, summoning blades on his arms and attempting to cut inside Izuku's armor. Key word attempting.
"Yanagi." Setsuna nudged the pale girl. "You've got the ghost theme, you sure you can't just phase through and get it for us?"
"I can't do that."
"Dang."
Ochaco was listening to it all, safely sitting inside of Izuku's cockpit with the ball in her hand. "Wow, I don't think I've ever seen you fight like that. That was, really cool."
'Thanks' The words appeared on the screen before her. 'I was worried about trying these features I've never used before, but I guess I have better control over my body than I thought.'
"Yeah." Ochaco chuckled, remembering how Izuku was when they first met. He just followed her around at first, keeping an eye on her, protecting her, listening to her orders, and just that. Now, he could be creative, express himself, and be a hero he dreamed of being. Decided to joke about it she smirked as she put her hands on her hips with the ball in her lap. "Hey Izuku." She said in a completely fake commanding voice.
'Yes?'
"Release me at once!"
She commands, he obeys.
'Ok.'
What?
Everyone jolted when Izuku's torso opened up, Ochaco still sitting in the cockpit in confusion.
"She opened him up!" Setsuna shouted.
"Quick!" Honenuki held his arms up. "Throw it to me! I can take it underground!"
"No! Me!"
"Over here!"
Ochaco glanced back down to the ball in her lap, slowly stepping out until she was on the floor. Izuku's arm came around, moving to grab the ball from her grip.
"Stop." She said without raising her voice.
She commands, he obeys.
Izuku brought his arm back to his side, standing beside her as he oversaw Ochaco. Everyone began to feel a sudden shift in emotion in the slow moving, stiff girl that held the ball in her hand, Izuku standing beside her.
"Uraraka." Tenya came up to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Is something wrong?"
The girl took her helmet off, dropping it to the ground alongside the ball as she made eye contact with the glowing object. "Izuku? Are you, you right now?"
He didn't understand, looking over himself he began trying to decipher what was worrying her.
[Command Recognized and Confirmed]
[Scanning for faults….no faults detected]
[All systems functional]
"Nothing, wrong." Izuku reported. "I feel fine."
Monoma stepped up next to Ochaco, narrowing his eyes at the titan. "I'm going to say something you're not going to like."
"Neito." Kendo warned, but paused when she saw how, worried the boy was.
"What?" Ochaco questioned, wary of what he would say.
"Tell him to punch himself." Monoma simply said. "Hard."
"Neito!" The redhead came forward, grabbing him and shaking him. "What are you thinking?! Why would you-"
"He's not fully in control." The blond stated in complete seriousness. "Or at least, that's the working theory."
"Um." Manga pointed to Izuku. "He seems in perfect control if you ask me. He literally used an arsenal of cool tech just earlier of his own free will."
"That's because it's doesn't interfere with the Primary Objective." Monoma answered. "When he first became like this. Isn't that right Uraraka?"
The girl didn't want to accept it, all that progress, all of that struggling? Just to learn that Izuku really isn't free? What was beginning to disturb her was how calm Izuku seemed to be over all of this. "Izuku, you would never hurt yourself just because someone told you right?"
The boy shook his optic side to side. "Of course, not."
"Hit yourself then." Ochaco said the words before she dwelled on what she was asking.
She commands, he obeys.
*CLANG*
Izuku brought his fist straight into the side of where his optic was, knocking himself backwards with a sizable dent on his armor.
[Damage Detected]
[Begin Repairs]
A pulsating light began to flow over the damage, the metal shifting to retract the dented piece and replace it with a new one. Once that was completed, Izuku stood back up and looked over his classmates.
"Oh no."
"After all of that?"
"How is he still like this?"
Like what? What do they mean?
Ochaco came over, hugging his leg tightly as she was on the verge of crying.
He wasn't in control, Izuku was still a prisoner.
It has been a very long time since I updated this story. Of course, because I was almost done with A Sad Boy in a Tree-house I wanted to finish that before resuming the other fics. Now that this fic has caught up to be just before the sports festival, I can update my current MHA fics alongside each other to be in the same arc.
Now with a tv tropes thanks to Arakiisjogenius
Any questions, comments, or jokes are welcomed. As long as they're funny.
Planar-Walking-Entertainment: More like he hasn't tried to yet. So far, there hasn't been a need. Plus, now that he can fit in the dorms the odds of him encountering a situation where he needs to be smaller is significantly lower.
Harleking31: Yeah, there could have been a lot more sibling jokes, but that crossover had so much in it and way more than either of us planned.
Lanaylee Jones: That depends on a lot of factors, like the size limit, if it works on mechanical components, if Izuku's metal body is considered to be apart of his real body etc.
Blaze1992: Her problem is that Ochaco doesn't even seem like she cares about taking a life.
Darkscale42: Yes, I simply set this story aside for a moment as I worked on other things.