Enjoy.
There were times when Izuku was profoundly grateful for Jason's memories. Yes, they had their downsides- the harsher temper, the nightmares, the surprisingly frequent nicotine cravings that Izuku was steadfastly trying to ignore, the change from natural twitchiness to genuine paranoia- but he was fairly sure that, prior to getting them, he would have outright had a heart attack and expired the moment someone popped out of a closed classroom door as he walked out of school. Even so, he jolted sharply and jerked a step away from the person, hands shuddering as his brain tried to work out if he should go for a gun that he wasn't wearing or resort to physical violence.
In his defence, someone all but jumping through a closed door wasn't an everyday occurrence. Even Martian Manhunter had generally opened doors, if only because it was polite.
"Oh!" the intruder said, sounding suddenly concerned, "Are you alright?"
Izuku, abruptly aware that he was leaning against the wall and clutching a hand to his chest like an old man about to expire, hastily straightened.
"Yep," he croaked, "I'm fine, thank you."
The intruder didn't look convinced, but he smiled nonetheless.
"I really am sorry," he said, sounding genuinely sincere, "Didn't think it would surprise you that much! Anyway- I'm Mirio Togata, Principal Nedzu asked me to come and get you!"
Izuku spared a second to mourn the loss of any sort of cool first impression on the man, who he was fairly sure was an older student, before sighing.
"Did he- did he just tell you that I was outside?"
Mirio gave him a big thumbs up, beaming brightly.
"Yep!"
Yeah, that sounded like Nedzu. Little rat was probably sat in his office chortling into his teacup. Begrudgingly, Izuku acknowledged that it probably was pretty funny. He gestured vaguely, waving a hand around. Mirio tilted his head slightly, watching Izuku's hand move- probably interested in the prosthetic, Izuku realised.
"Did the Principal say why he sent you for me?" he asked. There was something familiar about Mirio, he thought, something that tickled at the back of his mind. Mirio smiled again, a broad and beaming grin, and Izuku had it. He was like All Might. Not just the attitude, either: Mirio looked like All Might, in a sort of way. It wasn't just the blue eyes and the blonde hair, there was something else, almost as though Mirio was an unfinished copy of All Might. A Picasso to All Might's Da Vinci- that sounded incredibly rude, now that Izuku thought it. No, not unfinished. More like immature, not yet settled. Izuku forced the thought away, focusing.
"Yeah," Mirio said. He glanced around before leaning in slightly. Izuku didn't lean back, despite his natural inclination. He was slightly amused to note that, like All Might, Mirio whispered loudly, as though he was still shouting.
"I've been working with Sir Nighteye," Mirio said, as though confiding a great secret, "And he's come here to speak to the Principal. So we've both been asked up to talk to them, I think."
Well, that was interesting. Quick, too: Izuku had gotten the impression that Sir Nighteye's falling out with All Might had been more significant than that. Then again- what was it All Might had said? Nighteye had been trying to influence the One For All successor? And here was Mirio, looking like a clone of All Might himself, with an attitude to match. Yeah, Izuku could maybe guess how All Might had quickly turned things around with his old friend. Mirio might even end up with All For One after all, although it was hard to judge someone's personality from nothing more than a jumpscare and a minute of conversation.
"Lead the way, then," Izuku said, shrugging. Mirio fist-pumped the air and set off, almost bouncing with every step. Izuku would give him this, he was certainly exuberant.
"So," he asked after a few steps, "Do you mind me asking about your Quirk?"
Mirio laughed.
"So long as you take me for dinner first," he said, chortling before continuing, "Nah, kidding. It's called Permeation!"
After naming his Quirk Mirio waved his hand at Izuku before shoving it through the wall to his right. Izuku watched, fascinated, as it passed through with pause. There were no screams of mortal dread to follow, so Izuku assumed that Mirio hadn't stuck his hand into an occupied room. The other student pulled his arm back out before continuing.
"It lets me sort of shift my body out of step with reality, so that I can pass through things. I still have mass though so I have to be careful- I can fall right through the ground."
Mirio rubbed at the back of his head. From the corner of his eye Izuku saw his smile turn slightly more embarrassed.
"Also, stuff passes right through me. Did you see the Sports Festival, a few years ago?"
Izuku frowned, thinking hard before it came to him and he snapped his fingers. The sound of the prosthetic fingers scraping against each other echoed loudly in the corridor and Mirio winced just a little but Izuku ignored it.
"Your uniform fell off."
Mirio bellowed a laugh, tilting his head back.
"It sure did! Pretty embarrassing, to be honest, a couple of people really weren't happy. But Sir Nighteye- you know, he saw something in me that Festival. He's why I'm here now."
That was a funny thing to say, in Izuku's opinion. Permeation seemed- well, he could tell that it was awkward, given Mirio's comments about his clothing falling off and falling through the ground, but it was powerful. Assuming he could shift his whole body he would be…invincible. Mirio chuckled.
"You're thinking that it's a super strong Quirk, right?"
Izuku shrugged, unembarrassed.
"It seems like it."
Mirio chuckled and folded his arms behind his head, his grin turning slightly wry.
"Yeah, it does. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't trade it away for the world. But…it's not. It's not that strong."
Mirio unfolded his arms and rapped a fist against his chest, shaking his head.
"I made Permeation strong. I needed help, too…when I Permeate, I don't have any control. I can't see, can't hear, can't smell. I sink through the ground. Luckily I can't un-Permeate into objects- I get propelled out of them- but when I'm using it to fight I have to predict where people are. I have to go blind, and until I met Nighteye I was the bottom of my class. Deserved it, too."
Mirio shrugged.
"People think about Quirks like…strong Quirks, weak Quirks, that's all there is to it. But that's not everything. You have to work, you have to train, you have to practice! Even the weakest Quirk can be strong, so long as its user is!"
A pretty speech, Izuku cynically thought, but as far as he was concerned it was painfully naïve. So Permeation had been difficult. It made Mirio all but invincible when it was active. How did that work out for Mr scissor-hands, or the kid in his class who'd been able to pop his eyeballs out and put them back in? Sure, the eyeball kid could train, get strong and skilled, but at that point what made him different to Izuku? Nothing. Izuku had no doubt that Mirio had worked long and hard to make his Quirk strong, but the potential had been there from the start.
Well, maybe he was just jaded. Izuku carefully kept any trace of his thoughts off his face as Mirio continued to walk.
"So," Mirio abruptly said, "You're Quirkless?"
Izuku took a few more steps before replying. His lips curled in a slightly wry smile.
"That's me," he said, "Completely Quirkless."
Mirio whistled, long and low.
"There was a guy in my year, he was Quirkless," he said, "Made it through the Entrance Exam. Shouldn't be too surprised, I guess, since I managed when I couldn't really control my Quirk, but it was still pretty impressive. I thought he was pretty cool, but he dropped out a few months in. Said he hadn't really thought about what it would take to be a Hero, got a transfer into another school."
"Another school? Not to General Education?"
Mirio shrugged.
"He was offered a place, he told me, but he didn't want to stay. He said that it would always hurt, being in the same place as all of us and knowing that he'd had a shot and blown it. I didn't think he'd blown it, really, but after about six months I think he thought that his ability to keep going with just martial arts was running out."
"He didn't think of going Underground?" Izuku asked, morbidly curious. Mirio gave a broad shrug, palms up.
"Nah. He was pretty clever- last I heard he's pretty much a shoe-in for a course at a good university, think it's maths or something. Kinda wasn't surprised to be honest, he was a big guy but his martial arts were just alright at best."
Okay, that last part explained a lot. Izuku didn't quite think that martial arts alone was enough to manage as a Hero - although there were plenty of Heroes whose Quirks were mediocre at best, so maybe he should re-examine that – but if someone wasn't that good at fighting then they definitely wouldn't do too well. Maybe as a Rescue Hero, if they were strong and well equipped, but it sounded like the guy hadn't gotten that far. Still, Izuku hoped that he was happy where he was. Being a hero could be a harsh life. Maybe the guy was better off. At the very least he probably had both arms, so…
"I heard about the USJ, you know," Mirio continued, "Sounded wild!"
Izuku laughed, just a little.
"Yeah, wild's one description," he admitted, "I don't think anyone was expecting something like that."
He lifted his arm up and looked at it, grimacing.
"It's a bit of a shame," he continued, glancing around just to make sure no-one was listening before deciding to err on the side of caution anyway, "It makes me a little bit more recognisable than I like."
"More than a bright red helmet?" Mirio asked, grinning. Izuku huffed out a laugh.
"Even more than that," he said, "I can take the helmet off, you know."
"You could take the arm off, too?" Mirio suggested and Izuku shrugged, recognising it as a joke.
"Yeah," he said, "But I don't know if I could stand all the 'do you need a hand' jokes."
Mirio snorted loudly and Izuku grinned. Ah, deflection. One of his favourite options. The two of them were near the Principal's office now and Mirio knocked, waiting for a muffled call from inside before he strolled in. Izuku, dwarfed by the larger student, followed less exuberantly, casting his gaze around the room. All Might was scrunched into a chair, looking uncomfortable despite the grin that his larger form always donned, and Aizawa leaned against the wall with his eyes closed. The other chair in the room was occupied by a tall, lanky man with a disapproving expression and dark green hair. Izuku slowly walked in, making the effort not to look around too obviously.
"You wanted to see me, sir?"
This whole Sir – sir thing was going to get complicated, he could already tell. As though reading his thoughts Nedzu grinned, teeth white and glistening.
"Yes, Mr Midoriya. Now that things are moving along it's time to seek more in-depth knowledge. Fortunately, Sir Nighteye has agreed to provide it."
Sir Nighteye made contact with Izuku. Izuku had been intimidated before- he'd been intimidated before a lot – and he couldn't, in all honesty, give Nighteye a standout score. Six out of ten. Seven, maybe: he had the expression down pretty well but the accountant look wasn't the most threatening in existence and he didn't have the unhinged gleam in his eyes that Nedzu and Aizawa exuded so effortlessly. A good effort, though. Izuku briefly wondered what Nighteye was thinking about him as he glanced over the man, a rudimentary check for weapons. Something inside the inner breast pocket and Izuku wasn't about to underestimate the man but probably wasn't going to come into play.
"Tell him a joke," Mirio offered in a stage whisper, "He likes jokes."
Izuku couldn't think of something less likely but he groped through his memories and landed on one that had stuck in Jason's mind.
"Uh…what's the difference between a politician and an onion?"
A single raised eyebrow.
"Some people cry when you chop up an onion."
He heard Aizawa cough and All Might smothered a chuckle but Nighteye didn't react, continuing to stare in absolute silence. The silence stretched on interminably, becoming awkward faster than Izuku would have believed, and he immediately started thinking of a second option. On second thought, though, killing everyone in the room and fleeing the country probably wasn't feasible, so it would have to be option three – jazz hands combined with 'I guess I'd make a bad polar bear, since I'm terrible at breaking the ice'. He was seconds away from deploying it when Nighteye snorted, the faintest curl of a smile quirking his mouth.
"Nice to meet you, Mr Midoriya," he said. The marginally warmer expression was utterly unnatural on his gaunt, severe face but Izuku couldn't find it in him to care. He wouldn't have to spend the rest of his life atoning for his mistake with murder. All was right in the world. Well, all except the knowing look that Nedzu was giving him, but maybe the Principal would help him get rid of all the witnesses. Nedzu struck him as a chaotic neutral friend like that.
Izuku walked into the room, the door closing behind him, and Mirio shifted.
"Should I go, sir?" he asked, directing the question towards the desk in general. Nedzu shook his head.
"Sir Nighteye has impressed upon us the value of your participation," he said, "So you may stay. Take a seat, take a seat! Tea?"
Izuku wondered if he could refuse, but in the end decided against it. Depending on how much he might be talking he could be grateful for it. Mirio, still enthusiastic and apparently unruffled, took a cup. Sir Nighteye continued to stare at Izuku while Nedzu poured a cup for them both and Aizawa stared out the window and sipped from a can of coffee. All Might was twiddling his thumbs – Izuku refused to meet Nighteye's gaze purely on principal. When the tea was ready Nedzu returned to his desk and folded his paws, a sly grin revealing far more teeth than was probably necessary.
"Now," Nedzu said, "I suppose I should make the introductions again. Sir Nighteye, did All Might tell you why I wanted to speak to you?"
Nighteye finally took his gaze away from Izuku – Izuku couldn't help but feel like Nighteye had been sizing him up, but the question was what for? Then again, All Might had said that Nighteye had disagreed with All Might's method of picking a successor, and Nighteye presumably knew that All Might had been Quirkless originally, so…so, call it a misunderstanding. Hopefully All Might could clear things up. If not, well, so long as Nighteye could stay professional Izuku could manage.
"He indicated that he needed to speak about the Eight Precepts of Death and that he knew I had been observing them," Nighteye replied, his tone crisp and brusque, "I assume you provided him with that information, Principal?"
"Oh, indeed. Yes, we've developed something of an interest in the Eight Precepts recently. I'll give you the brief summary: not long ago Mr Midoriya here made contact, somewhat accidentally, with a group of neo-MLA criminals. Aizawa and I agreed with him that this was a valuable opportunity: with his permission we inserted him into the group in an infiltration capacity. This is all well and good, of course, until a backer of the group more or less ordered them to make contact with the Eight Precepts in order to purchase an order of Trigger."
Nighteye had turned his gaze to the Principal as Nedzu spoke, but he glanced again at Izuku. Mirio was looking directly at Izuku too, Izuku noticed from the corner of his eye, but hadn't said anything.
"He's a little young, isn't he?"
"Age is no indicator of skill," Aizawa drawled, his rough voice filling the room, "And he's done a decent job."
Nighteye leaned back in his seat, eyes narrowing.
"They haven't realised that he's Quirkless?"
Izuku wasn't an enormous fan of being spoken about as though he wasn't there, but he took a sip of tea to cover his mouth. It was good tea, as well – flavourful, hot without risking burning his mouth. He breathed in the fragrant steam and smiled, just a little. Nedzu brought perfection to many areas of his life, clearly.
"No," Aizawa said, "Pretty sure they wouldn't even consider it. Did they ever test your Quirk, in the end?"
Izuku set his cup down and shook his head.
"No, sir," he said, "They said it would be cruel. Seemed a little bit disingenuous but…"
Aizawa grunted in agreement.
"Guess they're more interested in having a supposed plant in UA than they are in checking a kid's pain tolerance. Might be a problem if they decide to try out the goods when they get the Trigger."
Izuku shrugged. It was a legitimate concern, but he thought that it was unlikely.
"I don't think they will," he said carefully, "The Quirk they think I have isn't really easy to test, strength-wise."
"What," Mirio interrupted, before looking embarrassed. Aizawa rolled his eyes and gestured for him to continue and Mirio grinned brightly at the teacher briefly – Izuku was fairly sure that he saw Aizawa squint in the face of the cheerful expression.
"What Quirk are you pretending to have, if you don't mind me asking?"
Izuku smiled wryly and lifted up his arm.
"Pain cancelling. When I was young, you see, I activated it without even thinking, and by the time I'd noticed I'd broken my arm so badly it had to be amputated…"
Mirio stared at him.
"Oh my God."
"That was a refreshing challenge, creating a fake medical profile," Nedzu mused, "Childhood injuries and something severe enough to warrant the loss of an arm. A particularly bad fall, I believe, into a creek. Children can be so fragile."
"More fragile than I like," Izuku muttered before raising his voice, "But yes, they think that my Quirk is fairly strong when active, so testing it would be hard. How do you test extra pain resistance when the baseline is already so high? I'm more worried about the effect Trigger might have on me since, well, I don't have a Quirk for it to affect."
Nighteye crossed one leg over the other and folded his long-fingered hands around his knee, shaking his head.
"There's no need to be concerned," he said, "From all my research Trigger somehow affects the Quirk gene itself. Without an active Quirk gene the drug will have no effect. It's been tested."
Izuku glanced at Nedzu, who spread his paws.
"Yes, my research indicated the same thing. The prevailing theory, as far as I can tell, is that Trigger somehow removes inherent limiters built into the Quirk gene, allowing Quirks to briefly express themselves far more strongly. Of course this comes with the side effect of removing those limits that are in place for safety reasons, but I doubt Overhaul will be particularly concerned. The problem with Trigger being outlawed, of course, is that testing it is difficult. I'd be quite interested to see if application of Trigger could somewhat counter Erasure."
"I think I can manage without," Aizawa grumbled, crunching his now empty coffee can and tossing it into a bin with uncanny accuracy.
"So," the man continued, "Midoriya and his band of idiots are going to meet up with Overhaul or a representative, to buy some Trigger. Hopefully none of them will start a fight, but in case they do we need to know as much as we can about the Eight Precepts."
"Which is why you've brought me in," Nighteye agreed, nodding, "Sensible enough. Very well. I'll need to be present, assuming there will be a video feed, but I can give you the basics of the Eight Precepts now."
Nedzu folded his paws back together and Izuku turned all of his attention to Nighteye, waiting. Nighteye seemed to consider his words carefully before he began.
610 (3436)
"The leader of the Eight Precepts is Chisaki Kai, also known as Overhaul," Nighteye said, apparently deciding on a place to start. He spread his hands.
"His Quirk, appropriately called Overhaul, allows him to manipulate anything he is touching at an atomic level. Specifically, he is able to disassemble and reassemble matter. As you can probably imagine this makes him a considerable threat in single combat, and I suspect that he has been using it to cover up crimes that he has committed. Before he became leader of the Eight Precepts he was suspected of a number of murders, and I suspect that he took over the group by force. He's severely germophobic, so if you do meet with him I suggest being very careful not to cough, sneeze or even come near him."
Nighteye leaned back and sipped from a cup, wetting his throat before he continued.
"However, I doubt he will meet with you himself. He has subordinates for that. His right-hand man is Hari Kurono, villain name Chronostasis. His Quirk is based around his hair and is called Chronostasis: according to his registration he can slow down the movements of anything he hits with clock-hand shaped parts of his hair. We can assume, therefore, that his hair is at least somewhat prehensile."
That was two people with the same villain name as their Quirk, Izuku noticed. It was becoming a bit of a theme - although at least it made it a lot easier to work out what Quirks they had, so long as the pattern held. Quirk registration go, invasion of privacy be damned. Nighteye scratched his chin.
"Supposedly Chronostasis is quite the marksman, and a skilled infiltrator," he said, "It might be that he'll be sent to speak with you, if stealth is required, although as the second in command of the organisation he might be too important to risk. And if he is trained…"
Izuku followed the reasoning and grimaced. Aizawa made a quiet scoffing noise.
"You're thinking that this Chronostasis might be able to tell that Midoriya's had training too?"
Nighteye nodded, still staring thoughtfully at Izuku.
"Yes. I don't like sending grown Heroes into dangerous infiltrations, never mind a student. But perhaps…so long as you aren't in a combat situation, you should go unnoticed."
"They can reveal he's a UA student if needed," Aizawa muttered, "Talk about practicing for the Sports Festival or something. It'll be alright, so long as we're nearby and ready to act."
Nighteye glanced across to Aizawa and nodded. All Might cleared his throat.
"I'll set aside time," he said, "I'll be able to get there quickest."
Aizawa waved a hand at him.
"Yeah, yeah, we know. Hopefully it won't come to that. Nighteye, what about the other members of the Eight Precepts?"
Nighteye leaned back and took another drink from his cup, eyes glittering.
"Overhaul has a second primary assistant, Joi Irinaka. Also known as Mimic his Quirk, Mimicry, allows him to merge his body and mind into an object. So long as it is large enough he can use it as though it were his own body…on second thought, it may be him who is sent to speak with you. His ability to merge with objects would allow him to make quick escapes, after all. Impossible to tell. In addition, the Eight Precepts have Eight Bullets, fairly powerful villains who act as enforcers. I'll need to do more research to be certain of them, but I will endeavour to be prepared before you attend your meeting."
"It won't be for a few days," Izuku said, shrugging, "Even if they take me with them."
Nighteye looked at him, considering. Izuku wondered what his Quirk was, exactly…how it functioned. It was some sort of future sight, which in Jason's experience could be extremely useful or a real pain. Or both, usually. Either way, better to have Nighteye on his side than not. And Izuku had some preparations to make, as well: he was still a little hesitant about Venom, since it would almost require him to tell someone about Jason's memories and therefore risk being committed to a psychiatric ward, but he was fairly certain that he could fit a couple of pepper-bombs into the cavity inside his arm. If any trouble broke out all he would need to do was drop them and get clear before he breathed in the smoke. Hmm…maybe a mix. Drop normal smoke to get away, then pepper to cover his retreat? Food for thought. But either way, he wasn't going to just lie down and get captured if something went wrong.
"I'm sure Mirio will be willing to help," Nighteye eventually said, "I'd like to take down Overhaul, myself, and combining our investigations will only be useful."
"Indeed," Nedzu said, baring his teeth in a probably friendly grin, "It only makes sense to pool our resources! And I've found that humans work better with friends they're comfortable with, don't they?"
Nighteye and Aizawa exchanged glances that seemed somewhere between mutually commiserating and calculating, Mirio smiled, All Might rubbed awkwardly at his head and Izuku sighed. Nedzu had definitely made that awkward on purpose, he thought, accidentally catching the Principal's eye. Nedzu grinned at him, razor teeth on full display, and Izuku inexplicably found himself smiling back.
Well, he thought, no-one had ever promised him an easy life.
"I've been wondering," Tsuyu said the next day, as they walked to their Basic Heroics lesson. Izuku turned to face her, tilting his head quizzically and waiting. Tsuyu tapped a finger at her lips before using it to gesture at his left arm.
"How does your prosthetic…feel? Is it like having a real hand?"
"Feel?" Izuku echoed quietly, lifting his hand and turning it over, studying the matte-grey digits. He pushed up his uniform sleeve to reveal his forearm and gestured to it.
"There are sensors," he said softly, "All the way up, just under the skin. They're as good as they can be, I suppose. They translate it as best anyone can- they let me tell if something's hot, or cold. How hard I'm gripping something, if something's pressing hard on me. But touch is…it's like wearing a thick glove. I know that I'm touching something, but I can't feel textures."
He shook his head.
"I can't feel wind unless it's strong. I could put my arm into fire and know it was in fire, but not feel any pain. It's…hollow."
He smiled, shaking off the momentary despondency.
"Still, it's better than not having an arm at all! What made you ask, Tsuyu?"
Tsuyu narrowed her eyes a fraction- Izuku's smile wavered just a fraction- before she shrugged slightly.
"I was curious, ribbit. You don't see that many people around with prosthetics and arm or hand prosthetics are even rarer. I wanted to know how good they were."
"That's true I guess," Izuku muttered, "Although it's weird that you don't see that many people with missing limbs. There are so many villain fights- although I guess All Might deals with most of them."
He wouldn't be doing that for much longer, though. Having learned about All Might's degrading condition Izuku had kept a very circumspect eye on the mans performance and it was definitely degrading. Not just in time spent in the field- All Might rarely confronted opponents on a level that could match him but Izuku thought, looking back on old videos, that All Might was getting weaker as well. It was still a slight relief to the part of Izuku which remembered Superman and cringed at the thought of a Hero far more powerful than their peers, but that part was somewhat overshadowed by the concern that All for One might re-emerge. If he did, and if he was on a level to match All Might, who was going to stop him? Endeavour couldn't compete with All Might and he was easily the strongest of the Heroes, and even looking at 1-A…maybe Todoroki or Bakugo would reach dizzying heights when fully grown, but they had years to go before that. Izuku squeezed his eyes shut, forcing the thoughts out of his mind as they continued on their way to their next class. Tsuyu had gone quiet again, her far too perceptive eyes glancing at him, but she seemed content not to ask any questions.
"I wonder how everyone did on their work studies," Izuku said, trying to change the subject, "Did you see Bakugo this morning? He looked furious."
Tsuyu smiled, the faintest curve of her lips.
"His hair," she said, "It was so odd."
Honestly the parted and brushed look had been so bizarre that Izuku had almost laughed aloud - the only thing that had stopped him was his rarely used sense of self- preservation.
"Yeah, I guess he didn't get the experience he expected," he said. Tsuyu nodded.
"It doesn't seem to have calmed him down, though. He seems angrier than ever."
Izuku wondered about that. He remembered that Bakugo had gone on work study with Best Jeanist, the third ranked Pro Hero, but maybe he was holding a grudge towards Todoroki, who had won the Sports Festival and then gone on work study with Endeavour, his father and the second ranked Pro Hero. Actually, scratch that: Bakugo was definitely holding a grudge. The glare he was directing towards Todoroki as the class walked was a pretty excellent clue towards that.
"I wonder what we'll be doing in class," Tsuyu said, "We haven't done anything like our first day, but maybe All Might will have something big for us since we've been on work studies?"
Privately Izuku was sort of frightened of what 'something big' could entail, given that their first day had been an inch away from death matches- but it would probably be fine. All Might seemed to have thought better of most things since then.
When Izuku walked into the room to find both All Might and Aizawa waiting he instinctively made a half-turn and stepped back towards the door. Tsuyu caught him by the elbow and hauled him further in despite his brief struggling and he sagged slightly in her iron grip. Metas, he thought sourly, just didn't play fair. He was fairly sure that Aizawa had noticed his instinctive reaction but the man didn't seem to care, which was fine with Izuku.
"Welcome," All Might boomed cheerfully, "Welcome! It's good to see you again, after your work studies! You all look far more grown up!"
Bakugo crossed in front of Izuku's field of view and Izuku had the dubious pleasure of seeing his expression twist in an odd mixture of pride and irritation at the comment. It was a strange look, and Izuku wasn't much of a fan of it. It made him look even crazier than usual.
"Now," All Might continued, "I was going to have you all demonstrate the progress you've made in a race! But then Mr Aizawa here suggested something else to me, and I thought it was a good idea. Aizawa, would you like to explain?"
Aizawa heaved a sigh, stepping forwards and raking slightly bloodshot eyes over them all. He was sleeping worse than ever, Izuku idly characterised. Not a huge surprise, with the Stain thing and the OMC thing, but it wasn't a good sign. Sleep deprivation quickly took a toll on your abilities, and Aizawa seemed to be constantly hovering on the edge anyway.
"Alright, hellions," Aizawa said, his drawl as harsh as ever, like the unholy offspring of a ten pack a day habit and a cement saw, "Listen up. You're supposed to be able to work together, so we're going to test that. In the Training Grounds we've got some buildings set up with a hostage situation simulation,"
Izuku jerked his chin up at that and Aizawa gave him a faint, sardonic grin.
"Normally we save this for later, but I threw a student into one over Work Studies and he did just fine so you should all manage it. The set-up's simple: you'll pair off and have ten minutes to rescue the simulated hostage or get as close to it as possible, with Entry Exam robots acting as kidnappers. Other than that, go wild. Teams…we'll use the same teams as your first lesson, the Battle Trials. Hope you can remember them."
Izuku glanced at Tsuyu, who offered the faintest of smiles. At least he'd be working with someone tolerable. Not, admittedly, that there were many people in the class he didn't get along with – Bakugo was probably the only one – but it was nice to have a friend at his back. And, actually, their skill-sets worked reasonably well together. He was almost as mobile as Tsuyu was, and her strength complimented his stealth effectively, allowing him to scout while she provided heavy lifting. Probably wouldn't be much scouting here, though: ten minutes was a very short time-frame to locate and rescue a hostage, more like a breach and clear mission. Still, he would have to see. Finding the hostage would probably be the hardest part, assuming the robots weren't set to mock execute the hostage as soon as the 'heroes' were sighted.
"Oh," Aizawa said, "Forgot. Also, these robots are set to idiot kidnapper levels, so you won't fail thirty seconds after you're seen. But you'll only have a five minute grace period, so if you go in loudly…five minutes until you fail. Well, what are you waiting for? We've got things to do, hurry up and get changed into your costumes."
It was a bit weird, Izuku reflected as he changed, that this was a hostage set-up. Yes, sometimes hostage situations required a loud entry and a quick rescue, but most of the time…even if negotiations had failed you would at least know the layout of the room. That said, Izuku supposed it was another theory lesson, to see how they could work in a team under pressure. At least he had something of an advantage here, given that it was largely infiltration. He finished dressing and jogged out, pulling at the sleeve of his jacket as it slipped down over his gauntlet. It was only a slight problem, but maybe he needed to look at re-tooling his vambraces to deal with it. Jason had just worn two sets of vambraces, one attached to his jacket and the other under it, but if Izuku was going to cram technology into his armour…he could always ditch the jacket, he supposed. He considered that for a moment.
Nah. If he'd wanted to look like every other member of the Bat family he would have gone with that from the start. He didn't think that capes were really his style, anyway. Still, it wouldn't hurt to try out some other options- Hatsume would probably be delighted to go wild. In fact, Izuku had half a mind to tell her that he wanted to look at other options for his costume and let her take over, she'd probably enjoy it. Really it was just a matter of holding his nerve while she rampaged around coming up with increasingly terrifying options. Izuku pulled at his jacket again, shifting it into place, and walked into the Training Grounds viewing room, filled with broad screens that already showed a view of a rough-framed building. There were very few people there, although Bakugo was present and glaring. Izuku glanced at him from the corner of his eye, just to be sure that he wasn't about to fly off the handle and was unsurprised to see a scowl of deep concentration on his face. Bakugo wasn't stupid: he must have known that blowing down half the building wasn't the way to go.
"Hey! Midoriya!"
Izuku was distracted from Bakugo by a call and turned, tucking his helmet more securely under his arm as the classmate who'd called walked over. He couldn't remember exchanging more than a word or two with Jirou in the past- at least she wasn't that intimidating. Of course in this class 'not that intimidating' was covering a lot of ground, but Jirou seemed pleasant enough. He still kept half an eye on the extensions coming from ear lobes- paranoia was a bitch- but otherwise he was pretty sure that he'd managed to avoid rudeness, even if his fingers had started to drum almost noiselessly on the crown of his helmet.
"Yes?"
Jirou wore an expression somewhere between boredom and sarcasm, but Izuku was fairly sure that was her normal expression all the time- besides, there was a glitter of interest in her eyes. She jerked her head towards one of the buildings in the Training Ground, presumably one of the ones that would be used for the exercise.
"So, Aizawa did this with someone else, right? That you?"
Izuku heard footsteps behind him- he guessed Tsuyu from the cadence, but whoever it was didn't speak. He saw Jirou's eyes flick towards his drumming fingers and forced himself to stop moving, remembering that she had a heightened sense of hearing. It was probably infuriating to hear him tapping away.
"Ah, no," he admitted, "There was another student working with us. I got to play hostage for a few hours."
Jirou raised an eyebrow.
"Play hostage, huh? How was that?"
Izuku shrugged.
"Getting tied to a chair is only fun for fifteen minutes," he admitted. Jirou smiled briefly, a flash of humour, before she shrugged.
"Well, I was hoping for some tips but I guess I'll have to manage. Kinda funny, though, I got into something a bit like this on my work experience."
Izuku tilted his head, interested.
"You did?" he asked. It was starting to sound like half the class had gotten into something crazy on their work experience, what with his Stain experience, Tsuyu running into a group of smugglers and Jirou apparently getting into a hostage situation. Jirou nodded.
"It was just a robbery gone wrong, I think, but we were the closest. I was working with Death Arms, so…you know."
"He knocked down the door and rushed in?" Izuku completed, slotting his mental image of Death Arms into place. Jirou nodded.
"There were a couple of us, but someone was negotiating. They got me to listen in until they were pretty sure that the hostages weren't being threatened anymore and then rushed in. It went pretty okay."
'Pretty okay' wasn't quite a ringing endorsement, but Izuku guessed that it was good enough. At the very least it sounded like the situation had been resolved without any hostages dying, which was really the thing that counted. Jirou shrugged.
"So, any tips? Even if you spent the whole time playing hostage you must have picked some stuff up from the other guy, right?"
Honestly, not really. Shinsou had very much attempted to brute force his entry despite his lack of physical conditioning, and once he'd decided to try being actually stealthy he'd been too tired to properly pull it off. Still.
"If it's like it was," Izuku said, "The robots will patrol separately and their patrol paths won't be long. Two will stay outside the hostage room, but there won't be any inside. If you have to sneak past, try to make sure that you can take the same path out because one of you will have to carry the 'hostage'."
Jirou nodded.
"Alright, cool. Good advice. Since I'm probably gonna be up first…well, thanks."
Izuku shrugged.
"No problem," he said as Jirou waved and sauntered off. Almost all of the class were present now, but the lesson hadn't quite started. Tsuyu spoke suddenly from slightly behind him: the only thing that prevented Izuku from jumping was hearing her approach earlier.
"You played the hostage, ribbit?"
Ah. Maybe Mina wasn't the only one to take offence to his work study mostly involved a beginners course for Shinsou, although he hadn't expected Tsuyu to be annoyed. She walked around him, standing next to him and eyeing him from the corner of her eye.
"It wasn't too bad," he said, "Mr Aizawa and I ran through some theoretical situations while we waited. It was informative."
"Hmm," Tsuyu murmured, sounding unconvinced, "I'm starting to see Mina's point. You can look after yourself, but focusing on Shinsou?"
"It's hypocritical, I know," Izuku admitted, remembering what Aizawa had said at the start of the year about skill, physical ability, that he'd expected them to be fully capable while all but giving Shinsou a pass, "But I don't think it's wrong. Shinsou has potential that he's never going to reach otherwise. I don't mind."
"You're too good a person, Izuku."
Izuku felt his fingers start to tap again, shaking his head in quiet denial, but he didn't say anything. Tsuyu sighed softly and turned away, to where All Might and Aizawa had emerged to stand at the head of the class. Izuku saw Bakugo shift and snarl something, his lip curling, and peered enough to see that Bakugo was menacing Mineta. Oh, right: Mineta had been Bakugo's partner all that time ago, at the Battle Trials or whatever the curriculum officially called them. Mineta had been a lot quieter ever since the USJ and Aizawa's talk with him: Izuku didn't pay all that much attention to him, but he had noticed that the near constant lecherous commenting had trailed off. Izuku wasn't sure if it was because Aizawa had really put the fear into Mineta or if Mineta had finally realised that the internet could provide all the kinks you could want without needing to creep on people who might catch you, but he was grateful either way.
That said, he didn't think he'd wish working with Bakugo on Mineta. That was just cruel. Speaking of Bakugo- he was already moving, shifting from foot to foot in clear impatience. He snarled something final at Mineta and folded his arms, clearly forcing himself to be still and itching for action. Izuku wondered if he'd done any fighting during his work study. Best Jeanist was a high-ranking Hero, but that probably made it more likely that he'd be too careful to get into a fight. Bakugo was probably furious.
"I wonder how many people will try to straight out attack," Izuku said, glancing over the rest of the class, "Bakugo and Todoroki, definitely."
Not that Izuku disapproved, strictly. There were times to be sneaky and there were times when overwhelming force would suffice, and if it worked- well, if it worked it worked, didn't it? Superman hadn't been the most subtle of the Justice League, but prior to going insane he'd been reliable. Bakugo and Todoroki weren't on his level or even anything close to it, of course, but the same principles applied. Burst in, destroy some of the robots, the rest would converge on your location, destroy them too. Izuku briefly wondered if that would be considered a win in this scenario, since the robots wouldn't 'execute' their hostage for five minutes. Bakugo and Todoroki could rip through a dozen robots in half that time. Other members of the class who could manage that…well, probably most of them. Fully equipped as he was now Izuku reckoned he could probably manage it, though he'd prefer a less explosive approach.
"Alright," Aizawa said, "We'll do this a building at a time."
All Might stepped forwards, holding up a sheaf of papers.
"These," he said cheerfully, a dramatic juxtaposition to Aizawa, "Are floor plans, with the hostage location marked!"
Aizawa pulled a face and just about heard his mutter of "Should have let them search" before All Might cleared his throat loudly, cutting the man off.
"As I was saying! These are floor plans with the hostage location marked, to simulate previous information gathering! You'll have ten minutes to look over them and come up with a plan before we start, and we'll randomise teams to add some spice!"
That was pretty smart, Izuku had to admit. It was testing the ability to create and execute a plan as well as physical capabilities. Not a bad combination for a lesson. Aizawa lifted up a tin, looking completely done with both life and the universe before he reached inside and pulled out a slip of paper, handing it to All Might. All Might unfolded it and squinted down, nodding as though to himself and Aizawa strode away, out of the door. Izuku watched a camera, seeing Aizawa reappear on it and fiddle with something at his ear, probably a communicator.
"First team," All Might called, "Team C! Bakugo and Mineta, come and collect your floor-plan!"
Randomly picked, Izuku thought, and wondered. Bakugo snarled something at Mineta – Izuku was only barely paying attention, but he was pretty sure that it was a demand to stop snivelling – before stalking up to All Might and taking the floor-plan, bringing it back. Bakugo all but dragged Mineta away from the group by his collar and Izuku wondered if Bakugo had realised that Mineta was actually pretty smart. Then again, it wasn't as though Bakugo was incapable of coming up with a plan. The class milled around, talking softly, but Izuku kept half his attention on Bakugo and Mineta. He was fairly sure that they were arguing – his respect for Mineta went up a notch, reluctant as it was, simply because Mineta wasn't quite backing down in the face of Bakugo's hissing orders.
"What do you think he'll do?" Tsuyu asked, looking over at Bakugo. Izuku hummed to himself, thinking it through.
"He's going to go loud," he said, not really needing to think about it, "But I think he's trying to convince Mineta to do something. Hmm…a distraction? Something like that."
From the corner of his eye he saw Tsuyu frown, just a fraction, before he continued.
"He's having a hard time convincing Mineta, though. Don't think Mineta wants to go off on his own."
Izuku wanted to give Mineta the benefit of the doubt, he really did – and it wasn't as though he thought Mineta was a coward, exactly. Rather, Mineta demonstrated a level of self-preservation and reluctance to involve himself in combat that was perfectly normal for a sane civilian. As such, he was quite a way away from the disregard for personal safety required of someone in a line of work as relatively dangerous as theirs. It wouldn't stop him from being a Rescue Hero – might not stop him from being a normal combat hero, either, given that the worst most normal heroes dealt with was robbers and maybe a mugger or two. But if Mineta wanted to be famous, wanted to get into the big leagues, he needed to get over himself. Izuku shrugged mentally. Maybe Mineta didn't want to. Maybe he'd be quite happy as a mid-level Hero who avoided large scale villain fights, and there was nothing wrong with that. It just seemed like a waste, getting into the top Hero school in Japan to settle for mediocrity, but Mineta had time to sort his life out.
There was a definite curl to Tsuyu's lip when she spoke again, faint though it was. To someone who didn't know her it would be barely present – to Izuku it was as obvious as a sneer. Izuku couldn't exactly blame her, though. Mineta had been thoroughly out of line at the USJ and part of Izuku was disgusted that he was even still in the school, but he supposed, begrudgingly, that people did deserve a second chance. He steadfastly ignored the other, larger part of him that suggested that what sex pests really deserved was a pistol-whipping in a dark alley, because if he listened to that part of himself too much he was going to be pistol-whipping a lot of people in dark alleys and he just didn't have the time. Vigilante plan, Version Twenty-Seven, Step Three: build a street cred by beating up petty criminals in back alleys.
Version Twenty-Seven needed work, admittedly, but it was less likely to end in a horrible death. Silver linings? Still the Vigilante Plans were mostly just out of habit now: Izuku was pretty certain that he wasn't going to get kicked out of UA. Good thing, too, because if he did have to go vigilante he'd have to find a new identity to avoid getting caught immediately, and taking one of the other Bat identities seemed somehow ghoulish. He was toying with stealing Green Arrow for himself, although that would require learning how to use a bow. But that was for another time.
"It's a shame he didn't have this sort of courage at the USJ, ribbit," Tsuyu grumbled and Izuku glanced at her, forcing himself to stay in the present. Yeah, definitely still holding a grudge. Come to think of it, Mineta was still the only person in the class who didn't have a standing invitation to call Tsuyu by her first name, though they didn't speak…well, at all. Izuku gritted his teeth and changed the subject with very little subtlety.
"I don't even know why he's worried," he said, "He made it through the Entrance Exam, and there were a lot more robots there."
Tsuyu's expression smoothed out, twitching towards a smile at his blunt redirection of the conversation, and she shrugged.
"They weren't all focused on him," she murmured, "A lot more targets. I think Bakugo's won the argument, though."
Izuku couldn't imagine that that had ever been in doubt, but there was something in the set of Bakugo's shoulders that made him think Tsuyu was right.
"Time's up," All Might called, "Team C, ready? Team G, Midoriya and Asui, come and collect your floor plan."
Randomised, sure. Whatever All Might said, Izuku thought, quickly walking to the front and collecting the map before returning to Tsuyu. She took the map from him, studying it carefully as Izuku returned most of his attention to the cameras.
Bakugo stalked across to the door, out of the viewing room and down to where Aizawa waited, just visible on the cameras. Izuku could imagine the scowl on Bakugo's face, more concentration than undirected rage and contempt, Mineta trailing behind him. The two of them reappeared on the screens, a camera that gave a good view of the whole building and Aizawa, leaning against a concrete wall.
"Ready?" he asked, his voice coming through the camera in stark difference to the video only of the Battle Trials.
"Yeah," Bakugo snapped, "We're ready."
He shoved Mineta a few steps, the much shorter boy staggering slightly. Izuku saw All Might frown, as much as someone could while maintaining that rictus grin. It was all in the eyes, he thought, the way they narrowed and tightened just a fraction at the corners. Small things. Still, neither All Might nor Aizawa said anything. Aizawa lifted up a stop-watch, holding it in the air.
"On the count of three," he said, sounding supremely bored, "Your ten minutes start. Ready?"
"Ready," Bakugo growled. Mineta wasn't nearly as loud, but his slightly fatalistic 'ready' was still audible. Aizawa nodded.
"Alright. One…two…three, go!"
Bakugo threw both hands back and blasted off, around the building, as Aizawa walked off screen. Mineta ran the other way, already pulling balls off his hair and holding them in his hands. Izuku glanced around, finding another camera and watching Bakugo land with surprising grace, ducking into a crouch.
Mineta ran around the edge of the building, towards the main entrance where a single robot waited: one of the single-wheeled One Pointers from the Entrance Exam, it reacted slowly when Mineta skidded around the corner and yelled out to it.
"Hey!" he shouted, "Take this! Grape Shot!"
Izuku briefly wondered if he should be shouting 'Red Bullet' or something equally bizarre when he fired his guns at people, but quickly dismissed the thought as slightly too far. Either way, Mineta had excellent aim and the robot was quickly toppled, the glue-like balls that Mineta hurled at it gumming up its single wheel and arms. Mineta bounced in place, waving and yelling as more robots started to emerge. There should be ten, Izuku knew: six wheeled One Pointers, three scorpion-like Two Pointers and one tank-treaded Three Pointer. Drawing them out and away from the hostage made sense, but Izuku was a little surprised that it would be a tactic used by Bakugo. The robots were concentrating now, spilling out of the doorway, and Mineta was hurling his balls as fast as he could in an attempt to lock them up. Bakugo straightened from his crouch, rolling his shoulders and flexing his arms and Izuku made a noise of comprehension.
"What?" asked Kirishima, joining Izuku and Tsuyu with Mina. Izuku pointed at the screen.
"All the robots are caught up in the doorways," he said, watching as several robots ended up gummed together by Mineta's attacks, Mineta himself dropping flat, "Which means that Bakugo…"
Bakugo threw both hands back, blasting himself off the ground and launching into the air. There weren't any windows, so there was nothing to stop him from diving into the building and blazing his way through, an extremely high-speed movement. Effective despite being noisy, Izuku kept half an eye on the front door, where Mineta was now taking cover behind the first robot he'd downed and throwing the occasional projectile at the other robots – Mineta needed to look into getting some other equipment if he wanted to take this thing seriously – and watching the camera outside the hostage room, where the single Three Pointer remained. It didn't remain for long: Bakugo blew through a wall with the lack of subtlety that was more what Izuku expected of him and Izuku looked back at the correct camera just in time to see the final few seconds of the Three Pointer's life. Bakugo blew himself away from the crumpled wreck and into the hostage room: Izuku saw his frown deepen as he hauled the dummy that represented the hostage off the ground. It looked light, Bakugo slung it over one shoulder with ease before setting off at a run, unable to use his normal Explosion-fuelled flight without dropping the 'hostage'.
Izuku took his eyes off the camera to lean closer to Tsuyu, looking down at the plan. She indicated the room that was marked as the hostage location with a finger.
"It's a little way into the building," she said, "Even if we go around and through a window it'll only save us a bit of time, ribbit. We'll have to avoid patrols."
Izuku glanced back at the cameras, making sure that he was right.
"There's a gap," he said, "Between the ceiling tiles and the floor of the floor above. We can climb up and through there to get to the hostage. And then, once we have them, we can escape back through a window?"
Tsuyu nodded slowly, thoughtfully.
"I can carry a human, no problem," she agreed, "So that's fine. But how will we know when we've reached the hostage room?"
Izuku patted his helmet, lifting it up a little.
"There'll be guards on the room," he said, "And I've had thermal vision installed recently. So with that…"
"We can use the guards and the map," Tsuyu said, smiling slightly, "Good idea. Now we just need to wait for Bakugo and Mineta to finish up, ribbit. And then our completely random team pick can go ahead."
Izuku smothered his laugh behind a cough, ducking his chin to disguise it further before turning.
"Completely random," he agreed, "Nothing suspicious at all. I wonder how they're – holy Jesus!"
Izuku hadn't exactly intended to blurt out the last words, but he thought he could be forgiven given that Bakugo had hit the end of a corridor at a sprint and flung himself through the window, holding the 'hostage' by the scruff of the neck.
"Catch it, Grape fuck!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, flinging the light dummy towards Mineta. Izuku saw Mineta dive across the open space, flinging balls to give the hostage a better landing, and saw the bloodthirsty grin on Bakugo's face as he lifted a hand and reached up to the pin on his grenade gauntlets. Izuku couldn't quite tell what he yelled: Bakugo was far enough away from the camera that it was lost in the massive noise of the gauntlet going off. The blast filled the screen, whiting out the camera, and when the picture flickered back in they all saw Bakugo arresting his momentum with smaller blasts, his grin still feral but now triumphant rather than anticipatory and a smoking wreck of rubble and robot pieces where the entrance to the building had been.
"You know," Izuku said into the quiet, "That wasn't a bad plan, luring all the villains out so he could take them out all at once."
Not exactly Izuku's style, especially since there were several ways it could have gone wrong – if Mineta had gotten injured, if the villains hadn't all gone out, if the hostage had been executed as soon as the fighting started, if they were considering the repercussions in a real life scenario – but still. Not a bad plan. Izuku couldn't be surprised, though, because Bakugo certainly wasn't stupid. Rash and self-centred, yes. Ego the size of a planet, certainly. Generally a real bastard, definitely. But stupid? Absolutely not. It would have worried Izuku more – someone clever and powerful could be incredibly dangerous if they ever became a villain – but Izuku wasn't too concerned, mostly because Bakugo just didn't care enough. Superman had cared a lot, enough that he'd easily convinced himself that he was doing the right thing when pushed. Bakugo? Izuku couldn't see Bakugo undergoing something that would push him like that. There was always the chance that Izuku was wrong, of course, but until then…well, until then Izuku thought that Bakugo was a terrible person, but unlikely to be an actual supervillain.
"Well said, young Midoriya!" All Might boomed, getting over his own surprise, "Yes, dramatic but very effective! I'm sure young Bakugo will be pleased with his progress, and young Mineta too! Now, Midoriya, Miss Asui, would you like to proceed to your own building?"
Izuku nodded and followed Tsuyu out of the room, down a flight of stairs and into the Training Ground. They didn't meet Bakugo, probably fortunately, since they went so quickly: Aizawa met them at the door.
"Midoriya," he said, nodding briefly, "Asui. You've got a few minutes, so make use of them. I'll let you know when the time comes. And here – communicators."
Izuku was tempted to ask him if the team selection really was random or not, but in the end elected not to. Tsuyu surveyed the building and glanced down at her map again, making sure after tucking her communicator into her ear, while Izuku methodically reloaded his guns, checking that they were loaded with foam rounds. The stun rounds, much as he liked them, wouldn't be very effective against robots. He didn't bother with his communicator, instead adjusting the radio in his helmet to match the frequency.
"Alright," Aizawa said, his voice crackling slightly over an intercom, "Time's up. Ten minutes on the go. Three…two…one…go!"
Izuku and Tsuyu wasted no time, quickly ducking down and running along the side of the building, out of sight of the doorway guard. They paused underneath a window and Izuku looked up, tapping at the side of his helmet. The filters flickered and switched, shifting to thermal vision: fortunately the robots ran slightly hotter than their surroundings, so they were easily visible.
"Can you see them?" Tsuyu asked, just over a whisper. Izuku nodded.
"The room ahead is clear," he reported softly, "Two storeys up and directly in front."
Tsuyu nodded, bracing herself.
"I'll carry you up," she said, "It'll be quicker this way, ribbit."
Izuku folded his arms, grimacing under his helmet as Tsuyu wrapped her tongue around him and made a single leap. She reached just under the window, sticking to the wall with her padded fingers and toes before flicking her tongue and launching him through the window. Izuku hit the ground in a roll, rising to one knee with his gun drawn and sweeping.
"All clear," he said, straightening and tucking the gun away. Tsuyu climbed through the window, hopping off the window frame and landing with a soft thud.
"The ceiling?" she said. Izuku nodded, looking up. The ceiling here had the same tiles as the building he'd been in with Shinsou and he used the window frame to haul himself up, getting far enough up to shove a tile aside and muscle himself into the gap. Once in he turned, legs still dangling down into the room, and reached into his jacket.
"It's dusty up here," he said, leaning over to see Tsuyu, "Here."
He dropped the item into her hands and she turned it over, raising a brow.
"A spare rebreather," he said, "to cover your mouth and nose. You don't have to wear it if you don't want, but…"
Tsuyu nodded, fitting the mask-like item into place and smoothing it down. Hatsume had informed Izuku that the flexible plastic that made up most of the mask would adhere to almost any surface and fit contours, in the event that his helmet was compromised and he needed to re-seal it, and it seemed to work. Izuku pushed himself backwards, pulling his legs up, and Tsuyu made a jump into the space.
"Do you have a torch?" she asked. Izuku smiled, although he knew it was hidden.
"Better," he said, freeing a glowstick from his jacket and handing it to her. Tsuyu snorted faintly, almost a laugh.
"How many things do you have in that jacket of yours?"
"Ask me no questions, I'll tell you no lies. Come on – it's a few rooms away, I think."
They crawled through the narrow space, sticking to the beams as best they could, with Izuku pausing every so often to flick on his thermal vision and make sure that they were going the right way. It was during one of these pauses that Tsuyu spoke.
"How did you know this would be here? From working with Shinsou?"
Izuku nodded, clearing his throat to make it clearer.
"Yeah, I took a look. A lot of houses have gaps like these, although they usually aren't as wide. These've probably been designed to be like this, especially for things like this. I guess in most buildings you could get through one of these, but it'd be a lot less comfortable."
Izuku paused, considering the sizes of some of the people in his class.
"Well, I could fit through one of these," he amended. Jason had usually managed, too, but it had been a very tight fit in some cases. Tsuyu made a soft croaking noise of agreement as they continued: it wasn't much further before Izuku stopped.
"Alright," he said quietly, "We're above the hostage room now. There are three robots nearby: two One-Pointers at the door and the Three-Pointer down the corridor. How do you want to do this?"
Izuku saw Tsuyu tap at her lips, her face underlit by the soft light of the glowstick before she nodded.
"If we drop down, can you deal with the One-Pointers?" she asked. Izuku nodded and she nodded in return.
"Can you guide me to the Three-Pointer? I'll drop on it, you do the same to the One-Pointers, ribbit, and then we'll get the hostage."
Izuku thought about it for a heartbeat before agreeing, carefully directing Tsuyu until she was directly above the Three-Pointer. He rose into as much of a crouch as he could managed, bracing himself.
"On the count of three," he whispered, "One. Two. Three!"
Izuku jumped, landing on the tile and feeling it give way, falling into the corridor. He landed behind one of the One-Pointers, slapping it on the back where the off-button was located and seeing it go limp an instant before he jumped, kicking off the wall and leaping towards the other robot as it started to turn, taking an educated guess.
Izuku had questions about the robots, it was true. A number of his class had some sort of enhancements, but a lot of them didn't and the robots in the Entrance Exam hadn't stopped them. So, what was it? Were the robots somehow programmed to shut down when they took an attack that would have taken a human out of the fight? Or, as Izuku suspected, were the robots carefully designed to be easy to break and put back together? A couple of carefully placed circuits so that a hard enough impact would shut the things down would lower costs, at least a little.
Izuku's boot caught the robot in the side of the head and something cracked, its head twisting slightly to the side and its movement aborted. Izuku kicked off the robot, landing on his feet and drawing his gun in one motion, turning. He needn't have worried: he turned just in time to see Tsuyu slam the Three-Pointer into the wall before dropping the broken husk. Izuku held his breath but no alarm sounded, no alert was raised. A soft voice spoke into their ears.
"Not bad," Aizawa commented, "You're still undetected."
Izuku sighed out a long breath as Tsuyu crossed over to him in a single leap, landing softly.
"Through the door?" she asked and Izuku nodded, shouldering through with his gun raised. Sweep the room, check the corners, nothing there and Tsuyu picked up the hostage.
"I'm stronger," she said in explanation to his unasked question, "This makes sense. Lead us out."
Izuku glanced at the timer in the corner of his helmet. Seven minutes left, plenty of time.
"We can't go back through the roof cavity," he said, "But the way should be clear. Let's go."
It was tenser than Izuku had expected, creeping through the corridors with Tsuyu padding softly along behind him. Corridor, turn into a room, through the room and into another corridor, flicking the thermal vision on and off to make sure that none of the robots had patrolled around them, leading with his gun and keeping his footsteps light. Izuku blinked, eyes flickering across the shadows in instinctive paranoia but there was nothing there and no-one barred their path to their entrance. They made it to the window, just as they had entered, and Tsuyu balanced on the sill while Izuku waited by the door, an ambush position just in case. Tsuyu jumped, hostage wrapped securely in her tongue, and Izuku smiled to himself before following with his grapple, boots touching the ground with a faint thud. Not as quick as Bakugo, but a lot quieter and, as far as Izuku was concerned, a lot cleaner. Tsuyu pulled the mask away from her face, peeling the plastic away, and weighed it in her hand.
"I wonder how many people will try to repeat that," she said, pausing thoughtfully, "And how many will end up falling through the ceiling.
Izuku's snort of laughter was smothered beneath the speakers' booming announcement that Team G had succeeded, but he was pretty sure that Tsuyu heard it anyway.
So. That's yet another chapter down, and it's the anniversary of Legacy first being published too - or close enough. Twelve months, eighteen chapters, almost 200,000 words? That's not bad.
Anyway. The Future of Legacy - as it were. I've pretty much moved to monthly updates, rotating between Legacy and Empress Ascendant, and I'm hoping to maintain this until, well, until they're completed. However, I'm participating in NaNoWriMo this month - National Novel Writing Month - so the next Legacy Update is going to be late January, I'm afraid, since Empress will be in December. That said, I'll try to get it out earlier, but I make no promises.
Either way, as always I hope you enjoyed, reviews are appreciated and, as ever, I'll see you all in the next chapter.