Summary
Izuku Midoriya was abandoned by his mother at the age of 7 with nothing but a backpack and box to his name. His analytical skills happen to catch the attention of Yuuei's Principle along with Detective Tsukauchi.
Now, several years later, Izuku's worries still plague him as he attempts Yuuei's Support Department's entrance exam.
Begining Notes
I'm still not happy with this chapter, yet no matter how I change it or correct it I doubt I will be happy with it. If this leaves a bad impression of what's to come, I promise this is likely the worst chapter. However, I do hope that you all enjoy it and that it's just me questioning this chapter. I probably don't like it because it's over 5k and a monster to check so, yea.
"I want my mom!" Yelled a young boy, no older than eight at the time.
"I'm sorry, but you can't see her." Responded to the caregiver, trying to not disappoint the boy. Tears welled in the boy's eyes as he looked towards her.
"Why not?" He asked, his eyes watering up even more in some form of realization. 'She left just like him.'
"Sh-She left you here. She thought you'd be better off with us." It was a half-truth. The green-haired woman that had given the boy to the foster home had stated that…
'I just can't do it anymore. The way people look at me with such sorriness for me and the way they look at him. It ruined my marriage and it's ruining my life.' That had broken the caretaker.
heart who was now working on Izuku's case.
"Is she coming back?" Came the boy's voice, wavering with fear, regret, and a tinge of abandonment.
"N-No, she left you with us… permanently." She could not lie to a child, even if her entire body told her to do so. She just couldn't lie to a boy who looked to hold the weight of the world on his shoulders.
"I guess I really am a Deku."
"What?" She looked at the boy, worry crept into her mind.
"Nev-Never mind." At that moment, she saw something heartbreaking. The light in his eyes fizzling out, replaced by darkness.
Izuku's life had nowhere left to go but upwards and upwards it would go.
3 years, and 74 days later.
"Izuku, someone is here to talk to you." The green-haired boy looked up from his 6th notebook. He had been writing about the new hero 'Hawks'. Along with fixing a few of the other pages that had been damaged at school the week before. One of Kacchan's lackeys had gotten handsy.
Stepping out into the hallway of the group home he'd been given to. Izuku noticed two things, the blonde-haired girl who had come to be his main caretaker. 'She looks rather worried?'
And secondly, a bear, mouse, thing stood before him. A small smile was placed on his face, he was dressed in a suit and held onto two foam cups of tea.
"Hello, are you Izuku Midoriya?" Asked the man, Izuku had seen him somewhere. The boy as of course nodded to the man. "Y-Yes, sir."
"It's nice to finally meet you. May I speak to you for a moment." The boy once again nodded, he was still somewhat wary of people. Everyone he had known looked down upon him, why would this person be different?
Looking across the hall, his eyes fell onto one door in particular that Akasuki was already pointing to. That room only meant one thing and he was not sure if it was good or bad.
Izuku followed the mouse into the room that was meant for meetings. Mainly those that pertain to adoption. "Sit, sit, boy. Would you like some tea?" Izuku gladly accepted the drink and looked towards the man.
"You are the one making analysis for heroes? You sent a few different binders analyzing pro heroes. Mainly those who didn't make flashy appearances or those who preferred to stay in the dark?" Nedzu had been forwarded some of the analysis to one of the 3rd years with a tech quirk. The student had then been given the task of tracking the boy's IP.
"Ye-Yes, how did you know… Are you mad, am I und-under arrest?" Izuku began to mumble out of control.
"No, my dear boy. Every hero who received one of these reports had praised them. They were quite surprised by how in-depth they were but noticed that they seemed to be somewhat untrained." To be truthful, the boy's ability could rival Nedzu's. The mouse took great interest in the boy and wanted to help him.
"Oh-okay." responded the boy, his head hanging low.
"However, I believe I may be of assistance. I could train you and improve that ability. Detective Tsukauchi has also taken interest in you. If you would be willing, he'd like to have your help on cases in the future. It'd be a great way to train that quir-ablity." Izuku sighed, he'd caught what Nedzu had almost said.
Of course, he had to assume that Izuku had a quirk. The boy did have a quirk, but it had only manifested a short time ago.
'I could be a hero! Warn people about danger and help gain intel.' Thought Izuku, he could save lives by doing this. However, there was a catch.
"I would also like to offer my home to you. This environment is certainly not the best for learning, and you shouldn't stay here anyway. You need someone to look after you." Nedzu looked at the boy, gauging his reaction.
Izuku thought about it, could he trust this man. Could he put his faith in someone again, like he had in his mother? She had abandoned him and now he was going with a complete stranger?
'I can't just go with him; I don't even know him.' Nedzu noticed the look on his face and sighed.
"I know I'm probably not what you expected nor someone you can trust. But I am here for you young student. I, along with the staff of Yuuei, want to help you. Mr. Eraserhead was the one to suggest finding you and I as the Principle of Yuuei would hate to see your talent wasted."
Izuku's eyes widened. 'The pro hero Eraserhead suggested that the principle of Yuuei find me…'
"WAIT PRIN-PRINCIPLE OF YUUEI?!" Izuku looked at the man before him. It all made sense, that where he'd seen him before!
The Night After Meeting All Might...
That night, Izuku's life would change for good, for the first time in years the darkness would once again consume him. The void of nothingness overtaking him again, filling his mind with nothing. Anguish, failure, and sadness all wiped from his mind.
"Pilot, welcome to your training. I've focused on creating this sim for your training. I've come to understand your world and the way it works. My simulations have been changed to work with your hero duties. Using either rubber bullets or a form of concussion bullets that will incapacitate its target." Izuku nodded, or at least he presumed he nodded. His body wasn't visible in the void from what he could tell.
"Commencing Sim Training." The dark faded, revealing a plains filled with a few trees and a large concrete stage where a symbol was engraved. He wasn't sure what it stood for but presumed it was from the voice's previous dimension? 'What is this place?'.
"This is Harmony, the home planet of my first Pilot and your training grounds." Spoke the voice. Far off in the distance, the sounds of mechanical whining began to clear. Getting louder and louder as something grew closer.
"My mission now is to train you and to help you reach your full potential. But first, we must go over your regiment. I will inform you tomorrow morning of what your diet should consist of, and how much time you should spend exercising and strengthening your muscles. Your body has been enhanced the same as any other pilot. You can run, jump, and fight far better than any normal human. However, you must train your body to accept its new power and build that strength over time." Izuku nodded, this time he could actually feel the movement of his head.
"We will train here every night; you will still feel fully rested but the knowledge will stay with you. Then you will eat, and train as stated. You will be the pilot and hero you want to be if you follow the regiment." The whining was even closer now, it'd been somewhat faint when it first started and now seemed even louder than before. But that meant it was closer than before.
"Now, I believe it is time you start your training as a Pilot." A hulking form came over the horizon, a metal machine towering over Izuku looking down upon the boy.
"I am Bravo-Tango-Seven-Two-Seven-Four or BT-7274. However, my unofficial designation as per my last two Pilots was simply BT. I am a Vanguard-class Titan of the Frontier Militia's Special Recon Squadron or SRS. And now, I am a part of your quirk Izuku Midoriya, and you are my Pilot. Come now, your training is about to begin." Izuku's eyes widened as he looked up towards the hulking shape before him. A titan he presumed, made of metal and four times his own height of 170 cm's.
'You-You're apart of my quirk? ' Izuku looked up to the form before him. It's blue eye looking down on him, passively studying him as it debated the question.
"I am your quirk Izuku Midoriya, or at least part of it. And you are my Pilot, my mission." Izuku was at a loss for words as the world of Harmony began to fade, and a training area replaced the plains area.
"This is the standard training area for all SRS Pilots. My original Pilot will be your guide through this." Izuku nodded to BT's hulking form. 'Is he for real?'
BT's physical body began to dissipate in front of the boy, his voice trailing off as the last of him vanished. Replacing him was a man dressed in advanced combat gear. His face was rough, burned, and scarred by what Izuku couldn't only presume to be combat-related injuries.
"Ahh, welcome soldier, I see you've made it through the neuro link. Your training is now starting. Follow me and you'll be just fine." Izuku nodded to the man, who wasn't real? Or was he, Izuku truly wasn't sure.
"Now pilot, get a running start and perform a wall run." Izuku looked at the wall and his eyes nearly bulged, how was he supposed to do that!? He wasn't even strong enough to do a few pushups.
How could he run on a wall?
"Come on now Pilot." Izuku nodded to the man, not wanting to fail the dead man.
He ran at the wall and shifted to land somewhat sideways onto the wall. His feet made contact with the wall and moved across the wall's surface. Izuku nearly fell by the end, but he had done it.
Training would continue, easing him into different tests, from learning how to aim and shoot to how to use an ability provided by his suit called phase shifting.
It was something that not many had been able to use. Some pilots couldn't handle the effects on their nervous and Cardiovascular systems. Shifting in and out of planes of existence was very difficult to control and while the technology had been perfected over time. It was still somewhat risky.
After progressing through the first part of his intro training BT came back. He'd been gone since the start, allowing Captain Lastimosa to teach him.
"Pilot, now it is time for the next part of your training. The gauntlet is a training course that was used during the war to train a pilot's reaction time. The usual par is around 2 minutes. However, you must receive a score of 50 seconds to move on." Izuku's mind raced as he looked at the board beside him.
Names of 20 people, each with a score well below 1 minute were written.
'Alright, I'll do it, if this makes me a hero then I'll do whatever you say.' The robot gave an affirmative.
However, as Izuku began to attempt his first run he felt the world once again begin to grow dark. He thought he had more time, had BT lost track? An answer soon came from the A.I.
"I believe it is now time for you to wake up Pilot. I thought you'd have more time but principle Nedzu seems to be awake." Izuku's world once again turned white, and his eyes blinked awake.
Soon the morning would blur into day, and day would blur into month. Training would get tougher and tougher; his body being demanded of more and more. Training became more eventful, pushing more and more.
BT never gave up on Izuku. The only person who'd be there no matter what. "My protocol is to secure your safety, so I am here for you." And with the robot's help, Izuku had gone through a transformation.
His body changed, muscles toned and strengthened. He would be far stronger than ever before. But more training and mastery would be needed before he ever became a hero.
Izuku would also need to learn how to repair and build certain things he couldn't call upon.
Yuuei's Support Department Exam.
Yuuei was the country's top hero school, the place every hero hopeful aimed for and yet Izuku couldn't do that. He was still seen as 'quirkless'. And most schools in the country still stereotyped quirkless kids as being less than equal.
Even if he could attempt the exam, they'd put him down for a multitude of made-up reasons. Izuku wasn't good enough to be a hero. At least not yet.
He hadn't told Nedzu about his quirk or that he applied to the Support Department only. Izuku wanted/needed to do this on his own.
The day was nice, the cherry blossoms blew in the wind, and the sun shined on a glamorous day. With a small smile placed on his face, Izuku made his way to school that would make or break him.
'Sir, you must be careful. Do not expose yourself to any unforeseen obstacles.' Izuku nodded to himself but as he thought about BT and his words of wisdom…
He tripped, he tripped.
Izuku fell towards the ground as he tripped on an uneven paver on the sidewalk. His face stopping only a few inches from the ground. Twirling light stopping him from landing face first. Izuku looked up to see a bubbly blue-haired girl with a smile on her face.
"Hey, hey, don't fall now. You've got to get ready for your exam, mister." She seemed to pout at the boy's lack of attention to his surroundings. Izuku's eyes blinked, trying to take in the sight before him.
'Ahhhh.' He yelled to himself as the girl seemed to grow deeper into the pouting mood. "Hey, what's your quirk, is it super strong? What's your name, what course are you applying to."
The questions continued to come and yet no answers came back. Izuku was still stuck on the fact that someone would want to talk to him. And the fact that it was a girl didn't help.
"Smack!" Came the sound of the girl's hand hitting his face. "Hey now, I asked you a question, Greene." Izuku's eyes widened, and he sputtered for a second.
"Ahh, my name is Izu-Izuku Midoriya." He looked up to the girl whose smile seemed to widen at the name.
"What's your quirk? Is it strong? What course are you applying to? I bet it's the hero course!" Izuku rubbed the back of his head and sighed at the bubbly girl.
"I have a-a sentient quirk… An A.I. that provides help in certain situations. And I applied to the support course since it really isn't good for hero work." 'I'm not good enough for the hero course.' The boy added,
man, he needs some self-esteem.
"Well that's a bummer. I'm Nejire Hado by the way, a part of Yuuei's 2-end year hero course!" She beamed happily as the boy on the other hand seemed to frown slightly.
Not at the girl or even at the fact that she'd made it into the hero course. More so the fact that he'd let someone down again. 'My quirk isn't powerful enough. She expected me to be a part of the hero course and I'm not.'
To which the A.I. replied. 'I am plenty powerful Pilot. I contain over 5 million kwh's of energy in my power cores.' Izuku rolled his eyes at the A.I.'s sarcastic response.
"Oh, did it say something! What did it say!?" The bubbly girl began to bounce in front of him, her 'ahem' assets bouncing along with her.
"No, no I was just thinking of something it said earlier." That technically wasn't false, BT had said he was powerful several times during training but it was often in reference to certain moves requiring bursts of power.
"Oh alright, well you better get in there and take your exams." The bubbly girl tilted her head and smiled at Izuku.
"Right, the exam!" To which the boy nodded and quickly ran towards the auditorium of Yuuei.
In the Auditorium
Izuku sat down in a distant corner of the auditorium... Away from most of the other students. The heroics students seemed to be awfully loud, and others were also similarly louder than in years past if he remembered right.
He'd been able to witness the hero course students test in the past few years thanks to his adoptive father. Even if their relationship was strained at best. Izuku had a good idea of what was expected from hero course students but never believed he could be one.
His quirk wasn't good enough to be a hero, even though he was surrounded by heroes and hero course students.
"Welcome to Yuuei's entrance exam listeners! We're going to start off with a written exam and then move onto the practical. Hero course students, you will report to ground Beta, Support Course Students you will follow Power Loader into one of the labs reserved for testing, and Business course students you will head to another room reserved for another round of testing…" And so, the loud hero continued to inform and congratulate the students on making it through the admissions approval process.
Soon enough the regular testing started and even sooner it seemed to be finished. Izuku hadn't expected much from the written test, especially with a very helpful cheat sheet from his quirk.
It's not cheating when you're using your quirk.
However, he found that BT wasn't necessary for the test. The A.I. never interrupted him once during the process and Izuku was somewhat grateful for it.
"Alright, support department hopefuls follow me." A gruff man in a large metal suit waved for the few who had applied to follow him.
Izuku was one of the last to follow, seeing as he was at the back of the room.
The heroics course had already left, and less than twenty people had applied to the Support Department course. Many of which looked to be less than happy with their choice.
Izuku assumed many were here due to the same reason as him. Believing that they could never make it as a hero and thus settling for the next best thing.
He pitied the poor instructor who seemed to notice the mood as well.
"You have one hour to make something functional for heroics. Anything within the lab is free for you to use. And... start!" The man yelled, smirking as most of the students seemed stunned by the sudden outburst.
"What to build, what to build. BT, and suggestions?" He continued to mumble to the world without realizing that he was doing so. It was something he'd picked up when he was younger. However, when a fellow student went to ask Izuku to stop. Power Loader pulled them away.
Power Loader had met and loved the kid from first sight. Izuku had effectively been considered Yuuei's kid and all staff took on the role of parenting the child. While most of the students would never meet the boy. All staff knew of and helped with the child.
Power Loader had stopped one of the students from messing with Izuku. Finding that Izuku's mental state was not the easiest to barge in on. The kid could and had been accidentally put in a state of fear a few times before and he did not need that happening again. (PTSD-induced state of shock)
Power Loader finally had a somewhat sane student. The mumbling he could deal with, explosions, yelling, and crazed ideas were a much larger issue.
'I have blueprints for the helmet you will need to construct. Or we could begin working on the beacons?' Izuku thought for a second, while the helmet was something that he needed to build, the beacons would probably be much easier to make in the long run.
"Would it be possible to make the helmet within an hour with the materials provided?" Izuku waited for the A.I. to respond. BT scanned the area around them, checking to see what could substitute certain materials, and soon answered the boy.
'Yes, with some minor changes you could have a basic version of a helmet constructed within the hour.' Izuku nodded to himself and had BT pull up the schematics to the helmet.
Projecting the schematics onto the forefront of his mind, Izuku began to pull materials from the shelf.
Izuku started with fabricating the helmet's main assembly with a basic polymer that would be easy to mold. Izuku then went on to creating a mold from a template that was near the shelving on the far side of the lab.
Adjusting and sculpting the molding was rather difficult but didn't take more than a few minutes to complete. He just had to smooth and cut in places to allow for addons if need be. However, more than likely the mold for the next iteration of the helmet would need to be completely redone.
Once the mold was ready, Izuku melted the polymer and poured the solution into the mold. Soon it dried and the helmet mold was ready. However, cooling would take 20 minutes. So, in the meantime, he would work on the rest of the design.
Izuku looked over the schematic and started crafting the visor for the helmet. He'd add in a Heads Up Display or 'HUD' later on but for now, the plastic-like front plate would suffice as a viewing port.
Once the visor was made, Izuku pulled the helmet from the mold and used a buffer to polish and smooth the molding of all imperfections. Once the helmet was cleaned, he inserted the clear visor into the helmet's front and used a glue-like substance to adhere the plastic to the helmet.
'Do I have time to make the interface? And the components necessary for it?' Izuku looked for help from the A.I. which soon responded. 'Yes, just be careful when beginning the interfacing and soldering.'
Izuku pulled one of the welders from its corner over to his desk and quickly grabbed some electrical components such as controllers, a motherboard, and other computer-related parts that would prove to be the brains of the helmet.
He also looked over his supplies and grabbed a thinly layered film from a roll that sat near Power Loader's desk. Izuku cut the sheet to size and inlaid the film in the helmet's visor.
The film quickly adhered to the plastic thanks to the gluing solution. Lastly, he slid the components that were left into the helmets back. Gluing and/or soldering the pieces to the helmet.
A blue screen appeared and flickered with white light. 'Alright it turns on but there is no program for the system to run on.'
'I'll handle the interfacing process Pilot.' Came BT's unwavering voice.
With only a few minutes left on the clock, Izuku grabbed some cloth from one of the shelves and inlaid the padding on the inside of the helmet.
The design was crude and nowhere near perfect but functioned and worked as he presumed it should.
BT had taught him a few things during their sim training, but Izuku was still nowhere near perfect with any design. It was rough around some edges where it had not cured right even after buffing.
"Alright, times up Support Department hopefuls. Place your projects on my desk. Once I have your submission you are free to go." The class all went up to the large man's desk and placed their different projects.
One had a hoverboard that Izuku presumed would be for those who needed to get into taller areas, another project was shoes that had what looked to rocket in them to allow for faster movement.
A student even had a capture device that would shock and incapacitate a villain.
Everything seemed really cool to Izuku and he worried he wouldn't stack up to the competition.
Izuku was the last person to present. Smiling at the man that stood before him. The man doing the same and whispering a small greeting. "Hey, kid." His voice was cheerful at seeing his self-proclaimed nephew.
"H-hi Mr. Power Loader Sir." The man smirked at the boy's nervousness. He'd seen Izuku working on his project vigorously and had been quite impressed by the boy's aptitude.
While the helmet was somewhat crude it was expected when given limited materials.
"Oh, I forgot, do you mind if I touch the helmet for a sec?" Power Loader thought for a second, he saw no reason for why the boy could not touch the helmet. While it was an odd request, he was sure there was another reason for it.
Izuku picked up the helmet and BT quickly transferred a part of himself into the helmet.
The transfer wouldn't affect him in any capacity, it would just supply an operating system for the helmet for the time being.
'Transfer complete.' The A.I. stated, and with that Izuku left the room. Worry was still at the back of his mind but for now, he just had to have hope for the future.
Weeks Later
Izuku was sitting in his room when the letter came. He was so worried about passing that he'd mostly stayed in the room for the past week. Not speaking to his adoptive father or others… He couldn't speak to others, but the sentiment was still there.
As of course the bear mouse had his final say in the matter. His son had done exceptionally well on both tests and while anyone would have passed the boy. Nedzu tried his best to judge the boy equally to all the other students.
"Izuku, your letter is here." The bear, mouse, things voice calmly came. Nedzu waited for the boy to come out of his room.
Which was now void of All Might Merch, taken over by different blueprints and ideas that could be used.
"Coming!" Izuku rushed out of his room, his face still somewhat depressed and fear-filled from the fact that he could fail. That his dream could be so easily crushed.
Izuku took the letter from his adoptive father and let out a shaky sigh. He was scared and even the mouse could see it. "It's alright Izuku." The mouse man tried to comfort the child.
Izuku nodded and tore open the letter. A metal disc dropped onto his lap. He looked at the bear, mouse, thing that stood next to him.
"Go on Midoriya." Izuku nodded and placed the silver disc onto a table that sat in front of the two.
"Hello Izuku Midoriya, or should I say, nephew." Greeted a hulking man in his armor. Midoriya smiled slightly at Power Loader's intro.
"You did very well on the written portion, scoring within the 95th percentile. However, the written portion is not the only part as you know. You were scored on several factors, usability, durability, safety, cost, and refinement. -
I, along with several other former Support Department students graded these designs and I was quite surprised by your project. As of course, it is not the first helmet design has been built. However, the design used for its construction seems almost foreign. The helmet is very durable for being a polymer, even though a light metal was probably the original intention, it would also be useful for many heroes…"
The hero went on to list off every factor and the helmet's measurement in that category.
"While it is by no means perfect, I do believe that the product you made is very durable and usable. You show great potential. I, along with the staff of Yuuei, want to say congratulations on making it into the Support course!"
"I-I did it, I got in!" 'I'm not useless.' Screamed the back of his mind.
"Of course you did! You're extremely smart Izuku and I had every bit of faith in you." Nedzu smiled at his son, even if he couldn't show emotion like humans. The man at least tried.
And so with Izuku's acceptance into Yuuei, the Symbol of Justice would begin its path. A long and narrow way to follow but with the support from his quirk Izuku would become one of the greatest heroes.
Authors Notes
I hope you all enjoyed. please feel free to leave a comment on what you'd like to see next. I've got a number of ideas that are in the pipeline not only for this fic but for a possible series of one-shots that could be made into full-length fics... I have too many ideas.
The description of Izuku's helmet was taken as seriously as possible while also conforming to an hour's time limit. I tried my best with google being my only reference, for finished designs I'll be using Halo logic since the suits probably aren't way too different.
Lastly, I've also had people suggest that I get a beta, and if anyone wants to help me with that feel free to leave a comment. Otherwise, this story is currently being checked by Google Drive, Word, Grammarly, and Ao3 as of this chapter so hopefully mistakes are far less common.
iron-slayer-dragon - thank you ^_^
silverjack20 - Yea All Might Sucks in this, but it's probably not gonna get any better... At least One For All knows what it's doing.
ZexyZane - Nothing I can do when this is just supposed to be a taste of what's to come. There isn't going to be anything of note until like chapter 5 when 1-A gets involved.. (30 Chapters is my goal.)
Curlyfri55 - Thank you, I honestly haven't used this cite in over 6 months so I wouldn't know. XD
Inperiosus - If you're volunteering then be my guess bud, otherwise complain to Google Drive, Word, Grammarly, A03, this site, and the dyslexic writer who already has low self-esteem.
Notasavior - 👍
crazybeebee - Aww, thank you that means a lot.
JediMaxedNinja - From my reading at least, U.A. is an acronym that people use for the English fics. The correct spelling is Yuuei according to google.
Kilo8 - I picked Grammarly and Word up so hopefully that helped?