KETCHUP

Izuku walked up to a rundown home and knocked on the door. The door fell over on the first rap of his knuckles.

"Excuse me," Izuku called into the home, "Your door appears to be broken."

Lying on the floor in front of him, Gran Torino lay deathly still, covered in ketchup and sausage links. Izuku scanned him and said, "You seem to either have ketchup stains on your shirt, or you are experiencing cardiac arrest. Initiating defibrillator.

Izuku's hands crackled with electricity. Just before Izuku touched him, Gran Torino leapt up and kicked him in the side of the head.

"No, I'm not interested in extending my car's warranty!" Gran Torino shouted. "Now where's that taiyaki I ordered?"

Gran Torino hung in the air for a second. Then he screamed in pain and hopped around on one leg.

"What the hell's your head made out of, steel?"

"Actually, it's an iron-titanium alloy infused with trace elements including-"

"Crotch shot!" Gran Torino kicked him in between his legs with his undamaged foot. A second later, he shouted, "Yeowch!" and rolled across the floor.

"Palladium, zinc, and antimony. You appear to require further medical assistance. Should I prepare the buzz saws?"

Gran Torino stood and stretched his legs. "A little bruise like this is nothing once you've been in the hero business as long as I have. Now, come at me with everything you've got. I need to see what we're working with."

"Understood."

Green lights blazed all over Izuku's body as his power core maximized its output. Izuku lunged forward, but his fist crashed through empty air. Gran Torino rebounded off two walls and kicked Izuku in the shin.

"Hold nothing back, you hear me?"

Izuku fired a plasma beam. One wall disappeared, taking a slice of the roof with it. Gran Torino deftly dodged the beam and kicked the underside of Izuku's arm.

"Quit messing around and use One for All already!"

"Aren't I?" Izuku asked. "I'm doing what All Might told me to do."

"And that is?"

"Clench my buttcheeks and think really loud about 'Plus Ultra!'."

Gran Torino sighed and shook his head. "I need to make a phone call."

Half a city away, Toshinori was sitting in his office at his agency, enjoying a rich cup of coffee when his cell phone rang. Seeing Gran Torino's name pop up, Toshinori spat out all his coffee and leapt under his desk. Seeing no imminent danger, Toshinori reluctantly answered the call.

"H-hello Torino-san," Toshinori said. "Did Izuku find your place okay?"

"Green hair, made of metal, scary with medical equipment, right?"

Toshinori's gut plummeted at the serious edge in his old teacher's voice. "That's him."

"Are you absolutely sure you gave him your Quirk?"

"What do you mean? Of course he has it." Toshinori checked his windows and locked his door. "Why, is something wrong?"

Toshinori's desk drawer flew open. Gran Torino leapt out and kicked Toshinori in the jaw.

"He's not using it, you idiot!"

498