Chapter 46: Don't Blink
Summary:
A relaxing time before learning Super Moves.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Izuku stood in the middle of the testing grounds. Nezu's voice came over his earpiece, "The point of this is to judge how your new Quirks interact with using One for All at its base. No other conscious Quirks should be used. If you need to stop for any reason, simply say 'stop' and we'll discontinue the exercise. Don't worry about collateral damage."
"Understood," Izuku said. His girlfriends, Inko, All Might, and Recovery Girl were in the control room (Fumikage and Reiko were babysitting Eri, as it had been confirmed that both Dark Shadow and Poltergeist could resist Rewind). If something went wrong, he could teleport to Recovery Girl in an instant, or, if something went really wrong, Ochako would teleport to him, then bring him to safety.
The girls decided a pecking order of sorts to ensure that they didn't all go to him at once, leaving them unable to teleport further.
He'd been able to hold around fifty-five percent of One for All by now. It was time to see how things had changed with the addition of the new Quirks. Full Cowl hummed around him, but he didn't want to risk it. He started by using a finger flick, channeling one hundred percent of his power to send a blast of air out towards the buildings in front of him.
"Delaware Smash!" Izuku cried out as he flicked out his fingers, sending out a shockwave that tore a hole into one of the mock office buildings.
The recoil on his body was minimized thanks to Shock Absorption. Which had grown almost to the point that you could call it Shock Nullification. It still hurt, he definitely broke bones. But as soon as he did, his fingers knit themselves back together.
"Are you all right, my boy?" All Might asked telepathically.
"I'll be fine, it's already fully healed," Izuku said, thinking. "One hundred percent is still out of my grasp. I'll start at Full Cowl fifty-five percent and work my way up."
"Good call," All Might said approvingly.
Izuku ramped up to fifty five percent. What was once his upper limit now felt easy to handle. After a few mock punches, he ramped it up to sixty percent.
"Texas Smash!" Izuku cried out, punching to see how the air current would react. It caused a huge dust cloud to rise up out of the training grounds, and Izuku shielded his eyes.
"Mei-chan, Melissa-chan, gonna need eye protection," Izuku relayed as he used Laser Disc to make an improvised face shield.
"Sweet! Want a pair of matching goggles?" Mei asked.
"Yours are a bit cumbersome for me, but I'd love some of your signature flair," Izuku said. Mei gave him a flare of appreciation as Izuku returned it.
"We'll put it in your mask," Melissa said as Izuku kept testing.
After a few buildings were smashed through, Izuku realized that up to seventy percent gave him no issue, while he could strain up to seventy-five percent before it began to hurt. And the strain was much easier to deal with thanks to his new Quirks.
Of course, as Izuku was musing on this, the robots came. Something resembling the Zero Pointer's older brother showed up and began to lumber menacingly at him.
With only the pure might of One for All, Izuku leapt at his new mechanical foe and punched a hole in its chest plating. Bone fractured, muscles tore, and blood vessels split into purple bruises as Izuku dug into the metal and kept attacking, but the damage healed as soon as it appeared. As he finally caved the robot's head in, he leapt from it onto the ground, landing on his feet, the impact negated.
"Took a few more hits to bring it down than last time," Ochako said. "But the improved landing is appreciated."
"I don't know, I'm still happy with how the first one turned out," Izuku replied. Both of them were blushing and they could feel it.
Izuku continued to tear through the robots Nezu brought in for testing like a combine harvester in a field of wheat. Honestly, it was fun! It was like the adrenaline rush of the entrance exam, but without the stakes that made it so nerve-wracking at the same time.
"We've gotta do this together!" Izuku said.
"Ribbit, if not this, exactly, then maybe some kind of Quirk-tag or something?" Tsu added.
"Oh, and Mel-senpai and I could add some of our babies!" Mei added. "It'd be great testing!"
"I do miss our Robot Fight Club back on I-Island," Melissa said wistfully.
Mei gasped in delight, and there was a collective shudder as a new extracurricular would likely be added to U.A. soon enough…
Izuku took that in stride, and continued to tear through robots until only one remained, one resembling a movie kaiju of some sort that had Yui exuding excitement he could feel from that distance, even without their bond.
Deciding to use this to test his absolute limits, Izuku chose to experiment in the most reckless way possible. He allowed the entirety of One for All to flow through him, bursting out and turning Full Cowl into a raging storm of ball lightning. He leapt at the monstrous robot, roaring, "DETROIT SMASH!" as he punched it with all his might.
The force of the impact hit the mechanical creature like a sledgehammer hitting a watermelon, and it burst into pieces that blew back as the force of his punch caused a miniature tornado and dissipated the clouds overhead.
Izuku's everything hurt. His skin was red and raw, his bones covered in fractures, his muscles torn like confetti. It was pure agony.
And, one second later, he was fine, as Super Regeneration mended everything. Every muscle, every bone, every blood vessel, every ligament, his entire body was restored to proper working order.
With that, Izuku activated Float to bring him down gently as he told Nezu he was done for now.
"Holy SHIT, Izu-kun!" Ochako cried out. "We ALL felt that! What were you THINKING?!"
"I wanted to see the side effects of going overboard in a controlled environment so that I don't make an uninformed decision in a life-or-death situation," Izuku said, tone apologetic.
"Part of me finds that admirable," Momo stated. "You're attempting to know your limits, as well as the consequences that going past those limits would bring…" Her tone then became coldly furious, "However, if you do anything like that again, I will auction off that figure Nighteye gave you as an apology."
Izuku let out an "eep!" out loud and timidly stated, "I'll be good!"
He returned to the control room, getting a once over from Recovery Girl and a bear hug from his mother once the nurse confirmed that he had a clean bill of health. All Might looked at Nezu, who nodded, and turned to Izuku.
"My boy, you've improved spectacularly, but I can see that you're still too beholden to your admiration of me," All Might said sadly.
Izuku cocked his head in confusion, "Eh?"
Nejire bounced in place, "Oh yeah! I was just thinking that Izu-kun was waaaay too focused on the punching. Like, you've got different body types, why not try something else? Kicks? Maybe more dodge rolls? Muay thai knee and elbow strikes?"
Izuku winced, "Dangit, Kendo-san told me to use my legs more first thing this year! I must've fallen back into old habits…"
"To be fair, ribbit, things have been hectic lately," Tsu replied. "Ribbit, maybe we should try something together? My leg muscles are stronger than my arms, after all, ribbit."
Izuku grinned, "Sounds good!" as the group left the control room.
Recovery Girl gave Nezu the stink eye once they were alone, "Don't think I didn't notice that you threw him into a standard Second Year end-of-year exam."
"Well, if it was graded as such, he failed," Nezu stated cheerfully.
"Only because you explicitly told him not to worry about collateral damage," Recovery Girl snarked back.
"Well, now I have a better sense of his capabilities, and thus, what to do if I wish to test him further," Nezu replied, his eyes taking on a sadistic glint.
Recovery Girl shook her head. At least now, the boy had two separate means of healing himself, "Just try not to break him so that he can't take over when I retire."
"I'll try my best, but no promises!" Nezu replied.
"Aizawa-sensei?" Izuku asked upon entering the staff room.
"No," Came the muffled voice from the sleeping bag. According to Nezu, Eraserhead HAD changed his location several times, so… progress? "You have plenty of people you can ask for help, Midoriya-kun. I'm not dealing with whatever new insanity you pulled out of that grab-bag of nonsense you call a Quirk."
Izuku looked off to the side, "Technically speaking, the newest nonsense was taken from All for One when he tried stealing my Quirk."
"I'm aware of the fact that you faced down a villain who can steal Quirks and somehow came out of the encounter with MORE QUIRKS," Eraserhead groaned. "Great. If there wasn't a national disaster every time I took PTO, I'd cash it out and go on sabbatical until I died."
"That sounds like an exaggeration…" Izuku said.
"Fleshreaper's escape, the Saitama earthquake, and the Night of the Haunted Dolls," Eraserhead stuck a hand out of the sleeping bag and counted them off on his fingers. "I'm not chancing it."
Izuku heard a text go off, from Nezu reading,
One for Quoll: I'll force him to take a sabbatical eventually. It'll be a fun little surprise for him w
That made a shiver go down Izuku's spine. The smiley made it so much worse.
"Well, Aizawa-sensei, this isn't anything I need help with, it's more of something I can do to help you…"
Eraserhead's face wasn't visible, but Izuku could feel his teacher's face scrunch up in frustration, "I'm listening…"
"Did Nezu tell you about the new Quirks I have?" Izuku asked.
"Under extreme duress," Eraserhead confirmed.
"Well, with Nezu's permission, I used Diagnosis and Overhaul to help Aoyama-kun with his physical incompatibility with his Quirk. He doesn't have the same kickback with his Quirk, and while his belt still helps him, it's no longer necessary for his survival," Izuku said.
Eraserhead grunted approvingly, so Izuku continued, "So I've been thinking about how I can improve other people's Quirks. I was thinking about Kaminari-kun, but Diagnosis seems to indicate that his body's about as well suited as I can think. His neurons are as well adapted as possible to prevent permanent brain damage. No bioelectric organisms exist that handle the voltage he can, and if there isn't an example in mundane biology, Diagnosis can't suggest it. I don't have the knowledge to create an anatomical circuit breaker out of whole cloth…
Eraserhead endured the mutterstorm, thankful that his Problem Child wasn't willing to just toy around with people's anatomy on a whim.
"... But I have possible solutions that could help you with Erasure. Your Quirk works through transparent materials like glass or plastic wrap, right?"
"... Yes," Eraserhead said with trepidation.
"A lot of birds and mammals have what's called a nictitating membrane, a sort of third eyelid that's completely transparent in some species," Izuku said. "I believe I can use Overhaul to give you one, so that you can blink without disrupting your Quirk."
Now, Eraserhead sat up, looking at Izuku with new eyes.
"Um, if it doesn't work, it's reversible…" Izuku said, intimidated.
"I'm already working for the rat, so what's another deal with the devil?" Eraserhead said as he got out of his sleeping bag. He held out his hand to shake, which Izuku took, and a pleasant tingle went across the underground Hero for a second.
When that happened, so many of his chronic aches and pains were immediately gone. He felt well rested for the first time in… ever. Utterly shocked, Eraserhead stretched out, and then, he blinked. And then, he blinked with a completely different set of eyelids, without breaking his line of sight.
"We're testing this," Eraserhead said, and Izuku complied by producing a Smokescreen. Eraserhead's hair flew up as his eyes glowed and the smoke dissipated under Eraserhead's glare. Then, he blinked with his new nictitating membrane. Erasure didn't falter for a second.
Eraserhead gave his signature creepy grin, "Midoriya-kun, you're officially my favorite student."
"That worries me," Izuku said under the underground Hero's stare.
"Good, you're learning well, then," Eraserhead said. "Now, was that all?"
"No," Izuku said. "There's a new development with One for All, thanks to Bonding reaching the fourth stage."
"Of course," Eraserhead's good mood evaporated. "So, what is it?"
Izuku turned to an empty chair, "You can show yourself now."
At those words, a burst of smoke emerged from the chair. When it cleared, a short-haired man in a high-collared jacket was sitting, facing Eraserhead. "Hey," he said, waving slightly as Eraserhead rose and took a combat stance.
Izuku facepalmed, "You didn't have to do that…"
"Didn't have to," The man said, his mouth concealed but his eyes upturned in a smile. "Wanted to, though."
"Yeah, that's typical," Izuku said. "Aizawa-sensei, I'd like to formally introduce you to En Rokubou."
"A pleasure to speak to one of my kouhai," En stated, bowing slightly as Eraserhead was taken aback.
"You… you seemed taller in the few pictures there were of you…" Eraserhead said, reeling.
"There were surviving photos?" En shook his head. "Must've gotten sloppy."
"In any case, I'll leave you to it," Izuku said, leaving the office.
Eraserhead looked from the door to En, before saying, "You can manifest independently of him?"
En nodded, "Half an hour per day, limit of ten kilometers from Izuku. Otherwise, Yoichi-san would be spending every spare moment doing victory dances in front of All for One's cell."
"And you can be invisible?" Eraserhead asked.
"Usually are, if we manifest outside his head at all," En shrugged. "Now we can also interact with the physical world, visible or not."
A spark glinted in Eraserhead's eye, "Any chance I could recruit you and yours into helping with our students' training?"
En had a similar glint, "Indeed. Hard part will be convincing Banjou-senpai to stop."
Izuku switched off the TV, "Wow, that was a lot."
Ochako entered his dorm room, "Checking out the interview?"
"I had to know what they told the world about me," Izuku said. "And I wasn't expecting it to be that much. Particularly that All Might used to be Quirkless, too."
"Well, that bitch was needling them about you, and they had permission to respond in kind, so…" Ochako said.
"Oh, and Kizuki's skin is blue, her hair is purple," Izuku said.
Ochako blinked, "Ah, must've gotten mixed up. To be fair, I was angry as hell and worried about you, y'know, being in the enemy's clutches. But fine. I stand corrected. I'm gonna kill that blue -skinned cunt. Happy?"
Izuku chuckled, "Very, though not necessarily for that reason."
Tsu poked her head in from the trap door to his bedroom, "So, ribbit, it's nearly the time we set up. Are you sure you want to go through with this?"
Izuku inhaled, "Yeah, I'm sure. And today's the last day of our break before training resumes, so I should do it before I lose my nerve."
He got up and walked into the bedroom, where Momo was setting up the webcam, "According to Mother and Father, this is the best time to contact him."
Izuku shook his head, "You know, I knew there was a possibility that some of our parents were your parents' employees, but it's still shocking."
"Ribbit, it's because she never acts like it," Tsu said bluntly. "If she lorded her status over us, ribbit, it'd be easier to make that connection, but Yaomomo-chan's too much of a sweetheart, ribbit."
Momo blushed violently at that, and cleared her throat, "Well, in any case, it's all ready for you, Izu-kun."
"Thanks, Yaomomo-chan," Izuku said, kissing her on her forehead, making her melt.
"Do you want us to leave you some privacy?" Ochako asked.
Steeling himself, Izuku said, "No, and Bonding muddles the privacy a bit anyway… If you could stay offscreen for now, I think that'd be for the best."
"Indeed, and it will give us a chance to comfort you if it turns out his words were lies told to make himself look good to his employers and a top Hero," Momo said. The girls were currently in the "trust but verify" stage of dealing with Hisashi Midoriya.
"You've faced worse, Izu-chan, ribbit!" Tsu said, smiling at him with closed eyes and a tilted head.
Izuku nodded, "Plus Ultra!" he said as he placed the call.
It only rang three times before it was answered, showing a redheaded man in a corporate office, "Hisashi Midoriya speaking, how may I help-" the man began automatically before he noticed who was on the other line. "I-Izuku-kun?"
"H-hello, er, Hisashi-san," Izuku said, figuring that was the only thing to call his biological father. He only saw a few photographs of the man before, and getting to see him on camera, essentially looking like him, but with different hair and eye color, was odd.
Hisashi gave a wobbly smile, "You… you've gotten so big…" he said, unsure what to say at first, then said, "Wait, the kidnapping! Are you all right?! Did anything happen? Do you need any help? I mean, I don't have the resources U.A. does, but if you need anything at all, I swear I'll-"
"No, no!" Izuku waved his hands, "Nothing like that! I'm fine! Everything went about as well as it could have. Err, for a kidnapping, that is… But I learned about Endeavor's public confession after that, and that you were involved. And he left a letter for me with Shouto-kun essentially spelling out your situation… and I… I just wanted confirmation…" he said that last bit very quietly, feeling warmth coming from his girlfriends through the bond.
While not living up to his son or ex-wife, Hisashi's eyes welled up with tears, "I should have told you years ago. I… I don't really have an excuse. Not a good one at any rate. I just… by the time you were old enough to understand what I was trying to tell you, I didn't think you'd believe me."
"I mean… yeah, I always just assumed that you never contacted me because I was Quirkless," Izuku said, as Hisashi winced. "But looking back on it, knowing the truth probably wouldn't have helped me either. And… well… you never treated me like Endeavor treated Shouto-kun or any of his other kids, so honestly, you did something right…"
"The faintest praise I've ever been damned by," Hisashi shook his head.
"Look, I went through ten years of hell between that one doctor's visit and All Might finding me under a bridge getting choked by a slime monster," Izuku said, causing Hisashi's eyes to bug out. "At least I had a refuge at home. If you're right and you could have been another thing I had to fear, and I wouldn't have had any safe place, then I'm pretty thankful you chose to spare me from that!"
Hisashi leaned back, then smiled warmly, "Well, I'm glad you've grown to be such a fine young man. And I'm glad you're in a better place than you were before."
"Well, I had a lot of help getting here," Izuku said. "And, thankfully, Mom was always there to care for me… And you never failed to provide for us."
"And until you reach adulthood, I will," Hisashi replied. "Afterwards as well, if you need it."
"That's probably going to be unnecessary," Izuku replied. "But I appreciate it."
"And if you need any assistance that I can provide, merely say the word," Hisashi said. "Unless you need to take down Nezu for some reason. I managed to crack his finances and I'm not willing to throw my life away against his empire."
"That was you?!" Momo said, leaping from off camera to question Hisashi, before realizing her blunder and blushing a deep red. "You're the Dragon of San Francisco?!"
After the initial shock, Hisashi laughed, "I should have expected this. It's a pleasure to meet you, Yaoyorozu-sama."
"Please don't use that honorific…" Momo managed to squeak out.
"If you insist, Yaoyorozu-san. Thank you for caring for my son," Hisashi said.
Still blushing, Momo now sported a small smile, "Of course, Midoriya-san…"
"Oh, so I guess we should come clean, ribbit," Tsu said, hopping into the camera. "Hello, Midoriya-san, nice to meet you, I'm Tsuyu Asui. Please call me Tsuyu, ribbit."
Hisashi seemed taken aback, "If… If you insist, Tsuyu-san… Wait, you were at that one fight with the others…"
"Yeah," Ochako came in as well, placing a hand on Izuku's shoulder, "We're the only ones not with family or dealing with classwork at the moment. I'm Ochako Uraraka."
Hisashi looked at all three of them, "I… wait… Izuku-kun, is… what's going on?"
"We're openly polyamorous," Momo said primly. "And our parents are aware of it."
"Oh thank heaven," Hisashi said, collapsing in relief. "I saw the rumors, but I was worried."
"I've had plenty of shovel talks," Izuku said, grinning. "Particularly after Kamino."
Hisashi nodded, then turned to Ochako, "Wait, Uraraka… is that the same Uraraka as that family-owned construction company in Mie? The one that led to us uncovering the crooked suppliers?"
"Wait, you did that?!" Ochako said. "Did you have anything to do with that refinancing letter my dad got?"
"Oh, I was hoping that would have helped!" Hisashi said happily. "I had to do some digging after the higher-ups wanted the background check, but after finding out how badly they were getting screwed, we had to do something!"
Ochako was leaning on Izuku for support now, shellshocked. Izuku patted her hand and Tsuyu hugged her.
Hisashi looked at him proudly, "I'm glad you have good people in your life, Izuku-kun."
Izuku smiled, "Me too. How about you? I always thought you'd have moved on and started another family, but from what I've learned so far…"
"Oh, no, I was lucky Inko took an interest in me before things fell apart. I've never been a catch, and being a divorced man who doesn't want any other kids… well, another relationship just isn't in the cards for me," Hisashi said self-deprecatingly.
The three girls gave Izuku a pointed look.
"Guess it's genetic, ribbit," Tsu said, which Izuku couldn't disagree with.
"In any case, I'm happy where I am," Hisashi said. "I love my job, and my team are all fantastic. They're my best friends… Here, I'll show you a picture!"
As Hisashi showed Izuku the same picture he showed Endeavor, all of the Hero students' eyes widened.
"Yeah, it's definitely genetic," Ochako said.
Momo put a hand to her mouth, "This makes that one comment Father made make much more sense."
Hisashi was confused, "What's wrong?"
Izuku scratched the back of his head, "Well… you see…"
"Ribbit, all those women clearly have the hots for you," Tsu interrupted.
Hisashi's jaw dropped as the other teenagers nodded along, "No, it can't be…"
Izuku twiddled his fingers, "Well, I mean, I know I wouldn't have known everyone was interested in me if Tsu-chan hadn't told me straight up… and it certainly looks like they're interested in you, if that photo's any indication…"
Hisashi looked stunned.
"Oh my god, is this finally happening?!" a female voice called from offscreen.
"We've been trying to drill it into his skull for years!" called another one.
"Wait, are you still at work?!" Momo said, shocked.
"Is that Yaoyorozu-san?" an older woman, the one Hisashi mentioned was his manager, came on screen. "Hello! Yes, we're here on overtime, but Hisashi-kun gets hyperfocused and forgets his situational awareness pretty often."
"Again, that's familiar," Ochako looked at Izuku, who grinned sheepishly.
The woman chuckled, "Well, yeah, we've been failing to let this dork know that we're interested in him, and you'd think he'd listen when we told him none of us want children ourselves…"
Momo looked to the side, "I hope we haven't interfered in anything, or begun some kind of fight amongst you."
"Nah, we've needed some outside force to give us the right kick in the pants," she replied. "That's why we petitioned your parents for a team-building trip to Tahiti, but that didn't pan out thanks to the typhoon."
"Oh! Yes, that was unfortunate," Momo said. "Well, I'm thrilled we were of help."
"Just for that, if you need someone investigated, just let us know," the woman winked.
"Shoowaysha Publishing!" Ochako said forcefully, "This blue-skinned bitch employed there was slandering Izu-kun when he was kidnapped!"
"Done!" the woman said.
Hisashi, meanwhile, had gone catatonic.