Chapter 48: Trouble in the Rubble
Summary:
The Provisional License Exams conclude!
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Mei's eyes went into overdrive checking out the building, her goggles down as she checked a drone's feed on her wrist-mounted computer, "Okay, looks like Shemage, Anima, Shinigami, Tsukuyomi, Heartjack, Battle Fist, Rocketti, and Chargebolt all passed. Lizardy, Venus, Red Riot, Real Steel, Liana, and Ingenium all got points and are working to get more."
"Congrats on keeping everyone's Hero names straight, ribbit," Tsu said.
"Have to keep my clients in mind!" Mei said, advice Izuku had given her previously.
"Yoarashi-san was the first to pass," Momo said. "And he took out over a hundred and twenty students in one attack…"
"Which means that, even though we were only provided with six balls, we aren't limited to six hits…" Melissa said, grinning, wearing a blue-and-white jumpsuit in a similar style to her Uncle Might.
Ochako grinned, "Plus Ultra?"
Izuku smiled, "Plus Ultra!"
Yokumiru Mera wondered if the lack of sleep was causing him to hallucinate.
"Tell me if you saw the same things I did," Mera asked one of his fellow proctors.
"If you saw a group of fourteen U.A. students mow through over two hundred others within the span of thirty seconds? Then yes, I did," the proctor responded, with another nodding in confirmation.
Mera sighed, this would be complicated. His position as Head of Provisional Licensing wasn't the most glamorous of seats on the Hero Public Safety Commission. One of those lovely bureaucratic roles that had all the responsibilities and few of the perks. Not to mention no way to move up the ladder…
Well, that was untrue, he was technically in line to become President of the HPSC. If someone were to kill or incapacitate around ninety percent of his fellows, that is.
Still, he had been given "suggestions" by the HPSC President. Namely to see if there was any leverage they could hold over All Might's apprentice and the other eight "Bolts of Kamino" as the nine students were being called in the media. A laughable idea. Between All Might, Nezu, and the Yaoyorozu Group, the chances of having anything to offer them was minimal, and threatening any of U.A.'s First Year students sounded like suicide with extra steps.
Seriously, the rainbow girl just blinded over half of the participants and the gravity girl managed to reverse gravity across several city blocks. Vines ensnared dozens, Ingenium's brother was incapacitating people left and right while shouting apologies, an American girl was blasting people with lightning bolts and the goggle-wearing girl was wielding a damn minigun. And apparently the Yaoyorozu girl was able to copy the proprietary tech in the balls they provided, allowing her to reproduce them ad infinitum.
At the center of it all, the green haired boy was capturing thrown balls in the black tendrils he produced from his body, propelling them with coin-sized discs of light into targets with fine precision.
Mera sighed. The President wouldn't be happy, but there was no way for Mera to actually follow those de facto orders. Any avenue available to him would not only fail to prevent the students from receiving their licenses, but would antagonize the wrong people, place his head on the chopping block and put his superiors in the crosshairs of some dangerously influential people.
He just hoped that after telling the President that, he'd at least be able to get a decent amount of sleep before the repercussions set in. Another day or two of uninterrupted consciousness and he'd be seeing the face of God.
As the last members of 1-A entered the waiting area, they saw Yoarashi excitedly talking to Denki, and he went overboard as he saw them, "MAN, I'M PUMPED!" he shouted. "That was such an awesome display of passion! That's the kind of hot-blooded heroism I love!"
Setsuna looked at Mina, then the two of them looked at Eijiro and Tetsutetsu. "Is there something in the water that produces more of you?" Setsuna asked.
The two manly men shrugged.
"Man, I'm starting to regret turning down a spot at U.A.," Yoarashi said. "Being in a class with such awesome people as you guys would be amazing!"
"It would've been good, I think," Yoichi mused. "Perhaps someone like him could have eased the tensions in 1-B earlier."
Momo bowed and said, "While it would have been our pleasure to have you as a classmate, I'm afraid that wouldn't have been the case. Due to an incident earlier in the year, it was decided that Class 1-B would be all male. Both Tokage-san and I were assigned to 1-A. According to Aizawa-sensei, had you matriculated, you and Shouto Todoroki would have been the recommended students in 1-B."
Once she said that, Yoarashi's demeanor shifted. His face went from a wide grin to a harsh scowl. "Oh," he said. "Then I'm glad I didn't accept."
"Guess you spoke too soon," Daigoro said cheekily.
"Is there a problem?" Izuku asked.
From across the room, where she could deal with Yoarashi's volume, Kyoka said, "Oh man, Green just used the 'protective' voice. Should we be worried?"
Next to her, Itsuka frowned, "I don't think he'd sabotage any of our chances in the exam, but stay on alert."
Thankfully, Yoarashi simply sighed and said, "The problem is me. I screwed up, and if I went to U.A., then I'd have screwed up even worse." At the puzzled looks he got at that, Yoarashi continued, "I love passionate, hotblooded Heroes, and when I was a kid, I thought Endeavor was the most passionate and hotblooded of them all. Then, one day, I met him, and I saw that he was cold and uncaring, nothing like I thought he was!
"When I met his son at U.A., I gave him the benefit of the doubt, but Todoroki dismissed me with the same cold tone and eyes that his father gave me. I thought it was best for me not to be classmates with a guy like that…" Yoarashi said.
There was a pause, then finally, Tsu broke the silence with, "That sounds pretty stupid, ribbit."
Despite knowing how blunt she was, several of their classmates still nearly choked as she said that.
"That is highly rude, Asui-san!" Tenya said at the impropriety.
"But accurate," Mei said. "I mean, turning down a spot at U.A. because some guy looked at you funny? That's pretty dumb."
"And I've told you to call me Tsu, or Tsuyu if that's too much, Iida-chan," Tsu replied.
"And, I mean…" Izuku tried to figure out a way to say this diplomatically. "Shouto-kun's only just learning how to be a normal person. I'm not saying he wasn't rude to you, but he was isolated from his own older siblings. He's one of the most socially awkward people I know, if not the most!"
"I'd say Tamaki-senpai has him beat," Toru interjected.
"Debatable," Momo interrupted. "He has a better understanding of how human interactions are supposed to be conducted, even if he's too anxious to participate."
Yoarashi looked ashamed, "Yeah, I know now that Endeavor confessed to everything. I was being the asshole, not him. The reason I'm glad I didn't attend U.A. is that I'd have made a bigger fool of myself than I already did, and I'd have made things worse for someone who's suffering…" he looked down, and muttered, "Some Hero I am."
Surprisingly, Tenya was the one to speak to him, "We are merely students, learning how to become Heroes. It's not ideal that you judged someone unfairly, but the important thing is to learn from it and strive to not repeat the same mistakes. If anything, you should be glad that, however accidentally, your decisions prevented you from making a difficult situation worse."
As Tenya said this, Yoarashi suddenly punched himself in the face, "You're absolutely right, man! Gotta learn from this and be the best Hero I can be! Thank you very much! Allow me to formally introduce myself! I am Inasa Yoarashi, the Hero student Gale Force, at your SERVICE!" And with that, he once again bowed down to such a degree that he smashed his head on the ground.
"Pleased to meet you, Yoarashi-kun," Izuku said, making contact with the boy to Overhaul his self-inflicted wounds.
"Everything okay, Toru?" Izuku asked as they continued waiting for the first stage to be completed. The invisible girl had left the conversation shortly after more Shiketsu students arrived, including a guy covered completely in hair, a guy who could manipulate flesh, and a girl who breathed out an illusory gas.
Toru winced, "It's stupid." She sounded ashamed. "It's that Utsushimi girl. When you asked about her Illusion Quirk and she started breathing out that gas… It made me feel like… I dunno, like she was supposed to be bonded to you via En-san instead of me…"
Izuku nearly shook his head. "Insecurities are the worst. I felt like that when I found out Nighteye wanted Mirio-senpai to be the ninth host of One for All. Besides, who cares? I don't know her at all, and you're the best!"
Toru wasn't visible at the moment, but Izuku could feel her blush, "Guess I still need to hear it. And you do too, apparently."
En cut in, simply saying, "I'm glad it's you."
"I don't think I could stand being connected to someone who unironically says 'lol' out loud," Yoichi contributed.
"You goddamn hypocrite," Ryouji growled.
"Every time I've said it out loud was an attempt to deliberately make someone cringe," Yoichi clarified. "In most cases, you and Isamu specifically."
The two freedom fighters sighed in defeat.
Any further conversation was interrupted as the screens turned on, revealing an entire fake city that was demolished, explosions collapsing buildings and groups of senior citizens and what appeared to be children entering the fray, decorating themselves in fake blood as they entered the disaster zone.
The parameters were explained for everyone. This leg of the exam would be focused on rescuing civilians in the aftermath of a terrorist attack.
"That looks disturbingly like Kamino," Melissa said, frowning.
"They probably chose to make it look like that, ribbit," Tsu responded. "They'd want to put us on edge."
"I wonder if they'll use this for PR," Daigoro said. "Something like, 'Hey, the newest generation of Heroes can take on the horrible disaster we just faced!'"
"That's an incredibly cynical take on it," Nana said.
"So, probably yes," En clarified.
"Hey, Class Rep, got any plans?" Denki asked.
"We should each prioritize search, mobility, extraction, and care. Many of us can fill multiple roles, but we should each focus on what we're best at, whether that's finding the injured, clearing them from rubble, getting them out of the area, or providing care, either at the scene or at a defensible location," Izuku said, struggling not to mutter as he came up with an idea. "Rescue everyone quickly, but prioritize safety over speed."
That was about as far as he got before the walls of the building opened up, revealing the carnage done to the fake city. All one hundred remaining examinees rushed out to try and mitigate the chaos.
1-A came across what appeared to be a child kneeling on the ground crying, "WAAAH! Save me! My grandpa's trapped under there! He's getting crushed!"
Mei said, "Gottem! Right here, five meters down!" She sent a drone hovering over the area, light shining where the victim was. "Seems healthy, but that's 'cause fake injuries don't show up on the sensory board!"
Izuku knelt down to the small boy, which on closer inspection was a very small man dressed as a child, "Hey, don't worry, you'll be fine! We'll get your grandpa out of there soon!" And he touched the "boy", causing him to seemingly glitch as Overhaul healed his "injuries", including dissolving the fake blood.
"Huh, you actually fixed my back!" the rescuee said as Ibara began to carefully extract rubble with her vines and Fumikage sent Dark Shadow to extract the older man. "Gonna have to cancel that chiropractor appointment."
"Sweet, we've got a healing Quirk!" someone from another school stated.
"Man, the Sports Festival really undersold the U.A. kids," The blonde girl from Ketsubutsu, Tatami Nakagame, said to Shindo, who grumbled at the fact that his plans to prey on U.A. didn't pan out.
"Ingenium, you get this little guy to safety," Izuku said to Tenya, ruffling the false kid's cap. "Your grandpa will join you soon!"
"Of course, Kyuseishu-kun!" Tenya chopped with one hand, zooming off.
With that, the group became a well-oiled machine, each one working to locate, extract, evacuate, and care for the professional rescuees. Every so often, one of them would get points deducted for some infraction, most often carelessness of some sort, or screwing up the victim's comfort, or in Izuku's case…
"We're low-priority victims with light injuries," one guy in a fake afro stated. "Points deducted."
"Sure you can heal in a second," his compatriot added, "But a second can mean life and death in a situation like this!"
Izuku winced, "Quirk detects injuries. Normally I could tell you got off light, but you all seem about the same. But I shouldn't waste time explaining myself. Head in this direction to get to safety…" and he took off, flying to the first aid station to heal people there quickly.
The guy in the afro shrugged as they walked off, "Do you think that counts as a mitigating circumstance?"
"Eh, I guess?" the other one said. "Still loses points, maybe not as much."
Izuku quickly healed the professional victims at the makeshift first aid station, glad that he learned Overhaul could be channeled through Blackwhip, making healing multiple people easier. As he was finishing up, another explosion rocked the walls of the arena, and out stepped a group of masked, black-clad soldiers led by an ominous looking man in a nice looking suit, standing over two meters tall, his red eyes bulging out and a fin rising from the back of his head.
Izuku instinctively sent out a Laser Disc to shield the civilians from the attack. "Gang Orca's here!" Izuku called out to his classmates over his earpiece. "He's serving as a faux villain!"
"You gonna take him out, Mido-bro?" Kirishima asked, straining as he held up a building.
"Don't," Momo commanded. "The rescue remains our top priority and Overhaul's too useful in this scenario for you to run off. Occhan, get a mobile platform going! Toru-chan, make it invisible to the villains!"
"Who's going to face the villain then?" Eijiro asked.
"We have people on that," Momo stated confidently.
Gang Orca was waiting with anticipation before he and his crew of sidekicks made their grand entrance, allowing them to test the examinees on their ability to conduct rescue operations during an attack.
He was delighted to see the first candidate show up, landing in front of him after leaping over the rubble of a skyscraper in a single bound, claws extending from her fingers.
"Ah, Froppy! Fantastic to see you here!" Gang Orca's maw curled upwards in a smile. "I was hoping that you and Kyuseishu would face me today."
"Sorry, Gang Orca-chan, ribbit, but Kyuseishu's too valuable for rescue duty to spare. Not that I won't have others to back me up," Tsu said stoically.
Gang Orca chuckled, "That arrogance will be your downfall, Froppy. The two of you were once my ticket to riches beyond belief, but your actions have cheated me out of a rightful payday, so I'll have to extract my pound of flesh."
"Bold words for someone who can easily lose his privilege to Eri photos, ribbit," Tsu countered.
"You're bluffing," Gang Orca snarled.
"Am I?" Tsu asked calmly. "I recorded a video of her dressed in your merch, saying hi to you. She called you Uncle Orca. It's weapons-grade adorable, and if you don't surrender, I may just delete it."
Gang Orca looked shocked, then furious, "Men, get her! I'll give a 50% bonus to anyone who can retrieve her phone!"
One of the masked sidekicks turned to the nearest one, "Are they serious, or is this just a bit?"
"I have no fucking idea," the other said.
Another one piped in, "Neither do I, but I'm treating this as seriously as a heart attack! Papa needs a new pair of shoes!" and leapt into the fray…
Only to find himself hit by a metal orb the size of a basketball careening towards him at high speeds. Collapsing in a heap, they looked and saw Yui, armed with a slingshot, holding a ball bearing inside it. She fired another one, enlarging it before it collided with another sidekick.
She pressed a button on her latest piece of equipment provided by her Support Course girlfriends, a belt with an elaborate buckle. She posed and flatly stated, "Henshin."
The belt seemed to explode, wrapping her in cloth bands and expanding metal that formed a suit of armor atop her original Hero outfit. The armor had a similar red-and white color scheme, and her helmet was topped with an enormous bladelike structure reminiscent of a mohawk.
Assessing the risks and realizing that being too big would be a liability, she merely charged into combat, lavender lightning dancing across her body as she unsheathed a straight-bladed sword. After an intensive period of weapons training, she had officially been given her TsuRuleGi, to Momo's consternation.
"A single monstrous looking elite combatant fighting with an army of faceless, identical foot soldiers," Yui thought excitedly, smiling beneath her stoic faceplate. "It's finally happening."
"Hot damn, Eraser!" Ms. Joke whistled as they observed the fight. "I didn't think frogs beat orcas, but here we are!"
"Asui-san has made significant improvements since entering U.A.," Eraserhead said, watching as one of his first year students tore through the number ten Hero. Not easily, to be fair, but she was holding her own against the much larger man.
"So, what's with the lightning? We all saw Small Might use it in the Sports Festival, but then Kamino happened and we saw eight more kids use it there…" Ms. Joke asked.
"Problem child's Quirk is insane," Eraserhead said flatly, observing Melissa as she ran in to blast more of Gang Orca's sidekicks with her lightning blasts. "He's been learning new applications constantly. One of those is sharing his stockpiled power with those he cares about."
Ms. Joke immediately took out her phone and opened the HeroNet app, "Can I put that on the post for the U.A. betting board?"
Eraserhead rolled his eyes, "Sure, fine."
Snickering, she typed quickly and posted. Eraserhead returned to his students until he heard a click from Ms. Joke's phone. "The hell was that?" he asked.
"Just making something known for posterity…" Ms. Joke said, her face the picture of trollish glee.
Eraserhead was going to interrupt until his phone vibrated. On it was a congratulatory text from Present Mic and a squeal of delight from Midnight.
"Emi, please tell me you didn't," Eraserhead groaned in defeat.
"I did," Ms. Joke snickered, showing the HeroNet post showing herself seated next to Eraserhead… Wait, his arm was around her? When did he do that? And why was he so reluctant to move it?
After several more vibrations, Ms. Joke asked, "So, what's going on?"
"I keep getting texts from Past Mic," Eraserhead deadpanned.
"You mean Present Mic?"
"Not when I'm through with him."
Tears welled up in Melissa's eyes as they received their Hero Licenses. She and Izuku clung to each other, both shocked to see something they never thought they'd ever possess.
"Excellent job, Melissa-senpai!" Mei glomped onto her American upperclassman. "We're gonna be so awesome as hybrid-course students! We'll get to make and test out so many babies!"
"Hey, Hatsume-san!" Itsuka asked. "What did you choose for your Hero name?"
"The Engineering Hero, Mei-Day!" she said, showing off a pose reminiscent of Rosie the Riveter. "I considered Mei-hem and Iron Mei-den, but Midnight-sensei said that one's better, and since Babymaker and Necessity were vetoed, I didn't care much which of the puns I took."
"Wait, Necessity?" Itsuka asked.
"Old saying that 'necessity is the mother of invention'," Melissa said, wiping her eyes clear. 1-A was currently celebrating the fact that every one of its members passed the Provisional License Exam.
Further away, the shaggy Shiketsu student, Nagamasa Mora looked at Yoarashi and shook his head, "You got lucky, Yoarashi-kun. You just narrowly avoided failure. One wrong move, and you'd be stuck with Shishikura-kun in the training course."
Utsushimi giggled, "Yeah, fam, you almost beefed it as bad as meatball-head. Totes forgot that civilians don't vibe with body horror, lol!"
The squinty eyed Shiketsu second year seethed in silence at that declaration.
Yoarashi slammed his forehead to the ground once more, thankfully not forming a crater this time, "Thank you for allowing me to join you for this license exam! And I'm sorry for not performing as well as a Shiketsu student should!"
At that, Denki walked over, "Hey, almost-classmate! Got a question for you that a really smart person once asked me. What do you call the guy who graduates from medical school at the bottom of his class?"
"What?" Yoarashi said, rising up to his full height, and thankfully not bleeding.
"Doctor," Denki said with a grin.
Yoarashi laughed, "Awesome! I look forward to seeing you out in the field!"
"Same here!" Denki said, getting a fist bump from the taller boy as the various students exited the building.
As the examinees left the building, Eraserhead staggered out, Ms. Joke hanging off of his arm. He just wanted to return to campus and not have to deal with this anymore.
The universe once again proved that it didn't care about what he wanted, as Nejire was there, dressed in casual clothes, waving at them. Holding her hand was a familiar horned child, wearing a black-and-white orca themed onesie.
"Hey~!" Nejire waved. "I wanted to see my kouhai after their exam, and Eri-chan wanted to join in, too!"
Fortunately for Eraserhead, her attention was focused on her family members showing off their licenses, as the Ketsubutsu students tried to get answers and Ms. Joke stared in shock. Although that just made him stew in dread for the inevitable to happen. And happen it did.
Eri ran up and hugged Eraserhead's leg, "Thanks for taking care of my Papa and Mamas, Uncle Aizawa!"
Eraserhead wasn't cruel enough to deny her, so he patted her on the head and said, "You're welcome, Eri-chan."
Of course, as expected, that set off Ms. Joke, who let out a squeal at a high enough pitch that only dogs could potentially hear it, "Wow! She's too precious! Aren't you going to introduce us?"
Suppressing his urge to snark while talking to a six-year old, Eraserhead said, "Eri-chan, this is Emi Fukukado, the Smile Hero Ms. Joke. She's a colleague of mine who teaches at another Hero school. Joke, this is Eri, she's a ward of U.A."
"Hey there!" Ms. Joke said, smiling wide. "It's nice to meet you! You can call me Emi if you want!"
"O-okay," Eri said, uncertain.
"Why's Aizawa your uncle?" Emi asked brightly.
Eri lit up, "Because he and Papa Izuku can help me when I can't control my Quirk! He can shut it off before I hurt people. And he's really nice if you're not a villain!"
Ms. Joke smiled, "Yeah, that's why I like him, too…"
Eri tilted her head, noticing the way she was holding him, "Aunt Emi, are you dating Uncle Aizawa?"
Rather than answer, Ms. Joke turned to Eraserhead, grinning like a cat that ate the canary. Finally, Eraserhead said, dying inside as he did so, "For the moment."
Thankfully, they were interrupted by the presence of another pro Hero. "Tsu-chan, you told me it was an emergency?"
Tsu smiled, "Eri-chan, Gang Orca-chan's here!"
Beaming, Eri let go of Eraserhead and made her way over, "Nice to meet you, Uncle Orca!"
Trying not to shed tears of joy, Gang Orca said, "I'm so happy to finally meet you, little narwhal child."
Eri giggled, "Thank you, I'm glad you gave Mama Tsu that nickname for me!"
As the whale-man's heart melted, Eraserhead now had to stew in more discomfort as Emi looked at him with an expression of pure smug, clinging to him even tighter.
And he was so angry to admit it wasn't as bad as he thought.