I do not own My Hero Academia, it is owned by Horikoshi


Chapter 14 - Seeing your Past Self - (Side story)


After dropping both boys off at Melissa's school, Hawks called to check up on Keito Kurinsumi, using the video screen in the Hotel room, and was surprised to see his diminutive sidekick sitting up in bed, with one arm in a makeshift sling. "Hey boss..."

"You know, it should be the doctors telling me how you're doing," Hawks admonished, "You should be sleeping."

"Well the call got routed to my room, though it doesn't look like I'll be escaping the hospital any time soon," he sighed, "So how're the boys?"

"Mineta is holding up better than Midoriya," Hawks sighed, "though I think Midoriya is recovering. So any word concerning you?"

"Well, Recovery Girl stopped by to heal some of my injuries and some other people with healing quirks have also helped put my arm and shoulder back together, my eye is fine too, though that didn't help Ms. Midoriya any," the Squirrel hero looked really put out, "It sounds like I'll be able to resume hero work, but it will be at least three to four weeks."

"Wow, that is bad," Hawks grimaced, "I take it you won't be able to travel either?"

"No, I've always wanted to see I-Expo, but it isn't a good idea for me to fly right now," Rocky's face turned serious, "My sources tell me there hasn't been any sign of the villain."

"He'll turn up eventually," Hawks sighed, "You get some rest." He ended the call.


I-Island Academy:

"Okay a little to the left, okay perfect!" a small brown haired boy whom was leaning on a crutch with his right leg in a brace called up to Izuku Midoriya.

Izuku Midoriya set the metal beam in place, "So, I didn't catch your name earlier?"

"Timothy Castle, I'm really sorry about this my older brother should have been helping, but he's sick with the flu." the boy grinned.

"You seem awfully young..."

"That's cause I just turned 10," the boy grinned impishly, "I managed to skip a few grades, drives my brother crazy, that his kid brother is only a year behind him."

"Wow you must have a pretty incredible intelligence quirk," commented Midoriya.

"Nope, while my brother has a water breathing quirk, you could say I wasn't so lucky, I'm quirkless," the hobbled over to a bench to sit on, "That won't stop me though, I intend to be the first quirkless hero."

"You may want to get that leg fixed," replied Midoriya, "How'd you hurt it anyways?"

"Well sometimes inventions don't always work as planned," the boy sighed, "but it was worth it, my brother managed to make some adjustments to his new invention, my invention is a little different want to see?" he rummaged through a backpack and pulled out what looked to be a robotic lower arm at first until Midoriya realized it was almost like a glove.

"What is it?"

"Well this is just it's inert form, it's actually a full suit it even covers the eyes and protects the mouth, the taste of metal in the mouth takes some getting used to, but it relies on some of the same tech seen in that bracelet you're wearing..."

"What's keeping someone else from stealing and using it?"

"It's keyed only to my DNA and Brainwaves," he rolled up the sleeve on the matching arm showing the reddened skin.

"While I think it's possible for a quirkless hero, you may be relying too much on technology," replied Izuku, "For instance there's this villain that can cause things to disintegrate just by a touch."

"Sure, but at that point I'd be dead anyways," the boy didn't even look bothered, "I know I'm lucky, being on I-Island and all, you had to experience what it was like growing up in Japan where people thought you were quirkless, that's the worst country for a quirkless kid to grow up in, but you still wanted to be a hero."

'He's talked to Minoru,' thought Midoriya, 'This kid would really freak if he knew the truth.'

"Anyways, I can't wear the glove until my leg heals, I kind of twisted my knee trying out my brother's hover skateboard, so on top of being sick, he's been grounded for having me be his guinea pig," the boy grinned.

"I'd actually recommend you have some doctors present, your arm doesn't look too good..." Izuku commented, "How do the other students treat you?"

"Like a little kid," the boy groused, "That and that I'm somehow so fragile I can't do anything. They don't bully me if that's what you're expecting."

"So is that glove what you're showing off for I-Expo?"

"No, though most people don't look at the Academy stuff for the expo, my project wasn't selected to be shown off, only a handful of our projects get selected, not that I'd want to show this thing off anyways, people might try to copy it."

"You know, being a hero isn't fun and games you know," Midoriya looked at the small kid, 'He's so much like how I used to be, though he at least has a plan how to get to be a hero. Problem is, he doesn't know what he's getting into.'

The boy looked thoughtful for a moment, then put the clunky glove over his hand, which clamped down on his lower arm.

"Are you crazy?" Midoriya started to panic, 'Oh crap he could really hurt himself, I can't exactly pull that thing off him either without risking his arm.'

"I'm going to be a hero," the boy looked at him with a fiery determination.

"TIMOTHY! Get that thing off you!"

"Ms. Mizuka?" The boy groused but did as he was told.

"I can't believe you," she sighed, "You're still working out how to move with that thing and with your leg..."

"You're not my mom," the boy looked at her indignantly, "Also I have figured out how to move. You just don't think I could cause I'm quirkless you don't think I can do anything... I'm sorry, Ms. Mizuka." The boy looked ashamed of what he had just said.

"You really should think before you say something," she sighed patting the kid on the head, "I'm sure you'll get that thing to work for you, but be patient, you can't go into a hero school until you're 15 anyways, good grief you're already the youngest person to get into I-Island Academy."

"Ms. Mizuka, look," the boy sounded excited after looking at his arm, "No new burns this time, it's synced."

"Well, the brace comes off the day after tomorrow, right?"

"Well yeah?"

"You can show off what that thing can do to Izuku then, okay?" The boy nodded putting the glove back in his backpack and after accepting her help getting the bag on his back, he used his crutch to limp off.

"He's got some pretty big dreams," Midoriya commented after a moment, there had been a fiery determination in the kid's eyes, something that he hadn't had when All Might had first met him. 'Would I have been like him if I hadn't been bullied?'

"He's pretty unrealistic about his goals, the suit may be impressive, especially considering how old he is, to design something like that, but it just shows he'd do better inventing stuff as a scientist," the teacher sighed, "I just hate to see him getting his hopes up only to be crushed."

"I think you're wrong," Izuku replied, "I'm just not sure he's ready for the hardships, but if he's that determined... You're insulting him if you think he can't do it."

"Really?"

"Yeah, he had a fire in his eyes, it isn't just childish imagination, he had a plan on how to achieve his goals, that glove would count as a support item, it is something that he created and could carry, which would have allowed him to use it in the Sports Festival," Izuku shrugged, "I think he'd end up as a cross between the support course and the hero course, but he could probably get in. His older brother has water-breathing?"

"That is correct, but he has to keep swimming constantly for it to work, and his gills are around his rib cage so he can't wear a shirt while he's using his quirk," she answered, "I had his brother as a student last year."

"So changing subjects what needs to be done next, I noticed it's only a handful of students here, spread out all over."

"Well, that's because school is officially on break and the students here are mostly volunteers to get stuff set up," she pulled out a electronic tablet, "Okay next on the list is setting up the robot exhibit..."


Elsewhere:

"Okay, so has this actually been tested?" asked Mineta.

"What's the worst that can happen," grinned a girl that scarily reminded him of Hatsume, and true to form the thing caught fire, causing him to grab the nearest fire extinguisher to put out the fire. It ultimately took the sprinklers coming on to put it out.

"Okay that's it!" Mineta shouted, "If it hasn't been safety tested, it is not going on display!"

"Here, here!" called a girl with a Raccoon Quirk.

'I can't wait for this day to end,' he thought with despair as people started complaining about the water damage.


Izuku Midoriya's Journal:

Two days later, I got to meet Timothy's older brother and got to see him show off the activated suit, he explained he got the idea off of really old super hero comics as well as old cartoons. He's still slow moving around but his teacher admitted he's faster than he was earlier, the day after that he was able to walk around fairly normally as well as jump fairly high and land with no ill effects, he doesn't have the level of strength I do, but it is a pretty cool concept. The red, silver, and black color scheme was well thought out too. It wouldn't surprise me in a few years if he did make it into a school to become a pro-hero.

Anyways as time went on Mineta and I continued to work to help set up the student exhibits while Dr. Shields worked on the new version of the full gauntlets. The day I received the first set of the full models, I learned that All Might would be arriving the day after tomorrow. - Izuku Midoriya


T-2 Days Until All Might Arrives on I-Island:

Izuku Midoriya sat on the edge of the roof of I-Island Academy trying to focus on the here and now. They had finished helping set up the displays for the student projects, while that had been occasionally stressful, it helped him focus on something else/anything else, and at the end of the day he had been too tired to dream and just slept. He started hearing a steady metallic clanking sound in the pattern of footsteps behind him, which was getting disconcerting to say the least. "Timothy, you may want to do something about the soles of the feet of that suit."

There was a tell-tale whirling sound as the suit went back to inactive mode inside that over-sized glove that the boy was wearing. "You know it isn't very heroic to sit and mope."

"You wouldn't understand," Izuku commented.

"Why, cause I'm a kid?" the boy challenged.

"My mother and father were murdered a little less than a week ago!" replied Midoriya evenly, "Unless you had something like that happen to you, I don't think you do. It has nothing to do with your age."

"Oh," the boy walked up and sat down, "You're right, you probably don't, now my great-great well I don't know how many greats are involved grandmother would have, but I don't."

"So why are you up here?"

"To tell you thank you."

"For what?"

"For standing up for me to Ms. Mizuka like that," the boy shrugged, "It's hard when you know nobody else believes you can achieve your dream, not even your own parents. It makes you feel like..."

"Feel like you're worthless," Izuku finished causing the boy to shrug.

"You know because you went through it," Timothy stated, "Probably because you were born quirkless too." Izuku's head snapped up and he looked like he had been hit in the back of the head with a two by four.

"W-what, what're are you t-talking about?"

"I'm a genius remember, and as my ancestor 'Richard Castle' would say, 'There's always a story,' that and I was also teaching myself deductive reasoning and how to do detective work," the boy looked at him, "I don't know how you got your quirk or from whom, or if I should report you. I don't think you'd willingly work with villains, but given all the stuff that happened at has apparently happened at U.A., and stuff..." he trailed off, "Anyways, I'm taking the chance that I don't have all the pieces of the puzzle, my big brother would say I'm stupid for giving you a chance."

Before Midoriya had a chance to respond a voice called out from overhead, "Hey there you two," said Hawks nonchalantly, "Is this a private party or something?"

"No sir," Izuku answered, 'I'm really not sure how I can say something on this...'

"I believe you got that quirk from someone," Timothy seemed undeterred.

"Yeah, it sounds more like an interrogation," sighed Hawks, "Look, Midoriya's already been falsely accused of what you are accusing him of once."

"I know when I'm getting the run-around," Timothy looked annoyed.

"If it were something nefarious, don't you think there would be steps taken to silence you?" Hawks looked bored, "What's your name kid?"

"Timothy... Timothy Castle... Should I call you Hawks or Keigo Takami?"

'The freakin billionaire's youngest kid, wait his two youngest are attending school here?' Hawks thought, 'No wonder he'd have access to the means to find stuff. Not only that, he probably would have a home here, knowing how much of a techno-geek that guy is. I also can't blow the kid off because his older sister is a staffer for a US Senator.' He sighed, "Look, I can tell you're trying to get good at ferreting out information, however did it occur to you that what you're trying to uncover could jeopardize Izuku's safety, or that people might try to kill you over what you're trying to figure out?"

"Isn't that more reason to find out what, it is?"

"What if there are pro heroes that know, but have told Izuku not to talk about it for his own safety and the safety of those around him?" asked Hawks, "Now this is just all hypothetical, because Midoriya suffered from DQMS, the brain activity scans show he's a classic textbook case."

"You're hiding something..."

"Maybe, maybe not? How about this? If you make it into a hero school in a few years and do well enough for Midoriya or I take you in as an intern, you'll be told then," said Hawks. "Cause I doubt you haven told Midoriya the fact your dad's a billionaire, and has more money than sense. Have you told Izuku your eldest sister works as a staffer for United States Senator?" he pointed out causing Midoriya to look totally lost.

"I was told not to talk about it," Timothy admitted.

"Why not?" asked Hawks.

"Because it could potentially put myself or others in danger, and the fact the people that were my friends might only be acting that way to influence me. However, it's not like it's a secret though, anyone could do the research..." the boy looked at him, "You're comparing apples to oranges though."

"Am I? Well I can tell you this," assured Hawks, "There was already an investigation into whether or not Midoriya is some kind of villain spy, and it turned out the stuff that was uncovered demonstrated why he couldn't be a villain spy."

"You're sure cause people that are eliminated as suspects have turned out to be culprits," Timothy pointed out.

"In this case, what was uncovered were a few glaring reasons why it couldn't be Midoriya, one is his analytical abilities when it comes to quirks is such that his entire class would have been wiped out if he was the villain's source of information."

"So he's an analytical genius," the boy groused, "B-boring... That can't be why his mom was killed."

"Let's just say the reason why his mom was killed is the same reason why we know he couldn't be the villains' source of information. So let's leave it at that, okay? Look if it ever becomes safe for you to know, or you really need to know, not want to know, but need to, I promise we'll discuss it then, okay? This isn't something where Midoriya did something bad, but rather it's something that people would target him over. Even some otherwise good people could get the wrong idea and target him due to their own jealousy, you wouldn't want that?"

"No, I wouldn't, I think I understand," the younger boy answered, got up and started walking away, "Izuku!" he called out, "Stay safe!" Then he walked walked to the stairs to get off the roof.

"Thanks sir," Midoriya breathed a sigh of relief.

"Don't mention it," Hawks replied rubbing the back of his neck, "You'd have a hard time dealing with that kid without potentially starting an international incident. Anyways, the truth is, I'm actually here to come get you because Dr. Shields put together the Mark I versions of those 'full' gauntlets."

"Really?!" Midoriya perked up at that comment.

"Yeah, really now let's not keep the doctor waiting..."


What Midoriya didn't know was that his classmates would soon start arriving for I-Expo... - Hawks


Notes:

I just came up with this chapter out of thin air, I debated just scrapping it since it seemed out of place, however I did want something that would fill in what Mineta and Midoriya were doing given the extra time on I-Island. There were several versions of the scenes in this chapter that were scrapped or I didn't think they'd fit.

As far as the character Timothy Castle is concerned, I'm not sure he'll make many other appearances in the story, he was just kind of a spur of the moment creation, largely just for this chapter. I got the last name from the show Castle, so in that theme Timothy's family is fairly wealthy. I also recognize that people would at first get the idea that the suit is a shout out to Iron Man, well yes and no it is actually a shout out to the show Eon Kid, cause I think that robot suit would fit better in the MHA universe.