Midoriya goes through inner turmoil about his motives, while Tokoyami and Bakugo have to take charge. Is he fighting to save people, or for his own personal vengeance.
I do not own My Hero Academia, it is owned by Horikoshi
Chapter 18 - Battle for I-Island Part 2
Todoroki Residence: (Japan)
Fuyumi Todoroki was getting a little worried, she had tried to call her little brother follow up on getting flowers or something to express their condolences for his classmate whom had just lost his mother, 'I mean seriously he's the one that asked me to help him on it because he thought he'd mess it up, this isn't like him... Wait, has he checked in with dad?'
She walked down the hall and knocked on her father's home office. "Enter!"
She opened the sliding door, "Dad have you heard from Shoto? He wanted me to come up with ideas for expressing his condolences concerning that Izuku kid's mom, but he isn't answering," she asked while closing the door behind her.
"No, he's missed his check-in, he did let me know he was going to a dinner this evening earlier, but he should have still sent me a text," Enji Todoroki scowled, "He better not be blowing me off after he promised not to, especially since that bastard hasn't been caught."
They both heard running in the hallway, and the office door was yanked open, "Shows how much you care about Shoto you... Fuyumi?!"
"Natsuo..."
"Wait you haven't seen the news?"
"What news?" asked Fuyumi, "I was just asking dad if Shoto had checked in?"
"They've lost contact general contact with I-Island, some transmissions are still getting out, but the blogosphere is going nuts," Natsuo stammered.
Enji immediately picked up the phone calling his agency holding up his hand indicating that his two children needed to be silent while he put it on speaker phone, "June, I need a report concerning I-Island..."
"I was just about to call you sir," came the reply, "I originally just thought you were being a helicopter parent, sending Kido like that. Anyways I was talking to Kido, and I abruptly lost transmission. Now, I can't even get through to anyone on I-Island, not even Hawks, and you know how he is when it comes to his phone, especially with Keito being in the hospital."
"Yes, only time that Hawks won't immediately answer his phone, even if it is to just send a stupid emoji is if something was going on," Enji scowled.
"Dad, can't you do something?"
"Is that Natsuo?"
"June, do you think you could get me clearance to head out to I-Island on a JDF jet, or could Warp get me out there?"
"Probably a no on the jet, and a definite no for Warp... As you know I-Island is an artificial moving island, while Warp probably has the range to jump there, she has to have precise coordinates when she doesn't have line of sight," answered June, "I'm sorry sir. Though it could just be a glitch... Also All Might is there I'm sure Shoto is safe."
"So are Izuku Midoriya and Minoru Mineta," Enji scowled, "It wouldn't surprise me if that bastard is trying to kill those two along with Shoto..."
"I'm trying to place a call to get clearance now sir, though I'm not exactly hopeful with you being the number 2 hero, while All Might and Hawks are out of the country..." June commented, "One upside, there aren't any laws about quirk usage on I-Island and Shoto isn't exactly helpless."
Enji Todoroki sighed in frustration, this was one of those times when he hated being right.
I-Island Central Tower: (Exterior Wall)
Mineta climbed the side of the tower as fast as he could, cause to be honest he was scared out of his mind. 'The old me would have just been saying Harem, over and over,' he thought. A gust of wind nearly caused him to fall as one of his hands lost their grip on one of his hairballs.
'That was close,' he thought as he used a new hairball to start climbing again. Fortunately the ventilation shaft was well within sight and he managed to reach it without another scare, he pulled himself in only to find a fan that he would have to temporarily disable. 'I've got to hurry this is a race against the clock, I really don't want Izzy to face that guy.'
I-Island Central Tower: (Arboretum)
'I can't believe Tokoyami would do that,' Midoriya thought, 'Kacchan could handle these two, and just about anything else this security system could probably throw at him for that matter.'
"Hey Daigo, take All Might's Love Child out, let's send him to the afterlife like the boss did to his mom!" the skinny one shouted, he was somehow tearing through Todoroki's ice as he said that.
"On it Nobu," said the muscular one whom had turned purple and just punched Kirishima into a wall.
At that moment Midoriya froze, in shock at what he had just heard, 'Mom...'
"DEKU!"
An over-sized fist was coming down towards to the side of Midoriya's head and Bakugo knew he wouldn't make it in time when Midoriya suddenly leaned back the fist traveling right past his nose so close that Midoriya could feel the fist brush past the end of his nose.
"What the hell!"
"Howitzer Impact!" Bakugo blasted into the large villain sending him flying while the skinny one launched an attack at Bakugo that shredded one sleave of his shirt.
"What's this!" exclaimed Nobu looking at the droplets that were now on his hand.
"It's my sweat, it's like Nitroglycerin," smirked Bakugo. Todoroki immediately used his fire to ignite it causing an explosion. 'Good riddence Goat Face,' he thought.
"Guys a little help here, I'm stuck!" called out Kirishima as Midoriya sank to his knees and Bakugo and Todoroki ran over to Kirishima.
"You idiot, turn off your quirk!" Bakugo commented.
"Oh yeah, I should have thought of that, huh..." Kirishima rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment before noticing Midoriya, "Hey Midoriya, you okay?" The crimson haired boy ran over to Midoriya.
"That explains why bird-brain made sure you were with us," commented Bakugo walking back over to Midoriya.
"What?" asked Kirishima.
"Apparently this is the same group that murdered Midoriya's mother," Todoroki answered evenly, though Bakugo could tell he was getting angry, "Damn him, he'll never let me live this down!"
"What are you talking about?"
"My father was concerned about me coming here, and I kind of blew him off," Todoroki replied, "I'm never going to hear the end of this."
"That's what you're getting angry about, kinda lame..."
"I didn't ask you."
"Guys knock it off, this isn't the time," admonished Kirishima, "Midoriya, hey buddy snap out of it," Kirishima shook the green haired boy.
"I-I-I'm still here," Midoriya's voice shook a little, "It was just k-kinda a shock."
"Deku, I need you to focus," snapped Bakugo, "We can't leave you here alone and you have to be able to fight so we can catch up to the others."
"Kacchan, I..."
"Don't apologize..." Bakugo interrupted as much as it annoyed him with the nerd acting this way, he understood why and he knew the younger boy was essentially balancing on a knife's edge, "I get it, I also get why Bird-brain did what he did, to spare you from having to face your mother's killer, but we need to catch up now, these villains are in for a world of pain!"
There was a sudden sound of sirens as cylindrical robots dropped from upper balconies into the arboretum as Midoriya slowly got to his feet. "It looks like it may take us a while to catch up after all..." he said tiredly, 'Okay these are just robots, hold myself in check, don't go over my limits, but you don't have to worry about venting on them.' That had been why he froze up after all, he didn't know if he'd be fighting for the right reasons, if he'd go too far. 'But robots, I don't have to feel guilty if I destroy them.'
I-Island Central Tower: (Control Room)
"Sir take a look at this," said a gray haired villain, "Those kids are hero students."
"Great and you can't override the bots' safeties to use lethal force?" asked Swordkil.
"What, why?"
"So we can get rid of All Might's secret love child," Swordkil snapped, "I'm calling the boss."
I-Island Central Tower: (Overhead Maintenance Room)
"This is stupid," Bakugo stated as he climbed into the room, "Following the others is bullshit..."
"It can't be helped," Kirishima commented pulling himself into the room from the ladder and lowered his voice, "Look Bakugo, I really don't think Midoriya should be coming with us, he should be hunkering down until this is over with..."
"Moron, there is no safe place here at the moment," Bakugo rolled his eyes, "I can keep him from crossing the line if it comes to that, but I don't think it will."
"Dude, he froze up," Kirishima argued, "I get it that I don't know what he's going through, but these are the people that killed his mom..."
"I believe it is disrespectful to be talking about a fellow classmate behind his back," stated Todoroki, entering the room and then reaching down to help Midoriya into the room.
"Todoroki, it's fine, I understand where Kirishima is coming from, which is kind of why I froze up," Midoriya admitted as they took off down the hall and up several flights of stairs, "As long as we're fighting robots..."
"Have any of you extras seen an access point to an exterior balcony or something?"
"Look we need to catch up..."
"N-no, he's right, Uraraka's quirk," stammered Midoriya, "We'll keep an eye out for another corridor..." He noticed a pair of abandoned women's dress shoes leading down a hallway, "This way!"
Several hidden doors in the walls suddenly opened and robots started pouring out. "DIE!" Bakugo lit into them trashing several of them, Midoriya activated the full gauntlet and used 20% of his power punching a robot which flew back into the other robots toppling them like bowling pins as well as breaking down the door at the end of the hall. He saw the robots closing in on Uraraka as Tokoyami and Melissa Shields were floating up towards the top of the tower. He suddenly felt something bad was about to happen if he didn't move quickly.
"URARAKA!"
Some of the robots extended arms that were sparking dangerously with electricity. Fortunately at that moment, Todoroki intervened freezing them in a block of ice.
"Uraraka can you send me up there, they are going to need..." Midoriya was suddenly hit in the back of the neck, "K-kacchan w-why..."
"I'm protecting you from yourself," said Bakugo catching the younger boy as he fell and placed him against a wall, "You always overthink things..."
"Bakugo, what are you?"
"Round face, I need you to give me a boost, then shitty hair, icy hot, and you will need to look after Deku, I didn't hit him that hard so he'll recover fairly quickly."
"What?!"
"Idiot, do you really want him to face off against the bastard that killed his mom?" Bakugo glanced back, "Bird brain is going to need backup."
Uraraka nodded, "Okay." She touched Bakugo to activate her quirk and stood back as he triggered and explosion to launch himself into the air towards the walkway above.
"Release!"
Bakugo triggered some controlled minor explosions to correct his course now that he had his center of gravity back and landed on the walkway as Midoriya was groaning.
"Please tell me that you didn't let..." he took one look at Uraraka and face-palmed.
"You shouldn't be the one confronting that villain!" she admonished.
"You don't get it, Kacchan used to call my mom 'Aunty Inko,' by that logic he shouldn't be the one confronting that guy either," Midoriya slowly got to his feet wobbling slightly as Todoroki and Kirishima continued to destroy or disable robots.
"I'm sorry I didn't know..."
"The maddening this is that without All Might, he made the correct call from a tactical standpoint," his voiced suddenly went flat almost as if he were shoving his emotions to one side then he suddenly leapt at a robot and kicked it off the open balcony where it tumbled to its doom.
"I don't get it Todoroki could have..."
"The villain can manipulate metal, we're in a metal tower," Midoriya continued, "Todoroki's quirk would have some effect, but due to his lack of training with his fire side, we'd just have to rely on his ice, and it would have limits given he'd have to avoid hurting Melissa and Tokoyami."
"But Bakugo's..."
"Of the people here, Kacchan was the best suited to go on ahead," Midoriya punched another robot that got by Kirishima, "Kirishima's quirk would have been well suited, but he doesn't have the speed. I'm probably more of a mess than Kacchan is right now."
'Deku, why are you closing yourself off to everyone?' she thought worriedly not voicing her concern giving the situation they were in.
I-Island Central Tower: (Interior)
Bakugo raced up the stairs towards the top level, when he heard a gunshot as he entered the room, he saw David Shields on the ground with Tokoyami's Dark Shadow trying to fend twisting snake-like metal twisting towards him and Melissa.
"DIE!" he cried out launching into the thick of it. This had the fortunate effect of distracting Wolfram and allowed Melissa to make a dash for the now empty control room.
'What is with this kid?' thought Wolfram as Bakugo launched controlled explosions to rip apart the twisting metal and keeping him from impaling the kid. What was even more irritating in his mind was the shadow creature was now between him and David Shields, so he grabbed the wounded Sam as a hostage and used his quirk to temporarily block pursuit, though his barricade wouldn't hold for long.
I-Island Central Tower: (Interior, Top Floor)
"Tokoyami, I'm sorry you got caught up in all of this," said David Shields sadly as the 'all clear' was sounded, "I should have realized what Sam was doing, I..."
"On the contrary, this is not your fault," Tokoyami replied, "He let his own greed get the better of him, maybe he deluded himself into thinking it was for your own good, but nothing good was going to come from that dark path he set himself on." The bird-headed boy noticed Midoriya racing towards them. "Midoriya, stay here, I must deal with this..."
"But, where's..."
"Samuel Abraham, is suffering the consequences of his own making," Tokoyami replied.
"I've got to go save him before..."
"MIDORIYA, I SAID I WILL HANDLE THIS!" Tokoyami snapped at him causing the shorter boy to shrink away as Tokoyami got to his feet and started walking towards the access stairway to the roof, "I apologize, but right now, you are your own worst enemy, and they clearly want you dead. You are also scared that you may pull an Ida, so Dark Shadow and I will deal with this."
"G-got it," Midoriya turned his attention to the scientist, running over to help him up, "Mr. Shields are you hurt?"
"Izuku, I'm fine," the scientist assured him, "Just a little shook up." David noticed some other people running by, he guessed they were Izuku's classmates given the boy's lack of reaction.
"Some hero I am," Midoriya muttered glumly.
"No, you're still a kid, you're probably 3 to 4 years younger than Toshinori was when I first met him," David Shields put his hands on Midoriya's shoulders, "Also, I don't think All Might would be handling things any better, than you are at the moment if he was being honest about it."
"W-what?"
"This Wolfram is your mother's killer, right now you're what they call emotionally compromised..."
At that moment the elevator door at the end of the room opened and out walked Kido, "Did I miss something? Could someone tell me why I was stuck in the elevator for over an hour?"
I-Island Central Tower: (Stairwell)
Shoto Todoroki raced up the stairs and suddenly stopped as his phone started beeping. He decided to ignore it for now, since the crisis wasn't over, but he could only imagine the number of messages that had been left on his phone. He reached the top floor only to find one of his father's sidekicks along with Dr. Shields and Midoriya (the latter two he expected), he sighed in exasperation. 'The worst part is, the only thing I can complain about is he should have sent someone that was competent.' He really hated it when his dad was right.
I-Island Central Tower: (Rooftop)
Tokoyami calmly reached the roof and sighed, 'Well at least Bakugo is providing All Might with some support. This mercenary has made a mistake, of messing with my sensei and targeting my friend.'
"DARK SHADOW!"
Notes:
For those of you that are wondering, "Kido" is not an original character, he's one of the the Flaming Side-kickers that works for Endeavor. One of Endeavor's stats in the Ultra Analysis Handbook is "Helicopter Parent," so I figured him assigning a sidekick (who turned out to be totally useless) would be completely in character.
For those of you that believe that Midoriya is out of character, I would disagree in this instance. It hasn't been that long ago since his mother was murdered, additionally these are his mother's killers. While part of him would want revenge, he's caught in a loop of whether or not the actions he plans on taking are ethical or not, or if he's going overboard. Remember, he and Tokoyami had to deal with Tenya Ida's situation, and that is still on his mind. Furthermore Hawks had been drilling into him why he shouldn't be facing his mother's killers.
As always, I look forward to feedback.
