Welcome, welcome! Chapter 5 has arrived!
Per usual, there's not much up here, with most of the notes down below. The lone exception today being a brief warning: this chapter is the first example of the story's violence being beyond the typical 'puking blood for no reason' and 'accumulated scratches' stuff you see in Shonen series.
I'm getting a bit more graphic, though not egregiously so, and this is the main reason why I've given the story an 'M' rating from the start. I'm probably being overly cautious, given that—to be here—you're likely someone who's seen some stuff on the internet, if you catch my drift. I don't personally consider this to be too disturbing, but we all have different tolerances.
Either way, consider yourself warned!
Now… On with the show!
—
The darkness is, perhaps, mankind's oldest enemy.
For as long as humans have existed, we've feared the dark. The terrible things that dwell there, both imagined and real, served as our ultimate predator until we learned how to fight back against the night. We did this with fire, with light.
As such, light was, perhaps, mankind's oldest ally…
An ally Uraraka Ochaco was missing dearly. Instead, she had to rely on humanity's second oldest ally… trust. Trust between each other, and trust in ourselves… These things are the foundation upon which civilization is built.
Currently, the object of her trust was Midoriya Izuku.
He—and yes, despite the feminine form leading the way through the ventilation system for her, Uraraka still mentally considered Izuku a 'he'—was a very odd boy, unlike any she'd met so far. Setting aside his quirk, which was undeniably odd, Izuku himself was odd. What kind of boy, no what kind of person would follow a girl they just met to an undisclosed location after meeting through happenstance?
What kind of person would then follow that same girl into a dangerous construction site as it fell apart to help save her parents?
A crazy person, that's who.
Despite her misgivings about Izuku's sanity, or potential lack-thereof, she was above all else grateful. When the boy-turned-girl had charged into the site just after her it had restored her hope, something that she was rapidly losing every moment she'd spent trying to get the door to the building open. It was something she had sorely needed in that moment of panic.
Hope is a special thing, a light of its very own…
Perhaps she wasn't just relying on trust.
After all… She had her very own light in the dark.
—
"Do we know where we're going?" Izuku asked.
She was aware that Uraraka tensed up at that question, turning to face her a moment later so that she could see it as well.
"I thought you knew where we were going!" the brunette demanded.
"No, I can see where we're going!" Izuku corrected. "I have no idea where we're go—"
'Izuku-san,' Hinata interrupted. 'I believe I know of a way to help you.'
"Hold on, I just had an idea. Give me a minute," Izuku stated.
"A minute?! This place could come crashing down any second!" Uraraka cried nervously.
"Do you have any better suggestions?!" Izuku demanded.
"I… No. No I don't. Sorry," Uraraka replied. "I'm just scared for my parents…"
"Yeah, I get it…" the freckled girl muttered sympathetically.
Whatever it is you have in mind, we need it now, Hinata.
'Extend your range as much as possible,' The girl began to explain, not wasting any time whatsoever. 'At your current level, you should be able to encompass the whole building.'
T-the whole thing…?
'Yes. If you maintain your depth of focus, you will be able to extend your range quite a bit without overwhelming your mind,' Hinata stated. 'From there, you can search for Uraraka-san's parents. I'll help you with this, so you'll be able to notice them more easily.'
Nodding, Izuku closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
In…
A pause.
Out...
As she let go of the breath, Izuku allowed her range to expand outward—pressing past the walls of the vent system and into the building itself. She was aware of its contents, but the further away from herself she got the less aware she was of details. For example, she knew about the small leak in the pipe a meter away from their vent, but was only able to tell the rough shape and size of the room on the top floor.
Pressure began to build up in her eyes, the pain from before leaking back into her mind.
'It's okay… You've got it…' Hinata comforted, 'Just keep doing this, and I'll handle the rest.'
Izuku didn't nod, knowing that the motion would be too much right now, but sent a mental affirmation at the spirit.
'Alright. I'm doing it… Now.'
The sudden spike in pressure made Izuku wince involuntarily, but she held it together. She could feel the energy in her eyes shift, ever so slightly, twisting its shape into something denser, more powerful, and far more capable. It was still the same energy, but the level of control and capability being wrung out of it was vastly greater than her own.
As soon as the shift occurred, her sight was tinged with light for the first time since she had activated these eyes.
'That's not light,' Hinata explained, even as she helped Izuku hold the pain at bay. 'It's "Chakra." Though I suppose you simply call it "energy." It's the resource that powers these "quirks" of yours, and it flows through all organic materials. Humans have a network for their energy, however, and that's what gives us the ability to manipulate it.'
Izuku noticed that there was a series of white dots, connected by flowing bridges of energy, that sprawled across her own form and Uraraka, though on the other girl the light was focused most densely within the tips of her fingers.
'The "Byakugan" allows us to see these networks,' Hinata continued. 'If Uraraka-san is anything to go by, the people of your world seem to have chakra networks mostly full of closed tenketsu—the tiny dots you see throughout your bodies. Their quirks, however, open the tenketsu related to their function. I imagine that, were you able to see yourself as you are normally, Izuku-san, that you'd find that all of your tenketsu are shut.' *
It was hard not to marvel at the sheer quantity of earth-shattering information she'd just received, but Izuku knew there was something more important to worry about right now.
N-need to find U-Uraraka's family…
Izuku could feel Hinata push slightly more against the pain, mitigating even more than before. Unfortunately, she could also tell this was the limit of the spirit's assistance. She would need to put in the rest of the work and search on her own.
The temporary-girl sent her cone of vision nearby, beginning with the rooms directly above and below the vent. It took her precious seconds to confirm it, but they were both empty. From there, she gradually explored the limits of her range, moving her focus from room to room—crevice to crevice—and worked her way through the area she could sense.
At one point, Izuku could tell that Uraraka had placed a hand on her back, either to make sure she was still there in the pitch black darkness or to catch her attention. Either way, it didn't matter. She couldn't allow her focus to waver. Izuku could tell that if she let her range fall back to more reasonable levels, she wouldn't be able to do this again before her transformation ended.
Come on… Where are they?!
She searched another room, full of equipment and tools, but empty of what mattered. In fact, she had yet to see anyone throughout the building, living or… or dead. It was somewhat suspicious how everyone had made it out of the building this easily—there was more than enough structural damage throughout that someone would have gotten caught or hurt if they were still evacuating—yet Uraraka's parents were still within…
Was there something Izuku was missing?
A glimmer of precious 'light' caught her gaze, and she swiftly sent her cone of vision into the room it came from. It was filled with wires and half-built machines, a massive console filled with controls resting at its center with a thick glass wall that showed the outside opposite it.
Leaned against the console was the unmoving body of a woman, a brunette with similar but longer hair to Uraraka and an identical perma-blush. Izuku let out a sigh of relief when she saw the subtle rise and fall of the woman's torso, though the blood trailing down her face was concerning.
She was alive… for now.
More worryingly, there was a brawny man standing nearby—clad in military pants, a matching vest, and a skull-shaped helmet that wrapped around his entire head—who was holding another man against the console with fingers that crackled with electricity. The man against the console was weakly struggling, his short-cropped hair standing vertically from the static energies in the air, but due to his awkward position he couldn't get away.
Izuku couldn't hear what was being said, and she lacked the ability to read lips, but she could still tell that the man she presumed to be Uraraka's father was yelling at his attacker, who himself kept gesturing around the room wildly.
A moment later, Skull-Helmet suddenly pulled back Uraraka's father and slammed his head against the flat side of the console, denting the metal, before letting the man fall limply to the floor.
Hopefully the man had survived that.
'You don't have much time, Izuku-san. Civilian's can't handle head-wounds like that without medical attention. You need to go. Now,' Hinata interjected.
Izuku retracted her range, pulling back her sight along with it at such a rapid rate that it gave her momentary whiplash.
"I found them," Izuku stated as she rubbed her eyes. "They're alive."
"Really?!" Uraraka cheered, joyful tears welling up.
"Yes," Izuku nodded. "But we have a problem. There's a villain with them."
"W-what…?!"
"Yeah, I don't recognize him, so he's probably not super dangerous, but he's still well out of our league," the pale-eyed girl explained. "We'll need to sneak past him if we want to get your parents out. Last I saw, he knocked your dad out and left him by your mom—who's also out of it. I think he wants something in that room and your dad wasn't giving it to him."
"What room were they in?" Uraraka demanded.
"I'm not sure, but there were wires and machines everywhere," Izuku responded.
"Was there a big control station in the middle?" the brunette clarified.
"Yeah, why?" Izuku answered.
"That's the generator control center… what would he want from there?" Uraraka wondered aloud.
"I don't know, but we don't have the time to sit around and think about it," the pale-eyed girl interjected. "Come on, it's this way."
The ragtag duo continued their trek, crawling through the confusing series of pitch-black vents. It felt unbearably slow, but they were making decent progress toward their goal. Within a few minutes, they were—
"ARGH! DAMNIT! WHERE THE HELL IS THIS THING?!" A man demanded in a rage. His volume was enough that he was clearly audible in the vents, despite them being roughly six meters above him.
Izuku extended her range slightly, just enough to peer into the room below them.
Skull-Helmet was smashing his electrified head against the glass wall, frustration evident in his every motion. Each bang sent out a pulse of electricity into the barrier, slinging bolts of lightning into the metal around the building and out towards the rest of the construction site. Though the lightning was comparatively weak at first, the way the energy flowed seemed to be catching the generators, amplifying it greatly and causing the havoc outside.
"THAT CREEPY FUCKER SAID THERE WAS A CONNECTION TO THE POWER NETWORK IN HERE!"
"...The power network…? Why does he want that?" Izuku mumbled.
"YOU'LL BE A GOD, HE SAID, WITH ALL THAT ELECTRICITY YOU'll BE INVINCIBLE, HE SAID!" The man boomed.
"...T-that's convenient," Izuku joked shakily.
"M-my parents are down there… I can see them!" Uraraka whispered urgently, gesturing at the partially covered opening at their feet.
"AND WHAT DO I FIND WHEN I GET HERE?! A USELESS BITCH AND A MAN WHO DOESN'T KNOW JACK SHIT ABOUT ELECTRONICS!" the villain continued. "'I DON'T KNOW WHERE THE CONNECTION IS!' THIS, AND 'I'M JUST IN CHARGE OF THE OVERALL STRUCTURE' THAT! USELESS, THE BOTH OF THEM!"
"W-what can we do…? He'll kill us if he sees us!" Uraraka stuttered.
"I-I… I don't know," Izuku muttered.
'Izuku-san… Uraraka's quirk… If you exit the vent without the enemy noticing, you can have her make you both weightless and collect her parents,' Hinata suggested.
"Oh!" Izuku gasped. "Uraraka, can you use your quirk on both of us at once? We can float down and grab your parents while he's not looking!"
"I-I can't! I can't do both of us at once! It's too much!" Uraraka denied, fear evident on her face. "I'll lose control, or throw up, or both! Then he'll see us and—"
"Uraraka," Izuku cut in with a forced smile. "Y-you can do this. You have to. I-I can keep the villain's attention off of you if he notices something."
WHAT AM I SAYING?!
"R-really?" Uraraka asked, her astonishment written across her features.
"Y-yeah. I promise," Izuku confirmed.
I'm going to die. I'm going to die in the next five minutes. What am I doing?!
'Calm down, Izuku-san,' Hinata interrupted. 'You can do this. You have to, since you gave your word. Someone very important to me taught me that...'
T-thanks, Hinata...
"H-help me get this open," Uraraka requested, her fingers resting on the grate next to her.
Since the building was still only partially built, the air system wasn't actually up and running yet. The openings into each room were covered by a thin tarp, adhered to the metal with nothing but tape. Once they removed it, it would be nearly a straight shot to the controls and, more importantly, Uraraka's parents.
"GRAAAAAAAH!" the villain shouted, punching the glass barrier with an electric fist. The largest thunderclap yet followed the bolt out into the lot beyond.
With shaking fingers, Izuku and Uraraka pried the tape away, the latter using her powers to keep the tarp from falling down and alerting the villain.
As the angry man continued his wrath-fueled tantrum, the two teens slid the tarp into the vent and out of their way.
"R-ready…?" Uraraka asked, offering Izuku her hand.
"Y-yeah," Izuku replied, forcing down her terror.
The freckled girl grabbed onto Uraraka's hand and pushed her way out of the vent the moment she saw the flash of pink. Izuku tugged the brunette after her, taking control of the other girl's motion so that she wouldn't have to focus on anything but maintaining her quirk.
Moving like this was a unique experience, similar to how she imagined being on a space station was. Izuku literally pushed off the bottom of the vent like she was jumping, rocketing her down toward the floor without a single sound.
The duo landed softly, Izuku making sure they were out of sight of the villain, who was still continuing his tantrum. It was almost impressive, really.
"Alright, we're here," Izuku whispered.
Uraraka let out a quiet gasp, breathing for the first time since she began using her quirk.
Suddenly, her hands flew to her mouth as she squeezed her eyes shut. With Uraraka green-faced and clearly about to vomit, Izuku reflexively added her hand on top of the other girl's. Pale eyes wide with fear, Izuku waited to see if it would be enough. **
If the villain hears us…
Uraraka's features relaxed a moment later, a small bulge sliding down her throat. Both of them removed their hands shortly after that.
"Bleh…" Uraraka muttered, wiping away some liquid from her chin.
"Are you able to go again?" Izuku whispered. "We're running out of time..."
Uraraka trembled a bit, but nodded firmly.
"I-I should get on your back. I can hold onto them while you carry us up," she suggested.
Ignoring the teenage male aspect of his brain, this was not the time for those kinds of thoughts, Izuku whispered agreement.
The brunette clambered onto Izuku's back, her feet resting on top of the freckled girl's hands like stirrups. Given that her current form was only slightly larger, Izuku had assumed Uraraka would feel heavier, but she barely noticed the other girl's weight. Ignoring the oddity, Izuku leaned forward so Uraraka could reach her parents. Once they were in position, Uraraka tapped herself, Izuku, and then latched onto the collars of her parent's orange vests.
As soon as Izuku saw that Uraraka had a good grip, she pushed off the ground.
They ascended slower this time, the two adult's forms adding significant drag. It felt like they were inching upward, each smash of the villain's fists driving home how much they had riding on luck. If the man decided to turn around for any reason, they were dead.
The cargo-laden duo had crossed the halfway point now, their momentum beginning to die from the air resistance.
They would still make it… but it would be close.
Once they crossed the three-quarter threshold, it happened. Uraraka's control began to falter, and smaller things began to experience the phenomenon of gravity again. Izuku's hair fell limp first, then the mother's coat, and then…
Then came the box of nails inside Uraraka's father's pocket.
It slipped out of the man's vest too quickly for Izuku to react, plummeting toward the floor with the promise of a loud impact. It was a cheap plastic box, certain to crack open when it made contact and scatter the rivets everywhere. It would be impossible to miss.
In that moment, a lot of things flew through Izuku's mind. Fear, for one, was quite present.
We're going to die!
Doubt was there as well, flooding her mind with 'should have's.
This is my fault! I should've checked their pockets, or taken off their vests, or—
But most importantly… was the thought, the deeply ingrained instinct that she had to act. She needed to save Uraraka and her parents. There had to be something she could do to help them, to—
Reflex kicked in, and before she even actively considered any plans, she had flung Uraraka upward, sacrificing all of her momentum to give the other girl an extra push.
Several things happened in the following moments.
Uraraka made it into the vent with her parents, landing safely and instantly losing control of her powers; Izuku fell back toward the ground; and the nail box smashed against the concrete, causing a terribly audible sound.
"What was that...?" the villain growled, his volume eerily controlled now that he was focused on something beyond rage and frustration.
Izuku slammed into the ground a second later, just as the villain turned around.
"Hohoho… seems I've got a rat to deal with…" the man chuckled.
—
It took Uraraka several seconds to realize something was wrong.
The moment she felt herself in the vent, she'd positioned herself and her parents away from the hole and let go of her powers. She immediately lost control of her stomach's contents, vomiting her lunch onto the metal surface of the tunnel.
After that, she turned around and finally noticed what was missing…
Izuku wasn't there with her.
—
It was all Izuku could do to stay silent in face of the pain.
The nails she'd landed upon were tall, sharp things, and many of them had either scratched her or partially punctured her skin. That wasn't the problem.
The worst injuries were from the two spikes that had gone straight through her left hand, cutting straight through the flesh between her finger's ligaments and coming out the other side of her palm. Several more stuck out from her outer thigh, while one was jabbed into the flesh of her shoulder.
'Stay calm,' Hinata ordered.
Izuku wasn't quite able to respond to that, the pain well beyond anything she'd ever felt. Bruises likely covered her form, and she would be lucky if there weren't any minor fractures.
'Whatever you do, do not remove the nails,' Hinata continued rapidly. 'Right now, they're the only thing keeping the blood in your body. You were lucky enough to avoid any arteries, but you can still pass out from blood loss if you aren't careful.'
G-g-got it…
"I know you're there, little mouse!" the villain called.
Despite being quieter than his prior shrieks of rage, his voice seemed to resound in her ears infinitely louder than before. She was vaguely aware that the man was slowly approaching the console, the scuff of his boots only reinforcing that impression. Even still, she struggled to move at all.
'You need to move, Izuku!' Hinata shouted mentally, raising her voice uncharacteristically. 'If you can move, you can fight, and if you fight, you can win! You can do this, Izuku!'
Still in a daze, Izuku forced herself off the ground, using the awareness her eyes granted to slowly slip around to the other side of the control console and play a brief game of ring-around-the-rosie.
Each step the man took, she forced herself to mirror, until finally he peered around the corner to where she had initially fallen.
"Ohoho! You must think you're so clever, rat… But you forgot one thing…" the man called.
...W-what...?
"You left a trail!"
Izuku's eyes widened.
The blood!
A loud thump echoed in the massive room, and suddenly she felt someone's breath near her ear.
H-had the villain—
"Hello, little mouse," the raspy voice whispered. "My name is 'Tesla,' and I'm going to be taking on the role of cat today…"
Izuku whirled around, her awareness already informing her that the villain was crouching on the console behind her, tilted forward such that he could speak to her as he had.
There was no plan, no thoughts, only desperation when she swung her impaled hand at him. Were she actually capable of thinking properly, she would have known the inherent problem of bringing a hand with metal stabbed through it near a man who'd demonstrated control over electricity…
A loud 'thwack' rang out as the man caught her by the wrist.
"What's this? A gift?" the villain taunted.
His grip was like iron, or more accurately, like lightning.
With a sadistic grin, the man's fist lit up with electricity, the energy so bright that it almost hurt to view it with the Byakugan.
Izuku let out a terrible scream, the burning sensation of the steel in her wounds heating up was far too much to bear.
In moments of mind-numbing, overwhelming pain, an animal will always do one of two things… It will give in, its will shattering in the face of such suffering… or it will fight with an unholy desperation unmatched by all but a few kinds of motivation.
In Izuku's case, she had always been stubborn. Her entire life, she was told that she couldn't be the one thing she wanted most in the world, and she'd simply stood there and said 'no' in the face of such opposition. It had taken the word of the man she'd idolized most, the closest thing she had to a present father figure, to finally get her to give in.
After facing such despair, Izuku wasn't capable of letting herself break. Not anymore. She'd already been broken once. It would not happen again.
So she fought.
With grace and accuracy not her own, Izuku lashed out at the villain—the index and middle fingers of her free hand extended together and stabbed at one of the orbs of light in the man's wrist. Her energy lanced out of her fingertips, thrusting into the tenketsu and forcing it shut.
The villain let out a shriek of pain, his grip loosening greatly as the electricity cut off.
Immediately, Izuku retreated, hiding behind one of the many machines in the room. Panting heavily, she desperately tried to calm her breathing. If she was quiet, then the villain wouldn't be able to find her. If she was quiet, he couldn't grab her again and make her experience that again.
'Izuku, you need to pull them out of your hand now,' Hinata ordered gently. 'I'm sorry about this, but now that they were superheated like that, you're only letting the injury worsen by leaving them there to set. If you're lucky, the wound was cauterized by the heat. You may still be able to heal properly if you get those nails out.'
Izuku didn't even bother to respond, biting onto the collar of her jacket and reaching for the first nail. It had already started cooling, mostly at the head.
"WHERE THE FUCK DID YOU GO, RAT?!" Tesla screamed. "MY GODDAMN HAND ISN'T WORKING RIGHT BECAUSE OF YOU!"
'Do it now, Izuku,' Hinata urged.
Shutting her eyes, though that didn't actually stop her from seeing, she pulled. Partially melted flesh tore, muscle and skin screaming with pain.
GGNNNNAAAHH! THAT HURTS!
'I know, Izuku, I'm so sorry. It needs to be done though. You can't let partially melted metal set in your wound,' Hinata explained.
Izuku shakily reached for the second one—
A bolt of electricity flew past the machine she was hiding behind, striking another several meters away.
'He's just attacking blindly in his anger,' Hinata explained. 'Finish the job.'
Izuku pulled.
"COME OUT AND I PROMISE I'LL KILL YOU SLOWLY!"
The second nail fell to the ground, making a subtle sound that the villain couldn't hear over his own words. Izuku was shaking now, far more than before, and it was a struggle to do anything at all… but the pain was fading rapidly, adrenaline overwhelming her nerves as it surged through her body like never before.
'Good. You're alright now,' Hinata stated. 'Now, you need a plan.'
W-what can I do…? He's too strong!
'Every powerful man has a weakness,' Hinata replied.
...I don't… Oh! The tenketsu! He said his hand wasn't working properly!
'Exactly!' Hinata continued.
But I need to be close to—
Izuku's eyes widened as a grin that looked more like a grimace spread across her face. She reached down and palmed the two nails that she'd pulled from her injured hand. They were almost completely cool now, their outermost layer shaving off and leaving flecks of metal everywhere.
I don't know how, but I've been able to copy muscle memory from you girls… Are you good at throwing things?
'If you're suggesting what I believe you are, then it should work. Though I was never as good as my brother was, I am quite adept at shuriken-jutsu.' Hinata affirmed. 'You will need to infuse your energy into the nails for them to strike his chakra network, so be careful with how you approach it.
Perfect!
Izuku crawled between the machines nearby, gradually approaching where she knew the villain was positioned. Tesla was standing on top of the control console, loosing bolts of lightning at anything he saw move. His left arm dangled limply at his side, the right serving as his electric cannon. Originally, he'd had three tenketsu fully open: one on each wrist and another in the space between his collarbones, but the one in his left arm had been forced shut by Izuku's strike.
If she could force the other two shut as well, the man would be quirkless for a while… and, hopefully, that would shock his system enough to knock him out.
Izuku was almost in position when she noticed something.
Uraraka was floating directly above the villain, staring in Izuku's general direction and gesturing wildly despite the way her face was rapidly turning green.
What is she doing?!
—
As soon as Uraraka realized Izuku was missing, she turned to the hole in the vent and stared out of it in horror.
The villain knew they were there. He knew that Izuku was there!
Worse still, Izuku was injured, crawling around the side of the central controls at an exact 180 to the terrifying man. How was she doing that so perfectly…?
Her eyes…
Whatever those broken-looking eyes did, they'd let Izuku find Uraraka's parents and see in the dark, so it made a certain kind of sense that she could tell where the villain was.
Then the villain leaped across the controls, coming to a stop right next to Izuku. It happened too fast for Uraraka to do anything but gasp when Izuku was briefly tortured by the villain.
I-I've got to do something!
Izuku fought back, wounding the villain with a poke, somehow, and running to hide behind one of the machines while he was distracted. It was probably the most frightening decision she'd ever made, but Uraraka activated her quirk and jumped out of the vent.
She pushed off the side, using the ceiling as a handhold to navigate from. As she placed herself above the villain, she finally realized the impossibility of what she was doing. Her quirk had never worked this well for her before!
Unfortunately, once she realized that... she felt the familiar nausea building up.
This was also the moment Uraraka realized she had no plan. She hadn't looked before she leaped. She'd simply seen Izuku in pain and an opportunity to do something… and she'd moved.
What do I do?!
From her position, she could barely make out the purplish-black hair on Izuku's head, steadily creeping towards the villain's position. Did the boy-turned-girl have a plan?
Of course he does! H-he's had one every step of the way!
She would trust Izuku. That was what she would do.
The moment he seemed ready, she would kick off the ceiling and make the villain weightless. He wouldn't be able to fight back as effectively in the instant of surprise, and Izuku would have a chance to do whatever was planned.
...Now I just need to get his attention.
—
She's going to go for him!
Izuku gave a thumbs up with her injured hand, the gesture barely recognizable from her injury-induced lack of control. Uraraka noticed the gesture, wincing at the wounds briefly, and nodded in return. The brunette held up her hand, three fingers extended.
The first finger fell.
Izuku tensed up, ready to leap out of cover at any moment.
The second finger fell.
Her left hand's grip tightened on the two nails, the veins around her eyes bulging as she pushed more energy into them to make certain of the villain's exact position.
The last finger fell.
Uraraka burst into motion, lunging down at the villain and crashing into his back. Pink light erupted from the contact, just as Izuku jumped out from behind her cover.
"WHAT THE—?"
Izuku's arm twisted along with her body, uncurling as she spun into the motion. The nails flew from her hand, speeding through the air at the weightless villain.
Tesla's mouth opened, a howl of anger beginning to burst from his lips as lightning surged to his fingertips and around his head.
THWICK!
The nails struck true, lodging themselves barely half a centimeter into the man's body. The energy within them, however, continued deeper—spearing through his tenketsu and forcing them shut.
For a moment, the whole world stood still.
D-did it work…?
The villain tensed up for a moment, struggling to move despite his lack of traction…
Then he went limp.
Uraraka let go of her powers, unable to hold them any longer, and gravity returned to her and Tesla. The man smacked into the ground face-first, utterly unresponsive.
"W-we did it…" Izuku muttered. "We did it!"
She let go of the energy within her eyes and it dissipated quickly, returning her sight to normal as that source of pain faded. Tears filled her vision, blurring everything for a bit even as she staggered forward.
The adrenaline was fading from the realization that they had won.
"We did it!" Uraraka cheered, tears of her own trailing down her cheeks.
She rushed forward, pulling Izuku into a desperate hug. Both girls didn't even bother to try and halt their sobs, letting the fear and stress fade as they clung to each other, even falling to their knees as they cried their hearts out.
They were alive.
They had made it through the most terrifying—
The door to the room exploded open, drawing both girl's attention in an instant. A single man charged into the room—his black clothing blurring his silhouette as his long grey scarf floated around him menacingly. His dark hair stuck up directly, glowing red light sparking through the goggles on his face.
Instantly, his gaze zeroed in on the villain on the floor, flowing smoothly to the two girls and then analyzing the room itself.
"What happened here?" he demanded, authority dripping from his voice.
Immediately, Izuku was on her feet, standing firmly in front of Uraraka with her arms held up in a feeble combat stance. Her eyes blazed with determination, even if they had no energy to grant her the Baykugan's unique sight. Tremors wracked her form, but even still… she would fight to defend her friend.
For an infinite second, no one moved. The tenseness of the moment halting all action.
The stranger opened his mouth to say something, but before either of them could speak, Izuku's body flashed red and the now normal green-haired boy lost consciousness in the face of exhaustion—slumping backward against Uraraka, who cradled his body protectively. The girl tried to stand and do the same as Izuku, but her legs refused her commands.
"W-who're y-you?" she demanded, fear evident in her voice.
"Eraserhead," the man replied. "A pro-hero."
He took a step forward, causing Uraraka to flinch back.
Sighing, the man reached up to his goggles and pulled them down. His hair fell down loosely as the red faded from his eyes. His scarf curled around his shoulders like an obedient pet and his entire demeanor became significantly more gentle.
A pleasant smile that did not suit his features appeared on his face as he spoke again.
"I'm sorry, you're clearly scared," he stated. "I should have started differently."
Uraraka's trembling diminished, but she still held her death grip on Izuku.
"Let's get you two to safety. I can ask my questions there," he continued.
"My… My parents," Uraraka stumbled. "We got them into the vents. We were trying to get away and… and the villain, he… He hurt Izuku!"
The girl stopped staring at Eraserhead in fear, preferring instead to hold Izuku tighter to her body and rest her forehead on his shoulder. Tears flowed in rivers as she clung to the boy desperately, shaking from hiccuping sobs.
A reassuring pat weighed against her head. The hero was kneeling next to her.
"Can you hold onto me while holding your friend? I can get your parents at the same time if you can manage that," Eraserhead asked kindly.
Uraraka nodded into Izuku's shoulder.
Carefully, Eraserhead levered the girl onto his back, keeping Izuku between their two bodies. As soon as they were situated, he stood back up. His scarf unraveled, seeming to stretch unreasonably.
Suddenly, all three of them were in the air, the hero's accessory reaching into the vents and withdrawing Uraraka's parents in a single swift move. The next instant, they were on the ground again and running. The adults hung behind them as they practically glided through the building, the scarf somehow supporting their weight.
"It'll be okay, kids. You're fine…" the man offered in a comforting whisper.
He perked up a moment later, clearly trying to remember something. "How does that idiot say it again…? Ah, right."
"'Because I'm here.'"
—
Waking up in a hospital bed was a new experience for Izuku.
The smell of alcohol and chemicals was overwhelming, along with the scratchy sensation of the cheap hospital gown he was dressed in. The pillow, at least, was comfortable.
Glancing around the room, he realized he wasn't alone.
The person with him was familiar. Oddly so. With the unkempt hair dragging at his shoulders and the stubble along his jaw… more memorable, though, was the bags under his eyes and the grey scarf piled around his neck.
"You're awake," the man stated. "It's 14:36, the Saturday following your incident… and you're late. You were supposed to be awake twenty-six minutes ago."
"I'm… sorry…?" Izuku wondered.
The strangely familiar figure was draped comically over the guest seat, lying on his side like he was trying to take a nap and watch the door at the same time… despite the fact that the seat was only supposed to fit one person. An eccentric man, this one.
"Don't be," the stranger denied, waving one hand lazily at him. "It was an excuse for a cat nap, and the doctor's are at fault here for being inaccurate with their estimates."
What could Izuku say to respond to that…?
The man's expression, though previously somewhat stern and intimidating, shifted toward complete seriousness as he sat up straight. He leaned forward, resting his chin on his entwined fingers.
"So, what do you remember?"
"What are you—?" Izuku began.
"The construction site," the man interrupted. "At 13:20, Thursday of last week, you and Uraraka Ochaco entered the site of Denki Electric Company's partially built Thermal Power Station."
Izuku blinked. As the man spoke, it was coming back to him.
"Oh… That…" he mumbled as he sorted through his thoughts. "Oh! Are Uraraka's parents okay?! Or Uraraka? Was anyone hurt in the evacuation?"
The man glared at him.
"You should be worried about yourself, Midoriya Izuku. If I'm not satisfied with your answers, you may be facing Vigilante charges…" the stranger stated. "My name is Aizawa Shota, professionally known as Eraserhead, and I'm the unlucky bastard giving up on fixing his sleep schedule to give you a chance before you're tossed to the wolves. Given the circumstances, I suggest you be forthright with me."
"What?! 'Vigilante charges?!'" Izuku cried. "But I—"
"But nothing, kid," Aizawa denied. "The facts that we have so far are that you and Uraraka Ochaco went into the site, fought an E-rank villain, and won somehow. At the very least, you should be worrying about public usage of your quirk without a license, given that you're on the 'potential danger' list."
"Is Uraraka in trouble too? I'm the one who fought the villain, so don't—" Izuku began.
"Damn it... Midoriya... Don't you get it?" Aizawa groaned, his calm demeanor cracking slightly. "You need to worry about yourself first! You're just a civilian! Uraraka, at least, is a Hero Course applicant, so she gets some legal leeway in this kind of circumstance… but you… you don't."
"Oh. That's good that she'll be fine," Izuku mumbled.
Eraserhead let out a sigh, covering his eyes with a hand in frustration.
"You're…. Infuriating…" the man muttered under his breath, too quiet for Izuku to hear. "Just like him."
Aizawa stood up suddenly, walking to the left side of Izuku's bed and pulling up the covers. Grabbing Izuku's immediate arm with surprising tenderness, he held the boy's hand up.
"Look at this," he demanded, gesturing to Izuku's left hand.
Resting on the center of his palm were two patches of scar tissue that lined up with where the hand had been punctured by nails. The healed-over holes were small, only a bit smaller than his pinky's fingertip, but no less visible for it.
"None of the other nails were as problematic to remove, and likely won't scar much if at all… but your hand was a mess when you arrived here. The only reason you still have full function is the fact that I got you to a hospital as fast as I did. If I hadn't been nearby, and someone hadn't thought to report the possibility of a villain, the situation would have been left to normal emergency services," Aizawa explained. "Heroes are in short supply right now. Singapore's typhoon aside, crime rates have been steadily rising for the past several years despite the Hero Commission's best efforts. You were incredibly lucky, Midoriya…"
"I…" Izuku trailed off. "But, if I hadn't helped Uraraka, she or her parents would be…"
The man let go of his grip on Izuku's wrist, sighing again and sitting on the edge of the boy's bed.
"I'm not going to lie to you and say they would be alright…" he stated. "In all likelihood, they would have been severely injured or worse. Your intervention stopped that."
"Then—!"
"BUT!" Eraserhead continued forcefully. "What you did is… frowned upon... for a reason. You don't have the training, the experience, or the tools to do what you did without the most likely scenario resulting in you becoming another casualty. The reason the Hero Commision is so proactive about Vigilantes isn't because we don't want competition, despite what some media-hounds may tell you. It's because if we allowed just anyone to fight villains without becoming heroes first... a lot of people would end up dead."
Izuku remained silent in response to that. It was too solemn a point for him to ignore.
"Think about it," Aizawa asked. "How many close calls did you have? How many times were you just a step away from the end? It's a dangerous job, Midoriya. Not everyone is up to it."
'I can't just lie to you about this... being a hero is a dangerous job.'
"Yeah…" he muttered dejectedly, That Man's words resounding in his head.
"This brings me to my main question," Aizawa continued. "Why aren't you an applicant for the Hero Course? Even if you're not expecting to get into U.A., everyone at least tries."
"W-what…?"
"I have the name, face, and quirk of every U.A. applicant for every year I've taught there memorized, yet before getting your file from the police, I'd never heard of you…" the man clarified. "Why?"
"B-because I'm applying to the support course?" Izuku replied, feeling certain that wasn't a good answer even as he spoke.
Eraserhead didn't respond immediately, turning to stare at Izuku directly. His gaze was hard, searching, and it was almost disturbing how he didn't blink. After a few moments, he turned away and growled.
"This is why I hate the application process! How many times have I demanded Nezu let someone interview all the applicants before letting them go toward a specific Course?!" the man grumbled. "This will keep happening if we aren't proactive!"
"Um… What's wrong with the Support Course…?" Izuku asked.
"It's not that there's something wrong with that Course, U.A. quality standards wouldn't allow that…" Eraserhead denied. "No, there's something wrong with you."
"M-me?" Izuku whimpered.
W-was I wrong? I'm too useless to even help from the sidelines?
"Ignoring your quirk, useful as it may be, I have never seen a teenager with as much heroic potential as you, Midoriya," Aizawa continued matter-of-factly. "You're wasted on the Support Course."
Izuku could feel his heart stop as the man spoke. Hawks was one thing, the man had spoken flippantly and tossed out an offer to a teen without any real consideration because he was successful enough that he could probably toss out such offers whenever he wanted… but Eraserhead? The man had no reason to give him cheap hope. In fact, he seemed worried for Izuku's sake…
"Setting aside the stupidity of your actions for a moment, you managed to save two civilians and work with a Hero Applicant to take down an E-rank villain without any training or experience," he explained. "...but more importantly than any kind of skill was the fact that you have the 'instinct to protect.'"
"'The instinct to protect…?'" Izuku parroted.
Aizawa looked away as he spoke, seemingly lost in memories… and they didn't seem the type to be recent, if his expression was anything to go by.
"When I arrived, it was to the sight of two teenagers sobbing on the ground next to the unconscious body of a villain. You were both clearly feeling the effects of post-traumatic shock and were coming down from an adrenaline high," Aizawa declared. "You, in particular, were greatly injured. Enough so that I had immediately pegged you as a casualty the moment I saw the situation…"
He paused.
"The moment you two noticed me, I knew that you had assumed I was another villain. I deal with that assumption sometimes on the job, but I prefer my appearance how it is to make my arrival more imposing to villains. I don't work in disaster rescue, so that's not normally an issue…" Eraserhead rambled briefly. "Uraraka pulled back when she saw me, trying to pull you out of harm's way in a situation beyond her control. An admirable trait for a hero... But when you saw me, saw a threat—despite the fact that you were barely conscious—you stood up and took a combat stance in front of her without hesitation."
Izuku was speechless in the face of the man's statement.
"In the Hero business, we have all sorts. Some are in it for the money, some for the fame, and some for personal reasons… but there are very few heroes that are in it for the express purpose of saving people and nothing more." Eraserhead stated. "True, instinctual altruism like that is rare. It's even rarer that someone with that mentality also has the practical potential for hero work."
"W-what are you saying…?" Izuku asked.
"I'm saying that you have a choice, Midoriya," the man answered. "You're living in a grey zone, committed idealistically to the hero's life, but not in your actions. In most people, that would be fine—but most people don't have a quirk like yours. I've seen your type before, though none with your degree of potential, Midoriya… Either you become a hero, with all that entails, or you'll become a terrible danger to yourself and others."
The man sighed.
"If it were up to me, I would say 'get into a Hero Course, or else' but unfortunately I need to follow protocol," Aizawa said. "What that means is you get a warning, since it's your first offense and you're a minor."
"So I'm not in trouble?" Izuku clarified.
"For now." Aizawa glared. "But what I said earlier is still true. You need to be a hero, Midoriya. If you aren't, then you will become a problem. People with hero-complexes like you need to be needed, and that can take you to very dark places if you ignore it."
The man's stare was truly withering now, intensifying with every word he spoke.
"If you continue like this… One of these days, you're going to step into something you shouldn't have and wind up dead… or worse... you'll be the one doing the killing."
—
*So, before you get worried that this is suddenly becoming a Naruto-centric story because of this mechanic, let me stop you right now. To be vehemently clear, I am not going to re-work the MHA universe by the logic of Naruto's chakra system. What I am doing here is finding a middle ground between Hinata's abilities and MHA's rules, allowing them to mesh in an interesting way that allows for creative combat opportunities throughout the story.
I'll be doing the same for each of the waifu's abilities. Although, given the varied depth of the power-systems of the relevant source-material, this effect may be less noticeable than it is with Hinata and the chakra network idea.
**You're probably wondering by now why Uraraka's quirk is so much less powerful than is displayed in canon, even as early as the U.A. Entrance Exam. The simple reason is, I nerfed it temporarily so as to make this arc make more sense. I'm mentally rationalizing it through my mental head-canon that her parents kept her from using it too much so that she'd stop trying to help them at their construction jobs.
As such, she'll be experiencing her own training arc in the background later on and be up to canon standard by the time that the exams roll around in this story. For now, though, her quirk isn't quite as strong.
AN:
So, here we see the first rise in the stakes and danger-level of the story! What do you think? Did it go well, horribly, somewhere in-between? I'm rather happy myself, but I'd like to know if there's anything you all believe I messed up so I can improve for the future!
This chapter was a bit more difficult to write than the previous ones and was the first time that my initial burst of motivation began to falter. Not to worry, though, since I've pushed through that (Plus Ultra, am I right?) and am still several chapters ahead in my writing.
One thing I want to bring up here is the way that the spirits have, so far, been 'assisting' Izuku with using their abilities. Someone brought it to my attention that this could cause problems going forward, particularly with making it feel like Izuku isn't fighting his own battles.
To assuage their, and hopefully your worries, I'm here to say that my plan is for this assistance to gradually diminish as Izuku grows to be more competent. I will say that I don't plan for it to ever fully fade, since I see Izuku using his borrowed powers as something similar to Soul Eater's meister system in that it's a joint effort. But, at the end of the day, I still want things to feel like Izuku is the one fighting, not being a proxy for another combatant.
Hopefully I've managed to convey to you how those are different concepts.
An 2, Electric Boogaloo… Wait, I already used this one, didn't I?
Now, the topic I'm sure you've all been waiting for… Da, da-rah dah duh duh duh DAH—
Ah, my bad. I let that reference pop out without thinking.
Anyway… Waifus!
More specifically, the two that I mentioned in last chapter's AN. You all were very helpful, both those that reviewed and those that messaged me, and helped me come to a conclusion for both characters.
Asuka will, sadly, not be in this story. It's a shame, and I quite like her, but my design philosophy for Waifu picks has always been about not being redundant with Archetypes. What I mean by this is that, as of this chapter, there are three spirits that have been introduced: an Alien Space Pirate, a Devil Princess, and a Shinobi. Given that I can only reasonably define Asuka as a 'Shinobi…' I'm sure you see the issue.
As for Ranma... We'll see. I'm still divided, since people have made good points both for and against the character's inclusion. I myself am a fan, as I've mentioned, so I like the idea of including him… But given the potential issues and the fact that I don't have a good purpose for his inclusion right now, I'm leaving it up in the air. If a good opportunity arises and it makes sense to include Ranma, then the character will join the roster. Otherwise… No.
On the more positive side of things… I'm loving the suggestions!
While many of them don't fit for my purposes, or already occupy niches I'm covering with others, some of them fit nicely into the same position Ranma does of 'Schrodinger's Roster.' They are both present in the cast and not present, and no one can know which (including me!) until the story ends or they are added.
Even more exciting is the fact that someone's suggestion is definitely getting in. It was a randomly listed character in a review that led to me discovering a whole new series that I was unaware of prior. On top of me liking them and the fun new source material, the character manages to nail all my requirements!
They look the part, don't occupy an archetype I'm already covering, and slot into the narrative in a useful manner!
This surprise character will be the first non-starter waifu added to the list—
Wait, am I just making a Smash Roster? Are these DLC Fighters? Is this what Sakurai feels like when he decides on new members?
I can already imagine invitational letters with the Omnitrix symbol on them instead of the Smash logo… Hmm...