03/12/2022
I haven't had a chance to do the review replies but you guys are the greatest!
The Emperor's Dragon
Emergence 30 - We're Not Do'n That
For some reason, lost to time, the UA Sport's Festival was held on a Thursday, and then there was a traditional recess until the following Monday. For the Heroics Course Students it was a chance to rest up. For the rest of UA it was a chance to reflect. Cynically, the first year General Studies students were meant to realise how out classed they were and set their aspirations lower. UA actually offered quite a bit of help here, with finding normal, non heroic work experience opportunities. If they were like Hitoshi, and had actually gotten somewhere in the Festival then it was a chance for them to reflect and hope and pray. He might be given a more heroic type work experience option but it wouldn't be the same as the Heroic's students. Hitoshi might get the chance to work at an Agency, but not actually do anything to do with actual heroics. He'd be with marketing or merchandise or something like that.
The Heroics Course Students were meant to reflect on how they'd done, pray they'd performed well enough to remain in the course, which most years was a definite yes, and then think of how they could solicit work experience invitations.
The Support Course Students were meant to reflect on how and where support equipment may have made a difference to the results, or gear that would have been useful, and then start designing it.
The Management Students were meant to assess and deliberate on what they had seen of the Heroics Course Students, and then decide how best to market them. Izuku knew that some of his classmates would have been agonising over that all weekend. Especially the winner. His performance on the podium just said trouble and potential scandal. And which of the UA staff had thought it was a good look to chain him there? Thankfully, that was not going to be his problem.
Izuku had instead spent the weekend quietly. He'd done his shopping on the Friday when the stores were slightly quieter and then had watched the parts of the Sport's Festival he'd missed. He wanted to talk to his Dad but… he already knew what his father would say. The decision about the future was his and he did not want to unduly influence it.
Even with that in mind it had been hard to watch the Festival. He could see how technically, Endeavor's son had pushed Hitoshi out of bounds. When his friend was in the ice, he was outside the ring, but he hadn't touched the ground yet. He might have fallen there when the ice melted but… He still thought Midnight had called the battle too early. She should have let it play out without preempting events. In that case, Izuku thought Hitoshi would have ordered Todoroki out of the ring and the two toned haired boy would have complied. Then… his friend would have been stuck in the ice and it would have been boring waiting for it to melt. He might have made it back into the ring or he might have fallen out himself but … technically once Todoroki was out of the ring, properly out of the ring, then the match was over.
It should have been a draw… which Hitoshi would probably have lost the rematch, since Izuku had seen how another match had been decided, but his friend would have had the public recognition of fighting Endeavor's son to a draw! That would have turned heads.
The heroes didn't make it easy to see things from their point of view when they made dubious calls like that on national television.
And then there were Ochaco's matches. The first one mostly showed off how the green haired girl hadn't thought ahead. She'd obviously believed that just trapping Ochaco would be enough, when in truth it had played to her strengths. And then there was the second match...
While his friend had definitely lost that one, it certainly didn't make Izuku feel any more sympathetic for the teen who had eventually won the First Year Festival. The blond boy was strong. He knew how to use his quirk but he was arrogant. He had nothing to recommend him as a hero. His entire attitude was to be the strongest and that… that didn't sit well with him. A hero was meant to help people. Ostensibly even those heroes who were more combat oriented were helping the general public by removing the more dangerous villains but… The blond seemed to want to fight only for the sake of the fight and to prove he was stronger.
Even so, it had been great when Ochaco had whacked him with that rock. And her overall strategy was good. The rain of debris was effective and had surprised him. If she could do that, but add more horizontal movement to the mix from ricochettes then… she'd have a real chance next year. The kid's explosions would be stronger, and he might have worked out some new tricks with them but… Maybe Ochaco could do that as well… He'd never actually asked her if she could make things heavier. She removed their weight when she touched them and restored it later, which was usually enough to provide sufficient force but… if she could make things heavier then the force would be greater and…
Before he'd gotten carried away he'd texted her and had discovered that no, Ochaco couldn't make things heavier. She had thought of that. Even so, a ricochet storm would be effective. And if he ever had a reason to get into a fight with the blond…
Well, he'd told All Might he'd wipe the floor with them. He'd have to demonstrate that.
There'd been a few minutes of rather nice thoughts attached to that.
He had managed to check in with Mei as well to find out how her match had gone. He'd watched it so he knew she'd managed to show off her babies. It had actually been hilarious. The Iida teen had been so flustered by the end that he hadn't known what to do. Izuku was glad at least one of his friends had gotten what they wanted.
He supposed he should include himself in that. He'd gotten what he wanted as well, which was to make sure that his friends got a chance to show how good they could be. Even if they hadn't gotten as full a chance as they should have, there would be some heads turned and… he'd gotten some information for Tomura. It wasn't much but if he was going after All Might then he needed to know which students would be annoying both in attitude and quirk ability. He analysed quirks better than Tomura and the young man knew it. Maybe it wasn't much contribution but it was some. He'd sent a text earlier to let Tomura know he had some information and he'd finally replied.
I'm going after bigger things.
Izuku frowned at that. That made no sense. With All Might at UA there was no bigger target! What do you mean?
This time Tomura didn't bother to make him wait. Izuku recognised the tactic and every time Tomura used it he simply rolled his eyes. Recognition.
Except, this time the single word didn't explain much until Izuku thought about it for a moment and then it kind of made sense. Tomura had been annoyed that the attack on UA had been brushed under the carpet and so even if he killed All Might now he'd be-
Ah… Izuku nodded to himself. This was his father's suggestion. How are you doing that? He asked.
I would have allied with the Hero Killer, except he's a prick.
You've met him? Izuku was surprised. After Ochaco had told him that Iida's brother had been injured, he'd looked up the man. Finding information was easy. Finding actual facts was far more difficult. As far as Izuku could tell the man was some sort of vigilante who's mantra was that heroes should be heroes. He could respect that. He really could. Except for the fact that the Hero Killer, known as Stain, thought All Might was the only hero.
He's a prick.
The answer was repeated. It didn't exactly tell Izuku much. So this had to be one of the times where his dad had told him to listen to what wasn't said. From the insistence, Tomura had definitely met the hero killer and… There would have been a number of reasons they didn't like each other, notwithstanding the central issue of All Might. So… Izuku thought, Stain hadn't liked Tomura and had rejected an offer of alliance.
The vigilante was smart. In a way. He had his own following online but didn't appear to interact with them in any way. It was doubtful the man knew they existed. But they were dedicated and spread the word of his values and his methods. Tomura wanted to piggyback on that recognition. It was beginning to make sense now and Izuku smiled to himself.
His dad always said you could figure out what people wanted if you just truly listened to them which had to include listening to what they didn't say.
So what are you going to do? Izuku sent back to Tomura. The other boy had met Stain and… Izuku looked back at the previous messages. Tomura was usually indifferent to people. For him to actually insult someone… The meeting with Stain had gone badly, not just because of the vigilante's beliefs but because he threatened Tomura personally.
He's currently in Hosu. I'm going to take the experiments.
For a moment the message didn't make sense and then something clicked. Izuku felt a little sick at the realisation but…
As much as they might want it to, the system wouldn't change with the death of All Might. It was going to require something more. He knew that. He'd known that since he was thirteen. History told him that. Even with someone in government, there had to be a reason they got power to make the rules you wanted. Izuku had no idea if his dad had someone in Government but that didn't matter. If Tomura was taking the experiments to Hosu then he was going to attack, and provide proof that heroes were not the answer.
Attention would already be on Hosu because of Stain. The public wouldn't see Tomura's attack as anything but another villainous thing but they might find out about it because of Stain. Then…
It would build. Cumulatively the attacks would build in the public subconscious until the public demanded change.
At least that was the theory, and that was how it usually went when the government wasn't completely oppressive to start with. When they were… well, they would control the narrative of the attack in Hosu.
Izuku shook his head and…
He could stop it. He could help everyone who was going to be injured or hurt or- he wasn't going to think about that last one just yet.
He could stop it. He could walk up to All Might and … Maybe not All Might but he could go to a hero and tell them what was going to happen. That would help the people. And then... He could tell them where to find Tomura and the Doctor and the experiments and…
His dad.
The good feeling vanished.
If you chose to go against me, then you had best come at me with everything you have.
His father had said that. His father had lied. If he chose to go against his dad, then he had best steal his heart first. He had best cast away all feelings…
Izuku shook his head.
He wasn't going to do that. He wasn't.
It was just a stupid thought to help because… Things should be better than they were. They shouldn't have to hurt people to make changes but… People didn't see the way the system hurt them. At least, not enough of them did. Most were content because they knew no other way. They weren't shown it…
But not everyone was and not everyone was served by the system. Those with mutant quirks were often discriminated against. Those with weak quirks, those with no quirks… And those who were supposedly quirkless were needed! At least according to the Doctor.
Izuku sighed.
He wanted to help people. He shouldn't delude himself on that. It felt good and… he wanted to do it but at the same time… he didn't want to reinforce a system that failed so many.
He gulped. He couldn't warn the heroes but at the same time he didn't want…
He was being naive again. To change the system some people would get hurt. That was inevitable. The trick was to ensure that the minimum number of people got hurt.
Be careful, he sent back to Tomura. He meant it for Tomura but he also meant it for the civilians who would get caught up in the attack. He hardened his heart. He had to. If they were going to change the system then… He had to be strong.
-ted-
Sir Nighteye looked at Hisha. "We do not have the capacity to take on a work experience student," he said firmly.
"That's what I told him, but he wants to," she replied blandly.
Mirai resisted the urge to groan. It was going to be one of those arguments. Hisha would fully agree with him, would sympathise with him but she would not stand against All Might with him. The fact that people went out of their way to help All Might was great, right up until it hindered him.
"We don't have any appropriate work," he tried again. "And asking this-" he paused to look at the name- "Mitei Chui to file would be insulting."
"I am aware of that," Hisha agreed calmly. "We also do not have the appropriate insurances," she pointed out.
"Isn't that covered under Mirio's internship insurance?" Mirai asked.
"No, we specifically took out the work experience clause to prevent us having an avalanche of applications," Hisha informed him.
That made sense. They would have taken out the clause and then made sure everyone knew they'd taken it out. It wouldn't have prevented all the applications but at least it gave the agency an honest answer to applicants.
Except now All Might himself wanted someone for work experience. Using the insurance excuse on inward coming applications was one thing… using it on an outgoing invitation was… He shook his head. It wasn't possible. "Did he even think about what this will do to the kid?" Mirai demanded.
At the question, Hisha gave him a smile. It told him, without words, that Toshinori had given that aspect absolutely no thought. "He informed me before the Sports Festival finished," she said.
It had been bad enough when Mirio was put on. There'd be rumours and the press had camped outside the building for days! He'd had to make a statement that Mirio was his intern, rather than All Might's before they'd even considered going. Thankfully Mirio had taken that in good humour but All Might offering a student a work experience place would just bring it all back.
Even though it was only a management work experience place it would be… He shuddered.
Sir Nighteye sighed. "He didn't." Of course he didn't. "What do we know about this Mitei Chui?" He asked.
Hisha knew what he was asking. "Father suffered life changing injury in the Toxic Chainsaw incident."
Fuck. That explained so much and… it probably would look good for public relations but…
"No. We can't. We don't have the insurances, and while that can be fixed, we definitely do not need an overly inquisitive student poking around."
"The secure rooms?" Hisha indicated.
He nodded. The secure rooms were where he worked on finding All For One. The man had gone to ground.
"It's only for a week," Hisha pointed out.
"No." Sir Nighteye was firm. "We cannot take a management student for work experience. Not even for a week. We aren't set up for it and while the public relations will look good, we aren't ready for it. Maybe next year."
It was her turn to sigh. "I'll let him know," Hisha told him.
Mirai nodded, before he turned to head back to his office. Sometimes Yagi made good choices. Usually he did but sometimes… he just went with his heart.
And that… When you were the Number One Hero, you had to focus on the goal and right now, public relations weren't the goal. Finding All For One and destroying him, once and for all, was.
-ted-
So Tomura has met Stain and things went as good as canon and Nighteye has put the kibosh on Work Experience for Izuku... Nighteye, you have no idea what you are missing out on. You could have learned so much... you might even have gottan that stick out of your butt!
My discord is on this code: ZX2R5h2cEm FFN will remove links but you should be able to figure that out. There's a heap of other authors there, so come along and chat to us all!
-ted-
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