16.12.2019

First of all, I'm terribly sorry for the wait, it was almost two months since I have updated this story, but the writers block hit me hard. I wrote half of this chapter like over a month ago and had no idea how to proceed from there. I knew what I wanted but didn't knew how to put it all together in a way that you could enjoy.

Without further delaying, enjoy the chapter ;D

"What's the score between the two of us right now Iida?", the green haired boy asked, referring to the duels they were having in their Heroics Classes.

"I believe we are tied at the moment", the armor-clad hero in training answered, while still in his battle stance.

"Then let this be our unofficial tie breaker!", yelled the augmented teen as his legs tensed, before sending him forward with huge momentum.

His opponent easily dodged the human bullet and tried to use his own momentum and deliver a kick to the back of his rival. He was not prepared however for Midoriya quickly stopping in place, before doing a quick turn and catching his leg.

Iida was tossed a few meters aside and could only put up a quick guard as he saw Izuku coming at him with a fist pulled back. But he was once again outsmarted by his classmate, as the green teen shifted his body backwards and delivered a double kick to Tenya's stomach; the attack sending him back a few meters.

"He is doing a good job on keeping his opponent busy. Not relenting and not giving him time to compose nor think", commented Kan.

"While it's surely a good observation, I would like all of you to observe his positioning in this fight", Nezu spoke up and with a paw pointed at the screen that showed the whole market.

"I don't think anything out of the ordinary", after a few moments Midnight was first to speak.

"This problem child…", murmured Aizawa with the slightest grin on his face. Fortunately, it was covered by his capture gear.

"Young Midoriya always tries to move in a way that puts him between young Iida and the rest of his team. He is forcing his opponents to play by his rules", the little rodent explained seeing the confused expressions of the faculty.

"But, what happens when they don't want to play his games?", asked Cementoss.

Snipe was the one to elaborate on the thought. "No hero can be a one trick pony. Relying on being able to outsmart his opponent can only take him so far"

"I think, that we will have a perfect demonstration in a moment", silenced them Nezu and pointed back at the screen showing the two battling teens.

"You are faster as well Midoriya!", Iida shouted while he got up.

"Sure am! As you said, I cannot let myself fall behind!", Midoriya clenched his fist and smiled at his opponent with a look full of determination.

"I was hoping to save this for later, but at this rate… there may be no later for me", the Engine Quirk user thought to himself as he crouched once again. Taking a little longer to focus, he activated a new move that he recently came up with. "Drag Race!"

Blue flames came out of his exhausts as he sped towards his classmate, closing the distance between them in a blink of an eye. He caught him off guard and managed to finally get through.

"Now all I have to do is help either of my teammates and we should be able to turn the battle in our favor, or at least retreat!", Iida planned in his head. The black haired 1-B student seemed like his only option, so he went straight for him. But, as he was about to painfully find out in a moment, no plan succeeds entirely.

"-riple Acceleration!", he heard from behind him and before he had a chance to turn around, a powerful kick was delivered to his back, sending him flying past his struggling comrade.

Once he got over the impact, he turned to look at his opponent… or rather opponents, seeing as Kendo has already dealt with Koda and went to assist Midoriya, while Setsuna was helping the rest of her teammates deal with Awase, who was about to be put out of commision by a sneaky fist that was flying towards his gut.

"It's two against one Iida! And in a matter of seconds, it'll be five against one! Give up while you still have the chance!", Izuku tried to reason with his classmate, but still kept his guard up, as the armor-clad hero in training still stood in a battle stance. After a few moments, he visibly relaxed and released a loud sigh, as he got on his knees; hands high in the air.

"I guess I have no other choice…", he agreed as their earpieces came to life all at once.

"Iida, Awase come back to the monitoring room. Your fight might be over, but you can still learn from other. Medical bots will take care of your teammates", the two mentioned students wished their opponents good luck and headed back as ordered.

A few seconds later, six bots made their way to the market and transported the unconscious teens to the infirmary. As Monoma was put on a stretcher he seemed to mumble a few words. Kendo being the closest one to him at the time heard his words and couldn't keep herself from smiling. Team A assembled in the middle of the plaza.

"Would you mind sharing why you are smiling Itsuka?", Tokage asked as she attached her right fist.

"Monoma came back to life for a moment and was asking if anyone got a look at the license plates of the truck that hit him", hearing her words, Setsuna lost it and started laughing, while the three males smiled similarly to Kendo.

"What should we do now?", Shishida questioned when the Lizard Tail Splitter Quirk user finally composed herself.

"I think that we need to rest for a while and then we can plan our next destination", Midoriya said as he started pacing in front of them, a slight limp visible in his step.

"Are you okay?", asked Tokage. "You are limping"

"I'm a-alright, the augments are putting a strain on my body and I may have crossed a soft limit of my abilities. If I rest for a few minutes I'll be as good as new", he assured them and then pointed to a corner store. "We could hide in there and wait for a while"

Before they had any chance to comment on his plan, a loud crash grabbed their attention. They all turned their heads towards the hills. Their mouths opened themselves involuntarily in shock as they saw a giant glacier that must've been higher than most buildings in the village that they were in.

"I think it's safe to assume, that whatever we plan next, we should avoid going there, right?", Jurota was the first one to break the silence that Team A found themselves in.

"Yup", was his teammates perfectly synced answer.

Meanwhile Team D consisting of Bakugo, Yaoyorozu, Kirishima, Yanagi and Tsunotori also noticed the glacier that was quite hard to notice with all the trees surrounding them.

The team stopped and 1-A students looked at Bakugo with worried expressions. "We are going to avoid Todoroki's team, right?", asked Yaoyorozu who was more than reluctant to face the strongest student in their class.

"Like hell we do!", the blonde's answer was enough to startle his 1-B teammates who were not yet used to his antics… Actually, can you even get used to someone constantly yelling in your face? "Who the fuck said that?!"

"Said what?"

"Tsk, nevermind", the explosive teen paused and then turned in the direction of the hills with a maniacal grin plastered on his face. "Let's go kick Icy-Hot's ass!", he exclaimed and then took off before anyone had a chance to argue.

The rest of Team D sighed audibly in near perfect sync and then followed in Bakugo's footsteps not wanting to lose one of their teammates in the dense woods.

Mean-another-while, the perpetrator responsible for causing the glacier commotion was busy digging himself from the mud that he got stuck in thanks to one of his opponent's Quirks.

"Need help bro?!", Todoroki heard a bit too loud of a shout near him and turned to look at the 1-B Kirishima… Umm…. What's his face… Tetsutetsu! Yeah, that was the names actually.

"I would appreciate it", came the Dual-Quirked teen's stoic answer.

Tetsutetsu grabbed Todoroki underneath his armpits and then effortlessly pulled him out of the mud.

"Am I such a featherweight?", he began to wonder, but didn't have much time to, seeing as his teammates gathered around him.

"Shouldn't you like… melt this thing down before everybody comes swarming this place like it's a Zerg infestation?", the question came from the only foreigner in Team E - Hiryu Rin.

"That's what I'm counting on", Todoroki simply stated and started walking away.

"What do you mean?", asked Nirengeki Shoda.

"We will be long gone, when they finally get here. Hopefully they'll tire each other out and we will have an easier time further down the line", the lone 1-A student explained and resumed walking.

"So… where are we going?, this time it was Fukidashi's turn to… speak? Or at least voice his… Nah, doesn't work. The question just appeared on his speech bubble.

"The village. I think that we shouldn't encounter much resistance there"

And just like that, Team E made their way towards the civilization. And towards a three way tie.

If you went back to Team A, you could see them sitting mostly near the check out section with Tokage's head looking out the broken windows. The 1-B students were currently receiving a run down of Midoriya's Augments and his overall abilities.

"So.. you are saying that all of these upgrades put a big strain on your body when used?", questioned Kendo.

"Y-yeah, actually the first time I've ever used my Augments to their full potential I have kinda… torn some muscles in both of my legs?", he admitted with a sheepish grin.

"W-wow", the confession was enough to break Jurota's gentleman persona for a split second. "That's quite the damage if I do say so myself"

"It was, but since then I managed to put some limiters on my powers", Midoriya continued which finally got Tokage to join in.

"What kind of limiters?"

"Well, I… I have an AI-"

"I'm NOT an AI!"

"-in my brain that acts kinda like a supervisor, she can unlock and lock my power output freely and this way control my injuries"

"Could you maybe elaborate Midoriya?", this time it was Tokoyami's turn to ask a question. "I may be your classmate, but this conversation made me realise, that I don't know nearly as much as I should about your power, which in my opinion is much more complex than some of actual Quirks in our class"

"Well, the limping is caused by me going over my Soft Cap. This level is associated mostly with soreness and some minor pains After that is the Mid Cap. This is where some injuries like cracked bones and strained muscles start to appear. Also more major pains. And then there's also the Hard Cap, which gives me access to 95% of my overall output. Every punch could end with broken bones and torn muscles. Serious headaches thanks to the augments in my brain and serious pain", Midoriya quickly went over the manual to his Quirk and waited for his teammates answers or possible questions.

"What about the remaining 5%?", Setsuna's brain quickly realised that her green haired teammate was not telling them everything. And it worried her.

"Well, it's only 5%, it's not that significant, right?", Kendo spoke up before Izuku had a chance to.

"While 5% doesn't seem like much, it does provide a serious power spike. It's like Naruto getting the Sage Mode"

"Rin would love the reference, Broccoli Boy"

"Yeah, I'm sure he would. Anyways, can you explain this level of power too?"

"Well… I… I call it Death Mark", he paused at the slightest of gasps that his teammates tried to hide. None of them spoke so he felt obliged to continue. "It speeds up all of my bodily functions even without actual Augments being installed in them. Heart rate, blood filtration, reaction speed, information transfer… Multiplies the sensations felt by my pain receptors. Overloads my brain with pain. If I ever step into it, there's no going back. My body won't go back to normal after such stimulations… Activating Death Mark makes me live on borrowed time…", the temperature in the room shifted a couple degrees down, as shivers run down the spines of his teammates. "But I've never even gotten to the Hard Cap and I'm constantly improving the power output of my lower levels so everything is alright!", he quickly tried to cheer them up, and judging by their small smiles, he succeeded.

"That's… crazy…", Setsuna was the first one to speak up after a few moments. Her classmates nodded in agreement.

"I, I have one last question…", Kendo stated in somber tone.

"Shoot"

"Can you… uninstall the Augments in your body?", she looked at him in a way that was hard for him to decipher at the time. Nana quickly saved the picture and put away for further examination.

"No. Every upgrade I receive is permanent…", her somber tone found its way into his voice as well.

"It, it chips away at your humanity…", Tokoyami spoke, breaking his edgy boi persona at the seriousness of the situation.

"That's why I sometimes wish I had a normal Quirk like all of you…", Midoriya stood up and determination made its way slowly onto his face. "But I'm not gonna let it stop me! My name is Izuku Midoriya and I'll overcome every obstacle in my way to become the greatest hero I can be!"

His determination seemed to be infectious, because soon all of his teammates smiled at his show of confidence and stood up as well.

Little did they know, that their private moment was monitored by the Pro's in the control room.

"Anyone else starstruck or is it just me?", Midnight finally found it in herself to speak and break the silence that overtook the room.

"Aizawa, were you aware of Young Midoriya's condition?", Nezu turned to the member of faculty in question.

"I was not aware of the consequences of overusing his powers. But I was aware of something far more important", the Underground Hero answer truthfully and smiled a bit.

"And what would that be Eraser?", asked Vlad.

"That this kid would make for an excellent leader"

"I do agree with this statement", Thirteen seconded Aizawa's opinion without hesitation. "He has a way with words and seems to know how to calm down those around him. Not to mention his infectious determination and iron will. He deserves some bonus points in my opinion"

Rest of the faculty also started reviewing Izuku's performance so far, while Principal Nezu stood a bit to the side and watched the video feed in absolute focus.

"I can't wait for the flower of your Hero Career to bloom, Young Midoriya…"

As you can see, I decided to dwelve a little more into Midoriya's power. Undergoing surgery to receive a power spike that everyone has to train very hard for would surely be overpowered, thus I came with the moral effects of Augmentation. Every change to his body is permanent, so he becomes less human and more machine with every power he gets.

Tell me what you think of this solution. If you would like to provide some filler plots or even some OC villains, feel free to voice your ideas in the reviews. Who knows, maybe your name will become a chapter title?

Unitl next time, which will hopefully be very soon, have a nice day everyone!