29.09.2020

I'm only going to remind you to check out my other story - Champion to Slay the Gods - if you haven't done so already ;D

The comments!:

RandomReader867 - Nice try my man, but not this time! The Synthetic Quirks weren't really supposed to immitate those of 1-A students or anyone for that matter, but if I had to compare them? Seismic would go to Yo Shindo, the Ketsubutsu student wearing a thoty version of Froppy's hero costume. Downpour would go to... Kota probably. I'm not sure. You may have me on the last one since I can't think of anyone else that has a lightning/electricity based Quirk.

General Kenobi - You crazy son of a gun you did it. Well, the part with Richard was talking about his masterplan that the fruits off will be shown in the future. Also Daruma Ujiko is not an OC. The guy already exists in MHA universe. But yes, he has ties to All for Gone, but All for One himself is... gone in this story. I didn't really think about the perspective that you've written about heroes having to live here and now since every day can be their last one, but they are only students right now and shouldn't have to worry about being in a life&death situation any time soon (Yes, I've just jinxed them, which means that something horrible is going to happen to at least one of them!)

The chapter!:

They were already three weeks into their preparations when Izuku was suddenly called to the principal's office. It was Friday and they were about to finish for today anyway, so they didn't lose much. Midoriya suspected that Nezu had observed their daily training and waited for an opportunity to call the green haired student to his office.

The greenette hoped that whatever it was that Nezu wanted to talk to him about won't take too much time, since he had some Class Rep paperwork to do and he was done with dropping all of the responsibility onto Momo.

Even if it would bring his sleep schedule even further down than his usual five and a half hours.

Midoriya approached the unnecessarily large set of double doors and knocked politely on the polished wooden surface.

"Come in", he heard from the other side and entered the office. "Midoriya, I'm happy that you came so quickly. Take a seat. Would you like some tea perhaps?", the hybrid offered, gesturing towards two, steaming cups of black tea.

"I would, thank you", it was not a good idea to refuse drinking tea.

Greenette sat down on the opposite side of Nezu's desk and took a sip of his tea.

"You are probably wondering why I called you here all of a sudden, am I not mistaken?", the rodent asked after following his student's example and taking a small sip himself.

"I suppose that it has something to do with the upcoming Final Exams", Izuku mused. It was the only topic that they could discuss in his opinion.

"Yes, I would like to speak to you about something in regards to the Final Exams, but it's not the main reason as to why I decided to invite you today", it was no secret that Nezu had his own ways and was a prime example of Chaotic Good in the world. Or Japan at least. He also loved mind games and deception.

"So what did you want to speak to me about?", he asked and trained his gaze on the small mammal.

"As you know, the Hosu Incident has shaken our country a fair bit. Having such a coordinated assault come all of a sudden made the public question the Hero Commision as a whole", Nezu started and gave him a minute to recall the event.

Which he didn't have to. He remembered the whole thing very vividly. It was his second real life hero experience. It helped him grow stronger and he learned a great deal from it.

"I would like you to skip forward to the day after", the rodent commanded and was pleased to see the metaphorical gears start to turn inside the greenette's head.

"The interview, right?", he was catching up to the principal's way of thinking, albeit slowly.

"That's correct. For some unknown, to us normal people, reason the media tried to really blame the Pro Heroes for casualties and injuries. And they would have succeeded if not for the efforts of an unidentified intern", Nezu continued his introduction to their topic.

"You are giving me way more credit than I deserve", Midoriya humbly pointed out with a small smile.

"Quite the opposite actually. I think that you do deserve the praise, since no one gave you any credit… until a few days ago that is"

"What do mean?", the half empty cup of tea was set aside as Izuku's single point of interest became the mammal sitting across the desk.

"You probably read most of the news articles about the Hosu Incident, so you must be aware that no news station managed to dig up your name. Which is quite strange, since your name was dropped in the Sports Festival a few weeks before the Incident and you are the future owner of Midoriya Pharmaceuticals, don't you think?", Nezu grinned and sipped his tea.

"Did you have anything to do with this?", the greenette asked and got a confirming nod from his principal.

"I figured that it would draw too much attention to you. It could be a good thing for your future career, but could also distract you too much, hence why I decided to cover up as many tracks leading to your identity as possible. However, there's nothing that I could have done about free media"

"The School Festival, right?", Midoriya voiced his suspicions as things started falling into place.

"Yes. Even though you were wearing a costume for almost the whole play, your face was visible at the end and your name was mentioned. It wasn't the easiest connection to make, but one person finding out was enough. All it took was for someone to drop a theory and people would start trying to prove or debunk it. Someone finally managed to post enough evidence to link you to the so-called 'Hosu Hero' and the news spread like wildfire"

"Huh, I'm surprised that I haven't really found out about it…", Midoriya mused to himself.

"Let's get to the end point now", Nezu said to garner the teen's attention. "Whether you like it or not, you've just become a public figure. A very popular and impactful figure. Your encounter with the Hero Killer and everything else that surrounded the Hosu Incident made you a perfect candidate for… a project of mine"

"What project?", he asked with curiosity.

"I had a dream once. A dream about a hero so great that his mere presence was enough to make the Villains think twice before commiting a crime. To bring hope to the lawful citizens and strike fear in the hearts of all evildoers!", the rodent was visibly passionate about this whole ordeal, which was obvious when he paused for a moment to calm himself down. "What are your thoughts so far?", he questioned, eager to hear his student's thoughts on the subject.

"I think", he started after thinking for a few moments, "that it's a great dream. But I'm afraid that it's… just that. A dream. Something far away and out of reach. You called it a dream yourself. Not a plan. Not a vision. A dream", the greenette pointed out and saw an impressed spark shine in Nezu's eyes.

"You are right. It's just a dream. One would have to be immensely powerful in order to fulfil this dream. That's exactly the reason why I have something else besides this dream. Midoriya Izuku would you like to hear me out and become a part of my vision?", fiery determination radiated off of the small chimera.

"I'm all ears principal", Midoriya answered without hesitation.

They delved into the subject far deeper than Midoriya had time to, but neither of them cared. Izuku remembered about the paperwork he had to do just as he left the office.

He was in the vicinity already, so he might as well just go and do everything that had to be done. The greenette was about to open the doors to the Class Rep council meeting room, when the door opened and an orange ponytail entered his vision.

"Midoriya", Kendo greeted him with a smile.

"Hi Kendo", he answered, returning the smile.

"What brings you here so late?", she questioned.

"Principal Nezu wanted to see me after our daily training was over and I ended up losing track of time, so I decided to bite the bullet and spend some of the night to do my paperwork", the greenette explained and was about to enter the room, but a hand on his chest stopped him in his movements.

"Firm…", Kendo shook her head as a delicate red hue appeared on her face. "A-actually, I saw that you had a fair bit of paperwork to go through, so I decided to help you out with everything I could, since I helped Yaoyorozu a few times already", she smiled shyly and awaited his reaction.

"Really?! I'll have to make it up to you Kendo!", he declared with a grin.

"N-no need. I didn't do all of it, so you still have something to do", Itsuka started playing with her ponytail while trying desperately not to look at her friend.

"Nonsense! I will find a way to make it up to you. It's the thought that counts after all", the greenette retorted and hugged the Big Sis of 1-B before entering the meeting room to get started on his paperwork. Missing the bigger blush that appeared on her face the moment he embraced Kendo.

"Oh no, I liked it...", she thought in panic and prayed that the blush would die down before Setsuna spots her or she won't hear the end of it from her for at least a week!

Thanks to Kendo doing some of his work for him, he didn't have to spend nearly as much time in the meeting room as he would have to otherwise.

He returned to the dorms, where most of the class was unwinding from their school week. He was about to join some of his friends when his phone vibrated in his pocket, signalling that he received a text.

"The plane is ready, where the heck are you?", he read and frowned in confusion. What plane?

"Have you forgotten about your trip to the US this week?", Nana provided a match needed answer as the teen paled visibly.

Some of his classmates spotted him standing in the doorway and started approaching him once they saw all color drain from his face. They were about to ask him what was wrong, but he seemingly vanished before they heard doors above them slam shut, followed by a very loud and long 'fuck'.

A few minutes later the doors opened and closed in a split second, a few moments before a gust of wind hit everyone still in the common room.

The unmistakable green blur of 1-A's Class Rep was the only thing that they saw before Midoriya ran out the door.

"I'm not sure if he is horny or super late", Setsuna wondered out loud.

"If he was horny then he should've just came to me", Kodai commented, which earned her a powerful slap from the Vine Quirk user that was sitting with Tokoyami and Reiko.

"S-such sinful w-words…", the nearly catatonic Ibara whispered as she tried to get rid of her classmate's perverseness from her mind.

Upside of having a private jet - you don't have to worry about being late.

Downside of having a private jet - you have to spend the whole flight on being lectured by your own maid if you do arrive late.

Still, Midoriya managed to dose off almost as soon as he got on board to try and get at least some rest before switching into something more formal. He couldn't really show up to a business meeting in a shirt that had a kanji for 'tuxedo' on it. Or could he?

Nejiro told him time and time again that he couldn't, but he hadn't actually tried it. There goes another thing onto his bucket list.

They made it to Detroit in record time and arrived at Sarif Industries undisturbed. A young secretary in the main atrium pointed the young greenette towards one of the elevators and said that David is already waiting for him.

Izuku couldn't help but notice that her right arm was completely black and the Sarif Industries logo on the back of her hand.

The elevator pinged and he walked through a long corridor to end up in front of Sarif's office.

"Mister Sarif has a guest right now, but I will tell him that you've arrived", his secretary motioned for them to take a seat on the nearby couch while they waited. But they didn't even make it to the piece of furniture before she spoke up again. "Actually, they both would like to meet you"

The green haired hero in training shrugged this new information off and stepped into the office.

It was… not actually what he expected it to be. He was anticipating something akin to a high tech research lab. Or what Blackout's agency looked like. He certainly wasn't betting on the vintage style with lots of wooden details and decorations spread throughout the room. He also wasn't prepared for how dark the room seemed to be, all thanks to the ebony that could be seen almost everywhere.

"Don't worry kid, I had the same reaction the first time I entered this room", the unknown guest said with a straight face, but joyful voice.

He looked to be only a few years older than Midoriya himself. His dark brown hair was cut very shortly at the temples, but was longer on top of his head and was arranged in an elegant mohawk. The man was dressed in a black business suit with a white dress shirt underneath and no tie. He also appeared to be more on the slim side, but it was impossible to spot any amount of muscle from that far.

"Ah Midoriya, come closer. We've been waiting for you", David Sarif spoke up and gestured towards the second chair in front of his desk.

He was definitely older than Midoriya was, because his jet black hair was already starting to grey out. His most prominent feature was his right arm, which looked almost identical as the right arm of the secretary downstairs.

"As you probably figured out I am David Sarif. I called you a few times in regards to drachmium. The lovely gentleman next to you is Martin Kravchenko, the biggest mass murderer that East Europe saw since 1953"

"You wound me David. How could you not tell him that I'm also called the Merchant of Death or Death's Dealer?", the now introduced Martin said with feigned hurt.

This rhetorical bomb made Izuku move his chair a bit to the left, further away from the man.

"Relax kid. I doubt that I would be able to do anything to you with all that gear packed into your body. Besides, even if I tried and somehow managed to blindside you, there's always good 'ol Jensy in the corner, somewhere, I think", Kravchenko said in a tone that was somehow serious and mocking at the same time.

If this short conversation was anything to go off of, then the man surely couldn't have many friends.

"Oh, an important warning. I'm not a hermit and have many friends in the US army's chain of command. Perks of supplying them with all kinds of equipment for all those years. Anyway, I didn't come here just to talk about how great I am or sell you a ballistic missile. But if you were interested in the second one then here is my number", the man was talking almost non stop and had that 'smart jerk' kind of vibe to him.

"You seem to forget that I was the one that arranged this meeting Martin", the stern voice of Sarif's Industries CEO was enough to silence his guest.

"My bad Davie, I'll let you talk now", and with that he leaned back in his chair and paid attention to his soon-to-be business partner.

"While being called a Merchant of Death is not exactly a good trait, I can assure you that Martin Kravchenko has abandoned his old ways. He was one of the biggest weapon designers in the world just a year ago. However, an accident made him rethink his mistakes and he swore to never return to this industry"

"It's true, I shut down all my factories and fired massive amounts of people right after I came back to Warsaw"

"We knew each other for a few years now, since Martin was interested in developing military grade augmentations for the US. After he shut down his business, he came to me to look for help. He no longer wanted to create something that could take lives, so we cooperated and started developing simple prosthetics instead of mechanical augments. They were supposed to be cheap and durable, but we've been so far unable to create anything close to it"

"That's where you and your fancy metal come into play. We want to cover the prostheses with it to enhance its durability without raising the production cost. I know I know, the greater cause and restoring hope should be our only motivations, but it's pretty damn hard to manufacture anything without the necessary funds", there was one thing that Midoriya started to notice about Kravchenko that didn't sit well with him. The man was definitely leaning towards Chaotic Good just like Nezu.

He hoped that those two won't meet any time in the future. Back to the conversation at hand.

"So, you want me to sell you the patent for drachmium, is that right?", he asked as he shifted into his 'business mode' that he just developed and has never used before.

"Oh no, no such radical things", Kravchenko immediately. It really started to feel like he was the boss in this room and not Sarif. And they were sitting in Sarif's office! And the entire business was called Sarif Industries! "As a fellow inventor and genius I cannot ask you to just outright transfer the patent over to us. I had my fair share of people coming to me and offering huge amounts of dollas for my vibranium, but none of them succeeded. I grew attached to the thing that kinda saved me from succumbing to palladium poisoning a few months back"

"What Martin wants to say is, that we only want the rights to manufacture drachmium for our own use", David joined in and explained since his business partner was taking his sweet time with getting to the point.

"What he said", the chestnut haired man seconded the request.

"I do admire your drive gentlemen, but… let's see how deep are your pockets…", Midoriya answered with a sly grin on his face.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Izuku Midoriya, prime Pro Hero candidate right here!", Nana mocked him in his head.

The green haired teen was going to give them the green light from the start, but not after they turned down the amount of money they were willing to pay for drachmium.

The meeting dragged on for hours and finished just before sunset. They agreed to meet up tomorrow and go over all the details one more time before signing everything and sealing their deal.

Izuku was the first to exit the office, which left the two older businessmen alone.

"Whisky?", David offered and his guest grinned.

"You know me", he answered simply and a glass of whisky was almost immediately in his hand. "Good brew", the man commented after he took a long sip from the glass.

"Why didn't you drop the whole Merchant of Death persona and just tell him that you were a Hero?", Sarif asked as he took a sip of his own drink.

"Kid gave off the 'hero nerd' vibe. Didn't want to drag this on any more than it was necessary"

They parted ways soon after.

The three businessmen were able to sign everything on their next meeting which was a big relief. Midoriya wanted to be back in Japan before Sunday, so he once again was the first to leave. Although this time, Kravchenko called out to him as he was about to leave the office.

"Tell that rat-principal of yours that the Merchant of Death said 'hey'", and with that one sentence, Midoriya's hopes of those two never meeting went out the window.

But hey, they already knew each other and there wasn't an army of robots enslaving the human populace so maybe he overreacted a bit.

Besides, who in their right mind would want to create an army of robots?

Somewhere far away Richie sneezed.

Before anyone throws a stone, let me explain. I wanted to drop my SI/OC into this story for some time now, but always thought it would be for memes like calling myself 'Captain Dumpling' (pieróg) and have him just appear in some filler arc somewhere. But I've recently reread 'Building from the ground up' by MrKage and decided - fuck it. So here I am. Martin Kravchenko, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist. Martin Kravchenko is besically an englified version of my name irl. I figured that it could be easier to read it like that.

Also, I've once witnessed someone mistake Marcin for a female name and I'm scared since then so... xD?

On the side note - I have no idea what to do with the Finals xD Like at all... I'll probably wing it and try to create something at least semi-readable xD

Have a great day and be sure to come back next time!