The Main 1-A Classroom - 12:45 PM
Morning classes had proceeded without issue, going almost too smoothly considering the ages of the students. Lunch was now over, and most of the students had taken their seats when a voice bellowed from the hallway.
"I AM…"
Excited whispers filled the classroom. For many, All-Might's teaching position remained little more than a rumor.
"COMING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!"
The door slammed open as All-Might threw himself into the room wearing his silver age costume, before marching up to the desk. The class fell silent. It could have been from respect, or perhaps simply awe. It might have been both.
"I teach hero basic training! This is where you will learn the most essential elements of how to operate as a hero! Today, we'll get right into it! It's time for COMBAT TRAINING!"
The class generally cheered for this, though there was also a slight whimper from the left side of the room.
"In addition, you'll receive these! Costumes, made based on your quirk registrations, and your own requests!" All-Might exclaimed, as he threw out his right arm, prompting four panels on the wall to slide out, exposing several shelves of numbered cases. Eighteen of them.
Iida was on his feet so fast Clark thought he heard the floor crack.
"Sir! There are twenty of us, why are two of the costumes not here?!"
"Huh?"
All-Might's head snapped over to look at the shelves.
Back toward the class.
Back to the shelves.
"Ah… one moment." All-Might pulled out his phone from… somewhere… before dialing a number.
"Maijima-san? Where are the other two costumes?!" All-Might whispered.
"I just did the reveal and there are only eighteen on the shelf!"
"What?! Wha-no I'm not miscounting- wha-they're numbered!"
Bruce, finally bored of the spectacle, and Clark, realizing that he was causing All-Might trouble, stood up.
"One of them is mine, I brought my own," Bruce said.
"Same here," Clark said.
All-Might looked over at them.
"My apologies Power Loader."
After hanging up he looked around.
"Alright then."
If nothing else, All-Might's recovery from the awkward pause was fantastic.
"After you've changed, all of you gather at battleground Beta!"
In the U.A Locker Rooms
Clark pulled a duffle bag from one of the lockers, but stopped short when he opened it. He had expected to see a dark surface of navy and crimson, shining as if it had been woven of cobalt and ruby. He was greeted by a much brighter blue and red. It looked like fabric, maybe spandex at first glance, but a look at the molecular structure betrayed its immense durability.
Kelex spoke up. "I did not inform you of this by Lady Kent's orders. She has recorded a message for you in my memories."
The message, like Kelex's voice, played at a frequency far beyond what anything but Clark could hear.
"Clark. I realize this may catch you off guard, but the suit you made in the Solitude is still here, in Smallville. Kelex helped me make this instead. Please don't be too upset with her. That suit was incredible, like nothing I've ever seen, but it belongs to a warrior. Not a hero. I think I've always known why you were here, but learning what your family's crest stands for has solidified my belief that you are here to bring hope. Hope for humanity to become better, and for one single belief to be validated. A belief in the integral ability of anyone, anywhere, to do good. So please, wear this today. If you choose to wear the armor later, it will always be here waiting for you. I love you Clark."
Clark smiled for a moment. In an instant he swept the suit from its bag, pulling it over his body before the bag even hit the floor. His mother had stayed true to the original design for the most part, though aside from the obvious changes in color, a more prominent gold belt was now included, along with a red… something. It looked like a pair of briefs. Clark put it on anyway and fastened the belt.
The other guys in the locker room hadn't noticed when he paused, the whole message had been played at the fastest speed he could perceive, so it appeared he had simply gotten changed in a fraction of a second.
"Hey where's Wayne-san?" Kirishima asked. The other American was conspicuously absent.
"Oh hell," Sato said. "Do you think it's because we brought up the scars?"
Kaminari slumped over where he was sitting on a bench.
"Man… I meant to apologize for that yesterday, but he had already gone home. There were just so many!"
Iida nodded. "Then we must do so today! That we made him uncomfortable over that is abhorrent!"
At the same time, On top of a building in Ground Beta
"Agent A, send it."
"Of course sir."
Seconds later a blur of jet black flew over the U.A campus faster than sound, dropping a gunmetal container in front of Bruce as it passed.
"Test successful, the delivery pod worked perfectly," Bruce said as the front of it opened to reveal the batsuit.
"Excellent. Mister Fox will be happy to hear that… He wishes to know if any of your equipment came loose inside it."
"All appears secured, shock absorption is functioning beautifully. We'll do a full diagnostic review session tonight, in the meantime I have to suit up."
"Right you are, sir."
Far Below, several minutes later
As the students emerged, Bruce still had not been seen. Even Tokoyami and Todoroki appeared somewhat disquieted.
All-Might was about to begin explaining the exercise when young Ashido and Sero each let out a short scream.
Yagi Yoshinori was not a religious man, but what he saw when he followed their gazes upward made him believe, if only for a moment, in demons.
A black… something, all scalloped fabric and spikes was falling toward them, fast. Too fast to resemble a living thing. At the last possible second the demon twisted in mid air, a pair of bat wings flared out behind it to blot out the sun before the thing landed on one knee, head bowed. The wings settled around it, relaxing until it could be perceived that they were actually a cape.
All-Might put himself in front of his students. If nothing else it looked like a villain.
"Sorry I'm late."
All-Might relaxed slightly. It was undoubtedly young Wayne, but his voice… there was something terrible about it. A menacing quality not dissimilar from All For One, combined with a slight growl that made him sound like something just short of inhuman.
Wayne stood, raising his head. A cowl was covering most of his head, with two small points toward the back. Bat ears, All-Might realized with a jolt, as he took in the entire suit. Thick armor plating strapped over a bodysuit, with metal over his knuckles and a row of spines along his forearms. His eyes were hidden by opaque black goggles, leaving only his mouth and chin exposed. A simplistic bat symbol rested across his entire chest.
"That's… ah… that's completely fine Young Wayne! You obviously had a lot to put on!"
Batman had expected this reaction, and if nothing else, he knew the primary purpose of the suit's aesthetics had been fulfilled. Then he began looking around at the other students' costumes. Thin fabric, unnecessarily exposed vitals, the invisible one was just naked. Iida appeared to be in a decent place at first glance, until Batman scanned his suit. That was not armor plating. That was plastic. Not even kevlar, it was just normal polymer. Clark's was interesting. Made of some kind of high density mesh. Equipment alone to make it probably cost a fortune.
"Who manufactured their costumes?"
"May I ask why the interest?"
"Because they're detrimental at best." Batman turned to face the class. "You will all appear at Wayne Enterprises Tokyo this Sunday at noon and meet with one mister Lucius Fox. New suits should be ready within a month or two. I will tell him to expect you, lunch will be provided. Clark, yours is acceptable given your power set. You do not need to come."
"Young Wayne, I appreciate your concern for your peers, but their costumes were made by a company U.A has an exclusive contract with. They can't wear anything that company didn't make."
"Fine, give me the name of the company and I can have a hostile takeover in the works by this evening, complete by tomorrow morning, or the day after if they put up a fight. They probably won't as soon as they see my name attached to it."
Finally turning back around to face All-Might, Batman finished, "Now, I believe you are on a schedule."
Both the class and All-Might were stunned into silence for a moment upon hearing Batman say he was going to spend millions, perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars just to get them better suits. From his tone, it was not an offer, but a statement.
"Wait, you're that Wayne? Wasn't he declared dead last year?" Midoriya asked.
"I was training in Tibet for five years, told nobody, and yes, was declared missing and then dead."
"Training?" Shoji asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Wayne-san… five years ago you were nine," Iida pointed out.
"Following my parents' deaths I was approached by an organization called the League of Shadows. They were based in Tibet. We are wasting time."
At this most of the class laughed, or narrowly avoided doing so.
"What, so you were trained by ninjas or something?" Ashido asked.
At this point Toshinori chose to step in. "Young Wayne is right, we have a schedule to maintain."
The class fell silent, though many were still smirking at Young Wayne. "You will be conducting mock battles, not against robots, but each other. These will take place indoors, where encounters with the most dangerous villains tend to take place. Backroom deals, hideouts, and so on. The teams will be two against two, chosen at random. You will play the parts of heroes and villains. The heroes win by securing a nuke in the villains' hideout, or catching the villains. The villains win by capturing the heroes or protecting the bomb, any questions?"
No response came from the class.
The teams were announced quickly after that.
TEAM A: Bruce Wayne and Izuku Midoriya
TEAM B: Shoji Mezo and Todoroki Shoto
TEAM C: Uraraka Ochako and Yaoyorozu Momo
TEAM D: Iida Tenya and Bakugo Katsuki
TEAM E: Ashido Mina and Aoyama Yuga
TEAM F: Koda Koji and Sato Rikido
TEAM G: Kaminari Denki and Jiro Kyoka
TEAM H: Tokoyami Fumikage and Tsuyu Asui
TEAM I: Clark Kent and Hagakure Toru.
TEAM J: Sero Hanta and Kirishima Eijiro
"Oh thank God That Didn't Take Too Long," All-Might muttered before calling out "TEAMS A AND D ARE UP FIRST! TEAM A ARE THE HEROES, AND TEAM D THE VILLAINS, SO THE REST OF YOU GO TO THE MONITOR ROOM"
"Midoriya-san."
Izuku jumped at the voice behind him.
"I have a plan ready to go, don't get in my way, and we should win in under seven seconds." There was no enmity or passion in Wayne's voice, it was like listening to a computer, simply stating the data it had.
"Don't you think we should at least discuss it?"
"Why?"
"TEAM A! COME ALONG!" All-Might called.
They walked only a few blocks before coming to a stop outside a building.
"VILLAIN TEAM! GO IN FIRST AND SET UP! YOU WILL HAVE FIVE MINUTES BEFORE THE HERO TEAM IS ALLOWED TO BEGIN. LEARN TO THINK FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF VILLAINS, AND YOU WILL BECOME GREAT HEROES!"
After All-Might departed to the control room Izuku turned to Wayne. "So what's your plan?" He asked.
"Bakugo doesn't care about the exercise. He's out for blood, yours to be specific. As soon as it begins he'll leave Iida to defend the bomb alone and start trying to find you. Scans indicate the bomb is on the fourth floor. I'm going to get up high and begin surveillance. As soon as Bakugo is a good distance from the bomb, I'll breach through that window there," Wayne pointed at one near the middle of the building, "Take down Iida and secure the bomb before Bakugo can do anything."
"But-"
At that moment All-Might called for the exercise to start.
"Time to move."
Batman pulled the grapnel from his belt and flew up to the roof of a building opposite the hideout. As he predicted Bakugo immediately left the bomb room to hunt for Midoriya… who was now entering the building.
"Damnit."
Bakugo had just started descending to the third floor. It would be plenty. Batman took his cape in hand, and lept.
The Ground Beta Monitor Room
"What is he doing?!" Young Jiro yelled.
The rest of the class seemed to share her sentiments as Young Wayne lept from the roof of a ten story building into a nosedive. After falling three stories he threw his arms out to each side, cape clenched in his fists. All at once the fabric became rigid, the silhouette similar to a bat's wings. He was gliding. The class was silent. Young Wayne pulled his cape back in as he burst through a window behind Young Iida, tackling the boy in white to the ground. Rising, Wayne grabbed hold of Iida's right leg, and with a single brutal twist of Wayne's torso, the leg bent ninety degrees… the exact wrong direction. The class couldn't hear the sickening wet pop and crunch. The class couldn't hear Young Iida scream. But All-Might could.
"Bomb secured," Wayne said as he laid his hand against the shell.
Through the pain Iida managed to speak.
"How- How did you do that? We're on the fourth floor…"
Wayne looked directly at Iida.
A moment of complete silence.
"I'm Batman."
It shouldn't have explained everything. It shouldn't have made what had just transpired make perfect sense in Toshinori's mind. But on some level… It did.