Izuku in Black

by DarkenRaichu

Quirkless can't be Heroes. But All Might isn't going to end the sentence there. He knows there is something Quirkless people excel at, something that will save people. Izuku, on the other hand, really didn't expect to find out Aliens are real, get recruited by a mysterious agency, and get partnered up with another young agent. But if this can save people, he will do it.

12. Training Days

"I'd say that's about seven hits every ten. Not bad at all for someone that just took up shooting." Kugisaki said, putting down his own gun.

"You did ten out of ten." Izuku mumbled, but the man shook his head, pulling out a cigarette.

"I've only shot fifty rounds, you shot two hundred. I'd probably do… nine out of ten with that many. And we counted as 'hitting the mark' anything on the target proper, not really sharp-shooting."

Izuku nodded, before he noticed Kugisaki light up the cigarette. "Uhm, mister Kugisaki…" He pointed at the 'no smoking' sign hanging on the back wall of the shooting range. Kugisaki sighed, before extending a spike from his knuckle to cut off the tip of the cigarette and putting the rest back in the box.

"I should stop anyway." Kugisaki muttered, "Come on, let's go grab a drink."

"Uhm, I'm not old enough to…"

"Ah, don't worry, I will give you some soda or something, and is not like we are going outside, we are just going to the cafeteria." Kugisaki laughed, "But remind me when you get to drinking age because I am taking you out for that beer." Izuku nodded and followed the man to the cafeteria. Since it was around 5 PM, almost no one was around, as they sat down. "So. Trainee exam is coming up, uh?"

"Yes, it's in four weeks, apparently." Izuku gulped, "What is it like?"

"Well, I only took it twice, so I'm not really the best person to ask." Kugisaki shrugged, "I can tell you the guy from the law office is a bit of an asshat."

"Wait, only twice?"

"Yup. One year as trainee, and then they let me jump into the career. Then again, I had some… experience."

"Really? What did you do?" Izuku asked, curious. Maybe it was like his situation?

The man sighed. "Alright, I'll tell you. So, do you know the Bee Pop Incident from three years ago?"

"That big incident that involved Endeavor, and then a joint operation from Best Jeanist, Edgeshot and Ingenium, all cooperating with the Skycrawler?" Izuku asked.

"… Well, you did your homework. So, a major part of that incident was a thing called the Queen Bee. Though really she went by Kuin Hachikusa. Either way, it was this parasitic alien bug that looks a bit like a bee, except bigger and a lot more intelligent."

"Ah, so it wasn't a Quirked animal."

"… Kid, I don't know how to break it to you, but Quirked animals don't really exist."

Izuku spat his soda, "What?!"

"What, no one told you? It's cover-up for Alien species we can't sell as humans. Come on kid, how would animals develop Quirks? It's a change in the human DNA, it doesn't just move to animals through osmosis or something, and I don't like discussing the alternative methods."

"But… But the principal of UA is a Quirked animal!"

"What species?"

"Uh?"

"What species is he? Is he a dog, a rat, a bear…" Kugisaki asked. Izuku made to answer, then his eyes went wide, and Kugisaki snorted, "See? For most, they look at least a bit like animals from Earth. The Queen Bee, the Monster Cat… And then you have Nedzu, who looks vaguely similar to several species, but not like just one of them." Kugisaki chuckled, "But Aliens don't exist, so he must be some kind of animal, right?"

Izuku wasn't sure of what to think, but he shook his head. 'Alright, reassessing that later. For now…' "I see. So, what happened?"

"Well, I helped the Haul- the Skycrawler in his hunt for Bee Pop, we got her, and we removed the Queen Bee. And that would have been it. But I got worried. I heard rumors that there were more of those bees around, and started looking into it." He sighed, "And well, that ended up with me finding out about an Alien species, about Aliens being real, and then running into HASC Agents that were also investigating the finding. They were impressed with my research, and since I had already found out about Aliens…"

"They asked if you wanted a job." Izuku understood why. If someone by themselves could do the same job of several HASC Agents, it was probably worth recruiting them.

Which did put a bit of pressure on him, since that was clearly not the case with him.

"Yeah, and after about a year they figured they could already put me on the job. One month later, I'm paired with Kokashi, and well, the rest is… this." He shook his head, "Frankly, sounds like I have been lucky with my assignment. I hear the Kinki Regional Office is pretty much ran like an army bootcamp."

-x-

"The Trainee Exam?" Hado smiled, "You shouldn't be too worried, Midoriya! It should be pretty easy. Sure, in the physical you might rank a bit behind some of the others, since they have been training for a few years and this is your first few months, but you are making extraordinary progress, and in combat are doing great too! Not to mention you grades rank you at the very top of your school year, and I checked, the one person above you wasn't an HASC Trainee, so you are the top of your year, as far as the HASC is concerned."

Izuku couldn't help but smile. The fact Hado had checked was really nice of her. "And… the interview?"

"Depends who is the examiner, really. Uhm, let me think… If it's Chief Kashiwabara, or Chief Matsui, you are probably fine. Oh, those are the chiefs of Tokyo 1 and Recruitment. Uhm, if you end up with Chief Yukimura, from the Law Office, be ready for a lot of questions on rules of engagement and pretty much a discussion on every possible law you have broken. Whatever you do, don't argue with him on that, because his Quirk, Printing Memory, means he can print anything he has watched, so he will just print the HASC Rules of Operational Conduct if you try to argue. Doctor Fujishima is fine, he will likely look at you positively since you never wounded anyone. Chief Ono, from the Hokkaido Regional Office…"

Hado went into a long dissertation on all the Office Chiefs she had met during her own training, "I never met a few, like the Ryukyu, Kyushu or Chubu Chiefs, though, so I can't help you for those."

Izuku nodded. "This is already a lot Hado, thanks!"

"Don't mention it." She yawned, "By the way, I've also set you up with a few training partners. All Trainees, sure, but I think they are strong enough, and it should help you with the exam."

"Thank you! When do I meet the first one?"

"Tonight."

-x-

Izuku had never thought that one day he would be entering the Ondereno Institute in the middle of the night, but he did. He entered the school through a side door that he found open and had been told to close behind his back when he entered, and from there reached the Alien Research Club. Walking in, he looked around in the darkness.

A pair of brown eyes with cross-shaped pupils looked back at him, shining in the darkness in an almost eerie way. Kinoko Komori blinked, and then waved. "Hello Midoriya!" She said, "Thanks for agreeing to a night training."

"Uhm, it's not a problem, but… Why at night?"

"Well, because I'm a Shroomite, silly!" Kinoko laughed as she opened the door to the HASC, but when she noticed Izuku's confused look, she frowned – or he thought she did, it was a bit dark and they couldn't turn on the lights yet, so he was going mostly by what he could see of her face around her shining eyes. "You don't know what that means, right?"

"Not really…" He admitted, following her down the stairs.

"I forget you only found out about us Aliens just a few months ago." She chuckled, "Well, Midoriya, I am a Shroomite Alien! That means I am what you humans would call a nocturnal creature."

"So you sleep during the day?"

"Well, not exactly. Shroomites don't sleep like you Earthlings. Instead, during the day we reduce our energy consumption and need hydration. Well, we need that all the time, but during the day we need a lot more." She shrugged, "And before you ask, no, I don't 'miss' sleeping." She made tired air quotes, as if she was used to the question, "Do you miss creating spores?"

"I never…"

"Yes, you never did, so you can't! I never slept, so how do I know if I miss it?!" She pouted, "And yet so many people ask, as if I had any idea of what it's like. Frankly, the idea is kinda hicky, if anything? Spending eight hours completely powerless? No thanks. That sound like a prime moment for a Mycorian to eat you."

Izuku wanted to ask what a Mycorian was, but before he could, she turned towards him, "By the way, Midoriya, is it true that you and Hado are a thing?"

Izuku had just stepped on the last step of the stairs when she said that, and the question made him lose his balance, stumbling forward. He stopped, bright red, "N-No!" He stuttered out, waving his hands defensively "I just… We went out for our Missions and… I guess people talk?"

Komori hummed, "And Mei Hatsume?"

"Mei is a great friend, but I think she is in love with her work tools, really."

Komori hummed again, but she said nothing, and instead led Izuku forward, until they reached the training Gym. She stepped in and took position. Wearing a simple red and white t-shirt and black short pants, plus red and white tennis shoes, she gestured for Izuku to come forward.

Izuku activated the Orgue and charged in, but had to stop mid-way as a giant mushroom popped up right in front of him, forcing him to move to the side to dodge it, only for more mushrooms to appear on the ground, making him stumble over the now squishy terrain. Izuku saw Komori smirk as she created a cloud of spores that he would have stumbled right into if he hadn't spotted it in time, diving to the side. A moment later, the spot where he had been was covered in mushrooms. He panted, and continued attacking. Overall, in the fight he managed to score a couple hits, but Komori mostly kept her distance and slowly covered him in mushrooms. The situation changed with the Goo Gun in the game, now with Izuku managing to catch her when he pinned her with the goo. After a few hours with only minimal breaks, they both took a full stop for the night, drinking some water as they sat down.

"That is such a cool Qui- Alien power, Komori!" Izuku said, genuinely impressed, "Can you choose the type of spores you use?"

"Yup!" Komori grinned, "Once I have collected the spores of a mushroom, I can reproduce them within my body!"

"I'm surprised two planets both developed mushrooms." Izuku admitted.

"Convergent evolution is a thing." Komori replied, "But I mean, they aren't exactly the same. Just similar enough I can copy them."

"Makes sense. What's the exact area? Can you mix the spores? Can you affect people also from the inside?"

"The answer is yes to all of those questions." Komori grinned, noticing his face, "Don't worry, I won't use those bad boys during training, they are for the biggest threats."

Izuku did his best to look reassured, but he really couldn't.

"Oh, by the way, you aren't training only with me, right?" Komori asked.

"Oh, no. From tomorrow I will have another one."

"With who?"

-x-

"Pay more attention Midoriya!" Shishikura shouted. Midoriya tried to say he was doing his best, but unfortunately he couldn't on the ground of having been turned into a blob of meat by Shishikura's Quirk. "There are enemies that will not hesitate and use immediately a disabling attack."

That said, Shishikura made Izuku return to normal. The teen stumbled on the ground for a moment, before turning and bowing, "Thank you, Shishikura."

"It's my pleasure, Midoriya! Helping my fellow Trainees reach their full potential is a worthy cause!" The teen took a sort of military position, both arms intertwined behind his back. "I hope in the future both of us can accomplish our goals! Now, before continuing, I believe some rest and recovery is in order! Sit and drink, Midoriya!"

It sounded a bit like an order and a bit like a suggestion, but Izuku still wobbled his way to his chair and sat down. "Your Quirk is amazing, Shishikura."

"Thank you, Midoriya." The teen said, drinking some more water, "I am proud of my skills with it."

"And you are right to be! It's quite the good one! You can remodel others and yourself, right? Can you make yourself stronger?"

"Unfortunately, no. Remodeled parts have a 'squishy' consistency, similar to a raw meatball, so I can't remodel myself to be physically stronger. However, I can just…"

"Remodel yourself to extend your 'arms' and reach your opponent. Yup. It's still an amazing Quirk, Shishikura."

The smile on his face showed just how proud he was of the compliments. They stayed quiet for a bit, before Izuku decided to ask. "So… You have done the Trainee exam before, right?"

"Indeed! Quite the challenge, but rightfully so!"

"How is it?" Izuku asked. He wanted the perspective of as many people as possible. Hado and Kugisaki had their own, but Izuku knew there was more to know.

"Mh, interesting question. I have great respect for my superiors, of course. Ascending to become Chief of an HASC Office is a great success. However, I find some to be too… unconventional. The Chubu Office Chief is too permissive, in my opinion, and the Kyoto Office Chief… I'm not sure how miss Konoe became an Office Chief, with her personality."

Izuku noted that down mentally, before he realized something, "You know, I tried to look into it, but I noticed there is no 'Security Office', so where does your father work?"

"Ah, that's because you should have looked for the Security Branch. It's a subsection under the joint lead of the Medical Team and the Weapons Office, because most of their work involves escorting wounded Agents, prisoners and Alien material. Well, that and guarding Block A of Tartarus, of course." He replied, "My father is the Head of Security, actually. An impressive career I intend to follow and even surpass! I'm sure he will be proud."

"I see. I'm sure he will be." Izuku nodded. They talked some more, Izuku enjoying the deep admiration Shishikura showed for his father, reminding him of his and Kacchan's for All Might, before going back to training.

-x-

Two weeks to the exam, Izuku met his last training partner in the Gym. Yui Kodai didn't say much, instead preparing to face him immediately. She had a whole collection of small objects that she carried around, and Izuku had to fight his way through a maze of giant screws, nails, needles, bolts and other metallic objects. Kodai's fighting style seemed to be cutting off his line of sight, and then…

He turned around and shot when he heard her steps, but she had expected it and had crouched low, grabbing him at the legs and pulling him up, Izuku's back slamming into the ground. He pushed his gun up and shot, but a nail the size of a sword aimed at his face, while Kodai ducked to avoid the gun.

"Dead." She said laconically, "Important suggestion: if you can't see your opponent, aim low. Better wounding their legs than missing their head."

"Noted…" Izuku mumbled. He could have argued he had picked up the habit because he trained with Hado, who mostly floated, but that was the wrong answer. If he had picked up a bad habit, it was kind of Yui to correct it.

"Good." She replied, standing up and starting to reduce back in size each of her 'weapons'. She then sighed and sat down on the bench, gesturing to Izuku to do the same as she opened a bento. Izuku did so, grabbing some water, and watched her grab a piece of salmon, making it grow to the size of a whole fish, and then eat it in one bite. She kept going like that, humming happily at each bite and devouring, by the end, what Izuku estimated to be about twenty normal lunches.

"You… Uhm… You eat a lot." He finally managed to say.

"I'm an Ultravian." She replied, her face unreadable. Had he said something offensive?

"Ah, it's not a problem! I was just curious."

"We Ultravian eat a lot." She said, "We consume a lot of energy to use our abilities."

"Abilities? You can do more than change the size of things?"

"Yes, but that requires us to feel strong emotions." The girl replied, "So, right now, don't expect me to show you anything."

"… I feel like that's a burn."

"It might be." The girl replied. Izuku was fairly sure he could see the hint of the shadow of a smirk on her face, but it vanished as soon as it had appeared. "Come on, let's put you through some more fighting."

She took her stance again, and Izuku did the same, rushing forward. Like before, she immediately unleashed a rain of metallic obstacles, forcing Izuku to duck and lose sight of her. He looked around, concentrating, suddenly he heard her steps from behind a giant bolt. He carefully made his way around it, only for it to vanish, and Kodai to appear in front of him, punching straight forward. Izuku shot, low this time, but the girl jumped, dodging the goo, and stopping her fist just an inch to his face, an enlarged bolt forming a makeshift knuckleduster. Izuku gulped.

"Another important suggestion: if your opponent gave you a suggestion, you shouldn't always follow it." The girl replied.

"I figured training was supposed to be repetitive."

"You can do repetitive with Komori, Shishikura or Hado. I'm an Ultravian, and if I'm training you in something it's real combat." She replied, "Is that too much for you?" Her face was still emotionless, but in her eyes Izuku could see she was expecting an honest answer. She wanted to know if Izuku was up for this.

"It's a pleasure to learn from you." Izuku replied.

Kodai nodded, still looking emotionless. "Out of curiosity," She asked, "Why did you join the HASC?"

"Me?"

"You. I am an Ultravian. Joining the HASC was the obvious choice, the alternative being becoming an Hero. Komori is a Shroomite, but she has a reason to do this. Shishikura's father is in the Head of the Security Branch. Haya… Well I'm not going to tell on her, but she has her reasons. Why do you want to be an HASC Agent?"

Izuku wondered. He had been asking the others why they wanted to become Agents. At least, he had asked Kugisaki and Shishikura more details, and had considered asking both Komori and Kodai, though he didn't feel like it was the right moment for either.

But now someone was asking him.

"I… Wanted to be a Hero."

"The general opinion on this planet seems to be you can't without a power." Kodai replied.

"I know. Believe me, I know. I wanted to be one, but then… I got introduced to this. The HASC, becoming an Agent…" He looked at her, "I'll admit, at first I just saw it as a new job to try. But now it's been almost six months since I joined. And I'm starting to understand what I agreed to be. It's… not a Hero. It's close, maybe closer than I'll ever be, but it's not the same."

"Do you regret it then?"

"No." Izuku shook his head, "Because, different as it is, we help people. They might not realize it, and we might have to follow unpleasant laws from time to time. I don't like what happened with the Shadow Sword, even if I still saved someone. I don't like the fact that I had to cooperate with a Villain to capture another during my second mission. And I don't like that I had to leave those people go during the battle at the fight club. But it's still a way to help people. A teenager that gets to be perfectly healthy again. People that won't be hurt by an angry alien. People that won't be infected by the Kingmaker Virus. And if it's something I can do… Then I have to do it."

Kodai this time smirked, an obvious expression on her face. "I like your answer." She admitted, "I hope you can do it."

As direct as usual, but she seemed to mean her words. Izuku smiled, and took position again. Kodai went back to her guard being up, and they started to fight again.

-x-

"Kodai spoke that much?!" Haya laughed, "Oh my! She must have taken quite the liking for you!"

"I-I don't think that's the case!" Izuku shook his hand, but for some reason that made Haya only laugh more. Maybe it was the fact he was blushing.

"Stop teasing my partner." Hado replied, touching Haya's cheek with her finger over and over.

"Relax, Nejire." Haya replied, patting her back, "I'm just messing with him. But hey, I didn't necessarily mean in a romantic sense, Casanova." Izuku blushed and tried to dismiss her words, being promptly ignored, "I just mean that she likes your behavior. Actually, both Komori and Shishikura seem to like you as well."

"I-I'm really happy to hear that."

"Eh. You really go from sure in yourself to shy mess with the flip of a switch, they had it right. I guess that's why you and Nejire make a good team." Haya chuckled.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Hado asked.

"Hado, you realize that in and out of the missions you are basically two different people, right?"

Hado made to argue, raised her finger, then put it down and puffed her cheeks adorably as she turned, "I will not deign that with an answer." She finally said, but Izuku could see the slight smirk hidden in her puffed cheeks.

"Yeah, yeah." Haya shook her head, "Either way, are you ready kid. I'm going to put you through the other half of your training."

"The… Other half?"

"Yuyu is actually a candidate for both field Agent and the Law Office." Hado explained, "She is studying to go to university after high school."

"Does that happen?"

"Sure." Haya raised an eyebrow, "How else would we have a Law, Weapons and Medical subsection if we didn't send people to study as lawyers, engineers or medics? Agents are actually encouraged to enter a university and get some form of advanced degree. It reduces the presence on the field of younger Agents while they study, but it's a big gain in terms of their specialized skills, and gives them access to some circles."

"So you want to join the Law Office?" Izuku asked.

"Nah, I want to be an Agent, but it's a good idea to keep more doors open. If I get too injured on the field, I can at least join another Office I'm interested in, instead of getting stuck in the Security Branch."

Izuku understood what she meant. From what he had heard, the Weapons Office and the Medical Team were called also 'Retirement Offices', because most Agents that left the field decided to jump into the Security Branch that answered to both or, he realized, use their degrees to join the respective groups. "I see."

"Good. With that in mind…" She grabbed a set of three manila folders and opened them all, "Let's discuss your missions, Trainee Midoriya."

Izuku nodded.

What followed were probably the hardest two hours of his life. Haya utterly grilled him on any possible facet of his missions, from the decisions he personally took, to their consequences, to the possible rules of operation he had bent too much for the 'taste of certain Offices' in her words, to asking and analyzing his personal assessment of how the missions went.

When they were finally done, Haya sighed. "It's not that bad, but you really have to hope the Law Office Chief won't be there. If he does… Yeah, I don't think your chances are good. He will have major issues with the first bar brawl, and will at least reprimand you."

Izuku nodded.

-x-

"Last week, right?" Hatsume asked. While they had both technically gone back to school since the beginning of September, Izuku had been working hard on the exam and a lot less on his regular school. He was still technically ahead since he had been working on that from the moment he joined the institute, but after the Exam, he would have to work hard to stay on track. He really didn't want his school results, probably his best shots in the upcoming Exam, to suddenly plummet.

"Yes." Izuku sighed, "I really hope this goes well and I can go back to my usual life."

"Me too." Hatsume sighed back, "I really want to make more babies…"

"You know, I haven't even checked my mails that often in the past few weeks. I have joined the Paranormal Investigation Front some time ago, apparently, but I never got to check what that forum is all about. I hope they won't booth me for inactivity."

Hatsume nodded, but she still looked as if she was expecting something. Izuku sighed and pulled a set of small wrenches out of his sleeve, handing it to her. The girl cheered, grabbing the item and hiding it in her own sleeve. "Thank you so much!"

"What are friends for?" Izuku asked. In reality, he was fairly sure friends weren't to secretly carry inside the school better tools so their friend could build more inventions, but Izuku couldn't say no to Hatsume. She was a good friend, for all her… focus on mechanics. As she proved when she gave him a thumbs up and continued.

"By they way, I'm working on some babies that might help you. They won't be done in time, but I can definitely have some of it done by next week."

"Thank you, Hatsume." He wasn't sure how much it would help, but he was sure Hatsume had worked hard for whatever she was building. He would make sure to try it.

"Don't mention it, Midoriya. What are friends for?"

Izuku smiled. Yeah, he had made a lot of friends, hadn't he? There was a lot more than just his job at stake in this Exam, and he wouldn't let it slip away.

(XX)

A more chill chapter between two significant events. It was time for Izuku to start interacting more with his peers, after all, and I figured this was an excellent opportunity to do so. Just a lot of Aliens and person-to-person talk, some interesting combat training and some Ultravian/Shroomite/HASC lore or hints of lore. Sorry Izuku, you need to unlock those Alien info conversations.

This was a chapter of fun interactions to write. The Central group of Trainees is a very positive group, in its own way, but of course, not all Trainees will have the same attitude.

Next week, it's time for the Trainee Exam!