Reviews:
Guest: I'm glad you're enjoying the story! As for your nit pick, even sociopaths can be annoyed by assholes and hypocrites and Alex viewed Iida as both. Sociopaths lack empathy or remorse for their actions. He doesn't need empathy to get annoyed with Iida's bullshit and call him out on it. And no he's not going to become a super villain like prototype 2. Though even if he did become a villain, his reasons wouldn't be the same as in Prototype 2, his goals would be different, and it would all actually make sense in regards to the story.
Runnar: Wow, that's a lot. I'll try to keep this brief and respond to key points. I will try my best to make Alex as in character as possible. I have ideas for romance but if he does fall in love with another character it will happen naturally and through character development. A few characters I've been thinking of for relation ships are Mina Ashido, Tsuyu Asui, and possibly Kyoka Jiro. I don't know if any of their personalities quite fit with Alex's but that's why they're just ideas at the moment. Alex's body can be as muscular or as tan as he wants it to be he doesn't have to be scrawny and pale as a corpse if he doesn't want to be. And why would he want to be? Furthermore, yeah I realize he's supposed to be attractive and can and will take that into consideration while writing this.
Pa7dox: That would be a very short and very boring battle. Neither of them have the quirks to stand up against Alex. Granted, no one in class 1A does except for maybe Izuku after he learns to control One for All. Even so, a few of them do have quirks that could at least injure his bio constructs like the Brawlers or Infected which would make them last at least a little longer.
It was the first day of school and Alex was one of the first students to get to the class. As there didn't appear to be any assigned seats, Alex chose one at random and sat down. There were a couple of other students who had managed to get there before him, but the classroom was mostly empty. Alex just ignored the other students that were there and they seemed just fine with this arrangement as they ignored him too.
Slowly other students began to arrive one after the other. It had been going well for a while, no one really paid much attention to Alex or tried to bother him. At least that was the case until some pink girl with black and yellow eyes and two thin pale yellow hook-like horns sticking out of her head arrived. Taking a moment to examine the other students in class before sitting down, she spotted Alex. "Hey, I recognize you! You're that guy from the video that's been going around who turned into that giant monster and shredded the zero pointer during the entrance exam, before exploding into tentacles and destroying all the other robots in the Battle Center! That was so cool!" She exclaimed, pointing at Alex and walking over to him. Hearing this, most of the other students then started looking at Alex.
"Oh hey, you're right, that is him! I didn't even recognize him without his jacket and hoodie!" Said some blond kid with a black line zigzagging through his hair. "Wait, does this mean those videos were actually real?!"
"Hey, what videos? What are you guys talking about? And what do you mean he turned into a giant monster?" Asked some other kid with spiky red hair, sounding both confused and a bit curious.
"Oh man, you didn't see?! It's all over social media, dude! Here, I can show you." The blond kid said as he pulled out his phone and brought up one of the better videos of Alex morphing into a giant monster and destroying the zero pointer. A couple of the other students gathered around to watch as the blond kid played the video. It was only around thirty seconds long as that's about how long the entire event had lasted, but it looked really dramatic from the angle the video had been taken.
"Holy crap…" Muttered another kid with chin length black hair and jagged bangs, as the video came to an end.
Another kid with an unevenly shaped rock-like head stared at Alex in terror, but said nothing.
"Hi, I'm Mina Ashido, what's your name?" The pink girl asked Alex with a friendly smile.
"Alexander Mercer. I prefer to be called Alex." Alex grumbled, just wanting to be left alone.
"So, you're a foreigner then? That's cool! What country do you come from?" Mina asked, still trying to be friendly.
"I'm not. Not quite anyways. I was born here. My mother's parents were from New York in America but moved here before having her. Later she had me while she was going to college in Kyoto and just decided to give me an English name. That's it. I've never once set foot outside of Japan." Alex casually lied, giving absolutely no outward signs that he was telling anything but the truth.
"Hey, Mercer, can you turn into that freaky monster thing without going all giant like that?" The kid with the spiky red hair asked.
"If I do, will you all stop bothering me about it?" He asked, to which several of the students nodded enthusiastically. "...Fine." Alex sighed. Standing up from his desk Alex faced the other students and morphed into what he decided to call his bioweapon form, pulling his uniform into his biomass so as to not accidentally destroy it. He now looked exactly like he had at the end of the practical exam when he had destroyed the zero pointer. "There." he growled, his voice sounding like something straight out of a nightmare. He then morphed back into his base form and pushed his uniform out of his biomass and back onto the outside of his body. He then sat back down and proceeded to try and ignore the other students despite their continued attempts to talk to him.
Eventually the teacher showed up and Alex started listening again. "It took eight seconds for you all to shut up. That's not going to work. Time is precious, rational students would understand that." The teacher stated. He then looked around at the students in the classroom. "Hello, I'm Shota Aizawa, your teacher." Reaching into his sleeping bag he pulled out what looked to be a gym uniform of some sort. "Right, let's get to it. Put these on and head outside."
{Later}
""""What? A quirk assessment test?!"""" Almost the entire class save for Alex and a select few other students inquired.
"But orientation, we're going to miss it!" A girl with brown shoulder length hair said in a concerned tone.
"If you really want to make the big leagues, you can't waste time on pointless ceremonies." Aizawa told the class. "Here at U.A. we're not tethered to traditions. That means I get to run my class however I see fit. You've been taking standardized tests most of your lives, but you've never got to use your quirks in physical exams before. The country is still trying to pretend we're all created equal by not letting those with the most power excel. It's not rational. One day the ministry of education will learn. Alexander, you managed to get the most points on the entrance exam. I realize you were homeschooled but what was your farthest distance throw with a softball when you were in junior high, without using your quirk?"
Alex shrugged. "It's physically impossible for me to not use my quirk. Regardless, if I was actively trying to use quirkless levels of speed and strength, I think it would be somewhere around seventy meters?"
"Right, try doing it with your quirk."
A bit later Alex was standing in the middle of a circle with measurement lines in front of it, holding a soft ball.
"Anything goes, just stay in the circle." Aizawa stated.
"Alright. In that case all of you might want to take a few steps back and cover your ears. This is going to be loud." Alex morphed his arm into a massive launching mechanism which he aimed at a perfect forty five degree angle. Finally he "threw" the ball as hard as he possibly could, using his knowledge of physics to form the launching mechanism in such a way as to make it fly even farther, even faster than he could have possibly thrown it with a normal arm. He even used his telekinesis to increase the speed even further. So when the softball launched it sounded like a tank firing due to the sonic boom as the ball was launched at hypersonic speeds straight into the sky.
"All of you need to know your maximum capabilities. It's the most rational way of figuring out your potential as a pro hero." Aizawa said before turning to the class and holding up some sort of measurement device for them all to see. It had a big infinity symbol on its screen, likely because Alex had launched the softball all the way into orbit, he launched it too far or too fast for the device to measure, or he had outright destroyed it. He assumed he had destroyed it since even metal would melt at hypersonic speeds and he was confident that the force of the air more than likely ripped the softball to pieces.
"W-woah… Infinity?! He must have launched that ball into orbit!" One student commented.
"I wanna go! That looks like fun!" Mina exclaimed.
"This is what I'm talking about! Using our quirks as much as we want!" Said another student.
"So this looks fun, huh?" Aizawa asked in a serious tone. "You have three years here to become a hero. You think it's all gonna be games and play time? Idiots… Today you'll compete in eight physical tests to gauge your potential. Whoever comes in last has none and will be expelled immediately."
""""Whaaaa?!"""" Almost all of the other students exclaimed in unison.
"Like I said, I get to decide how this class runs. If that's a problem, you can head home right now." Aizawa stated, giving the class an ominous smile.
"You can't send one of us home! We just got here! Even if it wasn't the first day, that isn't fair!" The brown haired girl exclaimed.
Alex rolled his eyes at that. Life wasn't fair. She was going to have to learn that sooner or later.
"Oh, and you think natural disasters are? Or power hungry villains? Hm? Or catastrophic accidents that wipe out whole cities? No. The world is full of unfairness. It's a hero's job to try to combat that unfairness. If you want to be a pro you're going to have to push yourself to the brink. For the next three years, U.A. will throw one terrible hardship after another at you. So go beyond. Plus Ultra style. Show me it's no mistake that you're here." Aizawa told them.
Alex shrugged. This really wasn't what he had been expecting but he wasn't going to complain. That logic made perfect sense to him. Besides, he knew he was going to get first place in all of these tests, especially since they were physical in nature. His physical capabilities were effectively unrivaled except by a handful of pro heroes.
"Now then. We're just wasting time by talking. Let the games begin."
The first test was the 50 meter dash. Alex won, being able to move at supersonic speeds. His time was 0.07 seconds as he moved at twice the speed of sound for this test. He could have moved a bit faster but he didn't want to risk injuring anyone or making them go deaf.
The second test was grip strength. He crushed this, literally. Using a bulked up version of his muscle mass form, he quite literally crushed the measurement device. It wasn't even able to measure his grip strength, all it came back with was "Error".
The third test was the standing long jump. Using his natural strength alone would have been more than enough for him to get second place, but using the telekinesis quirk he gained he easily got tied for first since he could quite literally levitate. The other person in first place was the girl with brown hair since she could apparently use her quirk on herself to eliminate her own gravity.
Fourth was repeated side steps. Again he got first place as he was able to move faster than sound.
Test five was the ball throw. He got the same score as in the demonstration, thus he was once again tied for first place. Antigravity girl was once again the only one able to compete with him in things like this. However, things got interesting when it was the green haired kid's turn. First it started out like everyone else's throws. The kid's score wasn't even that great.
"What gives? I was trying to use it just now…" The kid muttered to himself, looking at his hands in confusion.
"I erased your quirk." Aizawa stated, his scarf and hair levitating around him. "The judges for this exam were not rational enough. Someone like you should never be allowed to enroll in this school."
Hearing that Alex raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. He didn't understand what was so wrong with the kid. He wasn't nearly as bad as the blond douche. If anyone didn't deserve to enroll in this school it was a jackass like him.
"You did what to my…? Those goggles! I know you! You can look at someone and cancel out their powers! The erasure hero, Eraserhead!" The kid exclaimed.
"You're not ready. You don't have control over your power." Aizawa explained. "Were you planning to break your bones again? Counting on someone else to save your useless body?"
"No! That's not what I was trying to do!" The kid said in denial. Suddenly Aizawa's scarf moved forwards and grabbed the kid, suggesting Aizawa actually had telekinetic powers similar to Alex and whoever Alex got the quirk from.
"No matter what your intentions are, you would be nothing more than a liability in battle. You have the same reckless passion as another overzealous hero I know. One who saved a thousand people by himself and became a legend. But even with that drive, you're worthless if you can only throw a single punch before breaking down. Sorry, Midoriya. With your power there's no way you can become a hero."
Alex could have stepped forwards and offered to reinforce Midoriya's bones, but refrained. Mainly because he didn't think Aizawa would let him, but also because it would only really be like putting duct tape over a cracked window. Yeah, he would be sealing the cracks but it's a shitty solution and it more than likely won't last forever. He had no idea how much strain the kid's quirk was putting on his bones so he had no idea how much he would have to change Midoriya's bones to compensate for it. If he under compensated they would still break eventually but if he over compensated he could seriously injure if not kill the kid by limiting how much blood his bones could produce by making them too solid and thus not porous enough. So without that information, it really wasn't worth the risk.
Aizawa's scarf retracted back around his neck. "I've returned your impractical quirk. Take your final throw. Hurry and get it over with." With that, Aizawa walked back over to the other students.
The kid stood there in silence for a few moments before finally throwing the ball. This time the kid's throw was significantly more impressive. However, Alex could see Midoriya's right index finger clearly broken judging by how bruised and floppy it looked.
"Mr. Aizawa…" The kid turned around and clenched the fist that had the broken finger. "You see? I'm still standing!"
"This kid!" Alex heard Aizawa mutter, with his super enhanced senses.
"HEY! DEKU YOU BASTARD, TELL ME HOW YOU DID THAT OR YOU'RE DEAD!" The blond haired douche shouted, running towards Midoriya with his hand raised.
Alex was about to intervene when Aizawa's scarf shot forwards and wrapped around the kid, stopping him in his tracks.
"W-what?! Why the hell is your scarf so strong?!" The blond haired prick demanded.
"Because it's a capture weapon made of carbon fiber and a special metal alloy. Stand down. It would be wise to avoid making me use my quirk so much. It gives me serious dry eye." Aizawa explained.
""""Too bad, that power is amazing!"""" Several of the students said in unison. This was starting to creep Alex the hell out. He was starting to think that maybe he wasn't the only one in the class with access to a hivemind.
"You're wasting my time now, whoever's next can step up."
The rest of the day went by in a flash. Alex easily won all of the rest of the tests.
"Alright, time to give you your results. I've ranked you all from best to worst. You should probably have a good idea of your standing already. I'll just pull up the whole list. It's not worth going over each individual score." Aizawa stated. Suddenly he displayed a holographic image with the scores.
1. Alexander Mercer
2. Momo Yaoyorozu
3. Shoto Todoroki
4. Katsuki Bakugo
5. Tenya Iida
6. Fumikage Tokoyami
7. Mezo Shoji
8. Mashiro Ojiro
9. Eijiro Kirishima
10. Mina Ashido
11. Ochako Uraraka
12. Koji Koda
13. Rikido Sato
14. Tsuyu Asui
15. Yuga Aoyama
16. Hanta Sero
17. Denki Kaminari
18. Kyoka Jiro
19. Toru Hagakure
20. Izuku Midoriya
As Alex expected he ranked first place. Unsurprising given that this was a physical test involving powers.
"And I was lying, no one's going home." Aizawa suddenly informed them all. "That was just a rational deception to make sure you gave it your all in the tests."
Several of the students freaked out upon hearing this.
"I'm surprised the rest of you didn't figure that out. I'm sorry, I guess I should have said something." The girl Alex now recognized as Momo Yaoyorozu stated.
"That was pretty nerve wracking, huh?" Hanta Sero inquired.
"Nah, I'm always down for a challenge." Eijiro Kirishima responded confidently.
"That's it, we're done for the day. Pick up a syllabus in the classroom. Read it over before tomorrow morning." Aizawa said while walking away. As he was walking, Aizawa turned his head and looked at Alex. "Mercer. I saw what you can do in the entrance exam. You fix Midoriya's finger. Oh and by the way, because you can heal people you're going to be receiving medical lessons from Recovery Girl, the school nurse. But since there were no issues after you patched up those students in the entrance exam, I'm fine with you fixing a couple broken bones here and there as long as you limit it to here in class or in the infirmary during your lessons with the old lady."
Alex rolled his eyes at the fact he of all people was going to be receiving medical lessons considering he had the knowledge of dozens of medical doctors inside his head at all times. "Fine." Walking over to Midoriya he grabbed the kid by the wrist and said, "I would brace yourself if I was you. This won't exactly hurt and it will only take a couple of seconds, but I guarantee it won't be pleasant." He then proceeded to fix Midoriya's broken finger and the bruised flesh. Midoriya gritted his teeth and to his credit didn't even make so much as a single sound throughout the entire process.
When it was over Alex released Midoriya's wrist. Midoriya opened his eyes and looked at his now freshly healed finger. "Oh, wow! Thank you so much!"
"Mhm. Don't mention it." Alex stated before turning and walking away.
As Alex walked away, a couple of students ran up behind him. Those being Mina Ashida, Denki Kaminari, and Eijiro Kirishima. "Hey, wait up!" Mina called out.
Alex paused and turned around to look at them. "Yeah, what is it?"
"We just wanted to know if you'd be willing to hang out sometime. You're quiet but otherwise you seem pretty cool!" Mina told him with a friendly smile.
Alex hesitated for a moment. On the one hand, he wasn't really here to make friends. On the other hand, he knew he was going to have to deal with these people for three years and thus he might as well try to get along with them. Otherwise this was going to be a very long three years. So he shrugged and said, "Sure, I guess. I don't exactly have a busy schedule, so just name the time and place and I'll be there."
"Awesome! I knew you were cool! Alright, how about we exchange phone numbers? That way we can call each other to talk or wherever we want to hang out?" Denki suggested.
"Alright. Though, that'll have to wait until after we all get changed back into our normal uniforms. These gym clothes don't exactly have pockets." Alex said casually.
"Alright. Meet us near the front entrance later. We can exchange numbers then!" Eijiro stated.
Alex nodded before wandering off to get changed back into his normal uniform. This was a bit awkward for him, making friends. Still he supposed it was better than being completely alone all the time, especially since Dana wasn't here with him. Who knew? Perhaps they could serve as an "anchor" of sorts for him. Something for him to latch onto. To actually care about.
{The Next Day}
Alex attended his morning classes along with the rest of the students in class 1-A. Then he had lunch with a group of students in his class. He brought his own lunch, of course, and it was nothing but cubes of raw meat without any sort of toppings or seasonings. His diet actually grossed out his classmates a bit, but they got over it fairly quickly once he explained his quirk made it so raw meat was actually the easiest thing for him to "digest". Finally noon came and thus the hero courses.
"I am... here!" All Might shouted as he burst into the room. "Coming through the door like a hero!"
Alex and pretty much everyone else in the room were all shocked by this. He hadn't been expecting All Might of all people to come teach at U.A. Alex mostly kept his surprise to himself, aside from a surprised expression, while a few of the other students were much more vocal about their surprise and excitement.
"Welcome to the most important class at U.A. High! Think of it as Heroing 101! Here you will learn the basics of being a pro and what it means to fight in the name of good! Let's get into it! Today's lesson will pull no punches!" All Might exclaimed before holding out a card that said, "BATTLE" in big red stylized letters. "But one of the keys of being a hero is… looking good!" All Might pointed to one of the walls and suddenly numbers boxes inside shelves slid out of the wall. "These were designed for you based on your quirk registration forms and the requests you sent in before school started! Get suited up then meet me at Training Ground Beta!"
""""Yes, sir!"""" Said most of the class in unison.
{Later}
All Might was waiting for the class as they arrived at Training Ground Beta in full costume. For Alex's part, he didn't really have a costume. Instead he was just in his usual jacket and hoodie. Though he could easily change to his armored form at will if he wanted to stand out more.
"They say that clothes make the pros, young ladies and gentlemen, and behold you are the proof!" All Might exclaimed as they all walked into the training ground. "Take this to heart. From now on you are all heroes in training! This is getting me all ramped up! You all look so cool! Now! Shall we get started, you bunch of newbies?!"
A couple of the students talked to each other for a few moments but eventually All Might spoke up again. "Now that you're ready, it's time for combat training!"
Iida raised a hand and said, "Sir, this is the fake city from our entrance exam. Does that mean we'll be conducting urban battles again?"
"Not quite! I'm going to move you two steps ahead!" All Might stated holding up two fingers towards the class. "Most of the villain fights you see on the news happen outside. However, statistically speaking run-ins with the most dastardly evildoers take place in doors! Think about it! Backroom deals, home invasions, secret underground lairs. Truly intelligent criminals stay hidden in the shadows. For this training exercise you'll be split into teams of good guys and bad guys and fight two on two indoor battles!"
"Isn't this a little advanced?" Tsuyu inquired.
"The best training is what you get on the battlefield! But remember, you can't just punch a robot this time! You're dealing with actual people now!" All Might explained.
"Sir, will you be deciding who wins?" Momo inquired.
"How much can we hurt the other team?" Asked Bakugo.
"Do we need to worry about the losers getting expelled like earlier?" Ochaco inquired.
"Will you be splitting us up based on chance or comparative skill?" Iida asked with his hand raised.
"Isn't this cape très chic?" Aoyama inquired, holding up his cape.
"I wasn't finished talking!" All Might growled in frustration. He then pulled out what appeared to be a script of some sort and said, "Listen up! The situation is this! The villains have hidden a nuclear missile somewhere in their hideout. The heroes must try to foil their plans! To do that, the good guys have to either catch the evildoers or recover the weapon! Likewise the bad guys succeed if they protect their payload or capture the heroes. Time is limited and we'll choose teams by drawing lots!"
"Isn't there a better way?" Iida asked.
"Think about it! Pros often have to team up with heroes from other agencies on the spot, so maybe that's the reason we're seeing that here!" Midoriya explained.
"Yes, I see. Life is a random series of events." Iida muttered. He then bowed apologetically and said, "Excuse my rudeness!"
"No sweat! LET'S DRAW!" All Might exclaimed.
Team A was Midoriya and Ochaco. Team B was Shoji and Todoroki. Team C was Alex and Hagakure. Team D was Bakugo and Iida. Team E was Mina and Momo. Team F was Sato and Koda. Team G was Kaminari and Jiro. Team H was Tsuyu and Tokoyami. Team I was Ojiro and Aoyama. And finally team J was Sero and Kirishima.
"So, I guess we're partners. Your quirk obviously turns you invisible." Alex said to Hagakure
"Yes. Your quirk lets you do a ton of different things. I saw the videos of what you did during the entrance exam on social media." Hagakure responded.
Alex shrugged. "Yeah. I don't exactly have time to explain it in detail. The basics are I can shapeshift, can produce infinite biomass (laws of conservation be damned), am super strong, can move faster than sound, my mind is drastically enhanced by my quirk, I can create bio constructs that I can control through a hive mind or split myself into multiple bodies, and can permanently replicate other people's quirks by consuming a bit of their D.N.A. and weaponize them beyond what they were naturally capable of, among many other things."
"I see… Well, that should all prove very useful in this exercise… Er… You haven't copied my quirk have you?"
"While invisibility would be quite useful in certain situations, no I haven't. The school sent me a letter before the entrance exam telling me I'm not allowed to copy anyone in this school's quirks without their express permission with them being fully aware of the fact I will retain it permanently. Quirks are a hero's identity after all. So unless you give me permission, you don't have to worry." Alex explained.
That was when All Might spoke up again. "I declare that the first teams will be… THESE GUYS!" He announced while holding up two balls with letters written on them. "Team A will be the heroes, team D will be the villains! Everyone else can head to the monitoring room to watch!"
""""Yes, sir!"""" Most of the class said simultaneously.
{Later}
The exercise started and Alex watched with morbid interest. He remembered exactly how Bakugo had acted towards Midoriya yesterday and he suspected the blond bastard would act the same way today. He fully expected someone to get seriously injured in this exercise today specifically because of Bakugo. In fact just before the exercise started he had made his concerns known to All Might.
"Sir. If I may be so bold, I don't believe this particular match up is a good idea. Someone is going to get hurt." Alex said as All Might entered the observation room.
All Might raised an eyebrow curiously. "Oh? And why is that, young Mercer?"
"This Bakugo kid clearly has a grudge against Midoriya. Not like a friendly rivalry, he legitimately hates him for some reason. I have no idea why since I only just met them both, but it's plainly obvious. I mean, Bakugo legitimately attacked Midoriya yesterday and wouldn't have stopped until one of them was seriously injured if Professor Aizawa hadn't intervened. Now that he's actually being given a chance to fight Midoriya in class without a teacher interrupting, you know he's going to do the exact same thing. Someone is going to get injured, I can pretty much guarantee it. More than likely it will be Midoriya since his quirk breaks his bones whenever he uses it, so either he fights back and he gets hurt and likely hurts Bakugo in the process or he doesn't and Bakugo is the one who hurts him. Either way, someone is going to be injured." Alex explained.
"I see… Well, I understand your concerns, Mercer, I'm afraid the match up has already been chosen. Don't worry, if things start getting out of hand I will tell them to stop! No one is going to get hurt on my watch!" All Might patted Alex firmly on the back then proceeded to walk over to the intercom. "All right! Let's begin indoor combat training! Team A and Team D your time starts now!"
Alex face palmed and shook his head. How naive could a pro hero be? Alex knew Bakugo wasn't going to stop just because All Might told him to. No, he would keep going regardless. It was blatantly obvious due to his overly hostile and aggressive personality.
Later, as Alex expected, Bakugo rushed down to attack Midoriya and Uraraka. He wasn't even listening to everyone else's commentary as he watched the fight. Midoriya turned the tables a bit by grabbing Bakugo's arm and using the blond bastard's momentum to flip him over and slam him into the ground.
A few minutes later Ochaco was facing Iida alone while Midoriya was running and hiding from Bakugo. However, eventually Bakugo found Midoriya again.
"I'm all loaded up." Bakugo's voice said through the speakers installed in the monitor.
"What does that mean?" Midoriya inquired.
"Why aren't you using your fancy quirk? Don't tell me you're underestimating me, Deku." Bakugo said menacingly. "Get over here and show me what you're really made of."
"Kachan… I'm not scared of you any more!" Midoriya responded.
Bakugo scowled furiously for a moment before smiling to himself. "Since you're such a stalker, by now you probably know how my quirk explosion works." He said, pointing his oversized, grenade shaped gauntlet at Midoriya. "I secrete nitroglycerin like sweat from my hands and make it blow up. Imagine what I could do if I had a lot of it!" He then cocked the "safety lever" of the grenade shaped gauntlets like a gun revealing a pull pin, which he grabbed. "That's right, these gauntlets aren't just for show! They've been storing up my sweat inside for one monster blast!"
"All Might…" Alex said in a concerned tone as he listened to this.
"I know…" All Might responded. He then raised his microphone and said, "Young Bakugo! Don't do it! You'll kill him!"
"HE'LL BE FINE AS LONG AS HE DODGES!" Bakugo shouted back before pulling the pin. Suddenly a massive explosion rocked the entire facility, causing even the entire observation room to shake.
"Come in! Come in, Midoriya!" All Might exclaimed.
Alex clenched his fists and started growling furiously. His eyes turned red and started glowing with bioluminescent light. Tendrils started thrashing furiously around his body. If that kid just died because All Might hadn't listened to his warning… Alex wasn't sure what he would do but it more than likely wouldn't end well for Bakugo. Or All Might for that matter.
All Might noticed what was happening with Alex but said nothing for the moment. He was too worried about whether Midoriya had survived that blast to deal with a single angry student at the moment.
When the dust obscuring the screen cleared enough for them to see, they watched as Midoriya pushed his torso up off the ground so he could look at Bakugo. "Is that… even allowed?" Midoriya muttered to himself.
Bakugo gave a slightly deranged laugh as he approached Midoriya. "These are awesome! The more nitro sweat that's stored in these gauntlets the stronger the explosion is! Go ahead! Use your stupid quirk on me, Deku! Even if you give me everything you've got, you'll never beat me!"
Midoriya didn't respond and just kept sitting there.
"What's the matter?! You look scared! You dodged the attack so you can still fight can't you?! Come and get me!" Bakugo demanded.
"Come in, what's the situation?" Midoriya asked over the radio.
"Not good!" Ochaco responded.
"Are you ignoring me again?! I'll get your attention!" Bakugo growled.
"Professor, you need to end this! That lunatic is going to kill him!" Alex stated, trying to force himself to calm down.
"Yeah, I agree with Mercer. This is going way too far." Kirishima added.
"Not so…" All Might responded. However moments later he raised his microphone and said, "Bakugo, use that stored up power again and I'll end this fight. Your team will lose."
"Huh?!" Bakugo exclaimed.
"To use such a strong attack indoors is inviting the destruction of the stronghold you should be protecting. That's a poor strategy, whether you're a hero or a villain. The penalty will be a massive loss of points."
At this point Alex's rage was starting to boil over. How could a douche like Bakugo have ever been allowed to join a school for heroes?! He wasn't even remotely heroic! He was nothing but a goddamn thug! It was at this point Alex stopped paying attention because he knew he was getting too angry and if he didn't get control of himself he was going to break every bone in Bakugo's body after this was over.
This situation was just particularly infuriating to him. Here he was attending school to become a hero because he was sick and tired of being a monster and he wanted to help people instead of killing them. Yet some jackass with absolutely no regard for the lives, safety, or wellbeing of his fellow classmates got in because he had a flashy quirk that makes shit explode. And here that jackass was actively endangering the life of a fellow student because of his misplaced and irrational hatred. He was only here to learn how to be a hero just to feed his own god forsaken ego, not because he actually cared about others or wanted to help people. And he didn't care who he hurt no matter how petty or stupid the reason he hurt them was.
Alex found it absolutely sickening and the fact that All Might of all people was doing absolutely fuck all to stop this was just infuriating him even worse. The so-called "Symbol of Peace" was doing absolutely nothing when one of his student's lives was in danger! Some "hero" he turned out to be!
Eventually the battle came to an end and the Hero Team won. As soon as it was over, Alex walked over to All Might and said, "Sir, can I talk to you for a moment?"
"Of course, young Mercer! I suspected you would want to talk to me, seeing how you reacted to the battle… Let's step outside into the hall for a moment." All Might stated.
Alex nodded and started walking towards the door. As soon as they were outside and All Might closed the door behind them Alex said, "Please tell me Bakugo is being expelled for the crap he just pulled!"
"No… Why would he be?" All Might inquired, crossing his arms. "He was never actually trying to kill Midoriya."
Alex rolled his eyes at that. "Oh yeah, suuure… But he sure didn't give a crap if Midoriya died assuming he hadn't been able to dodge that explosion in time! You know, gas explosions can detonate at velocities around 1,600 meters per second to 3,000 meters per second, that's up to eight times faster than the speed of sound and solid explosions can be significantly faster. However the average human reaction time — assuming they don't have a quirk that enhances it, which I don't believe Midoriya has judging by how the fight went — is about 250 milliseconds, meaning it takes a full quarter of a second for someone to react to something after they see it. And they were in such close proximity that mathematically speaking the only reason Midoriya survived is because he knew that psychopath was going to pull the pin and reacted before he could finish. And that explosion destroyed a huge portion of the building they were in so had he been even a few moments slower he would be dead! So at the very least Bakugo should be expelled for the reckless endangerment of another student's life even if you aren't going to pin him with attempted murder!"
All Might's smile didn't fade even for a moment but his posture and body language his mood was turning grim. He was silent for a few moments but finally he spoke. "I see your point, young Mercer…" All Might sighed. "I should have listened to your warning or at the very least intervened sooner… That is my failure as a teacher and as a pro hero. Still, we can't just expel Bakugo."
"Why the hell not?!" Alex roared furiously. "He's no 'hero in training'! He's an arrogant thug with a god complex who has absolutely no regard for anyone else's lives! He cares more about his own pride and ego than the fact that he could have just killed someone! Some of us are here because we genuinely want to help people and save lives! He's only here to feed his own god forsaken ego so he can feel superior to everyone else! If he became a pro hero he would be nothing but a liability as he would put civilian lives in danger if not outright kill people while trying to defeat villains just to prove he's 'the best' or 'the strongest' or whatever crap runs through that sociopath's head!"
"I completely understand your feelings, Mercer. However, plenty of individuals just like him become Pro Heroes every year all around the world. It's an unfortunate fact of life. Besides, if we expelled him what do you think would happen? Do you truly believe that he would just realize the error of his ways and get better or do you think he would remain exactly the same if not get even worse? No. It's better he remains here in U.A. That way we can at least try to work with him and help him become a better person. If we just let him go there's a chance that he would turn to a life of villainy, and with his quirk and natural talent the damage he could do would be quite high. He could be one of the worst villains active today. So do you get it? Do you understand why we won't expel him for this?"
Alex scowled furiously. "So that's it then? He almost kills someone and he gets off with absolutely zero repercussions?! So I guess this school's rules are completely meaningless then and anyone can get away with anything so long as they don't actually go so far as to rape or murder anyone! If that's the case then I quit because this is no 'hero school!' No true hero school would let students get away with breaking the rules or intentionally endangering other students' lives! So I'm sure there are real hero schools here in Japan that will actually enforce their rules and actually care if their students' lives are threatened by other students!" With that Alex turned and began marching away.
All Might recoiled as if struck. He hadn't been expecting Alex to react like this. Walking over to him, he put a hand on Alex's shoulder to stop him. "Now hold on, I never said he wasn't going to be punished! I just said he wasn't going to be expelled! There is a very major difference. After classes are over for the day, I will be discussing an appropriate punishment with Principle Nezu. Here at U.A. we very much do enforce our rules and take the safety of our students very seriously. In fact it's our number one priority! If it wasn't then we wouldn't be the top hero school in the country now would we?"
Hearing that, Alex calmed down a bit. Turning to face All Might again he said, "Good. Sorry for taking up so much of your time and for yelling. I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page about this. Since you didn't put a stop to that train wreck sooner I was concerned he would get away with this with zero repercussions."
"No need to apologize, young Mercer! You care about the safety and well being of your fellow students and have a need to see injustice punished wherever it may be! Those are excellent qualities for a hero to have! Also, you're absolutely right. Like I said before, the fact I didn't end the fight sooner is my failing as a teacher and as a Pro Hero. And for that I sincerely apologize."
Alex rolled his eyes. "It's not me you need to apologize to. It's that Midoriya kid for letting that psycho nearly kill him." With that Alex walked past All Might and back into the observation room where he saw a handful of students huddled next to the door, clearly having been listening in on their conversation. He ignored them and went to stand off on the side of the room.
End Notes: So in this story there are actually going to be consequences for Bakugo's actions. In fact there are going to be consequences for everyone's actions but yeah Bakugo's especially. He is allowed to get away with WAY too much bullshit in the original story when he should be punished for it, disobeying a teacher's orders and nearly killing Midoriya for example? That explosion honestly should have killed Midoriya even if he managed to dodge in time because he was well within the lethal radius of the explosion (its the shockwave that usually kills you not the fire and he was way too close to the explosion to not be caught by the shockwave) but I'm letting that slide just this once otherwise I'm sure people would accuse me of killing off Midoriya just so Alex can take his place as the main character.
Regardless, what do you guys think Bakugo's punishment should be since U.A. obviously isn't going to just expel him? I have a few ideas already but I would like to hear what you guys think as well. Remember it should be proportional to what he did and not only did he disobey direct orders not to do something from a teacher but he nearly killed another student despite the teacher warning him that was a legitimate possibility.
Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed reading this chapter as much as if not more than I enjoyed writing it! Constructive criticism is always welcome! I can't improve if I don't know what I'm doing wrong after all.
Stay safe out there everyone!
