A/N: Thank you everyone for your feedback! I hope you enjoy this chapter! ^^

Chapter 2: U.A. Exam

The next day dawned bright and warm, much to Robin's chagrin. He'd tried to turn in early the night before, but he kept running into trouble. First that mugging, then that gang, and then a freaking bank robbery! At three in the goddamned morning! Who robs a bank at three AM?!

In all, he hadn't gotten back home until well past four, and had to catch his train at 7:15 to make it to the Entrance Exams on time.

He rubbed at his bright green eyes, darkening the circles that had long-since become a permanent fixture of his visage.

He double-checked that he had everything, his gaze lingering on his ID. His civilian name still felt strange to him, after all these years.

For over half a decade, he'd gone by Richard Grayson. So it was only recently that he'd started getting used to seeing the name Midoriya Izuku as his own again. Great. As if two identities weren't enough for one kid, toss in a third and time-travel, and this is the bullshit you get.

Oh, if Bruce could hear his foul-mouthed brain, he'd have a mouthful of soap for sure. And heaven forbid Alfred ever heard those words cross his tongue. His heart twinged at the thought of his family. Gone. Dead.

He was shaken from his thoughts as the train pulled to a stop. He almost didn't realize it was his stop until it was too late.

With a sigh of relief—because as amusing as watching Eraserhead eat his own scarf would be, he didn't want to stay a vigilante forever—he made his way over to U.A. "Wow… impressive." He whistled, holding his backpack a tad firmer.

He nearly tripped on an exposed brick in the path (who was in charge of the maintenance around here?), but managed to smoothly recover before noticing a girl with a hand outstretched towards him.

"Oh, sorry! I noticed you were about to trip, and was going to catch you!" She snatched back her hand nervously.

"O…kay? Thanks for the almost-save, then?" How was he supposed to respond to that? The only people his age he really talked to were Barbara and Wally.

"Are you nervous? I'm nervous! Oh, we should get going! Good luck!" She then sped off, obviously as much of a scatterbrain as Izuku used to be.

I think she would've gotten along well with… He shook his head and went inside.

The only seat open was next to Bakugo Katsuki—his old childhood friend, and current bully/tormentor. Of course, he could totally kick Bakugo's butt! But he had a secret identity to keep, and Midoriya Izuku wasn't a strong athletic type. Not yet, anyways.

He'd been keeping everything under wraps until today. Nobody would expect it—a Quirkless kid passing the U.A. Hero Entrance Exams?! Unheard of! Preposterous! And totally his style. He smirked as Present Mic stepped up on the stage.

He resisted the urge to geek out (yes, he was still a fanboy. Sue him!) as he listened to the rules. Robots. Totally his style. He was feeling the Aster today, and was immensely glad that he'd gotten several pieces of equipment approved for the exam.

Like his grappling hook, staff, and—shockingly enough—his cell phone. (Which, as it turned out, was allowed anyways). He was totally going to win this.

Izuku wondered why he was the only person in the entire auditorium who kept responding to Present Mic's calls. The man had grinned excitedly every time Izuku shouted out—he honestly felt kinda bad for the man. As a performer himself, he understood how hard it could be to work with an unresponsive crowed.

Though he got several glares for his antics, Izuku really couldn't give two shits. "I am loving your energy, Listener! I've got my eye on you!" Present Mic grinned, and Izuku couldn't help his own grin. Several people near him muttered in surprise, even as a blue-haired guy stood up and openly called Izuku out on being disruptive.

Again, he didn't humor the kid with a response. Izuku really didn't give a damn, though the spotlight was uncomfortably hot. "I mean, if you want to give me the stage, I know a couple of magic tricks, but I really don't think that's why we're here today." Izuku shot back at the startled boy. "Look, I'm here for the same reason as you—to become a Hero. Just cause you don't like my style, doesn't mean I'm not serious." Izuku grinned, before gesturing to Present Mic, who had a very well-hidden smirk of amusement on his face. "Take it away, Present Mic~!" Izuku stated in his best entertainer voice, to which the man laughed.

"Of course!" He grinned. "Talk to me after the exam, I think I want you to be a guest on my radio show! You've got the perfect presence for it!"

"You got it!" Izuku's grin was matched only by the hero's. He didn't miss the way half the auditorium glared death at him, but he didn't mind. He may have made a ton of enemies, but he'd certainly caught the attention of the heroes, and in a competition like this, that was what mattered.

Twenty minutes later, they were standing before the gates to the testing area. And Holy shit, just how big is this school?! He was starting to think that Bruce's fortune found its way to Japan.

"GO!" The moment he heard it, he reacted, dashing through the gates with the speed of the devil.

His staff was extended, and it wasn't long before he came across a three pointer. With a wicked smirk, he easily incapacitated it. It was nothing compared to some of the villains he'd dealt with.

He then started wracking up points. 20; 32; 57… He was having a blast!

Until it showed up. The ground rumbled, and his expression grew immediately serious. His eyes widened when he saw the 0P robot. "That's insane!" Maybe it was to test their reflexes and logic under pressure?

He was about to monitor and help the others escape when his ears picked up a familiar sound—a cry for help.

Before he'd fully registered it, he was running towards the cry, mind racing at a million miles a second. His staff wasn't going to take down that—that much he knew. And the girl was trapped under the rubble… with the rate the Zero Pointer was moving, it would take too long to get her out of there and escape.

He grit his teeth. Only one option, then. It was risky, but he'd literally diffused bombs before. This—he reminded himself—was still a (hopefully) controlled environment.

With no further thought, he used his grappling hook to launch himself up to the head of the robot. Where is it?! He pried off the panel before finding what he was looking for. The robot was far too complex to simply snip a few wires and deactivate, but that wasn't what he was after.

He pulled out his cell phone, his best and most versatile weapon, and connected the wires he needed. Then he got to something he was best at—hacking.

In the observation room, Aizawa Shouta was carefully watching this year's batch of applicants. Robin was in there somewhere, and he just had to figure out where.

His eyes roamed over the monitors. He had a handful of applicants in mind. It would have to be someone who didn't show any obvious Quirks, as the kid he was looking for didn't have one.

And wasn't that a kicker? One of the most sought-after and notorious vigilantes in Japan… was Quirkless. And a 14-year-old kid.

They were four minutes into the practical, and Shouta was fairly sure he knew which applicant it was. That one kid with the green hair… his movements were too practiced, too smooth, and flowed too well. The way he leapt from roof to roof… he was sure of it before he even fired off his grappling gun.

"Who's that kid?" Shouta pointed him out to Nezu.

"Oh? You're taking an interest in an applicant? How unlike you, Aizawa!" Nezu grinned. "Let's see… Midoriya Izuku. Fourteen, Quirkless."

"Quirkless?" Midnight echoed. "And he's fighting that well? What's he up to, point wise?"

"Last I counted, he was at 51." Cementoss spoke up, sounding impressed despite himself.

"Damn. That's impressive." Snipe sounded like he was smirking.

"Let's see how they react to… this." And then Nezu pressed the big red button, releasing the Zero Pointers.

Shouta really shouldn't have expected anything less. But he'd hoped that the kid would've had the common sense to run away from the giant killer robot, not towards it.

"Look, there's another kid trapped." Ectoplasm pointed to the screen.

"So that's why he's running towards it." Thirteen mused.

"Heroic indeed, but there's only so much someone without power can do." All Might shook his head, causing Shouta's ire to spike.

"Just watch. I have a feeling that this kid's gonna do something impressive."

"Oh? You sound like you've met him before." Nezu smirked.

"If this kid passes, I want him in my class. Hell, I want him as my apprentice." Shouta's words stilled the room. Only three times had he ever requested someone in his class. And never had he wanted to take on a student as an apprentice.

"Why on earth?" Midnight stared at her friend.

"He gave me a challenge… to find him. To guess who he was. He gave me one glaring hint. Tell me, Nezu… Is there any other Quirkless applicant in the Hero Exam today?"

They watched as the boy grappled up to the robot's head, and pried off a panel.

"No, just him." Nezu's eyes gleamed as Midoriya pulled out his cell phone of all things and connected some wires to the device. He then started messing with his phone, a thin line of sweat trickling down his brow. There were less than ten seconds of the Exam left, and less than six until that robot reached the girl (Hizashi was on standby to get her out of there if need be).

"Then I'm sure of it. That's him, all right." Shouta grinned madly as the robot suddenly died. It shuddered to a stop before backing up and away from the girl.

"Did he… just hack that robot with a cell phone?!" Snipe gasped in awe.

"Indeed he did." Nezu's grin became as maniac as Shouta's.

"TIME! THE EXAM IS OVER!" Hizashi's voice cried out over the testing sites.

"Midoriya Izuku… is the Vigilante Robin."