After such a shocking reveal, it took a significant amount of time for the other three to get Izuku to calm down again. How else should he have reacted to seeing himself as little more than a decapitated head? What's more, most of his head now consisted of cybernetic modifications. His panic only seemed to deepen when he realized that. When would the excruciating pain come? When would his senses simply blink out of existence as his brain rejected the new inputs?

There were repeated assurances from Dr. Shield that he wouldn't reject what he'd already been preemptively equipped with. They were built from what he'd learned after years of studying the O.F.A. prototype and were the same as the ones All Might was currently equipped with. Eventually, those assurances worked, and Izuku allowed himself to ease out of panic mode to a tentative calm.

"Good…" Dr. Shield transitioned with a somewhat exhausted sigh. "Now that we have that out of the way, we really should get to the transplant as soon as possible. The sooner we get you equipped with a body, the better."

"W-wait, we're doing it now?!" Izuku stammered out, a bit of his earlier apprehension returning to him. This was all going so fast! He had no idea how long he'd been unconscious for, but to him it felt like just an hour ago that he'd been told by All Might that he couldn't be an Enforcer because he couldn't be enhanced. Now all of a sudden he was being converted into a full cyborg!

"Honestly, I do hate to rush it like this," the doctor agreed softly, giving the boy an apologetic look. "Normally we would have you go through a counseling process to make sure you're mentally prepared for the transition, and we'd give you time to change your mind. In emergency cases like this, where your injuries are so great that the body has already died and been discarded… Well, I'm afraid that drastically shortens the timeline we have to get this done successfully."

"Don't worry, kid," All Might interjected, flashing his successor a reassuring smile. "Dave's done this operation a million times. He'll have you up and running around at Mach 5 by this time tomorrow!"

"B-but… What about you? I-if you're giving me your body, then doesn't that mean you'll..?"

At that, All Might let out another confident chuckle.

"Hey, didn't I mention that I've been looking for a successor for years? In all that time, do you really think we wouldn't have prepared for this very moment?"

"I've been working on a replacement body for Toshi," Dr. Shield stepped in to explain. "Even though I haven't been able to figure out exactly how this prototype body can output so much power with someone with Analog Disorder, it has allowed me to create couplings and modulation units that would permit at least an extremely low-powered body to be equipped to someone with the condition. It will still slowly degrade his neural interface, unfortunately, but at a much slower rate than operating O.F.A at full power would."

All Might nodded in confirmation to everything his companion had said, his expression growing more somber.

"That also means… As soon as I hand over this body, my days as the top Enforcer are done."

"N-no!" Izuku found himself blurting out before he could think. "Y-you're All Might! Neo Tokyo's crime rate fell to its lowest level ever recorded while you were the top Enforcer! What will happen to the city if you just… disappear?"

At that, All Might let out a sigh.

"It's true, I imagine it'll get a lot rougher out there once word gets out that I'm retiring, but it's not like this wasn't going to happen eventually. I might not be able to be the Symbol of Peace anymore, but that doesn't mean there won't be one. That's what I'm giving you this body to become."

Izuku opened his mouth to respond, but he couldn't think of what to say. Him? The New Symbol of Peace? Was he really up to the task of something so great? The void that All Might's retirement would leave seemed so vast, impossible to fill by even the next greatest Enforcers currently on the job, let alone some lowly scavenger that no one had ever heard of before.

"Alright, I think we've discussed everything we needed to," came Dr. Shield's voice, breaking Izuku away from his spiraling thoughts. "Toshi, you ready to get started?"

Izuku's eyes darted over to All Might once more. The old Enforcer seemed to hesitate for a moment, looking down at his own hands in careful thought. As eager as the cyborg had seemed before to give away his body, there was clearly part of him that was hesitant to give it up. After a moment, he seemed to push past his final doubts, letting his hands fall to his side as he gave his old friend a nod. He then glanced back at Izuku, giving the boy a reassuring smile.

"See you on the other side, kid."

And with that, the two men turned away and passed through a door that opened in the far wall, leaving the two teens alone. Izuku, having nothing else to distract him, suddenly became painfully aware of how close Melissa had been standing to him – as well as the fact that his position on the table left him directly eye-level with her chest. She turned her friendly smile towards him once more, causing him to have to stifle an embarrassed yelp.

"It'll be a little while before Papa's ready for you. He's just gotta disconnect Uncle Might from the body first," she explained in her usual cheerful manner. Izuku tried his best to compose himself enough to attempt a proper conversation, though that unfortunately meant he had to keep his eyes averted.

"Y-yeah, sounds good," he replied nervously. "S-so, uh… You're Dr. Shield's daughter? I had no idea he had any kids."

"Yep! Though it's just me. I've also been apprenticing under him for the past few years. It's hard work, but Papa's a great teacher. He says I should be ready to go for my engineer's certification in just another year or two."

"Wow, that must be amazing, getting to learn under the best cyberneticist in the world!" Izuku replied, sufficiently distracted by the subject of their conversation that he forgot to be bashful. "Is your mother a cyberneticist, too?"

"A-ah, well…" Melissa began hesitantly. Suddenly, Izuku began to panic. Did he bring up a touchy subject already?

"I don't really have a mother. Well, not one I ever knew, anyway. I was a tank baby, and as far as I know my mom was just an anonymous egg donor. Papa's the only parent I've ever known. Well, and Uncle Might helped raise me, too, so I guess he was always like a second dad to me."

Izuku couldn't help but feel a tad jealous. Not only was she raised by the world's greatest cyberneticist, but also the top Enforcer? That sounded like a dream childhood!

Although, he had to admit, he'd never met someone who was born as a so-called 'tank baby' before. He'd heard about them, of course. They were more common the further up in the decks you went, a clear sign of the parents' wealth. They were conceived via artificial insemination, either for an existing couple or using donor materials, and grown in an artificial womb. The device was suspended in a tank filled with liquid as the baby grew, hence the name. Needless to say, people all the way down on Deck U could never afford the procedure, so children were almost always born naturally down there.

"I-I see…" Izuku replied before the conversation died into an awkward silence. Desperate not to let it linger the entire time Dr. Shield was working on All Might, he attempted to change the subject. "S-so, ummm… I'm sorry if this is kinda personal to ask, but… do you have any mods? Dr. Shields hands are so cool, and I figured, as his daughter and all, he'd have made something like that for you, too."

To her credit, Melissa shook her head with a smile.

"Nope, I don't have any mods. Actually, I happen to have Analog Disorder too, just like you and Uncle Might."

"Wh-what?!" he blurted out incredulously. "B-but how is that possible? I thought all tank babies had their genetic code sequenced and had that gene mutation edited out!"

"Not me," she replied, that soft smile never leaving her lips. "Papa didn't even want to test me for it. He said being a father wasn't about designing the perfect baby, it was about loving and caring for his child, no matter their apparent strengths or weaknesses."

"But without mods, doesn't that leave you at a huge disadvantage compared to other engineers that have them?"

Much to Izuku's surprise, she replied with yet another shake of her head.

"Papa always said what made him what he is today is his brain, not his hands. Anyone could have his hands installed on themselves, but there's no way to improve the mind with cybernetics. He thought it was so much more important for me to learn, and study, and develop my mind than to simply shove bits of circuitry in me to make me better at something. N-not that there's anything wrong with cybernetics, of course!"

Izuku almost couldn't believe what he was hearing. For someone like Dr. Shield, whose entire career was based on improving the human form through technology, to have said something like that… It was almost inconceivable! He wondered if the man had always felt that way, or if he'd only had a change of heart once his daughter had been diagnosed with Analog Disorder.

Either way, he couldn't help but wonder what path his own life would have taken if he'd had someone with that philosophy in his life. He didn't really know his own father all that much, the man having gone out to the ever-expanding edge of the city to work construction before dying in a work accident when he was just a toddler. His mom had always tried her best to be supportive of him no matter what, but she was just as devastated to learn of his condition as he was. She just kept on apologizing to him over and over, and he caught her quietly crying in her room a lot more after that. She never got the chance to have the kind of change of heart Dr. Shield apparently had before she…

"Alright, Izuku… It's time."

Izuku gave a startled yelp when the doctor's voice suddenly infiltrated his thoughts. He looked up to see Dr. Shield standing in the doorway at the far wall. Try as he might, though, he couldn't see enough past the man to know the state of his lifelong idol.

"Alright, I'm going to have to shut you down again for the transfer," Melissa explained softly, going back over to man the monitors and the large control panel that he could see connected via cables to where his neck should have been. "Don't worry, you won't feel anything. Next thing you know, you'll just wake up and be in your brand-new body!"

Izuku could feel his nerves rise once more, but he tried not to let his fear hold him back. This was it. This was when he took the first step towards fulfilling his dream. He steeled himself before giving them the go ahead. Within seconds, the world around him ceased to exist.

Just as promised, barely a second passed for Izuku before he was awake again, though he was sure the operation must have lasted at least as long as the one Dr. Shield performed on All Might before him. He opened his eyes to find himself in a different room than before, a large surgical lamp shining in his face from above where he now found himself laying. He could hear the faint beeps of medical equipment, and everything seemed bathed in a green glow from the many monitors surrounding where he lay. Suddenly, the silhouette of a man's head and shoulders cut across the light filling his vision.

"You're all done. How do you feel?"

In response to Dr. Shield's inquiry, Izuku posed the same question to himself. How did he feel? Well, for starters, the fact that he could feel anything at all below just his head was an improvement. He'd never even bothered to imagine what it would feel like to have an entirely mechanical body, but this… It felt so much more natural than he could have dreamed. He flexed his hands and felt the tactile feedback of his fingertips pressing against his palms. He wiggled his toes and felt they were all accounted for. If he didn't know better, he'd have thought he'd been magically transported back into his old body.

There were a few differences, though. He didn't have the typical aches and pains all over that came from scrounging around mountains of scrap for years. In fact, he kind of felt like he could clear out the entirety of The Hole and not so much as break a sweat. There was also a feeling almost like weightlessness, like he was gently floating on his back in a pool of water.

"I… I feel great! I think… Should I try getting up?"

Dr. Shield let out a small chuckle at that.

"If you're feeling up to it, go for it."

With that endorsement, Izuku proceeded to sit up. The table he'd been laying on was indented with a vague human shape, which he supposed aided in Dr. Shield's work. When he sat up, he almost tumbled head over ass right out of that indent, having severely underestimated his new strength. Now he understood why he felt like he was floating; compared to the power of this extraordinary body, his weight seemed like it was almost nonexistent. With a new appreciation for the scale of his power, he more carefully swung his legs over the edge of the table. As he did so, he couldn't help but marvel at the gleaming silver plating covering every inch of him that he could see, most formed into shapes reminiscent of the muscles that would have existed where they were located, and some of them possessing a surprising flexibility that truly shocked him at times. He could only wonder at half of the materials he was now composed of.

He lifted up his hands to inspect them, flexing them just as he did moments before. The dexterity of each finger easily matched that of his old natural hands, and he could feel the power in them. They were not near so flexible as Dr. Shield's specialized hands, of course, but they were some of the best he'd ever seen.

"It might be easier to admire yourself with this, don't you think?"

Izuku could feel his cheeks heat up upon hearing Melissa's light teasing, though whether he was actually capable of blushing or just imagining it was unknown to him. He looked over to where the girl's voice had come from, but his eyes settled on the full-length mirror she'd slid over from against the far wall.

He had to resist the urge to draw in a sharp gasp at what he saw. His entire body consisted of the same sleek silver plating that he'd seen on his legs, all perfectly molded to resemble a moderately muscular teen boy's body. Here and there he could spot reinforced tubes peeking through gaps in the plates, a glowing blue liquid seen flowing within. His fingers brushed across the lone bit of writing that looked to be stenciled across the left side of his chestplate; O.F.A. #9.

"O.F.A… Number Nine?" he read aloud.

"That body's been passed down through many generations, and you're the ninth person to be equipped with it," Dr. Shield explained. Izuku nodded his head. That made sense… In all his years obsessively following All Might's exploits on the extranet, he'd always wondered what his own marking of 'O.F.A. #8' could mean. Now he knew. There was still one thing bothering him, though…

"S-so, uhhm… Why does it look like this? All Might was always so tall and bulky, I thought I'd end up looking like that too. But this body looks like it's almost the same size as my real one used to be."

"Ah, that's O.F.A.'s adaptive protocols at work," Dr. Shield replied with an enthusiastic smile. "This body's true strength lies in how it learns from its users and their experiences, and it starts from day one of being equipped. On configuration, it integrates fully with the user's mind and adapts its form to how the user envisions themselves. Toshi had the frame of a very buff, muscular man because that's what he'd managed to work himself up to even before becoming a cyborg, and therefore it was how he naturally viewed himself. You view yourself as a teenaged boy, so it adapted to that vision. Don't worry, it shouldn't affect how much power it can output."

Izuku nodded, a smile spreading across his lips as he continued to move various parts of his body to test their range, finding that there was no position he could have taken in his natural body that this one couldn't replicate. He'd always thought cyborg bodies would be stiff and inflexible, being covered in metal plating, but the level of dexterity and flexibility this body possessed – even in spots it looked like it shouldn't ever bend – was truly astonishing! He really was starting to realize how All Might was able to make his incredible feats of heroism look so effortless.

Suddenly, his smile snapped away as his thoughts once again brought him back to his idol. He looked up at Dr. Shield with renewed urgency.

"Wh-what about All Might?! Where is he?! Is he still okay?!"

"Worry not, young man! It'll take more than simple decapitation to take me down!"

Upon hearing his hero's voice, Izuku's smiled returned in a flash. As soon as he turned to look in the direction it had come from, however…

"Aaaaah!" he shrieked out in mixed horror and shock, having been utterly unprepared for what greeted him. Rather than the towering hero he'd always known – or even the scrawny low-power ghost he'd come to know recently – All Might was nothing more than he himself had been just hours prior: just a head propped up on a stand on one of Dr. Shield's worktables. The old Enforcer didn't seem bothered by it in the slightest, however. He just grinned at his young successor as though the situation was the most normal thing in the world.

"Hey, what's with the dramatic reaction? Need I remind you that you were just a head not long ago yourself! It's fine!"

"H-how is being just a head fine in any way?! I-I thought you said Dr. Shield made a new body for you!"

"Don't worry, we weren't lying when we said that," the doctor interjected, though he couldn't seem to hide the amused smirk from his face. "It's just that getting O.F.A. equipped to you was a higher priority. You've been without a body for almost a month now, and we needed to get this one on you as soon as possible to keep your brain from atrophying. There's no harm in letting All Might be without a body for a few hours compared to that, and I'll be installing his new body next."

"I-I… I see…" Izuku replied, calming down once more but feeling no less uneasy about it. Then, another detail seemed to strike him. "W-wait, I've been here for a whole month?!"

"Yeah, sorry about that," Dr. Shield replied sheepishly, a hand moving up to rub at the back of his messy brown hair. "When Toshi brought you in here, you literally had two feet in the grave already. It took a lot of work to stabilize you, then to make the custom fittings you were equipped with before the transfer, and we wanted to make sure your brain had fully integrated with them before we woke you up. Any sooner and you would have likely died from the pain and shock."

Izuku calmed down at that, if only marginally. That made sense. But still, what would everyone who he'd known think when he suddenly disappeared for a month? Not that he really spoke to anyone aside from Power Loader and occasionally Bakugo, though one could hardly call the latter talking. Did they think he was dead? How could they not? Especially Bakugo…

"Well, that's enough standing around! We've got work to do, my boy!"

For what felt like the hundredth time that day, Izuku was startled out of his thoughts by some seemingly nonsensical statement. When turning to see where it had come from, he found himself staring down at All Might's grinning face once more.

"W-what do you mean? What work do I have to do right now?"

The old Enforcer let out an amused chuckle at that.

"Why, getting you accustomed to your new body, of course! The power that thing can output can be hard to handle when you're not used to it. I want to make sure you can control it before we go get you registered as an Enforcer. It'll be no good if you go to throw a punch and accidentally kill someone!"

While that plan was all well and good, Izuku felt it was overlooking one crucial point.

"B-but can't that wait until you get your new body? H-how are you supposed to train me when you're just a head?!"

"Honestly, I wanted to finish today up by installing his new body," Dr. Shield began with a sigh, "But Toshi insisted we leave it for tomorrow."

"Hey, I only had to insist because you'd refuse to take a break otherwise!" All Might retorted. "You've already done two major operations today. You're not going to keep working yourself to the bone if I have any say in the matter!"

Dr. Shield let out a small scoff at that.

"Like you're one to talk about overworking…"

All Might then returned his attention fully on his bewildered successor once more.

"Alright kid, I hope you're ready! Enforcer Boot Camp begins now!"