The Bright Hero, Cobalt
Chapter Six
A/N: Thanks as always to my editors and personal motivational speakers, Penguin Lord0029 and nightwind83.
"Normal speech."
"Buff Might/AI speech."
'Sign language.'
'Thoughts lacking intent to convey feelings and ideas. Some will be conveyed unintentionally. Some will not.'
"Telepathy, or thoughts with intent to convey feelings and ideas."
On A Bus En Route To Rescue Training
Izuku sat happily, surrounded by friends who had gravitated towards him over the week, a tiny bashful smile on his face, blue aura threatening to overtake the bus. They didn't even seem to be bothered about him being a late bloomer, even if it wasn't one hundred percent true. Katsuki had gotten a bit quiet since the hero training exercise, but he'd assured Izuku that he was just thinking, letting him look into his heart if he needed assurance that they were still friends. The greenette didn't need to look into his heart to see that, but he did so anyway, not looking a gift horse in the mouth.
His oldest friend was a bit scared and conflicted about what he'd thought his whole life, more so than earlier, but he still was his friend. His heart screamed that more than anything. The sincerity behind the feeling was louder than his quirk, and thinking about it made Izuku smile just a bit more as he remembered.
The only ones in the class to not seem to obviously like him were Tokoyami Fumikage, who it seemed was just acting it, since he could sense he wanted to be friends with those around him but was half shy and half trying really hard with the whole dark and mysterious thing, and Todoroki Shoto, who he could sense intense hurt within at times. It took all of Izuku's willpower at times to keep himself from asking the poor boy who had hurt him and how he could help, but he never had any opportunity to do this where nobody would see, and he didn't want to embarrass the guy in school, where he should feel safe.
Earlier in the week, he had won the position of Class Rep, but the position didn't feel like something he deserved, much less something he could handle. Thankfully, the person he'd voted for had been made Vice Rep, and so he swapped places with Yaoyorozu Momo, getting her a promotion while he gave himself a demotion. The girl, he could sense, needed a bit of a confidence boost, and he could only hope that putting her in a place where her intelligence would allow her to benefit people in a way she could physically see would help with that.
Ochako had apparently spoken to her and Hagakure Tooru about their costumes, independent of him, and reworks were in the making already, though for the moment they were stuck with the boob window and the lack of costume in general. Anytime Izuku looked at them, he made a point of not lowering his eyes below theirs, though that was a bit more difficult with Tooru, since she was simultaneously invisible and incredibly animated. Quite a contrast, indeed.
In all honesty, he was very happy that he'd been able to make as many friends as he had as quickly as he had. Katsuki had scoffed at him when he confessed that he was worried about his ability to make friends, replying that the only reason he couldn't make friends earlier was because of the ash-blond's stupidity, not any fault of his own. The explosive teen reminded him that he was incredibly nice and smart, not to mention tough as nails when it came down to it. The boy gave off shame and sincerity simultaneously when he reminded him that these were great traits in a friend, and that people would just gravitate towards his goodness in a way that his own toadies would never be able to gravitate towards him.
Finally, they'd made it to the Unforeseen Simulation Joint, or USJ as it was called. He really hoped he could do well today. Rescue training was important, after all.
Within The Facility
Ochako screamed a bit with joy. "The Space Hero Thirteen! They're my favorite hero!" she exclaimed with such joy it was affecting more than just Izuku. "Their quirk, Black Hole, has been used to save people from fallen rubble, and it's able to shield people from attacks headed their way!"
Thirteen smiled inside their space suit, glad to see a fan. "Thanks, kid. I try my best, like any hero. However, like any quirk used incorrectly, mine can be incredibly deadly if I misuse it. It doesn't just turn rubble and attacks into dust. If I were to turn it on a person, it would kill them, no doubt. Today, we will be learning how to use our quirks to save people, and start on figuring out what parts of our quirks are no good for that part of the job. For that, I welcome you to the Unforeseen Simulation Joint!" The mysterious masked hero, fan of the unknown reaches of the void of space, gestured to the facility behind them with an arm.
Izuku, who was still putting his armor on, having not been able to fit it on the bus in one piece, noticed a quiet conversation happening between Aizawa and Thirteen. The rescue hero held up three fingers, and since All Might was supposed to be here but wasn't, Izuku put two and two together. He telepathically contacted his idol, checking to make sure he was doing all right, only to find that the man was dreaming, meaning he was probably power napping to help get a bit of extra transformation time. No doubt he intended to show up at some point, not being the kind of guy who liked being a no show when he was expected. Izuku rolled his eyes from beneath his helmet, and walked to the beginning of the stairs to look down at the courtyard, before his armor began blaring some kind of alarm, startling everybody there.
"UNEXPECTED LOSS OF CONNECTION TO SERVER. HATSUME MEI AND POWER LOADER NOTIFIED. SCANNING AREA...SCANNING...UNACCEPTABLE NUMBER OF CONFIRMED VILLAINS IN THE VICINITY. TACTICAL SUGGESTION: STUDENTS AND STAFF KEEP TOGETHER. PRIMARY WEAPON DROPPING. FIRE IT SKYWARD BEFORE ANYWHERE ELSE TO GIVE LOCATION INFORMATION. USER MIDORIYA IZUKU, UNIT 0 IS INCOMING. DISCARD CURRENT ARMOR WHEN IT ARRIVES."
As the armor was saying this, Izuku's eyes widened, along with everybody else's, when a portal opened up in the courtyard below, with what the armor informed them was villains pouring out. Eventually, the portal closed, forming a person made of black mist.
"ADDITIONAL VILLAINS SCANNED. THREE UNKNOWN HUMANS SCANNED. REMINDER: YOUR LIVES ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOUR CAREERS. IF YOU MUST KILL ANY OF THESE VILLAINS TO SURVIVE, DO SO. THEY WILL NOT HESITATE TO END YOU."
Izuku panicked a little, thousands of thoughts flowing through his mind at once. The panic in his head and heart was nothing next to the screaming agony coming from the big, bird-faced man in the courtyard before them. It was like all it knew was suffering, no thoughts coming from it other than how much it wanted to die. The thoughts weren't even all in the same voice, implying something horrific went into whatever made it the way it was.
Grasping out with his desire to protect, Izuku's green aura wrapped around himself, his teachers, and his friends, the boy imbuing each of them with some of it to allow him to at least know where they are if they got separated. He hadn't practiced with this with anybody outside of Ochako and All Might, so he was unaware what support he'd be able to provide with it.
Aizawa turned to Thirteen. "Keep the students safe, and see if any of you can get into contact with the school or police. I'm going in," he said, putting his goggles on as he dove into action.
As his homeroom teacher started taking on the villains, Izuku realized that he'd never found out before what hero he was. Looking at his fighting style, and how the quirks of several villains seemed to fail on them unexpectedly, he realized that he was learning from Eraserhead.
He also realized that his skillset was a very poor match for this situation. The boy grit his teeth in irritation, hoping that whatever that weapon was…
THUD
...Speak of the devil. Izuku lifted the large, futuristic looking weapon, his armor's HUD telling him what end to hold, and what end not to point at things he didn't want destroyed. Realizing that he couldn't aim it straight up from within his armor while standing, he hovered a little via his telekinetic abilities, and angled himself to face upwards. Deactivating the safety, the weapon charged for a couple seconds, before a brilliant blast of pink-colored energy, somehow far wider than the barrel of the weapon, tore upward, ripping through the ceiling of the USJ like wet tissue paper.
Seconds later, the mist villain appeared in their midst, and the weapon he'd just fired was suddenly missing the front half of its barrel, said front half nowhere in sight.
"I must apologize, heroes, children, but I cannot have you calling for help like that again. Now, where is All Might? Our information says he should be here, and yet he is noticeably absent. The League of Villains does not take kindly to our schemes being foiled, so I suggest you answer honestly," the mist villain said politely, a hint of steel in his tone.
Thirteen whirled around, uncapping their finger and pointing it at the villain. "Keep away from these kids, villain!" they exclaimed, about to unleash their Black Hole on the ghostly evildoer, until Katsuki and Eijiro beat them to the punch, forcing them to recap their finger.
"GO TO HELL, VILLAIN!" Katsuki screamed as an explosion ripped from his palm, him and Eijiro flying at the misty man. It was an inspiring sight, one Izuku and many of his classmates would never forget for the rest of their lives, the ticking time bomb of a boy flinging his power and body at the villain, and the manliest of men joining him in his endeavor. Some part of Izuku was comforted by their courage, making him lose focus on the enemy's thoughts for an instant.
Their courage was ripped away from them an instant later, when Katsuki and Eijiro vanished into the void made from the villain's body. Izuku could still sense the two of them on the other end of the facility, and he could also sense the veritable mosh pit of villains they found themselves surrounded by. "That was a close one. I need to be more careful," the villain said, then expanded his body around everybody there.
Izuku watched, the terror in his heart combined with the terror felt by his peers rooting him to the spot as the black void swallowed many of them without remorse, moving them away, separating them from those they'd gotten close to…
In his horrified state, he almost didn't register a pair of hands gripping him, his armor and the body beneath suddenly losing most of their weight, before he was flung away from a whirl of the black void opening beneath him. He looked down from where he'd been thrown, only to see Ochako fall into a trap that had been about to swallow him up. The girl smiled at him, a thumbs up being pointed his direction, but he knew she was bluffing. They both knew he knew.
And then she was gone, to the other side of the facility. Izuku grit his teeth, taking advantage of the fact that he was still with a lot of the class, along with Thirteen. Time to use that head of his.
"Iida-san, when I tell you, head for the door. Do not stop to open it. I'll handle that. We need you to make sure reinforcements are coming in case the method my armor used to call for them wasn't sufficient. Shouji-san, keep your senses peeled. You notice anything headed our way that shouldn't be here, make sure to tell me. Everybody who got separated, make your way to an open area if you can. I will bring you back regardless, but it will be easier with less solid objects obstructing me. I will keep attacks off your back, now that I know I can do that. Thirteen, any advice you have, I will broadcast to everybody via telepathy. Do not speak out loud if you're near me," Izuku broadcasted, hoping his plan would work.
From nearby, Thirteen nodded. "I assume you need an opening for Iida-san? I will provide it. None of you get between me and the villain this time. I can't use my quirk if you're in front of me," they conveyed, stepping forward as everybody made space.
The mist villain's eyes shaped themselves as if he were glaring. "What could you possibly be planning? None of you can take me down as you are, and I will not allow any of you to escape. If you cooperate, I'm sure we'll even allow most of you to live!" he explained, seemingly trying to give the heroes an out.
Thirteen glared beneath their helmet. "Most of us live? No. We will all go home. I'll make sure of that, villain," they said, uncapping three of their fingers to increase the power of their black hole.
Their shapeless foe started getting sucked up by the power of Thirteen's quirk, but that was part of his plan. What wasn't part of his plan was when Thirteen was abruptly pulled away from their redirected attack by the strange green aura coming off of the armored student who'd fired off that enormous blast. Focusing his eyes on the armored student, Kurogiri mused, "You've got good instincts, child, now that you've realized the situation. However, it matters not. You cannot stop us."
As the villain was monologuing, Izuku informed Tenya to start moving. The boy sped off towards the door, a determined look on his bespectacled face. Kurogiri went to stop him, but his physical body was pulled back, Hanta having latched on with his tape before pulling him away. Cutting the tape with a warp gate, Kurogiri went to stop the armored speedster again, but was grabbed this time by a cloud of green aura, which then flung him to the other side of the plaza, near his comrades.
Kurogiri snarled. "A change of plans is in order, then," he said, then turned to Shigaraki Tomura. "Young Master, my apologies. A student with a speed enhancing quirk escaped. I've scattered several of the other students, but we do not have much time before their reinforcements arrive."
Tomura scratched his neck, more and more irritated with the situation. Suddenly, though, he had an epiphany. "Well, I don't feel like calling it game over just yet. We should see if the meta build we've got here will work on those kids. Nomu. Remove Eraserhead's goggles from the equation, then have some fun with the students up there with Thirteen," the handsy villain commanded with a gleeful leer in the direction of the students, still visible from his position. "As for me, I think I'll go show Eraserhead how we do things here. We might not kill All Might today, but we'll certainly leave a scar on this society."
Nomu roared, prepared to do its master's bidding. The beast leaped to engage the erasure hero, intent on destruction.
With Tenya, En Route To The Main School Building
Tenya Iida ran. He ran as fast and efficiently as he could, even as tears fell from his eyes. He hoped with all his soul that what he'd seen before he'd left wasn't the last he'd see of his new friends.
'Forgive me, Niisan! I'm so pathetic! All I can do is run to get the help of somebody else, when my friends are in such incredible danger!' he wept internally as he kept going, not caring that his fuel source probably would need refilling soon. He'd have enough to get back to the school, but without more orange juice, his quirk would be useless to hasten a return trip.
The boy saw a glint of white, a humanoid shape running along the same road as him, only in the opposite direction. For but a moment, he thought it was his elder brother, his eyes not seeing clearly due to the tears. But no, this armor was different. It was entirely white from the front, outside of a strip of glowing green where eyes would probably be, and was that a horn extending from its head? He had no time to contemplate further, as the armor passed him, sprinting as fast as it could in the direction of the USJ.
Tenya frowned. "That person didn't stop to speak to me, nor did they try to stop me. Is that the armor that Izuku's costume said would be coming? No time to think about that. Even if it's headed there, it's obviously on some kind of auto-pilot. I need to make absolutely certain that the heroes are coming!"
And with a bit of renewed hope, the child of the Ingenium line sprinted forward, knowing he must get help for his friends.
Back At The USJ
The armored greenette did not expect today to go like this. The bird-beaked monstrosity was bashing its fists against a dome of green shields Izuku had put up. The boy could see the shields budging, reminding him of their weakness. They couldn't be broken, but with enough force, they could be moved aside, like what this creature was doing with one of the sides of the dome before it. "Everybody, tighten up our formation a bit. I'm going to make a redundant shield dome inside the one it's banging on," Izuku informed the others. In seconds, there were two shield domes. The creature being right here was a bit concerning, since he was still carrying some of the other students here. He would have to be careful bringing them into the dome. If this thing targeted them before they got inside…
Izuku grimaced at the thought. 'All I can do is hope something changes in the next few minutes,' he thought to himself, then looked down at Eraserhead, checking on how many more foes he had to face. 'It looks like everybody but that one villain has backed off. That monster took his goggles before it came here, and that villain's gotten dust in his eyes. He killed his own comrade to do it, too! That guy's really messed up. If I wasn't shielding Eraserhead-sensei from his hands, he might be in trouble.'
"Eraserhead-sensei! The other students are almost all back, and it feels like All Might's gotten word of what's going on! Do you want me to pull you back to the shield dome?" Izuku asked, hoping he could help in some way.
"Sorry, problem child. Until you're all safe, I can't stop holding this guy off. How are you holding against big, dark, and stupid up there?" the erasure hero responded.
The freckled boy frowned. "It's figured out that it can move my shields if it puts in enough effort. This thing was definitely made to kill All Might. It takes a startling amount of force to move these things without me allowing it. I might have to try to put it down at this rate," he responded, not at all liking the idea of killing whatever this is. After all, the people it used to be are still in there in some way! If he could save them…
"Problem child. The way you were talking about that villain...Are you speaking like that because they were manufactured or something? How bad is their mental state?" Aizawa asked, fairly certain he wasn't going to like the answer.
Izuku cried a little, the thoughts and feelings of those trapped within this beast's mind suddenly making their way into his head again upon being asked that. "They're in agony, Sensei! And by they, I mean more than one person! There are at least three people in this monster, and it hurts to hear them!" he answered.
Eraserhead glared at the villain before him. "If you can think of a way to kill it, and it starts to get past your defenses, do it. Those people would probably thank you for ending it if they could, but unless you have to, don't. If we can save them, we should at least try," the underground pro ordered.
Izuku grit his teeth, but nodded. Suddenly, his armor started coming off of him on its own. "UNIT 0 IS WITHIN ACCEPTABLE DISTANCE. THIS ARMOR WILL NOW ACCESS ITS STORES OF [REDACTED] AND ENGAGE THE ENEMY UNTIL DESTRUCTION. HAVE A NICE DAY," the armor said, reforming itself off of Izuku and glowing red. Izuku nodded, and made a partition in the barrier away from the beast, and the armor shot through it, moving nearly as fast as he did with his blue aura.
Izuku's first armor fought well, all things considered. Whoever programmed the onboard AI made sure it was decent with tactics. It lasted long enough that Izuku had been able to get the other students into the barrier dome with ten whole seconds to spare. Then the beaked freak started slamming its fists into the barrier again.
"Midoriya-san. That armor seems to be here," Shoji said via one of his dupli-arms. Before Izuku could give any kind of reply, the armor opened up behind him, and wrapped itself around him. It was dark for a second before the HUD came to life. Izuku felt a little twist of something on his back, then a tingle that felt familiar for some reason, then he was somewhere else entirely.
He was held in the arms of a girl a bit older than him. The two wore hospital gowns, and the room was cold and smelled of antiseptic and blood.
"Don't worry. I'll get the heroes, and we'll come back and save you. Just stay alive until then, okay?" the girl said, her tone comforting despite the chill this place was giving him. Izuku felt himself nodding, and the girl's arms tightened a bit for a second. "No matter what happens, I'm glad I got to be your big sister!"
And just like that, Izuku was back. No time had passed, from what he could tell, but he suddenly felt more powerful.
"I feel like...I feel like I can do this," he said to himself softly, forming a fist with his armored hand.
"User Izuku Midoriya. Unit 0 is made from armor treated with the particles from your green aura. Unit 0 will not break unless you command it to. Unit 0 can also shape your particles into weapons, should you choose to do so. It is more than capable of helping you hold off the villain before you, according to combat data taken from Armor Alpha."
Izuku grinned. "I can work with that." He sprinted through the shield dome, and slammed into the monster that had been banging on it still, a bit surprised when it didn't seem affected by his attack.
"Combat data shows your opponent has multiple quirks. One makes impact-based attacks useless. Either Shock Absorption or Shock Nullification. Another is some form of regeneration quirk. Unit 0 can suggest tactics, if you'd like."
Izuku responded by picking the villain up, then applying his green aura to it and keeping it off the ground. "Thanks, but I think I've got this," he responded, then turned to keep an eye on the villains around Aizawa again, ready to tell him if any of them tried to sneak up on him. It ended up being unnecessary, though, because-
"I am here!" because All Might was here.
"Tomura-kun, we must retreat now!" Kurogiri shouted, forming a portal beneath the younger villain, then vanishing himself, leaving all their allies alone in a U.A. facility with All Might, who would probably be backed up by other pros soon. A portal had appeared below Nomu, but Izuku didn't let the warping villain take the creature, moving it away from the portal. It didn't stick around for long, the villains likely not wanting to let Japan's number one hero into their base. Speaking of that creature…
"Can we get somebody else to restrain this thing? It's really hard to hold onto it with all the screaming," Izuku asked, getting queasy at sensing what the Nomu, as it was called, was feeling.
All Might raised an eyebrow, confused. "What screaming? Young Midoriya, are you all right?" he asked, concerned.
Shota sighed, dropping down next to them. "He's fine, All Might. No, problem child. You can't put it down until we get some heavy duty quirk-suppressing restraints. Maybe go over to your friends while you keep it where it is. Some positivity from them will probably help with this crap," he suggested, gesturing over to the rest of the class. Ochako had already started making her way over, with Katsuki not far behind her, along with the others.
Izuku willed the head and upper torso of his new armor to remove themselves from him, and wrapped Ochako and Katsuki in a hug, though the latter of them made a noise of irritation, as the king of explosive murders was wont to do.
Tenya arrived shortly after, along with all the pro hero staff members outside of Lunch Rush, for obvious reasons. Thankfully, there were more than enough heavy duty restraints to go around, so Izuku was quickly relieved of having to hold onto the amalgamation of shrieks and wails that was Nomu. He pointed the teachers in the direction of the other villains still in the facility, and they all got to work, after which his new armor separated from him, and headed back to the Support Course from whence it came. Izuku noted that he could sense where it was and had a feeling he could control it remotely, but didn't want to potentially make more work for whoever built it, so he let it go.
The entirety of Class 1-A breathed a sigh of relief. Between them all, the only injury had been a bit of dust in Aizawa's eyes. Class had been cancelled for the rest of the week, and Izuku made a request then and there.
"Um, Kacchan, Uraraka-chan, Iida-kun? Would you like to hang out somewhere sometime this week? We'll have less time to study, but after today, I...I really want to just spend some time with my friends," The green-haired cinnamon bun requested nervously.
Each of them were about to answer yes in their own ways, but they were beaten to the punch. "Midori-chan! Why just them? We can make this an activity for all of 1-A!" Mina exuberantly exclaimed, joining their group unexpectedly. Eijiro quietly followed the pink-skinned girl, a grin on his face as well.
More and more of the class seemed to like the idea, even Fumikage offering to join in his own weird way (What does revelry in the dark have to do with anything?). Soon enough, only Shoto was on the sidelines, looking over at them with a blank look plastered on his face. Izuku reached his hand out to him, hoping he'd join them, but the boy shook his head, and walked the other way.
The greenette was distraught for a moment, before Katsuki shouted something that would become a bit of a rallying cry for their class someday.
"HEY, HALF-AND-HALF! RUN ALL YOU FUCKING WANT, BUT FRIENDSHIP IS INEVITABLE! YOU'LL BE ONE OF US SOON ENOUGH!"
Tooru jumped up happily. "Yeah! Friendship is inevitable! There is no escape!" the invisible girl screamed with utter elation.
"It's inevitable, Mister Anderson! You won't escape our friendship!" Denki shouted as well, feeling the need to reference an ancient movie.
Izuku smiled. Shoto was still walking away, but the empath could tell that they'd made their impact. They'd made him happy, made him feel wanted. He wasn't ready to turn around, but he'd be their friend soon enough, and hopefully, they'd be able to help him through whatever troubles have been bothering him.
Another time, though. First, he needed to plan his first major outing with friends.