Chapter 5: Suited for the Task
Midoriya was practically vibrating in his seat as he waited for his afternoon classes. Today was the day, a day he could have only dreamed about since he was a kid.
Today was the day he would be taught by All Might.
He wasn't the only one excited either. Asui and Uraraka were talking with a group of girls as they waited for the Symbol of Peace to arrive, while Kirishima, Kaminari, Sero, and Mineta were arguing about what the coolest feat All Might had ever done was (obviously the fight with Toxic Chainsaw).
Only Iida, Todoroki and Bakugou were remaining silent, facing forward and staring at the door as they waited. Though, Midoriya noticed that while Iida remained stoic, Todoroki looked almost apprehensive and he couldn't help but wonder why.
All thoughts of that flew out the window as the door opened, and All Might himself strutted in, donned in a Silver Age uniform. "GREETINGS STUDENTS OF CLASS 1-A!"
A cheer rose up from the class, and Izuku couldn't help but laugh and join in.
All Might crowed about the Hero Training that would begin today, at Ground Beta. There would be a two on two Hero vs. Villain contest. "NOW, FOR ONE OF THE COOLEST PARTS OF HERO SCHOOL," the Hero crowed, hitting a button on the desk. Rows of Hero costumes emerged from compartments on the wall. "SUIT UP!"
Midoriya looked at the compartment that had his Hero Costume and gulped, remembering a conversation he'd had with Thor just after finding out he'd be admitted to UA.
--
A few weeks prior...
--
"So what did you need to see me about today, Thor?" Midoriya asked, walking through the halls of Asgard with his mentor. "More training?" His tone went more serious. "Did something happen to your controller again? I can get it back -"
"No, Midoriya," Thor laughed. "Nothing like that. Come, you'll see soon enough."
Midoriya looked at the art in the halls; murals of Thor in battle with the other warriors of Asgard, portraits of his father, Odin, and their family. Thor never much talked about his family, and while Izuku was naturally curious about where the God of Thunder obtained his abilities, it didn't seem right to ask.
Finally, Thor threw open the doors into a room filled with racks of swords, axes, flails, spears, and warhammers. "The armory!" Thor boomed, "One of the greatest of Asgard's accomplishments."
"Whoa," Midoriya's eyes widened as he looked from one weapon to another, each more powerful than the last, "I-I don't think I can take these to school. I already had to fill out forms for Mjolnir."
"Pfft," Thor scoffed. "You have Mjolnir, you don't need anything else. You do however, need to look the part of God of Thunder. Come, we'll suit you up in the back."
"Oh, like my Hero Costume?!" Midoriya grinned. "My mom had made -"
"We don't view it so much as a costume," Thor chuckled, not letting his ward finish. "Furthermore, you need protection. I am a full-blooded Asgardian, which means I am durable. I could go out and adventure in a t-shirt and be none the worse for wear. You could shoot me in the head, and it'd be like a mosquito bite."
"Whoa..." Midoriya gaped. "Th-that's amazing."
"It's handy," Thor agreed, "but you are not a full-blooded Asgardian... yet."
"What do you mean?" Midoriya asked.
"Wielding Mjolnir does not automatically turn a Midgardian into an Asgardian. As you saw, the hammer gives you a boost to your physical abilities. Puts you in peak physical condition. But to change you into an Asgardian..." Thor thought for a minute. "How did Banner put it? It rewrites who you are. Your genes. It takes a long time."
"Wait, so one day, I'll be bulletproof?!" Midoriya beamed. "That's awesome!"
"INDEED!" Thor boomed. "But not yet! And that's why we're getting you some armor." He led Deku back further, into a room with full of armor racks, stacked with leather chest guards and various steel protectors.
"We are warriors," Thor continued, "even if in the last few centuries we have used our prowess as keepers of peace. This will be your armor, as a proud Asgardian representative to protect Midgard."
Midoriya was humbled by the words. "Th-thank you, Thor...that's really - OW!" The humbling - and his sentence - were stopped as Thor placed a helmet on top of his head. "Er...?"
"This was my helmet when I first joined the Avengers!" Thor beamed. "We'll get you some chainmail and I'll see if I can find any leg gear your size..."
As the King of Asgard walked off and dug through heaps of armor, Midoriya took a step back and looked at the metal, winged helmet on his head. It looked straight from the pictures in the history textbooks that Thor used to wear. "Won't that weigh me down? Even with Mjolnir's blessing I'm not as durable as you are as an Asgardian, like you said."
Thor emerged from the pile and made a "pfft" sound, throw a chainmail shirt on Midoriya's shoulders. To the boy's surprise, it felt no different than wearing a normal shirt. "My boy, we craft our weapons and armor from Uru, one of the most durable and amazing metals in existence. Mjolnir itself is the most refined Uru weapon in all of creation, and our armor is enchanted to be as lightweight as it is protective. This shirt alone will catch any blade and protect you from heavy force. Say," Thor winked, which looked particularly funny considering he only had one eye, "from one of Kachow's explosions."
Midoriya smiled politely; he'd given up on correcting Thor when it came to Bakugou's name. "That's pretty cool!"
Before long, Thor had, perhaps in an homage to himself, dressed Midoriya in armor similar to his own back during his days as an Avenger. But when he went to grab a cape, Midoriya vehemently refused. "Capes have been considered poor choices for Hero suits for decades. They just tend to lead to accidents."
"Fair enough," Thor conceded, stepping back, smiling. "Look at you. You're the spitting image of myself when I was starting out. You'll need some combat boots though."
"I want to keep mine," Midoriya immediately insisted. "They're a gift from my dad before...well..."
A pause followed, filling the air between the two in an awkward silence. Thor, for as boisterous and headstrong as he was, recognized the tension in the room easily. It wasn't hard for someone who had lost a parent to see the same pain in someone else. "Say no more, Young Midoriya. Is the armor to your liking?"
--
Midoriya cringed, being the last one out of the locker room, and walked over to Ground Beta. He took a shaky breath as he put Thor's helmet on his head. He hoped this didn't look too...dated.
Immediately, Asui noticed him and hopped over. "Hey, Midoriya, kero," she greeted, straightening herself out. She tapped a finger to her mouth. "I like your suit. It's pretty retro, kero."
Midoriya's face grew hot as he struggled to find a response. "Th-th-thanks. Y-yours too."
She tilted her head a little. "Are you okay?"
He nodded meekly. He was fine and all, but it was hard to focus when Asui's Hero Costume was...well, very form-fitting. Midoriya shifted slightly in an effort to redirect his blood flow away from his nether-regions. Thankfully, a distraction came in the form of his teacher.
"NOW THEN!" All Might boomed. "We will split off into pairs! The Villains will go in and locate the nuclear device. After fifteen minutes, I'll send in the Hero pair. The Heroes job is to take the device from the villains without destroying it - that would set off the explosion. Alternatively, you can capture the villains in Capture Tape, which I will provide. First villain pair will be...Bakugou and Mineta."
Oh shit. Midoriya thought grimly.
"And the Hero Team to oppose them will be...hmm..." All Might scanned around. "Sero Hanta and...you, there! Midoriya Izuku."
Before Midoriya could scan along the room for his partner, a rather plain looking boy with some big elbows approached him. "Hey man! Glad to be working with you. I'm Sero."
Midoriya shook his hand. "You too. So, let's talk strategy. What's your Quirk?"
"Heh, all business with you, huh?" Sero snickered, holding up his arm. "I shoot an extra strength tape from my elbows here. It's useful for swinging around and capturing people." He rubbed the back of his neck, confidence waning a bit, "Although, if I use it too much, the adhesive gets kinda weaker."
Midoriya gave him a big grin. "That's an awesome Quirk! Mobility and Capture potential? That leaves for so many pragmatic uses!"
"Thanks man, but that's got nothing on your Quirk there!" He pointed at Mjolnir. "Wind AND lighting, and it comes with the sweet weapon? You could whangdoodle someone real good. Bonk 'em into next week."
Midoriya laughed, having never heard anyone his age describe his abilities in such a... lax way. "Yeah. Not everyone's a fan though." His eyes darted over to Bakugou briefly, but long enough for Sero to notice."
"Blondie?" The black-haired boy asked. "Yeah he's always shooting you nasty looks. What's up with that?"
"We... went to school together. I guess you could say he's not a fan of me ever since I found..." Midoriya paused, thinking of a way to finish that sentence, "my Quirk."
"A battle between rivals?!" Sero pumped his elbows back in an excited stance. "Oh man, I'm fired up to be part of this. Are you the Sasuke or the Naruto?"
"Wha...?"
"Nevermind, you're too friendly and quiet to be either of them," Sero laughed.
"Th-thanks?" Midoriya replied. "Anyway, let's stick together. If I can stun them long enough with Mjolnir or lightning, you can probably capture them pretty quickly."
"Whap 'em and wrap 'em!" Sero cried, "Love it."
"Er... yeah."
--
Fifteen minutes or so later, Sero and Midoriya were scouring the halls of the Ground Beta building, working from the ground level up in search of Mineta and Bakugou.
As they searched, the two faux-villains paced around the realistic missile they were tasked to guard. Bakugou seemed especially twitchy.
"You okay man?" Mineta asked, eyebrow raised. "Or are you just in character?"
"It's that shitty Deku!" Bakugou barked. "I know that stupid bullshit with the hammer isn't a Quirk."
"Pfshfbt," Mineta scoffed, "it's dorky, but come on. You saw him take down that giant robot. Saved Uraraka's luscious body, lucky bastard."
"I knew that weak little shrimp for fifteen years, you idiot," the taller boy scowled. "Totally Quirkless. Then he just...shows up with some stupid hardware store garbage and thinks he owns the place. Thinks he's BETTER THAN ME!" Bakugou punched a wall. "HE'S ALWAYS THOUGHT HE WAS BETTER THAN ME!"
Mineta backed off a bit. "Hey man, you'll give away our location -"
"I don't give a shit!" Bakugou growled, storming off. "I'm going to end this NOW!"
Once the explosively foul-mouthed teen had left the room, Mineta shook his head. "Dude needs some therapy so we he can be as smooth and well-adjusted as me."
--
Midoriya and Sero had made their way up another few floors, the clock ticking down on them as they ascended.
"Where could they be hiding?" Sero sighed, losing some of his earlier enthusiasm. "Bakugou doesn't exactly strike me as the type to sit around and wait."
Midoriya nodded, apprehension growing because he was thinking the same thing. They had heard some commotion above, and went up a few floors to find their opponents, but things had gone eerily quiet since then.
Until he turned a corner and saw a spark. "GET BACK!" He shouted, leaping backwards as Sero did the same. An explosion rocked the corridor, denting the wall.
"You got lucky, you shitty Deku!"
Midoriya spun Mjolnir by his side, Sero backing up to give the rivals some room. He knew how Bakugou fought; the two had grown up together after all. Bakugou was lunging, upper body forward for a frontal assault.
How he starts every fight, Midoriya confirmed to himself.
Bakugou's eyes drifted down to Mjolnir, and Midoriya struck; he stepped forward and threw a left-handed jab directly into Bakugou's nose during the momentary distraction.
--
A few days prior...
--
"Your punches are sloppy and slow!" Valkyrie grunted, holding up her own fists to spar. "And you kick like an infant in the womb! I don't think you're going to be fighting snails, young Midoriya."
Midoriya motioned for a time out, panting. "It's hard to throw punches and kicks while holding Mjolnir. Shouldn't I be trying to hit you with it, and not everything else?"
Thor, who was watching from the sidelines of the Asgardian training hall, shook his head. "You hit things with the hammer fine. But, that teacher of yours you told me about, Eraser Face, makes a point. You need to be able to fight without. And still, Mjolnir has a purpose you haven't used much."
"What's that?" Midoriya asked, turning to his mentor. Which, at that moment, Valkyrie tackled him to the ground.
"Diversion."
--
Present Day
--
Bakugou staggered backwards, clutching his nose in shock and pain from the sneak jab. "WHY YOU -"
That was as far as he got before Midoriya sent a bolt of lightning into his chest, zapping Bakugou and forcing him back against the wall. In an instant, Sero ran forward to apprehend Bakugou with his tape.
But the explosive blonde recovered quicker than either of his opponents expected, thrusting his hand forward and igniting a blast that threw the tape-themed Hero back. Quickly, Sero shot a line at the ceiling and swung backwards out of range.
Bakugou lunged forward with more explosions, but Midoriya spun Mjolnir to blow the smoke and fire back towards Bakugou, creating a smokescreen. "Let's regroup," he grunted to Sero, and the two took off down and around the corner.
"Sorry man, I wasn't quick enough," Sero panted as soon as they were out of earshot.
"No, I think I might have held back too much," Midoriya admitted. "I've never thrown a lot of electricity at humans so I'm still figuring out how much is enough." He glanced behind them. "Look, I know we had a plan, but I think Kacchan is out to get me. Go on ahead, I'll keep him busy."
"No problem! Just leave it to me!" Sero beamed, taking off the opposite way, using his tape to swing around the corner.
"Okay..." Midoriya sighed, slowing his breathing down to listen to his surroundings. When he didn't hear anyone charging after him, he figured Bakugou must have looped around to catch him by surprise.
Suddenly, he heard running from the corridor over to the side of him. Midoriya spun Mjolnir and made his way down the hallway...but the footsteps were gone. He heard running from where he had just been, sending a chill up his spine. What is he doing? He wondered to himself as he doubled back.
As he turned the corner, he saw him. Bakugou looked disheveled, but Midoriya stood firm, waiting for his approach.
But Bakugou didn't approach; instead, he grinned madly. "What, you thought these stupid looking things on my arms were for show?"
Deku wasn't given a chance to think about this before Bakugou pointed his arm in his direction and unleashed an explosion bigger than Deku had ever seen before. The entire corridor was engulfed in the blast, and Midoriya didn't even have time to try and divert the blast with Mjolnir before he was swallowed up as well. The force from the explosion pushed him into the wall, which caved and broke, leaving him lying backwards on a fire escape.
"That... suuuuuuuuucked." He groaned, before roling himself to his stomach and getting up on all fours. He could hear the entire building beginning to groan from the strain placed on it.
Before either could continue, a voice rang out from the speakers within the building. "Bakugou! That force could have realistically set off the bomb! One more blast like that your team will be disqualified."
Bakugou sneered. "I don't have enough sweat built up for that anyway."
"Sweat?" Midoriya asked. Then he looked down at the gauntlets Bakugou was wearing. "Oh... I see... you store sweat in there for bigger blasts, don't you?"
"KNOWING WON'T HELP YOU, YOU SHIT!"
Bakugou propelled himself forward with this explosions, but Midoriya was ready now. He threw Mjolnir at Bakugou, who ducked. Midoriya summoned the hammer back, forcing Bakugou to duck again. But this was what Midoriya wanted; he charged forward to meet the hammer, grabbed it, and swung it upwards into Bakugou's stomach as he stood up. The blonde was sent flying backwards, landing on his rear with the wind knocked out of him.
Midoriya shot a blast of lightning at Bakugou, but now it was the taller boy's turn to be ready; using an explosion, Bakugou propelled himself off the ground and back away from the electric attack.
Deku didn't let up; he threw bolt after bolt, pushing Bakugou back and giving him no openings to retake the offensive.
"Hey, Midoriya? Do you copy?" Sero asked through the headset. "We uh...ran into a problem."
Over the explosions and crackling of lightning, Midoriya didn't hear his teammate, unfortunately.
--
One floor above...
--
Mineta, who was wrapped in tape around a pillar, looked to Sero, whose feet and legs were stuck to the floor with some of his sticky balls.
"Any luck?" Mineta asked with a sigh.
"Nope," Sero groaned. "Looks like we're stuck until the match is finished or one of our teammates finishes the whole thing."
"Great. Just great." Mineta pouted.
The two teens looked around the room for a moment, before Sero laid back against the floor in defeat. "So... uh, how's it going?"
--
One floor down...
--
Midoriya had driven Bakugou back into an open room.
"...can you hear me?"
Ducking back a bit, he checked his ear piece. "Sero, is that you?"
"There you are!" Sero's voice answered, sounding relieved. "The bomb is right above you in the open room! Did you deal with Bakugou?"
Something bounced off the floor towards Midoriya, and his eyes widened.
In addition to storing sweat for bigger blasts...his suit also was good for grenades.
But Midoriya was a quick thinker. As the grenade bounced towards him, he swung Mjolnir low and bat the explosive back towards Bakugou. Bakugou had no time to react, and his own explosion rocked him backwards into the wall.
Seizing the opportunity, Midoriya sent a bigger lightning blast directly into Bakugou's chest. Once he had stopped convulsing, the blonde collapsed onto the ground, unconscious.
"THIRTY SECOND WARNING!" All Might's voice rang out.
"Damn!" Midoriya grunted, before getting an idea.
All the open areas were in the same space on each floor. That meant the bomb had to be right above him.
"Sero, that bomb isn't in the middle of the room, is it?"
"What? No." Sero replied.
Running over to Bakugou, Midoriya grabbed one of the grenades off his belt. Smacking to towards the ceiling with Mjolnir, it exploded, opening a hole to the next floor.
Jumping into the air, Midoriya fired an airblast at the ground, launching himself up through the hole. He breathed a sigh of relief that he hadn't disturbed the bomb. Or Sero or Mineta, still caught in each others traps for that matter. Landing, he quickly ran over to the bomb and tagged it.
"THE HERO TEAM WINS!" All Might's voice yelled out over the speaker.
"AAAAWWWWW YYYEEEEAAAAAHHH!" Sero shouted happily. "Suck it, Mineta!"
"YOU'RE TRAPPED JUST LIKE ME!" Mineta yelled back.
Midoriya himself just collapsed on the ground and stared down at Mjolnir. A small smile crept over his lips.
He'd done it.
He'd overcome Bakugou for the first time in his life.
He placed a hand over the chainmail on his stomach.
"Hey Midoriya?" Sero called. "Not to ruin the moment, but please get these gross balls off me."
"THEY AREN'T GROSS!" Mineta screamed.