She's the Man
Chapter 6: Heroes vs. Villains Pt. 2
Izumi wiped her brow and her and Ojiro finished setting up their plan. She wasn't entirely sure what to expect but she knew it wasn't gonna be a walk in the park. Shoji had monstrous brute strength, and Todoroki was one of three students accepted through recommendations. She doubt she could win, but damn if she wasn't gonna give it a try.
"Did you finish setting up the traps?" Izumi asked as she smoothed the tarp over the rocket shaped item.
"Yeah, you sure this will work?" Ojiro glanced at the tarp warily. "It's a pretty risky plan." '
"I'm not sure of anything, but if we don't take risks then we don't have a chance." She looked to him and offered a sly smile. "Besides, we're the villains, we're supposed to be reckless."
Ojiro smiled back and nodded.
"Alright then, let's do it!"
~Shoto and Shoji~
Shoto stared at the layout of the building, memorizing it with a cool and calculated stare. Shoji had stayed quiet beside him, his arms crossed and eyes on the building itself, but he felt he should say or do something.
"Any idea on how we should approach this?" His voice was muffled behind his mask, but concise.
"It depends on how well prepared they are. I don't plan to give them much chance to think. The hard part will be to figure out where in the building they are." Shoto looked up and narrowed his eyes.
"If that's the hard part, then leave it to me. I'll find them." Shoji gave him a thumbs up.
All Might put the master comlink into his ear. He was prepared to treat Izumi as nothing but a mere student, but the father in him wondered how his girl would fair in a fight against two strong boys. He knew Izuku was sitting at his desk in his room, watching the stream of the security videos, and prepared to take notes on the upcoming fights.
"Now then It's time to start the first battle. Team A Vs. Team C… START!"
Shoji stepped into the front door and let his tentacles spread out. At each tip of the tentacles ears formed and twitched heightening his hearing sense. When Todoroki joined him inside the ears changed to mouths and spoke.
"They're both on the third floor, they're moving, but for the most part stationary. It seems they're waiting for us to come to them."
"Go outside, it's dangerous." Todoroki told his partner walking past him til he was fully inside. Shoji blinked in confusion when his partner held up his hand, frost forming in the palm. "From the sounds of it, they're expecting a head on battle, but it doesn't matter much to me."
Todoroki set his palm on the wall, the concrete freezing instantly and spreading throughout the building. Shoji stepped outside and watched as the entire building became coated in ice.
Izumi gasped as ice shelled around her shoes. She struggled and moved her eyes narrowing. "Damn!"
"This quirk…" Ojiro tried moving as well, wincing when he felt the skin of his feet starting to rip with his struggles. He went on high alert as the sound of feet crunching in the ice is heard echoing down the hall.
Todoroki stepped into the room and saw both villains trapped in his ice. He'd gone up the main steps, Izumi noted, bypassing all their traps in the halls where she'd expected him to come from. The guy was confident, and bold, and way stronger than she'd given him credit for.
"You can struggle if you like." Todoroki told Ojiro as he put his hands up to fight. Izumi was crouched trying to tug her feet free of her frozen shoes, but her eyes stayed hard on him. "However the skin of your feet will rip, so you won't be able to fight at your best."
He calmly walked between them towards the tarp covered object in the center of the room. In the monitor room. All Might shivered and wrapped his arms around himself to take the edge off the cold. "Impressive, he didn't cause any damage to his team mate or the weapon."
"Midoriya was top in the entrance exam and he was beaten so easily." Kirishima, despite shivering from the cold, stared in awe.
"That guy is ridiculously strong." Kaminari agreed.
"He's not beaten yet…" Bakugo, arms crossed and eyes narrowed. "If I know Deku he's got something up his sleeve."
"The hell are you talking about? He's already lost, Todoroki is literally just one touch away from winning." Mineta pointed out.
"His face…" Bakugo commented looking at Izumi's face highlighted on screen. She'd stopped struggling, was looking over her shoulder, calm and calculated. "That doesn't look like the face of someone who's lost." What's your game, Deku? Bakugo wondered and clenched his fists and teeth to keep from shaking and chattering.
Todoroki eyes the rocket shaped item under the tarp and let out a small laugh. Did they really think this would hide it? He lifted his palm up ready to thaw it out and remove the tarp.
"Heh… do you really think it would be that easy...hero?" Izumi's face twisted into a villainous grin as she played the role. One for All throbbed in her veins and pulsed throughout her body. She let out a small roar to mask the scream of pain as the ice around her feet broke setting her free. She launched at him, when he whirled around to face her, she caught him by the wrist and the throat. Her momentum was thrown off some from the slick ice surface, but she used that to twist them around and pin him down to the ground.
Todoroki choked as his head hit the ice, stars circling his eyes and he felt the weight of Midoriya on top of him, but more he felt his crushing grip on his wrist and throat. He wheezed and narrowed his eyes on him. The look on his face, sent a chill down his spine. It was twisted and filled with dark intent.
"Thaw the ice…" Izumi told him in a deep threatening voice.
"That hurts!" Todoroki wriggled trying to see how much room he had. He had him firm, and the guy wasn't letting go. "You.." he coughed and grit his teeth. "You do realize I can use any part of my left side for my quirk."
"Go ahead…" Izumi taunted as she felt the tips of her fingers begin to chill and freeze. She smiled even as her eyes go wild. "Freeze my grip in place, I'd like to see you rip your own hand off."
~In the Monitor Room~
"What the hell…" Kaminari backed up as he looked at Izumi on screen. The chill felt around the room was no longer from Todoroki's ice but at Izumi's perfect portrayal of a crazy villain. "This guy is seriously twisted."
"He's playing the role." All Might commented. "Most villains would never give up as easily as Ojiro seemed to. Young Midoriya was planning and plotting to succeed no matter what, and that's the true mindset of a real life villain."
Still, it concerned him at how easily she'd slipped into the role. It would be something he'd have to keep a close eye on. He knew she had a temper, but the question was did she had the right mindset for a hero?
~Todoroki and Izumi~
"Aren't you… taking this exercise a little too far, Midoriya?" Todoroki narrowed his eyes. "Your feet are injured, you're cutting off the circulation in my wrist not to mention my air supply."
"I think you're forgetting something very important, Todoroki-kun. I'm supposed to be a villain. Before we began this exercise All Might said to go all out, and not to be afraid of getting hurt. As a villain do you think I care about sore feet? Do you think I care about your well being? You're threatening my great master plan, so I'm doing all I can to ensure it's success. Now remove the ice…" her eyes narrow and she gave his wrist a tug and his face twisted in pain. "Or I'll remove your hand from your wrist."
He wouldn't, Todoroki knew, but that didn't stop him from feeling the threat. The whole point of this exercise was for them to treat this like a real villain encounter… and in a real world case he wouldn't have much choice if he wanted to live and on top of that he was running out of time. He turned his left palm down and the heat rose. Izumi's eyes narrowed in confusion and she glanced down at his hand then around them.
Ojiro flexed his feet as they became free.
"Heat?"
"Ice on one side, Heat on the other… why didn't you-" distracted from the task she cursed when Todoroki slipped free to grip the hand holding his neck and he squeezed and added ice to force her release.
"SHIT!" Izumi jerked her hand back and immediately punched her hand out to release energy. The glove ripped and revealing long elegant fingers are from the ice. "Ojiro I'll handle this, go find Shoji! We just gotta keep them both distracted til the time runs out!"
"Right!" Ojiro rushed off before Todoroki could freeze him in place again. Todoroki made a jump for the weapon but Izumi tackled him. They both hit the wet floor, sliding and slipping, hair and clothes wet.
Izumi quickly jumped off him putting herself between him and the weapon. Todoroki stumbled to his feet brushing his wet hair out of his face.
"You're much better than I gave you credit for, Midoriya." He held his right hand out ice forming in the palm. "I was trying to end this quickly, but you're not the kind of person to just take a loss."
"I believe in fighting all the way to the end." Izumi put up her fists. "I don't care if this is an exercise, or real life. I believe in giving it everything I've got."
"That's admirable… but you should also know when you're sorely outmatched." He slapped his hand down on the ground ice thrashing out ready to trap her. Izumi punched her fist out, the full cowl stopping the assault and kicked up wind.
Todoroki tossed his arms up to block the shards from hitting his face. Glass from the window exploded open and he felt his back hit the wall as the force of her power sent him backwards.
"Good advice…" Izumi told him panting some. "Maybe you should take it."
"Bastard…" Todoroki grunted but had to laugh. "You really don't like to lose do you? Fine… we'll do this the hard way." He rushed Izumi, and she prepared to move. Her eyes widened when his speed suddenly increased. His feet turned the ground around them to ice and she lost her friction. She slipped and stumbled and fell right into his hit. She hissed out a breath as half her body became encased in ice and she stumbled all the way to the ground. She struggled and shut her eyes against the freezing sting of it.
"Owowowowow!"
"Now then… stay there. I'll unfreeze you after I end this." He walked to the the weapon.
"You… won't win that way." Izumi grunted and struggled to stand up.
"Watch me…" he pulled the tarp off, and his eyes widened when the rocket shaped item underneath was only a clutter of boxes and rope fashioned into the shape of one. "What!?"
"Heh…" Izumi smirked. "Told yah."
"Kuso… SHOJI!" Shoto pressed a hand to his ear. "The weapon's a fake, it's hidden somewhere else in the building. Find it!"
"Sorry I'm a little tied up at the moment, Todoroki…" Shoji said, blue faced and hanging upside down from one of Izumi's traps. He'd been too big to avoid it. "Literally." He looked up at Ojiro who was tossing the capture tape in his hand. "They got me."
"Are you serious?" Todoroki's brow twitched in irritation and then he jolted when he heard Izumi screaming and his ice exploding off his body. This guy was fucking crazy.
"Shit that hurt!" Izumi clutched her arm looking at the red and raw skin. "It's like waxing my-" she paused flushing as she realized what she was about to say. "Ahem… anyway. You're a partner down, and no weapon. What'll you do now, hero?"
"You're insane, you know that?" Todoroki faced her. "This is just a school exercise. Why are you trying so hard?"
"Because…" Izumi stepped and stumbled, her body feeling the affects of the excessive use of her quirk mixed with the pain of ripping layers of her skin off. "Exercise or not… I want to win. You're a strong person, Todoroki-kun. You got in on recommendations and placed second in the assessments, so I knew I wasn't gonna beat you playing it safe."
He knew he was killing his time, but Todoroki wanted to know.
"So that whole playing the villain routine was you wanting to win?"
"Pretty much…" Izumi let out a shaky smile.
"You really are crazy." He let out a smile "Alright… I concede."
Izumi's eyes widened.
"What?"
"Winning this exercise means more to you than it does to me. Besides if we keep going you'll just end up hurting yourself more than you should. " He looked up at the camera. "That suit you, All Might?"
"Yes, good call, Villain team wins!"
"That's not how this works… hold on!" She stumbled and cursed as her injuries finally caught up to her and she fell to the ground just as Ojiro and a released Shoji rounded the corner to join them.
"Midoriya!" He rushed to his partner and hefted her up. "Hey, you… jeez…" He looked at Izumi's arms and legs raw and red, patches of skin bleeding. She was sweating heavily, still twitching and trying to move. "Hey, get it together, Midoriya!"
"Damn you… Todoroki." Izumi muttered and blacked out.
All Might quickly joined them kneeling down to check Midoriya for himself.
"Is he gonna be okay?" Todoroki asked. "I didn't expect him to-"
"He'll be fine. His quirk takes massive amounts of control and unlike the rest of you he's only had three years to master it."
"Say what?" Todoroki's eyes widened then narrowed in suspicion. "How is that-"
"If you want to know more I suggest you ask him when he wakes up. For now…" He lay Izumi on the stretcher so the robots could roll her to the infirmary. "Let's go inside the monitor room to go over the exercise."
~In the Monitor Room~
"Well now, with all that said and done.. The V.I.P of this exercise was Ojiro-kun."
"Eh!?" Ojiro jolted and pointed at himself. "Me? Why? Midoriya was the one who did all the work."
"Good question," All Might nodded and looked to the other students. "Anyone have an idea?"
"Yes sir!" Yaoyorozu raised her hand. "Ojiro may have been the least active of all the combatants but his actions spoke the most true to what the exercise stood for. His partner Midoriya was indeed wise to set traps and try to outsmart his opponent, but once it became clear that his opponent outmatched him in combat power he stated taking too many risks and acted rashly which caused him serious harm."
"An excellent assessment, Yaoyorozu-san." All Might gave a thumbs up.
"As for Todoroki-san. he clearly had more power than his opponent, but this was a team exercise. He left his team mate to fend for himself without any clear instructions or communication which inevitably lead to his capture. Ojiro-kun was the only one who trusted and communicated with his partner fully. He completed his task in capturing Shoji and immediately went back to help his partner."
"Ah, yes," she said more than he'd expected her to, All Might thought. "While that is true, Ojiro still needs to learn to take the initiative in certain situations… but yes that about covers it."
Bakugo listened to the assessment but his mind was on other things. The exercise rubbed him the wrong way. He had wanted to see what Deku could do, but instead what he saw unnerved him. It wasn't the power, or the determination, but the look on his face when he'd intimidated Todoroki that had his stomach twisting and realization striking.
"Bakugo… oi BAKUGO!" Kirishima shouted in his ear and made him jumping and whirling.
"FUCK! The hell do you want?"
"It's our turn… come on." Kirishima pointed to the door. "Iida and Uraraka are already heading out."
"Tch, fine, let's get this over with."
~In the Infirmary~
Izuku wore a hoodie, glasses, and a face mask to hide his identity walking around school. He'd been watching the stream of the hero class on his computer and saw his sister get injured. Worried he hurried up to the infirmary to check on her and found her sleeping in a bed behind a curtain.
"Izumi…" He pulled the mask down and leaned over her touching her forehead.
"Young Midoriya!" Recovery Girl stood behind him and made him jump by poking her cane into his back. "You should be in your room studying."
"Wah! Oh, sorry… it's just I heard she got hurt and-"
"-and you'll get yourself and her into more trouble if you stay. " She sighed heavily. She could already tell these Midoriya twins were going to become constant headaches. Like Father like children. "She's fine. She's just resting so let her sleep. Now Shoo!" She scooted him out. "I need to go down to class B and see to another patient."
Izuku slipped his mask back on and pulled his hoodie all the way up. He sighed as the door was closed on him. He walked down the hall prepared to go back to his dorm. He let out an oof as he ran straight into Todoroki. He blinked and tensed up backing up quickly.
"Hmm? Midoriya?"
Izuku held in the squeak and quickly shook his head pointing down the hall before making a quick escape. Todoroki watched him leave, his brow rose curiously.
"Hmmm probably just my imagination." Todoroki glanced down the hall and walked to the infirmary. There was a note on the door indicating recovery Girl was out. He checked the door and found it unlocked. "Pardon the intrusion… Midoriya?" He looked around and stepped inside. He peered behind the curtain and found him sleeping.
Recovery Girl had healed the bulk of the injuries, and it was a surprising relief to him that Midoriya hadn't been seriously injured during their fight. During his quick inspection he had an uncomfortable attraction to the way Midoriya looked sleeping. For a guy he sure had long lashes… and he knew his skin to be smooth and soft. He reached letting his fingers gently stroke the hand poking out of the blanket. The touch had Izumi stirring, and the blanket shifted. Todoroki's eyes glanced up, and saw the line of collarbone. He swallowed hard and flinched back wondering what the hell was wrong with him. He should just wake Midoriya up and apologize as he'd meant to.
"Get it together, Shoto…" he muttered to himself and grabbed the blanket pulling it off. "Oi, Midor-" his eyes widen at what he saw underneath. In order to get to the bruises and broken skin along the abdomen Recovery girl had removed the shaper. What lay underneath was a female, bandaged from breast to torso.
Shock had him stumbling backwards and falling over the chair. He expected the noise to wake her, but Izumi remained sleeping. Deciding quickly he needed to get up and leave Todoroki replaced the sheet over her, his face going bright red at the fact he was tempted to steal another glance.
Midoriya was a girl? Why was she pretending to be a guy? Did the teachers know about this? Obviously recovery girl knew… how should he react? What should he do? Why was it that now that he knew she was a girl that all these little images of her suddenly looked so cute and… appealing.
"I must be out of my mind." He'd have to apologize another day. There's no way he'd be able to face him... her… Midoriya now.
~Later~
Izumi winced as she slipped her uniform back on. She'd been out like a light for the bulk of the day and it was getting dark outside. She'd won the exercise… but it was clear Todoroki was far superior to her when it came to combat. He'd been calm and collected throughout the entire fight, taking her punches and delivering his own with cool calculation. It wasn't just his quirk that was amazing, but all of his abilities were well honed making him a worthy opponent. Despite that she was irritated he'd given up and just let her win. He hadn't even used his left side at its full capacity. He could have overwhelmed her easily. What was the guy's motive? What exactly drove him to be a hero? Did he really have any drive?
She was upsetting herself the more she thought about it. Cursing she walked out and headed to the classroom. Classes were over for the day, and she was sure she'd get a lecture from Aizawa first thing tomorrow about her reckless use of her power, but at this point she just didn't care. All she wanted was to grab her things, go to her dorm room, and take a nice hot bath.
"MIDORIYA!"
She was ambushed immediately the moment she walked through the door. She blinked in surprise as her classmates crowded around her spewing praises, and leaving her flushed and overwhelmed.
"You were super awesome Midoriya-kun!" Ashido jumped.
"That villain act you put on was super terrifying! It gave me chills." Mineta pointed accusingly.
"It was so awesome though!" Kaminari gave a thumbs up.
"Yeah and the way you tricked Todoroki into thinking that pile of junk was the weapon was ingenious." Sero agreed.
"You stood up to him even though you were totally outmatched, very manly!" Kirishima grinned.
"Um, uh, thanks I guess… uh…" she tried to maneuver around, her eyes spinning as the voices and introductions flew at her like punches, making her dizzy."
"Deku!"
Bakugo's sharp commanding voice cut through the praise and he strut through the group grabbing Izumi by the arm.
"Ow! Hey watch it I'm still… hey! Let go!" She complained when he tugged her back out the door.
"Shut up! I need a word with you…" he looked behind him at the others and snarled. "IN PRIVATE!" He slammed the door behind them and yanked Izumi down the hall to the bathroom.
"Ow! I said that hurts! Let go, Kacchan!"
"Stop calling me that…" He muttered as he shoved her in and closed the door behind him. He locked it and turned to face her. "Strip."
"Huh!?" Irritation read all over her face. "What for?"
"Don't give me that look, I said strip… unless you'd rather we do it tomorrow in the locker room in front of all the other guys…" He narrowed his gaze, and wondered why it had taken him so long to notice. "Izumi."
~Ask Briry~
Briry: Uh oh! Both Todoroki and Bakugo have found out Izumi and Izuku's secret. What sort of problems will arise I wonder…
QUESTIONS
for Izumi " What's it like to change in a room full of boys?"
Izumi: *Blushes* Embarrassing and smelly. You never realize just how much body odor they accumulate until you're standing right next to him and walk straight into a sweaty armpit. -_-
Briry: Ewwwwwwww Keep the questions coming everyone! They can be story related, questions about upcoming fic ideas, or about author, whatever you'd like! Author-san aims to please!
Next Chapter: Changes
