Izuku fell to the ground, with a small amount of relief filling his body as Kurogiri was taken out of the fight long enough for All Might to hopefully send the Nomu away.
He vaguely heard shouting, then a crash but after a while he felt wind in his hair as he was moved somewhere else. Izuku didn't know what happened or how long he was out but he was somewhat aware that it had been a while.
But he didn't fully relax, there was a real threat that seemed unstoppable. The Nomu couldn't die and there could be even more of them.
The Nomu was strange, pondered Izuku, it was capable of such a high level of regeneration. He even made a point of destroying the brain. Which was the default way to deal with regenerators, yet it pulled itself back together moments later.
He was too focused on fighting that he didn't get a chance to really investigate it as he was fighting but it didn't feel like a healing power. More along the lines of undoing or reversing.
Shigaraki labeled it Super Regeneration.
'Well why would he tell the truth?' Thought Izuku, 'Better yet how was such an unstable individual able to organize and lead an operation that can produce such a monster? I don't think the many scientists needed to do something like that would follow a homicidal brat like him.'
Throwing out the idea that it was regeneration, and it was something like reverse or undo, it still didn't change the fact that he destroyed the brain, and it didn't die. Furthermore, the Nomu's brain capabilities weren't that inspiring, it had the need to be told an order every couple of minutes or if it was seriously injured.
Was there an issue with the brain? Were there tradeoffs for the high level of artificial powers? Was this the best they could make or only the first iteration? Would future Nomu be worse or was this the peak?
'What did you see Izuku? The Nomu needed constant orders. The Nomu was incredibly strong, easily stronger than any enhancer baring All Might. Faster too, its durability wasn't that bad either even without the Shock Absorption. Going off that and the handyman's crazed words and bragging I can assume that the Nomu was artificially made or altered with multiple quirks. Strength, speed, shock absorption, "regeneration" and maybe more I couldn't see. All of which were more than strong enough to be a quirk on their own.'
The thought of someone possessing multiple quirks, either through science or something else was troubling. Although for now he would just roll with it. The Nomu, by his own estimates was too unique to be something that was one of many. If there were more 'Nomu' then they'd be different, or it would be a long time before another like the one that attacked UA.
'I hope they'll let me look at it, if I can get an uninterrupted minute to scan it then I'll know what I'm dealing with. For now, it's all speculation and hypothesis. I need to learn more, who knows what'll happen if the next Nomu is worse.'
Izuku's mind slowed, which was odd since he was still unconscious, but he was slowly losing his lucidity. Like his brain needed to nap.
Izuku's eyes shot open, and he was met with the familiar sight of the UA infirmary. Thankfully he was the only occupant so he wouldn't have to deal with talking for the moment. The clock on the wall read just after five pm, so either he was out for over a day or just a few hours. He would bet on the latter since he was more mentally exhausted than injured.
Turning his head to look down he was hit by blinding pain. Pushing through the agony of scanning his body he took in just how injured he was.
Bruised organs, cracked ribs, broken arm, several lacerations and contusions and his shoulder was messed up from the handyman's quirk. He would estimate that he lost about one third of his blood, which would explain his dizziness and the pain with using his quirk at the moment.
Which would explain the iv to his left. All in all, he was more injured than he'd ever been. To think he was this hurt even with all the enhancements he'd painstakingly gave himself. Hopefully he could recover enough to heal himself in a little while so he could continue to investigate the Nomu.
After a while the doors opened, the first through the door was Recovery Girl, she wasn't surprised to see him awake and moved over to his bedside.
"You came to the same conclusion I did it would seem." She said while adjusting the iv. "Due to the intense focus you require for your quirk, the effects of blood loss will hinder you quite a bit."
Izuku nodded, "Yeah I was just going to wait before fixing myself up. How is everyone, is the Nomu still a threat?"
"The worst of it were Bakugo and Thirteen. Both will recover fully in a day or two." She said before looking at him sternly. "And don't you worry about that Nomu. Understood?"
Izuku's right hand clenched but he nodded.
"Good," She said with a nod. "You can go in now." She said to people outside as she left.
In walked four more people, deflated All Might, a heavily bandaged Aizawa, Principal Nezu, and finally the detective he'd met before Tsukauchi.
"Glad you're up! Are you okay, Young Midoriya?" Asked All Might.
Izuku didn't bother answering, "I think I have a theory on the Nomu. Although, I hope that with Kurogiri taken down you were able to take the Nomu out of the fight?" He said to All Might.
All Might gave Izuku a somewhat strained grin. "I did, although I must thank you. Without your actions the battle would have been far more troublesome."
Izuku waved him off, "If Kurogiri hadn't kept bringing Nomu back to the fight you would have won in a couple of seconds. Honestly you had it handled, they were just fighting smart. Or Kurogiri was at least. He was certainly dangerous, especially his spacial awareness."
Nezu jumped to stand on the end of the bed, "We heard that they were interested in you, can you tell us anymore?"
Izuku sighed, "It's not that important, they didn't single me out till I spoke up and fought. But Kurogiri recognized me, likely cause of that video, and said they were impressed and wanted to get to know me more." The four of them silently took that in.
"I actually want to ask a question to you all." Said Izuku getting their attention while fidgeting his hand slightly, "If you have it in custody, can I run some scans on the Nomu? I wasn't in the right headspace during the fight to really get a good look at it. I have some theories I've worked out, but I need to confirm them. It would make it so if another Nomu shows up or this one attacks again somehow we can take it down better."
The pros exchanged looks while the detective narrowed his eyes then took out a notepad, "May I hear your theories?"
"First is that the Nomu was an artificially created being. I will say either from the corpse or willing test subject as the base, the body tissue was too real to be artificial I know the feel of body tissue and there are somethings you can't fake. It may be artificial, but it had a real human base in there." The four of them looked a bit unsettled by that, although he couldn't really tell with Aizawa's bandages and Nezu's poker face.
He continued, "Shigaraki was quite talkative about it, saying that it had super strength, shock absorption, and super regeneration. All of them top tier level quirks, but it's regeneration didn't make sense."
Izuku clenched his fist and took a few strained breaths before continuing, "I used a variety of lethal techniques on the Nomu, yet it would always recover. I used my Atomic Force Punch to destroy its head and chest cavity. I used Cleave to make it mincemeat. I even doused it in 5kg worth of Nitroglycerin before blowing it to kingdom come. Nothing stopped it, regeneration stems from the brain. That is something that has been confirmed in studies on people with regen quirks. But it would stay down."
Tsukauchi was taking notes with frown. All Might looked a bit unsettled and nervous, and his fists were clenched tightly, while Aizawa was looking at the ground.
Nezu was gave him a curious look, "Tell me about the lethal techniques you used."
Izuku looked at him curiously, "I was about to give my theory on the Nomu?"
"You told us that there was a human base to the Nomu, so we need to hear more about these techniques and why you had to use them. What was the situation?" Further explained Nezu softly.
Izuku frowned and suddenly felt anxiousness overtake him, "W-Why is this a big deal? I h-have a theory on the Nomu! We should focus on that it's too important to ignore!" He cried with frustration building in him.
Aizawa put a hand on Izuku's shoulder, "Taking a life is always the last resort and it's never easy." He said strongly, "Sometimes it's unavoidable, but being able to make those decisions is very important for a pro hero. It's okay, I believe you were acting in the most logical manner anyone in that situation could."
Izuku took in a shaky breath before All Might continued softly, "But you never should have been in that situation, Young Midoriya. We failed you."
He shook his head rapidly, "The villains were after me, so I had to fight them. I mean it isn't like you all did something wrong!"
"But we did." Nezu said sadly, "One of our students was forced to make decisions that most pros would hesitate to. He did it with the mindset that no one was going to save him, and he was the only one who could fight."
"Worse yet," Spoke Tsukauchi suddenly, "It seems that even in the hours you were unconscious, you were still thinking on how to stop the Nomu or future Nomu. It's the first thing you said to us."
Izuku was about to speak when Aizawa's squeezed his shoulder, "It's okay."
He met Aizawa's eyes with a worried look.
"You're safe now."
The words echoed in his ears before they sunk in. A breath he didn't know he'd been holding had finally been let out. The tension in his muscles finally relaxed. His hands no longer fidgeted in place.
He saw the tears before he felt them, small drops falling onto his hands. He took deep breaths to try and calm down, but they kept falling.
"I-I didn't t-think I was t-this stressed." Said Izuku while wiping his face.
Tsukauchi spoke first, "It's something that happens when someone is in a high stress situation, especially if it is the first time. Your mind and body were still in fight mode. I could tell this whole time; you were too antsy and levelheaded for someone who had gone through something like that. Cops and Pros learn to cope with the stress of life or death situations over time and with help, you're less than a month into UA. I would have been more surprised if you actually were fine." He said gently.
Izuku didn't say anything but he just nodded with a frown on his face.
"I don't want you even thinking of coming back to class for at least four days." Aizawa said sternly, "You've done far more than enough, take some time with your loved ones and calm down."
Nezu agreed immediately, "Furthermore, I want you to understand that while incredibly helpful your actions should not have happened. You're our student and until you have a pro license it is our job to keep you safe." Izuku could only nod in response.
The five of them were quiet for a while as the young hero in training pulled himself back together. None of them were looking away always sure to give him a look of reassurance whenever he met their gazes.
After nearly ten minutes Izuku had calmed enough to speak again.
"Sorry-"
"Don't apologize, Young Midoriya." Interrupted All Might, "You have nothing to be ashamed about."
Izuku took another breath, "Right, well how are my classmates? I know Bakugo was injured, what about everyone else?" He asked quietly.
Aizawa sighed, "Mostly bruises and cuts, nothing Recovery Girl couldn't fix up. Bakugo was the most injured due to his actions of fighting far more villains than anyone else. He and Kirishima took out nearly two dozen in the zone they were dropped in then fought off villains from the flood zone and assisted in the conflagration zone. He really stepped up."
'Bakugo?' Thought Izuku in bewilderment.
"Wow." He muttered. "Sounds like him actually, he was always willing to fight anyone who stood against him."
Aizawa grunted in annoyance, " Both of you fought way past your limits. Thankfully there weren't any villains like Nomu or Shigaraki among the villains throughout the USJ otherwise this would have been a true tragedy." He said softly more to himself than Izuku.
Izuku took another deep breath, "I know I shouldn't worry about it anymore, but I really do have some theories about the Nomu."
Aizawa sighed and finally let go of his shoulder, "Let's hear it then, also please breakdown the lethal techniques if you can. You aren't in trouble, but as your teachers we want to know what you went through."
"The only lethal techniques I had to use was Cleave, which is a slashing technique that can cut anything. Second is Atomic Force Punch which is using the momentum from a punch and sending that force directly to the atoms surrounding point of contact. Since I can't move something over my weight limit it delivers a large amount of force on an atomic level." Explained Izuku, and the weight of his actions now that he was calmer made him realize that he really tried to kill someone, and it unsettled him. Even if the Nomu was likely braindead anyway.
He didn't notice the surprised and frankly impressed looks directed at him as he stared at his hands.
He continued, "The Nomu had regeneration, sorta." He said getting everyone's attention again. "But I specifically destroyed the brain. Which means that it isn't healing to my understanding, as healing and regen quirks stem from the brain. So, I believe that the Nomu was reversing the damage or undoing it in some way. If I could scan it or do some tests, I can really tell you, but based on its capabilities we're either not going to see another one for a long time as they recreate it or they won't be to this one's level if we encounter more of them soon."
"Fortunately, I was able to break down its limited mental capabilities mid-fight which is why I focused on Kurogiri. One is that it can only receive simple orders, for example kill All Might. It would then try to do that. But after a few minutes it would reset and need the order again. Or if its head were injured then it would also need the order again. So, I knew that if Kurogiri couldn't catch it when it was blasted away then it should be harmless on its own as it didn't attack me when I'd destroyed its head until Shigaraki reordered it."
Izuku laid back, "That's all I could work out for sure, if I had more time with it or had a good scan of it during the battle, I could tell you more."
Nezu looked thrilled to hear his thoughts while All Might looked stunned. Tsukauchi was taking notes so he could relay this info to others in case more Nomu popped up. Again, with the bandages in the way Izuku couldn't tell what Aizawa was thinking.
"Wow, Young Midoriya, you certainly pulled more insight from that battle than I did." All Might said with a shake of his head.
Nezu nodded, "Indeed you did. With this information we can tackle the coming threat sooner than expected. Crime labs usually take a few weeks to give concrete information. That being said, your part in this is done."
Izuku agreed with that, "Understood, to be honest I could use a break. This is the third villain encounter this week for me." He said with a slight laugh.
"Exactly," Interjected Aizawa, "So rest up and head home, your mother was already notified that you were awake and should be on her way. We'll see you in class on Monday, we gave everyone Thursday and Friday off."
Parting words were said between the heroes, Tsukauchi got a more in-depth report from Izuku and after a while he was allowed to rest alone and wait for his mother.
'I didn't think I was that effected by the fight.' He thought to himself, 'But, I just couldn't do anything. Attacks that should kill anyone weren't enough! Even All Might would die to Cleave!'
The fear of a monster that could just survive against his worst attacks and the thought of an organization like the League of Villains being able to make more. It was enough to overwhelm him for a moment there.
All Might told him that they were able to take Kurogiri into custody but not before he warped Shigaraki away. Izuku had tried to get more information but none of the heroes or Tsukauchi would budge on giving him more information than that.
Luckily Kurogiri, who in Izuku's mind was the more troublesome foe, was taken into custody. Warp quirks were very rare and versatile ones like the villain had were even more rare than that. So that was a positive.
Ugh, he was too tired to think anymore! He'll sleep till his mom gets here.
Izuku, in nearly ten years, hadn't been where he was right now. When he was younger, he wasn't the most popular kid in school, he was smart and a hero nerd with a seemingly mediocre quirk so there wasn't a line to be friends with him.
He met people and he wasn't treated badly, but he just didn't have an abundance of friends, especially the one who's house he was currently at.
Bakugo Katsuki, he and Izuku were close when they were young and up until Bakugo got his quirk were friends. Afterwards when Izuku got his they drifted, Izuku's weak telekinesis wasn't up to par with explosion so Bakugo didn't have time for Izuku the 'extra'.
That being said, Izuku will be a hero one day, one that saves people with a smile like his idol All Might. So, he couldn't ignore someone he'd known his entire life after hearing that he was injured in the USJ yesterday.
That didn't mean he wasn't nervous about knocking on the Bakugo Residence front door. Oh well…
Knocking a few times, he heard shouting before the door swung open. Which let Izuku find out that Bakugo Mitsuki was still very beautiful even after a decade of time.
She gasped, "Izuku!" He was pulled into a hug that was quite tight, "It's been so long! I just spoke with your mother about UA! Come in!"
He was led inside before he could get a word in.
"Katsuki! Get down here!" She shouted toward the hallway.
"Here, sit at the table I'll get you a drink." With that she was gone.
Izuku nodded slowly and let out a sigh, this family was as hectic as he remembered. It was clear that Bakugo got quite a bit from his mother, like her loudness.
"Hell are you doing here?"
Izuku turned to see a slightly bandaged Katsuki standing in the hallway glaring at him.
"I wanted to check up on you to see how you were. Recovery Girl said that besides me you were the only one that was injured." Explained Izuku.
A grunt was Bakugo's response before Mitsuki reentered with a couple of drinks.
"Sit down brat!" She shouted at him, "Don't be rude to someone you've known since diapers!"
Izuku chuckled at the angry stomps that led Bakugo to the chair opposite him.
"I can fix you up if you want?" Asked Izuku while gesturing to Bakugo's bandages. "It wouldn't take too long."
Bakugo glared at him, "If you think I need-"
"Katsuki!" Shouted Mitsuki.
"-help from you, you damn nerd, then you're dumber than I thought." He finished before glaring at his mother.
Izuku closed his eyes and, just to spite Bakugo, proceeded to completely heal him. It was quite easy most of the damage was on the mend already thanks to Recovery Girl.
"Well, I'm done healing you anyway." Izuku said with a smile.
Mitsuki looked over at him, "What do you mean? You didn't do anything but close your eyes for a minute."
"They nerd lied about his quirk this entire time." Growled Katsuki while glaring at Izuku. "I won't thank you." He said as he took of his bandages and flexed his arms.
Izuku ignored Katsuki fighting a grin at his full range of motion being returned to him. He turned to Mitsuki.
"Mom told me not to tell anyone what my quirk was until I was strong enough to keep myself safe." He explained before raising a pointer finger. He proceeded to make a necklace of pure gold and made a small diamond encrusted fist, barely the size of his pinky nail so it wasn't gaudy before passing it over to a stunned Mitsuki. "I can manipulate and create matter up to 5kg."
She looked at the necklace with wide eyes, "I can't take something-"
Izuku held up a hand, "I haven't seen you in years, think of it as an apology! You're practically my aunt after all."
She smiled and pulled him into a hug, "Thanks brat."
Katsuki grunted, "Stop hitting on my mother you damn nerd!"
Izuku's face went scarlet while Mitsuki wacked him on the head.
After recovering from his embarrassment, he turned back to Katsuki with a serious look.
"I don't know what you've heard about the attack in the plaza, but it was almost a tragedy." He started getting a worried look from Mitsuki and narrowed eyes from Katsuki. "The villain, Nomu, was an artificial human made with several quirks."
Izuku looked down with a glare at the table.
"I, uh, tried very hard to kill it." He admitted to the surprise of both of them.
Katsuki frowned, "Must have been bad for someone like you to go that far. You've always been a softy. How did you kill it?"
Izuku looked at him, "I couldn't."
"What?!" Katsuki asked in shock.
Mitsuki looked between them in worry and confusion. "I don't understand, why is that a shock? If it was made with multiple quirks it was going to be hard to take down. But I'm glad you didn't have to be the one to do that Izuku." She said softly at the end.
"With my quirk, killing someone is scary easy." Answered Izuku, "I diced it into small pieces, blew its head off, even just severed its head. It didn't stay down."
No one said anything for a moment.
"It wasn't a healing regen then." Bakugo said with a frown, "Must be some kind of altered quirk or something."
"That's what I thought." Nodded Izuku, "You fought the most villains, did you hear anything that can give me more information about the league? I want to be prepared for the next time."
Katsuki scoffed, "None of those extra knew anything other than the target being All Might and that they were responsible for causing chaos by targeting students."
Izuku frowned, "They weren't strong, low level crooks who were brought together last minute I would guess. Kurogiri was captured, Nomu taken somewhere and only Shigaraki got away. This means that they won't be active for a while."
"Unless their group is stronger than what they revealed." Added Katsuki.
Izuku didn't like the thought that there was more to the league than revealed, after all if they were after All Might why hold back? But he couldn't deny that it would make sense.
All the more reason to continue improving his quirk.
Izuku stood from his seat, "Then I think it's time for me to go. I'm glad you weren't too hurt Bakugo. It was great to see you again Mitsuki."
After saying his goodbyes Izuku walked home while thinking about his next steps.
In the short term, the league was taken care of, they were hit pretty hard and would need a while to regroup. But there was still the issue of the person who sent the three villains after him earlier in the week.
Kurogiri made it clear they weren't behind that, which meant that there was another faction out there in secret.
He was quite capable at static creation and his close quarters capabilities were very capable. Maybe it was time for him to look into chemistry, his quirk could utilize elemental and chemical combinations for devastating effects.
One thing was for sure. Next time something nigh-unkillable comes at him, he would have countermeasures in place to deal with it.
END CHAPTER.
Cleanup for the USJ and to get into the aftermath of the incident. I wanted to express the stress that would follow someone like Izuku whose power and ego were strong enough for him to not know how to respond to someone not falling to his quirk.
I got to say some of my interest in MHA dropped quite a bit when looking at stories these past few months. So much of this fandom is lame to me, and the tropes make my head hurt. Like Izuku having to go through lots of therapy (lame and boring), Izuku being a quirkless hero and having to fight discrimination from the whole world (ok but wouldn't work past Sports Festival), Izuku being born with a badass quirk and still getting OFA in the exact canon way(sign of a terrible story).
The worse ones: Izuku with a quirk still growing up exactly like canon (sign of a boring story), stories following canon by the letter despite adding so much AU stuff (instant turn off).
I don't know it was lame and I got so bored I didn't write this that often. Mixed in with my new job I got a few months ago and my time to write fell quite a bit.
That being said the exact opposite happened in terms of the Manga, I fucking love the manga right now. Izuku is a real badass and I'm loving that the story is allowing for it to be focused solely on him now instead of all of 1-A which 95% of are irrelevant to the plot IMO.
Review Responses
MasterDK: Hmm considering Izuku reaction to Kurogirl I'm wondering if he can recreate the warping effect ... or has he already I've read to mean fanfictions lol
My Response: No, he can't make warp gates. The reaction is close to overstimulation. He was trying to comprehend a quirk that altered physics to create wormholes and it was too much info.
Scandalf: I like that more and more drawbacks of Izuku's quirk were made obvious in this chapter. His quirk being so mentally taxing is a great way to keep things interesting.
I can't wait for more.
My Response: Yeah, I said it pretty early that Izuku's is limitless in potential but he has limitations. Also it would be really boring if he wins with no effort all the time. Thanks.
NyaNyaKittyFace: (You wrote alot) …Wait is Izuku also trying to understand 13's quirk? 13 LITERALLY makes blackholes! Or well Faux-black holes (that's the best name I could come up with.) Luckily it can be turned off and doesn't seem to risk growing with each thing it sucks up. Nor does it bend, light, space, or even time thank goodness. If he could somehow gain, even a fraction, of understanding of a black hole's singularity, Izuku could not only learn to control (maybe not control, but possibly a way to "see" its flow) time and space to some extent, BUT REPLICATE THE CONCEPT OF INFINITY ITSELF! Holy shit I think I just thought of turning Izuku into Gojo lol! But seriously I'd love a deeper understanding of these two quirks…
My Response: Well Understanding how to do and replicating it is a whole other thing. Now Izuku isn't pulling any Gojo's lol, first because Gojo manipulates energy/space on an atomic level with perfect precision. You also mentioned All Might speeding up his decent, you have to remember how fast everything happened, Izuku probably only fought the Nomu for like a minute or two before All Might took back over, everyone is just so fast that it seems like longer.
AnimeFan13579: Seriously atomic force punch... Hey have you checked out Jujutsu Kaisen (Sorcery Fight) you basically described the technique Black Flash…
My Response: Yeah love JJK, honestly I like it way more than MHA. If you haven't read the manga for JJK I urge all of you to do it. Atomic force punch is inspired by it but I had a similar framework for the move when I started writing this.