["Damn, doors locked,"] said Ranger as he pulled on the door. He pressed his hand on the door's surface, and cursed. ["I'm not gonna be able to open this one."]
["Huh? I thought you could unlock anything?"] asked Mrs Claire.
["It's unlocked, but it's not gonna open. There are magnetic deadbolts holding it in place. Nothing short of All M-"] Ranger suddenly turned to Izuku, "Hey kid, you mind giving this a try?"
"Sure, I'll give it my best shot." Izuku grabbed the door handle, and pulled with all his might, even with One for All activated, he was only able to just barely open it wide enough for Ranger, Mrs. Claire, and the Knight to slip into the building. Once they were inside, Izuku followed, then let the door slam shut. "That *pant* was really more difficult than I thought it would be." Izuku caught his breath.
Ranger seemed to be talking to someone on the radio, nodded once, then gestured for everyone else to follow, ["Mercs are on level sixty two, the control room and high security vault are on level seventy. Nicky is trying to override each airlock on our way up to level sixty four as we come across them."]
["What about hostages in ballroom?"] asked Izuku. It was why he'd broken out of the building in the first place!
["No time, we'll have to deal with them later. If the mercs get to the control room, it won't matter if they have hostages or not. They'll lock this place down tighter than a chastity belt and let me tell you, that front door is a piece of cake compared to the airlocks."] Replied Ranger. He grabbed the handle to one of the stairwells, a loud click following shortly after. He yanked the door open, Mrs. Claire and the Knight rushed through the door, peering up the stairs. A moment later Mrs. Claire yelled ["Clear!"] and entered the stairwell after them.
"But everyone trapped in the ballroom! What will happen if the villains let them know that were trying to stop them?" asked Izuku. He knew what would happen, but he wondered if Ranger knew the risks.
"Of course I know what will happen, we just need to move faster than they can. Fortunately their coms are being jammed, but only if they don't have control of the control room," replied Ranger, kneeling down so he can look Izuku in the eye.
Izuku nodded, reluctant to give up trying to convince Ranger to save his friends, but he understood what Ranger was saying.
"And when they take the control room, there's nothing stopping them from shooting the hostages anyways, I'm pretty sure that the reason they took Hostages was to force Shield to fold and let them into the control room to save everyone else.
"Why doesn't he?" asked Izuku.
"Well, Nicky doesn't take too kindly to threats, so she's probably stalling for time for us to swoop in and save the day." Ranger stood up, "I know you're worried about the hostages, I am too. But our best bet to save them without bloodshed is to take out the leader and hope they'll see reason." Ranger patted Izuku on the shoulder and the two entered the stairwell.
Izuku was confident by the tenth story that his lungs were trying to force their way out of his body, by the twentieth, his legs were giving out. Mrs. Claire was in a similar state, and as they huffed and puffed, struggling up one step at a time, Ranger and the Knight were almost running up each flight, only stopping when they came to a door separating each floor from the other. After a moment the door seemed to open on its own.
"Why are these *pant* damn stairwells *pant* not connected to each other?" asked Izuku.
"This building was designed to withstand a nuclear warhead, so to maximize its integrity the designers decided that each stairwell needed to be separate. The entire building is built like a ship with large bulkheads separating each floor." Explained Ranger, who was not even struggling to breath.
"Why *pant* was it designed *pant* to withstand a nuke?" asked Izuku incredulously. As far as he knew, every country had agreed to get rid of nuclear weapons greater than ten megatons.
"Quirks," replied Ranger simply. "Some are more powerful than any nuke."
Izuku thought about it for a moment, then nodded, "Okay yeah, I guess that makes sense."
By the time they reached floor sixty two they been told that the mercenaries had managed to breach seven more levels, and were well on their way to breaching the access door to level seventy. Mrs. Claire had stopped, her limbs shaking uncontrollably. She collapsed on the ground, laying on her back and took her helmet off, her face was drenched in sweat, ["I cant *wheeze* keep going *wheeze* go!"]
Ranger nodded, and forged ahead, and while his pace had drastically slowed, he was still a good dozen stairs ahead of Izuku, who was struggling for breath. By the time Izuku caught up with Ranger and the Knight, they stood next to a hole in the door, and peered down an empty hallway. Ranger made a sort of hand signal to the Knight, who nodded.
A moment the two men had rushed through the hole, Ranger's rifle held aloft and directed at the far end of the hallway, while the Knight had drawn his sword and was steadily advancing behind him. Izuku just stumbled after them.
They heard the sounds of grinding metal as they got closer to where the Mercenaries were cutting through the last bulkhead.
["How much longer?"] asked a gruff, and familiar voice. That was the guy in charge!
["Dunno boss, probably another five, maybe ten minutes."] The second voice had a slight accent Izuku couldn't place.
["Well hurry it up, we ain't got all day!"] roared the leader.
Ranger creeped forward, moving to the corner of the wall, then pulled out his phone, he turned on the camera and slowly edged the camera around the corner. "Any of them familiar?" asked Ranger.
Izuku nodded, "Yeah, that guy right there, he's the leader." He pointed to the man with a mask and a long white coat.
Ranger nodded, pressed a button on his helmet, then nodded again. ["Paladin, you and I rush them, Midoriya you stay here until I call you."] Izuku nodded.
Ranger raised three fingers, ["On one. Three, two, one!"] Ranger and the Knight rushed around the corner ["ON THE GROUND! PUT YOUR WEAPONS DOWN!"]
The mercenaries, momentarily stunned by the two heroes' sudden arrival behind them. Ranger and the Knight advanced on them, Ranger kicked a man's rifle away from him before he could grab it. ["Don't even try it dirtbag."]
["We will spare your mortal lives if you but heed our warning and disarm yourselves,"] said the Knight.
Suddenly, both Ranger and the Knight were pushed onto opposite walls of the hallway. Rangers rifle and the Knights sword scattered to the floor. The mercenaries all howled with laughter.
["You really thought you two could beat all of us? Either you two have got the biggest balls this side of the mississippi or your dumber than the driest dirt,"] the leader sauntered forward pulling his pistol from his holster.
A man walked next to him. The man was tall, had ashen skin, and black eyes. His hair was slicked back, and the skin on his face was tight against his skull, giving him an almost corpse-like appearance.
Izuku had seen this man somewhere before, but he coul-oh, oh no. This was bad, this was very very bad! This was the infamous villain known as the Crypt Keeper. Hed seen his rap sheet posted on forums he occasionally scrolled through, and Crypt Keeper, while not his actual name nor his villain name, was nonetheless, an apt title for him.
Officially he's known as Dead Emperor, and his quirk was poltergeist. And, if the rumors were to be believed, this man could control the spirits of the dead. Personally Izuku thought it was a pile of horseshit, but being here, watching Dead Emperor actually use his quirk, the thought they might have been more true than he gave them credit for.
In the dark, just barely visible were the shapes of men pinning Ranger and the Knight to the walls. "MIDORIYA!"
Izuku hesitated, what was he supposed to do against this number of people? Especially against the Crypt Keeper! But he had to try, he had to do something. So he did the first thing that popped in his head.
He powered up One for All, and lept down the hallway as fast as he could, rushing past the ghostly figures, and slamming his shoulder into the Crypt Keeper. The Crypt Keeper tumbled back, ragdolling down the hallway and slammed into a wall with a sicking *crack.* Izuku could see the man's eyes flutter momentarily before he slumped to the floor.
A moment later the ghosts pinning Ranger and the Knight disappeared. ["You little shit stain! I'll fucking kill you for that!"] The leader aimed his pistol at Izuku and pulled the trigger. The gun clicked and the leader threw it aside then lunged at him. Before Izuku could scramble away from the man he'd managed to grab him by his leg and was dragging him closer.
'Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit!' he frantically kicked at the man, trying to loosen his grip but to no avail. The man's manic grin turned into a snarl when one of Izuku's kicks caught him in the nose. ["You've earned yourself a good killing boy!"]
The man grabbed at his shirt, pulling Izuku closer. Izuku managed to place one foot on the man's chest and with a monumental push, he shoved the man off him. Izuku crawled backwards putting distance between himself and the Mercenary leader. Another Mercenary tripped over him. It took a moment, but Izuku realized the Mercenary didn't trip over him, he'd fallen on him. The woman was limp, and for a moment Izuku was afraid the woman was dead.
His fears were confirmed when he felt a warm viscous liquid pooling on his leg. He scrambled back pulling his leg out from under the dead mercenary. All around him it was chaos, the crack of guns being fired at Ranger and the Knight and the reply from a rifle that Ranger had managed to grab from another Mercenary was deafening.
"MOVE YOUR ASS MIDORIYA!" yelled Ranger.
But he couldn't look away from the dead mercenary, "MIDORIYA!" again Ranger yelled.
Suddenly someone was pulling him to his feet and out of his daze "MIDORIYA MOVE!" Ranger had somehow managed to run through the gunfire being laid down by the mercenaries. Bullets whizzed past as Ranger shoved Izuku behind a pillar. "Are you alright?!" asked Ranger, having to yell over the gunfire.
Izuku shakily nodded, "Y-y-yeah, I-I t-think so."
"Stay here!" ordered Ranger before poking his head around the piller, and fired his rifle at the mercenaries. He ducked back to avoid the return fire. ["A little help!"] The Knight, seemingly hanging back for some reason, charged forward, his sword held ahead of him. The stream of bullets from the Mercenaries seemed like nothing more than mosquitoes to the Knight as he thundered down the hallway.
Once in range the Knight cut one Mercenary from the shoulder to the hip. Ranger took that opportunity to move from cover and after the Knight, firing a quick burst at a grouping of mercenaries killing two and injuring another.
Izuku slid to the ground, his head in between knees, and tried not to think about what was happening on the other side of the pillar. He tried to ignore the yells, the gunfire, and the sounds of men and women dying.
He knew they were bad people, they were villains. But he couldn't accept that they had to die. There must be a better way.
After a moment he felt someone shake his shoulder and he jerked, his head snapped up and Mrs. Claire was crouched next to him. ["You okay?"]
Izuku nodded, ["Y-yes."]
["You sure?"] asked Mrs. Claire.
Izuku nodded again, this time more confidently ["Yes. I am okay."]
He stood up, his legs a little shaky but he could still walk. ["Okay, let's go catch up with the others."]
Izuku came out from behind the pillar to a grizzly scene. Most of the mercenaries were on the floor either dismembered or bleeding from gunshots. Izuku swallowed hard, trying not to vomit.
A couple had surrendered and were being handcuffed by Ranger, but it seemed that a few managed to escape through the opening made in the metal door separating them from the next floor.
["Paladin went after the ones that got away. I stayed behind to make sure Midorya was alright and to secure these two."] Ranger stood back from the four men kneeling on the floor, their hands bound behind their backs, each had a vacant expression.
["Understood, let's keep moving."] Mrs. Claire guided him through the hallway, ["Keep your eyes focused on the end of the hallway bud, that's right, step to your left now. Yup."]
He managed to reach the end of the hallway without looking at any of the bodies. And the three ducked through the hole in the door, and up the flight of stairs to the next floor. They found another body of a mercenary, this one without an arm. When they reached the floor they found another mercenary with their head resting a few meters away.
Ranger and Mrs. Claire seemed not to pay any attention to the bodies as they ran through the hallway, so Izuku tried to ignore them as well. At last they came to an open door, the Knight stood outside of it. ["Whats going on?"] asked Ranger.
["The cowardly cur's have taken prisoners,"] said the Knight.
["Damn it,"] swore Ranger. He got next to the door and yelled in ["Release the hostages."]
The mercenary boss yelled back ["Not until the good Dr. Shield here gets me what I want."]
Ranger seemed to think for a moment, ["Mr. Shield, I advise you to hand over whatever they want. We can retrieve it later,"] yelled Ranger.
The Knight balked, ["Surely you jest, the artifacts in these vaults should not fall in-"]
Ranger cut him off with his hand, ["I know what I'm doing. Trust me."]
Another voice said, ["I agree with the other guy. I can't and won't give this device to him."]
["What device?"] asked Ranger.
["Its a qu-"] there was a smacking sound, probably Mr. Shield being hit over head by something.
["Don't you worry bout what I'm trying to take. All you need worry bout is what happens when I don't get it."] Izuku felt a cold chill run down his spine. He knew full well what was at stake. He reached for his quirk, he wasn't going to sit around and just let them kill his friends. ["You, open the vault."]
Someone else seemed to be willing to cooperate, because a moment later there was the sound of an alarm going off, followed by a whoop of joy from one of the Mercenaries. ["You have your fancy headband, now let us go."] said the person, it sounded like a woman.
["Don't worry now little lady, everyone else will be perfectly fine, so long as those heroes outside don't interfere,"] replied the leader. ["We're coming out now, and don't try any funny business, else something nasty's gonna happen downstairs."]
A moment later a few grinning mercenaries came out of the room, their rifles loose by their side. The mercenaries taunted them as they walked down the hallway, and their leader had a pistol shoved into a woman's back. Although she looked strangely calm.
["You alright Nicky?"] asked Mrs. Claire, her pistol drawn and pointed at the mercenaries.
The woman shrugged, ["Do I look alright to you?"]
["Yeah, she's fine,"] said Ranger.
As the Mercenaries rounded the corner Ranger, Mrs. Claire, and the Knight rushed after them.
"What about the ballroom!?" asked Izuku, "If they think we are a threat they will kill the hostages right?"
Ranger nodded, "Right, ["Paladin, go down to floor, uh, what floor is the ballroom on?"]
["Forty"] replied Mrs. Claire.
["Paladin, go down to floor forty and secure all the hostages,"] ordered Ranger.
["I will do as you ask,"] said the Knight as he rushed back the way they came.
"Won't he need help?" asked Izuku.
Ranger shook his head, "If Paladin needs help we're as good as dead."
They rounded the corner, seeing the mercenaries and their captive in tow stop at a door. A moment later the door opened, and they started up a set of stairs. Izuku, Ranger, and Mrs. Claire followed the group up several more flights of stairs before reaching the top. ["They must have a helicopter for evac,"] commented Mrs. Claire.
True to her word there were two dual rotor helicopters on the roof ready for takeoff.
Izuku started to run after the helicopters before being grabbed by Ranger, "Wait! We need the all clear from Paladin before we move."
The mercenaries leader turned to face them as his men were boarding the helicopters, ["HAHAHA! Look at you puny pathetic heroes! What? You can't come chase down little ol me? HAHAHAAA!"]
["The imprisoned civilians have been freed."]
"Alright kid, when I say go, you need to grab that woman and run back here as fast as you can." said Ranger. He hefted his rifle up and aimed it at one of the mercenaries.
"But how?" asked Izuku. He didn't see any way he'd be able to get to the woman without being shot.
"You already have every tool you need to do this Midoriya," said Ranger calmly.
He did? What tools were those? "Uh, is it the power to believe in myself?"
Ranger turned to face him, "No. A quirk!"
Oh.
"Now go!" shouted Ranger.
"R-right!" Izuku quickly charged up his quirk and bounded forward. Within seconds he'd managed to get to the woman, grab her, then turned to make his escape. In slow motion he saw one of the mercenaries raise their rifle in his direction.
Oh. Oh no.
But the man crumpled to the ground. On the other side of the roof, Ranger was kneeling, and taking carefully aimed shots at the mercenaries picking them off one by one.
["What are you fools doing! Kill them!"] shouted the mercenary leader. But there were too few mercenaries and Ranger was a much better shot. By the time Izuku got back to where Ranger and Mrs. Claire was the only one left was the leader.
["Hands up!"] yelled Ranger, ["Or I put one right between your eyes."]
The leader growled, pulled out his radio and said ["Team two! Team two!"] when he didn't get a reply he threw the radio to the ground in fury. ["Damn you!"]
He dropped his pistol to the ground. Ranger stood and was slowly approaching the leader when he suddenly pulled out what looked like a halo of some sort. ["Stop what your doing! Put that down now!"] But the leader didn't stop, he put the halo on his head and grinned ["I'm gonna kill you all."]
Ranger pulled the trigger, letting out a long burst of fire. The leader stumbled as the rounds impacted. Izuku thought that it was over.
Then the man laughed. It started as a low rumbling grunting noise, and turned into a maniacal laugh, ["DOCTOR SHIELD YOU'VE CERTAINLY OUTDONE YOURSELF!"]
There was a whizzing noise as the bullets Ranger fired earlier sailed past Izuku. There was a burning sensation on his cheek and when he touched the spot he felt slick blood coating his cheek. Had he been shot?! Oh my god he'd been shot! He prodded the area with a finger expecting to find a hole, but the skin was intact save for a small cut.
He'd only been grazed!
Relief that he'd escaped mostly unharmed was replaced by terror as he saw the mercenary raise his hands and the two helicopters seemed to disassemble and reassemble around him.
["What the fu-"] Ranger didn't have time to finish his statement when he had to dodge what looked like a blade from one of the helicopter's rotors.
["POWER! UNLIMITED POWER!"] yelled the mercenary leader in glee.
Ranger scrambled behind cover as more bits of metal were launched at him, only to be sucked back into the vortex surrounding the mercenary leader.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw a familiar figure, a man dressed in a red, white, and blue spandex outfit, a cape fluttering behind him in the wind. "Come young Midoriya! Let us show this villain the power of a hero! AH HA HA!" All Might reached out with his hand, and Izuku felt the overpowering urge to take it.
When he grasped his hand, much to his surprise, he felt an overwhelming amount of power flow through him, a huge grin spread across his face, and he felt his fear melt away. His body moved on its own, running forwards headlong into the tornado of metal and death.
{["DO NOT FEAR!"]} yelled Izuku, {["FOR I AM HERE!"]} He leapt forward, flying past the metal spinning around the villain.
The villain tried to block Izuku's sudden and rapid advance with a large chunk of metal. {["DETROIT"]} Izuku clenched his fist, or rather, felt his fist clench and his arm extend {["SMMMAAAAASSSSHHH!"]} the moment his fist came into contact with the metal it didn't just crumple. It shattered.
His blow was so strong that he managed to land the blow on the villian, sending him flying through the air. The Villain somehow managed to stay conscious after that hit and growled ["HOW DARE YOU! DO YOU KNOW WHO THE FUCK I AM!?"]
{["I know of you evil doer!"]} said Izuku. {["You are the rot of this world, and I shall ensure that your criminal behavior does not go unpunished! For I am AL-"]} he coughed, {["I am a Hero! Here to save those from harm and bring justice to people like you!"]}
The villain seemed to be taken aback by what he said. Honestly, he had no idea why he said it in the first place. It just seemed to come out on its own. ["What the fuck are you talking about brat?"]
["Midoriya, what the hell are you doing?"] asked Ranger suddenly next to him.
{["AH! It is good to-"]} he coughed again, {["Please ignore that Mr. Ranger."]}
["Mr. Ranger?"] asked Ranger.
{["Apologies, may we speak after this? I shall explain as much as possible."]} said Izuku.
Ranger replied, ["Uhhhhh, sure."]
{["Excellent, now how do you propose we deal with this villian? I remember you were the better planner out of the two of us."]} said Izuku.
["I am? I guess I am. I'm so confused,"] said Ranger. ["But it seems like that halo, whatever that device is, is boosting his quirk somehow. If we can remove or destroy it we should be able to deal with him easily."]
{["Well put! Stand back, I shall remove the device!"]} Izuku bent his knees, getting ready to jump. 'But jump to where exactly? They were easily a kilometer up! If he jumped then he'd defi'- he jumped.
He suddenly realized that he had no control over his own body. What the hell was going on?!
He watched as whoever was controlling his body leapt forward off the spire into open air, directly at the mercenary leader. The mercenary leader seemingly not anticipating this maneuver panicked and tried to block him with another large metal piece. But again, Izuku, or whoever was controlling him, hit it with such force it shattered.
["What the fuck are you doing!?"] shouted the Mercenary leader as Izuku grabbed him.
{["I CAN ANSWER THAT FOR YOU!"]} Izuku grabbed the halo and pulled it up off the man's head {["BRINGING YOU TO JUSTICE!"]}
For a moment, the two of them seemed to be floating in mid air, then they plummeted to the earth below. Izuku felt his stomach drop as they fell, wind rushed past making it impossible to hear anything. He felt the back of his shirt yanked up hard. His grip on the villain loosened and he accidently let go. "NO!"
The pulling sensation increased, and they slowed down alot, but they didn't stop.
The landing was rough. He rolled across the concrete, scraped and bruised, but alive. He also had control over his body again and sat up. Looking for his savior. Mrs. Claire lay just a couple meters away from him, ["Mrs. Claire! Are you okay?!"] he crawled over to her.
["Just bruised and scraped, nothing serious. You okay kid?"] she asked.
Izuku smiled and nodded, ["Yeah, I am good!"]
Izuku stood, helping Mrs. Claire to her feet. He could see a massive hole in the back of her suit, and saw what looked like some sort of vent. That must be her quirk! But before he started asking questions he stopped himself, they needed to find that villain.
They searched the wreckage for a few moments, before finding the shattered body of the man. He lay spread eagle, his arms and legs twisted in odd, unhuman-like ways. Blood pooled underneath him, and dribbled out of his ears, mouth, and nose. His lifeless eyes gazed up at the sky, and a vicious smile still spread on his face.
A small part of Izuku couldn't help but be a little glad this man had died after what he did.
But he still wished he could have kept him alive to face justice the proper way.
Rumi sat on a bench to unwrap her boxing gloves. Pulling them off and stuffing them into her locker. She saw her phone light up with a notification. Drawn to it she picked it up and saw she had several dozen notifications from various apps. Most were the pro hero apps but a couple were news apps. Briefly reading through one notification she realized why there were so many.
["I-Island under Siege"]
["Mercenary group gains control over I-Island"]
["Dozens killed during I-Island Attack"]
["I-Islands security in question because of attack"]
"Holy shit," she read through one of the numerous articles covering the incident.
["ATTACK ON I-ISLAND BY MERCENARY GROUP"]
["Late last night a group of mercenaries had allegedly taken control over I-Island during the opening day of the I-Island technology expo. Witnesses reported how security systems seemed to "shut down" on their own before the power suddenly went off. Pro-Heroes were seemingly unaware of the Mercenaries' presence before it was too late. While they did manage to break into one of the vaults that had many of Dr. David Shields personal projects and had managed to take one of the items, officials report that a group of Pro-heroes were able to stop the mercenaries from escaping with the item. What the item was, who these mercenaries were, and who stopped them haven't been released by officials yet. A spokesperson from the FBI has stated that "they are looking into the situation" and will report their findings by next week at the earliest."]
Rumi desperately wished now that she'd been able to go. If anything she'd have loved to take a crack at whoever these mercenaries were. But, no point in crying over spilt milk that wasn't hers.
A notification of a post to a popular pro-hero app caught her eye, "Pro-Heroes save waffle house."
She tapped on it, curious at who these pro-heroes were. She pressed play on the video and saw the very shaky footage taken on someone's phone capture some jackass dressed as a knight mowing their way through a group of armed men. By the end of the fight Rumi could admit that this guy was knight guy, whoever he was, was definitely hero material.
Finally the video ended as the knight was about to square off with what looked like a tank. "Damn, and just when it was getting good." She scrolled down and found another video, this one was pointing up at the sky. The video was of some sort of swirling ball of flying metal, and she could just make out a figure in the middle of it.
Suddenly there was a blur of movement as someone jumped through the spinning ball of death, shattered a large chunk of metal and grabbed the person who was controlling the metal.
Some sort of scuffle took place, but the video was too blurry to make out what happened, and suddenly the pieces of metal were falling, along with two people. The person recording said ["OH MY GOD!"] as someone jumped off the roof after the falling people. One was caught, the other fell to their death.
The other two hit the ground and one slowly got up.
"Oh ho ho!" said Rumi. She hadn't expected that the "pro-hero" that saved the day was none other than Midoriya Izuku. But she wasn't too surprised, after all she taught him almost everything he knew. So it was only natural that he'd be a badass and take out the villain seemingly all on his own.
She quickly sent a text to Midoriya saying,
"Saw what you did at I-Island. Good job mighty might."
She tucked her phone back into her duffle bag and stretched.
Izuku's mom slammed the door of the hospital room open and rushed in, "Oh my baby! Are you okay?" She tackled him in a huge hug, tears streaming down her face.
Izuku winced as the pain in his shoulders flared, "yeah mom, I'm alright, I'm alright."
His mom pulled back from the hug, "Good." She sniffled loudly, "Now what on earth were you thinking!"
He shrunk a little, "Uh, well, um, I, um, I don't know really."
His mom sniffled again, "Well, don't do that again Izuku. You scared me half to death when they told me."
They? Oh, right, Ranger. "It's fine mom, I'm okay. I wasn't in any real danger." Truth be told tonight was the scariest night of his life. And he very nearly died several times. He considered himself lucky that he made it out with only minor injuries.
The door opened again, this time Ranger stepped into the room with his arm in a sling. "Oh, apologies, I'll wait outside."
Ranger turned and was about to leave the room when his mom called to him. "Mr. Tyson. Thank you for keeping my son safe. But please, stop dragging him into dangerous situations."
"This was a one time event Mrs. Midoriya, I promise," said Ranger.
"It better be," replied his mom. "Now, did you need something?"
Ranger nodded, "Yes ma'am. I just needed to ask your son a few questions for my report."
"Fine, please make it fast. My Izuku needs to rest," His mom sat down in a chair near his bed.
"I was hoping to speak with him alone if that's possible. Some of the things we are going to discuss are part of the case and are only privy to those intimate with it." At his words Izuku's mom seemed to stiffen.
"Anything you need to ask my son, you can ask me." He loved his mom, but she needed to leave.
"Please mom, he's just going to ask a few questions about what happened." She seemed a little hurt, "Please mom."
She sighed, stood and said, "Okay, but only for a few minutes."
"Thank you," said Ranger as he sat in the seat she had occupied a moment ago. He waited until the door was firmly closed before he spoke. "Alright kid, what happened back there."
"Back there?" asked Izuku.
"Back on the roof. Something about you was different. You didn't seem like you were yourself." Ranger leaned forward slightly and spoke softly but clearly.
Izuku swallowed nervously, to be honest he wasn't sure what happened himself, "I, I don't actually know what happened. One second I'm unsure of what to do and scared, and then it was like something took control of my body." Rangers brows furrowed ever so slightly but he didn't comment. "I could see what was happening but I couldn't control what I was doing."
Ranger was silent until he was sure Izuku had finished speaking, "Okay. Did anything seem out of the ordinary before you lost control?"
Izuku hesitated, should he tell him that he's been seeing All Might pop up occasionally? Did he trust Ranger enough to tell him? Would he think Izuku was crazy and have him institutionalized? All these thoughts swirled in his mind, until he saw All Might standing at the end of his bed.
"Young Midoriya, it is up to you to decide. But know that you can trust Ranger, or Aizawa, or Nezu, or even your friends. Whoever you tell first, if you tell anyone that you can see and hear me, let it be one of them."
Rangers brows furrowed more, obviously concerned that Izuku was hiding something from him. It was now or never. "Well. I saw All Might. He offered his hand to me, and offered to help me beat the villain."
Ranger leaned back in the seat, a look of pity on his face, "I see. Is All Might in the room with us?" Izuku nodded, and pointed to where All Might stood. Ranger glanced in the general direction, he obviously didn't see All Might.
"Look, Midoirya, you know that, you know what happened to Toshi, what happened to All Might right?" asked Ranger.
Izuku nodded, "Yeah, I did."
Ranger leaned forward again, clasping his hands together, "I know stuff like this is hard to get over. Losing a mentor is never easy. If you need to talk with someone about it, there are options. It's unhealthy to bottle this up."
Izuku frowned, he was right, Ranger thought he was going crazy, that he was seeing things that weren't there. Well, he was, but All Might was real. He didn't know how to explain it, or how he knew for sure, but the All Might that stood at the end of the bed, invisible to all but him, was the genuine All Might. Or, at least, as genuine as it can get.
"I know of a few therapists that you can visit, or if you don't feel comfortable with them, you can always tell me, Claire, or even Miruko." he patted Izuku on the shoulder, "And you don't need to feel embarrassed about this. Many pro-heroes develop some sort of mental disorder at some point in their careers. There's a support structure in place for this kind of thing so you don't need to worry. We'll get you the help you need buddy."
Izuku just stared at Ranger with a neutral expression. Then after a moment he said, "No, I literally see the real All Might. The legit All Might. I know he's real."
"I'm not sure he'll believe you. And after that moving speech I said earlier about how you could trust Mr. Tyson." All might shook his head disappointedly.
"Moving speech my ass, that was hardly moving" muttered Izuku, casting a glare at All Might.
Ranger sighed, "I'm sorry if it sounded corny, but it's the truth."
Izuku realized he spoke out loud, "Oh no, I wasn't talking to you."
"I see, you were talking to Toshi," said Ranger.
"I told him not to call me that." said All Might in annoyance.
"He told you to stop calling him that," said Izuku.
Ranger was silent for a moment, then asked, "How did you know he didn't like me calling him Toshi?"
"Because he told me just now," replied Izuku.
Ranger rubbed his chin, "Uhhhh, okay. That's…oddly specific that you know that."
"Also, tell him I still don't understand the "glasses disguise" comment he made." Added All Might.
Izuku repeated the comment, and Ranger sat somewhat aghast. His expression changed to confusion, then he looked towards the end of the bed, tilted his head to the side and squinted his eyes. "Uhh, what are you doing?"
Instead of answering, Ranger stood up and waved his arm through All Might. "Please ask him to stop Young Midoriya."
"All Might asked if you would stop doing that," said Izuku.
Ranger looked back at him, arm still halfway through All Might's face, then dropped his arm. "I'm so confused."
"You're only confused?" asked Izuku.
"Okay, umm, quick test. What would be something that Toshinori and I only discussed once in private?" asked Ranger.
Izuku looked to All Might who pondered for a moment, then said "Well, it wasn't private, but ask him if he still has that horse head?"
"Umm, he asked if you still have that horse head," repeated Izuku.
Rangers eyebrows shot up, and he sat back down in the chair. "Okay. I have no experience with dealing with this kind of thing."
"I'd be afraid if you did," commented Izuku.
And that's a wrap, if it isn't obvious, I've taken some "creative inspiration" from Avatar the Last Airbender. Mostly the whole "Izuku has an avatar state and can sometimes just talk with them."
I thought it would be an interesting way to change One for All to fit my story. Plus it's something I actually haven't seen in any other fic before.
Although if there is one that has this, send it my way, I'll be interested in reading it to see how far they take it. I already have a plan of how and when I'll be using, what I call, the "One for All state" but it's always fun to compare notes.
Also, I noticed that I made a slight error in Paladin's name. If you look back to Chapter 5 and 6, you'll see his name changed.
I ain't going back to fix that.
Not yet at least.
His new official name is Tommy.
And he is an absolute badass and is quite possibly too overpowered.
Anyways, onto the boring stuff.
I do not own My Hero Academia and Probably never will, Rangers armor is based off the Riot Gear from Fallout New Vegas and I also do not own that.
This story is also loosely based off of other fanfictions that I have read. Any persons or events that mirror reality or another story are completely accidental. If anyone wants to see any specific quirks or have any ideas about quirks, they would like to see in the story let me know and I'll see about adding them.
If y'all want to leave a review about what you like or hate, feel free to do so, that's why the little review button is there. Feel free to Pm me as well, I'm always happy to hear criticism, suggestions, or if y'all just want to chat for a bit.
Why'd the boar cross the road?
I don't know myself.
But I accidentally hit it.