Author's Note 1: My Super Robot Academia is a non-profit fanfiction series.

My Hero Academia is a property of Bones, Funimation, and Kouhei Horikoshi.

Any original characters or concepts are owned by Navek and xpegasus.

Please support the official release.

Chapter 8: Inner Workings

A few days after the Heroes Vs. Villains Exercise, Izuku and his friends were ready for another day of classes at UA.

"What's All Might's teaching style like?"

"Does he wear his costume during class? If so, which one?"

"According to my resources, All Might wears 'El Vengedor' brand cologne. Can you confirm that?"

…or at least they were trying to get to class. But on this particular day, reporters, bloggers, and all manner of gossip mongers were crowded outside the school gates, with the goal of getting all information about All Might's activities as a new UA teacher. They were truly desperate for any gossip about the Number 1 hero.

One of the reporters, a brunette in her mid-30s, run up to Izuku and shoved mic in his face. "Excuse me, Fumiko Fujita of The National Jinkai," she exclaimed. "So, what's it like learning from All Might?"

"Eh?! I mean…it's really cool!" Izuku said. "He's every bit as awesome as a teacher as he is a hero. He even wore his Silver Age costume…actually, it might've been a recreation. The original costume was heavily damaged during the Mt. Furosa eruption rescue…."

Fujita and her photographer watched as Izuku continued to go on and on about seemingly random All Might facts they didn't ask for. They clearly weren't going to get anything juicy from this kid, so they turned to Ochako.

"How does All Might look when he's teaching?"

"Hm." Ochako put a finger to her lips. She couldn't honestly say that Mr. Yagi was obviously inexperienced as a teacher while also trying his best. "I mean, he's what you expect; he's all big and muscly. But with that big smile, he's almost like a giant teddy bear!"

'I wanted something spicy, not sweet,' Fujita thought to herself. She then turned to Iida. "Tell us about 'All Might, the teacher.'"

"Gladly," Iida replied. "Every day with him is a reminder that I'm enrolled at this preeminent educational institution. Beyond his obvious dignity and presence, he's also quite humorous. As we students are privy to observing his many facets, we've been given the opportunity to discover just what makes a top hero a top hero. Also…"

'He's almost as bad as greeny!' The reporter thought before looking at Katsuki. "What would you say is All Might's best—"

"I'm only gonna say this once," Katsuki growled. "Get out of my face before I take that microphone and shove it right up your—"

'Christ, never mind! You little jackass.' She quickly moved to Mei. "Do…you have anything to say about All Might…please?"

"Sorry, but I'm not in the Hero Course. That being said…." Mei then looked at the camera with a wide smile. "…if any rookie hero or hero student needs top-tier support gear, I'm your girl!" She then pulled a glove-like device out of her backpack. "Just last night, I came up with this: the Hatsume Q-Adaptive Glove! See, this handy little baby uses the same DNA adaptation technology…."

'What is with these kids?!' Fujita mentally groaned as Mei went on and on about the science behind her new invention. She then heard footsteps and tried to ask the new arrival a question…but the words swiftly died in her throat as she saw the intimidating figure of Vlad King standing above her.

"If you're done harassing the students, I'm going to ask all of you to leave the premises," Vlad said, his expression firm as Izuku and the gang snuck behind him and into the gate.

"B-But," Fujita pleaded. "The public has the right to know what the Number One—"

"I'm sure if you can schedule him, All Might will be more than happy to give you an interview. But for now, I'll have to ask you all to step back a bit."

"Um…okay." The reporters and paparazzi did just that. But one man with an ostrich head wearing a black t-shirt still had a question.

"Wait a second: what about the rumors that you guys let a Quirkless kid into the hero course?"

Izuku and his friends stopped at that line while Vlad narrowed his eyes.

"Is it true? If it is, don't you think it's irresponsible letting a crippled child into such a dangerous course? Why would you even do that?! If you ask me—"

"We're done here."

Vlad pressed a button on the gate, and a reinforced steel door slid up…as well as a massive perimeter made of the same material across the entire school ground.

"What the fuck?!" The ostrich man shouted in shock while Fujita sighed in defeat.

"Great," she groaned. "The UA barrier. Looks like we're not getting anything juicy today." The same sense of defeat was shared amongst most of the veteran paparazzi. The barrier was a famous automated defense system that went up either by command or if anyone without a school ID or visitor's pass tried to break into the school. The barrier being raised manually was also a less-than-subtle way of telling noisy reporters and gossip mongers that the school was in no mood to deal with them.

"I'm starting to think Aizawa has the right attitude with the press," Sekijiro said before turning to the students. "Is everyone alright?"

Everyone else nodded while Katsuki said, "That was annoying as fuck."

"Well, get used to it. The price of being a successful pro hero is that vultures like those guys will be desperate to hound you and others around you for gossip."

"Has that happened to you, Sensei?" Ochako asked, making Sekijiro groan.

"Unfortunately, yes." He still regretted saying he preferred dogs over cats to that one blogger who 'reinterpreted' that as the Blood Hero hating cats. Aizawa still makes cracks about that to this day.

"Um…sensei?" Izuku said. "I actually have to turn in some request forms to the principal before class starts."

"That's fine. Just make sure you don't take too long."

"Right. See you guys later!"

"Later," Katsuki said as he and the others headed to their respective classrooms while Izuku headed in a different direction. But as he walked to Nezu's office, the robot pilot couldn't help but think about what that one blogger said. The rumor of a Quirkless student in UA's hero course was spreading.

Granted, Izuku wasn't exactly trying to hide the fact that he was Quirkless…but he wasn't running around screaming and banging pots and pans to announce he was, either. He was just some kid who still got nervous at times. And he was certain UA wouldn't be so negligent as to let personal student information leak to the public.

But Izuku shook it off. He couldn't let himself get distracted by rumors and gossip. He had to make quite a few modifications to Striker today. But first, had to hand in the forms for the required materials to Principal Nezu.

"YOU'VE GONE TOO FAR THIS TIME, RAT!"

Izuku flinched. That loud noise came from Nezu's office. The greenette couldn't fully make out any specific words after that loud exclamation, but he could tell it was intense. Izuku got closer to the door to listen in. And for his trouble, he got a door to the face.

"Ow." Izuku looked up and saw a burly man with light gray hair clad in a finely pressed business suit. His amber eyes bore into Izuku, making the robot pilot feel incredibly nervous. The man scoffed before turning back towards Nezu.

"We'll be watching."

"I'm sure you will," Nezu said in his usual nonchalant tone. The man stomped away, and Izuku went into the office.

"Um…Principal Nezu?"

Nezu perked up and smiled. "Ah, Midoriya! Come on in."

"Um, who was that?" Izuku glanced back at the door, the man already out of sight.

"That was Mr. Osamu Wada from Hero Public Safety Commission," Nezu explained. "We had a bit of a…let's call it a disagreement about UA's policies this year."

"R-Right," Izuku replied. 'That sounded a bit more than a simple disagreement.' But Izuku decided not to pry. He simply pulled out the request forms and handed them to Nezu. "I've got some request forms. One's for some new materials to upgrade Striker. The other is a visitor's pass request."

"A visitor's pass? And may I ask who this is for?"

"Professor Eun-Ji Lim. She's my programming teacher, and she helped fine-tune Striker's OS. I figured letting her into the support lab will be more convenient so she can help upgrade it along with everything else."

"Hmmm…we'll have to do an extensive background check. But I think I'll be able to get it through."

"Thank you, sir!" Izuku said with a bow.

Down the hall from Nezu's office, Osamu Wada marched through U.A. The sound of his heavy, angry footsteps could be heard on the floors above and below him. As he walked, Wada pulled out his cell phone to make a call. It wasn't hard to find the right contact; Wada's contact list was depressingly sparse. "Hello, this is Special Agent Wada."

"Good morning, Agent Wada," said the voice of a refined middle-aged woman. "I take it you've finished your meeting with Principal Nezu?"

"Yes, President Miyashima," Wada said. His expression twisted into a scowl. "Unfortunately, Principal Nezu adamantly refused to comply with our request. He said that the expulsion of a student was a 'none starter.'"

The woman sighed. "Disappointing, but not unexpected," President Miyashima said. "Nezu has always been hard to control. Removing him as the principal would be the fastest way of resolving this problem, but the potential backlash from the public and his associates is a great risk. And he knows that."

"Don't worry, Madam President," Wada said, his lips curling into a smile. "We have subtler means of remedying the situation. I will now allow that beast to undermine the peace we have worked so hard to build."

After Izuku had sorted out the paperwork with Principal Nezu, he headed back to class. Everything was going along as usual, with a few cliques already taking form. Sen and Pony were cuddling, Mineta was sharing some dirty jokes he found online that weirded out Hagakure but made Tokage chuckle, Kendo was chastising Kamakiri for putting his feet on the table, Jiro was listening to some music on her phone, etc.

Izuku took his seat behind Sero, who was chatting with Honenuki. He took out his materials when he heard the two's conversation.

"I don't think they would actually let someone like that in. At least not in the Hero Course," Honenuki said to his helmet bro.

"But I heard they changed the rules for the entrance exam," Sero replied. "So it's possible."

"Doesn't mean anyone would be dumb enough to try it. Didn't you guys fight robots?"

"Ya. And they were pretty tough."

"Ergo, it would be almost impossible for a Quirkless guy to take them down."

Izuku flinched. Of course, his classmates were talking about that rumor. Why wouldn't they? He just hoped they didn't drag him into—

"Hey, Midoriya?"

'Damn it!' Izuku thought. Swallowing his nerves, Izuku turned to his classmate. "U-um, yes, Sero?"

"You got a friend in 1-A, right?" Sero asked, getting a nod from Izuku. "Did he mention a Quirkless kid in their class?"

"W-well, Kacchan didn't mention anything like that," Izuku replied. "And I doubt he would even care about that kind of thing."

"Well, that rumor has to start from somewhere, and there's no Quirkless kid in our class," Sero stated with certainty. And that made Izuku feel guilty…and a tad insulted. His classmates that weren't in the know assumed he had some kind of quirk tied to Striker. Granted, he hadn't done anything to make anyone doubt that was the case. "Maybe we can swing by 1-A during free period and—"

"You will do no such thing, Sero!" Iida said as he marched up to the black-haired boy. "Snooping on our fellow students goes against the heroic ideals we are meant to embody."

"Come on, Iida," Sero said almost pleadingly. "You're not even slightly curious who the Quirkless kid in the hero course might be?"

"If they even exist," Honenuki chimed in. Izuku bristled at that. At least Sero was entertaining the idea of a Quirkless student at a hero school. Iida saw his friend's troubled look and continued.

"Regardless of whether or not there is a Quirkless student among us, what exactly would you do if you uncovered their identiry? Harassment is frowned upon on matter what the context."

"Oh, well, I mean," Sero said with a nervous smile. "I'd probably ask for some pointers."

"I'd ask how much yen they bribed the teachers with," Honenuki stated.

"B-bribed?!" Izuku exclaimed in disbelief. Sero and Iida stared at Honenuki in stunned silence.

"I got in on recommendation, and even that test had us run through a gauntlet. The regular exam had robots on loan from the military. I could buy a Quirkless adult in their prime passing those tests. But a kid straight out of middle school?" Honenuki snorted at the idea. "There's no way they're getting in without something shady going on behind the scenes."

"Honenuki, I am appalled!" Iida stated. "U.A. is the pinnacle of heroic education! To even insinuate that All Might's alma mater would give in to bribery…" The bespectacled teen had to take a breath to compose himself. "If a Quirkless student has been accepted into U.A., then they must be extraordinary enough to impress the proctors and teachers, pro-heroes themselves nonetheless! Who are you to question their judgement?!"

Honenuki put his hands up defensively. "Dude, I'm just say—"

"Settle down, everyone," Vlad King said he walked in. Everyone went back to their seats to prepare for the first lesson of the day. But under his desk, Izuku took out his phone and began texting his friend through their last group text.

Izuku: Thanks for that.

Ochako: I was going to jump in and say something, but you beat me to it, Iida!

Tenya: I could see that you were uncomfortable, Midoriya. I only did as any friend should in that situation.

Ochako: Aw!

Izuku: Again thanks, Tenya.

Ochako: Oh, we're moving to first names?!

Tenya: Are you sure about that?

Izuku: After that, I'd be happy to be on a first-name basis with you, Tenya.

Ochako: Me too!

Tenya: Very well! But we definitely should put our phones away! Izuku, Ochako! Do not make this a habit!

Izuku: Right

Ochako: Gotcha

Izuku hoped the next class would take his mind off of things. And luckily, they had Art History with Midnight.

"I'm sure you're all familiar with the old phrase, 'Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it,'" The R-Rated Heroine said as she began her lesson. It was easy to see why she had that moniker, as her dominatrix-Esque outfit proved. Technically she was fully clothed, but the way the costume contorted to her mature curves and the pale, skin-like coloring left little to the imagination. The domino mask over her blue, her long & luxurious dark-purple hair, and the way she carried herself also brought the word 'R-Rated' to mind. But most of the students tried to instead focus on what she was saying rather than her…questionable teaching attire. "So today, we're studying an art piece from a chaotic era in humanity's past. It's called, 'Four Asura in Siberia.'"

With a press of a button, the projector projected the image of a painting on the front board. And the students were stunned. Generally speaking, it was a beautiful painting clearly made by a master of the craft, with just the right amount of inking, shading, and color separation.

But it was the contents of said paintings that was…well, the haunting was the only word to describe it. The painting showed four figures floating above a ruined and burning street. Cars and bloody bodies were floating, building around them were devastated, and the streets were on fire.

And each of the four figures had a monstrous appearance, with burning red skin, four demonic faces each, and four arms each. They truly looked like demons out of the most violent nightmares.

"So, can anyone tell me what Emergence Age incident this painting is referencing?" Midnight asked. Tenya was the first to raise his hand. "Yes, Iida?"

"I believe it's a recreation of the Siberian Psychic Massacre, where a set of quintuplets with unstable telekinesis Quirks ended up leveling an entire district of the Russian city of Ulan-Ude," Tenya said. "Though, I am curious why they look like demons. From the accounts of what I have read about it, the quintuplets were just children who were having a panic attack, and the resulting devastation was caused by the immense psychic backlash."

"Well, we might know that as fact now, but for the artist who witnessed the event and managed to survive, those children probably appeared like demons to her." Midnight stated. "If you look at artwork during this period, you'll find thousands of similar pieces. Almost all of them are gruesome and apocalyptic. In fact, millions of people at the time believed that the emergence of quirks was going to bring about the end of mankind."

Now that was a haunting thought that made the teens ponder. So Midnight offered a kind smile to ease them. "Thankfully though, humanity managed to pull through and created the hero system as a way to bring order back."

Kaminari then raised his hand to ask a question. "Hey, teach, if this painting's from Russia, why does it have asura in it? Ain't that a Buddhist thing?"

"Excellent question, Kaminari." Midnight threw in a flirtatious wink that had the electric boy grinning like an idiot. "You see, Ulan-Ude is home to a large number of Buddhists, primarily of the ethnic Buryat people. The artist, Saran Melnik, was a practicing Buddhist when she witnessed the massacre. In fact, like many religions at the time, a lot of the more fearful Buddhists spread this phrase around; 'The Q is Moha.' Now, can anyone tell me what Moha is?"

This time Yanagi raised her hand. "It's a word that means 'delusion' or 'ignorance.' It is one of the three poisons along with Dvesha, 'rage,' and Raga, 'greed.' Many practitioners of Buddhism believe that Moha is the delusional misunderstanding of the nature of reality, keeping one from reaching a state of true enlightenment."

"Spot on, Yanagi," Midnight said. "There was a large sect of Buddhism that believed that Quirks were a manifestation of Moha, granting humans ungodly powers that would dull their desire to reach enlightenment. Moha would then lead to Dvesha and Raga, and those that used their Quirks for evil were being twisted by the three poisons and transformed into asuras." A feeling of unease washed over the classroom. Many of them knew how dangerous Quirks could be. They thought of all the villains they'd seen on the news, and comparison to the destructive asuras felt uncomfortably fitting.

"Quirks were specifically identified with Moha because, without ignorance, there could be no rage or greed," Midnight explained. "This wasn't just limited to Buddhism though; most major religions believed that Quirks were the work of whatever evil force appeared in their texts."

Midnight continued on with her lessons, teaching her students about the various phrases and doomsday sayings that were used during the Emergence Age. Izuku, in particular, was fascinated by the subject…though he did feel a stinging sense of irony. There was a time when people like him were the vast majority who were fearful and distrustful of a small portion of the population suddenly gaining superpowers. Granted, life wasn't nearly as chaotic as the Four Asura paintings showed, but now the superpowered majority looked down on people like him.

A few hours later, it was finally time for free period. The students were allowed to do whatever they pleased during this time. Some students chose to study independently, others went to U.A.'s gym to practice or work out, while some simply took the time to relax. Izuku had already decided what he want to do today and headed to the support department.

"Hey, Izuku," Ochako said as she, Tenya, and Awase approached. "What are you doing for free period?"

"Just some maintenance work on Striker," Izuku replied.

"Oh, awesome!"Awase exclaimed. "Mind if I come along? Get a peak under the hood?"

"I will admit, I'm curious about how your machine is maintained," Tenya stated.

"I mean, a lot of it goes over my head…" Ochako said. "But it's still pretty cool!"

"Sure, I don't mind," Izuku said with a small smile, and the four left for the support department. The hero course students arrived near the support department classroom, but…

KABOOM!

"Agh!" Tenya and Awase jumped back while Izuku and Ochako simply sighed as the door was blown clean off its hinges, accompanied by the sound of someone smacking against the walls.

"Looks like Mei's in top form today," Ochako commented.

"Are you okay?" Izuku asked, even though he knew the answer. The smoke cleared, revealing a soot-covered Mei removing herself from the wall and lightly coughing.

"You know me, Izuku; one teensy little explosion ain't enough to stop me!"

"That was far from 'teensy!'" Awase yelled.

"Hatsume, you shouldn't be so blasé about being at the epicenter of an explosion!" Tenya followed up with some exaggerated arm movements.

"Save your breath," an exhausted Power Loader said as he stepped out of the room. "I've been telling her to be more careful around combustible materials for over a year, but it's like talking to a brick wall." He perked up at the sight of his other student. "Hey, Izuku."

"Hey, Higari-sensei," Izuku said. "The principal approved my requests, so I want to do some maintenance work before we upgrade Striker later."

"Sure thing." Power Loader said as he lead the four students in while Mei half-heartedly put the door back up…and shrugged when it fell down again.

Awase's eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas morning when he saw Striker in its maintenance chamber. A few of the robot's plates had been removed, leaving wires exposed, and its right arm had been detached from previous maintenance sessions.

To others, Striker's current state would look like junk. But to a Mecha fanboy like Awase, this sight was living art!

"We figured out what was causing that loose feeling in the right arm," Higari explained. "One of the wire fibers snapped out of place."

"So we're going to need to find something to hold it together properly," Izuku said.

Tenya raised an eyebrow. "Wire Fibers?" he asked.

"Oh, um…they're a bunch of wires that hold stuff…together?" Ochako tried to explain. "Izuku's better at explaining it."

"Basically, think how muscle fibers and tendons in the human body are bunched up to allow movement," Izuku explained. "The concept is basically the same; twisting the wires and binding them together forms a sort of artificial muscle tissue, allowing Striker's limbs to have more freedom of movement."

"Ah, so that explains why it moves more like a human and less like a bot." Awase reasoned.

"Exactly!" Izuku replied and continued. "In fact, many of Striker's parts are parallel to the human body. There's the CPU & Operating System are the brain. The Industrial Batteries, the heart. The Inner Frame, the skeleton. The Wire Fibers, the muscles. And the Outer Armor is the skin."

"So cool!" Awase said before looking around the chamber. He saw what looked like basketball-sized gumballs in a metallic box. "What's up with these things?"

"Capture Putty. The same kind the police use to catch villains." Power Loader explained. "One of the first of many non-lethal capture options we're loading into Striker."

"Makes sense," Awase said. "So where's he gonna fire these out of? The hands? The chest?…the crotch?"

Ochako held back her giggles while Tenya was confused, and Izuku just rolled his eyes.

"Pretty sure the HPSA wouldn't react fondly to Striker having any kind of crotch weapon," Izuku stated.

"It would be Midnight's original costume all over again," Power Loader chimed in.

"I'm a bit lost here," Tenya said. Awase took out his phone and showed the taller teen a clip from the anime Combattler V…and the titular robot using its Big Blast attack. "Ah…I see."

"It's supposed to be a stomach attack, but with the position and all—"

"I get it!" Tenya shouted. "Though that does bring to question just what other weapons and gadgets your machine is capable of."

"Well, right now, Striker's weaponry is pretty simple," Izuku said, placing his laptop on a nearby work desk. After it booted up, Izuku opened up a spreadsheet showing the current schematics for his robot. "Currently, Striker only has four advantages in combat. 1) it's Titanium Alpha armor. 2) the Pro-Motion System. 3) the Anchor Knuckle. And 4) its enhanced strength."

Izuku pressed a button, showing a side-by-side comparison between Striker and the various robo-villains from the entrance exam. Specifically showing elemental compositions of their armor. "See, the metal the robots at the entrance exam were sort of a faux-titanium alloy meant to be durable yet easy for a relatively decent Quirk to destroy. Striker's new armor is made of a much higher-grade version of that material. It can survive multitudes of heat, electrical attacks, energy blasts, and physical damage."

"Wait, didn't Kirishima dent it?" Awase asked, getting a nod from the greenette.

"Honestly, that's more of a showcase of how dense Kirishima's quirk makes his skin than anything else," Izuku said before continuing. It showed data of Striker doing some moves with other windows showing big heroes like Fatgum and Gang Orca grappling smaller villains or villains that matched their size. "Now the Pro-Motion System uses motion capture technology taken from pro-hero combat footage. I decided to focus on the styles of bigger heroes like Gang Orca, given Striker's bigger size."

"Ah, so it's like the motion-capture technology some films use to animate characters," Tenya surmised.

"Exactly," Izuku said. "And you've seen the Anchor Knuckle and its enhanced strength a bit in action before."

"I mean, it tore a wall off a building. That's pretty nuts," Ochako stated.

"Well, the last we checked, Striker's max carry weight was 50 tons. So on the superstrength scale, it's about mid-tier." Power Loader explained. Awase whistled at that statistic.

Izuku then continued to list more of the current and planned features of Striker, such as how the bundled-up wire fiber was meant to stimulate human muscle tissue. And how Izuku was planning on adding a drill attachment and even foot treads in a later upgrade. But soon enough, the free period was reaching its end, and the gang would have to return to class.

But as Tenya and Ochako headed out, Izuku received a text from Katsuki as he was putting his laptop away.

Kacchan: Yo, sorry I couldn't make it during free period. Upside, my folks are probably gonna have a new client.

Izuku: Really? Is one of your classmates in the fashion industry.

Kacchan: Nah. But Ponytail wants some advice on redesigning her costume. So I told her I would run it by Dad and the old hag when I get home.

Izuku: Ponytail? She's the one who pulls stuff out of her body, right?

Kacchan: Yup. Using her lipids or some shit like that. And no, I will not ask her to go into detail about it. You're gonna have to ask her yourself.

Izuku: Fair enough.

Awase then approached Izuku as he put his phone away.

"Hey, Izuku. Can I ask ya something?" Awase said. "And you don't got to answer it if it makes you too uncomfortable."

"Okay. What is it?"

"Are you the Quirkless student those rumors are about?"

Izuku froze. It was a question he knew was coming. While Izuku didn't know the when or the who, in the back of his mind, Izuku knew this question was inevitable. He took a deep breath and sighed. 'Might as well rip the bandaid off,' Izuku thought. He turned to face Awase. With tense shoulders and shaky breath, Izuku opened his mouth and said, "Yes. That's right. I'm Quirkless."

An uncomfortable silence filled the air as the two boys stared at each other. Izuku's nerves rose as the seconds ticked on, waiting for Awase's response.

"Oh," Awase said. "Okay then."

Izuku stared dumbly at Awase. "'Okay then?'"

"I kind of figured it out a few days ago," Awase said, surprising Izuku. "You never mentioned having a Quirk, I haven't seen you use it, and none of the equipment made for Striker looks like it looks it integrates any kind of Quirk."

"Oh, yeah," Izuku said. "Looking back on it, that makes a lot of sense." He raised an eyebrow at Awase. "But, I could've had an intelligence-enhancement Quirk for all you know."

Awase laughed at Izuku's response. "Midoriya, I dated a girl with an intelligence Quirk. Trust me, I would be able to tell if you had anything like that."

Izuku didn't know what to say to this. "So…you don't mind that I'm Quirkless?"

"Dude, my superpower is that I weld things together. I'm in no position to judge people on whether or not they have powers or not," Awase said before giving Izuku a huge grin. "Besides, I couldn't call myself a mecha fan if I discriminated against a real pilot just because of genetics. Hell, Gundam Seed was all about not letting genetics breed hatred."

For the 2nd time that day, Izuku felt touched and shook Awase's hand in gratitude. "Thank you, Awase."

"No problem, my guy," Awase said. "And hey, you can call me Yosetsu if ya want."

Izuku smiled. "I'll keep that in mind."

Izuku knew he had truly made some new, true friends that day. But little did he know that more sinister forces were beginning to brew.

Later that night…

'Well, today was a bust,' Fumiko Fujita thought as she tiredly checked her email, nursing a can of beer. None of what she'd gotten today was remotely usable. The worst part was the look her boss gave when she came back after she'd practically begged him to let her cover All Might's teaching position at UA. Fujita grabbed a beer and slumped in her chair. How the hell was she supposed to make a name for herself as a real reporter when all the big stories kept slipping through her fingers like grains of sand?

Suddenly, a notification popped up on her computer. She had a new email.

Fujita sighed and went to check it. The subject line was 'UA Secret.' She opened the email and languidly read it. Suddenly, she sat up and put her beer down. Fujita re-read the message several times as she let it sink in.

Dear Ms. Fujita,

I have been made aware that you have been trying to dig some dirt on United Allies Academy. Now, I am sure that your desire to do so is motivated by monetary gain. But I believe that you and your colleagues can expose UA's recent negligence.

Included in this email is the file of one particular student. And once you give his profile a look, you will see what exactly I mean.

Fujita was a bit weary, especially since the email address that sent it was a random assortment of characters, clearly some sort of burner account. The file most likely had some kind of virus. She went to report the email as spam and delete it, but paused, cursor hovering over the button. Through some combination of inebriation and genuine curiosity, Fujita gave in and opened the attached file. Her eyes widened as her lips curled into a smirk.

The document was none other than Izuku Midoriya's UA student file, listing his age, date of birth, previous schools, test scores, and home address. But the most prominent piece of data was this.

Quirk: N/A

'If this is true, this is gonna be one hell of a scoop,' Fujita thought to herself. 'Sorry, kid, but you're gonna be my ticket to success!'

Author's Note 2: So we had a bit of technological babble in this chapter…but we're also setting up some more trouble brewing for our hero in the next few chapters.

And for those of you paying attention to the connections between this story and it's inspiration (Knight's & Magic), there is a big honking easter egg in this chapter. See if you can find it.

Next Time: Who Will Lead?

Please remember to read, favorite, and review!

Plus Ultra!