Just as before, the blind rage had come slingshotting back the moment he was away from his family. Izuku was so busy trying to calm himself down on the way to the arena that he nearly didn't see Endeavor standing in the middle of the hallway that led outside.
"Midoriya, a word," The number two hero commanded.
Izuku's eyes narrowed at the tone but stopped to listen anyway, saying nothing in response.
"My boy is headstrong, I want you to push him until he accepts his birthright and uses his fire. Are you up to the task, Boy?" Endeavor might as well have commanded, clearly used to his word being law.
"Or what? You'll try to buy me like you bought your wife?" Izuku asked sharply.
The flames that normally wafted about the man roared into an inferno, the temperature in the hall increasing a hundredfold. The air was nearly sucked right out of Izuku's lungs, so hot was the blaze.
"What was that boy!?"
"He told me everything," Izuku bit out with the little oxygen he had left in his lungs.
Endeavor's flames guttered out in an instant, like a candle's flame being snuffed out betwixt thumb and forefinger. Gone was Endeavor the implacable Hero, Todoroki Enji the man stood before him.
"Is…that what he thinks..." The man asked himself aloud, looking somewhere distant over Izuku's shoulder. His eyes returned to Izuku a moment later. "I love my wife and children," He said firmly, the words sounded foreign on the man's tongue, yet Izuku could sense no lie.
Izuku walked past the man and towards the arena. Over his shoulder, he asked, "Have you ever told them that?"
The sour taste of regret was answer enough.
A moment later Izuku was standing before Todoroki in the arena. The proximity and the cold glare he was receiving was enough to make his blood boil all the hotter. He couldn't hear the actual words Midnight said over the sound of rushing blood in his ears, but he knew what she was asking.
He nodded, answering the unheard question of if he was ready.
The only way he even knew the fight had started was Todoroki slamming his right foot down, the move more predictable than Bakugou's right hook.
He didn't even need to call on his Quirks, they came unbidden. Muscles of black energy snapped into place underneath his clothes and green energy crackled.
He brought his hands in front of himself, his energy armored fingers digging into the oncoming glacier with ease. Muscles, organic and energy, bulged. With a great crack the iceberg split down the middle as it continued to race past him. The two halves of the glacier toppled away from him, colliding with a blue energy field composed of hexagons before it could hit the stands.
Across the limited space of the arena, Todoroki looked on with shock written plainly on his face.
"Your ice won't be enough!"
He didn't notice Midnight swear under her breath before keying her mic and saying to Cementoss, "Be ready, he knows!"
Todoroki sent another glacier forward. It suffered the same fate as the last.
Then another.
And another.
Todoroki was panting, his breath misting the air, his fingers beginning to blacken at the tips.
Izuku was heaving heavy breaths, not in exertion but self restraint. He was barely holding himself back from lunging, but he had to. He had a goal, to expose Todoroki's flames to 1-A. Objectively, he knew that Todoroki had suffered, had suffered all his life if even half of what he had said was true, but right here? Right now? He was just angry to the point that he could barely think straight. Todoroki had the means to help people and CHOSE not to. What was worse is that the people he had chosen to not help, to abandon to their fate, were people he cared deeply for. Trauma or not, Todoroki's reasons for not using his fire boiled down to spite for his father. He shook his head, clearing his rambling train of thought and focused on his current goal.
"How many people are you willing to sacrifice out of spite!?"
Todoroki rushed at him, clearly unable to continue to fire off attacks with ice. Izuku planted a foot in the boy's stomach, air whooshing from his lungs as he tumbled and slid on his way out of bounds. Without conscious thought, Blackwhip lashed out and snagged Todoroki's ankle, preventing the boy from losing via ring out.
Todoroki took a wet and ragged breath as he tried to stand.
"Think, Shoto! You would have let Tsu, Toru, and even yourself die! What if it had been Fuyumi!? Your nieces!? Why the fuck do you even want to BE a hero!?"
Izuku's booming voice rolled across the arena like a thunderstorm over a plain.
From his seated position, Todoroki's rage filled eyes went wide, too many emotions flashing through them to even begin to decipher. He planted his left foot and began to shakily stand, his mismatched eyes locked onto his as he did so.
Fire erupted from Todoroki's left side as he slowly stood, the flames massive and oppressive. The temperature in the stadium began to skyrocket. Winds whipped at the combatants' clothes and hair due to the sudden and drastic temperature change.
Izuku's facsimile of a smile was one of relief, relief that he could finally stop holding himself back.
"SHUT IT DOWN!" Midnight yelled over the whipping winds, but not over the rushing in Izuku's ears.
Todoroki raised his left hand to point his palm at him, steam coiling away from his right side in a billowing cloud. An inferno exploded forward from his palm, the heat was enough to vaporize the remaining icebergs in a steam explosion that rocked the very earth beneath them. Windows in the box seats warped and car alarms in the parking lot began blaring, the shield of blue hexagons protecting the stands coming alive and warping under the pressure from the blast.
Midnight's gas raced to encompass the arena, concrete barriers sprang up between the combatants.
A sonic boom could be heard over the roar of the flames and the shattering of concrete.
Through the inferno, an arm covered in faintly glowing black muscle fibers reached to grab Todoroki by the face and lifted him off the ground. A second arm reached out and grabbed his left wrist in a vice grip that threatened to break bone, pointing the captured hand skyward, a pillar of fire now racing into the sky.
With smoldering hair and half burned clothes, Izuku snarled, simply beyond words at this point.
The raging cyclone of fire above their heads waned as Todoroki changed tactics.
Todoroki grabbed the now short and burned sleeve of Izuku's uniform, frost blooming immediately in a cold snap that flash froze the entire shirt. The shirt shattered like a pane of glass and fell to the ground, the chest beneath that bulged with muscles of energy was unscathed.
Izuku's face twisted with anger as he slammed Todoroki's head into the ground with a resounding crack.
Izuku dropped to a knee amidst a cloud of pink fog and powdered concrete, his vision swimming with exhaustion, Midnight's Quirk affecting him as much as Cell Activation would allow.
In his half conscious state he could have sworn he could feel something within him, that was at the same time not him, still raging at Todoroki, it's anger yet unsatisfied.
"Uhhhh, Midoriya wins…Sit tight folks while we repair the arena…again," Present Mic said.
XXX
Izuku was walking back to the stands lost in thought. He was…conflicted. After the haze of rage had lifted he couldn't help but feel somewhat guilty at how he had handled the situation, he had allowed his rage to consume him. Todoroki's spite-fueled vow had endangered people he cared about and Izuku's protectiveness had eclipsed his empathy as a result.
The slight screech of hinges above him preceded an added weight to his left shoulder.
"Hello, Cub," Nezu greeted casually.
Used to Nezu's eccentricities, Izuku returned the greeting. "Sir."
"Do you feel better now that you've taken out your anger on Todoroki?" His mentor asked in a squeaky voice.
Izuku's shoulders slumped slightly at the subtle reprimand.
"No, Sir. I'm not sure how to feel, on one hand he almost let Toru and Tsu die, on the other I can understand his logic, twisted as it may be, for refusing to use his fire. It just made me so angry that I couldn't bring myself to really care about why he would do it."
"Ah," Nezu intoned wisely. "After being bullied into submissiveness for most of your life I can reason that anger is something unfamiliar to you. Consider speaking to Hound Dog about it." A moment passed before he continued with a question, "Tell me. If one of your partners was hurt in a routine mugging, how would you feel?"
Izuku blinked at the question before considering it, his hands curling into fists.
"Angry." He answered predictably.
Nezu hummed. "And if the mugger had a childhood that would make young Himiko's look bright? If they needed the money to feed their starving family?"
Izuku blinked again.
"It wouldn't change what they did to someone I love."
Nezu clapped his paws together. "Exactly! Humans are inherently pack oriented creatures and care more for the well being of those in their pack than anyone else, reasoning be damned."
A long moment passed in silence as Izuku mulled over what Nezu had said, well besides the cheerful humming coming from his shoulder that is.
"I'm sorry for damaging that hallway, Sir. And the armrests…"
Nezu laughed. "Oh please, I have a budget set aside specifically for hero student outbursts!"
Izuku frowned, that didn't exactly make him feel better.
Nezu's weight on his shoulder disappeared before he could hear the sound of small claws on metal above him, his mentor having jumped into a vent as they passed underneath.
Izuku was alone when he got back 1-A's seats. He could hear many voices speaking at once.
Both Rumi and Himiko's eyes snapped to the door as he entered with murder in their eyes. Rumi had her muscular arms crossed in front of her chest tight enough that her muscles bulged, her foot tapping the ground hard enough to crack it. Himiko had her claws out and was slowly dragging them across her armrests, rending the metal with such ease that the metal didn't even make a sound as it was shredded like tissue paper.
"Where's Todoroki?" Rumi ground out low and dangerous.
"We just wanna talk~" Himiko said, sickly sweet. Her head was cutely lulled onto her own shoulder, but her eyes were cold and narrowed into slits. The dichotomy reminded him of a poisonous snake with its eye-catching colors and deadly venom.
If it wasn't for Yuki and Eri sitting in their laps playing pattycake across the gap in the seats, blissfully unaware of the situation, he was pretty sure they would already be hunting Todoroki.
"I handled it," Izuku said firmly, hoping to defuse the oncoming situation.
"C'mon this can be our vigilante origin story," Rumi said a little calmer and with a hint of mirth.
Eri noticed then that he had returned and smiled at him brightly.
"Papa! Mama Rumi owes the swear jar! She got real mad when the fire went woosh and started saying a bunch of bad words" She tattled.
Rumi gasped, "Snitch!" and began tickling the child.
Yuki perked up. "Mommy Himi said hmrgl-" Yuki tried to say but Himiko's hand clapped over her mouth in time.
Leave it to his daughters to completely defuse a tense situation.
Toru and Tsu approached him then.
"If anyone has a right to be upset, it's you two," Izuku said.
"I don't really get upset on my own account, Ochako usually does that for me," Tsu said, pointing with her thumb over to where Ochako was seated, her bangs shadowing her face as she cracked her knuckles.
"I'm…disappointed in him, though I'm much happier to see that you don't have that look in your eyes anymore," Toru said warmly.
"Well I'm mad!" Mina shouted and flailed her arms in a way that was more cute than threatening.
"I don't get why he would hold back," Kirishima chimed in, shaking his head in disapproval.
Next to him, Bakugou was grinding his teeth. It seemed that even he was mad at Todoroki, though Izuku would bet that it had more to do with him holding back than endangering anyone.
"Truly a poor example of a UA student!" Iida chimed in.
"Why hide his fire though?" Kaminari asked.
"That's something you'll have to ask him about, it's personal and even though I'm not happy with him I won't repeat something he told me in confidence." Izuku said.
Ochako laughed without humor. "Oho, I intend to."
Nejire flitted over to him and pressed herself into his side. "What was that big blue shield?" She asked.
With her curiosity, he wasn't surprised that she was the one to ask first.
"The Quirk of a new staff member that Nezu personally hired for the tournament. He asked me to evolve her Quirk as a favor after she passed a series of questions to determine her credibility. He apparently found her working at a convenience store if you can believe it," He answered.
"Wowww" Nejire said in wonder.
Mei came marching in then, fully clad in her powered armor, Momo and Kyoka hot on her heels with worry on both their faces.
"Please don't do anything rash," Momo pleaded.
"At least not 'get kicked out of UA' rash," Kyoka bargained.
Mei gripped her Exitus pistol that was still mag locked to her armored thigh, lightning crackled over her knuckles on both hands.
"Come forth Heretic and be purged!" She demanded, her warbling voice menacing as it sounded from her vox.
"Woah!" Sero yelled in alarm.
"You're going to lose your carry license!" Izuku warned.
It took a few minutes to get Mei to calm down and by then the arena had been nearly repaired. Next up was Rumi versus Hitoshi and he could sense Rumi's uncharacteristic doubt as she stood to leave after Hitoshi.
"Do you have a plan to deal with Hitoshi?" Izuku asked from his seat next to her.
"Yup! Kick 'em!" Rumi said proudly.
Izuku sighed. "You can't just bludgeon your way past every problem."
Rumi snorted in derision. "I can bludgeon pretty hard."
He facepalmed hard enough to ruffle his hair.
"Ok, fine…what do you suggest?" She asked, her voice quiet and finally reflecting her doubt.
Even now, asking for help was a struggle for her.
"When he fought Manga he didn't take control right away, only after Manga had responded to him. I think the wink and snap of his fingers is a diversion. Just don't speak to him and you should be fine…but then again Mei responded and didn't get hypnotized, maybe it didn't work because it was being relayed through the electronics in her helmet?" He mused aloud.
Rumi bent at the waist and kissed him on his cheek before whispering into his ear, "Thanks," snapping him out of his musings and sending a shiver running down his spine.
Barely two minutes later, Rumi and Hitoshi faced off.
"Fight!"
"What's up doc?" Hitoshi asked immediately.
Rumi smiled, showing all her teeth as she shook her head.
Hitoshi winked and snapped his fingers.
Just as it looked as if she was about to lunge for him, her red eyes dulled, her features going slack.
"Walk out of bounds," Hitoshi said calmly, and she did just that.
Rumi snapped out of it after Hitoshi was announced the winner and whirled, shock evident on her face. Her muscular shoulders slumped as she saw that the match was over with the screens all saying 'Aizawa wins'.
Her slow, almost dazed walk back into the tunnel had Izuku's heart clenching.
He couldn't help but feel that he had let her down.
He was waiting for her outside of the viewing area when Rumi finally shuffled her way there a full two minutes after Hitoshi had returned. She hadn't noticed him yet, she was too busy looking at her feet and attempting to put on a smile that looked natural. She halted her shuffling pace when she got close enough to see his shoes. She looked up slowly and when her red eyes met his green he saw a rare vulnerability shining in them.
She stepped forward quickly and pressed herself against him, her head resting on his shoulder, her arms folded between them. He wrapped his arms around Rumi and whispered, "I'm sorry my advice was wrong."
Rumi shook her head. "Losing like that, without even getting a chance to fight back just brought up some memories."
Right. Her birth parents. They had died buying her time to run from a villain, but she was too afraid to even move. Her fear of not being able to at least go down swinging had just been shoved in her face. It was no wonder she was feeling vulnerable. He tightened his embrace and kissed one of Rumi's long ears.
The ear twitched and audibly slapped him in the face.
"Heh," Rumi couldn't help but chuckle. "Don't make me laugh."
Izuku let out a strangled laugh that was more of a weeze.
Rumi began releasing muted chuckles into his shoulder that may have been part sobs. Izuku couldn't help but chuckle quietly into her hair as well.
XXX
It wasn't long before Itsuka and Shiozaki faced off.
"Fight!"
Itsuka was at her full height of twenty feet by the time thorny vines encapsulated her.
Itsuka merely had to spread her stance wide and the vines ripped away, not even a mark on her skin.
"I concede defeat, I know when I am beaten," Shiozaki intoned calmly.
Itsuka seemed to sigh, expecting this outcome.
"Kendo wins!"
Well. That was somewhat anticlimactic.
"My turn!" Mei shouted as she stood. On her way out she halted in front of Nejire and seemed to be considering something. He could almost see a light bulb light up as she spun to Nejire who let out a startled laugh as Mei scooped her up in a princess carry, the strength of her power armor making the move effortless.
"Come help me put my armor on?~" She asked with a waggle of her eyebrows.
Nejire looked Mei's armored form up and down before leaning in until her lips grazed the shell of Mei's ear and whispered, "You'll have to teach me how, preferably hands on~"
Mei went into meltdown, her face nearly glowing red even as her smile became manic before she all but sprinted out of the room with a giggling Nejire in her arms.
Seated on Izuku's left, Ochako said, "I think we might've created a trend…"
A few minutes later Nejire returned all smiles as she floated in on her Quirk. At nearly the same time, Mei was taking her place on the field, thankfully not late.
Mei and Kodai faced off as Midnight stayed the rules and asked if they were ready. After they both nodded Midnight shouted.
"Fight!"
Mei had her Exitus pistol drawn faster than any cowboy of old would be physically capable of, it aimed squarely at Kodai's center mass.
Kodai had barely grown an inch by the time Mei fired off three shots dead center.
Kodai fell to the ground like a puppet with cut strings with the exception of a few twitches.
Izuku had figured this would happen, Mei was just too fast for Kodai's slow growth. Maybe with more training Kodai would've stood a chance.
XXX
The semi finals bracket plastered over every screen.
Midoriya Izuku vs Aizawa Hitoshi
Kendo Itsuka vs Hatsume Mei
Izuku was racking his brain as he walked out onto the arena. How did Hitoshi's Quirk work? He was positive it HAD to do with speech but what exactly? Rumi hadn't said anything to him and was still hypnotized. He had half a mind to simply blow his own ear drums out with a quick clap of his hands, but he didn't want to set that particular example for his kids. Resolved to simply empty his mind and not respond at all, he took his place across from Hitoshi.
"Fight!"
Black Cowl snapped into place even as he was mentally repeating the mantra of 'EMPTY MIND, EMPTY MIND, EMPTY MIND'. It was only thanks to this that he could feel something deep deep within him thrashing to get out.
It was such an odd sensation that he paused long enough for Hitoshi to speak.
"Are you going to fracture my skull like you did Shoto? Break my ribs badly enough that they puncture a lung?" Hitoshi asked with an edge of accusation.
Izuku's eyes went wide in response. He didn't know, he would've healed him, he would have-
"You didn't know? Well, you would have if you cared to check on him like you did Nirengeki."
He felt guilt.
He felt regret.
And then, he felt nothing.
"Walk out of bounds." He had never heard Hitoshi sound so cold.
Izuku's body betrayed him and began to walk towards the nearest boundary when he felt something break free, like a leash he hadn't even realized he had been holding slipping through his fingers. The question was, what had been pulling it?
He got his answer a mere moment later when Blackwhip exploded out and stabbed into the ground like so many legs, lifting him into the air, his legs still making walking motions.
Slowly, the tendrils turned his body so he was facing Hitoshi again.
"What-what the hell is happening?" Hitoshi asked and Izuku could feel his fear…and an animalistic fury coming from Blackwhip.
The tendrils of Blackwhip vibrated, creating a mockery of vocal cords. The resulting roar was discordant, impossibly deep, and otherworldly.
Izuku wanted to yell a warning, to scream for Hitoshi to run, but he could only rail against the barrier inside his mind that kept him a passenger.
Hotoshi must have seen something in his eyes, because he jumped backwards just in time to dodge a black tendril that speared the concrete where he had just been standing.
Izuku was jerked forward as more and more tendrils began spearing for Hitoshi, the unearthly howl accompanying every narrow miss.
"Shit!" Hitoshi yelled as a tendril grazed his shoulder, drawing blood.
As if a predator sensing blood, Blackwhip's attacks became frenzied. Concrete was exploding as spears of black missed Hitoshi by a hair's breadth.
Hitoshi was so occupied with dodging backwards that he didn't realize he had run out of arena.
His foot stepping through air, he fell onto his back in the grass.
Midnight shouted an end to the match.
Izuku jerked forward unwillingly.
A dozen spears of black loomed above Hitoshi.
The spears raced downward, intent on skewering the prone boy.
The tendrils halted inches away from their target and shivering before retreating back into Izuku's body.
Hitoshi had finally released his Quirk.
Izuku was gasping in lungfuls of air as he tried to get his racing heart under control.
"What was *gasp* that!?" Hitoshi, panicked, demanded around a gasp for air, fear still coating his words.
"I *gasp* don't know! I couldn't control *gasp* it while your Quirk was active. Why didn't you end it sooner?" Izuku asked, gasping between a few words as well.
"How *gasp* was I supposed to know that!?"
They sat there trying to calm down for a minute or two in silence. Izuku was trying to wrap his brain around what the hell had just happened. When they had finally calmed themselves enough to get up and walk out of the arena, Izuku had followed Hitoshi. The walk back to the stand was silent and more than a little uncomfortable. When Hitoshi finally spoke, it nearly startled Izuku.
"I understand why you were so angry with Shoto, but hurting him the way you did…"
Izuku's eyes became downcast as he looked at his closed fist. "I'm not proud of hurting him as bad as I did." He sighed. "I can punch through concrete like it was made of Styrofoam, it actually takes a lot of concentration to not put my punch through someone. I've never had a problem controlling my strength until now, but I know it's no excuse. Maybe I should go-"
"It's probably not a good idea to see him now. He's sleeping off Recovery Girl's healing. That, and I'm not sure what it was about, but Endeavor and Ryukyu were there and they were screaming at each other until Recovery Girl kicked them both out. I doubt she'll let anyone in right now," Hitoshi interjected.
They lapsed into silence again for a minute before it was Izuku's turn to break the silence.
"So. Shoto huh? Didn't realize you were on a first name basis with him," Izuku asked, daring to hope to lift the mood.
Hitoshi blushed furiously. "Shut up," he said without any real venom.
XXX
By the time he got back to the seats with Hitoshi, Mei was already gone. Now that he was counting heads, Tokoyami was gone too. A shame, he had been hoping to pick his brain about sentient Quirks. He wondered where he could-
"Oof!" He gasped as the air was knocked from his lungs by a blur of white.
"DADDY IS THE STRONGEST!" Yuki cheered from his waist where she was latched on to and peering up at him, sharp teeth on full display.
He was about to lift the girl up when something collided with the back of his legs, nearly sending him sprawling. Looking back he saw that Eri had attempted her own tackle but only made it part way up his legs with her jump.
"Papa always wins!" Eri said excitedly, yet far more subdued than her sister.
Laughing, stooping, and twisting awkwardly, he scooped his girls up so they both sat on his forearms giggling.
Izuku was euphoric as he found a seat next to Himiko and Ochako.
"What happened out there?" Rumi questioned even as she tousled Yuki's and Eri's hair a little too roughly, their hair a total mess now.
"Ya had me worryin'," Ochako added, her warm brown eyes filled with the mentioned emotion.
He adjusted his squirming daughters before responding.
Searching within him for anything amiss and finding nothing, he let a single tendril of Blackwhip out from his open palm. "It seems Blackwhip is more sentient than I thought and being under Hitoshi's Quirk allowed it to run loose. I'm only guessing, but I think it fed off my anger with Todoroki."
Before either could respond, Mei took the field.
"Fight!"
As quick as ever, Mei fired her pistol from the hip only for the round to splat against Itsuka's massive palm that was shielding her normal sized body.
Itsuka's huge hand tensed and spasmed again and again as Mei unleashed rapid fire shots.
The instant Mei paused to reload after a dozen shots, Itsuka made her move.
Mei was just slotting the fresh magazine in with quick and sure movements when Itsuka reached her full height of twenty feet.
Mei didn't seem keen on sticking around on the ground as she leaped into the air, plasma thrusters flaring.
Itsuka turned her back to Mei as she opened fire again. The giant redhead was shuddering from the blows and electricity of the Electrogel rounds, but she didn't go down. She did however, bend down and place a hand on the ground, perhaps to keep herself upright.
It was a testament to her durability that Itsuka could take that many rounds. The rounds traveling at several times the speed of sound would splatter when they struck, transferring all of their kinetic energy in an instant. If that wasn't enough, the rounds splattering would cause their components to mix. The resulting chemical reaction was instantaneous and produced an electronic charge on par with a stun gun.
Mei paused to reload.
Itsuka whirled with what looked like a giant fistfull of crushed concrete from the arena floor.
She threw.
"Flak Cannon!"
Izuku could feel Bakugou's temper flare.
The spread shot of concrete, that varied from golf ball to softball in size, whistled through the air like so many bullets. Mei tried to dodge as her Mei-flies swarmed to intercept the debri, but the debri was simply too large, too many, and traveling too fast. The impromptu flak hit Mei like a rockslide, chunks of concrete battering her mid air. Like a bird being shot from the sky, Mei fell from at least a hundred feet up, her thrusters mangled and unable to keep her aloft. The thrusters sputtered out as Mei began to fall limply, the concrete of the arena racing up to meet her.
Izuku was pushing his daughters onto the laps of Ochako and Rumi and was a moment away from rocketing out of the stands when Itsuka jumped fifty feet into the air and caught Mei in her open palms. She landed gracefully despite the boom and gently lowered Mei's unmoving form to the grass outside the arena's edge.
"Kendo wins!" Midnight announced.
Present Mic took no time in announcing, "Next up is the championship bout; Kendo Itsuka of 1-B VERSUS Midoriya Izuku of 1-A! The fight will take place in fifteen minutes so stretch out those legs, grab a snack and get ready for a throw down between two powerhouses!"
Izuku stood, he needed to make sure Mei was alright.
XXX
Mei blinked her eyes open only to close them, the harsh glare of fluorescent lights making her head pound. Groaning, she fumbled for her welding goggles.
They weren't there….
If someone stole them she was going to go full inquisition on their ass.
The glaring light softened then, so she tried opening her eyes again. Slowly.
Izuku's worried face was hovering over her and he wasn't alone. Tsu, Rumi, Ochako, Nejire, Himiko, and even Momo were there. Not directly above her, but still near enough to see peeking between bodies was Mina, Kyoka, and Toru. Glancing down, she could see Yuki and Eri laying on her stomach, their arms pressing themselves up to look at her better.
She couldn't help but smile in the way some people had said made her look crazy. They weren't entirely wrong after all, she was definitely crazy for these people.
Izuku's glowing hand pressed to her forehead as Momo placed a newly made thermometer in her ear.
Her headache ebbed.
XXX
Izuku breathed a sigh of relief when Mei smiled. She was only out for ten minutes and had a clear bill of health from Recovery Girl, but he was more than a little worried when he saw the state of her armor.
Pieces were bent, joints were locked up, some sections had even been sheared off entirely. If it wasn't for the layer of kinetic absorption gel that doubled as an insulator against her suit's electricity, she might have been seriously hurt.
It took a combined effort from himself, Momo, Rumi, and Himiko to get the mangled armor off of her. He had never been more glad for their late nights helping Mei in her workshop. It was a small surprise that Momo seemed so familiar with the armor, though it probably shouldn't have been since she had helped repair it earlier.
"How are you feeling?" Momo asked as she checked her temperature.
Mei hummed happily at all the attention. "Great," she said through curved lips.
"You're not upset about losing, or the damage to your armor?" Nejire asked as she brushed Mei's pink dreadlocks behind a reddening ear.
"Some field tests end in failure! Nothing wrong with that! Besides, now I get to make my armor even BETTER!" Mei cheered.
Izuku rolled his eyes with fondness, he loved her attitude when it came to obstacles. To her, a failure was nothing more than an opportunity to learn from and a necessary step in achieving anything worthwhile. It's what he loved most about her.
Momo cleared her throat and squared her shoulders. "I have been reading some books you recommended about 'Warhammer 40k' and I may have a few ideas on how to improve your armor. That is, if you wish for my assistance."
The emotion that sparked off Momo was full of potential energy and seeking a target. It was like the hopeful, nervous energy of someone asking a crush to a dance.
Mei began vibrating, literally, setting Yuki and Eri giggling atop her.
"YYYYESSSSSS!"
The curtain flew open to reveal an irate Recovery Girl.
"OUT!"
XXX
Fuyumi sighed.
She was seated in a box seat, a privilege of being married to a top ten Hero.
Her twins, Mika and Rin were play wrestling on the floor in a heap of tangled limbs.
Her wife, Ryuko, was seated to her left and was currently watching their girls.
"Hey!" Ryuko snapped. "No biting."
The whelps didn't stop wrestling for even a second, but she no longer saw flashes of teeth.
Next to her was a very tired looking Shoto that had just explained why Midoriya had seemed so upset. At first, she had been livid that Shoto was hurt so badly and had asked why Midoriya hadn't gotten in trouble. Ryuko had answered her question by asking one of her own. What was she expecting to happen when someone like the boy that sprouted swords, Kamakiri, inevitably used their Quirk on an opponent? The answer was simple, violence of this level was to be expected.
Fuyumi sighed again.
"I never should have left you home alone with Dad…"
Ryuko turned to her sharply. "You were the only one trying to hold your family together. I saw what it was doing to you."
"Shoto thought I abandoned him," Fuyumi countered, her shoulders sagging with the guilt she felt.
"I didn't-" Shoto tried to say.
"You might not have said it so directly, but that's what you meant even if you didn't fully understand." Fuyumi interrupted.
Something was wet on her cheek.
Great, now she was crying.
"Love," Ryuko said softly. "We cleared up that misunderstanding when Shoto stayed with us. You can't keep trying to blame yourself."
The three sat in silence while Fuyumi gathered herself. Well, near silence. Rin and Mika were still wrestling, little grunts, snarls, and snapping of teeth filling the private box seats.
"I said no biting!" Ryuko growled.
The snapping of teeth stopped.
"What should I do?" Shoto asked, his eyes locked on his nieces.
"What do you think you should do?" Fuyumi asked. She might have just told her brother how he felt, but she didn't exactly want to tell him what to do and feel if she could avoid it.
Shoto stayed silent for a long while, his eyes never leaving the wrestling forms of his nieces.
"Apologize," he finally said.
Ryuko spoke up before Fuyumi could.
"Better make it a good one. If someone did what you did, but to your sister? I'd eat them. Literally."
Fuyumi slapped her wife in the stomach.
"What!?" Ryuko asked. "I'm just being honest," she protested.
Shoto smiled. It was a small thing, barely an upwards twitch of his lips, but from him it was shocking enough for his sister and sister in law to stop mid bicker.
XXX
Izuku found himself standing across from Kendo, the roar of the crowd louder than it had been at any point before.
"Midoriya, are you ready?" Midnight asked.
He nodded.
"Kendo, are you ready?"
Kendo nodded.
Midnight snapped her flogger. "FIGHT!"
Black Cowl at 40% snapped into place like a second skin. Activating Float, he flew forward to meet Kendo at her level, the woman already at her full height and charging.
The two clashed with the force of tectonic plates shifting. His fist was pressed into Kendo's palm and her rising knee was stopped dead with Izuku's free arm.
Kendo grunted. "Maybe you can actually handle me at full strength?"
Izuku half laughed, half grunted. "Bring it on."
Kendo's knee retreated as her free hand came blurring forward, causing time to slow. The fist was so damn big that Izuku nearly had to jump away in order to dodge it. He countered with a punch to Kendo's solar plexus, causing the redhead to gasp.
Each blow was stronger than the last as they began to gradually stop holding back their full power. The ground beneath them jumped as they began an exchange of blows that could level buildings and split the earth. Time ceased meaning as the exchange went on for what felt like an eternity.
Beginning to flag, Izuku caught a jab to his everything that was so fast he was pretty sure he heard a sonic boom. The hit had hit him at a downward angle, causing him to be buried under nearly a foot of concrete.
He exploded from the rubble, the dust flying free from him as he spat blood from his mouth.
"My dad is watching right now!" Kendo roared as she swung a tree trunk sized leg at Izuku. "I won't disappoint him!"
Izuku grabbed the huge leg and, using its momentum, swung its owner into the ground. Kendo gasped as the air was knocked from her lungs, but recovered frighteningly fast and was back on her feet with a quick Kip Up that shook the ground.
Kendo was as strong if not stronger than him, but her size made her movements somewhat predictable with the added aid of Danger Sense. There was another downside to her size. Izuku's punches were a lot of force in a small area.
He landed a resounding hit to Kendo's liver, causing her to curl in on herself. That was a reaction no amount of training could curb.
"If there's anything I know about your father, it's that he'll always be proud of you!" He yelled as he flew in for the finishing blow.
His fist collided with a boom to the underside of Itsuka's jaw in an uppercut that managed to actually lift the titan off her feet. She was out cold by the time she crashed to the ground of the arena. He realized then that the raised concrete arena was nearly completely destroyed with patches of dirt poking through from underneath.
"MIDORIYA WINS!"
There was for only a moment before the stands came alive with thunderous applause and cheers. Izuku raised his fist in victory and he took it all in.
He had won.
He had shown the world that he was HERE.
XXX
In a poorly lit room, a man with only scar tissue for a face hummed to himself. The many tubes connected to him jostled and the machines keeping him alive hummed. The Quirk he used in lieu of eyes to see screens had just shown him something truly surprising, and he was not oft surprised. Those Quirks the 'Midoriya' child had used; he recognized them.
"You see, Sensei," His pupil said through a speaker on the television. "None of their Quirks match what we got from the files we stole. Then there's the bastard that cost me an arm, he's like a secret boss showing up while you're farming mobs for xp."
All For One held back a sigh. Tomura was exceptionally gifted in both strategy and cruelty, but his vernacular was something he would never grow fully accustomed to.
All For One spoke, his every word filled with power. "I can certainly see how things went awry now. Worry not Young Tomura, I have a lesson for you."
"Yes, Sensei," Tomura dutifully replied.
"If your enemy is too strong to attack directly, then attack something they hold dear," All For One said, smiling wide as he watched Midoriya accept his gold medal.
"Besiege Wei to rescue Zhao, the second stratagem," Tomura said, before trailing off. "What does he hold dear?"
All For One's smile grew as he watched Midoriya be swarmed by women and two children.
"Look, and see," He instructed.
Tomura began laughing before he cut the call.
The good doctor wrung his hands together, an annoying gesture he usually did when waiting for permission to speak.
"Yes?"
"Is that him?"
"I believe so…the one that got away."