Chapter 3
It had been a fairly quiet day when Izuku finished up his afternoon patrol, at least for him. Whether it was having to deal with a bunch of low level crimes like stopping a mugger or a bike thief, or doing something as simple as help a lady carry her groceries to her car or keep a kid from getting hit by a car, he knew how to keep himself busy right down to when he closed up the agency for the night. When he saw someone in trouble, he just couldn't stand idly by while there were people in need of help. So naturally, when he saw the crowd of people gathered outside of the subway, he got curious and went in to investigate.
Judging from the unusual multitude of people wearing disgruntled faces, this had to be more than just rush hour chaos. Something must have happened on the subway- that was what his gut was telling him. Had someone jumped or was it something else? Sad as it was, it wasn't unusual for someone to end up on the tracks, either from getting pushed or trying to commit suicide. Cop cars on the street were pulled over on the street closest to the train station for crowd control as he ran over to the closest officer and saw a telltale sign of blonde hair with a black lightning bolt streak instead called out, "Kaminari!"
The stun-gun hero looked over from his previous conversation and greeted Izuku with a stunned yet pleased smile, "Hey, Deku, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be back at the office?"
"I saw the crowd, so I thought I could be of some help." The stun-gun rolled his eyes and gave Izuku a knowing smirk.
"Of course you did. Man, you work too hard. You're going to make the rest of us look bad in comparison."
"So what's the situation?"
"The power's been cut for the Dantooin Station's subway transformer, so all the trains connected to it have been stalled until the power's been restored. The regular engineers they have on staff haven't really been able to figure out what's wrong with it for a couple hours now, so they called me in to perform a little electrical maintenance."
"Well, do you need any help? I can at least evacuate the remaining passengers stuck inside the tunnels. They have to be really uncomfortable sitting in those train cars for so long."
"Are you sure? You don't have to go out of your way to do this. No one can really move any of the cars further inside the track without directions from the operators so they're just kinda sitting tight while everyone tries to get this figured out, and they'll all move again once the power's back on anyways."
"I'm positive, and besides Hatsume added a few new features to my costume that might be a big help down there."
"Well if you're sure, I know we'd love the help. Seriously though, Midoriya, you need to consider taking a vacation once in awhile with all the overtime you've been clocking in."
"I'll worry about that after I get everyone out. Like All-Might would say, 'a hero's work is never done,'" Izuku then placed his respirator over his face and fastened it around his cowl. "Keep your comm link on and keep me updated on your progress."
"Okay. Good luck out there."
"Thanks. You too." And with that, Izuku took off for the tunnels. Pulling a mask over his face, he activated the night-vision scope part of his eye gear once he was on the subway station platform and crouched down once he got a good enough visual. Sparks of energy leapt off of him as carmine veins indicating One for All shimmered up his body, displacing the energy until it was his Full Cowling move. Then he leapt forward, creating a small gust of wind that helped push the evening humidity away for a few seconds. Knowing to avoid the third rail on the off-chance the power came back on while he was on the tracks, Izuku moved in towards his target at a brisk yet cautious pace until the first stranded train was just a few clicks away. The lights in the cars were mostly off, illuminated only by emergency lights and the ones shimmering individually from the passengers' smartphones. The tunnel had to be about eighty degrees. With as many people as there were on the subway lines at rush hour, they had to be cooking in those cars. Once he was close enough to the end car door, he knocked gently on the glass and waved at the conductor, who appeared startled by the sudden light knock.
"Don't be afraid. I'm here to help," Izuku greeted amiably before removing his cowl and respirator from his face to reveal a friendly smile.
"It's Deku!" the conductor gasped, causing many of the passengers behind him to echo similar responses. "Thank goodness you're here! I've been trying to contact the train operators for ages, but they haven't responded to my calls."
That's strange. Even in a blackout, communication should still be open with the operators. There would have been a protocol for that... Izuku thought with a thoughtful expression. "Anything else I should know? How do you have lights if there's no power?"
"We have minimal power thanks to the batteries on individual cars, but they've already been depleted on some parts of the train. The A/C is tapped into the external power, so all we really have is lights and communications. I've tried to keep the passengers as calm as possible in the meantime and just follow protocol." Concerned citizens behind the middle-aged conductor began talking over him as they pushed forward.
"Is everything outside going okay?"
"Is the power outage only affecting us or is it more widespread?"
"Are we going to be moving soon?"
"How much longer are we going to be stuck down here?"
"Is this the result of a villain attack?"
Understanding their discomfort, Izuku raised his voice slightly and adapted it to the professional tone he had established over the years in training for rescue missions. "We're doing all we can to get you guys moving again. I can't say for certain what's causing the blackout, but that's why I am here. I'm here to give you guys a lift to the station and hopefully get this whole mess straightened out," he gave them all a smile he hoped was comforting and addressed the conductor again, "In the meantime, does anyone require first aid?"
"Not that I'm aware of, but it's not like I can leave to go through all of the cars to check. The whole train is over one hundred and fifty meters long, and I need to be in the front if the train operators try and contact me."
"Okay then, I'm going to check the other cars real quick and see if anyone requires assistance. After that, then let's see if we can get this train moving again." He pulled his cowl back over his face to reactivate the night-vision scopes, jumping from in-between the train and tunnel in small bounds to check the other nine cars and inform them of the situation. Gratefully, no one seemed to sustain any major injuries. There was some mild dehydration, but no one appeared to be reaching levels of heat stroke yet. Izuku was thankful that it had not been summer when this all had happened. He touched the earpiece on his right ear and spoke into the mic. "Hey Kaminari, this is Deku. How's the situation with restoring the power?"
"Still working on it. Whoever or whatever did this turned the whole power grid into Swiss cheese. It's like some horror movie monster came in and gutted the whole system. "
"So you think a villain caused it," Izuku said as more of a statement. He'd had a hunch that a Quirk had been involved, but he still hoped it had been wrong.
"Possibly. Can't Stop Twinkling and Kira-Kira were assisting bystanders in the blackout by providing some emergency lights when Aoyama found them unconscious in the control room. They're attending to them right now, but so far no one has found any assailants. It could still be the result of a power failure or a gas leak of some kind, but I wouldn't rule it out yet. Just because we haven't seen any action doesn't mean there won't be any."
"Alright. Keep me posted if you get any new updates. I'm going to move the first set of cars and see where we'll go from there." Izuku turned off the comm and leapt back to the front car, resuming his amiable facade for the sake of the passengers. "Okay, it looks like we're good to go. Now once we get moving towards the train station, just use your breaks like you normally would if you had power. Got it?" The conductor nodded in affirmation and Izuku leapt off the side of the car and stood readily in front of the train.
Time to put all of that extra training to work. I hope it will be enough... Izuku took a deep breathe once he was lined up with the front car and fired up his Quirk. Once he displaced enough of One for All's energy, he lifted his arms so they were level with his shoulders as the backs of his air-force gauntlets cocked forward, revealing small openings in the knuckles as he went into the next stage of his plan. Dark tendrils of energy mostly unseen in the darkness shot out from his clenched fists as he activated Blackwhip and began wrapping them around the front car, paying particular attention to the coupling hook. He then flipped himself around so that he was facing away from the train and let the impetus lassos bend over his shoulders like he was wearing the straps of a harness and pulled.
He could feel the tension in his arms building as he towed the train car- his tendons and muscle fibers were not as bad as they once were but still underutilized -using them as mere tethers rather than acting pulleys as his legs pushed himself forward. Gratefully, his reinforced arm braces did their job and gave him some support. One step, then another, the slackness in the subway train's ten cars gradually going taut as he began putting his back into it. Once he felt the weight of all ten cars and no more resistance, Izuku began to pick up the pace and unleashed his Full Cowling at eight percent then ten percent. By the time he had gotten to fifteen percent, he had it so that he could comfortably do a brisk jog with the train pulling behind him like he was doing endurance training with a pack of rocks or hauling trash away in his early training on Takoba Beach, hardly the scenario he would have imagined for himself nine years ago.
A chorus of muted cheers erupted behind him in the sealed train car, only growing in volume with the echo of the tunnel and the growing proximity of their destination. It was a mere matter of minutes until he had the front car lined up with the station platform and he began lessening his speed in tandem with the conductor, who applied the breaks until it came to a complete stop. Citizens began pouring out of the front car in droves, the connecting doors between cars having been manually pried open for escape as everyone began trekking through car after car until they had reached the front exit.
Not giving himself time to stick around for the praise, Izuku left the evacuation of citizens to the police as he dove back onto the tracks and tugged the subway into a turn-around as his goggles fed him directions of the subway blueprints. He had to give it to Hatsume. She really did a number on his costume upgrades, going above and beyond his requests for alterations. Activating his Quirk once more, he sprinted forward at a higher speed than before, utilizing it at about thirty percent, and went back for the next set of train cars and repeated the process. He had to be pretty far down the tunnels, almost clear to the next train station where Kaminari was trying to reestablish power. He trusted that his comm would still have a wide enough range to reach him, even this far underground.
Izuku was tugging the next set of train cars to the darkened train station when he noticed something obstructing his path, a lone figure standing in the center of the tracks. Acting quickly, Izuku released Blackwhip attached to the right side of the train and threw it forward to wrap itself around the figure and pull them out of harm's way. "Hang on! I've got you!" Izuku reassured the man who he identified with his night-vision goggles to be an employee of the Tokyo Metro, judging from the jumpsuit. In his haste to save the civilian, Izuku had failed to notify the conductor in time to brake for the train platform and as a result, the train was almost at its goal at a rapid speed. Past the point of no return, the new Symbol of Peace redistributed Blackwhip's hold and instead used it to grab the various pipes that ran through the ceiling and sides of the tunnel. His arms snapped back, feeling the full strain of his actions as he pulled the train to a sudden stop, applying more pressure and tightening his grip each time he felt the transfer of motion from each car pushing against itself.
Exhaustion from work, training, and unusual sleep hours had run him down, his arms ached from the strain, utilizing so many muscles that his arms weren't accustomed to, but he had dealt with worse than this. He would be sore the next morning, that he had no doubt. Finally, the train stopped and Izuku could breathe again. Releasing Blackwhip with a sigh, he turned to the bystander and kneeled in front of him.
"That was a close one. Are you alright-" Izuku looked down at the name-tag sewn onto the man's left breast pocket. "-Diron?" Diron didn't respond, his expression vacant and eyes glazed over. "Diron, can you hear me?" He asked him again. No response. Izuku's eyes widened as he noticed the angry burn marks on Diron's exposed chest and torso, his hands dealing with the worst of it. "Those look pretty painful. We should treat those before they get worse." Izuku began going for the pouch on his belt containing his first-aid supplies when a bloodied palm grasped onto his wrist.
"Diron... that's the name of a weakling..." Diron grumbled, finally coming out of his haze as his electric-blue eyes narrowed at the hero in a way that made Izuku shiver. "I... am... not... WEAK!" Seeing the punch come a mile away, Izuku tugged his hand out of the iron grip and dodged, forcing the man back as the concrete floor around them was pulverized. Getting into a fighting stance, Izuku watched cautiously as Diron stood up from the dust cloud. His hands, already bloody from the third degree burns and missing or torn fingernails, now had skinned and bruised knuckles to boot. Izuku's thoughts quickly pieced various scenarios together from the injuries until a dawning realization hit him.
"You... you caused the blackout!" Izuku exclaimed and Diron gave him a dark chuckle.
"All that power in such a small package... just waiting to be used. Those bastards who pass me by every day... don't deserve such luxuries like cheap public transportation."
"Why are you doing this!?" Izuku asked, hoping that there was some way to reason with him.
"Payback... to all of those who looked down on me like I was nothing! Then they'll know what it's like to feel helpless!" He motioned like he was about to charge the group of people pouring out of the front subway car before Izuku blocked his path.
"I won't let you hurt innocent people, Diron!"
"STOP CALLING ME THAT! I am Power-Socket, and those people you're blindly protecting are all guilty! Every single damned one of them-!" Two silver discs interrupted Diron mid-sentence as they stuck themselves in the wall right in-between where him and Izuku were.
"Sharpshooter, 1.3 Million Volts!" a voice called out as bolt of electricity shot through the air towards the discs right through Diron's torso. The man lowered the finger gun he was displaying along with the device attached to his arm that resembled a portable clay pigeon thrower, giving off the appearance of a punk rock star with his wild blonde hair and black leather jacket. He was sight for sore eyes. "Man, that guy just wouldn't shut up. What is it with bad guys and monologues?"
"Kaminar- I mean, Chargebolt!" Izuku exclaimed. "Good timing. What are you doing here?"
"I overheard the commotion from where I was working and saw the sparks from your Quirk. I figured you could use a helping hand, even if you didn't reach out on the comms." The blonde rubbed the back of his neck, a few stray static shocks rippling through his hair. "So this is the guy, huh? Certainly doesn't look like much of a threat-" Suddenly, a punch threw itself through the cloud of dust towards the electric hero before Izuku pulled him out of the way. The villain who called himself Power-Socket let out a boisterous chuckle, clenching his fists and flexing his engorged biceps that were now twice the size he had been earlier.
"This power is amazing!" Power-Socket said with a certain manic look in his eye as his muscles went from burly to ripped. "Now that my body has absorbed enough electricity, I have enough strength that I can take on even All Might himself!"
"What the hell? This guy can fry himself on one million volts of electricity and still function!?" Kaminari said after recovering from the abrupt save via Izuku, "Man, I'll admit, I'm a little jealous."
"We can't underestimate him, and we still have to evacuate all of the passengers on the train. I'll hold him back while you get everyone to safety."
"Well, I'm basically useless in this fight if all I do is power up the bad guy, so sure why not? I mean, that is why I'm still basically a sidekick after all," Chargebolt shrugged with a sarcastic sigh and rubbed his palms together. "Okay then, let's shed some light on the situation." The friction and the energy of his Electrification Quirk in his palms began generating a series of small, continuous sparks that manifested into ball lightning that partially lit up the dark train station. "Special Move: Static Sparklers!" The eyes of the citizens who were petrified from the darkness and sudden altercation were now on him and his flashy Quirk. "Everyone follow me and my light. I'll make sure you get out of here safe!"
Izuku's verdant stare hadn't left his opponent even after being temporarily blinded by the sudden light that messed with his night-vision goggles. A few seconds of blinking back the spots that clouded his vision, he noticed Power-Socket was no longer in front of him. "No you don't!" Izuku declared as Power-Socket rushed in towards the stun-gun hero for another power up before knocking his opponent back with a solid kick to the torso. The force the impact caused the wall to splinter behind him- but not break since they were still underground and Izuku didn't want to do too much last damage to the infrastructure. The hero then aimed the gauntlet on his hand, the dark impetus coming out from the knuckles as they extended and bound themselves around their target in a vice-grip, pinning the villain to the wall. Got him.
Then Pocket-Socket let out a frustrated roar and tore through the binding like it was paper, causing pain to shoot up to Izuku's shoulders like he had hit his funny bone. What!? Blackwhip isn't strong enough to keep this guy contained?! That can't be right! It should have held. It always held before! Then Izuku thought back to his arms and the extra weight training he had done last night and understood.
He couldn't risk using Blackwhip to restrain him again. The more Power-Socket tore it apart, the less effective it was in holding his target. He could feel the numbing pain in his arms as he clenched his fists to control the direction of the energy strands, his muscles acting like were being torn from the outside. He probably only had three more uses of it today before it would start causing serious injury to himself. He had almost fully mastered the power of One for All, but his arms... He mentally shook that thought away. No. He needed to focus on what he could do right now. It didn't matter if his arms weren't quite up to the task yet, and so far the villain still hadn't landed a hit on him yet.
Instead of trying to restrain him, Izuku utilized the Quirk to fling him outside into a more open area, since he was already near the exit, while simultaneously using his Full-Cowling to to drag him outside at breakneck speeds. He tore out of his grip seconds after the dark lariats had flung him into the ground once they were in a roped off area clear of citizens and police. From all of his talk from earlier, this guy seemed real eager to make a fuss. He wouldn't be surprised at all if the villain decided to take hostages, and with the large crowd of people gathered on the outskirts of the fight, he would have prime targets to choose from.
Alright then. I guess I'll have to make it so that he can't move! He began leaping off the side of the buildings and began landing precise kicks and punches so fast that it looked like the villain was stumbling in a drunken stupor. Float would have been effective, but it wasn't a fast Quirk, not like his One for All, Full-Cowling move. Hitting Power-Socket was like trying to punch through a brick-wall, but he had endured far worse and his Air-Force gloves and iron soles helped give him some armor against the hardened flesh. After a few more hits, the villain looked like he was about to fall over as he bent one knee to the ground when Izuku delivered the final blow.
"Shoot Style: St. Louis SMASH!" A sudden burst of wind blew through the air, the sound of flesh smacking against bone as his heel connected with Power-Socket's jaw and sent him hurtling down to the ground, creating a small crater underneath them. Power-Socket let out a soft groan as he struggled to stand. Blood from superficial cuts on his head were now pouring down the side of his face.
"Stay down," Izuku ordered in earnest, knowing from the inexperience of his punches and appearance that his opponent had been beaten. "You're badly hurt, even if you don't realize it yet. You absorb electricity with your Quirk and use it to stimulate muscle growth, but you're not immune to the pain or drawbacks from being electrocuted. Judging by those burns of yours, you should be in excruciating pain right now, but the electricity and adrenaline you're feeling is making you numb to it."
"Don't you dare... pity me, hero!" the villain spat, his words laced with ferocity and hatred as sweat poured down his face, "DON'T YOU DARE LOOK DOWN ON ME!" Izuku prepared himself for another attack as Power-Socket charged forward- then the adrenaline wore off, and his opponent collapsed on the ground in an anti-climatic fashion.
The crowd behind Izuku cheered as he stood victorious over his opponent with no visible injuries. He pulled back his mask and let out a sigh, running his hand through his sweat soaked hair. Once they were sure Diron was down for the count, the police swarmed the scene and placed Quirk-inhibiting handcuffs on the unconscious villain and hauled him away towards the police vans gathered outside. A sudden clap on the back alerted Izuku to Kaminari's precense as he gave his congratulations.
"Great job taking down the villain, Deku. I was basically useless in that fight, but you took him down like it was nothing."
"Not at all. If you hadn't fired those discs of yours like you did, I would have never figured out what his Quirk was and we would have been in real trouble," Izuku smiled modestly, "and besides, your Static Sparkler move made it easy for citizens to see and evacuate quickly, and that was after you were trying to help restore power. You didn't even short out this time."
"Well, I've got enough juice to charge more than just phones," Kaminari smirked confidently, gearing up his sharpshooting brackets on his arms. "I can handle plenty of amps thanks to all the training with Kyoka, but I still end up being a bit numb afterwards."
"That's great-" Izuku began before noticing something in the corner of his eye and lifted a finger. "Can you hold on for just a second?" The stun-gun hero watched as Izuku jogged over to the EMTs and law enforcement that were currently hauling Power-Socket away on a gurney. "Hey, you're probably already aware, but this man, Makkusu Diron, has some serious electrical burns and possible nerve damage. I noticed he got slower the longer the fight dragged on and less control of his limbs. I tried to avoid hitting his major injuries during the fight, but he needs some serious medical attention. Can you see to it that he gets it?"
"Certainly, Mr. Deku. We'll make sure this guy gets all the treatment he requires," one of the EMTs confirmed as he was aided by others. Izuku bowed politely in gratitude.
"Thank you."
Kaminari let his jaw drop slightly as he watched the police cars pull away. Even when fighting a villain, Deku still thought about others, including the villain's own feelings and pain.
Author's Note: Just realized that with Deku's costume upgrades, I might have accidentally turned him into the MCU's Spider-Man, but let's face it, it was bound to happen eventually since Izuku was already considering adding night-vision goggles to his costume (probably hesitating on it due to the cost of the upgrade being above the allowance allowed for student hero costumes), plus Horikoshi based Deku largely off of Spider-Man, so it works. Speaking of which, references for today include Takoba (Dagobah) and Max Dillon aka Electro from Spiderman.
Sidenote, Japan, you are SO confusing to navigate with your prefectures and wards and cities and districts! UGH! Horikoshi, you couldn't have drawn me a map of your universe so I know where the hell everything is? How is Shibuya a city AND a ward? The scale of this universe is insane!
Hero/Villain Profiles
Name: Makkusu Diron
Villain Name: Power-Socket
Quirk: EMS
His Quirk allows him to bulk up anytime he receives an electric shock. The more electricity he absorbs, the stronger he becomes. However, the effects are temporary and do not erase the actual damage done by electrocution. It is also possible that overusing his Quirk dehydrates him and can cause massive cramps.
