The Corus City skyline was, as voted on by , one of the least interesting skylines in the western provinces. One reviewer described them as 'borderline somnambule', to which another accused that first reviewer of being 'pretentious.' Today however, had someone dared to peer out of their curtains and look toward the only notable landmark - The Corus Radio Centre - they would have seen a new addition to the dull view.

Situated at the summit stood the skinny, skeletal Toshinori Yagi, looking windswept and interesting, and altogether unphased by the dangerous situation he had put himself in. Despite his new frame, Toshinori had spent far too many years with a body built like a bomb shelter. He knew how to stand, the exact way to position his feet, how to lean slightly toward the wind and how to look good doing it. Toshinori Yagi could stay upright in a hurricane.

Shota Aizawa on the other hand, could not. Just below Yagi, Aizawa clung on for dear life to the tower's lattice of beams. "Did you drag me up here to kill me?!" He yelled through the roaring winds.

Yagi chuckled to himself lightly, quite enjoying the spectacle he had placed the other man in. "Nice place for a chat, wouldn't you agree?" His voice was even, though loud. As well as maintaining his All Might-esque stance, Yagi could still maintain that boisterous projection. Feeling as though Shota had had enough, in an instant he reverted to his larger form, grabbed him, and landed on the rooftop overlooking the province.

His knuckles turning white, Aizawa kept a firm grip of the railing and waited for his stomach to catch up.

"Never thought you'd be afraid of heights." Yagi pointedly said, "I seem to recall you leaping off a fair few buildings."

"It's not the height of the building I have issue with, it's being taken to the top of one without my consent." Aizawa shot a fierce look from through his unkempt mop of hair, now even more dishevelled.

With a laugh, Yagi patted him on the shoulder twice. "I'll take you to the top of the television centre one day. Now that's a view."

"I'd rather you didn't…" Aizawa looked toward the ground from the railing, no doubt calculating the quickest way down, before he frowned and turned to his companion. "Going to explain all of this?"

"Maybe," Yagi stretched and folded his hands behind his head. "You're going to explain some things to me first, though."

"So it's coercion?"

"I prefer to think of it as…" Yagi paused and thought about it for a moment. "Hm, no, no you're right. It's coercion. I want a real, proper answer to what I asked you earlier. Why did you become a teacher? And more importantly, …What happened?"

Aizawa rubbed his hands together in the increasing cold, "You're not going to let this go, are you?"

"One of the marks of a hero, Eraserhead. Persistence."

With a resigned exhalation, Aizawa answered. "I was telling the truth before, I became a teacher because I thought it was a necessary thing for me to do."

The choice of words wasn't lost on the veteran hero, "You thought it was?"

"I thought I needed to do it because of Oboro. You probably don't remember him,"

All Might cut him off with a solemn expression, "Oboro Shirakumo. I remember, killed by the villain Garvey. I'm not like a lot of heroes, Aizawa, I have a death toll. All the people I failed to save."

Those words raised Yagi's status in Aizawa's mind. "Oboro wasn't prepared, we hadn't been taught to be. Not enough." Eraserhead kept his gaze fixed on the distant skyline.

"I see, that's the necessity, preparing the students for the harsh realities of life."

He nodded, "I became a teacher to make sure that wouldn't happen to anyone else…" Aizawa finally turned to look at Yagi with a half-smile, "Imagine my surprise when it turned out every other teacher was doing the exact same thing."

"That's the problem, then? You don't feel needed?"

"No, I'm needed. That's not arrogance speaking, it's logical, I have a lot of skills I can impart to the younger generations."

Yagi wasn't sure what to make of this, and frowned. "So what do you mean? Surely UA is the perfect place for you to teach those skills!"

With a shake of his head, Aizawa continued, "I have a lot of skills to teach, but so does everyone else at that school. I'm not that arrogant to think I'm the only one- Don't look at me like that."

Yagi raised his hands in surrender, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry. But you do give off a bit of an arrogant vibe."

"Says the man who wears a bright blue suit and announces his arrival at every opportunity?" Eraser said with a raised eyebrow.

"Point taken. Go on."

Eraserhead settled back into his explanation, "Like I said, we're the top hero school in the country, and I'm not the only pro there. These students have their pick of amazing heroes to work with. I'm not adding anything they don't already have in abundance."

"Is that why you act so disconnected from your students?"

Alongside the weight being lifted from his chest, Aizawa lifted his head and stood straighter. "They don't need me." He said before taking a short stroll around the rooftop, already feeling lighter having said it.

All Might instantly objected, he wanted Aizawa to admit his lack of social skills, he didn't expect a resignation! "You can't possibly know that! You have plenty to teach these kids!"

"You've seen them in training, they're better than I was at their age, and how much of that do you really think came from just me? UA is a group effort." He smirked a little before continuing, "They even learnt some things from you, Yagi."

Yagi ran his fingers through his blonde hair and sighed, "Do you…not think you're contributing enough?"

"Maybe. Maybe not. But do you know what? I think it's time for me to stop."

"Whoa, whoa! Let's be rational, okay!? I swear I just wanted you to reflect on your behaviour at work, I didn't want you to give up teaching!"

Aizawa frowned and looked at him, "I never said anything about quitting teaching."

Dramatically leaning on the railing, Yagi wiped his brow. "Oh, thank goodness…"

"I want to start my own academy." Eraserhead said bluntly.

Teetering on the edge of the rooftop, All Might barely managed to grasp the railing as he coughed up a storm. "Wh-what?! Isn't that a little extreme?!"

Appearing more collected than he had in ages, Eraserhead stretched his arms above his head as though he had just finished a strenuous day's work. "I don't think so. Listen, who do you think needs the help more? The privileged kids in the top hero school with a team of high-ranked heroes on standby, or the ones who didn't get the same chances? That's my plan, Yagi. A school for people who can really benefit from my expertise. Somewhere like that could make a real difference."

Sauntering over to join Yagi by the railing, Eraserhead leaned down with his arms crossed. "This isn't just a spur of the moment idea, you know. I've been thinking about it for years, I've even been scoping out buildings I could renovate. Starting off small to begin with, obviously, but over time, I think it could do some real good."

All Might scrunched his face, attempting to clear the mental fog forming in his mind. "That…is…a…FANTASTIC IDEA!" he finally roared, transforming into his muscular form to emphasise his enthusiasm, only to immediately revert back amid a fit of coughing. "Sure, it's a legal maze, might take years of preparation... But hell! I can handle all of that. I've dealt with worse!"

However, Aizawa shook his head. "I don't need your help, Yagi. I've got this," he stated firmly, a hefty hand resting on his shoulder.

"Shota, trust me on this, It's a hell of a lot more work than you realise."

"You sound like you've done this sort of thing before."

"What, you think the number one hero doesn't have his fingers in a few pies other than UA?" All Might raised an eyebrow, a grin forming on his face. "Half the highschools in the southern islands owe their existence to Might Tower's marketing department! Hmm, I should ring Dave and see if he can assist with some foundational work..." He finished, absentmindedly scratching his neck in contemplation.

"Dave? Who's Dave?"

"Agh!" All Might suddenly leaped back a foot and a half, frantically waving his arms. "F-forget I said anything! It's not important!"

The stern look Aizawa shot back at Yagi made him feel like one of his students. It was futile. With a resigned sigh, Yagi spilled the secret. "David Shield, he's my, uh... Well, he's... Dave's my husband."

Half expecting a shocked outburst, a fainting episode, or the sudden appearance of paparazzi, All Might was met with an unexpectedly casual response. "Oh, alright."

"I'm trusting you with that, Aizawa! There aren't many people who know about us," All Might said, pointing a bony finger at the other man. "So make that two of the biggest secrets in the world you've learned about today."

Aizawa pulled his scarf up further around his face, shoved his hands in his pockets, and replied, "I'm good at secrets. Speaking of which, I think it's your turn to explain…This," he gestured to all of Yagi.

"Sure, I suppose I did promise." With those words, he lifted the side of his shirt to reveal the vicious wound hidden underneath. "I got this a few years ago, a real dangerous villain. The worst of the worst. Think of a villain, any of them, and this guy was a hundred times that. I barely managed to win, and what I got in return was a drastically shortened lifespan and one less stomach… Life's too short, Shota, to not run headfirst straight into your dreams. I asked Dave to marry me after I woke up from my first surgery… That's why I'm going to help you with this, so that you can LIVE YOUR DREAMS!" He finished with another dramatic transformation. "NOW I BELIEVE WE HAVE A VILLAIN TO CATCH!"

Before Aizawa could process what was happening, All Might grabbed him around the waist and leapt off the building.

Inside Recovery Girl's laboratory, the exhausted members of The Brain Brigade felt the weight of the day's events pressing down on them. Despite the weariness that hung in the air, the soft hum and buzz of machinery persisted, a lullaby of progress echoing through the space dedicated to revitalising Izuku Midoriya. Seated at a monitor, Mei fought to stay one of the last awake, her eyes struggling to stay focused as she delved into line after line of code, working tirelessly to aid her friend.

"Mei, it's getting late. Get some sleep," Miki Yamashita, a mug of coffee in hand, gently prodded the girl's shoulder with the blunt end of a screwdriver. "Power Loader said he'll let you wear his helmet if you do."

Mei turned in the seat to look at her friend, who looked almost as tired as she felt. "Did he really say that?"

"No, but I bet we could convince him," Miki replied, her shoulders slumped, and her glasses threatening to slip off her nose. One of the side effects of her quirk's dependence on sleep was that it made her perennially tired, especially if she went too long without a power nap.

"I'm nearly finished, I think…" Mei replied, a little unconvinced. "I've found a way to separate the new files from the originals, but I keep finding new file types which is making things a little more difficult. …Wait, Miki, come here a sec." Frowning, Mei looked straight into her eyes and gently pushed her friend's glasses back up the bridge of her nose, unintentionally missing the growing blush on Miki's face.

"Um, thank you," Miki stammered, feeling flustered. "S-so, you say the job's nearly done?" she continued, hoping to change the subject.

Blinking a few times, as though she was waking up from a trance, Mei pointed at some of the lines of code on the screen. "You see these files we extracted from Deku? Uh, Izuku. Sorry, still confusing. These scrambled lines, they're Izuku's 'original' files, the parts of him that were there before. These ones here, that's what he added later."

Miki leaned forward with a hand resting on Mei's shoulder, "What's that line there?" She asked, pointing to one snippet of code in particular. "Everything else that's not 'Izuku' on the screen is either a program, a document or a picture. That right there," She tapped the screen with her fingernail, "That's a BIOS."

"What? How did I miss that? That doesn't make any sense, I was talking to Izuku about what he did earlier, he said he only downloaded files! nothing like that should have come through!"

With her eyes closed, Miki rested her head on Mei's shoulder and exhaled "Neither of us is getting any sleep, are we?"

"Wait…wait wait wait wait wait" Mei's eyes shot open, an explosion of idea formed in her brain and she was suddenly wide awake, and she began typing furiously, "No way, no no no no, it can't be". Her fingers rapidly moved across the keyboard, executing commands with a precision born from years of practice. Lines of code scrolled down the screen, as Miki watched in confusion.

"Mei, you're going frantic. What are you thinking?" Miki tried to nudge her friend back to reality, but it was no use. She was firmly in the zone.

"If I can get this to open in an editor, translate it into a graphical interface, I might be able to… Hah!" Mei spun in her chair and grabbed Miki's face, "Miki you're a genius!"

Miki tried to answer through a squished face, "I am-?"

"It's his quirk! It's Mechanize! A slither of it, anyway!" Mei's face lit up with the pure joy that only a wild discovery could bring. "Look here, in the editor! What does that look like to you, tell me I'm not just going mad here."

Mei's quick work had paid off, revealing on the screen a complex interface displaying a list of options next to percentage outputs. Duration limits, power outputs, storage capacity, and some that were difficult to decipher.

Gradually, realisation dawned on Miki. She leaned closer to the screen, her eyes widening in disbelief. "... Mei?! Are these his… his settings?! Like, the thing saying how much of his quirk he can use? Oh my, Oh my God Mei! We need to wake everyone up!" She grabbed Mei's arm and shook it, her voice rising in urgency.

"Yeah we do!"

Soon after, a groggy and confused team had been assembled around a meeting table in the corner of the laboratory. Most of the brain brigade was in attendance, Recovery Girl it turned out, was the world's heaviest sleeper and there was no rousing her. Izuku, still in Deku's body, sat cross legged on the table so he could more easily see, sat next to a laptop turned toward Mei and Miki.

"Here's the situation, folks!" Mei announced, clapping her hands. "The system is currently sending all the downloaded files to a secure server inside the school, so good news Izuku, you're getting your body back!"

The feeling of relief across the table was immense, as Power Loader relaxed into his chair and put a hand up against his forehead. Izuku's eyes shifted colour abruptly, and Deku's voice said "You mean this freeloader is getting outta my pad?!"

Miki, on the other hand, looked a little nervous and felt it necessary to pause the celebration. Clearing her throat, she announced, "BUT, and you might want to prepare yourselves for this one,"

Instinctively, Inko grabbed Power Loader's hand, seeking comfort for what could be coming next. "Prepare for what?"

"Nothing is wrong, is it?" Izuku asked, his voice rising in pitch. "Did something go wrong with my brain?!"

Mei waved her hands dismissively, "No, nooo! Nothing like that, don't worry about it. Well I mean sort of like that, but-"

"MEI!" Akari suddenly snapped, pointing a finger and glaring at Mei. "I will unleash an unholy rage upon you, woman!"

Sighing, Miki stepped in to put a stop to the suspense as Mei cowered slightly in the face of Akari Hana. "We found a file, and there's no easier way of putting this so I'll just come right out and say it." She turned to the robot sitting on the table. "We found your settings."

Izuku blinked his robotic eyes with a whirring sound that cut through the confused silence across the table. "My…what?"

The chair creaked as Power Loader leant forward and put both hands behind his neck, as though he was holding down an increasing headache. "Girls, I think you're going to have to explain things a little better than that."

"It's exactly what it sounds like!" With a big grin on her face, Mei spun the laptop screen around to show the rest. She gestured to the onscreen display, and began to explain. "Miki noticed it first, but being the genius I am, I managed to make some sense out of it. Izuku," she said, tapping his metal head with her knuckle, "We can use this to give you full control over Mechanize."

Miki nodded and elaborated. "No limiters, full access to everything you're capable of."

Izuku froze, and for once it wasn't because his current body had no central nervous system. "This… is a lot to take in."

His mother placed a hand on his metal claw, and patted it lightly before addressing Miki and Mei. "I might not know a lot about how quirks work, but this sounds very dangerous…"

"Very." Power Loader said sternly, "Quirks have limits in place for a reason, most human bodies wouldn't be capable of withstanding the strain. We can't all be All Might."

A clicking sound emanated from the robot head as Izuku frowned and looked down toward the table. "Is this… Is this cheating?"

"What do you mean?" Akari asked gently.

"Everyone else had to work hard to understand their quirks, to figure out their own limits… but I can just flick a switch?"

"Technically there isn't a switch, it's more like a dropdown menu that you can- I'll be quiet." Mei relented after seeing the looks she was receiving from around the table.

It was a difficult question to answer for anybody, are people only deserving of doing things easily if they have put the appropriate amount of work in. What is the appropriate amount of work to begin with? Is someone succeeding after 30 years of attempts more deserving of that success than someone 'naturally talented'? Does natural talent even exist? All these thoughts were swimming through Power Loader's head, but the most important question he faced was: how did it apply to Izuku in particular?

"Izuku," he began, trying to affect his most parental tone, "You have to remember, you've been playing catch up. Everyone else your age had ten whole years to understand and develop their own quirks, I don't think anyone would deny you the opportunity to speed things along."

"Higari, are you sure this is wise?!" Inko snapped, "What if there's a reason his quirk took so long to develop? Pushing forward like this could be incredibly dangerous!"

"I don't want Izuku to get hurt again." Akari added, rubbing the backs of her hands.

Mei raised her voice, "But this could stop anything like this from happening again!"

More and more of the table began to argue, raising their voices above one another as Izuku sat quietly, trying to think about what this meant to him. What is the right course of action? Was this unfair? Why would he need to do it in the first place, surely his quirk is fine at this level, he just needs to think more about when to use it, right? And could everyone please just

"BE QUIET." he suddenly yelled, to the abrupt silence of the growing sounds around him. "Be quiet…Please. Mom, I… I understand the concern but, it's like you just said, what if there's a reason my quirk took so long to develop? B-but, what if, there's a reason we found this now? What if this one small aspect of my quirk found its way here because I'm supposed to do this? It's a pretty big coincidence, right?! I-it's just, when I spoke to my quirk, it-"

"Woah woah woah back up a bit," Power Loader interrupted him, closing his eyes and shaking his head. "What do you mean 'when you spoke to your quirk'?"

Izuku suddenly looked very sheepish, even through the emotionless metal face he wore. "Oh. I uh, kinda forgot to bring it up..? It's nothing that important though! My quirk just can sort of…Manifest. Inside my head, as a person. But like, this is what I mean! Mechanize said to me they, it, was staying behind in my head while all the files transferred. So why would this one single part of it be sent across?"

"Izuku…" Akari said softly, but her tone was no less expressive "Please I don't want you to do anything reckless. Not again."

"It'll be okay Akari, I promise you" Izuku began, "if I try just a small percentage. Maybe a 10 or 20% increase in power, the little boost Mechanize wants me to have."

"20% could be so much, though!" She continued to protest.

"I can't know unless I try…"

There was silence around the table as everyone considered his words, until his mother was the first to speak up.

"I suppose, the thing we're missing through all of this is that it's your choice. It's your quirk, sweetie. And whatever you want to do, we'll all try to support you through it."

Mei stood up abruptly from her chair to announce, "And if anyone goes wrong, we just stick you back in the machine and reverse the changes!" She then gingerly sat down again, "if you wanna go through that again, I mean."

"Alright. I think… I think I want to try it. I at least owe myself the opportunity, right?" Izuku then said, with determination. "Do it. Mei! Miki! OVERCLOCK ME!"

His face twitched, and his eye colour changed over to Deku's shade. "HELL YEAH BABY, LETS GET WEIRD!"