Summary: Shinso's quirk is just so fun to think about!
Notes: Art!
. Memes!
X X X X Have a happy and safe Thanskgiving to everyone in the US!
Hitoshi restlessly curled his toes inside his shoes as he tried not to move his head, "Are you guys actually sure this is safe?"
"Of course it is, Extra-Credit-Kun!"
He couldn't see Hatsume and it was honestly kinda freaking him out. He knew his kidnappers wouldn't hurt him on purpose...on accident though was another thing entirely. And wasn't that a comforting thought to have while strapped to a brain scanner.
"Don't worry dearie." Recovery Girl's voice came from the same general area as Hatsume's. "My machines actually work without blowing up."
"Hey, it's part of my creative process!"
"I'll accept that when you and your classmates stop coming to me with burns!"
"Most of them give those burns to themselves." Hatsume insisted sullenly. "Their inventions blow up too."
"Not as much as yours, dearie."
None of this was actually comforting. Recovery Girl may be kind and grandmotherly, but she was honestly just as intimidating as Hatume and Midoriya were in her own way. She'd taken one look at the bags under Hitoshi's eyes and immediately threatened to physically knock him out if he didn't take better care of himself, all while muttering something about almost worse than Aizawa under her breath. It was scary.
"Don't pay any attention to them." Midoriya at least could understand his predicament, considering that he was lying in a machine right next to him. "It's gonna be fine! Recovery Girl, are we ready to start?"
"Yes, dearie, let me just…" there was a concerning pause, "and there! You may begin!"
"Alright, Shinso! Just ask me a question!"
"Why are you all like this?" Hitoshi deadpanned.
"Like wh...?"
Midoriya's voice sounded genuinely confused before Hitoshi took control of him and mentally ran through the commands they had discussed beforehand, "Alright. Blink twice."
He couldn't see Midoriya obeying the command, but he must have because Hatsume made a very interested noise, "Oooh! Which is which?"
"This one is Shinso's and this one here is Midoriya's." Recovery Girl responded. "This is fascinating…"
"Am I good to keep going?" Hitoshi asked.
"Yes!" Hatume yelled. "Do it!"
"Ok…" Hitoshi said hesitantly. "Um...what's your name?"
Midoriya stayed silent.
"Next!" Hatume ordered.
Hitoshi rolled his eyes. He didn't know why both these questions had been on the list, considering that they were the same question, "Tell me your name."
"Izuku Midoriya."
Hitoshi startled, sitting up and staring at Midoriya in shock, half expecting him to have somehow broken free of his control, but no. Midoriya's eyes were still glazed over and empty.
"Bink twice." Hitoshi ordered.
Midoriya blinked.
"What the fuck…" Hitoshi whispered. "I...I can't control upper brain functions! I...he shouldn't be able to answer that! I didn't tell him to say Izuku Midoriya, so he should have stayed silent!"
"You ruined it!" Mei complained as she went and pinched Midoriya's arm. "You weren't supposed to move!"
Hitoshi was too shocked to respond, but Midoriya couldn't shut up as soon as he had control over his mouth again, "I was right! Recovery Girl! Did you get the pictures from that last question?"
"Yes, of course I did, dearie," Recovery Girl sighed and looked sternly at Hitoshi, "Though we're lucky that you didn't move before those were processed. What if they'd blurred? That's why you don't move during brain scans!"
Hitoshi was still just trying to process everything as Midoriya went to go look at the scans, and he may as well have been the one brainwashed judging by how numbly he obeyed when Midoriya waved him over to come look as well.
"Alright, so here's the pictures from our conversation before you activated your quirk." Midoriya pointed to the screens. "When you were talking, your brain lit up like this, and when I was talking, my brain lit up."
Midoriya nodded to Recovery Girl, who pulled up another set of brain pictures, "Now these are the ones from that last experiment. In these two, you're giving the order, but in these, I'm responding. What do you see?"
Hitoshi looked at the pictures and frowned, "You saw that these two are when you were responding?"
Midoriya nodded.
"And this is my brain," Hitoshi pointed at the screen as he talked, "and this one's yours?"
"Yep!" Midoriya smiled knowingly.
"...But why is my brain lit up when you're talking?" Hitoshi was so confused. "Are you sure you're not getting them mixed up? Shouldn't your brain be lighting up like it did when we were talking before?"
"Exactly." Midoriya grinned. "I think the reason why it takes so much effort to maintain your quirk's connection without taking control is because your brain is actually connecting to their body. Rather than simple brainwashing, it's almost as though you literally put yourself in the driver's seat, almost like a projection of your own consciousness. I wonder if you could learn to see through their...no, not right now, we can explore that later. The big thing is that even though you didn't tell me exactly what to say, I was still able to respond because you know my name!"
Hitoshi's mind was whirling, "But...that still means that my quirk is useless for information gathering. They can only tell me things I already know."
"For now, yes." Midoriya said. "But we've already been practicing having a partial connection when you wait to activate your quirk, so now we just need to see if you can give that partial control back to the person you're brainwashing. You'll still be in control of their mouth, but they'll be able to access their own memories."
"In which case, both your brains will light up!" Hatsume added. "I wonder if there's a baby that would make that easier."
"I am not having any of your babies near my brain." Hitoshi said quickly. "No. not happening."
"Oh, you're no fun." Hatsume pouted. "But you're gonna need a lot of practice."
Hitoshi nodded in determination. He'd never thought being a hero was going to take anything less.
"So...I hear you've taken an interest in my problem child." Hizashi said over dinner, looking like he wanted nothing more than to have a wide smile as he said it.
"He's not a problem child." Shouta said stubbornly, glaring at his husband. "And if he was, he'd be Majima's, not yours."
"Just because the two students that keep kidnapping him are support course students doesn't erase the fact that he's in my homeroom." Hizashi paused and grinned at him. "For now…"
"Shinso has to prove himself at the sports festival before he can join my class." Shouta said. "If he keeps up with the determination I saw the other day, he might just have a chance, but only if he doesn't think his quirk is an ace in the hole. My students aren't stupid. They'll figure out his quirk sooner rather than later, so relying on that alone won't be good enough."
"Oh, don't be such a spoil sport." Hizashi threw a pea at him, which Shouta dodged. "Give the kid a chance, maybe he'll surprise you. He does have two of the top support students in their year on his side."
Shouta sighed, "That's what I'm worried about. Shinso may not be a problem child, but those two definitely are. What kind of first year helps with a villain attack and makes himself a target when he doesn't have to?"
"A mini-nedzu?" Hizashi suggested helpfully.
Shouta snorted, "No. He's still nicer than the rat."
"I'm glad you like them." Hizashi smiled. "It's been a while since you've actually taken a liking to a student."
"My job is to keep them alive." Shouta pointed out. "Not to like them."
"Still, I'm glad you're starting to take Shinso under your wing." Hizashi said, turning back to his food.
"I'm not taking…"
"You are." Hizashi cut him off. "And that's not a bad thing, Shou. You know that right?"
"He has potential." Shouta tried to defend himself, but his husband knew him better than that and simply gave him a mischievous smile. Oh no, he didn't like where this was going.
"You know, I know you said that our students keep us busy enough that we don't need kids of our own, but…" Hizashi said suggestively.
"We are not adopting Shinso." Shouta said firmly. "Even if we had time to adopt a child, which we don't, Shinso has parents of his own."
"Actually, he doesn't."
That made Shouta do a double take, "What?"
"I said he doesn't have parents of his own." Hizashi frowned. "I didn't ask the details, but his file says he's currently in a foster home. So if you wanted to…"
"We're not adopting him." Shouta insisted. "He's probably very happy where he is and there's absolutely no reason to uproot him from a good situation to move in with two of his teachers, which would be weird enough, but then those two teachers also work two jobs each. Three, in your case."
"Aww, Shou…" Hizashi whined playfully. "You do care about him!"
Shouta glared at him, "Nevermind. Shinso has been officially upgraded to problem child and it's entirely your fault."
"Aw, don't be like that!" Hizashi laughed. "I mean, we could be a very happy…"
"Still not adopting him."
Summary: Final preparations for the sports festival
Notes: So sorry for dropping off the face of the earth. It happens. Art!
bruhwhy
Kitty
. Memes!
X X X X
Izuku glared at the calendar like it had personally offended him. It wasn't really fair, since the calendar obviously didn't decide that time should keep marching forward, but the fact was that the sports festival was in three days and Izuku had been too busy helping Shinso and analyzing the first years to plan what he wanted to do.
He glanced out the window of his workroom and watched Mei, who appeared to be in her own little world, putting the final finishing touches on Shinso's support item, while her own were teetering in a steadily growing pile on the floor beside her. It seemed like everyone else had a goal for the festival. Katsuki wanted to prove he was the best, Mei wanted to impress investors, and Shinso wanted to get into the hero course. Heck, even his classmates were looking forward to showing off their inventions in the first round!
So where did that leave Izuku?
He'd found his perfect place in the support course, so he didn't want to transfer like Shinso did. He didn't actually build support items, so he didn't have any to show off like Mei and his classmates did. He was just...little old quirkless him, just like he'd always been. Like he'd always be.
Despite the fact that he'd technically been staring out the window and should have seen her coming, Izuku still jumped a foot in the air when Mei slammed the door open and strode in, trying to wipe soot off her nose, but only successfully smearing it all over her cheeks instead.
"It's ready!" She announced proudly. "Where's Extra-Credit-Kun?"
"Probably in class." Izuku sighed, turning back to his current analysis. "Like he always is at this time."
There was a beat of silence and Izuku finally turned to see Mei looking at him suspiciously, "Ok, what's got you down?"
"N-nothing?" Izuku stuttored.
The crosshairs in Mei's eyes narrowed slightly, "Not buying it, Izu-kun. You're normally super excited, so…?"
Izuku shrugged and forced a smile onto his face, "It's nothing. You and Shinso are gonna do great in the sports festival!"
Mei sighed, "Oh, so that's what's wrong." She forcefully spun his chair around so they were face to face and leaned down so Izuku had to lean back to avoid being nose to nose with her. "You realize you're gonna do great in the sports festival too, right?"
"I don't need to." Izuku protested. "Not like you and Shinso do."
"But you want to." Mei countered.
Izuku stopped, "What?"
"You want to do well!" Mei said it like it was obvious. "You want to prove what you can do! You want to show all those stupid bullies that your notebooks weren't a waste of time!"
"I guess it would piss Katsuki off if I were to make it past the first round." Izuku chuckled. "And the farther I get, the more I can help you and Shinso!"
"Exactly!" Mei punched him playfully on his arm. "So don't let me catch you saying that you don't need to do your best just because you don't need the publicity or whatever. Right Cheat Code?"
Izuku scowled, "I still can't believe that you made me make a logo. I'm not popular!"
"Not now you're not." Mei grinned. "But after UA, when you're not some helpless student anymore, your brand's gonna be the biggest in the entire hero analysis industry."
"It's not like it's a very large industry to begin with." Izuku muttered. "So, was there any reason you came in here besides to apparently scream some sense into me?"
Mei's face lit up, "Oh yeah! Extra-Credit-Kun's weapon is done! I just need him to do the final tests and make sure everything fits so he can get used to it before the festival! Can you go get him please? "
"Ok…." Izuku looked back at the video he was supposed to be analyzing. If he wanted to keep up with Shinso and Mei in the festival without a quirk or fancy support items, he would need to memorize the weaknesses of every single hero student and come up with ways to counter each of their quirks. In three days. Fun.
Maybe he could make Mei wait until after school? But then Shinso wouldn't have as much time to get used to his new equipment. If only she could go get him herself, but then she'd probably make a scene and embarrass Shinso…which would be brilliant payback for ganging up on him with Mei about the logo and for taking those pictures that Izuku had had to steal back after the USJ.
Izuku smiled slowly, "Mei, I'm kinda busy right now, but I can give you a map to his classroom!"
Hitoshi was bored.
Or maybe he wasn't bored. Maybe he was using his boredom to mask his nervousness? What if his training hadn't been enough? What if Midoriya's strategies for hiding his quirk's activation requirements weren't enough and everyone could counter him perfectly after the first round? What if…
The entire class flinched as the door to the classroom hit the wall with a loud bang and Mei strode in, grease and soot smeared across her face as she gave her best mad scientist grin. Oh, who was he kidding, that was her default expression. They made eye contact across the room and Mei's grin got even wider as she made a beeline toward him.
"Hi, Mic-Sensei! I'm stealing Shinso-kun for an hour!" Mei announced loudly. "I need to make his babies!"
Mic choked on his own breath and Hitoshi turned a brighter red than he had thought was possible without some sort of quirk involved. Before either of them could give any other reaction, Mei had grabbed Hitoshi's hand, yanked him to his feet and started pulling him toward the door like an overexcited puppy.
The class's exclamations were still audible even after the door slammed closed behind them.
Izuku tried to hold in his laughter as Mei physically dragged a cherry red Shinso into the lab, but he wasn't doing a very good job of it if the glare Shinso sent him was any indication.
"I hate you." Shinso said seriously.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Izuku tried to sound innocent, but the stubborn smile on his face kinda ruined the effect.
Shinso glared harder, as if just staring at him hard enough would activate his quirk, "You sicced Mei on me."
Izuku shrugged, "You deserved it."
"I…"
"Now that we're done embarrassing Extra-Credit-Kun, can I show him the baby I made?" Mei interrupted.
Shinso and Izuku both looked at her in shock.
"You did that on purpose?!" Shinso exclaimed.
Izuku doubled over in laughter as Mei huffed, "Like Izu-kun really didn't have time to go get you himself. He's hacked the USJ, he could have easily hacked the announcement system if he wanted to instead of sending me!"
Izuku laughed even harder, "I...I think I see why Present Mic calls us Powerloader's gremlins now!"
"I hate both of you." Shinso deadpanned. "First you kidnap me and now this. Why did I even agree to this."
"Because of this!" Mei grinned and dumped a large length of metal ribbon on the table. "Meet Hatsume Industry's Baby 367! Amplifying Apprehension Armor!"
Shinso eyed the ribbon suspiciously, "What does it do?"
Mei's eyes glinted with excitement, "Pick it up and find out!"
Shinso scoffed, "No thanks. I still haven't forgiven you for those taser marbles you handed me last week."
"Oh you're no fun." Mei pouted. "Fine. This baby has three functions. I can add more later, but this is what I could pull together while still giving you time to practice before the sports festival. The ribbons reflect sound, so you can configure them to applify your voice without having to transmit it and even change the way it sounds, so it can be used as a voice modifier, but it's gonna take some fine tuning. For now, it can get close, but it still sounds pretty tinny and it's obvious that it's an imitation if the listener is paying attention."
"Alright…" Shinso said slowly and hesitantly picked up the pile, almost throwing it as it was apparently lighter than he'd been expecting. "So it amplifies and modifies my voice. What about the other functions?"
"It almost looks like Eraserhead's capture weapon." Izuku pointed out.
"Good work, Izu-kun! I knew there was a reason I kept you around!" Mei grinned. "Hearing you two geek about about him made me curious, so I looked him up and his scarf baby is so cool! It doesn't seem high tech at first, but there's so much hidden in it and…"
"Mei!" Shinso interrupted her before she could start rambling. "I know what Eraserhead's scarf does. So...I can use this to grab opponents and stuff?"
Mei huffed, "Well, yeah, but Eraserhead's scarf takes a lot of practice to control and practice takes time you don't have and we can't make it out of fabric, since it has to reflect sound, so this version isn't gonna have the same flow as his. Think of those slap bracelets you had back in elementary school. If you slap the ribbon hard enough against something, it'll wrap around it automatically. We'll probably fine-tune it later, but this'll be good enough for now."
Shinso nodded slowly, "Ok...that makes sense….ish."
"That accounts for the amplification and the apprehension." Izuku said, running his hand over one of the ribbons. "What about the armor?"
Mei's eyes lit up with excitement and Shinso's darkened with fear in response as she grabbed the ribbon and slammed it against his arm.
"Mei! Wait!" Shinso tried to protest, but before the words were even out of his mouth, the ribbon had wrapped itself entirely down his arm, encasing it almost completely. He stared at it in amazement.
"You can use the apprehension function on yourself to make an armor!" Mei cackled. "Isn't it an amazing baby, Extra-Credit-Kun?"
"Wow…" Izuku breathed. "You've really outdone yourself Mei-chan"
Shinso took a deep breath and carefully reverted back to his default bored expression, "It's ok, I guess."
"I'll take it!" Mei shrugged. "Now, we've got a lot of work to do, so let's see you handle that baby!"
Chapter 28: AnticipationSummary: The morning of the sports festival.
Notes: Art!
Eat the Bee
I'm totally a Bee
Sorry, no time to link memes today, I have to get to work.
Hitoshi shouldered his bag and kept his head down as he walked into the kitchen. Mei had just texted him and told him that his new support item had officially been approved, which they hadn't really been worried about, considering that Midoriya was Nedzu's favorite, and that they'd meet him before the festival started to hand it off to him. The text hadn't mentioned anything about a meeting place, but somehow Hitoshi figured that wouldn't be a problem for his kidnappers. Honestly, the way they always seemed to know everything would have been a little creepy if he didn't trust them. Actually, scratch that, it was still creepy, but he could live with it.
It took his foster siblings a few seconds to notice that he'd arrived, but once the first one had seen him, their eyes widened and they elbowed the next one in a chain reaction until the entire room was dead silent only a few seconds later. Hitoshi resisted the urge to sigh, considering that any noise on his part could potentially get him in trouble and he didn't want to deal with that when he had the sports festival later.
He stuck a few pieces of bread in the toaster and ignored the stares of the other kids. It wasn't any wonder why they didn't trust him, it was hard to trust anyone after being in the system for long enough, and the fact that the adults didn't trust him didn't help, so as annoying as it was, Hitoshi couldn't blame them. It just meant that he made his breakfast to go most mornings so that he could get out of that house as soon as possible.
There was a small, frightened squeak behind him and Hitoshi flinched slightly. He'd been hoping to avoid the adults today, but apparently he hadn't been quick enough. The foster mom at this home was a slight woman who could be easily blown away by a quick breeze. She was also terrified of everything, which meant that she hated Hitoshi, but at least she didn't hit him like the one a few homes back had.
Hitoshi kept his movements intentionally slow, not looking up from buttering his toast. Eye contact could be seen as threatening. It was best to just get out of here before the husband showed up. He didn't hit Hitoshi either, mostly, but he was the opposite of his wife in almost every other way. Where she was tiny, he was huge. Where she was quiet, he was loud. Where she would eye Hitoshi suspiciously until he finally left the house and she could breathe a sigh of relief, he would stand in the doorway and demand to know where he was going.
And then wouldn't let him answer.
Shoving a piece of toast in his mouth, Hitoshi shouldered his way past a few of the other kids and was almost at the door by the time the husband got there. He took one look at the scene and apparently decided that Hitoshi must have done something besides existing to deserve everyone's suspicion and crossed his arms, "And just where do you think you're going, boy?"
Hitoshi stomped down on his frustration and kept looking at the floor as he gestured to his uniform. School . He was going to school like he did every single morning. The only thing different was that today was the sports festival, not that he was sure these people cared enough to remember that.
He could tell just by the feeling that the man was glaring at him, weighing whether he was telling the truth or not and Hitoshi wanted to groan or yell or cry or scream or something, but he couldn't. If he did anything, it'd just make it worse and it would take him even longer to get to school and the relative safety of his kidnappers.
After a long moment of tense silence, his foster dad finally huffed, "Don't be late."
Hitoshi nodded tersely and gripped the strap of his backpack moderately tighter as he all but ran from the house, the tension not leaving his body until he was almost at the train station. It sucked, but whatever. It'd all be worth it if... when he became a hero.
It had to be.
Izuku was getting more and more nervous the closer the clock ticked to the opening of the sports festival. He and Mei had already changed into their gym uniforms and Mei had already tied hers around her waist the same way she did with her coveralls in the lab, showing off her toned arms in a black tank top. Should he follow her lead? He'd gained some muscle in the past month or so, a lot more than he'd expected, but he still wasn't ripped or anything.
He shuffled restlessly and Mei rolled her eyes, briefly setting aside Shinso's support item that she'd been polishing, "Calm down, Izu-kun. We have a plan!"
"I know…" Izuku groaned and slid his back down the wall so that he was sitting next to her on the floor. They were currently waiting in one of the hallways that led to where Shinso's class would be meeting, so he'd have to pass them to get there, and it had the added benefit of being somewhat secluded, which Izuku was grateful for. He didn't want to deal with a lot of people right now.
"So what are you worried about?" Mei went back to polishing. "We show off our stuff, annoy the hell out of Bully-Kun, and make sure Extra-Credit-Kun wins the festival. What else is there?"
"It's just…" Izuku huffed, "I've been weak my whole life, Mei-chan! Yeah, I fought back when those villains attacked, but I wasn't actually physically there! What if I get out before the first round has even really begun?"
"Then you'll do better next year." Mei shrugged. "That's the thing about progress Izu-kun, it means you fail sometimes. Doesn't mean it's not worth it to try."
Izuku smiled tiredly, "But it is worth it to worry?"
Mei grinned, "Never! Come on, Izu-kun! There's a reason our classmates are terrified of us!"
Izuku chucked, "They're not terrified… "
"Who's not terrified?" Shinso interrupted, looking as tired as ever. "I thought everyone was scared of you two."
"Extra-Credit-Kun!" Mei jumped to her feet and at first it looked like she was hugging Shinso, but when she let go, Izuku couldn't help but laugh as she realized that she'd actually just been dropping his weapon around his neck. She stepped back and looked him up and down as Shinso stared at her in surprised confusion, "Hmmm, it doesn't really match the aesthetic of the gym uniform, but we'll just have to make your hero costume a little more…"
"Anything else I should know before I go fight the entire school?" Shinso interrupted. "You know, since the only thing you two have on the line is extra credit and I have, I don't know, my whole future."
"Aww, he's nervous!" Mei-chan giggled. "And hey! We care just as much about your success as our extra credit!"
"You're gonna do great." Izuku smiled reassuringly, why was it easier to not feel nervous when he was hyping up Shinso? "Just remember to change up your fake activation requirements. Make eye contact, touch people, do anything to distract them from the fact that they've already answered one of your questions."
"And make good use of my baby!" Hatusme added. "Hatsume Industries is gonna be your exclusive support company when we graduate, ok?"
"Ok." Shinso looked slightly more relaxed, which Izuku was gonna count as a win. "Good luck."
"I don't need luck!" Mei cackled. "I have babies!"
"So…" Hizashi gave him a mischievous smile. "Do you think our future son is going to win?"
"For the last time, we are not adopting Shinso." Shouta sighed. "And whether or not he wins is entirely up to him."
"But you think he's got a chance." Hizashi grinned.
"I think he has potential." Shouta responded. "But the last round is going to be the hardest because everyone will have already figured out his quirk and info like that travels fast."
"Don't be such a spoil sport." Hizashi lightly punched his arm. "You're excited to see how he does."
Shouta snorted and changed the subject, "How did you talk me into announcing again?"
"You lost the bet." Hizashi shrugged. "Last two whole days without one of those weird jelly pouches and eat actual food, or I get my prize. Just shut up and take your loss, Shou! If your didn't want to do this, you shouldn't have…"
"In my defense, I assumed your prize would be.." Shouta began.
"Oh! The kids are ready to come out!" Hizashi interrupted and turned on his mic. "Hello, hello, hello everybody! Are you ready to go PLUS ULTRA?!"
Summary: The obstacle course!
Notes: Sorry, I'm too tired to link anything today. Also, formal apology to literally anyone who knows anything about tech, I am just taking creative liberties with hacking.
Otherwise, happy New Year!
"Ten bucks he insults everyone during the opening speech." Izuku muttered out of the corner of his mouth, leaning slightly closer to Mei so she could hear him above the noise of the cheering crowd.
"No bet." Mei whispered back. "From what you've told me, he seems like just enough of an idiot to do it."
Izuku's eyes widened and he found himself smiling. He didn't know exactly why it still shocked him that Mei was bold enough to be rude to Katsuki, even though he definitely couldn't hear them, but a part of him was still irrationally afraid of what would happen when his old bully somehow discovered what she'd said. He shook his head and both of them straightened attentively as Katsuki slouched up the stairs and took his place at the mic. He glared at the other students and even at the audience as class 1A shuffled nervously, shooting each other concerned looks. Well, at least they'd had enough time to get to know their classmates!
"I just wanna say," Katsuki grumbled, "I'm gonna win."
Mei grinned at him before loudly joining in the booing with the other students and Izuku couldn't help the surge of power he felt as he did the same. Sure, it wasn't a big thing, just a few yells. It wasn't like he was actually fighting Katsuki or anything, but still! It felt huge!
"Alright kiddos!" Midnight cracked her whip. "Are you ready to suffer?!"
Izuku gulped and adjusted his feet. His training with Shinso had made him a lot faster and he hoped strong enough to deal with whatever Nedzu had in mind. Speaking of Shinso, he glanced over to see him striking up polite conversation with some gen-ed and business students, playfully bumping shoulders with some or holding eye contact for just a half-second too long with others and Izuku gave him a proud smile, which he returned with a smirk. Assuming he made it past the first round, which Izuku didn't doubt he would, the distractions would make him that much more difficult to fight head on.
To his other side, Hatsume was fiddling with one of her babies with a screwdriver. Izuku caught her eye and she gave him a manic grin. Izuku knew that if he asked, either she or Shinso would help him in a heartbeat, but he couldn't bring himself to get in their way. Mei needed to use this round to catch the eye of future investors and Shinso needed to prove himself to the hero teachers watching. Izuku wasn't a part of those goals.
But that didn't mean he wasn't going to come at it with everything he had. Determination filled his eyes and he found himself smiling slightly as Midnight announced the obstacle course and began counting down. He wasn't just deku anymore. He was Cheat Code. He was capable of so much more than he'd been led to believe his whole life. He could do this!
"Begin!"
The moment that Midnight called the race, Izuku immediately began analyzing. The first obstacle was obviously the doorway itself. There was a slight chill and all Izuku could think was Todoroki before a thick layer of frost started racing across the ground toward him and it was only the quick instincts from years of avoiding explosions that had him jumping just in time to avoid getting frozen to the ground.
Checking in on his friends he was relieved to see that Shinso was already ordering some of the people who had escaped to carry him through the crowd on their shoulders and Mei was doing even better as she used her hover boots and jet pack to glide above the ice and race to the front of the group.
Izuku shook his head and ran forward, doing his best to avoid slipping and having to grab onto the other competitors for balance. He ended up on his butt a few times and the frontrunners had already reached the next obstacle by the time he finally passed the slick ice patch. He heard a few screams and a loud cracking crash and pushed himself faster. He couldn't afford to fall behind this early in the race!
He skid to a stop as a laser obliterated the ground in front of him, then had to roll into a sloppy dodge as some sort of rock was thrown at him. Izuku let out an embarrassing squeak as he realized that he was being attacked by the stupid robots from the entrance exam. There were even zero pointers! Was Nedzu trying to kill them?!
Izuku internally thanked Nedzu for assigning him to analyze the first years, though. He'd watched dozens of students fight these things and paid attention to how they took them down, which meant that he knew their weaknesses, he just had to figure out a way to take advantage of them...which was going to be difficult to do without weapons.
He frantically glanced around and tried to see if he could use the surrounding rubble as a weapon, but after trying to pick up a sheet of metal and almost immediately falling flat on his face, Izuku realized he still didn't have quite enough muscle for that plan to work, which meant he was back to square one. He was back to being a stupid, quirkless, worthless deku who couldn't even fight robots because he didn't have a weapon and it's not like he could just use the arena as a weapon like he had at the USJ…
Izuku's thoughts stuttored to a stop and he giggled hysterically in disbelief as he pulled his phone out of a zippered pocket in his gym pants. He'd ended up bringing it along to take selfies with Mei between rounds and because after hacking for almost a year, the idea of being completely without technology made him slightly anxious. He'd gotten a heavy-duty case, as well as some other personalized modifications, so he wouldn't be as worried about it breaking, but now he couldn't help but be grateful that his anxiety had convinced him to bring it along. But was he actually stupid enough to try to pull this off?
Yes. Yes, he was.
"Is that student seriously texting?" Eraser's tired voice echoed over the speakers and Izuku winced in embarrassment, but kept working. Hacking from his phone was a little harder than from an actual computer, nevermind that, it was way harder, but if he could just take control of even a single robot, it'd be worth it.
"I wouldn't trust him to be doing anything that innocent!" Mic announced gleefully. "That, listeners, is Izuku Midoriya from the support course! Those of you with sharp eyes might have already noticed his friend Mei Hatsume who used a flamethrower on those pesky bots. Midoriya, however, has a different specialty!"
Izuku almost cheered as one of the one pointers, which thankfully had a little less security than the more dangerous bots, suddenly stopped and beeped happily as its eyes turned from red to green. He didn't waste any time climbing onto the bot's shoulders and letting it race him through the battlefield. He had to use the laser systems on a few enemy bots, but thanks to his previous analysis, he knew exactly where to aim to take each one down with one hit. All in all, Izuku managed to pass the second obstacle in under half the time it had taken him to pass the first.
The fact that the one pointers focused on speed rather than firepower ended up being a huge advantage as well, since Izuku was able to just hitch a ride all the way to the next obstacle, passing dozens of students, including a few from the hero classes. He ended up reaching the edge of the pit just as Mei was clearing it. He couldn't see Shinso, so he could only hope that their extra credit project was doing well, but he didn't have time to worry about that at the moment because he had to figure out a way to cross a full sized canyon!
The various pillars were connected by ropes, which meant that Izuku probably wouldn't be able to bring the full robot with him...unless...He steered his robot over to one of the hero course students, who was just starting to try to cross the ropes like a tightrope. He jumped off the robot and grabbed her by the collar before she could get too far, or worse, fall.
"Uraraka right?" Izuku forced himself to ignore his panic at being so bold. "You have an antigravity quirk, right?"
"Umm…" Uraraka looked at him suspiciously. "How do you know that?"
"Entrance exam." Izuku answered evasively. "Would your limit be enough for this?"
He jerked a thumb back at the robot, "If you remove its gravity, I can maneuver it across the ropes without falling and we can ride it all the way to the next obstacle!"
Uraraka looked hesitant, and Izuku could tell that they were running out of time.
"It's faster than walking?" He tried. "And we don't know what the next obstacle is, so maybe a robot will be helpful! So...deal?"
He smiled and held a hand out hopefully. Uraraka only hesitated another second before grabbing his hand with a determined smile of her own, "Deal! And how did you get a robot?"
"Hacked it." Izuku answered. "Ready?"
Uraraka shook her head in disbelief, "Sure, why not. Just...float the robot that the random guy apparently stole. Sure!"
"Hey! It's not that bad!" Izuku pouted but didn't have time to argue further as the robot started to float ominously. He clambered back onto it's shoulders and lent Uraraka a hand to climb up beside him. The extra weight from the two of them kept the robot touching the ground, at least slightly, and Izuku hurriedly pulled out his phone again and started guiding it across the ropes.
"And that, listeners, is called teamwork!" Mic announced proudly. "And between courses too! Aren't you proud of your student, Eraser?"
"Why should I be?" Eraser answered coolly. "Working with support professionals is common sense for any hero, so if Uraraka wasn't smart enough to take advantage of such an opportunity, she wouldn't be in the hero course."
"Ooh!" Mic yelled. "And that's coming from the teacher with the highest expulsion rate at UA, so take that to heart kids! Still, I wonder if we're looking at a future business partnership?"
That would honestly depend on if Uraraka could handle Mei. Izuku chucked and got back to devoting his full attention to controlling the robot. It took him a second to get used to and at one point they'd almost fallen and were only saved by both of them grabbing the rope, but after that Izuku figured out it was best to have the robot basically grab the rope and pull itself along it rather than trying to roll along it like it normally would if it were solid ground.
Once they got the hang of it, it didn't take much time at all to clear the drop, and even less to speed to the next obstacle after Uraraka returned the robot's gravity. Izuku stopped the robot a few years back from the start of the visibly buried mines and turned to Uraraka, slapping the side of his robot as he spoke.
"This guy's armor isn't great." He explained. "But I'm probably still gonna try just driving across and seeing how it goes. You're welcome to join me, but…"
"But I'll probably be safer of my own." She finished and nodded in understanding as she jumped to the ground. "That's alright! It was fun while it lasted! Thanks for the help...Midoriya? Right? That was what Mic-sensei said?"
Izuku smiled brightly, "Yeah! Good luck!"
"Right back at you!" Uraraka pumped her fist in determination. "See you in the next round, Midoriya!"
"O-ok!" Izuku waved to her as he left, then shrugged and started rushing forward as fast as he could, not that he thought speed would really make much of a difference. "Let's do this!"
After he hit the first mine, there was a split second when Izuku thought his plan was actually going to work. That second ended when Izuku found himself ten feet in the air as the shattered remains of his robot came hurtling down around him. He grunted hard as he hit the ground.
So much for that plan.
"Oof, that looks like it hurt!" Mic called. "And that, kids, is why you don't charge head-on into a minefield, even if you do have a giant robot on your side!"
Wonderful, Izuku grimaced as he got to his feet, way to add insult to injury. Alright, time for a new plan. The safest plan would be to go through the field slowly like everyone else was, but Izuku wasn't sure exactly how many people were ahead of him. Probably at least forty would move onto the next round, but he didn't know where he'd fall in that unless he found a better way to pass this obstacle, so…
Izuku glanced around and sighed in exhaustion as an even more insane plan formed in his head. Good thing he was used to Katsuki's explosions, otherwise this was going to hurt. Actually, it was probably going to hurt anyway, but no pain, no gain, right?
As he dug up mines, Izuku seriously wondered if he'd lost his mind. Was he seriously about to use a piece of scrap as a sled and jump onto a pile of explosives? He'd know Katsuki for years, he knew how stupid that was! Why was he even considering…?
Oh come on, Izu-kun! You can't build anything worthwhile without a few explosions.
Izuku grinned, actually laughing as he grabbed a piece of his ruined robot and catapulted himself straight onto the pile of mines. He'd almost forgotten that Katsuki wasn't the only explosive friend he'd ever had and these mines were obviously more similar to Mei's explosions than his bully's. Her explosions lifted him up and helped him fly, literally apparently, instead of tearing down his dreams and leaving scars that would never truly go away. So yeah, maybe it hurt a little, but an analyst like Cheat Code couldn't afford to be afraid of a few burns.
Now if only he could figure out how to land. Unfortunately, his plan had ended up working a little too well and he was rapidly approaching Katsuki and Todoroki, who were obviously in the front of the pack. As the two caught sight of him, Katsuki's face obviously contorted in anger and he launched himself forward as quickly as he could with his explosions, while Todoroki started running along an ice path he was creating as he ran.
On the one hand, Izuku could just curl into a ball and hope for the best like he had throughout elementary and middle school, but on the other, if he were to land too close to Katsuki, he'd be getting hurt from more than one type of explosion, so the best option was to let Katsuki stay ahead, but his little scrap sled obviously had other plans, so that wasn't going to work. That left using the two frontrunners to give him an extra boost and landing ahead of them, then sprinting to the finish line before Katsuki could catch up. Well, good thing he wasn't in middle school still, right?
Knowing he'd probably regret it, he firmly planted a foot on each of his opponents backs and kicked as hard as he could, using the momentum to slam his sled against the ground at the same time, trying to hit as many mines as he could. The resulting explosion launched him another twenty feet forward and Izuku rolled as best he could to minimize the impact as he landed.
Then he ran for his life.
"I hope you were rooting for the underdog!" Mic screamed. "Because the first place winner of the first round is from the support course! Izuku Midoriya!"