After dropping off his backpack and changing into his work clothes, Izuku rushed to the garage he had been renting to store his equipment. He was rushing past the apartment buildings until he turned a corner and spotted the warehouse where all the rental garages were… the cheap ones anyway.
Entering the main office he saw the clerk sitting at a desk looking at something on his laptop, the older teen's pink hair tucked underneath his baseball cap. The teen glanced at him as Izuku entered.
"Oh hey, Midori," The teen said as he reached under his desk for something before putting a key on the desk. "Good luck with your mecha thing." He said, causing Izuku to frown slightly.
"I-It's not a mecha, it's armor." He muttered as he grabbed the key.
"Yeah, yeah. Listen, my sister's gonna be swinging around to work on some of her stuff. Maybe you two could work your mechanical magic together."
Izuku blushed at the insinuation. "S-stop Hatsume-kun, I-I'm fine." The teen grinned at the younger boy.
"Ah come on, I know you two will hit it off, besides. You both need some company and no, some weird beeping robot doesn't count, talking to another person will help both of you a lot."
Izuku's blush brightened, spreading down to his neck. "I-I'll think about it." He muttered, shoving his hands in his pockets. The older teen chuckled at the response.
"Whatever man, just don't lose your spaghetti dude."
"M-My what?"
"Don't worry about it." The teen said, ignoring Izuku as he focused back on his laptop. Izuku sighed before walking out of the main office and towards his rental, after a moment he stood in front of the large garage door. Using the key he opened the lock keeping and pushed the door upwards.
Almost instantly a smile formed on his face, the smell of grease and machine oil a welcome aroma, a distraction from the outside world. On the right was a large plastic table, all of his power tools and their accompanying parts organized in a neat line with colored coded bags designating which bits belonged to each tool.
On the left was a workbench with a dozen cabinets with smaller tools for more delicate parts and electronics. Between them was his chair, an old gaming chair that still had all its wheels attached. Izuku grabbed the chair and twirled it as he walked past.
And on the wall opposite of him was the start of an incredibly ambitious project, standing a little over six feet tall was a suit of powered armor. A metal shell built around a hydraulic frame; it was bulky, heavy, and cumbersome as all hell… but it was the best he had. The suit's dull grey metal armor shined slightly in the light, with rough edges and small flecks of rust dotting the armor.
Izuku stopped in his tracks as he looked up at the armor, a gleam in his eyes as he stepped towards it.
But, there was something else he needed to test. Izuku walked over to the right table and picked up an old electric drill he had, he glanced at the battery attached to it before unhooking it. He held the drill in his hands, realistically, if he pressed the drill trigger without its battery nothing would happen. Realistically.
When he pressed the trigger, the drill began to spin as if it was at full power. Izuku's eyes widened as he looked at the drill in awe. He then set it down before picking up another power tool he had, a cordless ratchet. Unhooking its battery, he pressed the trigger on the tool, watching as it operated normally. As if its battery was still there and not lying on the table.
"Fascinating." He muttered before setting the tool down, his mind running through all the possibilities of this aspect of his quirk. He then turned his gaze to his suit of armor, eyes focused on the large car battery hooked to the suit.
He then walked over to the armor, the name for it was still a work in progress, but other than that it was still a functional prototype… well, semi-functional. He unhooked the burnt-out car battery before standing behind the armor. He sucked in a breath, trying to calm his nerves before he placed both hands on it. Focusing.
He stepped away, shaking his head before cupping his chin in thought for a moment before walking over to the left table and searching one of the cabinets. Izuku pulled out a multimeter. Setting up the meter he grabbed onto one of the cables and turned the device on.
Switching the meter on Izuku watched as the amperage remained at a big fat zero for a moment before he narrowed his eyes, focusing on the mutated limp before sparks of energy flowed into the meter and the number began to climb before settling at around five hundred amps.
"Jeez." He muttered to himself before letting go of the meter and grabbing a journal from his backpack. Flipping the pages before landing on his entry, writing down the amps the meter had displayed.
"And that's at a bare minimum too, I think I could make it more powerful if I really tried," Izuku muttered before closing the journal and shoving it back into his bag. He grabbed the meter again, plugging one of the cables into one of the armor ports.
Sparks of green energy flowed into the meter once more and Izuku kept his eyes on the meter. Watching as the suit amp usage climbed to around three hundred, he hummed in thought before letting go of the meter and turning it off.
He grabbed his journal again and began sketching something out, muttering to himself as he wrote some other notes down. Once he had a solid idea of what he wanted down he closed the journal and shoved it into his bag again.
"Now, to scour for some more materials." He muttered to himself as he stood up.
Izuku grunted as he dragged the cart behind him, the wheels squeaking occasionally as the tarp covering the armor sitting on swayed softly in the wind. After a short walk, he reached his destination—green eyes overlooking the massive dump that covered Dagoba Beach.
It had been around two days since he had been here to get some 'materials'. Glancing down at his right arm was the latest addition to the armor, a specialized glove he had made for channeling the energy his arm could produce. Copper wires fitted to electrodes that channeled the power to a cable he could hook up to the armor.
Once he made sure it was secure he patted the thick leather overalls he had been wearing for any tears, once he was sure there were none he turned to the armor. Checking a box on the left side of the hip which contained a car battery as an auxiliary power source; once he was sure it was secure he looked at the compartment above and checked the wiring.
Ensuring that the power bank was intact, making sure that any excess energy would be stored there.
With everything checked over Izuku opened the armor and grabbed the cable embedded in his glove and connected it to one of the armor ports. With that he stepped inside and felt the armor plates close around him, sealing him inside.
Izuku blinked as the tinted goggles in the armor's helmet obstructed his vision slightly, nothing too bad but it was frustrating at times. "It'll get better once I get into U.A." Izuku muttered to himself. Wrapping his fingers around the manipulators, watching as the suits digits moved in tandem with his fingers.
With that, Izuku took a deep breath before jumping over the railing and crashing down into the sand below him. A small crater formed where he landed, he then stood at his full height. Looking around at the garbage piles he took a step forward before breaking into a sprint, trying to push the armor to its absolute limits.
He ran past one of the garbage piles and continued to sprint for as long as he could, ordinarily, he wouldn't be able to jog for half a minute before feeling tired, but thanks to the servos he was able to sprint for a full minute and only feel slightly drained. He also noticed an increase in speed from the last test. But only a marginal increase, from fourteen kph to sixteen.
After running around for another nine minutes he stopped to catch his breath, feeling the muscles in his legs starting to burn. Izuku hummed to himself in thought as he looked around for a while longer, a soft smile forming on his face as he didn't see any issues arise in the armor.
He shook his head before refocusing his attention, his eyes landing on one particular item within the junkyard. An old and rusted pickup truck that had been abandoned for who knows how long. Taking a shaky breath he stepped forward.
Once he was close enough he grabbed onto the side of the truck, the metal digits of the armor causing the truck to warp slightly where he had grabbed it. Izuku hesitated for a moment before gritting his teeth, determination glinting in his eyes as he hoisted the truck up. Almost effortlessly, Izuku blinked as he looked at the truck in his hands, holding it like it weighed no more than fifteen kilograms.
"O-Oh, my God." He whispered in awe as he slowly placed the truck back down, still looking at it for a moment before jumping high into the air, a cheer escaping his mouth.
"I-I did it!" He yelled, still jumping in the air as he screamed in pure joy. "I did it! I did it!" He repeated as he landed on the ground, giddy from excitement, his heart pounding at his suit's capabilities finally being fully realized. He then blinked.
"... Now what?" He asked himself, the only answer he received being the wind blowing across the empty junkyard.
Izuku remained slouched over his desk, muttering lightly to himself as he drew out the design for something he might find useful in the hero exam. He was completely ignoring whatever their teacher was talking about as he continued to sketch out the impromptu schematics.
"Wonder if I can better focus energy bolts, a starter for another weapon maybe?" He muttered as he jotted those notes down. "Maybe some electromagnets? Wonder if I could make it non-lethal as well." He said to himself as he wrote down a list of materials he could use to start making some prototypes.
"A glue gun might work too." He said to himself, jotting down some more materials. "Maybe like a grenade launcher? Glue grenades?" He pondered out loud as he continued to write some notes down.
"Maybe-
"Midoriya!"
Izuku jumped in his seat and immediately straightened his posture as he saw the teacher glaring at him, the rest of the class glancing at him and whispering to each other. Some were snickering quietly to themselves.
"Something you'd like to share with the class Midoriya?" The teacher asked, the snickering getting louder as the other students started to mutter.
"I-I… n-no…" Izuku said softly. "I-I'm sorry." He continued, looking away from the teacher. The educator looked at Izuku for a moment longer before returning to the whiteboard and continuing the lesson like nothing had happened.
Izuku sighed before looking down at his notes, tapping his red hand on his desk. Leaving small marks on the wood where his talons struck, not that he noticed as his eyes remained glued on the hastily drawn sketches and notes he had written down in his journal.
He then blinked before turning to a new page, picked his pencil up again, and wrote down one word. 'Accessories.'
He had the suit down, now he just needed some weapons for offensive and defensive tactics. But he had almost forgotten about a very important step in the design process, aesthetics.
That's something he'll have to brainstorm, it would have to be simple yet iconic. Original yet but not too original. Pleasing to the eye while also invoking hope and courage in citizens.
And that's not exactly something he can come up with overnight, much less during class time. So he'd have to figure it out over the ten months he had until the U.A. Exams. Plenty of time to get everything figured out. With that decided, Izuku smiled softly before closing the journal, a determined gleam in his eyes as he began to daydream about a dozen possible armor designs. Unaware of the red chitin on his hand growing, ever so slowly.
With a slight pep in his step, Izuku made his way toward the school entrance, walking in the middle of the crowd as students all around him chatted with each other. Their conversations all melted into the background in his mind, white noise as he continued to think about a design, an idea floating around in his head as he continued to walk.
His body then tensed up as he felt a hand grab his shoulder, his heart stopping as cold sweat began to drop down his back. Slowly he glanced to the side and saw Katsuki standing next to him, the two now eye level as the blonde glared at the boy.
"Deku, we need to talk." The blonde said, no room for argument in his voice, Izuku felt his mouth turn dry before he shakily nodded. Katsuki clicked his tongue before dragging Izuku behind him, the two boys walking away from the crowd as Izuku noticed more of Bakugo's followers surrounding them, following the two as they walked towards a more secluded alleyway near the school. Izuku's back to the wall as he was boxed in.
Eventually, Izuku was surrounded by at least four other people, including Katsuki. The boy gulped nervously, his grip on his backpack straps tightening as he began to tremble in complete and total fear.
Katsuki glared at him dispassionately as the boys' followers kept Izuku from running off, the green-haired boy not looking at his former friend. Not daring to do anything without permission to avoid the blonde's wrath.
"So Deku, I've heard you've got a quirk," Katsuki asked, his voice deceptively calm, almost friendly. It terrified Izuku.
"I… y-yeah, I do." He muttered in response, his tone soft as his shaking got worse. Katsuki nodded, his eyes glued to Izuku's red hand.
"So, a little crab hand, that it?" Katsuki asked, almost mockingly as his cronies remained silent. Izuku said nothing, only nodding in response. The blonde scoffed as he stepped towards him.
"Even with a quirk you're still just a scared Deku, know your place and this will be the last time we'll have to chat," Katsuki growled, Izuku felt his body stiffen before he nodded again. He had to keep his head down, just until the entrance exams. Until then, he'd gladly deal with this until he could finally prove himself.
"Good, glad we sette-GRUGH!" The sound of something hitting flesh reverberated across the alleyway, Katsuki stumbled backward as he clutched his broken nose. Izuku blinked in confusion, his eyes then landing on his outstretched right arm. Blood covered the red plates of the mutated limb.
His eyes then widened in fear. "K-Kachan! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to-" Izuku was cut off when Katsuki's fist impacted his stomach, knocking the air from his lungs and causing Izuku to collapse to his hands and knees, coughing and wheezing.
"Shut the fuck you DEKU!" Katsuki yelled as he kicked Izuku in the side, the green-haired boy felt his ribs stretch from the blow as pain racked his body. Izuku hit the ground as he whimpered in agony, clutching his stomach and side.
"Shit, you ok Bakugo?" One of his cronies asked.
"I'm fine!" Katsuki yelled back, still clutching his bleeding nose. "God, mother fucker! You dumb fucking deku!" He bellowed, glaring at Izuku who was still on the ground.
"What the fuck was he thinking?!" One of the cronies yelled as he stepped toward Izuku, ready to beat the boy up as the rest of the cronies followed close behind.
"I don't care, let's get the fuck out of here." Katsuki growled, causing his cronies to stop and look at him in confusion.
"But he-"
"I said I don't fucking care! I don't wanna look at his pathetic face any longer than I have to." Katsuki said, getting every one of his followers to shut up. Some of them still glaring at Izuku.
"Now let's get the fuck out of here," Bakugo commanded, walking out of the alleyway, his cronies following close behind. Leaving Izuku all on his own as he layed on the cold pavement, his abdomen in agony as he forced himself to sit up.
Every breath he took caused his chest to send out another wave of pain as he looked at his right hand, confusion racking his brain at why he did that.
The only thing clear to him was that it felt (good) horrible… it was… His eyes closed as the sound of Katuki's nose breaking flashed through his mind. How disgusting it sounded, and how it unsettled him.
When Izuku opened his eyes he stood up, his legs shaking underneath him as he looked in front of him.
"I don't want to hurt someone like that." He said out loud, more to himself than anyone else. "Never again." He continued, binding himself to that newfound ideal.
AN: Hey, sorry for takin so long to get this out, and sorry for it being so short. Next chapter will be much longer, I promise, and it'll have more MadCom elements in it.