Welcome back to the story. It's time for Chapter 7. Last time Izuku Midoriya tried for UA's Hero Course entrance exam and failed with only 6 points. But as he waited for Mei Hatsume, he crossed paths with Powerloader. After a short conversation, Izuku has been given a chance to fix his repulsor.
Will Powerloader be impressed and enrol Izuku into the support course, or will his dreams never get back off the ground?
As always I do not own any rights to Marvel or MY HERO ACADEMIA or any of their characters.
With that let's begin.
Walking over to the table clearly meant for mechanical engineering, Izuku pulled out a small metal stool and sat down. He slipped his backpack off and set it down on the table. Quickly undoing the zipper, he reached inside and pulled out all his arc reactor. Deciding to work on that first, because if that didn't work then he wouldn't be able to power his gauntlets.
After struggling to pop the glass cover off, Izuku slipped on a pair of goggles that magnified everything. He began to take a look around inside his arc reactor. He sighed a breath of relief as his belief of the inner wiring being fried turned out to be false. A few that were connected to the focusing repulsor were a bit fried, but that didn't comprise the function of the arc reactor. Aside from that the rest of the wire had been protected as the focusing points of the small repulsor had done a good job of containing and directing all the energy into the attack. Satisfied that he won't have to completely rebuild the thing, Izuku replaced the glass cover and slipped off the goggles.
Izuku flipped the arc reactor and took a look at the back. Twisting the base the palladium core slid out, immediately hissing and letting out a small cloud of smoke. Izuku waved the smoke around and looked at the palladium core. It was completely useful and if he planned on using his unibeam again he would have to reconfigure it so it didn't fry the palladium code every time. Having made the mistake of grabbing a burnt core before, Izuku rab Izuku grabbed a pair of pliers and slowly pulled the palladium core out. From the hissing sound and the smoke Izuku knew the core was fried, but now that he had a better look at it. It looked worse than ever, Izuku had waited too long to replace his arc reactor core before, in an attempt to see how long one could last.
But this. He was surprised he hadn't overloaded the core, as it now looked like a marshmallow that had been caught on fire and not put out. Izuku then recalled the green lightning that had travelled along his unibeam. Maybe he had overloaded the core a bit. Keeping hold of the burnt core in the pliers, Izuku reached into his backpack and withdrew his water bottle. Placing it on the table, Izuku skillfully unscrewed the top with one hand and then dropped the burnt palladium core into the water bottle.
The water within the bottle immediately began to boil and hiss, so Izuku just loosely put the lid back on. He had thought about just putting the lid back on, but that would probably result in the water bottle exploding from the pressure.
Izuku laughed at how easily he could have just made a bomb.
Refocusing back on the task at hand, Izuku reached into the side pocket of his backpack. He then pulled an old-fashioned zippo lighter and popped the top open with a flicker of his thumb. Instead of a sparker and a wick, inside the lighter were two backup palladium cores. Sliding one out and injecting it into the arc reactor, Izuku waited for the core to be ready.
Once the arc reactor stopped flashing green and held a steady blue light, Izuku pulled his shirt up and held the arc reactor against his chest, until he felt the adhesion take hold. Immediately the arc reactor began to siphon off of Izuku's electricity. After the familiar feeling filled his chest, Izuku relaxed a bit and then focused on his gauntlets.
Pulling them out, Izuku thought they looked miserable. Misshapen and broken. With a sigh, Izuku decided to start with the left one as it had received the most damage. Slowly working the metal to its original shape, after a few minutes, the wireframe looked wearable. Well, at least it won't dig into Izuku's skin when he tries to slip them on.
With that worked out, Izuku turned the gauntlet around and looked at the palm. There was some metal decay around the repulsor, which only required a quick scrubbing with some high-proof acetone. With that all finished, Izuku turned to the wire. Some of the wires had been cut, so Izuku disconnected them and putting the goggles back on he pulled some wiring from a spool that was on the edge of the table. He plugged the soldering gun in and heated up quickly. Izuku then expertly soldered new wiring within his gauntlets.
Once all was said and done Izuku unplugged the soldering gun and slipped it into its holder allowing it to cool off without burning anything. Izuku sat up straight and looked down as his handing work. Everything seemed to be fixed but there was only one way to truly test everything. Izuku connected his arc reactor to his gauntlets and crossed his fingers as everything took a bit to power on.
As the palm of the gauntlets flickered to life Izuku let out a sigh of relief, yet something still felt off. Izuku pulled out his phone and after turning it on saw he had gone over his ten minutes by nearly an hour. In a panic, Izuku slipped on his gauntlets and then his backpack. After quickly tidying up his workspace, Izuku ran to the door. Getting through the door Izuku nearly bumped into Powerloader. Powerloader managed to jump out of the way and in surprise Izuku forgot to turn or slow down so he ran straight into the hall.
As he fell to the ground Powerloader began to laugh, "Ha ha ha ha, I guess that means you're still and forgot about your ten minutes limit. Still, you paste that test.
"Test, Sir? What test?" Izuku asked, pulling out a second water bottle from his backpack and taking a small drink. Why would Powerloader be testing him?
"I don't get to give this test every often, though you're not the first to arrive and have something wrong with their equipment. Most would just leave after their equipment fails, those that don't, I give them ten minutes to repair whatever is broken. Most just leave since they think ten minutes isn't enough, or they work until they hit ten minutes then leave, even then in a rush they sometimes break their equipment even more. Very few get so lost in their work that they forget about the ten minutes and work until their equipment is fixed. You are one of those, you stayed focused on the project, not worrying about the time limit or how broken your equipment was. Meaning you passed the test."
"This was a test?" Izuku said as Powerloader's explanation just made him even more confused.
"Not a graded one. I wanted to test the kind of person you were. You said your equipment was broken within the first few minutes of the hero exam, however, you didn't give up and continued to move forward. I wanted to see that for myself." Powerloader leaned forward and inspected the repulsors, "It looks like you managed to get them into working order. Are they safe to fire?"
Izuku looked around the hallway and the room he just left. It was much smaller compared to the room he was used to training in and with all the equipment and tables, the room was even smaller. If Powerloader wanted a demonstration then Izuku would need this space.
"I think it might be best if we head outside," Izuku said, as got to his feet and brushed some dirt off his shoulder. Powerloader nodded and led Izuku down the hallway. As he followed Powerloader, Izuku used a screwdriver to tighten a few screws he had missed. One habit he wasn't sure to be thankful for picking up from Mei was always carrying around loose screwdrivers in his pocket.
Once outside the support department, they found Mei Hatsume waiting for them. She was sitting on a bench across from the entrance. Upon the doors opening Mei looked up and her eyes fell on Izuku. Anger immediately filled them but was quick to be replaced with a smile. Izuku decided he had been seeing things.
"I thought you had left without me," Mei said, walking up to the pair. Her overalls had black scorch marks, showing the invention she had shown may have or may not have exploded, along with the fact that Powerloader looked cautious when she got near, "The hero exam got out an hour and a half ago, but I couldn't find you."
"Sorry, Hatsume. My gauntlets got damaged and I figured I could use the time while I waited to repair them. I guess I lost track of time, sorry for making you wait." Izuku said, rubbing the back of his head while making sure the repulsor didn't go off.
"That doesn't explain what Powerloader is doing here?" Mei said, looking over the pro-hero. Powerloader smiled at Mei but remembered how her invention exploding had caused the biggest mess of the day. Powerloader slowly took a step back, not wanting to experience that again.
"He noticed my equipment and was curious about them," Izuku said. He didn't feel like telling Mei at the moment that he had failed the hero course entrance exam. And now getting into the support course was his only chance of getting into UA, and that Powerloader was generous enough to offer that. That would come at a later date, those Izuku hoped that day would never come
Powerloader looked between the duo, wondering what kind of relationship they had, "I was curious of how powerful they were." A flash of murder shot across Mei's face, causing Powerloader to take another step back, "I don't plan to steal the plans. I can tell they don't run off a normal AA battery and without a power source they would be useless."
Izuku looked down at his shirt. As he was usually wearing the arc reactor most of his waking hours he had learned that with a jacket the glow of the arc reactor wasn't noticeable. But with the hole in his shirt, it was easy to see the blue light. He could still feel something was wrong with the arc reactor, but Izuku didn't exactly have the time to find out what.
Izuku looked at Powerloader and said, " I think I'm ready to go whenever you're ready."
Powerloader nodded, "Normally I would test for different things, but seeing as how we don't have the time and I'm more interested in seeing a demonstration, we'll just move to that portion of the exam." Izuku nodded back then walked away from the building, rolling his fingers a bit to warm back up. Standing in front of a large patch of grass, Izuku slowly raised his arms and held his hands out in front. "We'll start with 5 percent," Izuku said a warning Mei picked up on. As Izuku trained with the gauntlets, he had slowly gotten used to the recoil and could stand his ground up to 8%. Though that might be nothing if he didn't have his feet planted. Izuku exhaled and a green light, starting at the arc reactor, travelled down to Izuku's palms.
As this happened Mei quickly jumped back and braced herself against the building, however, Powerloader never having experienced the power of the repulsors was confused about what Mei was doing. But then Izuku's attack was unleashed and he nearly fell over. The force pushing against him threatened to send him flying, yet he managed to lean forward and dig his finger into the ground. With his fingers providing anchors, Powerloader was able to watch the dual energy blast rip apart the ground in front of them.
The area in front of Izuku and Izuku himself disappeared into a cloud of dust. Luckily there was a small breeze that slowly cleared the dust cloud, as Izuku walked out of it. Waving his hand in front of his face, Izuku coughed a bit and then said, "What do you think?"
"That was only 5%," Powerloader asked, looking at the torn ground that Izuku's equipment caused. It looked like a crater, and He couldn't believe that the blast was only 5%. He wanted to see what 100 % looked like, but he also didn't want to cause more property damage. It was a few more seconds before Powerloader spoke again. He cleared his throat and said, "Well thank you for that demonstration. You two will be receiving letters within a few weeks."
Izuku and Mei both bow to Powerloader, "Now get home before your parents start to worry." With that, the duo turned and hightailed it off of UA Campus. Powerloader smirked as he looked at the crater Izuku's repulsors had created in the ground. A name of an old colleague, and a promise he made to that colleague came to his mind. He knew what he had to do as he pulled out his phone and looked up Izuku's exam file
He looked it over, as he walked to Principal Nezu's office. He knocked and Principal Nezu called out, "Ah Powerloader, I suspected that the large explosion had come from the support department. Though the exams were over 40 minutes ago." Principal Nezu, a little mouse bear hybrid, was sitting behind his desk, talking with the hero course teachers, when Powerloader walked in, "What can I do for you?"
"I would like to talk about an examinee. One Izuku Midoriya." PowerLoader said, looking at his co-workers. He gave them time to find Izuku's file as it was towards the middle of all the examinees
Mr Aizawa flipped a few papers, before saying, "Izuku Midorioya, he tried out for the Hero Course. He got a 98% on the written exam, only missing the answer to arguably the hardest question. A good start, however, he failed the practical exam with only 6 villain points. Though with the girl he rescued from the 0-pointer, his score was bumped up to 26. Not enough to get into the hero course."
Powerloader nodded, Mr. Aizawa had explained everything perfectly up to the point where Powerloader could easily take over. Powerloader then told everyone Izuku's perspective of his actions through the test and why it caused him to fail. As he spoke Powerloader could feel his own heart beating within his chest, it was telling him that nothing was more important than getting Izuku into UA and more than just the support department, "After which, he came to the support department. I talked with him and gave him the same test I've given others in the past. Yet he passed, as he worked until he was done, not once worrying about the time limit." Powerloader explained.
"He fixed his own equipment." Midnight said as she had no intention of paying attention. However, Powerloader's comment about Izuku fixing his equipment caught her attention. Most people focus on being a hero, a normal student or a support course student. Very rarely did someone have feet in two worlds, as it often let them be behind in both worlds.
"Yes, a device he called repulsors and I asked for a demonstration. May I?" Powerloader pointed to the keyboard on Principal Nezu's desk. Principal Nezu slid it forward, allowing Powerloader to tap on the keyboard. He pulled up the security system, "After failing the hero course, and seeing his equipment I offered him the chance to fix his equipment and have an opportunity to get into the support course." Powerloader pulled the point of them walking out of the building, then fast forward a few seconds, "This is the demonstration."
The video showed Izuku explaining he would only be using 5%. The blast occurred and the video paused before showing Powerloader anchoring down. A few seconds last Izuku walked out of the dust cloud, which disappeared moments later revealing the damage Izuku had done.
"That was only 5%." All Might said. He compared the strength to his own and figured it was about the same as a flick of his finger. It might not sound that great, but when compared to All Might it was impressive. The other teachers had a similar thought and some feared how much damage could be caused if Izuku used 100%
"Yes and I suspect the power growth is exponential, not linear," Powerloader said, giving his educated guess to his co-workers. As he looked between them he could see how impressed they were. Maybe they would accept his idea.
"That's all and good but I suspect this has more than accepting a student into the support class." Principal Nezu said, accepting the keyboard back.
"Yes, a promise and favor I owe to an old colleague, an older teacher from UA exactly. I knew the repulsors looked familiar and I believe my old colleague is connected to them. I promised him before he died that if I ever came across a student that had these devices, I would do everything in my power to help them become a hero." Powerloader said, "So I propose a deal. I will accept Midoriya into UA's support course, he's the best I've seen in a long time and he gives off the aura of wanting to learn more.. From there I can better help him build the blueprints I suspect he has. If we play our cards right and with UA's resources, the final product should be ready by mid-term exams. Maybe earlier, but if he does well enough in the hero midterm exam, he gets transferred into 1-A or 1-B."
"Except students never get transferred from the support course to the hero course." Mr Aizawa pointed. He had only been a little impressed by Izuku's demonstration as to him it looked more like unleashing raw strength than a precise attack. Making it seem that Izuku had little control over his equipment. And that was another thing, Izuku seemed to have to rely on his equipment a bit too much as he had failed the entrance exam since his equipment was broken.
Powerloader sighed, he knew Eraserhead was going to be the hardest to convince. Yet he wasn't deterred, "That's because none of my students have had the drive to get into the hero course, but this kid. He has the spirit to become a hero. If nothing else, I can promise you that. Something I know you will learn yourself." Powerloader looked at Principal Nezu.
"That sounds all and good, but I'm not the one you have to convince." Principal Nezu said, nodding towards Mr Aizawa.
Powerloader faced his fellow pro hero, "The UA sports festival, that will be his first milestone. He doesn't have to win, chances are he won't. He just has to get to the third round, meaning he'll provide himself on par with the hero course students as they'll usually be the only ones left."
"Are you willing to bet your career on this kid?" Mr Aizawa asked. He wanted to know how serious Powerloader was about this kid. He had seen several students enrolled in the hero course, only to either fail out or resign from the course. If he was going to go along with Powerloader's plan, he needed to see that Izuku wasn't one of those students.
"Yes. If this kid doesn't impress you, I will leave UA as a teacher forever." Powerloader said, looking Mr Aizawa in the eyes and Mr Aizawa looked back at him. Neither of them was willing to break first. Powerloader knew from the start how serious Mr Aizawa was and he wanted to prove he was just as serious if not more.
Principal Nezu coughed into his paw getting everyone's attention, "Well that does sound like a fun bet, Powerloader you are the best support teacher we have and I would rather not lose you. How about this, if this Izuku Midoriya completes the hero midterm exam, he will be transferred to the hero course. However, if he fails to impress, UA will get half of all copyrights to any invention he creates while in school and after he graduates. Moreover, Eraserhead, if Izuku Midoriya gets transferred, you are not allowed to expel him for whatever reason." Aizawa didn't seem too annoyed by that, but his fellow teacher knew better, "That will extend into his second and third years. However, Powerloader, if Izuku Midoriya fails the hero mid-term, you will be responsible for creating the plan for Hell's Door."
At the mentions of Hell's Door, Powerloader and All Might both flinched. They both understood why that plan was created and both hoped it would never have to be used. Yet Principal Nezu was someone who planned for any possible outcome and as unlikely such an outcome would happen that Hell's Door was needed. Powerloader didn't hesitate to nod. He had promised on all grounds to his old colleague, being the one that had to live with being the one that created Hell's door. It would give him less guilt than not allowing Izuku the chance to become a hero. "I understand Sir."
"Wait, what's Hell's Door?" Present Mic asked.
"Then you may enroll Izuku Midoriya into UA. He will be watched closely and every move of his will be judged. You hold your new student in high regard, we will do the same." Principal Nezu said.
"What is Hell's door?" Present Mic repeated himself.
"I understand sir and if Midoriya is all that he said he was, then I'm sure Midoriya will rise to any challenge placed in front of him." Powerloader in a serious tone. His old friend had done many things in preparation for the day Izuku came to UA. And before he had died he had entrusted all of his secrets to Powerloader. Though Powerloader had refused to look through them, as to him looking through them was admitting that his friend was really dead.
"Seriously, what is Hell's Door?" Present Mic asked for a third time as he was not getting any response.
And That's chapter seven. Powerloader, along with the rest of the first-year hero teachers, learns the power that Izuku holds within his equipment. And we learn about the deal Powerloader make in hopes of getting Izuku transferred to the hero course.
Will Izuku be able to impress the teachers in enough time, or will he finally hit a roadblock that he can't get over? Or with a situation a raise that forces everyone's hand.
Next time we get to see how Inko and the Hatsumes react to Izuku failing the hero course.
Next Time: Your Hero Academia
Review and tell me what you think