From
Unruly_ Marmite
"What the fuck you do you think you're doing, Deku?" Kacchan shrieked, slamming Izuku against the wall. Deku. Misreading of Izuku, meaning useless. Izuku's fingers twitched, a second away from closing into a fist and punching Bakugo's lights out. Distance was short but Kacchan liked to stay at arms length, there was space to build a stomach punch that would wind the other boy. Get the hands off his collar.
But no. Not here. If he was honest, possibly not ever. Bakugo was, unfortunately, probably destined to be a high-ranking hero.
"I-I don't know what you're talking about, Kacchan."
Shit. Stutter was back. He thought he'd gotten over that- or at least was making headway.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about!" Kacchan howled, spit spraying Izuku. It was disgusting, but common for Kacchan.
"I'm supposed to be the only one from this shithole school to go to U.A.! I'm supposed to be the only one from this place to be anything! Leaving this place behind is MY BACKSTORY!"
Oh for Christ's sake. Who did he think would care?
Oh. Oops. Said that out loud. Kacchan was quite literally shaking with rage, which really just asked questions like how the fuck had this guy not been either put into therapy or arrested yet. Oh. Right. Potential anti-social personality disorder that allowed him to act something like a sane person when required, added to a complete lack of care by adults in authority. Question answered. But Kacchan was still on the verge of a violent explosion, so Izuku needed to defuse the bomb, speaking metaphorically. And maybe literally.
"Seriously, Kacchan. N-nobody will care where you came from other than U.A. It's the same with all the top ten right now. Y-you can't name their j-junior schools, can you?"
The stutter again. But who knew, maybe it would play to Bakugo's obnoxious ego and get him to think Izuku wasn't worth it. Kacchan leaned in until his face was inches away and Izuku gritted his teeth. Kacchan's hands were still on his collar, and a decent explosion could break his collarbone and take him out of any potential fight before he even started. This wasn't a good situation, exactly, but maybe logic would work? It usually didn't, because Bakugo had breath-taking anger issues for no reason that Izuku had ever been able to work out, but it was always worth a try. Izuku was a diplomat at heart.
And he supposed that if talking didn't work, he could always fall back on the Red Hood school of diplomacy and take his chances. Admittedly that would involve a lot more trauma- for both of them, probably- but it would be fine. Decent chance that nobody would even believe a Quirkless kid could hurt Bakugo in the first place, so he might get away with it without even trying. Assuming he didn't get hurt too badly, of course.
"My backstory," Kacchan rasped, face an inch away from Izuku and with definite crazy eyes going on, "Doesn't include you, you Quirkless, powerless fuck! I don't know how you cheated to get into U.A., but I'm not going to let you ruin this for me!"
He was too close, Izuku absently analysed. If this turned into a fight, Izuku was close enough to bite. Kacchan was tough and had a powerful Quirk, but he wasn't really used to close in, dirty street fighting. In all fairness, though, if it weren't for Jason's memories- not the time. Bakugo opened his mouth again, voice grating forth.
"You're nothing, you understand me? Nothing, a Quirkless, useless, weakling! You don't get to be part of my backstory, not even a pebble in my way, and you're not going to U.A.!"
Frustration welled in Izuku's chest, thick in this throat. His eyes stung with tears of rage and his voice came out choked.
"Why…why does it matter so much? If you're so sure you're going to be great, why do you care about putting me down so much?"
Kacchan sneered at him.
"I don't care, Deku. You're in my way. You're always in my way. And if you don't get out of it…"
Bakugo let go of his collar and lifted a hand in front of his face, the palm sparking with small explosions.
"I'll make you move."
Izuku stared at him, watching him laugh contemptuously and walk away, brushing at his blazer. Kacchan was so confident. So strong. So arrogant.
"You might be a great hero, Kacchan," Izuku said under his breath, too quietly to be heard, "But you'll always be a shitty person."
He took the window out of the school, seething with anger. His teacher had happily revealed to the whole class that he was going to the U.A. Hero course- probably on purpose, one last chance to mess with him- and he wanted to avoid as much attention from his classmates as possible. Kacchan had only caught him because he'd worked out the routes Izuku took. Too clever for Izuku's liking.
"If I ever have to fight him…mostly uses explosions from his hands, though…don't know if he can cause them anywhere else…if he sweats nitro-glycerine, could I set it off? Is there something different about it compared to chemical nitro-glycerine? Obvious answer is to break his arms, but what if his bones are reinforced to resist his explosions? How much more force would it take? Could I bait him into wearing himself out, blind him somehow? Can't grapple…explosions from his hands are too dangerous…he's good at hand to hand too, fast, quick…damnit…."
Izuku stayed away from crowds on his way home- or to the beach, in this case. He'd developed a fondness for just sitting there and watching the sea, despite the mess that the place was. It was quiet. Isolated. A good place to think without being interrupted, where he could mumble to himself without fear of being overheard.
"Still have the shock gauntlets. Not ideal unless I'm fighting someone who isn't a heavyweight, though…although I shouldn't be fighting people like that in hand to hand…Jason struggled against Bane, and Bane was only just superpowered. Strength enhancing Quirks…still…always have a weakness. Like that girl, Uraraka. Five-point activation. Gravity control? Gravity removal? Can't assume she's correct about the full potential of her Quirk. Useful. Can't swing properly without gravity, maybe? If you're floating…no solid grounding, weaker blows. Hard to take in close…hard to fight without getting touched. Hmm…five finger touch to activate."
Izuku had ended up on the beach almost without noticing. He took out a notepad, resting it on a knee and tapping the closed cover with a pencil, the slow drumming matching his heartbeat. His other hand went up to his head, rubbing at the back of his mess of curly hair.
"Of course, people would think to break the fingers. Harder than they assume. Hard not to get touched. Some sort of weapon…baton? But what if the activation isn't five finger touch? What if it's 'available fingers touching'? If she lost a finger would her Quirk be crippled, or would it activate with the remaining fingers? Is it all the fingers on one hand, five fingers on one hand, five fingers total…too many variables. Close combat isn't feasible, I'd be quickly levitated. Grappling, maybe, but even then…guns are an answer, but non-lethal…the foam bullets, but I won't have those for a while. Hmm."
Izuku moved his hand from his hair to his mouth, covering his lips with his fingers. The pencil tapping continued, speeding up slightly.
"But I can throw things. I'm accurate, even, thanks to Jason. He used shuriken mostly, but even though they're unlikely to be lethal the aesthetic might not be…but Bruce used bolas sometimes, right? So if I could incorporate the shock charge from my gauntlets…good enough to bring someone down, probably. There are heroes that use a lot of gear anyway. Plus it's quiet…guns aren't stealthy, even with the best silencer possible."
Stealth. It all came down to stealth. He wasn't going to be able to compete with the strongest Quirks…well, unless they had some sort of flaw. A lot of powerful Quirks didn't come with the same resilience that a lot of Metas in Jason's universe had shown. Bakugo wasn't impossible to take down in a fist fight, or at least Izuku believed.
"Something like the later armour suits Bruce built might be able to compete, but I don't have the resources. Might never have them. Huh…I wonder how Quirk's work, exactly. Can they be suppressed? There's that hero, I think…can't remember his name, but that's a Quirk. Could it be replicated by technology?"
Izuku grinned, a maniac expression that bared his teeth. Wouldn't that be a fun project? He caught himself after a moment, coughing into his hand and forcing the smile off his face, gut twisting uneasily at the flash of pure glee that had run through him.
"Not now, Jason. Rein it in," he whispered, slowly standing. It was probably time to head home, anyway. He had paperwork to fill in for U.A.
"But bringing them down to my level…maybe it would teach a few people a lesson in humility."
Put it on the backburner, he thought. Something for the future.
The door to classroom 1-A was aggressively large.
Izuku wasn't that short. Or that tall, really- about five feet six inches- but the door before him was about twice his height.
"I suppose it has to be," he whispered, "In case people with Quirks that make them much larger than normal attend. Still, it's a bit intimidating…"
He'd been hoping that he wouldn't have to deal with Kacchan, but he was fairly sure that one of the voices he could hear from within the classroom was a lot more familiar than he liked. He'd heard that Kacchan had come first in the Entrance Exam, of course…Bakugo had refused to shut up about it…but he'd hoped, given that there were two Hero Course classes. Oh well. At least it sounded like someone else had drawn the initial brunt of Kacchan's personality. Izuku sighed, pushing at the door and swinging it open. It moved easily, perfectly balanced, and he walked into his new classroom, heart thumping painfully within his chest. He was nervous, he could tell, a coldness forming in his torso, adrenaline and anticipation. He glanced around the room, taking in as much as he could, cataloguing escape routes and obstacles- part his life spent being bullied, mostly Jason's professional paranoia, and useful enough as a skill that he'd made a point of honing it. Mostly the classroom contained people, students- there were so many interesting looking people, Izuku quivered slightly with a hunger to analyse and assess their Quirks- in the slightly militaristic U.A. uniform: grey, with epaulettes and buttons and marking thread, a little ostentatious for Izuku but he could bear it.
And also, there was someone behind the desk. A man, in a yellow sleeping bag.
Izuku did his best not to stare. The man was looking directly at him, a single eyebrow inching up, and Izuku tore his gaze away, wincing inside. He bit the inside of his cheek to keep his mumbling inside. That must be their teacher- either that or there was a kidnapper in the school, but being real he was probably safe in that case, who'd want a Quirkless kid- but it looked like he didn't want to be noticed. Fine by Izuku. Staying low was a good time.
"And what the fuck's it matter to you, four-eyes?" Bakugo snarled. Huh. He sounded genuinely annoyed, rather than it being the standard aggression. Wasn't used to someone standing up to him, maybe? The guy he was arguing with was the tall boy who'd interrupted Present Mic before the exam, Izuku hadn't caught his name. Still, maybe there'd be something to watch here. If he was lucky the two of them might get into a fistfight and he could assess their skills.
If he was really lucky the tall dude would put Kacchan down for the count. God, even the thought was cathartic. Izuku should really consider therapy.
"Putting your feet on school property is disrespectful to the craftsmen who made the material, to your classmates, to U.A. itself!" the tall boy declared. Kacchan sneered up at him, arms folded across his chest. That was a good sign in and of itself. Kacchan had very obvious tells when it came to violence, and one of them was letting his hands hang loosely by his side. If he was sitting like that, it made a sudden turn to violence a lot less likely. Also, he had his feet up on his desk, sitting tilted back in his chair. If he tried to start anything the tall boy could kick the chair away and Kacchan would be on the floor, vulnerable.
"I don't give a fuck about any of them, you fucking square, and I don't give a fuck about you," Bakugo snarled, swinging his feet down to the ground. He came to his feet, planting both hands on the desk- violence was imminent. Hopefully he was just trying to be intimidating. Otherwise…Izuku dreaded the thought, but his desk was right behind Kacchan's, if he remembered the seating plan right. He might have to actually intervene.
He pushed down the thought that the best way to intervene with a rabid dog was a merciful shot to the skull. Not now, Jason. Kacchan was still talking and Izuku wanted to assess him.
"I'm Katsuki fuckin' Bakugo, Four Eyes, and I'm gonna be the Number One Hero. You hear me? You're all just extras in my backstory, so get. Used. To. It."
God that ego was ridiculous. How did he fit his swollen head through doors? Didn't matter. The tall dude looked taken aback.
"You say you're going to be the Number One Hero? I highly doubt that someone as uncouth as you-"
"I don't give a fuck what you think. And what's with talking like that, you some kind of rich boy?"
Izuku scraped a shoe along the ground as he walked, loudly. Fun as this was someone needed to be an adult, and the one in the room didn't seem interested.
God Izuku sympathised. Both Kacchan and the tall boy turned to look at him and Izuku raised a hand, swallowing.
"Er- Hi? Hello?"
He saw the look of absolute disgust and rage that contorted Kacchan's face, but refused to make eye contact- that was asking for an explosion. Metaphorically. Kacchan probably wouldn't leap to his feet and try to blow his face off in the middle of an occupied classroom. The tall dude took a long step towards Izuku, his posture alarmingly straight. Also he was like six foot two, which made Izuku feel like a child in comparison.
"Ah! Greetings! I am Tenya Iida, from Somei Private Academy!"
Ah. He was kind of a square, but he seemed nice. Izuku managed a smile, fighting off his social anxiety long enough to be polite.
"I- ah, I'm Izuku Midoriya. Nice to meet you!"
"If you're here to socialise," a voice that sounded like about six days of chain smoking and rotgut whisky rasped, "You might as well pack up and leave now."
Izuku went absolutely still. The voice was different, but the tone- if he turned around, he knew he'd see Bruce standing there, exhausted after too many nights running around Gotham, tired eyes that were far too forgiving resting on his wayward son. Blood and bone scattered, a harsh and uncertain smile of forgiveness and Izuku closed his eyes, fingernails digging into his palms as he dragged a harsh breath through his nose and forced himself to turn.
Bruce wasn't there. He wasn't caught in Gotham, in Bludhaven, in Metropolis, in a vault far beneath a forest. He was in a classroom, sun streaming in through the window and an exhausted looking man in dark clothes standing next to the teacher's desk.
"Eight seconds to quiet down. Not good enough. Time is precious, and a rational class would know that."
The guy looked even more tired than he sounded. Which meant…probably an Underground Hero. Teaching through the day and patrolling at night? That was…extreme. Even Bruce hadn't- after the first few years, Bruce had patrolled about half the days of any given week, keeping to an uncertain schedule. He was never going to be everywhere, but fear of the Bat prevented more crimes than he ever could. Only the direst circumstances drew Bruce to patrol every single hour of every single night.
And what had that gotten him? A broken back, when Bane exploited that weakness. Tiredness killed in this business, but whatever this guy in front of him did wasn't Izuku's business. The man swept tired eyes across the class and sighed.
"Alright. I'm your teacher, Shota Aizawa. So…"
He reached into the yellow sleeping back, discarded on the desk, and pulled out a gym uniform. Izuku almost had a heart attack at the thought of cramming twenty individual uniforms into a single sleeping bag.
"Put these on and let's head out. We're wasting time."
Aizawa threw the uniform at a random student.
"The rest of you'll find yours in the changing rooms. Let's get going."
Izuku made for the door, heart beating unevenly. Something wasn't right here, and the look in Aizawa's eyes…there was a crazy in that man. Izuku really hoped he didn't have to deal with it.
"Oh, never mind," Izuku whispered to himself. The class were lined up on a ground of compacted dirt, markings delineating athletics tracks painted on, with Aizawa stood in front of them looking like a corpse freshly dragged from its grave. A Quirk Assessment Test.
"Shoulda been a vigilante," Izuku whispered to himself, too quiet for anyone with normal hearing to hear. Aizawa sighed again, looking utterly done already. All Uraraka had done was ask about orientation, which the rest of the school was at.
"If you're gonna be a hero, you don't have time for trivial pursuits," he said, eyes raking across them, "Here at U.A. the teachers have a lot of freedom. It's one of the selling points of the school. So, I want to skip a pointless Orientation for a Quirk Assessment Test? That's my privilege."
Oh good, he had a maniac for a teacher. Live fast, die young, leave a messy corpse, that sort of thing. Well, his Revolutionary Plan was at revision six. He'd even managed to get over the 'dying in a police shootout' thing.
Martyring himself in a suicidal attack on the largest and most powerful villain group he could find wasn't better, exactly, but he liked to think it was progress.
"You've been doing fitness tests like this your whole lives," Aizawa continued, "Thing is, the government is still clinging to the notion that all men are created equal. You've been doing these without your Quirks. It's not rational to prevent those with the most power from excelling."
Oh. That was a lot of rage that Izuku was feeling, welling up in his chest. Maybe it was the street-rat Jason, being told that he deserved to be looked down on for something out of his control. Maybe it was Izuku, powerless in a powerful world, hungering for something more.
Either way, it filled his heart with spite even after he wrestled the black fury down. 'Might Makes Right'. Beloved catchphrase of tyrants everywhere. There was a glint in Aizawa's dark eyes, something knowing when Izuku met his gaze. Izuku blinked and looked away.
"Either way, it's better to have a baseline for your skills so that you can improve later. Bakugo. You placed first in the Entrance Exam, right? What was the furthest distance you could throw a baseball back in Junior High?"
Kacchan raised an eyebrow, his expression twisting into something like confusion before he shrugged.
"Sixty-seven metres, I think."
Aizawa tossed him a baseball.
"Try again. Use your Quirk, do whatever. Just stay in the circle."
Bakugo looked at the ball in his hand and shrugged, striding over to the circle. Izuku watched him, unblinking. This would be easy, obvious. Simple application. Throw, add an explosion to add to the throw, get a good score. Great Quirk. Very impressive. Very simple. Very heroic.
Ah, there was the bitterness, festering in him. Good old bitterness, the friend that had never left him despite his refusal to acknowledge it. Thanks, Jason, for making him aware of it.
Bakugo pitched well. Not perfect form, but excellent, and as the ball was about to leave his hand-
"DIE!" Kacchan roared, his hand bursting with flame. The ball was sent hurtling through the air to the amazement of most of their classmates, although Izuku wasn't as impressed. 'Die'? How was this guy not in therapy? Sure he'd launched the baseball a long way- over seven hundred metres was a lot further than Izuku would manage, that was for sure- but it was one of the most basic applications of an incredibly simple Quirk. And there was that bitterness again. He might actually have to be careful not to become a vigilante, because that right there could drive him right onto the path Jason had walked at the start of his career as the Red Hood.
"We can use our Quirks as much as we want? This is great!"
Aizawa turned a horrifying look upon the speaker- a girl with hot-pink skin and horns- and smiled the sort of smile that was more suited to medieval paintings of Hell than a school. Alas poor pink girl, we hardly knew ye.
"Great, huh? You've got three years to become a hero. You think it's going to be great? Think an attitude like that will get you through? Alright, then. Let's spice it up a bit. Today you're all gonna compete in eight tests to judge your potential. Whoever comes last clearly has none…and will be expelled."
'Revolution plan, version eight-point-one - get expelled from U.A. on account of the first day being a gauntlet.'
Izuku forced himself not to panic. A few inches away, Uraraka- he hadn't had a chance to talk to her yet- spoke up.
"Expelled? But it's the first day, that's so unfair!"
Aizawa still had that slight, unsettling grin, showing far too many teeth. His eyes were bloodshot, Izuku noticed. Through his panic the thought slipped- how much of this attitude was Aizawa, and how much was the blatant sleep deprivation? Either way, it didn't matter. They were up against the wall now.
"Fair?" Aizawa asked, clearly rhetorical, "You're right. It isn't fair. The world isn't fair. You think it's fair when some villain kills a dozen civilians because the Hero he faced wasn't up to the task? You think it's fair when a tsunami crushes half a city, or an earthquake leaves hundreds dead? It's not fair. The world isn't fair, but it's a Heroes job to counter that. That's why I only accept the best. Eight tests. Prove you deserve to be here."
Aizawa lost his grin, though the crazy eyes remained. Izuku wished for a rainy night in Gotham, armour and jacket and gun in hand, rather than here in the sunlight. It had only been a day and he was already feeling like an imposter.
"Calm down, Izuku," he whispered, barely louder than a breath, far too quiet to be heard, "You don't have to outrun the bear."
Yeah. Yeah, that was right. He didn't have to beat everyone else, only someone else. They'd probably been training too- definitely been training too- but so had he. He could do this.
God, he hoped he could do this.
"Alright," Aizawa announced, "You all saw Bakugo's demonstration. Now it's time for the real thing. First off…fifty metre sprint."
Izuku would probably have found the Quirks being used a lot more interesting if he hadn't been consumed by concern. Didn't help that the first two were obviously well suited. Iida, now that Izuku got a chance to actually study him, had engines in his calves- Izuku could see the deformation- and blazed across the fifty metres in barely more than three seconds. The other person running, a girl with a slightly hunched posture, cleared the fifty metres in two massive jumps and just under six seconds. Not great for him. Izuku reckoned he could manage about seven seconds, if he did his best. No idea if that would be enough. He chewed his lip nervously, calculating as people went in front of him. Five point four-nine seconds, a guy with a tail who used it to hurl himself along. Seven point one-five seconds, Uraraka. Five point five-one seconds, the blonde kid who'd almost pasted Izuku with his laser in the Entrance Exam. Five point three seconds, the pink girl who slid along on a trail of some sort of liquid that came from her feet. And then Izuku was up, standing next to Kacchan. Great.
"Start!" chirped the robot recorder at the side of the track and Izuku bolted. He was never going to beat Kacchan, the bastard had blown away by propelling himself with blasts from his hands, but even still-
"Six point four-nine seconds!" the robot announced, cheery enough to make Izuku feel sick. He'd beaten any record he'd ever set, but that was so much slower than everyone else, except Uraraka…and if he was right, she'd blow through the baseball throw with ease.
It was his first day, and he needed a break already. If he had access to his gear- but there was no point in complaining now. There were tests to complete.
Second test: grip strength. This one, Izuku was sort of confused on. Was it really that relevant to being a hero? He supposed that it was important to lifting something heavy, but…at least Kacchan didn't have a massive advantage on this one. Izuku took a petty satisfaction from that, even if he knew he'd come low on the score. He was much stronger than he had been ten months ago, but at least two people in this class had some sort of strength Quirk. He was never going to compete. Still…he didn't have to outrun the bear. Silver linings, silver linings.
Assuming the final result was just an aggregate of their positions in each test, of course. If the actual results were taken into account his limitations- that was, being a standard human who wasn't going to perform at an insane level on any test- might cripple him. In a moment of weakness, Izuku silently vowed vengeance on Aizawa in the event that he was expelled, heroism be damned.
Long jump. Izuku did better here. Several of his classmates could boost themselves, doing much better than he did, but he was athletic enough. Probably top eight in that, he guessed. Baseball throw, considerably worse. Izuku managed sixty-eight metres, earning himself a bloody glare from Kacchan at beating his old junior school record. Really, what did he expect. They were barely an inch apart in height and similarly built, why would it be offensive that Izuku had done as well as Bakugo? Kacchan had literally demonstrated a vastly better score ten minutes ago. What was wrong with him? As Izuku had predicted, though, Uraraka stole the show. Cannons produced from flesh, super strength, a swatting wall of ice- none of the impressive, showy Quirks demonstrated could match the girl who just had to tap the ball with five fingers before gently tossing it into orbit. Such a cool Quirk. Izuku was amazed that he managed to keep his internal monologue internal. Maybe giving himself a set time to vent at the beach was helping.
Fifth test, sideways hops. Again, Izuku did alright- his parkour practice certainly helped- but a short boy with odd balls on his head stuck two clumps of the balls either side of the line and bounced between them at a dizzying speed. It violated the spirit of the exercise, in Izuku's opinion, but Aizawa seemed amused rather than annoyed. Maybe he liked people who could exploit rules to their advantage.
Maybe he was a sadist who got his jollies from seeing the dizzy kid fall over afterwards. Who could know?
Number six, long distance running. Turned out that all that running away from bullies really helped with some things, huh? Izuku actually did well in this one, coming fourth behind Iida- no surprise there- a boy with a head best described as crow-like whose Quirk manifested as a mass of shadows that coalesced into an avian-human hybrid form and carried him, and the girl who'd casually pulled a cannon from her skin. She broke out a bicycle this time. Alright, maybe the short kid with the balls- Mineta, Izuku thought he was called- hadn't been too out of line in terms of stretching the exercises to their thinnest possible definition. Still, fourth was good. He must be somewhere in the middle of the pack.
Seventh test, sit-ups. Izuku did…fine…but he didn't think anybody was breaking world records here. That was fine with him. The less he had to deal with, the better. And the last test, the seated toe-touch, much the same. Izuku was fairly flexible- thank you Robin training regime and your focus on acrobatics- but he didn't think he was first. Once they were all finished they lined up again, almost all of them shifting nervously. Izuku bit his lip, fighting to keep his panicked whispers inside. What if it wasn't about results? What if it was about how well he used his Quirk. He didn't have a Quirk, would that count against him? Would Aizawa call him out and disqualify him, tell him that Heroics needed a Quirk? Would the invisible girl that he'd noticed get a lowered score since she couldn't use her Quirk without stripping off her school uniform and being obvious? Had he left the oven on? Why was the scarf Mr Aizawa wore so oddly familiar?
Was he on the verge of a panic attack? Absolutely. Most of his classmates didn't seem to notice, or seemed vaguely sympathetic. Bakugo got annoyed.
"Would you quit fucking shaking, Deku? Shit, it's only the first day and you're already crying!"
The fact that Izuku was stressed enough that a little bit of Jason came out in reply probably wasn't surprising. Jason got confrontational when he was emotional.
"Why don't you try minding your own business for once, Kacchan? Maybe if your ego wasn't so insufferable-"
"What the fuck did you say to me?" Bakugo barked, incensed. There was about five feet between them as he lunged, hands sparking, and the cold wash of adrenaline cut through Izuku. He bit his lip hard enough to draw blood, but his head cleared.
Kacchan always led with a heavy right hook when fighting. Either that or the grab to the collar. If it was the hook, grab. Flip. Kick to the head, keep kicking until the bastard stopped trying to get up. If it was the grab, knee to the groin. Shove the hands away, headbutt to break nose, hip-throw to the ground, stomp into unconsciousness.
Vigilante Revolutionary Plan, Version Eight-point-two, step one. Hospitalise Kacchan.
Kacchan was halfway to Izuku when the explosions coming from his palm just stopped. Izuku heard him grunt in complete confusion before a loop of thin grey fabric wrapped around him and pulled, dragging Kacchan back.
"Maybe it isn't obvious," Aizawa drawled, eyes glowing a malevolent crimson, "But U.A. doesn't generally accept students beating on each other outside of approved sparring."
Kacchan heaved against the scarf, failing to budge any of it, teeth showing in a deranged snarl.
"How- the fuck- your scarf so damned strong!"
Aizawa was apparently fluent in Japanese that was mangled by a rage that was probably half an inch away from an aneurysm, because he replied without blinking.
"It's not a scarf. It's a capture weapon made from military grade alloys. Now, knock it off…you're giving me dry-eye."
Izuku stared, mind connecting the dots. The scarf. The dark clothes, Underground Hero. The red glow in Aizawa's eyes, Kacchan being unable to use his Quirk…of course Izuku was in the line of fire too, but that hardly mattered to him-
"You- you're Eraserhead! The Pro Erasure Hero!"
Aizawa glanced at him, one eyebrow lifting before the glow went out of his eyes, although he made a point of pulling Kacchan back a few steps before the capture weapon- or scarf, or whatever- loosed itself and wrapped around Aizawa's neck again. It didn't move naturally, there must be some sort of technology in there- but that wasn't important. Aizawa sighed, sounding exhausted.
"Every teacher here is a Pro Hero. I don't see the big deal. Bakugo, get into line. I'm going to show the results."
Bakugo snarled but went without protest. Of course he did, Izuku thought. He'd tested the resident authority figure and seen that he couldn't get away with all of his old bullshit, so he'd gone back to treading the line of contemptuous obedience. A few members of the class whispered about Eraserhead- sounded like none of them had actually heard of him- but Izuku pushed it out of his mind. Aizawa reached into a pocket and pulled out a small bottle of eye-drops, applying them without a word. Making them wait. Sadist. He replaced the bottle and shrugged.
"I don't really care enough to give you all the results personally, so here," he said, laying his tablet on the ground and pressing a button. A hologram flickered and spun into place, a table of results slowly spinning on it, and Izuku felt his heart freeze mid-beat in frightened anticipation.
Izuku Midoriya. fourteenth place, above several others. Last place, Tooru Hagakure. Izuku chanced a glance along the line, seeing the invisible girl standing frozen in place- her uniform was completely still at least- and felt his heart jolt with sympathy. She didn't have a Quirk that was useful here. Her scores hadn't been low, from what he could remember, just lower than the rest. It was…Izuku hated it. To be cast aside for no fault of your own. Heroics was more cutthroat than Izuku had realised. It left a vile taste in his mouth, and the relief he felt- relief that he wasn't going home, that he hadn't received a negative answer to the question that had haunted his whole life- only made the sour bitterness worse.
"Hagakure," Aizawa said, sounding absolutely bored, "Be sure to work on your physical scores. Strong Quirks aren't anything. And in case you all missed it, nobody is going home. The threat of expulsion was just a…call it a logical ruse, to draw the best out of you."
"I knew it," the girl who'd produced items from her skin said, sounding confused, "I thought the rest of you would have known that…should I have told you?"
No, Izuku thought, looking Aizawa in his bloodshot, crazy man eyes. It hadn't been a lie. Maybe the threat had been to ensure they did their best, but…he would have sent them home with barely a regret. Maybe more than just the person in last place. Aizawa smirked, teeth on display again, and Izuku didn't bother to hide his shudder.
"Alright, that's it, we're done for the day," Aizawa said, picking up his tablet and tucking it under his arm, "Go and collect a syllabus from the classroom and head home. You'll need it for tomorrow. Oh, and…I wouldn't get comfortable. It's all downhill from here."
Midoriya might actually see that grin in his nightmares.
"Welcome to U.A. High School."
"Midoriya. A word?"
Izuku almost jumped out of his skin as Aizawa materialised from the darkness of an empty classroom in front of him. The teacher raised an eyebrow, the bottom half of his mouth buried in his scarf and hands tucked into pockets.
"Somewhere to be?"
"The, ah, the Support department…I have some things I wanted to ask about. For my costume," Izuku explained, shuffling. Aizawa looked him over, nodding.
"Makes sense. At least you're trying. Speaking of trying…you noticed me this morning. Why not say something to your classmates?"
Well, he'd been distracted by the fight brewing between Iida and Kacchan. But mostly, it had been paranoia. Izuku chose to answer honestly.
"There aren't many villains who could get into U.A. If you were one of them, g-getting your attention wouldn't help. B-better to try and…distract you…mid whatever y-you were doing."
Izuku clenched his fist, bringing all his will to bear against his stutter. It rarely worked, since all it did was get him more tense and push the stutter further, but he always had hope that he could brute force things. Aizawa smiled a fraction, the only indication a slight crinkling around his eyes. Izuku hoped it was a smile, at least.
"Trying to catch a potential villain off-guard, hmm? Well…I guess you've got decent instincts. I guess I'm supposed to warn you that lone wolves don't do well at U.A., but…"
Aizawa gestured to himself with a single lazy wave of his hand.
"Just show me that you can work with others, too."
And then he was gone, melting back into the darkness like an overdramatic teenager. Izuku was unbearably jealous. In the future he would be the shadow that flapped in the night, or whatever they wanted to call it. For the moment, though, he needed to take his grapple-harness and shock knuckles to the Support Department so that the head there could check them over and sign off on them, if the email correspondence he'd managed to talk himself into before arriving at U.A. had been true. He didn't think they'd lie to him, but Izuku's anxiety was like the Batman of his emotions: it knew all, it saw all, and it never seemed to sleep.
Izuku tried not to think for the next five minutes, hoping to purge his mind of increasingly crazed metaphors before he went insane. It didn't really work, but he did his best, so that was cool. The Support Department section of the school was actually different to the rest- although the design was mostly the same, white paint and brushed steel, every door was reinforced. Maybe the Support Department had a tendency to, Izuku didn't know, create and unleash killer robots? Nanobot swarms? Violent cleaning items? The horrors of science were varied and numerous. Trying to comprehend them all was the path to madness. Nonetheless, Izuku started mumbling about the threats to his person that he could encounter as he walked through the hallways. Paradoxically it relaxed him. He might have to just accept that he was weird and live with it. He found the room he'd been directed to and raised his hand, knocking hard on the steel. His knuckles stung a little. Too enthusiastic.
"Come i-no! Wait a minute!"
The explosion that rocked the room beyond wasn't followed by any screams of pain, so Izuku just assumed that the Support team didn't understand the concept of lab safety. It happened, really. Bruce had blown up more than one table while experimenting with his latest paranoia fuelled prototypes, and Jason had once burned most of an eyebrow off while trying to make a grenade that would create a sort of clinging tar, to inconvenience people he got the drop on.
It hadn't worked, in the end. Izuku still had the notes written down and several possible changes recorded, though. He wanted to see it work.
"Alright, come in! Should be safe now," the voice called. Izuku shoved the door open and cautiously walked in, waving a skein of smoke away from his face. A girl with bright pink hair was stood on a table, cackling maniacally and being completely ignored by a grown adult, a man wearing heavy gauntlets and a helmet shaped like the blade of a digger truck.
"You're Power Loader, right?" Izuku asked. Well, it was half a squeak. Power Loader was pretty cool. He was the only current Pro Hero to hold a full Support licence, one of less than half a dozen since the proper start of the Hero System, and-
"I said that all out loud, didn't I?" he asked. Power Loader laughed.
"Don't worry about it, kid. Support has plenty of students who don't believe in internal monologues, and most are a lot more disturbing than that one!"
Power Loader leaned in slightly, voice lowering a notch.
"One more student starts rambling about building a nuclear reactor in their basement and I swear- but anyway. You're Izuku Midoriya, right? You have some Support gear that you've built and want checked over?"
"I-uh, yes. Sir. I've got two pieces, here. And some things I wanted to ask about, too?"
Power Loader waved a hand.
"I'm supervising here for two hours more, so I've got plenty of time. Besides, always nice to see a Hero student building their own gear. Even if we have to rebuild it all, at least you actually know what you want."
Izuku followed Power Loader over to an empty table, the steel surface scarred and scored, and extracted his grapple harness from his bag, laying it on the surface. He followed that up with his shock knuckles and then his notebook, tapping it nervously on the surface. Power Loader picked up the grapple harness, inspecting it.
"Hmm. Mobility, right? Let's see…harness goes around the torso. Winch and power system at the back? Needs refining, but we'll see…dunno about the grapple dart, though. Solid design though, should be alright. You have some ideas to improve it, yeah?"
Izuku nodded, shakily. The brisk, no nonsense manner was a little bit unsettling, but given Aizawa maybe every U.A. teacher was like this.
"Yeah. I've got a…there's a sort of adhesive glue, for the dart? It becomes inert when electrified, so…"
"Ahh, reusable, right? Yeah, good idea. I know Aizawa complains sometimes about needing to find anchor points for his scarf, although using it to swing around to begin with is…well, he's an adult. But yeah, I'll take a look at your formula for the adhesive. Have to rebuild the whole thing if we want to get that to work, but if you don't mind I'll get this tested as soon as I can. So long as it all clears I'll get it back to you. Now. These brass knuckle looking things, what do they do?"
"They- they're like a low powered taser? It pretty much just numbs the area around where they hit. They're too bulky, really, but I didn't really have the resources to…"
"Hmm. Built 'em in a cave with a box of scraps, right? It happens. They should be alright, but I'll get them tested too. And I can get you in touch with a few people who can improve these- Hatsume, what have I said about personal space?"
Izuku was frozen stiff, gone utterly still as the pink haired girl leaned around him, her arm slung casually across his shoulders and her face less than an inch away from him.
"Dunno, boss. Wasn't listening," she said, far too cheerily for Izuku's liking. She studied his gear, turning to him.
"Huh. You built these, right? They're pretty boring."
Power Loader mumbled something about poorly socialised geniuses. Izuku mumbled something about all he needed. Hatsume snatched his notebook out of his hands, bringing it up to his face with an exclamation of delight.
"Oh, this is more like it!"
"Jesus Christ, Midoriya, what's in there? Do I need to tranquilise her?" Power Loader whispered, his hand reaching for a dart-gun lying on the desk a few feet away. Izuku consciously ignored the implications of the dart gun being so close at hand.
"It's, uh, a sort of adhesive foam? It's supposed to help pin villains in place, or stick their limbs together, or anything really. I don't see why-"
"This is great!" Hatsume announced. Power Loader reached for the tranquiliser, his slow motions indicating an experience in catching people off guard.
"It's pretty simple, but really useful! And your formulas are nearly done, right? Greeny, Greeny, you came up with this?"
"Um, yes?"
Hatsume finally got away from him, practically jumping over to Power Loader.
"Look!"
Power Loader took the notebook with care, reading over it.
"Alright, Mei, I see what you mean. Midoriya, you couldn't get this to work?"
Izuku shuffled slightly.
"I got a version of it to work, but it only lasted for about five minutes and wasn't breathable. I didn't really have the best equipment…plus…"
"Yeah. Foam bullets, right? Snipe runs a course for that, you can get certified pretty quickly from U.A.. For students who've got Quirks involving guns, you know? But yeah, we can work with this. Get you set up."
"I want it," Hatsume declared. Power Loader glanced at her.
"Hatsume, you're a First Year. You really want-"
"Yep! I'm better than most of the other students here, we both know it!"
"You've got a bigger ego, that's for sure," Power Loader muttered. He looked back at Izuku. "Choice is yours, kid. She's not lying- she's good at what she does. She's just a bit…much…sometimes. I'd recommend getting grouped with a Support Student, though. You've got good ideas and this way you can keep 'em in house."
Izuku looked at the girl, currently darting around the workshop collecting bits and pieces of gear, and sighed. Well, at least it wouldn't be boring.
"Alright, Hatsume. You've got a deal."
Mei Hatsume had a grin almost as crazed as Aizawa's, Izuku thought. Thinking back to Uraraka, maybe this was what making friends here would be like.
Oh dear.
Roughly three seconds after making his latest deal with a devil Izuku ducked behind Power Loader, shamelessly hiding from Hatsume as she made grabby hands at him. Power Loader sighed.
"Well, at least she's got something to focus on now. Hatsume! Help me check his harness and knuckledusters and then you can experiment as much as I let you."
"Aww. But that's boring…"
"We all have to do boring things sometimes, Hatsume. Go and see what you can make of the formulas for the foam, if you want. Copy them down, then Midoriya can have his book back."
Hatsume bounced away with Izuku's notebook in hand- Izuku shivered at the thought of it getting damaged- and Power Loader sighed, turning to him.
"Sorry about that, Midoriya, but there was no other way to distract her. She wants to set up a whole company…might be good for you, anyway. First call on any gear she comes up with. You're Quirkless, right?"
Izuku swallowed against his dry throat, nodding. Power Loader tapped on the table, picking up Izuku's grapple harness and walking away with it.
"Yeah, thought so. We get Quirkless students every so often. Usually they don't pass the Entrance Exam, or they're unlucky enough to get Aizawa and quit…still, coming over here so early is a good sign. Lot of people look down on Support gear, but given how potent it can be…and you seem bright enough. Hatsume can be a nightmare, but she won't steer you wrong if you're careful."
Hatsume returned, thrusting the notebook into Izuku's hands without a word and rushing off again, throwing a farewell over her shoulder. Power Loader chuckled.
"She's a menace, but it's good to see someone so enthusiastic. We'll get your gear in working condition as soon as we can, Midoriya. And, uh, I dunno if someone's said this to you yet- probably not, given how Aizawa is- but good luck with the whole Quirkless hero thing. You've managed the first step. Better keep walking, right?"
And with that odd pep-talk given, Power Loader bent over Izuku's grappling harness. Izuku tucked his notebook back into his bag and headed out. This place was full of lunatics.
He tried to ignore how that made him feel a warm sense of nostalgia that wasn't quite his.
The second day at U.A. wasn't quite as bad as Izuku had assumed it might be. Or at least, it hadn't started that way. Izuku had been there for three whole hours and nothing horrible had happened to him. Well, except for English and Maths class which, despite being taught by Pro-Heroes, were still high school English and Maths. He'd never really been anything more than decent at English, but the extra memories helped, actually. Good thing Jason spoke fluent Japanese or he might have actual language difficulties at random times. That would be embarrassing. Still, he managed, and ended up eating lunch with Iida and Uraraka- Uraraka because he actually knew her, and Iida because Uraraka had walked to the train station with him after school on the first day and had dragged Izuku along. Iida was still a little stiff, but he was pleasant enough. Uraraka was bright and cheerful enough for all three of them. It was a little blinding, honestly. It was... nice.
He still hadn't told anyone he was Quirkless. Decent odds that Bakugo would be the one to drop that bombshell. Who knew, maybe he could make good enough friends with a couple of people that when it was revealed they'd still tolerate him? That would be nice. Hadn't worked with Bakugo, but maybe he was an outlier.
Izuku glanced over to Bakugo, his face twisted into a look of absolute rage as a boy with red hair chatted happily to him. Definitely an outlier.
"We've got Foundational Heroics next, right? I wonder who the teacher will be?" Uraraka asked. Izuku tapped his chopsticks against his opposite forearm, repressing the urge to drum them against the table.
"All the teachers so far have been Pro Heroes," he said, "So definitely a Pro. But not all of them have been that well known…"
"Yeah, I've never heard of Eraserhead! I could barely find anything about him online, either?" Uraraka chirped. Izuku kept tapping.
"Eraserhead is an Underground Hero, so he stays out of the press and mostly works at night. He can look at people and cancel their Quirks…his eyes were glowing red yesterday, that must be the indication that he's using his Quirk…that's why he has the goggles, to hide who he's looking at? They were covered by the scarf, but I don't see why he would…didn't change his costume otherwise…I wonder how it works, does it rely on his eyeballs…"
"That muttering is really creepy, Midoriya!" Uraraka said, tone entirely cheerful. Iida turned his head to her, murmuring something about rudeness even if she was right. Izuku toppled off his chair and almost took his eye out with the chopsticks.
"It's really cool too though, I didn't know any of that!"
Oh thank God, she had interrupted before he got into the paranoia fuelled sections of mumbling. They invariably became less of a cute hobby and more of a highly concerning spiel on potential weaknesses and horrible ways to cripple someone and honestly Izuku was pretty sure that if anybody heard them he'd end up in a mental ward. None of his Revolutionary Plans had taken that into account, actually. Revolutionary Plan version Eight, Alternate MW- no. No. Not the time, anxiety.
"I…uh, thanks? I guess?"
"You're welcome!" she said, holding out a thumbs up to him. Izuku blinked at her but honestly couldn't find anything to say.
"Regardless of who the teacher is," Iida announced, "We should leave soon. It is important to be punctual, of course!"
"Oh…of course," Izuku agreed, pulling himself to his feet using his chair and following as Iida strode out of the cafeteria.
"He's a bit intense, isn't he?" Uraraka whispered, walking alongside Izuku and leaning across to him. Izuku shrugged.
"He's committed," he agreed softly, "But I think…his name sounds familiar, but I don't know why."
"Huh," Uraraka murmured, "He kinda sounds like a rich kid, y'know? From a rich family? I wonder if that's something."
Izuku shrugged. Could be, he supposed, but he stopped speaking as he hurried to catch up with Iida, whose long strides had carried him ahead. They walked along in slightly awkward silence until they reached their classroom, filing in and waiting. Izuku took his seat, wincing as Bakugo walked in and gave him a poisonous glare, but nothing was said. His classmates started whispering theories about who would be teaching- increasingly outlandish theories, ranging from a rotating cast of teachers to reformed villains- and Izuku sat, fingers drumming against his leg. The fact that Kacchan was directly in front of him and Izuku could see the muscles standing out on his neck with his eternal, seething fury didn't really help his anxiety, Izuku had to admit.
The door flew open with an echoing crash and Izuku definitely wasn't the only one to jump.
"I AM HERE!" boomed a familiar voice, "COMING THROUGH THE DOOR…like a normal person!"
All Might strode through the door in a manner completely unlike a normal person, wide grin in place, blonde spikes of hair immaculately placed, cloak flowing heroically behind him as he walked, crimson red bodysuit vibrant.
Izuku nearly had a panic attack as Clark flashed before his eyes, teeth bared, fingers digging into his throat and prying a battered helmet away from his face, blue eyes glowing with murderous intent. All Might didn't look much like Clark…wrong facial structure, wrong hair colour, the bodysuit was red with blue cape rather than blue with red cape, but they had a similar aura. An impression of complete confidence, of unassailable power. Izuku squeezed his left eye shut to control its twitching, left hand coming up to massage at his throat. Forcing the panic back down, covered by the excited yelling of his classmates. At least, he hoped it had been covered. Trying to explain that he was having a flashback to someone else's memories- a flashside, if you would- probably wouldn't go down too well.
"All right! Welcome to the most important class in U.A. High…you can think of it as Heroing 101! Here you'll learn the basics of being a Pro Hero! And to begin…BATTLE! TRAINING!"
Izuku missed the days when he would be able to just fanboy over All Might. His little flashback had sort of ruined that ability. It was getting annoying.
On a possibly related note, Izuku's count of dreams in which he was beaten with a crowbar was now up to thirty-five. Except there had also been laughing from Kacchan as well as the Joker involved. Medication looked more and more attractive every day. Still…
"But before we get onto that, there's a key part of being a Hero that you need to learn! And that's…looking good!" All Might boomed, throwing out a dramatic arm. Slots in the wall he pointed at opened up, cases sliding out, each one numbered.
"These costumes have been created based on your Quirk Registration forms and the designs you submitted before starting here! Soooo….pick them up, get changed and meet me at Training Ground Beta! It's time to get started!"
So enthusiastic. Despite himself, Izuku found a smile forming on his face as he collected his costume. This day was turning out pretty great so far. He found an isolated space in the changing rooms, grabbing one of the few cubicles before anyone else could- more paranoia, although given his past…anyway- and opened the case. The crimson helmet sat on top of everything else, staring up at him with blank eyes, and his heart beat loud in his ears, a heavy thumping. He reached out slowly, reverently, running his fingers over the hard plastic surface.
"This is it, Jason," he whispered, "This is where it really starts."
He picked up the helmet with both hands, setting it gently on the bench, and plucked up the note underneath.
"Midoriya," he read, "Cutting it pretty fine with the gear, but it all seems good. I replaced the power sources to make them smaller and more efficient and made some upgrades to the grapple, but otherwise it's all on you, kid. Hatsume says she'll have replacements ready in three days. I'll try and make sure they don't explode on you, so give it a week- that girl is far too talented at causing explosions. Power Loader."
Izuku sniffled, touched.
"Thanks, Power Loader," he whispered, tucking the note into his pocket before he pulled out the costume, changing quickly. Cargo pants and a long sleeved shirt, the Kevlar-plastic composite vest buckling closely around his torso. The Grapple Harness went over it, an unfortunate effect of the still too large winch motor, but the leather jacket he pulled on over that covered it, sleeves rolled up to his elbows. The shock knuckles he attached to his belt for the moment, and the black gauntlets and vambraces clicked into place over his forearms, solidly reassuring. The only colour other than the brown of his jacket was his armoured boots, plates covering from ankle to knee: in homage to his normal red trainers, they were the same crimson as his helmet. He scooped that up and slowly lowered it onto his head. His designs had been followed almost to the letter, his breath echoing softly as he clicked the latches near the back of his jaw shut, closing the helmet around him.
"Alright Izuku," he whispered to himself, "Time to be a goddamn Hero."
"You all look so cool!" All Might roared, holding out the most enthusiastic thumbs up Izuku had ever seen. Well, at least he was a lot more animated than Aizawa. Izuku could feel his Fanboy Energy returning. And he was right, there were a lot of cool costumes around. More armour than Izuku had expected, actually: Aoyama, the blond boy with the laser, was wearing something that looked like a suit of knight armour from a fantasy video game, and another of their class- Izuku suspected Iida, based on height and width- was about a recolour away from violating intellectual rights of the old Mobile Suit Gundam anime. On the other hand, there were also a lot of skintight costumes. The redhead who'd been talking to Kacchan earlier wasn't even wearing a shirt, which Izuku personally thought was a pretty wild choice. At least it made him look a little less out of place?
"Hey- is that you, Midoriya?"
Izuku half turned at Uraraka's voice, immediately turning most of the rest of the way in embarrassment.
"Ah-yeah, it's me," he said. At least his helmet would hide his bright blush. Uraraka waved.
"Ah, that's so cool…I wouldn't have thought it was your style, though!"
This girl was a master of backhanded compliments, and it didn't even seem intentional. What a wild child. Uraraka put a hand on the back of her head, smiling in an embarrassed fashion.
"I should have been more specific with my design, though…I didn't mean for the bodysuit to be skin-tight…"
Over his brief moment of absolute embarrassment at seeing her, Izuku made a quick assessment.
"It's supposed to be a space-suit, right?"
Pink and black, with armoured pink boots and a clear-visored helmet. It had a space theme…vaguely. Personally he would have liked a lot more armour, but maybe that was just Jason coming through. Style was great, but body-armour stopped bullets and knives a lot more effectively.
And he was turning into a grump. Great. He did notice that Uraraka didn't have any gloves at all. He supposed it made sense, since her Quirk was touch based, but maybe she should have tried reinforced gloves with fingertips cut out? Well, it was a first edition, he guessed. Might get changed in the future.
"Sir!" presumably Iida said, confirming Izuku's guess, "This is one of the fake cities from the Entrance Exam. Are we going to be conducting urban battles again?"
All Might laughed, setting his fists on his hips and beaming at them.
"Not quite, young Iida! I'm going to move you ahead of that! Most villain fights that you see on the news are flashy, in public! But the most dastardly villains will wait inside their lairs to be confronted or be interrupted in a backroom deal, a home invasion, or some other deed! So! For this you will be split into two-person teams, and will fight in indoor battle training, Heroes against Villains!"
All Might was bombarded with questions immediately. Izuku, distracted by relief that they weren't going to be doing anything like, for instance, single combat in an empty arena setting- why did that feel like a premonition- only caught one question, from Bakugo.
"How much can we hurt the other team?"
There were a lot of ways to say that. Anxious, worried not to overstep bounds. Cautious, because you didn't have a great grasp on your power. Inquisitive, interested in the specifics. And the way Bakugo said it.
Hungry.
Izuku didn't even need to think to know that his fingers had automatically twitched towards his hip, to where a pistol should lie. God help whoever went up against Kacchan, he was practically frothing at the mouth at the prospect of violence.
"All right, enough questions! Young Iida, we will be picking teams by random draw! Young Yaoyorozu, the winners will be obvious! Young Uraraka, no-one will be expelled! And young Aoyama, your cape is indeed magnificent!"
Izuku wondered if All Might hadn't noticed Kacchan's question or had chosen not to address it. Either way was fine with him, really. Iida brought a hand up to his chin, framing his jaw in armoured fingers.
"Is there not a better way to choose teams than random draw? It seems very disorganised!"
Izuku perked up slightly from his position just slightly left of Iida.
"A lot of times Heroes have to work with other Heroes they don't really know, so this replicates that. Plus we don't really know each other so it makes it fairer, I guess?"
"Of course!" Iida exclaimed, with that intimidatingly loud voice of his. He bowed to All Might, a perfect ninety-degree bend at the waist.
"My apologies!"
"Think nothing of it!" All Might boomed back, pointing at them, "Now let's get to it! The exercise is pretty simple, really: two teams, Hero and Villain. The Villain team will be defending a bomb, or missile, whichever you want, as though they're trying to set it off! The Hero team will have to assault the building and either capture and restrain the Villain team or retrieve the bomb! The villains win if they hold out for ten minutes or they capture and restrain the villains, very simple! But just remember, you're up against people now, not robots, so at least try to show some restraint- young Bakugo, I will halt the match if any serious injuries are sustained, to answer your earlier question. Now, let's draw teams!"
They drew, forming ten teams. Izuku suppressed the urge to try and analyse every single person he saw- if they were only facing one set of opponents it could be a distraction. He chewed on his lip under his helmet, shoving his hands into his pockets to hide the fact that they were shaking with an almost obsessive mania.
"You have three years here, Izuku. You don't have to jump the gun," he mouthed to himself, closing his eyes long enough to compose himself. His composure was almost immediately lost when someone tapped him on the shoulder and he jumped, hopping to the side. A sort of squeak left his lips, but luckily his helmet muffled it. The person who had tapped him tilted her head slightly, her expression marred by just the faintest hint of confusion.
"Are you alright, Midoriya?" she asked. Izuku waved his hands, swallowing.
"O-oh! Yeah, fine. Just nervous. Asui, right?"
"Call me Tsuyu," she said, a faint noise following. It sounded almost like a soft 'ribbit' to Izuku. And she could jump- some sort of Frog mutation, maybe? He managed not to say it out loud- better to keep it inside, prevent any of his classmates from getting an early advantage.
That paranoia was really kicking in these days, huh. All Might reached into a box.
"The Villain team will be…Team C!"
Bakugo sneered, fire crackling on his palms. His partner- the short boy with purple orbs for hair, Mineta- cringed away from him. Izuku absolutely did not blame the kid.
"And for the Heroes…Team F!"
Team F. Shouto Todoroki and Tooru Hagakure. Invisible girl- and Izuku sincerely hoped that only her boots and glove were visible because she had a bodysuit tailored to her powers and therefore also invisible and not that she was just naked, because if it was the second then what the fuck U.A.- and someone who Izuku had a sneaking suspicion about. Todoroki had demonstrated a great deal of control over ice: even his costume was just a shirt and pants with a thick coating of ice over his left side, but Izuku had suspicions. He was fairly sure that he'd heard the name Todoroki before, and not in relation to an Ice Quirk. Still, Todoroki had come second in the Assessment Test yesterday, if Izuku remembered rightly. Kacchan might be about to have a nasty wake-up call.
Under his helmet, Izuku grinned.
"Alright," All Might called, "Villains, you get five minutes to set up before the Heroes come after you, so off you go! And do your best, Plus Ultra!"
The two teams who would be competing split away, All Might leading the rest of them to a rom filled with monitors, all of them showing camera angles inside the building the exercise would take place in. Izuku looked over them, wondering.
"I wonder if the building will survive," he said quietly. A soft croak from his right reminded him that he wasn't alone.
"What was that, Midoriya?"
"Ah-"
But it couldn't hurt, really.
"Kacchan- Bakugo- he's competitive. Really competitive. And he's got a powerful Quirk, he's not going to back down. But Todoroki looks like he's got a really strong Quirk too, so if they really fight with their all…"
"There's going to be a lot of property damage," Asui mused, one finger pressed thoughtfully to the corner of her mouth, dark eyes crinkled in thought.
"You called Bakugo Kacchan, ribbit. Do you know him?"
"I…yeah. We went to school together. Our parents are friends."
"So you're his friend, yeah?" asked another classmate, the redheaded boy who wasn't wearing a shirt, for some reason. Kirishima? Izuku thought that was right. He swallowed again, chewing his lip in thought. Were they friends? Ten months ago he was likely to have said yes. But…
"No. No, we aren't," he said, his voice unwavering. Kirishima looked taken aback- for a moment Izuku was tempted to tell them what Kacchan was really like. Tell them that he considered friendships ended when he was told to jump off a roof and pray he got a Quirk in the next life. But no. He'd need to explain just why Kacchan had said that. Besides, maybe Bakugo would see the error of his ways and become a decent person while at U.A.
Izuku doubted it, but he was an optimist at heart.
"It's complicated," he said, picking his words carefully, "He's really driven and strong, so he can be a bit…abrasive."
In the same way holding your hand against a belt sander was a little abrasive, admittedly. But they'd probably learn that themselves soon.
"We were friends when we were little, but not anymore. Calling him Kacchan is just…old habits."
"Old habits. Right," Asui murmured, ribbiting softly. Izuku refused to look at her, instead turning to the cameras. He brought his left hand up and tucked his elbow against his chest, resting his chin in his hand.
"But he's strong. You'll see," he said quietly, "You'll definitely see."
On camera Kacchan turned, snarling something at a shaking Mineta. Izuku frowned. Kacchan was intimidating, yes, but Mineta looked on the verge of tears. Did they have a coward in the class? Not a good first start. Todoroki stood outside the building with Hagakure a few feet away, though she seemed nervous too. Hard to be sure with the invisibility, but the way her hands moved suggested that she was shifting from foot to foot. Anxious movement. Maybe it was just that Todoroki was a cold person- Izuku hadn't seen him exchange more than a single word with anyone so far. Mineta was less of a mystery- Kacchan was definitely frothing at the mouth to fight, Mineta had probably suggested that they lie in wait for the Hero team. There was no chance of that. Not after Kacchan had been embarrassed by not coming first in the Assessment Test.
"You're quite insightful, Midoriya," Asui said. Izuku jolted again.
"Did- did I-"
"Say it out loud? Yes. But quietly, I think I'm the only one who heard. So, you think Bakugo will go to fight the Heroes?"
Izuku sighed.
"Yeah. He's always been- his Quirk is strong. Flashy. He's always been the top dog, he even came first in the Entrance Exam…boasted about it for weeks. Todoroki having such a strong Quirk, Kacchan will be feeling…um…"
"Fragile?"
"Y-yeah. Fragile. So he'll want to go out and prove he's the best."
Izuku paused, looking at the screen, studying the snarl etched onto Kacchan's face, the way his fingers flexed as though choking the life out of some poor person.
"No. He needs to go out and prove he's the best."
"You don't sound like you're rooting for him," Asui murmured. Izuku shrugged.
"It's complicated," he offered, weakly. All Might cleared his throat.
"All right, students! It's time to begin! On your marks…get set! Ready! AND…GO!"
Bakugo waved a hand at Mineta, mouth still moving, and started towards the stairs. Izuku frowned.
"He's good, so maybe…he might be trying to ambush Todoroki and Hagakure. What's Mineta doing?"
Mineta was pulling the orbs out of his hair and sticking them around the room. Izuku narrowed his eyes in thought.
"Wonder what they do…he bounced off them, so I wouldn't expect them to be adhesive, but they're sticking to the walls…"
Izuku bit his lip to keep his mumbling inside. Later. He'd have time to nerd out later. Hagakure was nowhere to be seen, but Todoroki had walked into the entrance. He laid a single hand against the wall, and ice blossomed on every surface of the building. Izuku sucked in a soft gasp at the display of power, white frost crackling across the walls and running through the building. Two flights of stairs up Bakugo halted as his feet were glued to the ground by ice that spread up to his ankles, his mouth opening.
"What's he saying?" Kirishima asked, waving a hand in the air, "Don't these cameras have audio?"
All Might shrugged.
"No audio, sorry. I can hear him through my earpiece- both teams got two before the exercise, so they can communicate! But mostly it's just…cursing."
All Might winced, tapping at his ear.
"Very loud cursing."
Asui croaked quietly, deep in her throat.
"It looks like Bakugo won't get a chance to do anything," she said, the class following Todoroki's progress up the stairs. Izuku saw the faint smirk curling the edge of his lips and winced.
"We'll see," he said, very quietly. He could see what was going to happen- Todoroki was far too confident. He was barely two feet away from Bakugo when Bakugo made his move. Both palms blazed with fire, ice shattered around his legs and Izuku saw Todoroki's visible eye widen moments before a savage right hook caught him in the jaw and knocked him off his feet.
"Holy crap!" someone exclaimed. Izuku leaned forwards.
"Kacchan is wearing armoured boots, so he was only a little inconvenienced by the cold. Plus, the armour meant that he could blast himself free without worrying about doing so much damage, and get a sucker punch in."
"Todoroki went with the punch, though," Yaoyorozu said, chin resting in the palm of her hand as she squinted at the camera, "If he didn't it would have been much worse."
Fractured jaw, probably. Kacchan had a lot of muscle, hit hard and that punch had been well placed. Even if Todoroki had rolled with the blow and bled off much of the impact that had to have rattled him, especially since Bakugo was wearing heavy gloves under the massive grenade shaped things that wrapped around his forearms. Honestly, Izuku was a little worried to think about what might be in there.
"Todoroki's had some training before," Izuku whispered, "He went down too smoothly, even surprised. And…"
A wall of ice grew from Todoroki's fallen form, bursting through the smoke and rushing towards Bakugo. If it had contacted it would have crushed Kacchan against the wall, but he jumped backwards, palms flaring to gain distance, mouth moving as he shouted something, eyes wild. Todoroki rose to his feet, a bruise already forming along his jawline, and thrust out his right hand.
"He always attacks with his right hand," Izuku muttered, frowning. There was something there, something he was missing. And speaking of missing…
"I wonder where Hagakure is," he murmured. That would be anticlimactic, wouldn't it? Probably serve Todoroki and Bakugo right, although maybe Todoroki was causing a distraction on purpose. Izuku didn't know him well enough to guess. Another wall of ice bloomed from Todoroki's hand, rushing down the corridor to meet Kacchan, who put both hands together and blew it away. Izuku saw Todoroki flinch, and the stripe of crimson that formed along his cheek from a flying shard of ice. Bakugo swung his arms behind him and blew himself forwards: Izuku could imagine the berserk roar leaving his throat. Kacchan launched through the air, his right fist coming back for a massive blow. Todoroki swept his hand, a wall of ice forming between them, Bakugo smashed through it with another massive explosion and landed in empty space. Izuku saw him stagger, without the resistance he expected.
Todoroki, having stepped to the side, drove his left fist into the side of Kacchan's head. Ice splintered on impact and Kacchan staggered, half-turning, Todoroki pressing his advantage with a straight punch to the nose. Blood spattered crimson and Bakugo swung his right arm around, clubbing Todoroki across the shoulder with his grenade-shaped gauntlet.
"They're just beating on each other down there," Izuku murmured. They were both tough enough that it would take a heavy blow to put either of them down, but now they were brawling. Todoroki had sheathed his right hand in ice, hammering blows home, but Kacchan was blocking with his gauntlets, protecting his arms from damage. Neither of them could get enough space to properly set up for a big attack. Out of the corner of his eye, Izuku saw a pair of boots sneak across the ice and grinned under his helmet.
"Asui," he said quietly, "Look at the third camera from the right, bottom side."
"Call me Tsuyu," she said, ignoring the way Izuku flapped at the concept of calling somebody by their first name. Izuku saw her head move to follow the camera.
"Hagakure is sneaking in," she said, before almost absently adding, "I wonder if they agreed on it beforehand."
Izuku shrugged.
"I don't think so. But does it really matter?"
Asui ribbited, although there was something about it that sounded like agreement.
"Who do you think will win?" she asked. Izuku looked over the fighting pair, frowning. He saw something- it almost looked like Todoroki's breath was coming out misty, vaporous. Interesting.
"Kacchan's explosions come from his sweat. He sweats something like nitro-glycerine. So when they started out the cold slowed him down, but the longer they fight for…"
"The stronger he'll get? That's so manly!" Kirishima cheered. Izuku blinked at him.
"Uh…yeah. Manly. Right. But, um, Todoroki can probably win if he can get distance. I'm not sure, but I think that Kacchan gets tired from the explosions- they wear his wrists out if he goes too long. That's why he's just…"
"Punching Todoroki in the face?" Asui said. Izuku nodded.
"That, yeah."
Kacchan swung two blows into Todoroki's raised arms, forcing him to keep a defence up before he flicked both hands outwards. The twin explosions burst in the air, smoke and steam from melted ice filling the corridor and fogging the air. Izuku squinted at the cameras.
"Clever," he murmured, "Although I wonder what…another sneak attack, probably. But how does Todoroki defend?"
The smoke cleared just enough that they could see Todoroki, in the middle of the corridor. He was shivering slightly, Izuku realised, his hands shaking just a little. Bakugo was nowhere to be seen, Todoroki turning on his heel to look around himself. Ice crawled along his arms, almost like it was automatically armouring him.
"He's not as used to brawling as Kacchan," Izuku whispered. If he was Bakugo, how would he…there were rooms off the corridor. Easy to duck into. And given how much force Bakugo could produce with his explosions…
"He's going to come through the wall."
"What was that, Midoriya?"
Izuku opened his mouth to repeat himself and dust clouded across the camera view, flames licking at the edge of the clouds. Bakugo burst through his freshly made door, tackling Todoroki around the middle and sending them both to the ground, straddling the other boy and raining punches into his face.
"Christ Almighty, I can't believe this is still going on," Izuku whispered, his accent turning slightly harsher as Jason came through more strongly. This was well beyond an exercise at this point, why hadn't All Might broken it up? Todoroki had crossed his arms over his face, trying to protect himself from the punches raining down, but unless he got free soon it was all over. He couldn't take a beating like that. Kacchan wasn't laughing, his face contorted into a snarl of effort, clearly enraged. It made him sloppy- he brought both hands up for a two handed smash downwards and Todoroki lashed out, his fist slamming into Kacchan's nose again. Bakugo reeled back, blood smearing across his face- broken nose almost certain- and Todoroki pressed a hand against the ground. Bakugo saw it just in time, blasting himself away as a flower of ice-spikes grew under Todoroki's hand, unfolding outwards in a series of circles, every one filled with icicles. Izuku saw one catch Bakugo across the arm and knock him to the ground- not sharp enough to pierce skin. Obviously, Todoroki still had more control than that. Todoroki climbed to his feet, staggering, blood running down his face from a cut over his eyebrow. Bakugo rose too, bringing one arm up. His arm shook, his fingers quivering- they were both reaching their limits.
Izuku couldn't believe All Might hadn't called it off yet. From the corner of his eye, in the camera watching over the bomb, Izuku saw a pair of boots enter through a window and skirt the room, carefully avoiding every ball on the ground. Mineta was pressed against the closed door, staring through it with a terrified expression. All Might suddenly started.
"Young Bakugo, don't-"
Bakugo yelled something, reached up with a shaking hand and yanked the pin on the right-hand grenade gauntlet. Todoroki brought his hands up in front of his face, ice flooding the corridor before an explosion that shook the whole training ground and the camera went black, fizzing out.
A buzzer sounded and Izuku twitched his head to the bomb room, seeing Hagakure clamped onto the bomb, only her boots visible.
"Hero Team wins!" All Might shouted, moments before he sprinted out of the room and Izuku let out a long breath.
That couldn't be a good sign.