Izuku muttered to himself as he worked, not bothering to stop it, since the only people around to hear him weren't going to be annoyed, "So then, if we use that marker and adjust the sensitivity…"

He jumped when Dr. Shield laughed, "You know, Nedzu said you two were impressive, but I just have to say, I wasn't expecting you to tackle revolutionary technology in your first week."

Izuku blushed, "Uh...I mean, it's not that revolutionary, is it? Gravity tracking already exists and all the components…"

"Are being used in new and interesting ways." Dr. Shield finished. "That's what progress is, Midoriya. It's taking something that already exists and changing it to fill a need, just like you're doing for your friend."

Izuku winced, "I guess you probably think it's insane to work so hard just for one person, huh? I mean, aren't support companies supposed to develop and sell to as many people as possible?"

To his surprise, Dr. Shield shrugged, "That actually comes later, most of the time. What usually happens is that you invent something first and then find more uses for it later, because most needs aren't unique. Just look at what Hatsume is working on. Melissa came up with the concept to help panic attacks, and now she's using it to predict a difficult quirk. Imagine how revolutionary those earrings will be in a few years when she figures out how to modify them to other quirks as well and starts marketing them to children who haven't quite figured things out yet. There's a possibility that she could make childhood quirk accidents almost non-existent with the basic tech that she's working on now. Inventions are made to build off of one another and grow, it's how we move forward."

Izuku bit his lip thoughtfully, "Mei says something like that a lot. Basically, she says that failure is a good thing because every failure helps fuel the next success."

Dr. Shield smiled, "She's pretty smart."

Izuku nodded dramatically in agreement, "Definitely. She's amazing. And she knows it, which is even more impressive."

Dr. Shield laughed. "Just remember that you're allowed to steal some of that confidence for yourself too! Your work has just as much potential as hers does, you know. For example, let's consider that program you're writing. What do you want to do?"

Izuku frowned and looked at his almost finished code, "It's supposed to track Uraraka's quirk so that we know where she is without having to rely on a GPS tracker, which could be dangerous once she's a pro-hero."

"That's a good base. It will be very useful to both her and her support team when she's a hero." Dr. Shield praised. "Now let's start taking away those original boundaries. Who else can your program help? What else can it do?"

What else could it do? He'd designed it with Uraraka in mind, so could it even be used for anyone else? It was primarily a tracking program, but that was really only useful for people who were going to be teleporting, and there weren't many others. That Izuku knew of, it was only Uraraka, a couple civilians, and Kurogiri…

"Oh…" Izuku's eyes widened. "Oh…"

"Come up with something good?" Dr. Shield grinned. "Those ideas are the lifeblood of innovation. Keep on working. I'm excited to see what you come up with."


Shigaraki wasn't going to be happy. Sure, the league had made front page in the newspaper and the media wouldn't stop talking about the attack, but it seemed like every single news outlet had decided to balance the tragedy and fear from the Nomu attack with a feelgood story about Todoroki and that stupid cat. There were even memes about him!

But, of course, Shigaraki was a worse attention hog than Mt. Lady, so Mineta assumed he wouldn't be content with just that, especially since his most recent tantrum probably meant that Stain had rejected the offer to join. No Stain meant that pretty much the only thing they'd actually accomplished was the USJ attack, which obviously didn't make them seem competent. Recruiting Stain would have added to their credibility and elevated their status in the underworld, hopefully leading to new recruits in the future, but now that was gone and all that was left was Shigaraki throwing temper tantrums.

Real good publicity, right there.

"Are you really just gonna stare at Mt. Lady's ass the entire patrol?" Jiro snapped. "Seriously, if I'd known our mentors were going to work together, I would have gone with someone else."

"Mt. Lady and Death Arms work together all the time." Mineta said sweetly, stalling as he recovered from spacing out. "Unlike you, I did my research!"

"Ugh." Jiro sneered down at him with disgust. "Stupid little grape. You planned this!"

He hadn't, but he wasn't opposed to letting her think he put all his energy into peeping, rather than spying, "Guilty as charged! Aww, don't be like that! I just like you girls so much…"

She jammed her earphone jack at him and he only just managed to close his eyes in time, "Yeah, yeah, shut up."

"Ooh…" Mineta smirked. "I like a girl who takes charge."

Jiro gagged, "Gross. I'm going to go get lunch. Don't you dare follow me."

Normally, he would have ignored her and followed her anyway, but he'd gotten a text from Kurogiri earlier to call as soon as possible, which normally meant a mission. There was a chance it was just another side quest from Shigaraki, but it was always possible that the assignment came from All for One, in which case, it was best not to ignore it.

After checking to make sure Mt. Lady wouldn't miss him, he found a quiet alleyway to duck into and pulled out his phone. It rang twice before Kurogiri picked up, "Hello. I hope your information gathering is going well."

"Of course it is." Mineta grinned. "I'm not an amature."

"I should hope not." Kurogiri drawled. "Otherwise this next mission would be far outside of your expertise."

"Oh?" Mineta started to get excited. "And what is the next mission?"

"Stain." Kurogiri said simply. "Sensei wants you to capture him."

Mineta choked, "Capture Stain?! The hero killer?!"

"Will that be a problem?" Kurogiri challenged. "I thought that with your quirk, capturing a man who relies on hit and run techniques would be child's play, but if not, I can always let Sensei know that…"

"I'll do it." Mineta assured quickly. "Just ask Sensei when he wants it done."

"You have two weeks." Kurogiri responded. "Don't disappoint us."


Ochako felt like she was finally getting the hang of this teleportation thing. She couldn't quite use it in a fight yet, but in tonight's game of hide and seek, she'd been able to consistently get to approximately the same hallway as her target, even if she'd never managed to find the correct room. She was getting used to the sensations of both teleportation and One for All and she was even starting to figure out how different anchor points felt. It wasn't much, but it was still progress!

The system Midoirya had suggested for preventing her warps worked decently well, and with teh extra warning, Shinso was able to stop her about half the time. They never had more than a few seconds, though, which meant that Shinso had had to tell her how his quirk worked. He'd pulled her aside just before breakfast and she'd been terrified at first because he'd just looked so nervous.

"I need to be able to brainwash you quickly, Uraraka." He'd refused to look her in the eye as he spoke. "Which means that I can't afford the time it takes to confuse you."

"So confusion is what activates your quirk!" Ochako had yelled.

"No…" Shinso had somehow gotten even more nervous. "It's verbal response."

She'd had to spend the rest of the morning coaxing him to talk to her, which was mildly frustrating, but she understood why. People had probably avoided answering his questions in the past, but he hadn't taken control of her when they'd talked before, so why would he now? Plus, it made it significantly easier for her to stay put, because as soon as Shinso's phone gave them the notification, he just said her name like it was a question and all she had to do was say yes so he could order her not to teleport. It felt so cool that she was in the know that it almost made up for her not being able to stop on her own. Almost.

As soon as Gunhead released them for the evening, one of the other interns, a second year named Shindou from Ketsubutsu, immediately called out for everyone's attention, "Alright, guys, dinnertime! Who wants to go out to eat?"

She looked over at Shinso who shrugged, "I could eat."

"Let's walk together!" one of the guys turned to her, "And no cheating. You can't teleport to get there faster."

Ochako rolled her eyes, "You know that's not how my quirk works. I'd need an anchor point already at the restaurant."

"Still, don't worry about her falling behind." Shinso smirked. "You remember how strong she is from when she made you eat the mat earlier."

The guy groaned as everyone else laughed and Ochako fell into step with the group, Shinso right beside her. He was good at making sure the other boys didn't make fun of her, but she was also proving that she deserved to be there in her own right as well. Sure, she still lost more spars than she won, but she did win. It was a good feeling.

"So…" Shindo slowed down so he was walking beside them. "What are you guys gonna do when you get back to UA?"

Shinso shrugged, "Probably make sure my kidnappers don't destroy more than about 30% of the school."

"Um…" Shindou gave him a vaguely concerned look. "That's...good? What about you, Uraraka?"

"Oh, you know." She gestured vaguely. "Don't do drugs, stay in school...well, that one probably won't work very well, actually."

Shinso tried and failed to hold back a snort, "Yeah, she'll probably just be here and there. She gets around, you know?"

Shindou sighed and shook his head, "I don't know what I expected. Do you guys have other friends? Are they just as bad as you two are?"

"Oh, my kidnappers definitely are." Shinso nodded. "And we're working on corrupting the rest."

"Are you kidding? Half of them are already corrupted." Ochako laughed, not really registering when Shinso got a text. "I mean, last month, Mina pulled this prank where…"

A wave of nausea hit her, followed by a wave of frustration when she realized she didn't have a clue where she was, "Dang it."


Mina was having a blast. Yoroi Musha was way more dignified than she was used to, but it made him fun to play off of! Plus, she was learning a lot about being a hero, although she wasn't afraid to admit that she was just a little bit jealous of Todoroki. He got to meet a cute cat and go viral? Seriously?! How was that fair?

They were half an hour into their evening patrol when her phone rang. Loudly.

She flinched and looked up at Yoroi sheepishly, "I, uh, guess I forgot to put it on silent?"

"Hmm…" He had a small smile on his face and she almost deflated in relief when she realized he wasn't angry, just amused. "It's a slow night, so you can go ahead and answer it. Perhaps it's important. A hero should always be reachable."

Mina nodded and hurried to answer the phone, "Pinky here! What can I do for ya?"

To her surprise, Shinso's voice greeted her on the other end, "Is Uraraka with you?"

"Uraraka?" Mina frowned. "Aren't you both interning with Gunhead? Shouldn't she be with you?"

"Theoretically." Shinso groaned. "Ugh, can you just take a look around and tell me if you see her anywhere?"

"Um, sure?" Mina pulled the receiver away and turned back to Yoroi, who was looking at her with one eyebrow raised in question. "It's a friend of mine. He was asking if another friend was with me."

Yoroi frowned, "Are they interning in this city?"

"No, they're about an hour away." Mina answered as she started scanning the street. "So I'm not sure why she would be here, but...oh! Ochako! Over here!"

Ochako was still in workout clothes, but she was grinning as she jogged toward them, "Hey Mina! I was wondering when I was gonna run into you!"

"What are you doing here?" Mina asked, giving her a quick hug. "I thought you were interning with Gunhead!"

"Oh, I am!" Ochako assured her. "It's just that things have been super weird lately, but enough about me, how are you?"

"I'm...good?" Mina said. "I mean, it's super fun and I'm learning a lot, but, uh...are you allowed to be so far away from your agency?"

"Oh, this is nothing. " Uraraka muttered. "I mean, technically no, but again, everything's been super weird."

"Yeah…" Mina frowned. "I was just so surprised when Shinso called...Oh wait! I totally forgot to tell him I found you!"

She held the forgotten phone up to her ear, glancing away from Uraraka for a second, "Hey Shinso? Yeah, I found...her? Wait, where...?"

"Oh, she's back." Shinso said suddenly. "Well, down the street, but close enough. Thanks Mina! See you later!"

"You're...welcome?" Mina let the phone fall after he hung up. "He said she's back with him?"

Yoroi looked just as confused as she felt, "I thought you said they were interning an hour away?"

"They are…" Mina looked at the spot Uraraka had been just a second before. "Super weird."

Summary: Internships are over, back to school!

Notes: Memes!
X X X X X X X X X X X X X X

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

"I'm gonna miss you!" Melissa gave him a big hug. "It's been fun having another quirkless person around."

Izuku sniffed, "I'm sorry! I'll try to come back as soon as possible, I promise!"

"We better." Mei threatened. "I'm ruined for any lesser labs! How am I gonna survive without a micro plasma fusion printer?!"

Dr. Shield held back a smile, "You can always make your own."

A wide grin spread across her face, "I like the way you think!"

Izuku wiped his tears away and shook his head, "You know that Powerloader is going to hate you for that, right?"

"Nah, old Iron Claws will be fine." Dr. Shield said. "He secretly likes the chaotic ones, he just likes to complain to hide how proud he is."

An automated voice echoed through the airport, "Last boarding for Tokyo, Last boarding for Tokyo."

Izuku sighed, "Do we really have to go?"

"Yes!" Melissa laughed. "You have to run field tests with Uravity and tell us how she likes the earrings, remember?"

"Oh right!" Mei grabbed Izuku's hand and started dragging him away. "Come on, Izu-kun! The sooner we get on the plane, the sooner we can get back to testing our babies!"

"I don't think that's exactly how it works, Mei-chan." Izuku chuckled. He turned as best he could to wave goodbye to the shields. "Bye! We'll be back!"


"Hey Shindig, do you know why they wanted us to come straight to the school?" Ochako asked. "I mean, doesn't it make more sense to drop off our stuff at home first?"

Hitoshi shrugged, "I think it's timing. For me, my adults are already at work, but you don't live with your parents, so I don't know why they're having you tag along with me."

Ochako sighed, "Well, it would be a lot more annoying if I couldn't make our bags weightless. Do you think they'll let us leave them in the office?"

"I'm sure they will." Hitoshi nodded. "But if not, then my kidnappers can probably stash them in the tunnels for us, so it's not a big deal."

Ochako rolled her eyes, "You're forgetting that I don't know how to get into those."

"You don't have to." Hitoshi gave her a mischievous look. "All you have to do is focus on the right person and you'll pop right in!"

Ochako shook her head, but couldn't hold back a smile. Their nightly games of hide and seek had become the highlight of their internship, and Gunhead had gotten them all mochi last night to celebrate Ochako getting in the same room as him. Sure, that room had been the training room, which was the largest room in the agency, but she'd done it! Next, she might even be able to stop teleporting randomly without Hitohsi's help!

Aizawa and Mic met them at the door and Mic lit up as soon as he saw them coming, "Hey, little listeners! We're glad to see you're ok! We were a little worried there for a minute!"

"Uraraka, give your bags to Shinso." Aizawa ordered. "You can put them in Midoriya's workroom for now, or the teacher's lounge, I don't care. Hizashi'll help you. Now hurry up, everyone's waiting for us."

"Everyone?" Uraraka left her bags floating and hurried to catch up with Aizawa, who was already striding down the hall. "What's going on?"

Aizawa raised an eyebrow, "You really thought that you could disappear for half a day and not get a call home to your parents? We're having a parent teacher conference."

Ochako's eyes widened, "Mom and Dad are…" she felt gravity shift and she was suddenly down the hall from the principal's office, "here?"

She grinned and started running forward, only to stop. Was she supposed to wait for Aizawa? That would make sense, but then again, they knew that she could teleport and so it wouldn't be a surprise that she'd gotten there faster. The decision was made for her when Nedzu's door opened invitingly. It looked like they were expecting her.

She ran straight into her dad's arms, "Dad! What are you doing here?!"

Dad kissed the top of her head, "I just needed to see that you were all right with my own two eyes, Ochako. You really gave us a scare!"

"Sorry." Ochako smiled sheepishly. "My quirk kinda…"

"They are well aware of the changes to your quirk." Nedzu piped up. "Or quirks as the case may be."

Ochako froze in panic. They knew? But All Might had said that it was a secret and she wasn' allowed to tell anyone…someone cleared their throat and she whirled around to see All Might in the corner, still in his smaller form, with a bloody handkerchief in his hand.

"My apologies, young Uraraka." He said. "I had attempted to keep the knowledge of One for All in as small a circle as possible, but when you disappeared, well…"

"The main concern was that you had been kidnapped." Aizawa finished, finally walking through the door and closing it behind him. "All Might has plenty of enemies, many of which would jump at the chance to target his quirk while it was vulnerable with a new, untrained holder."

"We decided that telling your parents was the only call we could make in good conscience." Nedzu explained. "If you had been kidnapped because you were holding One for All, they deserved to know why their daughter had disappeared."

"We deserved to know before the decision was made." Mom said sternly. "Ochako is a teenager! You can't expect her to make such a big decision without even being allowed to talk to anyone about it!"

All Might hung his head, "I see that now, and once again, I apologize to both you and to young Uraraka for putting her in that position. It was unfair of me and I was blind to how the secrecy would impact her decision. I also had no idea how drastically One for All would affect her quirk. I was under the impression that I was giving her a simple strength enhancer, not...well, all this to say that I would like to make this right."

He took a deep breath and turned to face Ochako, "It was unfair of me to push this quirk onto you with no explanation or understanding of the consequences. So I would like to offer you the opportunity to choose if you truly want this quirk. I will understand completely if you decide that it is too much trouble and give it back to me."

"No." Ochako hardly even waited for him to finish the sentence before she gave her answer. "Absolutely not."

Everyone looked a bit taken aback, and All Might coughed into his handkerchief again, "Uh, are you sure? You can take all the time you need to think about…"

"My answer is no." Ochako repeated firmly. "One for All is mine now and there is absolutely no way you are getting it back."

There was a long moment of shocked silence before Nedzu chuckled, "Well, it seems you are quite determined, young lady. Would you mind giving us an explanation for your decision?"

"I didn't want this quirk." Ochako answered plainly. "But then it gave me a challenge and if I can't rise to that then I don't want to call myself a hero. Forgive my language, but I have worked too damn hard to throw in the towel. I am going to make this quirk my bitch and use it to save as many people as humanly possible, and then I am going to move back home with my parents and save on rent by teleporting to school and you can't stop me."

There was a beat and then her dad started laughing, "Well, you heard her. Our Ochako is gonna win this! The quirk stays!"

"How long do you think it'll be before you move home?" Mom asked. "Oh no, honey, we've been using her room as an extra office! Where are we gonna put everything?"

"I'm sure you'll figure it out." Nedzu said with a smile. "And please, let us know if there's anything we can do to help you with this transition. We've already contacted an old mentor of All Might's to give Uraraka some remedial quirk counselling and he is well aware of the special circumstances surrounding One for All, and between him and our support students, I expect that we'll have her popping over to see you in a few weeks!"

"Is that all?" Ochako asked. "Can I go to class now?"

Aizawa jerked his head toward the door, "Fine. And tell Shinso that next time he leaves for a week, he should clean his room before he goes."

"Ok?" Ochako said slowly. "Oh, and I might be a little late for class. I have to drop by and see his kidnappers first."

Aizawa groaned as she disappeared.


Izuku reached out and grabbed Mei's hands, "Stop. They'll work perfectly and Uraraka will love them."

"I know… " Mei bit her lip. "But there's still so many ways that they can be better and…"

"And you'll have plenty of time to perfect the design later." Izuku said patiently. "But even the current design will help her so much."

Mei smiled, "I guess you're right. I need to…"

She was cut off by a short scream out in the main labs and they both rushed out of Izuku's workroom to see the rest of the class looked at Uraraka in shock as Kohaku fumed, "What the fuck?! What did you two do?"

"Oh, Gravity Girl!" Mei grinned widely as she pulled her into Izuku's room by the arm. "Your control's getting better! You like pink, right? I looked at your costume and the accents were pink, so we assumed you liked it."

"Yep!" Uraraka nodded, rolling with the weird questions like a pro, but then again, Izuku assumed she was used to weirdness at this point.

"Good! Here!" Mei shoved a jewelry box into her hands. "Happy birthday!"

Uraraka shook her head, "Still not my birthday, but these are the tracking earrings, right? Woah! Are they moving?!"

"Yep!" Izuku said. "Be careful. Melissa suggested using gyroscopes, so yeah, they shouldn't get caught on anything, but it's still not a good idea to just stick your fingers in them or something."

"They're so cute!" Uraraka gushed, putting them in. "And they'll track my warping, right?"

"Right." Mei said. "And Izu-kun wrote the program, so he can track your location and send a ping to Extra-Credit-Kun's phone when you jump. That way we won't lose you again!"

"That's more of a training wheel feature." Izuku explained. "But, yeah, we tested them and they should beep when the gravity around you shifts too much, which will warn you of any incoming warps!"

"Thank you so much!" Uraraka pulled them both into a hug. "This means so much and it'll be super helpful. You two...I don't think I would have gotten through this without you. I probably would have just given it back by this point if I'd gone to anyone else on my first jump. See you later, bye!"

There was a quiet chirping sound and there was a brief light that surrounded her like an aurora before she disappeared, probably using Shinso as an anchor again. Izuku frowned and turned to Mei, "What did she mean by give it back ?"


Hitoshi held back a smile as Ochako ran into the room two seconds before the bell. Mina immediately abandoned her attempts at interrogating him and ran over to her, only for Aizawa to banish them all to their seats before she could get a word out. Mina pouted and shot a glare at Hitoshi, who just shrugged unapologetically. Sure, he probably could have explained how and why she'd gotten a surprise visit in the middle of their internships, but that wasn't nearly as fun as saying you'll have to ask Ochako yourself.

"All right, class. Welcome back. Most of you did well." Aizawa said. "Now, today's lesson is going to be about…"

"Sensei?" Yaomomo's hand shot into the air. "Do you know where Iida is? He's never late for class, especially not on the first day."

Aizawa sighed and Hitoshi frowned as an unfamiliar chirping sound echoed around the room. It took him a half second too long to realize what that meant, "Ochako! Wait...and she's gone again. Oh well, I guess she'll say hi to Iida for us."

The classroom erupted into confused whispers and it took a full ten seconds for Aizawa to glare them all into submission, "Isn't it your job to make sure that doesn't happen, Shinso?"

Hitoshi shrugged, "Well, you know her. Ocha-go….Ocha-going...Ocha-gone."

Aizawa groaned, "Well then, we were trying to keep this under wraps, considering that it's a miracle that the media hasn't picked it up yet, but since Uraraka is going to figure it out, I may as well make you aware that there was an incident during Iida's internship."

"You mean the Nomu attack?" Todoroki asked. "But that was on the news."

"No." Aizawa began. "It happened around the same time, but…"

Hitoshi's phone buzzed and he checked the message to see that he'd been sent Ochako's new location, "Wait, where is...Iida's in the hospital?!"

Aizawa sighed, "And that, students, is why today's lesson is on the dangers of vigilantism."


How in the world had Iida ended up in the hospital?

Ochako tried to look like she knew where she was going as she tried to figure out what room he was in. He had to be here somewhere, right? But at least now she could tell Yaomomo why he wasn't in class. Being in the hospital kinda came with a free late pass.

"Hey, shouldn't you be in school?" A guy in a wheelchair called out to her. "I mean, UA started again today, right?"

Ochako nodded, "Don't worry, my teacher knows where I am...or at least he should be able to figure it out. Um, I'm actually here visiting a friend but, uh...ok, this is silly, but I forgot the room number. Do you know if there's any nurses around who would know?"

"The nurses' station is just around the corner, but I've been here long enough that I might be able to help." The guy smiled, the movement making his bandages shift slightly. "I'm Tensei Iida, who are you looking for?"

"Tensei Iida?" Ochako sighed in relief. "Oh, you might be the perfect person to ask then. I'm looking for my classmate, Tenya Iida. Are you related?"

Tensei's face fell, "He...he's my brother. Um, you didn't call ahead, did you?"

"Uh, not really, no." Ochako grimaced. "Coming here was kinda impulsive."

"Well, I'm sorry, but you just missed him." Tensei said kindly. "The doctors just took him back for surgery about a half hour ago."

"Surgery?" Ochako's eyes widened. "What happened?"

Tensei looked at her in confusion, "You don't know?"

"Uh…" Ochako took a second to think of a better excuse than I only know something's wrong because I can't control my quirk . "Aizawa told us he was in the hospital, but didn't tell us any details. So?"

Tensei stared at the floor, "It's my fault. If I hadn't been so weak and gotten hurt.."

"I'm sure Iida doesn't blame you." Ochako assured him.

Tensei smiled sadly, "Thanks, but I don't think that matters much. Tenya...well, I guess he wanted revenge. He went after the hero killer."

Ochako didn't know what to say. The hero killer. Honestly, he was lucky he was only in surgery and not in a box, "Oh."

"Yeah." Tensei gave a small chuckle. "He was lucky to escape alive, but the hero killer targeted a lot of major arteries, mostly in his arm and shoulder. The paramedics were able to save his life, but...well, he was never going to be able to use that arm again…"

Ochako panicked, reaching out to Iida again with her quirk. Maybe she could jump close enough to the operating room, she could...well, she didn't know what she'd do, but it didn't matter, because no matter how hard she looked for it, Iida's familiar gravity signature was gone.

Tensei was grim, "We had to make the decision to amputate."

New projects!

Notes: Art!
A true gentlebee Memes!
X X X X X X X X X X X

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

By the time Ochako walked into the classroom again, the mood was a lot more somber. Aizawa just nodded to her as she found her seat and she nodded back, ignoring the curious stares of their classmates for the rest of class. As soon as the bell rang, Hitoshi made a beeline toward her and put his hand on her shoulder, "Hey, Ocha. Are you ok? Did you see him?"

Ochako shook her head, "He was in surgery, so I couldn't go in. But...Hitoshi, I can't feel him anymore."

Hitoshi furrowed his eyebrows, "What are you talking about."

"My quirk." Ochako had tears in her eyes as she looked at him. "They had to cut off his arm, Shindig. It threw off his gravity and I can't anchor to him anymore."

Hitoshi didn't say anything, just pulled her into a hug, "I'm so sorry, Ochako."

"I…" Ochako buried her face in his shoulder. "I could have helped him. If I just had better control over this quirk...I even thought about him and if I hadn't been so exhausted."

"Then you would have been exhausted when you got there and you would have been hurt too." Hitoshi reminded her firmly. "You just barely developed this ability, Ocha. Don't blame yourself for not being perfect. Remember what Mei says about failed experiments?"

Ochako sniffed, "They're what our successes are built on."

"Exactly." Hitoshi smiled. "Now, come on. Everyone is freaking out over you disappearing. I would probably just let them suffer, but you're too nice for that."

"Yeah, I should give them some sort of explanation, at least." Ochako said tiredly. "Wait, did we ever tell Mina how I got there?"

"Nope." Hitoshi smirked. "And I didn't explain anything this morning before you got there. Like I said, I personally would just let them suffer."

Ochako hit him in the arm, "Don't be mean, Shindig. They're our friends, and eventually, I'm hopefully going to learn how to use it in a fight, so they deserve to know. Not everyone can just get away with confusing people constantly like you can."

"Meh, not everyone has the support of vent gremlins." Hitoshi shrugged.

He took a few steps before he noticed that Ochako wasn't beside him and he sighed, making sure she wasn't behind him before switching directions and heading toward the support classrooms. This was gonna take some adjustment.


Mei was pouting. At the beginning of class, Powerloader had gone over how their final exams were going to work, which was more of a final project, not that she'd expected anything different, but it was supposed to be something that was going to challenge them and even three different explosions hadn't been enough to get the creative juices flowing.

She almost wanted to go pester Izu-kun about it, but he was so deep in his program that he hadn't even heard Powerloader telling him class was over, so she didn't want to bother him. If only she could count Gravity Girl's earrings as her final, they'd be perfect, but then she'd be bored for the rest of the semester. She just wanted a baby to work on!

Almost as if on cue, Gravity Girl herself slammed the door to the labs open, "Mei-chan! I need your help!"

"Oh, thank god." Mei swiveled around in her chair to face her. "Please tell me that you need a baby!"

"I don't." Ochako said, and Mei made to turn around in her seat, "but one of my classmates definitely does."

Mei immediately grabbed a pen and a sketchbook, "I could kiss you right now."

"Oh, you can save that for Midoriya." Ochako teased. "But seriously, it's about Iida."

"Iida...Iida...Iida…" Mei tapped her chin with the pencil. "Oh! Engine legs! He's like a living cyborg!"

"That's the one!" Ochako grinned, but her expression fell after a moment. "I was actually hoping there might be a way to make him more cyborg, if you think that's possible."

"Uraraka-kun, don't encourage her." Izu-kun walked out of his workroom, rubbing his eyes. "I already have to talk her out of making cyborgs every other week."

"But it's for a good cause this time!" Ochako insisted. "One of my classmates...he got injured during his internship."

"Oh no." Izu-kun looked like he was about to start sympathy crying. "I'm so sorry."

Ochako nodded grimly, "He was attacked by the hero killer and lost his arm. It's a career ending injury, unless…"

"Unless we make him a new one!" Mei immediately started scribbling down ideas as fast as she could. "I need everything. Measurements, quirk limitations, nickel allergies. Izu-kun! I get to make a cyborg!"

Izu-kun, the killjoy, just rolled his eyes and grabbed her hand, "Consent, Mei-chan. We need to talk to Iida and see if he's even interested in continuing hero work first before you make him our new pet project."

Mei pouted, "Ok, but if he says yes, then can I make him a cyborg?"

"Yes," Izuku gave her a sly smile, "Then you can make him a cyborg."


Mineta ignored the glares the girls were sending his way, not really caring if he came across as oblivious or just straight up rude. Either would make him underestimate him and think he was paying attention to their bodies instead of their words.

"And then she disappeared just like this morning, and Shinso just hung up on me!" Mina cried. "The audacity! And now nobody will give me a single ounce of explanation!"

"Hmm." Tsu tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Maybe Midoriya and Hatsume would know what's going on?"

Jiro rolled her eyes, "Just because they act like cryptids doesn't mean they're all knowing. If it's a quirk thing, and let's be honest it probably is, then you'd have better luck asking Cheat Code."

Mineta perked up.

"Did you see Midoirya at the sports festival?" Hagakure asked incredulously. "He's almost as smart as Cheat Code is, and way easier to contact."

"He is Nedzu's personal student." Yaoyorozu mused. "So I doubt he has anything less than spectacular intelligence. But Cheat Code is a professional analyst and doesn't Midoriya focus on creating inventions with Hatsume? They both interned on I-Island, after all."

"They were the ones interning on I-Island?!" Mineta blurted out.

Jiro glared at him, "Don't act like you actually care. You're only interested because Hatsume has big boobs."

"And she refers to inventing as making babies!" Hagakure added helpfully.

Mineta filed that information away for later to help him identify Hatsume just in case he couldn't swing an introduction. And if she and Midoriya were always talked about as a pair, that meant he was probably her boyfriend or something and if he found one, the other wouldn't be far behind. Sure, All for One had said Cheat Code was probably a second or third year, but they were looking for a student, so it was still worth investigating. Plus, Nedzu wouldn't dream of taking on a personal student unless they were almost smarter than he was, so even if this Midoriya guy wasn't Cheat Code, All for One would still want to know about him. Who knew? Maybe he'd find some other way to make use of him.

"You!" Mina's shreik knocked him out of his thoughts and he saw Uraraka walking toward them with Shinso following a few seconds behind. Mina pointed her finger at them accusingly, "You have so much explaining to do, young lady!"

Uraraka giggled, "Yeah, I guess I do, don't I?"

Mineta inched a little closer, only to be stopped by Jiro's glare when he got a little too close to Yaoyorozu, "Buzz off, you little pervert."

Mineta gulped as Shinso turned to look at him, a bored expression on his face, "Is this guy bothering you?"

Yaoyorozu blushed, "N-no, well, I mean, but it's fine…"

"Yes." Jiro cut in.

Shinso hummed and stared at him far too intensely for a few seconds until Mineta was shuffling in place, "Well? What do you have to say for yourself?"

"Why would I ever explain myself to a villain like you?" Mineta whined. "You could have any girl you wanted with that quirk of yours, and you wouldn't even have the balls to tell them how it works…"

He trailed off as his brain clouded over and everyone's voices sounded suddenly far away. Shinso didn't stop staring at him, "Go away. Don't wake up until you're at least three halls away from here."

"Thanks a million Shinso!" MIna said as Mineta was forced to stop walking away.

"Yeah." Uraraka added. "We owe you one."

"If only you could teleport other people with your quirk, Ocha." Shinso said. "But, whatever, my quirk's perfect for getting rid of creeps."

If Mineta had control over his facial expressions, he would have been grinning. A teleporter in class 1A? Now that was valuable information.