The sky was cloudy and grey, an unflattering and miserable opening to a new day. As had been the case for most of the week, rain was likely. Not that Izuku cared, every day for the past year had felt like this, it was just a more accurate representation than normal. Despite that, he couldn't help but feel a flutter of excitement. His project was going smoothly, the previous night he had figured out a key problem. Now the only task left was to devise a method of ensuring power reached the entire system simultaneously. Easier said than done, his attempts to install resistors and junction points had failed, the system rejecting the components. So in a fit of annoyance and curiosity, he hooked up several cables to every element, supplied power all at once, and to his shock it turned on. The problem with this solution was that it was immobile and thus useless.
He sighed, sat down on a chair and just stared at it. He had no idea how he was going to solve this problem. He couldn't use an external generator hooked up to it, it would be too bulky and vulnerable to damage. He had to figure out a way to get its internal generator to supply power to the other parts without using cables. He knew it could do so, at least in theory, because when he and David first opened up the power suit there had been nothing inside to transmit the energy. Despite that though, Dr. Maeko had managed to not only operate but build it. As time went on, it became clear that Maeko had used her quirk of technomancy to operate all of her tech. The pod currently keeping Ochako alive had originally been made based on the incubator that Shigiraki had used to become so powerful, then Maeko had updated it with her quirk to be more efficient. If it hadn't been for that fusion of traditional and hyper-advanced quirk technology to give them critical insight, Izuku's efforts on the suit would have amounted to nothing. Even the QUEESS looked like a kid's toy in comparison to it.
A burst of frustration came over Izuku and slammed a fist into the wall with an angry roar. He stood there, shaking and panting. He leaned forward and pressed his forehead against the wall. He screwed his eyes shut tight, gritting his teeth as several tears ran down his face. All the anger left him in a rush and he put his back to the wall and slid down it to the ground. He let out another breath, slumping a little.
"I'm trying Ochako... I'm trying..." He whispered to the empty air.
"I swear, I'll get this working. Then I'll drag Aria Lin back here, and fix you. I swear..." He continued.
He couldn't be sure how long he sat there, but when he opened the door it was the afternoon. David was sitting at his desk typing on his computer but looked up when Izuku entered.
"Ah, Izuku, excellent timing." David said, smiling.
Izuku looked at him questioningly.
"Our shipment of Polythioether just came in, I'll need help carrying the boxes down," David said, standing up.
"All right," Izuku said, following David out of the office space and into the general development room.
Several older students were sitting or standing, working on their projects in moderate silence. These were the fourth years of the support department, and their final assessment for graduation was to develop their piece of support gear. Shortly before graduation, they would be taken to I-Island to demonstrate the fruits of their labor at the annual support gear convention. It had been on hiatus due to the war in Japan and general unrest globally but had resumed the convention last year.
"You all keep working, Izuku, and I will be back shortly," David said to the students who all stopped to look over at them when they entered.
They nodded and went back to their projects, while Izuku and David left the room and entered into the hallway.
"Make any progress on the power problem?" David asked Izuku as they walked through the corridors.
"No..." Izuku said with a sigh. "I still can't figure out how I'm going to manage the amount of power transmission I need without cables."
"It's a tough problem." David acknowledged with a nod. "I take it none of my suggestions were good?"
"A water-based conductor like Calcium Chloride could work but long-term use with it would start to pose problems. The theory however is sound, most of the components are sealed within their housing, so if I could fill the suit with an appropriate liquid conductor then I think it could work." Izuku explained.
David nodded several times crossing his arms in thought as they made their way to the loading docks of U.A.
After several minutes of silence, David sighed.
"Nothing is occurring to me right now, but I'll give it more thought later." He said.
"I appreciate the help regardless. I wouldn't have gotten this far if not for your expertise." Izuku said appreciatively.
David waved his thanks away.
"Nonsense, I just sped up the process. I've no doubt you would have gotten to this point with or without me. You have a keen mind for this work. Had I known about you earlier, I would have taken you as my apprentice. As it stands, I have no complaints about your ability and dedication. You remind me of me when I was younger." David said with a laugh and a smile.
Izuku couldn't help but feel a bit uncomfortable at the praise, feeling it wasn't deserved. Objectively, he knew he was a mess right now. He didn't interact with his friends like he should; instead, he was almost forced by Tsu and Ahmya to get out and be social. Of course, just because he could objectively make note of his problems, didn't mean he could fix it, which is why Tsu had been so adamant about him seeing Dr. Kouta.
He had to admit, seeing the blind psychologist once a week had been more stimulating than he thought it would be. He wasn't sure if it was helping though. Hearing Dr. Kouta talk about Ochako made his heart ache with longing for her, but learning about her struggles made him feel just a little less separated from her.
At that moment, Izuku and David arrived at the loading docks, where a large pallet and boxes were located. There was also a smaller container beside the pallet that had been placed on top of a dolly cart. Izuku walked over to one side of the room, where a pallet jack was located, and wheeled it into position, sliding its prongs into the pallet and resting the weight on the pallet jack. David for his part went to the dolly cart and grabbed the extended handle.
"You good?" David asked Izuku.
"Yup," Izuku replied with a nod.
With that they began walking back, taking a slightly different route that would take them to the elevator down to the basement floor where the support department workshop was located.
As they were walking Izuku looked at the container David was transporting. David must have caught Izuku's look because he explained what it was.
"This box here contains several metals, but it primarily consists of Gallium and Mercury. We were all out, so I decided to stock up. We don't use them often, but Gallium especially has distinct uses and makes for a fantastic choice to introduce students to liquid metals since it is non-toxic and can be safely handled." David explained.
Izuku looked at the boxes with renewed interest.
"I've never seen a liquid metal before actually, was never something that came up during school," Izuku said.
"I'm not surprised, for most students it wouldn't be more than a fun lesson. However, I feel that support department students should try and have the most comprehensive understanding of various materials as possible. A strong foundation is necessary for strong understanding, and thus provides for greater creativity and inspiration." David said.
They continued the subject for several minutes until they reached the elevator where they each had to go individually owing to space restrictions. Izuku went second, and after a short ride, was wheeling the pallet into the workshop and to the storage room in the back left corner. The next hour or two were spent unloading and storing the materials in the proper spaces, and by the time he was done school was just about over.
"Thanks for your help Izuku," David said as he stood up and stretched, rubbing his lower back.
"Damn, my back is bothering me. I am starting to creep up there in age though..." He muttered to himself.
"My pleasure," Izuku said.
"I'd say now would be a good time to close up the shop, but I was thinking. How would like to handle some Gallium? You mentioned you'd never seen it before." David suggested.
Izuku perked up at this suggestion. "I'd love to!" He said, eagerly. Depressed or not, he delighted in learning something new like this.
David grinned and went to a bottom shelf in the storage room, where he opened a plastic container, removed a plastic vial amongst many, and handed it to him.
"Just open it and let it fall into your hand." He said grinning.
Izuku promptly opened the vial and went to pour out a small amount of the liquid metal onto his other palm but nothing happened. Frowning, he looked inside as saw that it was solid.
"Gallium doesn't melt until it reaches 29.8°C, so for now it will be a solid mass that'll soon change though if you let it rest on your palm. Come on, let's take this to a table." David said and left the storage room to sit at a table.
Izuku followed him, and when they sat down he tipped the container upside down and after a little shaking, the solid gallium fell onto his hand. It was cool to the touch and felt like most other metals. However, after a couple of minutes, it started to melt in his palm like an ice cube. He watched transfixed as the Gallium melted into its liquid metal form the touch and feel of it so vastly different from anything he had ever before handled.
Izuku was at a loss for words as he messed with the substance. While David proceeded to give him an impromptu physics and history lesson about Gallium and liquid metals in general. Eventually, David started to wrap up his lesson.
"Well that's about everything I can cover in brief about liquid metals, but here's a fun bit of history. In 1911, a Dutch physicist, Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, and his team were experimenting with cold temperatures and conductivity. In 1908 they developed liquid helium for the first time, and using it, cooled a wire of liquid mercury to 4.2 Kelvin. This lead to the discovery that all electrical resistance vanished within mercury at at this temperature. Thus, superconductivity was discovered for the first time, completely changing the course of human history!" David said excitedly, eyes shining with excitement.
"Wow..." was all Izuku could say as he observed the liquid metal in his hand in awe.
Then it happened.
It was as if Zeus had risen from the dead and smote him with a lightning bolt. His eyes went wide as a titanic revelation surged through him.
"D-David... what's the conductivity of Gallium in its liquid state..." He asked.
"Hm? I believe it's 7.1×106 S/m." David said, then a moment later it hit him too.
"My god... you're right..." David continued looking at the metal with shock.
"We need to buy more." They both said in unison, looking at each other.
They had found their conductive liquid for Izuku's project.
Tsu popped her head into the support department workshop but saw nobody. The room was still untidy though, indicating that Izuku and likely David had yet to leave. She entered and made her way to the wall where the door to their offices was located. She gave it a knock and waited, but when nothing happened she simply opened the door and saw the office space empty as well.
"Those two..." She said to herself with a sigh.
She went to the next door on the far wall, which led to the private workshop area, and knocked.
This time she only had to wait a few seconds before the door slid open to reveal David. His sleeves rolled up to his elbows and a curious expression on his face.
"Ms. Asui?" He asked, clearly wondering why she was there.
"It's almost 19:45," She said flatly.
David stared at her, nonplussed for a second before her words registered.
"Oh... uh... so it is." He said, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment and standing aside to let her in.
Tsu walked through the door into the private workshop and saw Izuku along one wall, the recovered spare power suit from the underground lab that Dr. Maeko had been working out of, held firmly in its housing. Izuku was sitting at a computer not to far from it, clearly intent on whatever he was doing.
Tsu cleared her throat, her hands clasped behind her, an expectant look on her face.
Izuku looked up at the noise, saw her, blinked then went a bit red from embarrassment.
"Oh... sorry Tsu, I guess I got carried away," Izuku said, then glanced at a clock and his embarrassment deepened.
"I am sorry Tsu, it's just that, we've done it!" Izuku said excitedly.
Tsu was taken aback, she hadn't seen genuine joy and excitement in Izuku in more than a year.
"We figured out how to make the suit work!" Izuku said.
"You... you did?" Tsu asked, even more surprised.
Izuku nodded.
"The problem was figuring out to how get the suit's internal power unit to supply power to the suit's parts all at once." Izuku began to explain, eyes gleaming.
"I couldn't figure anything out, until earlier when I helped move our latest shipment of supplies into storage. David bought some Gallium, which is like mercury, and showed it to me. Its got a good electrical conductivity, and since it can be a liquid, I can pour it into the suit and use it in place of wires to transport the energy of the suit's power supply to the entire thing!" Izuku explained.
Tsu felt a wide smile spread across her face, his excitement was infectious.
"That's amazing Izuku! Congratulations!" She said
"We've just been doing some preliminary work, running a few tests, and such. I suppose in our excitement, we lost track of time." David said with a laugh.
"I'll let it slide this time," Tsu said, still smiling.
"Let me just shut everything down, and then we can head out," Izuku said to Tsu, returning to the computer and shutting down the programs and readouts.
David looked at Tsu, a question on his face.
"Bakugo came to visit on his time off, we had all planned to go out to dinner tonight, but when Izuku didn't show up at our place before leaving for the restaurant and didn't answer his phone, I drove over here to drag him out of the lab," Tsu explained.
"Under the circumstances though, I think the other two will understand," Tsu said, looking back at Izuku, a fond look on her face. "Ochako would be proud of him." She said much quieter.
"That she would," David said, just as quietly.
Izuku wrapped up what he was doing and made his over to her.
"All right, I'm all set. Just gotta grab my bag from my office, head back to my place, and change, and I'll be good to go." Izuku said, hurrying past her and into the next room.
Shaking her head and still smiling, she followed him.