Thunder Hero: Baraquiel 9
It was finally the day! The day of the entrance exams and Midoriya Izuku was nervous. His training under the Thunder Hero Baraquiel had been exhausting and exacting, he'd trained until his bones cracked and muscles tore; he rested and he repeated it.
Then mixed in with that was his training with Shoto. Shoto's prodigious skill with fire and ice had also toughened Izuku. Despite being quirkless, Izuku had resolved to merely work harder and smarter than his classmates.
He'd signed up to do the standard entrance exam as he had decided to do it to prove it to himself. He'd also found himself training with a loud blonde teen, by the name of Togata Mirio. Where Mirio had decided to participate and maintain what was being whispered as 'the shredded challenge', Izuku was doing a reduced version; which was a 5km run, with 50 Sit Ups, Pull Ups and Press Ups.
Izuku hadn't only learnt at the brutal teachings of Baraquiel. Aizawa and Snipe, with Inko's permission, had also joined in. Aizawa more so than Snipe; since Aizawa fought essentially quirkless as his quirk prevented two thirds of the recorded attributes of quirks. Aizawa had quickly taught Izuku, how to knee strike and kick and utilise his arms to block and grapple with his opponents.
Snipe had started to teach him the basics of using firearms and weapons. They wouldn't be able to get him anything to assist him for the entrance exam, but Izuku had a feeling about what wasn't said about the exam that he would be able to get into the Hero Course. "You, ready for this?" Todoroki asked.
"Nervous but ready."
"I heard from Father that the standard entrance exam involves fighting robots and big ones."
Izuku nodded "The more I hear of the entrance exam, the more I am convinced with Uncle Aizawa that the exam is rigged in favour with those who possess more…flashy quirks to get in."
"The exam is enforced along with a similar one across all Hero Programmes, by the HSPC." Harry overheard this as did Fuyumi and the pair of them scowled. Izuku and Shoto both knew that Baraquiel didn't see HSPC as a positive influence whatsoever.
"Midoriya, you can now see, this is why I dislike the HSPC, and my thoughts about Heroes being nothing more than additional police to control the populace."
Izuku nodded "I have, I've done my own research on the subject. Sensei, why did you come here? I mean you should have gone to America or at least Europe; your stance strongly resonates with the laws there, but yet you came here."
Harry, then looked slightly older "I may or may not have, in my Squad Six; desperados all guns blazing defence of my school, butchered the children and supporters of more radically aligned political groups of Europe. So, I couldn't risk my Godson in such a powder-keg environment. As for America, they dislike newcomers with powers exceeding their rules and regulation…so I was screwed even over there, even though there quirk control laws or much like there gun laws."
"Next-to-none existance. Although there Quirkless Hero Programmes are in fact, the best in the world."
"Despite the blatant discrimination and xenophobia, brought in by Donald Trump; only what…twenty years ago?" Fuyumi murmured, holding Nozomi and Hiro whilst leaning against a wall. Baraquiel wandered over and plucked Hiro from her arms and began cooing.
Shoto stared at his in-law "Midoriya, why am I suddenly nervous of my brother and his whimsical nature?"
"According to him, to have a whimsical nature comes from having confidence and belief in your own skills. It also helps to have a…interesting personality."
"Shoto, you're family; same as Natsuo, Fuyumi, Enji and…no not going there."
"Going where?" Shoto asked curiously.
Harry grinned at the fire and ice teen "Spoilers. I will lay down my life to protect my family and students; however I hell hath no fury, should ANYONE target my family. Enji can look after himself, Fuyumi works here, I work here. The only viable targets are Nozomi, Hiro and Natsuo; but logically it's Natsuo but that's triggering a death wish."
"How so?"
"Todoroki Natsuo may dislike father, but father loves him dearly. There's three heroes directly on your fathers payroll, planted as neighbours to keep an eye on him. There's also one of my prospective side-kicks, lass called Ria, she's an…interesting one. She's my personal plant; last I heard she's gotten real close to him."
"Your orders?"
"Fuck no, I just told her; keep your head down and keep an eye on Natsuo. Follow your gut, if it comes up in a conversation tell him 'Baraquiel's lost far too much family and will not lose anymore if he can help it'."
"You're not going to tell him about father's own plants."
"Nope; they should be good at their job. I don't intend to hire people as agency workers unless they bring something else to the table."
Izuku and Shoto looked confused "Two applicants going for a phone job. One has a quirk allowing him to deal with multiple calls at once and has a Human Resource degree. The other's former military, quirk is a reassurance quirk and has a degree working as an electrician…who's more useful?"
"The second." Stated Shoto, Izuku nodded in agreement.
"Why?"
It was Izuku who answered "I would go with the second for three reasons 1) He's been in the military giving him a strict structure for a chain of command, the ability to follow orders and probably interpret orders to fulfil his assigned job. 2) He's able to remain calm in a crisis and secure a decent rapport with people; being hysterical in a crisis is liable to get people killed civilian and yourself included. 3) He's able to act as an ad hoc hero, definitely a more brutal one due to being in the military and having to possibly kill to survive and keep team alive. 4) He's got an additional set of skills, electrician to help in case someone or something disrupts the buildings power supply and you're not there. 5) He compliments your theme of thunder and lightning due to his electrician's degree. In comparison the other, might be more beneficial to work as a receptionist or as a clerk for a legal team. So, both are useful but in terms of working for you directly, which is what I'm guessing, I'd go with applicant number two."
Harry stared at Midoriya "Don't you have an entrance exam to get to, intern?"
Izuku paled and all but dashed out the door akin to All Might. Harry turned to Shoto "That is why I want him in UA and as a potential sidekick, just because he's quirkless…"
Shoto gulped "His mind is his most dangerous attribute, the fact he was able to perceive so many uses for people with just the vaguest of briefings."
"If he wasn't so intent on being a hero, I'd offer to front him all the resources to become a quirk analysist." Harry retorted "Now, what do you want to do? I mean it's your Holiday."
Shoto smiled a genuine smile "Can we do something fun? Like at the beach, with boards on their feet…I saw something like that after I finished training with father on Fuyumi's show. Or even get some stuff for Fate."
"Since when did you start watching Fate?"
"Recently, along with Sword Art Online and Highschool something or other." Fuyumi's eyes narrowed.
"Shoto, Fate is an acceptable anime to watch; the other two…they're subpar in my opinion. The five of us can do such things, we'll make a couple of days out of it; first TO THE BEACH!"
(Izuku)
Izuku tore across the ground, he had plenty of time but he'd rather get there early. Things had definitely changed, his mother for one was now happier and healthier; the excess weight she'd put on was gradually falling away.
Her own insecurities and worries were falling away as she saw him flourish. He wasn't stupid, he'd seen Aizawa and her on the grounds at odd intervals. For example, her going to work as he was coming off patrol and her coming home as he was going out.
Aizawa-sensei also seemed less terse and grumpy. Still a mental troll, and liked scaring everyone with his 'logical ruses' but he was happier. Honestly, Midoriya-Aizawa Inko; a ring to it. He thought to himself, unfortunately his good mood soured when he spied Kaa…no Katsuki Bakugo. Thankfully, the explosion quirk user didn't notice his former punching bag.
They however were put next to each other, as Bakugo exploded, Present Mic quickly lanced the Pomeranian's explosion with the simple comment of "No more temper tantrums or you've got no chance of getting in."
The exam in Izuku's opinion was far too easy, that could be due to the advantage of having UA teach him for Middle School, or his Work Experience with Baraquiel, or even his single-minded nature to analysing quirks. However, the three-hour exam flew by and as Midoriya filled in the forms for submission he contemplated just how much he had changed.
Then came the practical. All of the Hero hopefuls were shuttled off to an examination ground and Izuku sighed, he'd been forced to sit next to the stiff and robotic teen who had called him out on his panic-mumbles. For the fifteen-minute ride, the teen would not shut up "I have anxiety issues, you're aggravating them. Not very heroic is it? Now please, be quiet so I might actually be able to focus."
The teens ramblings on propriety, dress, speech and mannerisms and how they related to heroics, were not what he needed right now. Uncle Aizawa, he thought had the right of it working as an Underground Hero. Izuku found himself in a tight group, in a sprawling city, due to everyones fascination of the likeness of the city, Izuku decided to go for a bit of a wonder.
The teens jumped up as the doors to the arena, slammed shut. Izuku grinned, he knew what was going to happen with Present Mic officiating. He began to run "THAT IS UNHEROIC!" Shouted Blue as Mic announced.
"Villains aren't going to wait! There are no buzzers in real life!" With that chaos was made.
It turned out, the Robots had switches, bright red ones. All of them at varying heights, apparently non-combative aligned hero quirks did have an advantage. So Izuku had managed to knock out four, triple pointers and three two-point robots, along the way; he'd pulled two purple haired teens out of the way of a sparking robot as it collapsed towards them.
(Observation Booth)
"Midoriya's doing well so far. Eighteen villain points and twenty hero points." Nezu commented.
Aizawa watched with apparent disinterest "Midoriya deserves a place. We all know his reasonings, he's going to rock the world when he becomes a hero; however, he wants to rock it on his own terms. I cannot disagree with his deception."
"What's his quirk, Aizawa? I mean the staff have seen him around the school for nearly the past year." Asked the fifth panellist, Kan Sekijiro, Blood Hero: Blood King.
"What makes you think he has a quirk?"
All conversations stopped. Nezu, Aizawa, Midnight, Snipe and Inui along with Kan made up the panel of accepting those onto the Hero Programme. Aizawa and Kan, however had one automatic claim at the cost of second pick of the recommendation students. "You, mean…he's quirkless and he's applying for UA!" Kan blurted out.
Inui cocked his head waiting for a response. "Does anyone have a problem with that?" Nezu asked, everyone could hear the steel in his voice.
"Does he bring anything to the table? I mean, if he's managed to gain these points without a quirk I have no problem with him attending. I think its ill-advised both as a Hero and as a Human being." Kan retorted.
"He needs some help; serious help. He suffers from an inferiority complex, anxiety amongst other conditions due to him being diagnosed as quirkless. However, I'd recommend him based on his Notebooks." Inui stated, barking and growling slightly throughout his speech.
"Notebooks?"
"He has an…understanding and raw analysis of quirk applications, how to wield them, improve them and defeat them. He has the entirety of the Staff in his notebooks, including Aizawa; quite frankly if it wasn't for Baraquiel stating 'hook or by crook, Midoriya would be a Hero' we wouldn't have thought anything of it. But it's the detail that scares us, if he's managed to get Aizawa; what would happen if someone with less than noble intentions got a hold of them?" Nezu countered.
"We could or would be dead. I appreciate the warning but, this is coming from my time in the Military; I would like to see evidence of this, to see if what you're saying…" Kan retorted.
He turned grey as Inui pulled out a black and white photocopied book on the cover it had 'Hero Quirk Analysis for the Future Volume 8'. Kan's eyes widened "Eight volumes." He took the book, noted Aizawa's coding and flipped to his section, it took him the space of five minutes to make it through his first page.
Kan closed the book and gulped, no-one asked him for words for his expression detailed it all. "May, I?" The Blood Hero asked before activating the gargantuan zero-pointer.