Chapter 42: Quirkless hero.
Coming to the hotel room, Izuku ran into Iida, who was invited here a heir to a hero family. After exchanging greetings, he entered his room and hid the mask deep inside his bag.
"Why would she be so interested in this thing? Does she want to be a vampire?" He wondered.
"Considering the benefits, I don't blame her. It is invigorating." Vampire gave his opinion.
"Well, that's a problem for another day." The boy put the bad under bed.
"Midori!" Mina entered the room. "I found you. There is a dance floor on 13th floor! Let's go!" She dragged him be the arm.
Midoriya spent the next day eyeing new technology of the I-Expo along with Melissa. The whole place made his city look like it was medieval. Shield led him to her lab in the academy. It was filled with awards and prototypes that would put UA support course to shame.
"Wow, this is incredible! I bet your intelligence surpasses even Yaomomo's!"
"Thanks." She blushed. "Listen, I wanted to ask you something in private."
"Another girl for the collection?" DIO snickered.
"Ask away." Green head let out a nervous laughter.
"Do you think a quirkless person can be a hero?"
"What?!" The boy was taken aback.
"Damn. How am I even supposed to answer this question? I don't even know a single quirkless person."
"I think she is asking about herself." Killer voiced his theory.
"Can't All Might just dump his quirk into her?" Boss wondered.
"If he wanted to, he probably would have done it by now. I guess he doesn't want to risk ir."
"You can turn her into vampire and pass it as a quirk."
"No. I'm going to do that, Kira-san. It's Nezu's protocols and my better judgement. What to do?"
"Go easy on her, hm? May be then she'll join the collection, ha ha ha!""
"Izuku?" Blonde interrupted his internal dialogue.
"Oh? Right. The answer is: I suppose so. There are heroes with non combat quirks like Sir Nighteye, as well as those who can't always rely on their quirks. Midnight, for example, couldn't use her Somnambulist against women or people with gas masks. So, I guess if one really tries, they can be a hero. Although, the limelight heroics mostly revolves around flashiness, so rescue or underground would be a better direction take."
"Thank you!" She suddenly hugged him while crying. "The reason I asked you this question is because I am quirkless. I always wanted to be a hero like Uncle Might and save lives, but people always said it's not feasible. You are the first person to not dismiss me! Apart from my dad, of course.
"People dismissed your dream for 12 years? It must have been rough."
"It wasn't too bad. They didn't laugh at me or anything, but they vastly underestimated me. With my brilliant mind and access to resources I'll be a great hero someday!"
"Why did they dismiss you if have all this tech though?"
"They said that anyone can more get support gear but no one can get more quirks. Quirkless people can't fully catch up to the rest since technology is universal a tool, not an individual gift."
"They have the wrong idea. Being a hero is less about the power and more about the drive to do the right thing."
"That's what I've been trying to say to them. *Sigh* Anyway, thanks again, I really appreciate it. There will be an ceremony tonight, all Heroes will be present. I've taken the liberty of inviting everyone from your school."
"Awesome. Wait, can you do me favor?"
She nodded in excitement.
"Take better care of your hands, please." He pointed at them. "They deserve it."
"Okay?" That wasn't what she was expecting.
The two went to dress up into fancy suits for the occasion. They were going to meet up with students near the entrance and go as a group.
It all went downhill. A group of terrorists managed to take control of the island's security system and take every hero and civilian hostage. UA students (plus Melissa minus Katsuki and Mina) were the only ones who remained unnoticed. They were discussing their next move.
"If what Shouji said is true and All Might wants us to leave, we should comply." Iida started.
"Escaping won't be easy. This place is as secure as Tartarus prison."
"But not secure enough to prevent a takeover. AU!" Mineta has slapped by Kendou.
"We are supposed to be heroes, right?" Shoto said. "Even if we don't have licenses, we have to do everything in our power."
"Agreed. Melissa, is there a way to take back the security system?" Izuku asked.
"Hm. There is a central control panel on the top of this building. If we can get there, I could reboot the system."
"Great! Let's go!"
"Midoriya, are you nuts?" Grape boy asked in disbelief. "These guys were prepared enough to deal with All Might. Stopping them is a suicide mission, even with your quirk."
"Fate is on my side, I am sure of it." Izuku declared.
"I'm not. You don't have King Crimson right now."
"I brought Killer Queen for photos. How was I supposed to know we'll be attacked?"
"I have to agree with Mineta-kun. These villains are likely out of our league." Tenya countered.
"Either way, I'm not going to sit still. Who's with me?"
Everyone except Mineta and Iida raised their hands.
"Are you sure, Melissa?" Green head asked her. "Your quirk situation…"
"Didn't you tell me I could be a hero without one?"
"Yeah, I guess I did." He looked down.
"Mineta-kun! Please, we need all the help we can get!" Ochako pleaded to the short kid..
"Is Midoriya's insanity contagious? I became a UA student to attract girls, not die to some terrorists."
"If you go, me and Kendou-san will tell every girl in our school how brave you were." Yaoyorozu elbowed the read head to make her nod.
"Now you're talking! Let's crush those idiots! Plus Ultra!" He jumped in excitement.
"Well, I suppose I have no choice but to go too, if only to make sure you people don't die." Bespectacled boy sighed.
"This sucks! Why do we have to climb hundreds of stairs?" Minoru complained.
"It's better than running into enemies." Mezou answered the rhetorical question.
"What's this? A shutter? No problem, I can destroy it."
"No! This will trigger an alarm. There is an emergency ladder on the opposite side of this floor, past the garden. We should go through there."
As the team was passing through the botanical garden, Shouji noticed an elevator coming up. The group hid inside the bushes to avoid fighting. Unfortunately, the villains ran into alien girl and explosive boy (who somehow got lost and came here). Todoroki raised his group on a giant ice pillar and told them he and the other two have got this. Everyone nodded in return.
"Looks like villains have already discovered us!" Uraraka was worried.
"At least we don't have to be subtle then." Yaomomo was still calm.
"What? Why is the ladder not here?" Shield asked no one in particular. "They must have raised it."
"I have an idea!" Green head caught everyone's attention.
Uraraka had to remove his gravity to let him fly up. Killer Queen destroyed the ceiling to get to the upper floor. When brunette disabled her quirk, the boy lowered the ladder to let others climb.
The room they had to go through was full of sentry bots. They had to do something about them.
"I can make a machine gun." Momo began creating.
"Wait! You should conserve lipids. Melissa, is the temperature within those bots higher than 36.6 Celcius?" Izuku stopped the genius.
"Yes. Yes it is."
"Good. I know how to handle them. Shouji, grow an extra arm. Momo, make bandages instead. Everyone else, please look away."
Midoriya created Sheer Heart Attack and threw it at the bots. The toy tank blew up each time it got restrained or ran into a bot. After 6 minutes, Izuku cancelled the bomb by having Killer Queen touch it.
When team ran into the server room, they were forced to fight off even more bots, but now excessive force was out of the question. Damaging the servers could have meant preventing the takeover. Izuku, Melissa and Ochako had to put their faith into classmates and go forward. The final stretch before the correct floor required Uraraka to lift up the remaining duo and send them even higher. Unfortunately, she got restrained shortly after.
KQ blew a hole in a wall and engaged in a fight with a man whose arms could turn into spikes. Boy had to explode them and keep going.
"Anyone else feeling Déjà vu?"
"Yes."
Two men were guarding the stairs with automatic rifles. Izuku's quirk caught a bullet and sent it back with explosive force. The teen took the rifles for himself. On their way, they noticed David Shield inside a vault and decided to help him if he was in danger.
The scientist accidentally revealed that he was the mastermind behind this whole operation. The hostages, the villains, the cyber attack, all just a distraction to let him steal the quirk amplifying device and hand it over to his best friend, All Might. His daughter was distraught, as was Izuku.
"Those villains!" He remembered. "They wanted to kills for real."
"What? That doesn't make any sense? It was supposed to be an act."
"It WAS an act." Someone appeared at the vault entrance.
"Stop right there! Killer Queen!" KQ and Izuku aimed at the intruder, but he used his quirk to restrain both of them with metallic rods.
"This guy is like Risotto with Requiem." Diavolo noticed.
"Sorry, David." Shield's assistant Sam took the briefcase and ran towards Wolfram. All he got as a reward was a bullets to the head. Wolfram opened the case and put the helmet on his head. Just as David ran in to stop him, a pillar appeared from a wall and crushed his lower body.
"Bastard!" Midoriya made his quirk disappear and reappear so it could destroy the restraints.
As he rushed forward, pussycat did its best to throw punches and destroy the incoming pillars. Wolfram launched an attack from behind that impaled the green head and caused KQ to suffer the same damage.
"Thank you, Mr Shield!" Metal villain smiled at dying man. "Your genius will forever be remembered as a step towards my world domination! Now, if you excuse me, I'll go and kill some heroes. Let's see if they have the balls to stop me when I still have so many hostages."
"Papa!" Melissa ran towards her father.
"I'm sorry. Melissa. I wish my legacy wasn't so *cough* dark. You deserved a better father than me." He died in her hands, covered in his blood and her tears.
Izuku's situation wasn't any better. He was bleeding out, the pills were left in his hotel room, and worst of all, he couldn't even stop the bad guy. For a moment, he felt absolute desperation.
"Wait, desperation? That's *cough* right! I can still fix this. Melissa!" He was losing his voice.
"Izuku!" The crying blonde got to him. "I'm so sorry! I…" He put his finger on her lips.
"Listen, I don't have much time, so I'll be brief. I'll bestow Killer Queen on you. You'll need to *cough* get to the villain and tell him my name. Anyone who'll hear say it you will die. When time rewinds, tell me that *cough* another one bit the dust. Don't call me by my name again or touch anyone. Hurry!"
Melissa nodded and ran towards the elevator.
"I don't fully understand what he meant, but I must trust him!"
Wolfram and two of his goons were taking a leisurely walk towards the elevator. When he heard the girl approaching, he restrained her completely.
"My, my. Are you so eager to join your father in the afterlife? Although, I doubt you two would go the same place, he he he. What was your plan, darling? Even your boyfriend and his explosive quirk couldn't stop me. You are just a quirkless weakling."
"His name is Izuku Midoriya." She claimed.
"I don't really give a… Hey, what the… What's that?" The villain saw something in growing in front of him.
"Put that thing away." His minion tried to slap it, but it was completely intangible.
"Hey, it's that kid's quirk! Killer Queen!" Another minion put the pieces together.
"More specifically, Killer Queen's third bomb: Bites the Dust." Izuku's disembodied voice explained. "You people have driven me into the abyss of despair, and you had the audacity to underestimate a quirk less person. Your fates are in my hands now, and I command you to die!"
Click.
Boom!
Melissa was falling through the seemingly infinite void. After she spoke the words, she could barely notice something in villains' eyes before everything around her disappeared in a spectacular explosion. The only thing calming her down was tiny Killer Queen sitting on its chest and smilimg.
Author's note: I'll change how BTD works a bit in the next chapter.