There's a fundamental truth in life, not all men are created equal.

Izuku Midoriya knew that fact better than most. He lacked a quirk, which meant he was less than human in the eyes of society. Not worth the time or effort to care about. His childhood friend, Bakugo Katsuki, had also quickly learned this fact of life and made sure to hammer home the lesson frequently. His quirk had provided him with a future that Izuku could only dream of and status within society that afforded him, certain privileges.

But the universe tends to find creative ways to rebalance the scales of fortune.

"Hey! Deku! Where the fuck are you going!?" Footsteps thundered down the stairs, Izuku didn't dare look back as he took the stairs two at a time, willing his legs to move faster. He had to get away, he had to get away, he had to get away, he had to ge-

BOOM*

Izuku was knocked off his feet, tumbling the last few steps down the stairs and slamming into a wall. His head spun as he tried to get to his feet. Something strong yanked him upright, pushing him back into the wall, "Gottca!" preened Bakugo. A toothy grin set on his face. "You think you could outrun me Deku? Huh?"

Izuku shook his head, too afraid to answer verbally.

"Then why'd the fuck did you run?" Bakugo spat, "Nah, don't answer, doesn't matter." Bakugo leered down at him, "Alright you useless nerd, I heard from a little bird that you plan on taking the entrance exam to UA. That right?"

Izuku nodded, still too afraid to answer.

"You think someone like you will stand a chance at UA? Ha! Like hell! I bet that someone like you wouldn't even make it into the general education department! Grow up Deku." Bakguo shoved him back into the wall hard, releasing him and letting Izuku slide to the floor. "You'll never fit in there. So why don't you be a good little Deku and stay in the background."

Bakguo strutted off, content with his work. Izuku remained on the floor, trying to keep himself from giving in then and there. Under his breath he mumbled, "like hell Bakugo."

Izuku, like always, walked home alone. Albeit technically alone. There were other people walking with him, people he called friends. But his three friends walked ahead of him, side by side, making inside jokes he wasn't privy to. They'd mentioned an anime he was watching, he'd tried to comment, but one of the others had talked over him, cutting him off. So he just remained quiet for the remainder of the walk home.

He didn't say anything as he broke off from the group, no fanfare as he quietly walked away from the three boys. They didn't notice he left, still talking amongst each other.

Izuku quickly walked up the stairs, walking to his apartment. He fumbled pulling his key out and putting it into the door, he opened it, the creaking of the door the only thing announcing his arrival. He took off his shoes, padding quietly across the carpeted floor, heading straight for his refuge, his room.

He closed the door behind him, and once the door clicked he let out a shaky breath. Tears threatened to spill from his eyes, but he blinked them back. He tossed his bag onto his bed, sat down on his desk, turned his desktop on, and put his headphones on. He put on a random playlist, soundtracks he'd found on YuTune, and opened his drawing program, and let his thoughts flow freely, channeling all his rage and sadness into his art.

He didn' know how long he remained cut off from the world, savoring the varying styles of soundtracks he heard, watching the drawing take form on the screen. He was broken from his trance by his mom loudly knocking on his door. Izuku hurriedly saved his work, paused his music, and left his sanctuary and into the apartment.

He sat down wordlessly at the table, looking at the bowl of food his mom put in front of him. "How was your day honey?"

Izuku looked up at his mom. He took a moment to swallow his food before replying, "It was good." The lie came easy to him, practiced with time.

"Are you going out with your friends again this weekend?" she asked.

Last weekend the four of them had gone to the arcade, then walked through the shops just browsing through the merchandise they couldn't afford. "Maybe." He doubted it. Most of the time he felt like a fourth wheel, an interloper in a group of close friends. They'd only talked to him a couple times.

"That's good," said his mom, a small smile on her face. It made his soul hurt to lie to her like this, but he knew if he told her the truth she'd feel sad. So he concealed the truth from her.

The rest of the meal was silent, they ate quickly, and Izuku was once again sequestered. He put his headphones on, resumed the music, put his stylus onto the pad, and couldn't draw. Nothing came to him now, thoughts once flowing like water seemed to have evaporated. He sighed, his mom interrupted his flow, and there was no getting it back now.

He clicked off the drawing program, paused the music, and settled in to watch the next couple of episodes of the anime he was currently watching. He might read some later, but he didn't know. His interests were fickle like that. One moment he wanted to do something later, and later never came.

This night ended up like that. He watched episode after episode, eventually he realized it was 1 in the morning. Izuku sighed, "One more episode and I should go to sleep."

Two episodes later he was finally in bed, drifting off into a dreamless sleep.

He yawned as he sat in the classroom, waiting for class to start. He checked his email, no new notifications. He wasn't surprised, his art rarely got views, and rarely ever got a comment. His oldest post had maybe a thousand views, and was two years old. One day, he told himself, one day he'd get more views. The teacher came in and he quickly stuffed his phone away.

Class was uneventful and uninteresting. When lunch came around, he pulled out his lunchbox, quietly eating his food. Trying to ignore the numbing buzz as he saw his three other friends gather around a desk without him.

He wouldn't say he felt sad or angry, just disappointed in himself. Disappointed that he didn't expect this outcome. Every friend he had made had left him, none had stayed longer than a month. Not after Bakugo. He felt bitterness poison his mood, and he surpassed it by apathetically chewing on a riceball. There's no point in remaining bitter after all these years, but it always reared its ugly head when he least expected it.

He finished his lunch quickly, checking his email, nothing of note again. He wasn't surprised.

School finished slowly, the remaining time crawled by, and when the bell rang for them to go home, he quickly and wordlessly packed away his things, and left the classroom. Nobody called out to him, asked if they wanted to walk home together, nobody said goodbye, see you later, or any other variation.

He didn't feel like going home just yet, partly because his mood was still sour from earlier. He'd walk it off first before letting his mom see him. He put in a pair of bluetooth earbuds, listening to whatever music came up. He let his imagination play out, imagining scenes that would correspond to the music. They were noise canceling and he was lost in his own world, his mood improving steadily.

He didn't hear the wet smack of sludge shooting out of the sewers behind him, didn't hear the crackle of glee from the villain at his good fortune. He didn't notice the rolling mass of sludge approaching him.

He did feel the cold wet sliminess envelop his body, the undulating mass wrapping around him and pushing its way into his mouth and up his nose. His initial surprise was soon replaced by a frantic panic as he tried to get away, clawing uselessly at the slime. But the harder he struggled, the more the slime seemed to constrict around him. It was harder to think now, the world becoming suddenly vibrant around him. His last thought before falling unconscious was 'not yet, please not yet!'

He felt something rapidly slap his cheek. His eyes shot open, he had to get away from the slime villain! He couldn't die here! He still had things he wanted to do!

His eyes locked onto a massive form of a man hunched over him. He withdrew his hand swiftly, a broad toothy grin filled his vision. He recognized that grin anywhere, and instead of calming down he started hyperventilating. "Oh my gosh! All Might?"

The man stood up, offering a hand to Izuku, "Up you come my boy. Are you okay?" Izuku nodded mutely, allowing All Might to pull him to his feet. "You should be more careful young man. Walking alone at any time of the day can be dangerous." Izuku nodded mutely at the advice, still in awe at the larger than life figure in front of him. "Well, if you're okay I should get going. This villain isn't going to arrest himself! Ah ha ha ha!"

A moment later All Might had lept away into the sky, Izuku tried to speak, there was so much he wanted to ask him. But, when he saw the retreating figure of All Might he felt a deep disappointment well up in his chest. Why couldn't he speak? Why couldn't he pluck up the courage to ask All Might if someone quirkless could be a hero?

Izuku sighed, checked his phone for the time, and made his way home.

"Are you sure about this Mr. Midoriya?" asked the counselor.

Izuku nodded, "Yes, it's been a lifelong dream of mine."

The counselor sighed, looking at the paper in front of him, then back up at Izuku, "If you're this dead set on it, I won't stop you. Good luck Mr. Midoriya." The counselor stamped the approval on the form, then slipped it into a folder in his filing cabinet.

Izuku stood, bowed, and thanked the man. Then he gathered his things and left the small office. He walked silently back to class, slipping inside and making his way to his seat. Only earning a few glances at his sudden appearance by the teacher and his classmates.

After school was over he went home, quickly going to his room and doing some research, he had to learn how to get stronger. How to fight. If he was going to be a pro-hero, he'd need to put in some effort to get in. He quickly found a website giving advice on how to get stronger.

The following months he kept up a training regimen, the first few weeks he was constantly in pain, a few times he thought about giving up, his dream was just that, only a dream, a fantasy to distract himself from his current life.

But he pushed past those thoughts, dreams were made to be turned into reality, you just need to be bold enough to make them real. And he was tired of not being bold. He was tired of being the third wheel to every conversation. He'd get into UA, he'd become a Pro-Hero.

He'd make friends.

It was a promise that drove him forward. A fresh start, a clean slate. He won't be timid, he won't be the weirdo that nobody talked to.

After a few weeks he saw results, his muscles gradually became larger, the fat didn't disappear though, he didn't get a six pack, but he couldn't deny he felt stronger. He felt more confident. Nobody at school commented on his gradual change, and eventually the end of the school year came. He graduated middle school without much fanfare, his mom threw a small celebration for him, cooking his favorite meal, but that was all.

He kept working, training, preparing for the UA entrance exam. And when the day came, he felt nervous. Ready, but nervous. When he was in front of the massive gates of UA he felt a small pit of fear come bubbling up from his deepest parts. What if they rejected him outright because he didn't have a quirk?

He mentally shook his head, no, they wouldn't do that. Would they?

Again he mentally shook his head, he took a deep breath, muting to himself "nothing ventured, nothing gained." He approached the kiosk, retrieving his assigned testing rooms. He found the lecture hall quickly, taking a seat near the back.

After a few moments people filled all the seats up front, slowly making their way to the back. A girl with brown hair sat down next to him, she put her stuff down on the floor in front of her and looked around the hall.

Izuku felt his heart flutter, either out of nerves for the exam or that a girl had sat next to him he didn't know.

"There's a ton of people here," said the girl to nobody in particular.

Izuku nodded, "Yeah."

The girl looked at him, smiling a little, "I'm a little nervous, what about you?"

Izuku nodded again, not sure what to say, "Yeah, I'm nervous. I feel ready though."

The girl giggled, "That makes one of us. I'm Uraraka Ochako, nice to meet you."

"I'm Midoriya Izuku" replied Izuku dumbfounded. He'd been here all of half an hour and he'd managed to strike up a conversation with a random stranger. A girl of all people.

"What quirk do you have?" she asked suddenly.

His heart sank, he expected that once he told her she'd just say 'oh' and then leave him alone. Maybe he should lie? No, he decided, not a good idea. Better to bite the bullet early, "I'm quirkless."

There was a moment of silence, the girl's eyes went a little wide, and she said a single word. "Oh." A bitterness he'd expected appeared. It's slimy hooks dug into his mood, overriding his nervousness of the exam. The girl turned away from him, looking down at her desk. The bitterness grew. Izuku clenched his fists, staring down at his own desk. Angry at himself for revealing who he was.

"So, what made you want to be a hero?"

That simple sentence made the bitterness pause, lifting away slightly. He looked at her, seeing her smiling face looking back. "Uhh. Well. It's just been a dream of mine." Maybe she was just making polite conversation, but he hoped she wasn't. He hoped she genuinely was curious. "I want to help people."

Uraraka groaned and nearly slammed her head down on the desk, "Oh god, that sounds a lot better than mine."

"It can't be that bad," replied Izuku. Still a little shocked she was still talking to him.

"Oh yeah? Well, I want to be a pro hero to make money." Uraraka spoke in a sullen tone, avoiding eye contact as she traced an invisible picture into the tabletop. "Some motivation right?"

Izuku had the feeling that wasn't all, but he also didn't want to press her for the details. "Well, it's not that bad. Helping people for money is still helping people."

Uraraka shrugged, "I guess."

She stopped talking after that, and the pair sat in silence waiting for the exam to start. The whole while Izuku mentally berated himself for not knowing how to talk to girls. Eventually, his suffering took a backseat as someone walked onto the stage. Izuku squinted, then gasped as he recognized Present Mic.

"HEY THERE LISTENERS! CAN I GET AN AAWWWW YEEEEAAAAAA?!" You could hear a pin drop. "ALRIGHT! NOW I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION, LET ME BREAK DOWN TODAY'S PLAYLIST!" Behind him a screen lit up, "IN A FEW MOMENTS WE'LL GET STARTED ON THE EXAM. ONCE FINISHED YOU CAN HANG OUT IN ONE OF OUR FINE WAITING ROOMS UNTIL THE PRACTICAL EXAM. ON YOUR ENTRY TICKET ALSO HAS YOUR TESTING AREA AND YOUR OPPONENTS!"

A screen at the front of the room displayed three of the robots, each with a number. The one with a number 1 was relatively smaller than the others, it had what looked like a chain gun mounted on an arm. The number two was a little bulkier with more armor and was equipped with heavy looking fists. Number three was the largest, however half of it was a bulky missile launcher. "EACH ONE HAS A POINT VALUE CORRESPONDING TO ITS NUMBER!"

"Excuse me sir," interrupted a student, "But this handout has four opponents listed. If this is some oversight by UA then this is a disgrace to the prestigious name of UA!" The student stood unnaturally straight and was waving his arm about as if he was trying to karate chop the poor student in front of him.

"GOOD QUESTION LISTENER, OPPONENT FOUR HAS NO POINT VALUE, THINK OF IT LIKE AN OBSTACLE TO OVERCOME OR AVOID. IT'S UP TO YOU!" Present Mic's reply caused the student to sheepishly sit back down. "NOW IF THERE ARE NO MORE QUESTIONS LETS BEGIN! PLUS ULTRA!" He held his fisthigh in the air. There was no reply from the students.

The test was passed out, and Izuku began. He was suspecting the test to ask various hero related questions. However it mostly contained various normal questions you'd find in any normal high school test. Math, history, science, english among them. Izuku finished quickly, he wasn't the first, but when he entered the lounge where he'd wait for everyone else to finish he saw only four other students.

He took a seat in the corner of the room, pulled out his phone, and read a story to pass the time. Nearly an hour later they were called group by group to board buses. His group was one of the last called. The bus ride was mercifully short, stopping at a large wall. His group milled about in front of the wall, waiting for a teacher to tell them what to do.

"HEY DOWN THERE LITTLE LISTENERS! YOU GUYS READY TO START?" high above them standing atop the wall was Present Mic. There was a mumbled reply of 'yeah' and Present Mic replied "ALRIGHT THEN LET'S GET STARTED!"

A deep rumble came from the wall as it split open, revealing a cityscape on the other side. Everyone looked up at Present Mic expectantly. "WHAT ARE YOU ALL WAITING FOR? THERE'S NO 'GET READY GO' IN REAL LIFE! GET GOING!"

There was a moment of dumbfounded silence, then it was broken by someone racing forward at blinding speed becoming little more than a blue blur. This triggered everyone else to surge forward, Izuku was caught in the tide of bodies and carried into the city. By the time the crowd separated he had no idea where he was.

He looked around, head swiveling for a target. His heart sank when he found several robots already dismantled or destroyed. He ran after the mob of prospective hero students, hopefully he'd come across one they missed. But then he'd need to take it down, how the hell was he supposed to do that without a quirk?

He spotted a headless robot ahead of him, a one pointer. It stood frozen in place, the chain gun pointed at an invisible enemy. He had a sudden and crazy idea, if he could figure out a way to control it. He looked over the machine, looking for any clues on how to control the thing.

Nothing stood out, and he had absolutely no idea where to even begin. He knew how to draw, not how to build robots! What the hell was he thinking? Why'd he think he could do this? He was quirkless, there's no hope in him passing. He slammed his fist into the robot out of frustration. Mentally berating himself.

He jolted back as he felt an electric shock the moment he touched the warm metal. Izuku cursed, rubbing his numb hand, then he looked to the robot, his eyes widening as he saw the robot shift. Its body quivering and shaking for several seconds before falling still again.

Izuku wondered if it was still active, but when it didn't move he wondered if the robot was malfunctioning. He slowly reached out, pressing his hand to the metal shell, there wasn't a shock this time, the metal felt warm under his hand, inviting.

He felt something in his mind, a buzz of information, something speaking to him. It didn't speak with words, merely feelings and impressions. He intuitively knew the robot wanted to do something, the chain gun whirled in its housing, clicking into position. It wanted to fight, to break and shoot and win. But not kill, it seeked to injure, to maim only.

Izuku understood, this was what the robot was programmed to do, but its optical sensor was destroyed, it could not fulfill its purpose anymore. Izuku had the sudden desire to help it, he could guide this robot to fulfill its purpose once again. Without thinking he clambered up onto the hulking armor, his fingers digging into grooves in the armor.

The robot rose to its full height, turning and trundling down the street littered with its comrades. The machine sought out targets, there were none here, Izuku felt his senses widen, feeling a static charge as the machine's radar switched on. He knew rather than saw where the new signatures were. Two in the building to his right, three to his left.

The chaingun rose, aiming at the ones on the left. They hid inside a building, and when they were aware of the machine's presence they drove forward, set on ambushing the lone figure. As the first robot burst out of a pair of doors the chain gun of Izuku's robot spun, rubber bullets fired out of the barrels impacting the metal harmlessly.

Izuku felt the robot's frustration, it had been given a task, but no way to carry it out with the tools it was given. It would instead have to rely on different methods to dispatch its opponents. The robot Izuku rode charged the other three, its chain gun held high. Its opponent raised its own chain gun firing rubber bullets that dinged against the robot's armor.

Izuku's robot brought the chain gun down, smashing into the other robot's head, shattering the optical sensor and crushing the head. The robot froze in place, unable to carry out its duties anymore. Izuku's robot swung its chain gun again, catching another robot in the head, then the third.

The torso turned around, facing the last two opponents and charged. Izuku felt the machine's satisfaction as it achieved its goal, dispatching robot after robot. By the eighth robot dispatched the chain gun had bent, the barrels smashed together rendering it useless. But the robot didn't care about its damaged limb, the tool only serving as a more effective weapon.

Izuku faintly heard the sound of a distant alarm, the robot paused in its task, information flowed into his mind, a sense of warning came from it, whatever that alarm was, it heralded the coming of a force that his robot had no desire to face in combat.

Izuku gazed up at the towering machine, he felt like an ant in its presence. The robot tried to turn away, but stopped as Izuku noticed something, a girl trapped in rubble. She pulled at her leg, desperately trying to free it from the slab of concrete.

The robot was confused, its mission was to destroy, not to assist. It did not want to help the girl, but Izuku's sudden urge to help her overrode the machine's programming. It trundled towards her, through the sea of students who looked at the machine in confusion. The girl looked up in fear as the robot raised its twisted chain gun, and winced as the machine brought it down on the concrete slab, shattering it. Then it reached down, grabbing a much smaller chunk of concrete and lifting it off the girl's leg.

She moved back quickly, her eyes wide with fear as she looked up at the massive behemoth approaching them. Izuku's robot turned around, facing the massive robot, a warning flashed in his mind as the machine urged him to run, to escape while he could.

The behemoth reared back its massive fist before boring down onto him and his robot. Izuku felt the metal give way, the force of the blow knocked him off his mount, and the second he released the robot he felt the world suddenly narrow, his senses returning to normal. He sat up groggily, his head pounding with an oncoming headache.

He got to his feet, his fight or flight instincts waging an invisible war in his mind, but his body took over before he could stop it. He ran, arms pumping as hard as they could, his lungs burned, and his mind screamed at him to turn back.

His body didn't listen as he threw himself at the large robot, his body slamming into the warm metal shell, he felt a sharp electrical charge run through him, much greater than the smaller robot from earlier. The pain passed quickly, and he suddenly felt larger, stronger, faster. His vision blurred, he was gazing out across a city, tall as a skyscraper, his eight eyes panned across the skyline. He spotted small dots swarming the streets below, running away.

He felt the commands the robot was following, there was no desire to maim, just intimidate, it hadn't been aware of the girl trapped under the concrete. But now that it knew she had been there it felt a sudden dread at what could have been. Izuku felt his senses overloaded, the world faded around him.

Shouta watched the screens with a critical eye, he saw students struggle against the robots, some managed to damage them enough to trigger the shut off, only a few were able to outright destroy them. Some had found the button on the back to shut them off manually.

"A truly fascinating group of individuals this year, don't you think?" asked Nezu as he set his teacup down.

"I guess," grumbled Shouta. A few showed promises, but many were severely lacking in capabilities. One was a short green haired boy who was stumbling down the road in a panic, he'd achieved no points so far and hadn't used his quirk even once since the exam started.

So he turned his attention to the other students, the most impressive was a young man who was able to blow up any robots he came across. He'd racked up quite the amount of villain points in the short time since he started the test.

"What the hell?" muttered Powerloader as he checked his tablet, "We've got a problem, unit A789 is acting up. It should have powered down, but it's reactivated itself."

"Do we need to postpone the exam?" asked Nezu calmly.

The main screen changed, showing the robot in question, and Shouta narrowed his eyes as he saw the boy with green hair from earlier climbing up onto the robot's back before it moved, turning in place before trundling down the street. Was the kid controlling it somehow?

"I see no problem," said Nezu after a moment.

Powerloader hummed, "This is weird" he flicked through his tablet but didn't comment further. Shouta watched with mild interest as the robot the boy clung to quite literally beat other robots into submission. The Robots didn't even fight back, maybe they couldn't tell that the boy had hijacked the robot.

After a few moments his attention wandered back to the other students, making note of their abilities and progress. When the zero pointer was released, he sighed as he watched nearly all the students turn and run, ignoring the behemoth.

The boy with an explosion quirk was the exception, he charged the massive machine, palms crackling with explosions as he battled the monstrosity. Out of curiosity, he looked over to where the boy with green hair was. His interest in the boy grew as he saw him rescue a fellow examinee from rubble, then turn and face the towering robot.

He hummed as he saw the boy abandon his own destroyed robot, then charge forward, evidently intent on hijacking the large zero pointer. He grabbed the thing's enormous leg, and as if a switch had flipped, the zero pointer froze. Then it swung its massive head, as if it was looking out across the city.

"That's…...impossible" muttered Powerloader. He held the tablet in shaky hands, staring down at it with a pale face. "No. That's…."

"What is it?" asked Nezu.

"That Zero pointer no longer following its programming," he swiped the tablet, tapping it several times, "I can't shut it down. It's…it's not listening to me."

This could be bad. Shouta didn't need to be told what destructive capabilities Zero pointers had. "Right, I'll take care of it," said All Might, the skinny man stood from his seat, smoke coming from his skin as he prepared to transform.

"Wait, I have control again!" the Zero pointer froze as it was deactivated. "That kid did something to my bots. Interfered with them somehow."

Shouta crossed his arms, watching as the kid slumped to the ground unconscious, blood running from his nose. What was this kid's quirk?

Izuku had a headache. Not the normal 'minor inconvenience' headache nor a 'this is kind of uncomfortable' headache. No, it was the 'please god end my suffering' headache. The dark room helped a little, the silence probably also helped but he didn't know for sure. All he wanted to do was curl up under the cool sheets and wait this thing out.

Time passed without any indication of how long it had been since he woke up. Nor did he really care, the raging headache had mercifully calmed down into something more manageable. It was still painful, but he wasn't craving death anymore, which was probably a good sign.

He cracked his eyes open, getting his first real look at the room he was in. His surroundings were blocked by a turquoise sheet set up around his bed. Was he in some sort of nurse's office? How'd he get here, and more importantly why was he here?

Shifting in his bed he saw light piercing through the curtains. He had no desire to face the light yet, the small amount of it already sent stabbing pain into his retinas adding further fuel to his headache. So, he retreated under the sheets once again, he could get answers later, for now he needed a nap.

He didn't know when he fell asleep, but the next time he woke up he was glad to find that his headache had diminished into nothing more than an uncomfortable throbbing sensation. He sat up again, looking at the light piercing the curtains, no longer experiencing any pain from it. So he swung his legs over the bed and approached the curtain.

He slowly pushed it aside, the bright light of the office forced him to blink, the throbbing of his headache spiked, but he quickly adjusted. He squinted around the room, spotting a small old woman sitting at a desk. "Excuse me," said Izuku quietly, "where am I?"

The woman jolted a little in her seat, turning to face him, "Oh sweety, don't sneak up on me like that."

"Sorry," mumbled Izuku. He didn't mean to, he never did, but he'd often surprise his classmates with his apparently 'sudden appearance' despite having been there for several minutes.

"It's fine honey," replied the woman, "as for where you are, you're in the Nurse's office at UA. I'm Shuzenji Chiyo, the school nurse."

Izuku frowned, he didn't remember getting hurt, now that he thought about it, he didn't remember much of anything after arriving at the testing area. A sudden dread appeared, "What happened? Did I pass?"

"I'm not sure honey, I was hoping you could tell me that. What's the last thing you remember?" she asked.

"I remember arriving at the testing area, but nothing after that" Izuku was panicking now. Did he get knocked out before he could do the test? Would they fail him because of that? Would they let him try again if he did fail?

"So, you don't remember anything that happened in the practical? Hmm, can you tell me who the prime minister is?" asked the woman.

Izuku thought for a moment, "it's Oda Hachiro, right?"

The woman nodded, "Correct. Is All Might a mouse or a cat?"

Izuku frowned, "Neither? He's a man, isn't he?" All Might was a man, right? He was certain about that; he'd met him in person after all.

"Correct" replied the woman, "Sorry about those questions. I just needed to make sure you hadn't had a concussion. When they brought you to me you'd passed out and had quite the nosebleed." What the hell had happened to him? Did he get hit so hard by someone that he forgot about the whole test? "I couldn't find anything physically wrong with you save for a few bruises. And since you seem okay, I don't see a problem with letting you go home, just make sure you get plenty of rest young man."

Izuku nodded, still in a daze. What had happened? Why couldn't he remember anything from the test? Then another thought struck him, did his mom know? If she did, she'd be panicking right now, he should call her.

He retrieved his things, and sure enough he had several missed calls from his mom. He called her back, letting her know he was fine, and he was on his way home. She was understandably upset by how late it was.

As he walked down the halls, he suddenly realized he had no idea where he was going. UA was a big school, bigger than he'd thought. Corridor after corridor twisted like a maze, confusing him the further he walked. And there wasn't a single map in sight, no 'you are here' sign to help him.

To his despair he turned a corner and found he was back where he started, the large "NURSE" sign hanging mockingly above him. He grumbled to himself, stalking down the hall trying to find a way out of the school when he saw someone.

"Excuse me! Can I get some help? I'm lost and I don't know where the exit is," the man had long unkempt orange hair, his body hunched over unnaturally making his long arms dangle near the floor. The man's head turned to him, his sunken eyes locking onto him.

"Oh, it's you," said the man. "I hope you realize how much trouble you put me through." Izuku quelled at the man's glare. The worst part, he had no idea what the man was berating him for.

But Izuku bowed, "I'm sorry sir. Truely. I don't remember what happened but I'll try and make up for it I swear."

"Huh?" asked the man, "You don't remember?" The man swore loudly, "I've spent the last four hours picking through the code for my robot that you hijacked. I've gotta decommission it now because I can't fix whatever the hell you did to it."

Huh? What did he do? "I'm deeply sorry sir, I don't remember doing that. But I'll make up for it."

"Damn right you will," the man sighed. "But despite the headache you caused me, I gotta say, I'm impressed." Izuku glanced up at the man, dumbfounded. What in the world did he do? "Not just anybody could break through my firewalls as quickly as you did. Let alone rewrite as complex a code as those bots have as quickly."

Izuku was lost, what was this man talking about? Breaking through firewalls? What the heck is a firewall? And how does one break through it?

"What the hecks your quirk anyways?" That particular question caught him so off guard he didn't even know where to begin. He didn't have a quirk. But this man thought he did.

"I don't have a quirk sir," replied Izuku in confusion.

"Like hell you don't. I saw what you did, you just slapped those bots and they were at your beck and call. Don't play dumb with me kid," the man glared at him.

What? He felt the world spin around him, more and more questions swarmed his mind. He really did that? "But. I don't, I swear. I was diagnosed as quirkless!"

The man rolled his eyes, "Alright kid, keep your secret." The man muttered to himself as walked away.

Izuku remained frozen in place, did he really have a quirk? After all these years did he actually have a quirk? But he was diagnosed as quirkless, but the man said he had a quirk. His headache pounded as he thought. He'd sort this out later, for now he had to get home. Eventually he found someone else, an incredibly beautiful woman with raven black hair and piercing blue eyes. When he asked her for directions, she smiled kindly and gave them to him.

Surprise! I'm not dead!

Just busy...

Stupidly busy...

I've done my fair share of trawling fanfiction in my days. And despite the hundreds (I'm not exaggerating. I'm not proud I've read that much fanfiction. I'm not going to stop either) of stories I've read over the years, Izuku's more often than not been portrayed as a character who has no or only a few issues interacting socially. He makes friends (that's a good thing he needs friends) rather quickly after getting into UA.

But I've also noticed that, despite his past being ostracized by almost everyone, he's not remotely insecure about it. Trust me on this, he needs to be insecure. Hella insecure. He should be the quiet kid, the one people think is a weirdo and who rarely interacts with anyone. And those interactions need to be awkward on some level, either he can't find the words to say anything, or he overshares.

So, I decided, since nobody else seems to be doing it (please correct me if I'm wrong, I would love to read that story/stories) I'll just do it myself.

Also, I gave Izuku a quirk. On its own it's useless. It doesn't really do anything, for all intents and purposes he's quirkless. His quirk does nothing to enhance his abilities whatsoever.

I'll leave it a mystery for what his quirk is for later, and I'll let y'all theorize what it is and could be. Although you should be able to have a good guess based on this chapter.

And no, I'm not giving up working on the other stories yet. I've just...hit a roadblock (Pun intend). This is my way of getting rid of probably some of the most persistent writer's block I've ever had. Not kidding either, like I've written ten-page essays with less writer's block involved! Like this is a crippling amount of writer's block! It's so FRUSTRATING AHHHHHH!

But I'll give you a hint, this will involve suits of armor. Welcome to My Mecha Academia everyone, this trope needs more love. I'll take some inspiration from similar stories, and if you're looking for good Mecha My Hero fanfiction, I highly suggest "I am not Done" by JayDeeKay, so far it's my favorite. It's a long read, and there's some serious angst in there, but damn it, I'm hooked. If you're reading this JayDeeKay, you do hella good work.

Side note, I got a new laptop, finally. My last one crapped out on me back in May. And I found out it had emoticons pre-loaded, I've even got a button specifically to use them.

anyways.

Adios