Hey, it's time for Project Velocity. Sorry about missing updating Electric Heart last week, explanation of that with come with the next chapter for that story. For Project Velocity, last time Eri's quirk ran crazy and was able to heal her big brother. Then as if nothing truly bad had happened, Inko and Izuku invited the group of friends that had stay behind, over to enjoy a nice homecooked meal. Now it's time to see how the rest fo the weekend went for the group.
As always I do not own MY HERO ACADEMIA or any of its characters.
With that, let's start off with a bang
At some point during their game, Inko called out and announced that dinner was ready to be eaten. The group paused the game and Izuku led them into the dining room. Inko served a portion of the food and once thanks had been given they dove in. After the first few bites, Momo realized Ochaco was right, it had been a simple dish. Most likely planned at the last second, as Inko couldn't have possibly known everyone was coming over. Yet despite that it was one of the best cooked meals Momo had ever had. And the looks in everyone else's eyes it seemed they agreed. And it was the best end to the day they all had.
For many of them this was the first villain attack they had been part of. They had all seen villains attack in person, it was a given in the world they lived in. But those times had always been from a distance, among the crowd who had been moved out of the way. But now to be through the thick and thin of a villain attack, to have to fight to keep their lives.
They might have different levels of training. Momo had been taught with the different weapons she could make. Ilda sparred with his older brother. Ochaco had training through Madam President and Shinsou had to deal with the typical bully that called his quirk villainous. Yet despite all those different experiences, levels of skills, they had one thing in common. When the time had come, they all froze.
Overcome by the panic, fear, terror, horror, dread, it caused them all to freeze.
But while they all froze, one person at the table hadn't. Izuku had rushed forwards, and handled everything. He coordinated with Eraserhead to protect Tsuyu, Kaminari and Ashido from Shigaraki's quirk. He figured out a plan past Nomu's quirks. But most importantly, he bought time to get everyone out of the way and saved their lives. Even at the cost of his hero career and potentially his life, as they had all seen how he looked before being taken to surgery.
Yet as each of them looked at Izuku, they didn't see him reflecting on anything. There was no regret in his eyes. No shame that he hadn't been able to fight harder or move faster. It seemed he had moved on and was simply enjoying the moment. Spending time with his family and friends. And that brought some comfort to the others at the table as they tried to do the same. They had tried to give it their all, they might have failed or their lived and had a chance to better themselves.
They all struggled at different levels, but they forced themselves to get lost in the warmth of the home cooked meal Inko had all made for them. The love it had been made with worked its magic to hold back the shock of the day.
One dinner was finished and the dish had been cleaned and put away, Izuku let the group back into the living. Where Izuku revealed that his Playstation had been modified, allowing more than four players to play Minecraft at the same time. And with the size of the Tv, everyone still had a big enough play area. After connecting a fifth controller and inputting his password, Izuku joined the game but he didn't play as he passed the remote to Eri. The group thought it would be fun to play with Eri, but then Izuku told her to create some chaos.
An objective that Eri took whole heartily as the first thing she did was hunt down Ochaco and kill her avatar. After that she hunted back Ilda, who when spotting her in game, began to try and run away. Which was futile as Eri used Izuku's elytra to chase him down. Eri continued to hunt down the other four through the night, and they couldn't fight back as Izuku's character was maxed in armor and weapons. While Shinosu and Momo barely had iron armor, Ochaco had diamond armor, though only her chestplate was enchanted and Ilda only had a stone sword.
With each kill she got, Eri let out a small laugh. Izuku eventually made some popcorn and enjoyed the drama Eri was creating.
"Who's 600MHeadshot." Shinsou asked, as the notification of a friend's request to join a game came up.
Izuku popped a piece of popcorn into his mouth and looked at the notification. "One of my playstation friends, I've only seen him online playing Call of Duty. I think he's got like over a month worth of hours on each of them, never seen him play anything else." Izuku said, as he reached over and tapped a few buttons on Eri's controller and declined the request, "I'll join him on a different day."
As Izuku leaned away from Eri, he phone went off with a call. He pulled it out of his pocket and answered, "This is Midoriya, Izuku."
"Midoriya is this Detective Naomasa Tsukauchi, I'm calling to get your statement about the attack. I wasn't expecting to get it for a bit, but Principal Nezu informed me that you were now available. How are you feeling right now?" Detective Tsukauchi said.
"I'm good, I'm at home with my friends." Izuku said.
Detective Tsukauchi gave a confused sound then said, "I am speaking to Izuku Midoriya, Class President of 1-A. The student who faced Nomu and Shigaraki on his own and had to be transported in an ambulance to receive emergency surgery."
"Yeah." Izuku said, as he got out of his chair and walked away from the group. He stopped in the doorway that separated the living room from the dining room and the kitchen.
"Uh, Recovery Girl's quirk must be stronger than I thought. So I have statements from your classmates, so I'll just have you confirm their statements and have you add anything I miss." Detective Tsukauchi said, then began to give a play by play of attack. The initial break in, the student being separate. Izuku fight against Nomu and Shigaraki, then All Might arriving and finishing the fight. Izuku only added his small adventure before running into Tokoyami and Ojirou, "Now, Principal Nezu said you were about to provide insight into the destruction of UA's gate and he thought you could provide insight to this attack."
"I can." Izuku said then thought about everything he had been able to piece together during the attack, "Shigaraki, I would put him in his mid 20s, but he acted like a little child. Only a few seconds away from a temper tantrum, when things didn't go his way, like All Might not being there in the beginning. He looked ready to give up, but there were some points during the attack, his personality changed. He became calm and directed Nomu with direct orders, like…" Izuku said, then noticed some glances from his friends in the living room. He looked at them confused and shrugged his shoulders.
"Like a child that doesn't want to do anything, but suddenly sees something he wants." Detective Tsukauchi said, as Izuku heard a pen tap against something.
"Yeah. I said those moments of clarity were when he was focused on killing All Might or myself." Izuku said after stepping fully to the kitchen as he knew no one needed to hear that.
"He became focused on you?" Detective Tsukauchi asked. No one else had pointed that out, only talking about how Shigarakis seemed focused on killing All Might.
"Yeah, after I save Eraserhead from Nomu. Shigaraki had the creature focus on me instead of Eraserhead, he must have seen me as the bigger threat. But as I fought Nomu, Shigaraki's commands changed from 'distract' and 'get rid of' to 'kill." Izuku said as he walked deeper into the kitchen. The games and dinner had done well to hold over the shock, but until they were able to properly handle the experience Izuku was still going to be cautious around his friends.
"It seems you painted a target on your back for the league of villains. I would suggest putting you in a witness protection program, but as you're a student of UA, there's not much safer place for you to be." Detective Tsukauchi said, then sighed, "But then again you won't always be at UA, not unless you moved onto the campus."
"That's correct sir and I'm familiar with WPP's and with the league's teleporter, I don't believe the program would be able to do much." Izuku said, as he looked through the doorway, to see Shinsou and Ilda running away from Eri.
"Sh432. I didn't even think about that, that just made my job a whole lot harder." Detective Tsukauchi said, as Izuku heard something fall and hit the ground.
"Detective Sir, don't worry about me, I can take care of myself." Izuku said.
"While I applaud your confidence, Midoriya, I'm still going to have to work on this from my end. There's still a lot of unknown about the attack and I haven't even talked to any of the low level villains." Detective Tsukauchi said.
"Detective. I don't believe any of those criminals will provide the answers you're looking for." Izuku said as he remembered what the criminals had said when he asked them what their plan was, "I believe most of them were just opportunists. They heard a villain was attacking UA and had a way to kill All Might and wanted in on the action. From what I could tell none of them were meant to defeat Class 1-A. They were just meant to hold us back while Nomu fought All Might. I don't think any of them expected us to fight back, I'm sure if they knew that ahead of time many of them would have backed up."
"Crowd control, that makes sense." Detective Tsukauchi said, "Before we end this call, is there anything else you would like to add?"
Izuku paused for a second as he thought about everything he had said and if there was anything he had forgotten about. Then he recalled something he had noticed, "Yeah, Nomu, I don't think it could think for itself. It only really acted after Shigaraki gave it a command. Otherwise it just stood up like a living statute. The only time it moved without command was when it protected Shigaraki. It might have been given a command beforehand, but its movement felt more instinctually driven, like it could sense Shigaraki was in trouble. Almost as if it had been trained by who was made to protect Shigaraki. Its alpha command." Izuku said, then had a thought cross his mind, but kept it to himself, "That's everything I have."
"Thank you Midoriya, you've provided some much needed insight and I'll use it when I interrogate the villain tomorrow. I've been told you have the rest of the week off, so I want to rest and recover and be ready for next week." Detective Tsukauchi said.
"Will do." Izuku said, then ended the call. As he slid his phone to his pocket he walked back into the living room.
Ochaco noticed him and asked, "What was that about?'
"Detective Tsukauchi called. Wanted to know if there was anything I could add to the report. I could only add the group of villains I ran into before meeting up with Ojirou and Tokoyami." Izuku walked up behind the couch and said," Eri, Yaoyorozu and Uraraka are coming to flank you at your 5 o'clock and 6 o'clock."
Eri immediately turned her character around and blocked Ochaco attack, and used her sword to kill her character, then used a water buckle to stop Momo's free fall, cutting the power of her mace to normal. Eri then switched back to her sword and killed Momo's characters.
The gaming continued to go like that for a while, with the four trying to gang up on Eri and kill her characters. But it never happened, and eventually Eri had to go to bed. Putting his character in a spot the four would never find, Izuku carried up the stairs and got her ready for bed. After brushing her teeth and changing into pajamas, Eri climbed into bed and rested her head on her pillow.
Izuku turned on the nightlight and headed to the door. He turned off the overhead light and got ready to head back down, but then Eri called out, "Big brother."
"Yes Eri." Izuku said, turning back to the bedroom.
"Can you come here?" Eri asked and Izuku nodded as he stepped back into the room, letting the door close behind him. Izuku walked over to Eri's bed and sat on the floor next to it, "I used my quirk on you."
"Yes you did." Izuku said as he reached a hand up and Eri reached for it but at the last second pulled back.
"Last time I did that, I made someone disappear. I don't want that to happen to you." Eri said. It seemed despite using her quirk Eri was still afraid of it, afraid of what it could do, what it had done.
"Eri, listen to me. I'm never going to leave you. I'll always be there for you. And you don't have to be afraid of your quirk. You couldn't control it back then." Izuku said.
"I still can't control it." Eri said as she hid under her blanket.
"Maybe but you saved me today. You healed me, and I don't think a quirk that can do that should be called a curse." -Izuku then paused for a second- "Eri, when you're ready and want to learn how to control your quirk, tell me and I'll be happy to teach you. Someday you'll control your quirk and you'll be able to help others like I do. Do you want that?" Izuku asked.
"But what if I never learn to control it and I hurt people with it?" Eri asked.
Izuku thought for a second and then said, "You want to hear a story. I think you'll find it funny."
After a few seconds Eri lowered her blanket down beneath her eyes and she nodded.
"Okay. It happened when Kacchan and I were young. We had only had our quirks for a year, so we were barely older than you. It was during the summer, we had been playing outside all day in the sun. We were hot and tired, but more importantly we were really sweaty." Izuku said.
"Doesn't Bakugo's quirk deal with his sweat." Eri said as she recalled hearing that in passing.
"It does, good job of remembering that. Now you see it was in the evening and Kacchan's mom had called us in for dinner and we were heading inside, but then he sneezed and reflex clenched his hands. This caused his quirk to go off and due to all the sweat on his hands, the explosion was massive." Izuku said, recalling how Bakugo and the entire porch were quickly engulfed in smoke. Luckily Izuku was still out on the grass picking up the ball and was able to watch the majestic show that followed.
"How big was it?" Eri asked.
"Big enough to throw him back and through the fence. " Izuku said with a chuckle and Eri let out a small one. "Their neighbors completely lost it, Aunt Mitsuki and Uncle Masaru had to pay for a new fence to be built and repainted. But that wasn't the only time that happened. As every time Kacchan sneezed his quirk went off. And it continued to go off until one day he sat down and taught himself to control it. It was hard and it took a lot of effort, but now Kacchan's quirk only goes off when he wants it to go off. I'm sure if you work hard someday you'll be able to control your quirk." Izuku said and after a few moments of Eri being quiet he began to get up.
"When. When do I need to start working on my quirk"? Eri asked.
"Whenever you're ready. And that's something only you get to decide." Izuku said, then leaned over and kissed Eri on her forehead," Just remember, we're family, through and through."
"Family, through and through," Eri repeated back to him.
Izuku smiled as he stood up and went back to the door. As he opened it and stepped out, he said, "Good night Eri."
Good night big brother." Eri said.
Izuku quietly closed the door and then began to walk down the hallway. He crept back down stairs and into the living room. He sat down on the couch and leaned back the cushion. With his remote laying on the top of the cushion, this change in the pillow caused the remote to slide forwards and fall into his lap. He caught it before it fell into his lap and said, "Alright Eri, is asleep and we're free to continue."
The group continued to play late into the evening, and the group was happy to no longer be terrorized by Eri. Though Izuku wasn't all that much better, he played the game with them and let them progress. Yet he would still kill them at random times. The night ended with the four having diamond armor and Izuku took them to the End and used four end crystals to revive the ender dragon.
After watching them kill the Ender Dragon the group logged off and Izuku walked the group to the train station. He stayed there until each of them had gotten on a train and was headed home. Then around 1 o'clock in the morning Izuku walked Ochaco back to her apartment. The whole time she was leaning against his shoulder, making it clear she was ready to go to sleep.
Once at her apartment, Izuku helped her into the building and to her bedroom. As Izuku helped Ochaco into her bedroom, she mumbled, "Midoriya, please don't ever do that again?"
"What walk you home." Izuku jokes, as he had a feeling what she was referring to.
"No. I-I saw how you looked before Eri healed you. It… I don't think I'll ever be able to get that image out of my mind. And I don't want to see you like that ever again. So just promise me, you won't do that again. You're not All Might." Ochaco said as Izuku helped her over to her bed.
Izuku lowered Ochaco to the bed and said, "I know I'm not All Might. And I'm sorry you had to see me like that. And I know I got lucky with Eri's quirk being able to heal me. I promise I won't do anything like that again."
"Thanks." Ochaco mumbled and then dropped her head into her pillow.
Izuku quietly walked out of Ochaco's apartment, locking the front door behind him. Izuku then began to make his way home. The night was cloudless and a bit chilly, but Izuku didn't mind it, as it left him alone with his thoughts. At the time of the attack, Izuku was okay fighting with everything he got, paying the ultimate price, not knowing if he had the chance to survive. But now that he had survived, lived to see another day, he got a chance to see something that not many people got to see.
Izuku saw how everyone reacted to his death. Because he had died, his heart had continued to beat until in those last few moments before Eri's quirk went crazy. He could feel it, he knew he had died. He had seen that great white light that everyone talked about. Then his life had flashed before his eyes. He didn't really give the future much thought, his only plan had been to become a pro hero. But since rescuing Eri, Izuku had let his mind wander to the other aspect of his life.
In those flashes he had seen himself being a pro hero, top of the billboards. Protecting people, defeating villains, helping rescue efforts, saving the day. Before perhaps that would have been all that he had seen. But with with all the changes of in his life, he had seen more. He saw himself graduating UA and giving a speech. And before he could be given his proper hero license he was submitting paper to adopt Eri as his daughter. The tears of joy she had was when she read them over and realized what they meant. Then she was the ring bearer to his wife, even using her quirk to fix the rings since someone had accidentally broken them.
Izuku, Eri and his wife move into a house, Eri being there for her new mother when their baby is born. Izuku watched Eri grow up and attend UA and become a pro hero. She was best known for being a healer like Recovery girl, being able to heal any kind of injury. Then after a few failed kidnappings it became known she was able to hold her own in a fight. After retiring Izuku became a teacher at UA and his wife joined him. Eri took over for Recovery Girl, and was even more stubborn, forcing students to heal naturally from minor injuries, only using her quirk for major or life threatening injuries.
Growing up, even in recent years, Izuku hadn't thought much about his life outside of being a pro hero. But now that he had, was he still willing to sacrifice his life to protect others. Now that he had a glimpse of what that life could be, could he so easily throw it away. The possibilities and opportunities that now lay in front of him, could he so easily throw them away.
Izuku still wanted to be a selfless hero, putting others before himself. But could he still do that and not risk that life he had seen for himself. Could he still step forward to pay the price, knowing he was leaving a loving family and friends behind.
As Izuku reached the front door of his house, he heard an alarm off in the distance. Some thug must have been trying to rob a convenience store. Izuku almost let go of the door knob and turned towards the siren. Could he be a father if he was so focused on being a hero and if he was so focused on being a father could he be a good hero.
As Izuku looked off in the distance in the direction of the siren, he sighed and left it to the licensed pro heroes to handle it. He had done enough to save the day, it was someone else's turn. Izuku turned the door knob and pushed the door in. After stepping inside, Izuku closed the door and locked it behind him. He then headed upside and laid down on his bed. As it was now nearly 2 in the morning, Izuku closed his eyes and all the exhaustion of a long day he had been fighting off, rushing over and he fell asleep.
The next day, Izuku woke up early and began to get ready for school before remembering school had been canceled for the rest of the week. Yet as he was the kind of person that once he was awake, he wasn't going to fall asleep until evening, Izuku decided to head down stairs and make breakfast for the family.
Inko and Eri came down stairs around the time Izuku finished up breakfast, so they ate together. As they finished up, Inko asked Izuku what his plans were for the day and he said he would probably do some light training and exercise, but he was going to spend most of his day with Eri.
And that was exactly what Izuku did. He played games, did arts and crafts, and went on a walk with Eri. After lunch Izuku did some light training, he did push ups with Eri on his back, brought up the pull up and had Eri hang around his neck. The rest of the day Izuku and Eri spent time on the couch.
And when the time came, both of them went to bed early.
The next day started out the same, with Izuku making breakfast and spending time with Eri. But while he was making lunch Izuku got a phone call. Izuku hit the accept button and put it on speaker. He then put it on the counter and said, "Go for Midoriya, Izuku."
"Midoriya, this is Principal Nezu." Principal Nezu said.
Izuku quickly put the knife in his hand down the counter and grabbed his phone. He took it off of the speaker and held it up to his ear, "What can I do for you Sir. Is something happening at UA?"
"No, nothing like that. My days have been filled with those items, and I've been handling them. No, I had a free moment and wanted to call in regards to Eri." Principal Nezu said.
"What about her?" Izuku asked.
"Are you able to talk privately?" Principal Nezu asked.
"Let me step outside." Izuku said, then called out, "Eri, I'm stepping outside to the backyard for a moment."
Izuuk then walked over to the sliding glass door and stepped out onto the porch. He walked over to a deck chair and sat down, "Alright I'm free."
"Since your little sister healed you, I've been thinking about what I know about the situation. And one thing that is clear is how little is known about her quirk. You claimed to be under the belief that it was similar to Erasure, however you stated that you're beginning to think otherwise." Principal Nezu said.
"Yes. From what I know Eri was under the yakuza, might have even been born within it. As such a record for her doesn't really exist, that's including a quirk record." Izuku said.
"True, with her ties to the yakuza and subsequent abuse, you can't take her to a normal doctor or quirk counselor. And there is no telling how violently her quirk could react if she was forced into that situation." Principal Nezu said.
"Yeah. Right now the best way to protect her is to keep her hidden. If word about her quirk and its property, got out." Izuku then paused, "I'm sure you've had a conversation with Recovery Girl about how sought after she was. From both sides. I'd rather not have Eri in that kind of situation."
"Yes, I agree. That is why I would like to offer not only Recovery Girl's assistance but mine as well. We would study Eri's quirk, to gain a better understanding of it. To help you better her train for when she begins to train her quirk." Principal Nezu said and Izuku was about to say something but Principal Nezu continued, "You will be informed of any knowledge gained about Eri's quirk and you are more than welcome to be there for any test we perform. I am not looking to erase quirk, nor am I in search of the fountain of youth."
"And what about your plans to terrorize humanity?" Izuku asked.
"A properstous rumor." Principal Nezu laughed but Izuku didn't. It was quiet for a few seconds, "Rumors that do have merit behind it given my past." -Izuku continued to wait- "Yes, I have plans to terrorize humanity. But I never plan to go along with them, they're a fun hobby. Something to fill the time between meetings."
"I don't think I would use the word fun to describe that kind of hobby, Sir." Izuku said.
"Then allow me to promise that I will never make a plan to end the world that involves Eri's quirk. Even I have standards and won't hurt an innocent child, especially one who has been as hurt as young Eri." Principal Nezu said.
Izuku thought about it for a second. Recovery Girl and Principal Nezu were some of the leading authorities in the world on quirk research. And understanding a quirk, what it did and how it functioned was a big part in being able to train and improve it.
"What would the tests involve?" Izuku asked.
"A blood sample and shavings of her horn. That material should be enough for us to read her genetic code and find out what type of quirk she has." Principal Nezu said, "From there her genetic code should provide a window to what type of energy she used to heal you."
Izuku thought about it for a few more seconds then said, "When would you like for me to bring her in?"
"I am busy for the rest of this week, my schedule doesn't free up until Monday. So Monday after school." Principal Nezu said.
"Can I come in the morning and spend the day with you." Eri suddenly said, stepping out on the porch.
"Eri." Izuku said, nearly dropping his phone, "How long have you been standing there."
"Only for a few seconds, I hear you talking with the small white person about me coming to your school. But I want to come with you in the morning, so I can spend the day with you?" Eri asked again.
"Midoriya, do you mind putting me on speaker?" Principal Nezu asked. Izuku sighed and put his phone on the arm of his chair and put it on speaker, "It sounds like you would like to come to school with your big brother."
Eri walked over and nodded, "Yeah I want to see where he goes everyday."
"I'm sure I can arrange that." Principal Nezu said.
Izuku could feel the mischief coming from the other side of the phone, "Sir, is that really necessary. I mean what about classes, we're already going to be behind due to this break."
"I'll be quiet. Your teacher won't even know that I'm there." Eri said in a begging tone and looked at Izuku with her big eyes.
"Principal, Sir you can't disrupt school…" Izuku said but Principal Nezu interrupted him, "Your teachers are under my employee and must follow any rule I put in place."
"Sir you can't be serious." Izuku said. UA teachers were already having to deal with the media attention and redoing UA's security system. He didn't have to put more on their plate, by having Eri there all day. Especially when Inko was perfectly available to drive Eri to UA after school was over.
"I 100 percent am Midoriya." Principal Nezu said, "Your mother can drop her around the same time that you and Uraraka arrive at UA and I'm sure Eri is a big enough girl to not cause too many distractions in class."
"I'll be quiet, promise." Eri said.
Izuku's eyes jumped between Eri and Principal Nezu. He brought a hand up and pinched the bridge of his nose. He sighed and said, "I'll let my mom know of the plan."
Eri cheered as she finally got to see where her big brother went all the time and meet more of his friends.
"Sir." Izuku said. Did he trust Principal Nezu and Recovery Girl to oversee Eri's quirk? Did he trust them with Eri? She had been rescued so many times, seen so many pro heroes killed. Hurt so much, wasn't it best to protect her from the world. To keep her hidden, so she never had to see a horrible thing again. But that wasn't a way to live. Wasn't Izuku and Inko's goal to prepare Eri for having a normal life. Never letting her leave the house, to never have friends of her own, that didn't sound like a normal life.
"Yes Midoriya." Principal Nezu said in an innocent voice that did not suit him.
Izuku took a deep breath and let out a slow exhale, "I'll be seeing you Monday, Sir." Izuku sighed as he realized perhaps he was letting Eri get away with too much.
And that's Chapter 35 of Project Velocity. It seems the group of friends, through the presence and actions of Izuku were about to manage the stress and shock form the attack. While Izuku has a bit of a heart to heart with himself. He had only view his future through being a pro hero, but now that his life has drastic changes. He's met people he would leave behind, people who would mourn his death. People who are relying on him to stay a live. A view of his future he had never given much thought, but now he has. How will that change his views and plans to be a pro hero.
And then he gets a call from Principal Nezu, who offers his and Recovery Girl's assistance in researching Eri's quirk and provide a means for her to become trained and be able to control it.
Next chapter school starts back up again and Class 1-A learns its harder to get rid of a Midoriya than it seems.
Next time: More Than That To Kill Me
Review and tell me what you think.