Another console exploded, pouring out a shower of sparking molten metal.
"You could always go back!" Alien Force bit out, shifting both their arms into a combination of Planchakule and Mechamorph. They moved in unison, rewiring the machinery in an attempt to stop the bomb. "Warn yourself! Go back to before this began!"
"Ah! Yes… well.." Paradox looked guilty, hesitating for a moment before roughly plucking a tangle of wires from within his gauntlet and holding the loose component between his teeth. The metal table he was cowering behind bent out of shape as the fire increased.
"Don't tell me you already have?!" Alien force cried without pausing their rewiring effort.
Paradox leaned back over the table gesturing with his gauntlet. It fizzled with green energy, emitting a sound like a cough.
"Well that didn't work." Paradox leaned back down just in time for a bright blue laser to fly by his head. He made a manic dash behind the energy tube Alien Force was working on. "Switch! You're taking too long!"
"We are not amused, Paradox!" Long black tendrils extended from Alien Force's head as his fingers turned into silver cylinders. He caught blast after blast of laserfire, moving his hands with the aid of Kineceleran speed to catch the rays of light. He scowled with one green eye, discharging energy outwards towards his attackers. Three of the bronze pepper-pot shaped creatures exploded.
Several more flooded the corridor, rolling along the floor on hidden tracks, the bright blue lights on the end of their eyestalks glaring.
"EXTERMINATE!" They blared in unison.
"Fantastic!" Alien Force complained, shifting most of their body into Petrosapien and rampaging through the reinforcements. "Can you hurry it up!?"
Paradox cackled maniacally in response.
"I don't want to go." Izuku admitted sheepishly.
"Stop being a baby." Moe rolled her eyes. "You're just going back to school."
"Well, yeah." Izuku flushed as she hugged him tightly, scowling at the faces of Onima and Kido, barely containing their laughter. "But I got so used to patrolling and helping people every day, being confined to class and exercise is going to make me feel… powerless I guess."
"I know the feeling." Kido nodded.
"No you don't." Onima protested. "Midoriya was actually useful during his internship."
"Oh ha ha." Kido sneered.
"I'm gonna miss you guys too." Izuku admitted laughing softly. He stood upright and bowed deeply. "I really learned a lot from you."
"I hope you didn't learn much from him." Onima teased, gesturing at Kido.
"And don't follow his example." Kido warned seriously. "It wouldn't be prudent for a hero to be unarmed."
Izuku grinned at the sidekicks' antics, hoisting his duffel bag.
"I don't think I could handle a broken finger." Izuku said nervously. "Let alone an arm."
"Oh definitely." Moe slung her arm over Izuku's shoulders, causing his blush to deepen even further. "Remember how long you sulked after stubbing your toe that morning after your night patrol?"
"Hey!" Izuku groaned, trying his best not to smile. "I was tired, okay?"
"Midoriya?" Tokoyami called from the doorway. He smiled when he saw his friend. "Ah! Glad to see you!"
"Tokoyami!" Izuku grinned broadly. "How was your internship?"
"I'll tell you on the train." Tokoyami insisted. "The one we will miss unless we leave now."
"Well… I guess that's a good point." Izuku said sadly, looking over to the flaming sidekicks. Moe winked at him as Kido and Onima both smiled encouragingly.
"Midoriya." Endeavour boomed from the opposite door. "A moment of your valuable time?"
Izuku smiled at his mentor's joking tone, but by the look on Tokoyami's face, he realised that it did not outwardly sound teasing. He smiled reassuringly at his friend before following the flame hero.
"Is he in trouble?" Tokoyami asked, his tone deeply concerned.
"Oh yeah." Kido noted.
"Big trouble." Onima added.
"He's the new favourite." Moe explained. "Poor boy… he was so young too."
"Ignore them." Shoto said, joining his classmate. "They are always like this."
"I see." Tokoyami said, belying the fact that he was still very confused.
Izuku followed Endeavour by the window overlooking the city, mimicking his mentor's cross-armed stance.
"You seem nervous." Endeavour noted.
"Got a train to catch." Izuku laughed awkwardly.
"Of course." Endeavour smirked. "It is your claim to fame, after all."
Izuku smiled quietly, waiting for his mentor to speak.
"I will admit, Midoriya," Endeavour said seriously. "That I did not think much of you when I invited you to intern here. I had fully planned on using you to entice Shoto into using his flame quirk to outdo you."
"You don't say." Izuku noted dryly.
"I am not finished." Endeavour said evenly. "I had anticipated to find your skills lacking and your demeanour frustrating. That much I was correct in."
Izuku nodded, thinking back on his first day with the Endeavour Agency.
"And yet, you impressed me." Endeavour continued. "Again and again. First with your stubborn refusal to give up, then with your heated defiance of my wishes, and most recently, you astonished me with your aptitude at being a hero."
"I owe a great deal to your teachings." Izuku bowed deeply.
"Perhaps." Endeavour allowed. "But I did not teach you selflessness, nor courage. That was merely the iron of your soul."
"You honour me." Izuku replied, not knowing what else to say.
"Indeed." Endeavour grinned. "I have taken the liberty of arranging your stay for your hero work-study. I expect you to rival Shoto in the upcoming exams."
"Thank you!" Izuku's eyes widened, thrown by the faith in his ability shown by the number 2 hero. "I won't let you down!"
"I know." Endeavour smirked. "It is not in your nature to."
Endeavour faced Izuku before bowing curtly in respect.
"Izuku Midoriya," He said, laying a hand on the boy's shoulder. "I am proud to call you my student."
On the first day back, UA honoured Tenya Iida with a memorial.
It wasn't like the movies. Or in books. There was no rain, no dramatic music. There was no profound moment of unity between the student body.
It was quiet.
There was mumbling. Complaining. There were hushed whispers of students wondering when they'd be allowed to go back into the warmth of the school.
It made Izuku's stomach turn.
There was crying too.
Most of the girls, and some of the boys from 1-A had tears in their eyes during Principal Nezu's address of the assembled student body. In particular, Izuku watched a girl with short brown hair and pink cheeks, one of his new classmates. Tears rolled down her round face, her lip quivered, but she stood, shaking in defiantly silent grief. Her friend, a girl with big eyes and looping green hair comforted her with whispered words of consolation.
Tokoyami seemed moved by the words, though Izuku could only feel guilt from Shoto. Though, perhaps, he was projecting his own emotions on his friend. After Nezu finished talking, they had a moment of silent remembrance of the youngest Iida brother.
Izuku was walking back to class when he felt a hand on his arm.
"You're Midoriya right?" Izuku turned, coming face to face with the tear streaked cheeks of the girl he had been watching. "You were there? At Hosu?"
"Yes." Izuku admitted, feeling his stomach tighten in apprehension.
"Did you even try to save him?" The girl's voice shook as she spoke, though whether it was from anger or grief he couldn't tell. "Did you even look?"
"I- I didn't know." Izuku whispered, his gut squirming with guilt.
"His brother was attacked." The girl narrowed her eyes. "His big brother. His inspiration to be a hero. And he went to intern in the one city the hero killer was suspected to be. You never once even thought to look?"
Her tears seemed more angry than sad now. Her voice was raised and started to draw a crowd. The green haired girl placed a hand on her friend's shoulder, trying in vain to calm her.
"I- I didn't even know he was there until after-"
"Until after he was dead!" The girl cried out angrily. "Of course you didn't! You were too busy looking for action! Trying to play hero!"
"That's not… I didn't…" Izuku paled. It felt like a punch in the gut. His guilt from Hosu came flooding back even stronger than before. It was one thing to know someone had died, and another completely to see the effect it had on someone close to them.
"Come on Ochako…" The green haired girl looked to Izuku, halfway apologetic, halfway accusing. "We should get to class."
"No!" The girl cried out, wrenching her arm out of her friend's grasp and stumbling to the ground. "He was right there! He should have saved him!"
"I would have if I could!" Izuku shouted, his eyes starting to sting. He felt like he couldn't breathe, feeling an almost physical weight settle on his chest.
"Then why didn't you!" The girl snarled. "Why didn't you!?"
"I didn't know!" Izuku cried out, his voice bordering on pleading.
"That's enough." Aizawa's voice cut off any reply with quiet authority. Shoto stood behind him, his normal, distant stare firmly in place. "Midoriya, come with me."
They left Ochako Uraraka on her knees, sobbing on the ground.
The mood in Aizawa's office was more dour than the atmosphere at the memorial had been. The teacher slowly sipped a bowl of tea, never taking his eyes off Izuku, who ignored his tea in favour of absentmindedly finicking with the Omnitrix.
"Uraraka was out of line." Aizawa finally broke the silence, levelling Izuku with a steely gaze.
Izuku did not answer. He didn't even know what he should say.
"I can tell that this has been weighing on you." Aizawa continued.
"I guess…" Izuku said quietly, too ashamed to admit that he hadn't thought about Iida in his last week at Endeavour Agency. Somewhere between fighting villains and helping people, his guilt had fallen by the wayside, only really surfacing in the darkness of night.
"Your internship seemed to have been pretty eventful." Aizawa noted, placing the empty bowl on his desk with a clink.
"I learned a lot." Izuku mumbled, still unsure why he was there. "Todoroki-sensei was a fantastic teacher, once I got to know him."
Aizawa nodded silently, as if a suspicion had been confirmed.
"I knew he would be a good fit for you." He elaborated, still not looking away from his pupil.
"But why?" Izuku puzzled. "He was so… cruel to me initially. You had to have suspected he'd be that way, right?"
"I knew he would." Aizawa admitted. "But I also knew that you needed to work with a hero like Enji to properly hone your gifts."
"What do you mean?" Izuku frowned.
"Midoriya," Aizawa sighed, finally blinking for the first time since Izuku had entered the office. "There are, for the most part, two kinds of heroes in our society. Symbols and Servants."
"I don't understand." Izuku admitted.
"The first kind, Symbols," Aizawa explained patiently. "Like All Might or Mount Lady. They are loud and visible. They do their work for all to see, and where they can be seen the most. They serve as much as a pillar to prop up the hopeless as a deterrent for criminals."
"I suppose that makes sense." Izuku frowned. "And the second kind? The Servants?"
"They are the heroes who work to achieve as much as possible, regardless of publicity." Aizawa elaborated. "Like Gran Torino, Sir Nighteye and.. Well… me."
"A bit full of yourself." Izuku tilted his head.
"Maybe." Aizawa didn't smile. "But I can tell that's the kind of hero you want to be."
"What?" Izuku asked, taken aback. "That's a bit of a leap, don't you think? I've barely even been in the hero course for a month and you're already making assumptions about what kind of hero I'm going to be one day?"
"Midoriya," Aizawa asked evenly. "What kind of hero do you want to be?"
"I- I…" He stopped, closing his mouth to think the question through. "If you asked me this question a month ago… even a few weeks ago… I would have said I want to be the kind of hero who saves people with a smile on their face…"
"Like All Might." Aizawa nodded. "And now?"
Izuku stared at his teacher before lowering his head, clutching fistfulls of his school trousers in his hands.
"What kind of hero do you want to be?" Aizawa asked again.
"I… don't know if I am hero material." Izuku whispered.
"Midoriya-" Aizawa started, but a fierce look from his student cut him off.
"Just… let me finish." Izuku asked. He took a deep breath, steadying himself. "With everything that's happened… I know that I have a responsibility, not a choice, not a desire, a responsibility to do everything I can. To save as many people as I can."
His green eyes blazing with determination, Izuku stared his teacher down.
"I don't care what kind of hero people want to call me." He said evenly. "And I know I can't save everyone. But I refuse to waste my powers. And I swear that I will do everything I can to become stronger. I will carry Tenya Iida's death on my shoulders for as long as I live. Along with every other person I fail to save."
Aizawa raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.
"I'm not strong enough to save everyone." Izuku admitted. "But you can be damn sure that I will keep pushing my limits until I am."
"I believe you." Aizawa nodded. "And I swear to you that I will do everything in my power to help you achieve your goal."
Izuku nodded, feeling the guilt in his stomach fuel the fire of his determination.
"-and finish chapter 16 for tomorrow." Cementos rumbled. "I personally found it very insightful. Class dismissed."
Izuku packed up his things and slung his backpack over his shoulder. He waited patiently by the train stop, lost in his thoughts.
"Hey, Deku?" A familiar voice broke through his thoughts.
"Kacchan?" He asked, surprised. "What are you doing here?"
"We live in the same neighbourhood and go to the same school, you damn idiot." Bakugou grumbled. "How did you think I got to school?"
"I just…" Izuku shook his head. "I've never seen you on the train before."
"Too busy fantasising about heroes." Bakugou sneered. Before Izuku could respond, he held up a hand. "I need to say something first."
"Okay." Izuku steeled himself. "What's up?"
"It's… it's not your fault." Bakugou said quietly. "What happened to… to Tenya."
"What?" Izuku floundered, caught off guard by how, for lack of a better word, vulnerable his childhood friend looked.
"I know what it's like." He continued. "To feel helpless to save someone. To have all this power and still be completely useless when it matters most. I know how that eats at a person."
"You mean the USJ incident." Izuku realised, his eyes widening.
"Yeah." Bakugou admitted. "It… it took me a while to come to terms with what happened to Katsurou. It changed me. Hell, it changed our whole class."
"I'm sorry you had to go through that, Kacchan." Izuku frowned. "And… thank you."
"That's the difference between me and those other extras." Bakugou sneered. "I know you, Deku. I know that if there was a single thing you could have done, you would have."
"That means a lot." Izuku admitted, feeling his eyes sting Omnitrix felt as heavy as a boulder on his arm.. "Especially coming from you."
"Yeah well…" Bakugou grunted. "Don't get all mushy. I have a reputation to uphold."
At that moment the train arrived, slowly sliding its doors open.
"You can… sit with me?" Izuku suggested awkwardly.
"Yeah, that's not gonna happen." Bakugou turned his nose up. "We're not there yet."
"Right." Izuku rubbed his neck. "See you tomorrow, Kacchan."
"Yeah, whatever." The blonde rolled his eyes, walking towards a different train car.
Izuku found himself even more lost in his thoughts than usual on the train back. A feeling of empathy for his childhood tormentor radiated in his thoughts, weighing almost as much as his guilt..
Whatever happened in the USJ incident… He thought, staring out of the window at the passing buildings. It changed Kacchan so much… It must have been terrible. I want to ask Tokoyami more about it but… Would I simply be digging up old wounds?
Before he could angst any further his phone made an alert sound. On the screen was one message, from Aizawa's phone number:
He's awake.
An:
Ok! Another quick chapter! Hopefully the rapidfire short updates make up for my long silence, and even more hopefully you're still enjoying the story.
Yes! Monoma is awake again! But that's not what I want to talk about.
I expected a lot of blowback from Iida's death, and remarkably I've only received three DM's and one review of that nature. Will wonders never cease? xD
So I thought I'd address it here and clue you guys in to why I decided to go the route I did.
First things first. Yes. I could have had Izuku or Shoto or someone else save Iida.
BUT like I said in my author's note in Chapter 12, it would have been very convoluted and required a great deal of suspension of disbelief.
I didn't "have" to let Iida die, but the characters would have had to jump through many hoops to get there, and it wouldn't have been logical.
In fact I spent days (As my friend and sounding board WaluigiWeirdo will tell you) planning ways on how he could be saved, and I'll share a few examples and why I ended up not going that route, but first let's take a look at a few key elements of the Hosu Incident Canon:
1 Iida stumbles upon the Hero Killer a significant distance away from where the fight with the Noumu is taking place, far enough away that explosions caused by the big black Noumu are muffled, and Iida is immobilised attacking the villain
2 One of the Noumu attacks a train heading through Hosu to an unspecified city, the one Izuku and Gran Torino take in canon
3 There is widespread panic in Hosu due to the Noumu attack which causes Manual to lose track of his intern, as well as not having any idea of where he went
4 The Noumu are far stronger than the Pro Heroes on scene (except Endeavour and Gran Torino) and are specifically sent by Shigaraki to cause as much damage as possible to the city to make people forget about Stain
5 Arguably you can say Endeavour would have gone to Hosu regardless of Izuku's words, since he does so in canon
6 It takes Izuku long enough time to reach Iida, even though he was actively searching for him and worried about his friend, that he barely arrives in time to stop Iida being killed
7 Shoto does not have the skill to take the Hero Killer on alone, and Izuku speculates that he doesn't think anyone can
Now, In canon, Izuku goes looking for Iida because he realises Iida is in danger because they are very close. Izuku doesn't even know Iida in this story, let alone how much his brother's death would affect him.
There are still ways he could have come upon Iida though. Here are a few I considered:
1 Izuku uses Fasttrack to evacuate civilians and thus stumbles upon Iida
2 Izuku somehow ends up in that alleyway while fighting the Noumu
3 Izuku puts together that it's Iida missing, and that he's there for the hero killer and goes looking
Here are the issues with these scenarios
1 This would make him essentially useless at fighting the Noumu head on, and I think Izuku would have chosen a stronger form so he can help with the fight, and drawing the Noumu's attention instead of saving people that weren't "directly" in danger yet. This also plays into his inexperience with actual combat situations. Furthermore him just stumbling upon the alleyway without intentionally looking for Iida is a bit of a stretch
2 The first issue with this is that Izuku as Four-Arms mostly dominates the fight against the Noumu as soon as he doesn't need focus on saving the train. Sure, I could have had any of the Noumu land a lucky hit and send him flying to the alleyway, but can you honestly tell me it would make sense for him to land in the exact right alleyway for the events to play out like in canon? He'd have to be sent flying for blocks and then miraculously land in the alleyway in time to save Iida. Apart from this he was nearing time-out at that point and he would have had to face Stain in human form. Sure the Omnitrix could have turned him into an Alien in an emergency to save his life, or the Omnitrix's possession protection could extend to Stain's quirk, but that would be making a convoluted plot thread even more convoluted.
3 The problem with this scenario is time. A tired, essentially quirkless (since he would definitely be in time-out by that point) Izuku would have to scour the city with no way of knowing in which direction to look without any means of quick traversal. By counting the screen time Stain and Iida share before Stain attempts to kill him amounts to little over six minutes by really stretching it. This isn't nearly enough time for the Omnitrix to recharge, especially considering it was "overclocked". In canon Izuku had the advantage of being able to traverse the city by rooftop, and the help of OFA. Izuku (in this timeline) would have to figure out that it's Iida missing, deduce he went after the Hero killer, and run in his unfit human form, searching the city on foot, and get there within the span of six minutes.
In the end, I made the difficult choice of letting Iida die. I didn't do this out of hate for the character, or some contrived plotline, and I didn't do it to "show that I'm not afraid of killing characters".
I made this choice because from a completely objective viewpoint it was the only thing that made sense.
I really hope this clears up the idea that I didn't think this through. Because I spent far more time thinking about this aspect of the Arc than most of the other parts, even some parts combined. I even transcribed the episodes of the Hosu Arc so I could be true to the canon events and dialogue when writing.
Trying to "save Iida" took up ~40% of my notes for the Hosu Incident, actually. ^^;
|| Review Review ||
Funny-Little-Cute White Fox
As always, Really happy to hear you enjoyed it. :3
XxGargantuaxX
Indeed! And… my Omnitrix has a few hidden features of its own… ;)
DarkSpeed
Feedback is DOPE yo! Little bit of him in the beginning of this chapter. :3
SonicMax
Most of your review is addressed in my earlier statements, but I just wanted to touch upon the rest here. I personally don't like killing characters off unless it serves an actual purpose in the story. It's like the Incredibles, kinda, bear with me, "When everyone is special nobody will be", right? Death needs to be impactful and done for a reason, otherwise it just makes it seem like you're killing characters off in an attempt to make your story more serious in some way, if you get what I'm saying?
But yeah, I am writing an anime/cartoon fanfiction on the internet for strangers so… yeah… can't really take myself too seriously to begin with xD
As to anyone voting for Bakugou over momo… You're no less than 100% right. Nobody in their right mind would vote for Bakugou to be class rep.
I'm actually surprised it took this long for someone to call me out on Bakugou.
All I can really say in reply is to keep in mind that he went through an entirely different tenure in UA, and he is dealing with a different set of demons this time around. Like I said in Ch0, he definitely seems out of character, but there is a reason for it.
I'm elated that you like my portrayal of Shoto, seeing as he's incredibly difficult for me to write.
Laitou
I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. I really hope I don't get to it. xD
Yeah, as I said before, I wanted him to have different weaknesses to both Canon Ben and Canon Izuku. :3