Chapter 41: Midoriya Izuku XXXVII

A/N: And here go the action sequences of the I-Island Incident. Hope you all enjoy…

Izuku had his suspicions as to the identity of the individual lending aid to Wolfram. There were some who were crossed off his list rather quickly, either for lack of motive or with the fact that this whole stunt would net them more negatives than positives.

That left his already sparse list of suspects down to a meager name, and suffice to say he's still reeling over his deductions. Especially since his deductions have been proven to be true, if what he's hearing at the tower's top floor is anything to go by.

To think that David Shield and Samuel Abraham of all people on the island would be the ones at fault. Izuku definitely didn't see it coming, that's for sure. However, seeing as with his quirk their motives are as clear as day, he can't exactly fault David Shield's reasoning. Not entirely.

–How much longer, sir?– That was Samuel. He's currently staring upwards, eyeing the various shelving units over his head. They're filled with all sorts of gadgets and research; but only one of them contains the Quirk Amplification Device.

–Just a little longer, my friend– And David. He's currently typing away at the room's control server, hunched over and with sweat beading down his forehead. –My credentials are working in our favor, but there are still a lot of hoops I need to go through before I have full control of the room. Can't have us leaving tracks of our misdeeds. Not if we want to escape this blameless–

Izuku hears Samuel gulp at that. His heart rate increases drastically, only for it to settle down a few moments later. If he didn't know any better… Unless… Samuel's after something more? Something he hasn't clued David with?

With the way Samuel's wringing his hands and David's sheer devotion to the computer screen before him, Izuku's willing to place his bets on that being an affirmative.

Hmm. Something to think about later. For now…

I-Island's central tower is over two hundred stories tall. That is, just around eight hundred and sixty meters give or take; easily within his one kilometer range. Thus, he's been able to hear everything within the tower during his entire trip up, and he's had time to plan and observe.

There are four thugs up in the security room. Three of them he'll have no problem with: one with a simple cosmetic quirk involving horns, one with a night vision quirk, and one with a blindness inducing quirk. To most, the latter would prove to be a problem. But given Izuku's quirk… he's not worried in the slightest.

What he is worried about, however, is the fourth person up on the floor. Given his seat in front of the tower's (and coincidentally, the whole island's) security servers, it's clear that he's the head hacker of the group. Not that that's what's bothering Izuku. It's his lack of knowledge on the man that's giving him some concerns.

Normally Izuku wouldn't be in this situation, given all the preplanning and information gathering he does beforehand. But as it turns out, all that preparation doesn't mean anything in the case of the introduction of a rogue element.

After all, the unknown isn't a known member of Wolfram's crew. That isn't for a lack of scrutiny; the identity of the group's main hacker is well known, and that responsibility usually belongs to the woman with the blindness-inducing quirk.

So either the man's new (unlikely, given the high stakes of this operation), or he's a private contractor (much more likely, especially if it was found that the original hacker's skills were lacking).

Still, there's not much Izuku can do about it now. No plan survives contact with the enemy, and all that. Izuku types away a few final commands at his laptop, disabling the cameras to the upcoming floor, before closing his laptop and fitting it snugly into his briefcase. Just in time for the elevator to ding (a dinging sound that he nullifies), and it's doors to slide open.

Showtime.

The first of the four, the one with the horn quirk, stands guard at the elevator. Unfortunately for him, his back is facing the elevator. No doubt he was depending on the usual sounds of the elevator to announce anyone's presence. With a quick bonk to the head with his briefcase and a little manipulation of sound to ensure his fall isn't heard, he's out.

But that's the easy part. Step Two; arguably harder. The other three are in the next room. It's a rather spacious room, with the security console on one end and a large table in the middle. The first two are at said table, facing the direction of the doorway. Thus, no chance of catching them off guard — doesn't mean that I can't catch the man at the console off guard, however.

Izuku sets up a nullification field around the first two, as well as nullifying the sounds that he himself makes. And with that, he springs into action.

His initial sprint into the room doesn't throw up much of a fuss; without the audible perception of his thundering footsteps or the slamming of the door, nobody notices his presence until he's right on top of them, having jumped atop the table and poised to strike.

The first individual receives a similar fate to the elevator guide, getting his head slammed on Izuku's suitcase. The other doesn't go down nearly as easily though.

Without warning, Izuku suddenly finds his vision clouded in complete darkness. He trips, stumbling off the table and onto the solid floor.

"Ha!" The woman scoffs, face contorting in amusement. "Look at you, looks like you aren't the hot stuff that I thought you were. You're stumbling around like an idiot like the rest of them. I don't know how you snuck up on us like that, but you're gonna regret it!"

Of course, Izuku isn't panicking in the slightest. After all, even without his eyes, he still has his hearing. And all things considered, his hearing is superior to his eyesight anyways.

The woman before him is just about recovering from her bout of laughter, standing up straight and readying to move in his direction. As for the hacker, he still has his eyes focused on the camera footage and the screens before him. His right hand moves for his wait, taking hold of his radio— Wait, what?!

Izuku slams the man with a space void of sound, just in time to cancel out the words that come forth from his lips. –Wolfram, we've got an intruder in the security room. They're not one of the Yuuei brats; best guess it's someone else who's escaped our attention. I will likely be requiring backup considering two of the three of your guys are already down–

Izuku replicates Wolfram's voice in return, emitting it from the hacker's radio. "I'm on my way. Hold him off until I arrive."

At the same time, Izuku backsteps, moving out of range from the enclosed fist aimed straight for his face. The woman's eyes widen in surprise, face engulfed with shock. "The hell? How did you—"

Izuku doesn't give her even a moment to recover. He rushes forward, jabbing his own fist into his assailant's stomach. As she kneels over in pain, Izuku clutches her head in his hands and slams it down onto his knee. The woman falls to the ground, out like a light. And Izuku's vision slowly returns to him, blotches of blackness receding from his vision.

He takes a look around, finding that the hacker is still in his seat, eyes glued to the screen. He shows no indication that he knows what's going on behind him, but of course Izuku knows otherwise.

However, seeing as his last obstacle seems content to wait things out, Izuku takes the time to gauge his surroundings. First, he picks up his suitcase and leaves it in hand. He then surveys the two individuals he had taken down moments before, ensuring that they'll stay unconscious for the time being.

His eyes glaze over the woman, the one with the blindness inducing quirk; his mentality drifts, almost subconsciously, towards a certain thought. "A rather handy quirk. I must admit. If she were to attack someone that wasn't me, who doesn't have a quirk that helps me traverse the world without my eyes… The Doctor could find good use for you…

Izuku shakes himself out of his thoughts, pushing them far down back into his mind. He reorients himself, focusing his attention on the other person still in the room. And so he walks forward, keeping himself wary of any potential traps. But that doesn't mean that he needs to still keep himself to his stealth. He's already been caught, after all.

"I'm really curious, mister!" Izuku calls out, embodying the voice of a small child. "How'd you know I was here? I know it wasn't the cameras; I looped those! Do you have some sort of surveillance quirk maybe? Danger sense of some kind?"

The man drums his fingers against the keyboard. Eventually, he spins in his chair, revealing himself to Izuku. "I saw your laptop there," the man says, voice gravelly, as his right index finger points at the suitcase in Izuku's hand.

Izuku tilts his head, akin to the way an inquisitive child would. "And how'd you do that?"

The man chuckles. He finally stands from his chair, looking down at Izuku with maniacal glee. "My quirk, Energy Sense, allows me to detect all forms of energy around my person. Including electricity, which is coursing through your laptop."

Izuku blinks, somewhat baffled. He turns his voice deeper and gruffer, like something you'd hear from a grizzled commander. "You know, acting like some cliche villain who gives away important information to the enemy on a whim isn't doing you any favors. It just shows that you're stupid."

"Doesn't matter," the man scoffs. He reaches down to his waistline, grabbing for a baton. He uncurls it, revealing a tip that crackles with electricity. "My boss is coming. And he'll wipe the floor with you easy."

"Oh? That so?" Izuku can't help but let out a chuckle. He then supplants the current voice that he's using with Wolfram's own garbled mess, emulating everything from it's tone to its muffled nature from behind his mask.. "Don't you see? I'm actually still down at the gala. Your attempts at contacting me were futile. You should've expected that; don't you know who you're dealing with here?"

"Tch." The man mutters a few curses, coming to the realization that he's on his own. "I'll admit, you got me good, Whisper. But as far as I know, you're just as green at this thing as I am. I say that I have fair odds at beating you here."

Izuku lets out a scoff. "Sure, maybe. If this was a one-on-one fight, sure."

The man blinks. "What?"

"Don't you see? I've been stalling this entire time. With all you're bickering, my friend got the time to get into position. Go ahead and take him out, Kurogiri."

The man's eyes widen, no doubt recognizing the name and its significance. He spins as he hears the telltale sounds of a warpgate opening, the sound of a sword unsheathing from its scabbard. Arms raised and ready to defend himself, he braces for the fight of his life.

He doesn't expect to find nothing but the barren steel room and the security monitors lining the wall, however. It takes a few moments for him to realize that he's been tricked. But he's too slow to turn back around to defend against the sweep aimed at his legs.

He falls onto his back, and before he knows it his grip on his baton is lost. He isn't able to stand back up with the weight now draped atop him, and he most definitely isn't in any way ready for the shock to his system, the electrified baton pushing against the side of his torso. Like his compatriots, he's lost before he can even comprehend what has happened.

With a sigh, Izuku lifts himself off of the man. He lightly kicks the man's head, ensuring that he's out. Once that's done, he eyes the baton in his hand, observing it with unhindered glee. "I'll be keeping this, thank you very much. Saves me the trouble of having to ask Giran for one, that's for sure."

He pockets his newfound weapon, cherishing his simple takedown of his opponent, before he jogs over to the security monitors on the far wall. He takes his laptop out, plugs it into the available ports, and gets to work.

Within moments, the security bots harassing the Yuuei students just a few floors below him stop in place. The same goes for the robots patrolling the island, and — unfortunately — for the ones keeping watch with Wolfram in the gala proper.

"Won't be long until he's gallivanting up here now. Might as well let him meet a nice surprise on his way up though…"

Izuku backs away from the security console, laptop in hand, no longer needing to be connected to the system to manipulate it. As he makes his way towards the security room that holds both Samuel and David, he orders most of the remaining robots within the tower to congregate in groups across different floors. Robots travel both downwards and upwards to meet up forming large groups without pause.

The first group, stationed at around floor twenty-four, easily shows its worth within the minute. By then Wolfram's traversing up the elevator, using his quirk to manipulate the metal around him into a rising platform in order to ride the fastest way up to his destination.

Once he reaches floor twenty, Izuku has the doors to floor twenty-four slide open, and out flood dozens upon dozens of security robots. Wolfram's caught within the ambush within seconds, the swarm of robots cascading over his form.

The platform he's on stops for a few moments, the weight of hundreds of robots impeding his progress. It's like this for a few moments, his platform slowly sinking as Wolfram punches and kicks his way within the crowd of robots.

Unfortunately, it's not long until the man gains an advantage over the robots — there are made of metal, after all.

Shards and coils burst their way through the masses, cutting through the robots with ease. However, Wolfram's newfound weapons breakdown just as fast as he destroys the robots, eventually leaving him with nothing as the swarm stops.

But he still has the elevator, and the infrastructure of the building. So he continues his rise back up.

It's the preferable course of action; Wolfram's initial struggle alone took nearly two minutes. And with five other chokepoints still in place, this gives Izuku plenty of time to deal with the next obstacles.

He nears the Tower Storage Room while he observes Wolfram's ascent in his laptop. He promptly closes his trusty device, delegating the tracking of the villain's movements to his hearing.

As he enters the expansive room, fully shrouded by the reins of his quirk, the two men inside stand completely oblivious to his entrance. He sneaks up on Samuel with ease, bonking the man on the back of his head and catching him before he falls down the stairs he's standing on.

That leaves just one target left; but Izuku doesn't wish to incapacitate the man yet, not when he still has questions to ask him. And especially not when his current method risks potential trauma to the brain. It wouldn't do to risk a mind as bright as his.

Nevermind the fact that he's furious; angry at the fact that such a supposedly smart man had risked the lives of so many, no matter how selfless or pure his intentions.

So that leads him to sneaking up on the man, suitcase raised over his head, and subsequently slamming it onto the keyboard attached to the monitor. It's not like Izuku will need it, after all.

"The heck?!" David Shield yelps, backing away and falling to his behind. He stares upwards with incredulity, both at the destroyed keyboard and the figure towering over him. But he could care less about the latter, and his screams display that.

"No!" He yells. The arms holding him up wobble, threatening to topple him to the floor. His eyes dart angrily to the individual he now identifies as the elusive Whisper. "Do you have any idea what you've done?!"

Izuku simply stares down at the man, resting his suitcase by his side and letting silence engulf the atmosphere. He eventually speaks, using Wolfram's voice. "But of course I do, Mr. Shield. It is you who hired the villains in this tower after all, correct? All as a convenient cover for the theft of your research and prototype. Tch. Disgraceful."

Izuku shakes his head in disappointment. "To think that such a well-renowned and respected man would stoop so low as to such underhanded methods…"

"You don't understand!" David retorts, his strength coming back to him. His face is twisted in desperation. "You have no idea how important that device is!"

"Oh. I'm quite aware. After all, it is your wish to grant the device to All Might, is it not? In order to replicate how he was before in his prime?"

David's eyes widen. "Then why—"

Izuku rushes forward, kicking David in the jaw. The man snaps back, falling to the floor with a groan. "You provide passage for villains to come onto the island: dangerous villains, those with no remorse and kill as long as it provides a means to further their agenda. Do you not see what is wrong with that?"

Izuku can feel the way David stills upon his words. "Wh… What? But— The villains I hired are supposed to be fake! Phonies! Nothing more than—"

"And yet they've nearly killed some kids from Yuuei today. Nearly killed your daughter too. Did you just assume that the ones you hired were what you wanted? What? Were you too lazy to do research? Too focused on achieving your goal to care?"

A look of horror comes across David's face.

"Were you so preoccupied with your goals that you decided to ignore the signs? Were you too tunnel-visioned to see the truth? Too self-centered to see the internationally wanted criminal as he stood before, promising you white lies?"

Izuku pulls out his laptop, connects to the storage room's server, and gets to work. It takes him mere seconds to reach his prize, the secured locker containing the Quirk Amplification Device descending to eye level. He takes out the case from the locker, opening it to reveal the item that has caused so much strife in just a single night.

"Heh. Flimsy little thing, isn't it?" Izuku bemoans, waving the invention back and forth in his hand. "To think that this little thing can provide such power, enough to boost All Might back to his prime? And contained in something I could snap in half with my hands?"

David jerks up from his sullen prone form, gaze once again frantically darting towards Izuku. Gaining realization fills his eyes in panic. "No! No!" He struggles to get to his feet. "You can't! You can't just—!"

Izuku grabs the two ends of the device, and bends. It's even easier than he had expected: the Quirk Amplification Device sparks as it's torn in two. And then when the two pieces fall to the ground and out of Izuku's hand; Izuku's foot slams onto the remains. Over. And Over. And over. Until nothing's left but scraps of metal and broken wires.

David can do nothing but stare on in horror. But then, suddenly, resolve comes over his features. He opens his mouth to speak—

"I know what you're thinking," Izuku interrupts. "Hope is not lost; you can build another." Izuku chuckles. "But aren't you forgetting your crimes here, today? Do you not realize that you'll never have time to tinker, to invent, ever again? After all, prison isn't exactly a place for that, you know?"

Izuku picks his laptop back up. He types a few more commands into it, and lets himself embrace a small smirk as he nears the end of his plan. "And don't worry about all of your irreplaceable research and designs. You don't have to worry about greedy business people or villains coming across it. Nobody will get them now, seeing as they've been deleted."

"I… I…"

"PAPA!"

On the far end of the room, standing bedraggled yet tall, are Kendou Itsuka and Melissa Shield.

"Oh look, your daughter. How are you going to explain all this? … Not that you're going to have the time to do so anytime soon."

Another sound approaches; crashing, rumbling, collapsing walls and supports. On the other end of the room the wall explodes outwards, dust fuming forth as tendrils of metal scurry from the depths. Wolfram walks forth, an expression of fury maringhis features.

"The guest of honor. Right on time."

A/N: And we're nearing the end of the arc! Just a little more and we'll be there. Up next: the final confrontation. Hope the culmination comes to meet everyone's expectations!