Chapter 9: Break In (Part 1)
Mei didn't say much, as she rode the train to UA with Izuku, and if Izuku noticed he made no note of it. Though Mei was sure he didn't as soon as he sat down on the bus, he gave a small hello and then was note deep in his notebook. As the bus drove along Mei noticed then Izuku's uniform was freshly ironed, showing that her mother had stopped by the shop early. After finding Izuku asleep on the third floor, she had taken his jacket to iron it. At the end of the Mei is told by her mother how she had to kick Izuku out of the shop after almost being delayed again for apologizing
So as Izuku was nose-deep in his notebook Mei didn't say a word, until the bus stopped in front of UA. Mei heard a noise and looked out the window and saw a massive crowd in front just outside the gate. Mei bumped Izuku with her elbow and when Izuku looked at her, she pointed out the window. Izuku followed Mei's finger and his eyes landed on the crowd, "News Channel 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 and 11. Hero Channel news, even with UA being a hero student, they usually touch UA until the sports Festival. So what are they all doing here?"
Izuku and Mei got off the bus and walked towards the crowd. Izuku made the mistake of getting their attention, "Um excuse me?"
Instantly several reporters swarmed Izuku and Mei, as they all held their microphones up. "What's it like having All Might as a teacher?" "Is he as charismatic as he is on TV?" "Is he just as strong?" "Is he a good teacher?"
Izuku and Mei looked at each other, neither of them knew that All Might was a teacher at UA. And if he was a teacher he would be teaching heroics, not the support course. Yet that didn't matter to Izuku as he was already making plans to track the #1 hero down and asking for a signature. Izuku then noticed all of the reporters were looking at him now.
"I haven't met All Might yet, we were unaware that he was teaching here. But he would be teaching the hero course, we're from the support course. We haven't had the chance to meet him." Izuku explained with quickened words as he didn't like being the center of attention. After Izuku explained the situation, all of the reporters left him and Mei alone, apparently waiting for a hero course student.
Izuku and Mei pushed their way through the crowd and towards the gate. One of the reports got nosey, "Lairs, you might be in the support course, but that doesn't mean you haven't met All Might. What's he like?" The reporter reached her hand forward to grab Izuku's jacket, however, a large gate shot up, blocking the duo from the media.
"Wo- so that the UA gate." Izuku had read about UA's security systems when he got bored in history class. He couldn't explain how much he wanted to get inside and look at the mechanics, but he had a class to get to. He knew he couldn't afford to be late two days in a row.
Turning away from the gate, Izuku and Mei were stopped by Mr Aizawa. "Oh hello sir." Izuku said, but Mr Aizawa paid them no mind. So Izuku and Mei moved around them and continued heading towards the support department. As Izuku distanced himself from the front gate, his mind became more focused on how Powerloader would start this class. He had figuratively dropped a bomb on them last time, Izuku could only hope he didn't drop a literal one this time.
Izuku and Mei were the first ones to arrive at class this time and they found Powerloader sitting at his desk. He had a large thermos full of coffee, Izuku could tell by the smell, though it did nothing to hide the bags under Powerloader's eyes. Powerloader was looking at something on his computer.
"Hello Sensei. Were you up late last night." Izuku asked, pulling out his notebook and putting it on the table. They had a few minutes before class started and Izuku thought to fill it by reviewing some of his father's notes.
"Getting things ready for some future classes." Powerloader said, then took a long drink of the coffee from his thermos. He then set it back down and went back to looking at his computer. After a bit he pushed his chair back a bit from his desk and looked at Izuku, "Actually Midoriya are you available after school. There's a …. proposition I would like to talk to you about."
"A proposition, sir?" Izuku asked, he had come to terms with being in the support department, however, Powerloader was talking as if he was being let go. Izuku tried not to panic at the thought that he wouldn't be allowed to continue school at UA.
"There's no need to worry about it. Once I've said my piece, you'll understand." Powerloader said, going back to his computer. Izuku watched Powerloader for a bit, trying to start a conversation about his proposition, but the way Powerloader was looking at his computer. It was a look Izuku recognized whenever Mei was focusing on a project. Powerloader wasn't listening anymore and didn't hear a word Izuku said.
Izuku opened his notebook to the repulsor boot and began working on trying to solve the power problem to get enough lift. After testing late into the evening, Izuku figured out that by redirecting the electricity through a secondary pair of wires, it was possible to delay the secondary pulse to the repulsor and allow the repulsor a chance to cool enough between each electrical tick. Thus solving the overheating issue, though that was still only theory as he hadn't had a chance to test it out.
Now there was the power issue. No matter how much Izuku focused on directing his quirk's electricity to the boot, he couldn't get more than a few inches off the ground. He knew the palladium core of his arc reactor was the most effective of drawing out his electricity yet it couldn't draw enough to power the boots. Izuku had spent the last two years trying to find an element that would work and all he had learned was he wasn't even close.
Izuku looked over his design, racking his brain for a solution. By the time the bell had rung, Izuku was lost in thought. Powerloader called attention and gave the lesson plan, yet Izuku was still lost in thought. It took Powerloader walking up and dropping two large textbooks right next to Izuku to get his attention.
Izuku leapt out of his chair, nearly hitting the roof. "Welcome back to the land of the living, Mr. Midoriya. Now that you're back, would you mind solving the problem on the board?" Powerloader said as Izuku landed on the ground.
Izuku worked to lower his heart rate as he climbed back into his chair. Once he was seated again, he looked over at the board and looked over the equations. It was a simple engineering problem, based on the law of thermodynamics. His mind quickly worked to solve the issue and he gave his answer. He then looked at Powerloader, but Powerloader still shook his head.
"Thank you Midoriya, that is correct. However, even if you are able to solve the problem, it does not mean you are allowed to not focus in class. My purpose is to show you what you know and teach you what you do not. There will be a point in each of your careers when you come across a problem that you can not solve on your own. My job is to give the guidance to be able to move past that problem." Powerloader said as he grabbed the textbooks and moved back to the front of the room while
Taking the hint, Izuku sat down and listened to Powerloader for the rest of the class.
Soon it was lunch. Izuku walked into the cafeteria and immediately spotted the blonde spiky hair of Katsuki Bakugou. Izuku immediately turned his back to Bakugo, as he prayed that his old childhood friend wouldn't notice him. Izuku continued moving along in the line, only taking small glances to see if Bakugo had noticed him. As soon as Izuku got his Katsudon, he quickly walked over to where Mei was enjoying her lunch and sat down. She had a book opened and was reading through it, as she ate, amazingly keeping his overstuffed sandwich from dripping on the book.
"Do you even take a moment and just enjoy life?" Izuku asked as he sat down. As he recalled ever since meeting Mei, it seemed she was always working on some kind of project or reading a book to help in one of her projects. At least now it seems this book was for fun and not preparing for a new invention. Izuku gave a quick thanks and then began eating his own lunch.
"That's what sleep is for." Mei replied, then took a bite of her lunch, "Besides this is a good book. It's from the time before quirks. It is about a scrawny kid during a war world that is given the chance to enlist in the army and has the promise to become a super soldier. It talks about all the different changes he goes through all at once and how he manages to stay mentally strong through it."
"Sounds like a good book," Izuku said. He wasn't really interested, but he was working on his small talk and Mei was a good helper. Not many people listened to him when he began to rumble and mumble his thoughts. With how little interaction he had with his old classmates, he was lacking in that skill set. Izuku brought some Katsudon up to his mouth with his chopsticks but he stopped when he heard footsteps walking up behind him. Izuku then froze as he smelly burnt caramel, a smell he was too familiar with and he wasn't too fond of the heat that followed it.
"Oi Deku, what in the hell do you think you're doing here?" Izuku didn't even need to turn around to know who it was.
Katsuki Bakugou was a proud teenager. He was the most powerful person in his middle school and he made sure everyone knew it. If anyone said otherwise, he would prove them wrong through the use of his quirk. It was the thing that allowed him to get the highest villain score on the practical Exam for UA. It had allowed him to get into Class 1-A. It gave him the power to ultimately destroy the hero training yesterday. That floating bitch and glowing karate kid didn't stand a chance.
His quirk was what allowed him to be the only kid from Aldera to get into UA, or so he thought. On the first day Bakugo had made sure of that, scanning the crowd of the first years to see if he recognized anyone. He didn't recognize anyone in 1-A and when he got the chance he checked out the extras in 1-B and wasn't satisfied until he was 100 percent he didn't see anyone from Aldera. Once he was done checking, Bakugo walked home a pleased man, he had made good on his promise from middle school.
However, as he sat down at lunch, trying to ignore Shitty-hair, Tape dispenser and Lighting bolt, Bakugo noticed a familiar touch of green hair. It was covered in oil grease and it wasn't as shaggy as he knew it to be. Yet it was undeniable what he thought it was. It was fluffy and as messy as ever, it would always be no matter how much the person tried to change him
His quirk had allowed him to be the only kid from Aldrea to get into the UA Hero Course, but clearly not UA as a whole. Something Bakugo had made a promise to remind them of if he tried to get into UA.
Bakugo watched the head of green hair as it moved down the lunch line and got its lunch. Bakugo watched as the person kept their back to him. However, as the person sat down, Bakugo saw their face. He recognized those freckles, that determined look that made Bakugo hate the person so much. The way the person held themselves, timid and reverse, but a spirit was willing to fight for their friends.
Bakugo was looking at the weakest person he ever had the unfortunate chance to meet. How could Bakugo have missed him the previous day? Maybe Bakugo was just imagining him. However, when Bakugo reopened his eyes, he still saw him. He was looking at the powerless Deku, Izuku Midoriya. The person who had no reason to be at UA. The damn worthless, StuPID NERD. A PERSON WITH A USELESS QUIRK AND SHOULD HAVE STAYED OUT OF BAKUGO'S LIFE.
Bakugo felt his hand clenched, wanting to fire off an explosion. However, he was under close watch after sending two extras to the medical wing yesterday and the stupid glow squid somehow learned about it before Mr Aizawa had even announced. So Bakugo tried to calm himself, but when his eyes fell on Midoriya again, his heart rate increased.
Bakugo suddenly stood up, nearly knocking over his chair. "Yo, Bakugo, what are you doing?" Shitty hair asked and that caught the attention of the glow squid.
However, Bakugo didn't answer as he walked away. He noticed the glow squid was giving him a stare, but Bakugo ignored it as he didn't have any part in Bakugo hate towards Deku. As Bakugo walked over to the damn nerd, he felt his hands instinctively began to let off small explosions Bakugo walked up to the green hair extra and said, "Oi Deku, what the hell are you doing here?"
The nerd didn't have the respect to turn around and face him. So Bakugo grabbed his shoulder and said, "I asked you a question." Bakugo was loud enough to get the attention of some nearby students.
The better-off quirkless extra started to turn around, looking at Bakugo. But before he could answer the intercom turned on and stated, "Emergency Code Level 3. Emergency Code Level 3."
Izuku had managed to calm his nerves enough to turn around and offer an explanation to Bakugo. Tell Bakugo that he was part of the support course, and was working on becoming his own kind of hero. However before he got a chance to explain, the intercom turned all and said, "Emergency Code Level 3. Emergency Code Level 3."
Izuku was swept out of his chair as chaos broke out. As the wave of students trying to get out of the cafeteria picked him up, fear and panic overcame Izuku. He was carried towards and through the doors of the cafeteria, as Izuku tried to look around and find Mei. However, it was impossible with the amount of students running around. It got worse when Izuku heard a third-year student explain a level 3 meant someone had broken in.
Izuku tried to fight against the crowd, keeping his feet back under himself, anything to calm down. It wasn't until a minute later, that a student floated above the crowd and cartwheeled over to the door.
"Everyone, stop! It's the media. The teachers are currently handling it, so act like the UA student you are." The student yelled. After a few moments, the crowd began to calm down and Izuku dropped to the floor. Izuku felt his arc reactor begin to spark, no that couldn't be happening. At a time like this and in a packed hallway, why was his quirk reacting to his fear and panic? Izuku knew he needed to act quickly, or his quirk would harm everyone more than the panic was
Izuku quickly reached down his shirt and gripped his arc reactor. It was warm to the touch as Izuku twisted the base and the main part of the arc reactor quickly came off from Izuku's chest. Izuku pulled out his arc reactor and let out a sigh of relief as it started to cool down, but then the pain began to shoot through Izuku's body. His muscles started spasming and Izuku fell to the ground as he worked to keep his chest from locking in as it became harder to breathe.
As Izuku lay on the ground, he felt his quirk racing through his body looking for the escape route he had just removed. Izuku then felt his muscles become weak from the overstimulation of his quirk's electricity. Yet it was better to contain the electricity than let it loose and allow it to harm the other students.
As he lay on the ground Izuku tried to calm himself down by taking deep breaths as it became harder and harder to do so but being surrounded by a packed crowd was making it difficult. Izuku felt his quirk flare up again and he had to bite his tongue to keep himself quiet.
Izuku felt his mind begin to race at 100 miles per hour, if he didn't calm down soon or get away from anyone else, then the panic was going to go from bad to worse. Izuku had to regain control of his quirk, but then Izuku ran a green lightning jump between his fingers. He was running out of time, his body was becoming overloaded and soon his quirk was going to start jumping over students. Izuku tried to stand up but his legs wouldn't respond, he had to get out, get away from everyone else.
Izuku then suddenly felt hands grabbing his arm, Izuku tried to get them off of him but Izuku noticed they were covered in rubber. The person then began to shovel their way through the crowd, dragging Izuku along with them. Izuku never had the confidence to push his way through, neither did the person, they just didn't care about being rude or not. Izuku was dragged through the hallway and soon he was pulled outside the building.
Though he had a dazed mind and hazy eyes, Izuku could tell he was being dragged to the support department. However, he felt himself blacking out, as the person dragged him. He barely noticed them swiping their ID Card and pulling him inside the building. Izuku's vision went black as the person dragging him opened a door to a secondary classroom room and pulled him in.
"Ms. Hatsume, what are you doing here?" Izuku heard Powerloader ask.
"I need the room. It's Izuku." Mei said. Powerloader looked at Izuku and saw the green lightning jumping off his body to anything metal. He also noticed that Mei was wearing rubber gloves, "Grab anything that important, and get out of the room."
"I have backup hard drives. What's going on?" Powerloader asked as he watched green lightning shoot off Izuku's body and burn a table. Izuku's file mentioned he couldn't discharge electricity, clearly something was wrong. Did it have to do anything with the sudden break-in had Izuku acted and could no longer control his control?
"We need to get out of the room." Mei said, looking at the table. In the past when Izuku's quirk became overloaded it never released like that to instantly burn a metal table to ash. Powerloader quickly ran for the door, while Mei set Izuku on the floor, "Hold on for 5 more seconds." Mei quickly turned and ran for the door that Powerloader was holding open. Mei dove through the opening at the last second and Powerloader slammed the door shut. A second later, they heard Izuku scream and felt lightning being blasted against the door.
IZuku's scream rang out for 10 seconds as a green light flashed under the door. As Mei lay on the floor, each second of Izuku's scream felt slower than the second before. Once it finally stopped, Mei ripped the door open and ran in. She slid to a stop next to Izuku and grabbed his chest. She lifted him and laid him in her lap as she checked for a pulse. As Mei began to feel Izuku's pulse, she felt his laboured breath. This hadn't happened for a while and never this bad. As Mei looked around the room, Powerloader walked in right behind her. He was expecting the room to be lit on fire and the fire alarm to go off.
That wasn't what he saw. There was no fire, no alarm as there was nothing left in the classroom. All the desks, chairs, computers, and whiteboards had all been disintegrated. There wasn't even ash left to flow around. All four walls, along with the ceiling and floor, were black. Making it look like one giant burn mark.
Powerloader looked at Izuku with shock and a little bit of fear. He was passed out, cuddled in Mei's arm. His clothes were all burnt and Mei had to put out a small fire on his shirt, his pants were more shorts, his jacket was missing and he had black marks over his arms and legs but otherwise he was modest.
"Care to explain what just happened?" Powerloader said as he continued to look around. He hadn't seen this level of pure destruction in a while. Even when powerful students brawl with each other or a student loses control over their quirk, UA was built to handle that kind of power. Yet Powerloader didn't think All Might could have efficiently destroyed the room
Mei looked up at Powerloader as his eyes fell on her. She could see he had questions, "Please Powerloader, we need him to be the medical officer of the school. He's beyond quirk overload, with his quirk his muscles could be in spasm, brain overload. Anything that could happen when someone is struck by lightning, just happened to Midoriya." Mei tried to pick Izuku up but he was unconscious and unconscious people were heavy. Powerloader walked over and helped her.
"Fine, but then you're explaining what I allowed into this school," Powerloader said. The level of destruction Izuku's quirk was capable of, Powerloader had never seen from the electricity-based quirk before. What new level was Izuku on?
An answer that would have to come later. As Powerloader and Mei carried Izuku out into the hallway, Powelroader opened a closet and pulled out a stretch. Since Powerloader could remember there was almost a stretcher in every closet in the support department. He couldn't remember the exact reason but it was safe to assume that it was an order by Recovery Girl. She always complained that most of the injuries she had to deal with came from Powerloader's students.
Powerloader and Mei loaded Izuku onto the stretch as he moaned a bit, and they then quickly made their way out of the support department. They raced across the main campus as the last of the media was being unforcibly removed from the grounds by Principal Nezu and many of the hero course teachers. At the main building, Powerloader swiped his card and they ran into the building.
Chapter 10: Break in: Electric Aftermath
With most of the students having already returned to their classrooms, Mei and Powerloader didn't dump into anyone as they carried Izuku to the medical office. Only passing Eraserhead in the hallway, who most have thought it was a new record for how quickly a student got injured at the start of a class period. Yet Eraserhead said nothing, only had a curious look on his face as he let them pass and then continued walking down the hallway Once they arrived at the medical office Powerloader knocked on the door with his foot and called out, "We need some help.
"What is it this time? I just got done with the mess caused by the students." A voice yelled. It didn't sound too pleased to be disturbed, especially after having to deal with the injuries that students had given to each other during the panic. They were high schoolers, they should act like it.
Powerloader continued to kick the door and called out again, "Recovery girl. This student needs your help."
"Powerloader, if any student of yours exploded their invention. I'm not helping. They need to learn from their mistakes. I told you so last year and accidently went down by 200 percent. You students got smart and started wearing protective gear" Recovery girl said.
"I swear to you, this is not like that," Powerloader said. A few seconds later the door opened. Standing in the way was an elderly woman with a large syringe that acted like a crane. Recovery Girl took one look at Izuku and sighed.
'Well, most certainly looks like it. Unconscious, burnt hair, clothes and skin and he has bruises forming. All typical signs that someone's invention blew up. I told you at the end of last year, I'm not healing any student that disregards safety so easily." Recovery Girl said, staring down Powerloader.
"I promise it's not." Powerloader shoved his way past Recovery Girl, earning him a new nickname, of Bolthead and a whack on his head. Ignoring Recovery Girl, Powerloader and Mei lifted Izuku onto a medical bed, then quickly stepped back as Izuku's body convulsed and a green bolt of lightning arc jumped from Izuku's chest to the IV stand.
"Loss of quirk control." Recovery Girl said.
"Quirk overload." Mei corrected, "Midoriya body generates a high amount of biostatic electricity, but when he becomes panicked his body generates too much."
"Well he's here, I might as well heal him." Recovery Girl said with a sigh as she walked over to the bed and got ready to use her quirk. However, she was stopped before she had the chance.
"Wait," Mei said. One thing she had picked up from Izuku was learning about different pro heroes' quirks. While Izuku was fascinated by them in all aspects, Mei looked at them in terms of what support equipment she could build for them. Nevertheless, she knew a bit more about heroes than the average person, "Your quirk uses a person's energy and stamina to heal them. By that standard Izuku is running on empty."
Recovery Girl stopped and looked at Mei, surprised a young girl such as Mei was so informed of her quirk. She had been out of the limelight for years now and was only called from UA from a disaster struck and civilians and heroes needed heavy medical attention, "What do you mean?"
"Izuku's quirk is Static Cell. Like I said his body generates a high amount of biostatic electricity, which can be used to power devices. But he can't discharge like other quirks, but in situations when he becomes panicked his body will overload itself with bioelectricity. That his quirks's fight or flight response, but his body can't contain all the electricity and it is forcibly discharged. This caused him great pain through extreme muscle stimulation and drained all of his stamina." Mei explained as she thought back to the last time this happened. It wasn't as bad and Izuku was still out for a whole 24 hours, though the worst part was making sure Inko didn't have a panic attack herself.
"You're well informed about Midoriya's medical condition." Recovery Girl said.
"I build support equipment for Hero, I have to understand what can go wrong if the equipment harms someone. And Izuku is my best friend, he didn't fully understand or work on his quirk when he was a kid. So when he came to work for my parents, he and I spent many night tests on his quirk." Mei said.
"I thought Midoriya wasn't able to discharge his electricity, that's why he wore the device on his chest," Powrloader said, tapping the middle of his chest. The light blue glow was noticeable when Izuku wasn't wearing a jacket and Powerloader only knew the function of it from meeting Izuku during the entrance exams
"Yes, normally that's true. He must have removed the arc reactor during the panic, while it had contained most of Midoriya's quirk. It becomes overloaded faster than Izuku's body so he must have removed it to pay for time." Mei explained. During the panic, she felt her mouth start to taste like metal, something most of the other students probably didn't notice as they were focused on running from the villains. But similar to the real life tell of lightning, Mei knew that metallic taste in her mouth was from Izuku's arc reactor about to overload. So when the feeling suddenly disappeared only to return a few seconds later Mei knew precisely what Izuku had done and knew he needed to get out of the building.
Now that Mei thought about it, she didn't remember seeing the arc reactor as she pulled Izuku out of the crowd. He must have accidentally dropped it, probably being hit out of his hand as Mei dragged him through the crowd. Mei would need to find it and see how recoverable it was.
"But what happened in the classroom? He disintegrated everything, he didn't leave ashes behind." Powerloader asked, calling the state the classrooms had been in after Izuku's lost control over his quirk.
"When Midoriya's body can no longer hold the electricity in, it begins to discharge as lightning. Imagine an electric plant overloading, this causes Midoriya great pain and can easily kill him if he doesn't release the energy quickly enough. That's why Izuku discharged all that energy at once, to save himself." Having explained the situation, Mei flopped down onto a chair next to the bed Izuku was lying on, "My family, we've known about the issue for a ... year now and we've been trying to improve the arc reactor so Izuku doesn't have to worry about overloading it. However, we haven't figured out a better element than Palladium."
"Palladium?" Powerloader asked as palladium was infamous among engineers. Very few had a chance to work with it as it was extremely rare and difficult to come by. Powerloader himself only had worked with it a few times in the past. And with only little he had, there wasn't any project that seemed worth the price tag that came along with using Palladium.
Mei pulled her spare lighter and pulled out a core of palladium, she tossed it over to Powerloader. Powerlaoder caught the palladium and looked it over, it was the same size he had been given to work with. With the size and purity Powerloader was holding it couldn't have cost anything less than 720,000 yen ($5000). How could Izuku be so feely using palladium at that cost? And who was Izuku's supplier and how were they getting so much? As Powerloader continued to overlook the palladium core, he did a few quick calculations in his head. The numbers he was coming up with were impossible, no electricity-based quirk could be that powerful. He turned to Mei and said, "Palladium this size can easily withstand 10 Gigajoules a second. How much electricity was Izuku producing to overload the core?"
"Last time we checked, Midoriya can naturally produce well over 15 gigajoules per second." Mei said and saw Powerloader was sceptical, "As we've said, Midoriya's quirk is powerful, more than any other electricity-based quirk. I guess to balance the scales, he can't use his quirk in the conventional way. However, when in a state of panic his body will begin to produce 100 gigajoules." Mei said, then again that was two years ago. Chances were his quirk was much stronger now.
"I'm not an engineer, but isn't 1 gigajoule the equivalent of a single lightning bolt?" Recovery Girl asked. While working at a prestigious high school, one could learn a lot through mild conversation in the hallway. But then a noise drew her attention.
One second, the Powerloader was standing. The next he felt his knees grow weak and then give out, causing Powerloader to fall to the floor. When Izuku had demonstrated his repulsors after the exam, Power Loader figured he was maybe producing a million joules, but Mei's explanation just blew that number out of the water. Powerloader looked at the palladium core in his hand, guess that explains why Izuku was using it and not some other kind of metal.
Powerloader looked at Izuku. The student he had allowed into UA. He had allowed the equivalent of a freak lightning storm into UA. He couldn't imagine the power the kid had before him and he let the kid in because of a promise to an old friend.
"Well, this explains why the cameras in the support department are longer working." Principal Nezu said walking into the room. He looked at Izuku then over at Mei and gave a simple nod.
"Principal Nezu." Powerloader and Recovery Girl both said, almost as if getting ready to stand at attention. Principal Nezu had a horrible habit of popping into a conversation, and not telling how long he had been listening. By the sound of it, it seemed he had been listening for a while.
"If I'm not mistaken, Powerloader, this is the student you plan to transfer to the hero course." Principal Nezu said, magically producing a cup of tea and taking a small sip, then looked at Powerloader.
"Yes," Powerloader said. Powerloader wasn't afraid of Izuku being expelled, but if Mr Aizawa knew what happened and feared it happening again. It could easily hurt Izuku's chances of getting transferred.
"Wait, transfer to the hero course. What do you mean?" Mei asked, looking behind the principal and her homeroom teacher. Izuku's acceptance letter hadn't made any kind of reference to Izuku having the chance to transfer.
"Something that can be explained at a later date." Principal Nezu then pulled something out from a hidden pocket, "Oh I believe this belongs to you." Principal Nezu held out Izku's arc reactor to Mei. Mei got off her chair and grabbed the arc reactor. She looked it over, the glass was cracked and using her quirk she saw the palladium core was fried.
"I had received the warning about a large electricity discard in the support department and managed to pull up the security camera, though only for a few seconds before Midiroya's quirk fried them. Impressive, yet destructive display of power. Remind me why this student failed the hero exam." Principal Nezu said, taking another small sip of tea.
"His quirk doesn't allow him to discharge his electricity, so he uses a device called an arc reactor to siphon the electricity out of his body and to power his equipment. He failed because said equipment got destroyed early in the exam." Powerloader said.
"And afterwards he came to the support department to fix them and give you a demonstration." Principal Nezu said, stirring his sea before taking another sip, "I remember you wanted to enroll Midoriya because of a favor and promise you owed to an old colleague. What was his name? I don't think you ever shared his name in the meeting."
"Hisashi Sutāku." Powerloader said, and suddenly Mei bent the hospital bed rail guard she was holding. Principal Nezu noticed and was quite impressed at the feat of strength. Mei's face was narrow and looked like she was ready to kill something. The display of grip strength told Principal Nezu that whoever she felt like attacking should fear for their life.
"Are you familiar with the name?" Principal Nezu asked, after taking a sip of tea. It was a small cup, how much tea could it hold? And why did it still look like it was full?
"I learned about him before I was supposed to. Hisashi Sutaku is Inko Midoriya's ex-husband. He abandoned Midoriya because of his quirk, even after making a promise to help him become a hero. The only good thing the man left behind was the blueprints to Midoriya's equipment. What kind of man makes a promise like that, how to disappear one day and not give a word until after he's dead." Mei didn't take her eyes off Izuku. His shallow breath was the only thing that told her he was still alive. Mei allowed her hand to drift to Izuku and try to rub his knuckles, however, when she got near, a small spark of static electricity jumped from his hand to her. Mei wanted to coil in pain, but the shock felt pleasant and seemed to provide her with comfort.
"Deary, I need you to step back. His quirk is out of control and I don't want you to get hurt." Recovery Girl said. She had noticed the green spark and if Mei's explanation was correct, Izuku could easily kill someone without even trying. With the green electricity that shot out of his chest only a few minutes ago, he had some electricity left in his body.
Mei gave a small nod, not wanting to step away from Izuku. Yet she stepped back and sat down in a chair further from the bed, but still only a few steps away. She looked back at Powerload and Principal Nezu, noticing they were discussing something new.
"I assume you were not aware of the relationship when you made plans to hand over the information." Principal Nezu said, turning his attention to Powerloader.
"I knew he had a son, but I didn't remember his name, that was several years ago. And no, the information hasn't changed my mind. Hisashi was Midoriya's father, a father he thought had abandoned him. I think Midoriya would like to learn what his father was doing all those years after he left. We both know Hisashi had more plans than he ever told anyone and if he left Midoriya the blueprints for his repulsors, then clearly he had more in store. Those plans now belong to Midoriya." Powerloader pulled out a flash drive and looked at it before shoving it back in his pocket, "I was hoping to give it to him once school was over, but I might have to wait a bit longer."
"Unfortunate, but Midoriya will need to recover." Principal Nezu said, placing his cup of tea on the edge of Recovery Girl's main desk. She looked a bit annoyed, but simply flicked it, causing it to fall off the edge and into the trash bin. Principal Nezu made no move as if he didn't see it, "If I remember correctly, Sutāku used Classroom 6-G."
"Yes, he did, but it's all boarded up. It would take me half a day to pull all the wood off the door. Then there were whatever surprises he left on the other side of the doors." Powerloader said, not realizing what he was saying.
Principal Nezu opened one of his vest pockets and pulled out a key of some kind, "While I agree you should give Midoriya his father's notes. The information will help him become a great hero. However, information can only tell part of the story. If Midoriya is to learn what kind of man his father was, I believe it would be best to also give him this."
Powerloader realized what Principal Nezu was insinuating as he looked over at the key Principal Nezu held out, "Wait, that's the key to Hisashi's office. Why do you have it?"
"As you said Mr Sutaku never told any one person everything. In his last months in this world, understood the knowledge he held and what was possible with it. He gave you his flash drive, yet he never believed one person should have all of his work so he left me the key to his office. The only person he trusted with his full inventory was his own son. Because the father knew his son was strong and would one day come to UA and become a hero." Principal Nezu said as he nodded to Izuku, "It's now on him to decide who to tell."
"Wait, Izuku's father worked here at UA?" Mei said, the piece clicking in her head. It made sense, Hisashi having the recourse to blueprint and build the repulsors. He won't have that at a normal job and there was no indication he worked for another support company. Or Her parents would have heard about it. So working at UA within the support course was the only avenue left.
"He just didn't work here, he was one of the best engineering teachers. He challenged his students to build things only they could think of. He was always able to properly motivate his students." Powerloader said, reminiscing about some of the amazing things they had planned to create together.
"Well this is great and all, however, Midoriya does not seem like he will be waking up for the rest of the day. Might I suggest as his homeroom teacher, you inform his mother about the situation." Recovery Girl said, always having to switch the IV bags. It seemed Izuku's body was greedily taking it all in, replacing all that he had lost in the break-in.
Powerloader looked at Recovery Girl for a bit, before blinking and chuckling a bit, "Yes that sounds like something that needs to be done."
"Hatsume, thank you for your help, but I suggest you return to class, as the grace period will be over soon." Principal Nezu said, tapping his watch.
Mei looked at Izuku. She wanted to spend the rest of the day by his side. She knew he would do the same, she also knew that he would say she shouldn't waste her time and focus on school. She hated how much of a hypocrite he was, but she knew that was the Izuku she had begun to fall in love with.
Mei looked towards Principal Nezu as she stood up and nodded. She walked out of the office and headed towards her class. She tried to focus on her classes, but her mind would wander back to Izuku for the rest of the day. Luckily it was only the second day there was much going on, even less so with the break-in being on everyone's minds.
Back in the nurse's office, Powreloader was still sitting on the floor, so Recovery Girl whacked on his head, stating, "Don't you have some stuff you need to do."
"Yeah, yeah, I'm going." Powerloader said, standing up. He brushed himself off and walked out of the room. His mind was still trying to wrap around all the information he had been given in less than an hour. Izuku Midoirya was Hisahi Sutaku's son, a man Powelroader had come to deeply respect in the field of engineering and being human. So as he walked to the support department, he had more than just a phone call planned.
"So Midoriya gets to learn who his father was. One of the greatest inventors of our times. Able to solve any problem in front of him and make it look like simple addition and subtraction." Principal Nezu looked at Izuku with his hand behind his back. With his quirk, Principal Nezu rarely came across someone who could match his intelligence and Hisashi was not the closest, Principal Nezu enjoyed making conversation with him.
If there was one thing Principal Nezu would admit that Hisashi was the best at, it was making puzzles. Whether it is to give a hidden lesson to his student or give Principal Nezu something to think over for days. Hisashi always said it didn't matter whether a puzzle had one answer or multiple, it always changed depending on who answered. Gave a perspective on how to get the answer, something Hisashi said more engineers need when working on a project.
"Yes, Sutaku was extremely smart, I'm sad he was killed early in his career. The question is when will you tell the boy about how his father died." Recovery Girl said, checking on the IV and making sure her patient was comfortable.
"Powerloader was a close friend of Midoriya's father and is Midorya's teacher. I believe he should be the one to tell Midoriya the story of how Hisashi sacrificed himself to save the world." Principal Nezu continued to look at his student. It wasn't exactly a record for having a student in the recovery office so soon, yet it was a record for how quickly damage was done to school property. The previous one was nine days. And Izuku was pushing the record for the amount of damage too.
Principal Nezu recalled an old fight the support course used to have with All Might when he was a high schooler. All the third years tested their invention against the now #1 hero and one fight resulted in the new record of two of the fake cities being destroyed. So while one classroom seems small, it only being on the second day if Izuku kept his pace, he could easily beat the record.
Principal Nezu looked down at the floor, he didn't think about pressing charges, he knew it was an occupational hazard when dealing with such a powerful quirk. Damage wasn't inevitable, just limited. And from what Mei said, Izuku's priority was minimizing damage.
And in the end, it was the media's fault for breaking in, something he still didn't understand the circumstances of it happening. Principal Nezu looked back at Midoriya, it was the media's fault and maybe somewhat the third year's fault for how poorly they handled the situation. He would leave that punishment to their teachers. Maybe he could give some suggestions.
With that thought, Principal Nezu turned around and walked out of the room. With everything handled, Principal Nezu thought about tracking down Izuku's supplier. Having that much Palladium and using it freely, either Hatsume Industries was a bigger company behind the scenes or Izuku had an extremely wealthy relative that covered the expenses. Though Principal Nezu was not willing to rule our black market just yet, the supplier might just be fooling Izuku and Izuku was none the wiser.
This could be a fun process for Principal Nezu, and maybe in the end he could find out more about one of his close friends's son
Chapter 11: Promise Fulfilled, Mostly
As Powerloader walked into his office, he looked over at his desk, which held his laptop and school phone. With a sigh Powerloader powered on his laptop and began looking through the register upon he came upon Inko's phone number. He quickly punched it into His school phone, but then his finger hesitated over the call button.
Calling the parents of one of his students wasn't a new thing, accidents and injuries were common occurrences in the support course at UA High. He had several of his student's parent's numbers on speed dial, some were even on a texting basis as these students got injuries the most often. Yet he never had a student whose parent he knew about from a previous work relationship.
Now he had never actually met Inko in person before, only hearing her voice over Hishashi's phone calls. Yet this was different from every phone call he had made in the past, Powerloader could feel his heartbeat as he looked at his phone.
Five Minutes later and his finger still hovered over the button. a simple button that would most likely lead to a tearful conversation. Though Powerloader didn't know whether it would be from him or Inko. Powerloader closed his hand for a second then opened it, before taking a deep breath and pressing the button.
The moment the dial tone began, Powerloader swiped the receiver and held it up to his ear. With each beep, Powerloader felt his heartbeat begin to match the rhyme. After the fifth tone, the line connected and Powerloader heard Inko's voice again after nine years
"Hello this is Inko Midoriya, how may I help you." Inko said. Her voice was sweeter and kind than Hisashi had ever described.
Powerloader couldn't help but think, "My friend, I want to respect your life and know why you did what you did, but you really screwed up."
"Hello, are you there?'" Inko's voice came again. Powerloader paused for a second. His mind was blank, he didn't know whether to ease into explaining everything or dive into the deep end. The first call with a parent was always the hardest, but Powerloader didn't feel like calling Inko was ever going to get easy.
"Hello, Ms Midoriya, this Powerloader. Izuku's homeroom teacher." Powerloader began.
"Oh my god, is my son okay? What did my son blow up this time?" Inko asked, her voice taking on concern and worry. Powerloader clenched his teeth before saying, "Your son is o-okay." Making parents worry about their child, was always Powerloader's least favourite part of the job.
"I don't like how that sounds," Inko said. Her voice was no longer sweet, more like a police officer, trying to force information out of someone. Powerloader felt like he was standing at gunpoint
"I can see where your comment about her being a mom bear came from Hisashi. She went straight to it." Powerloader didn't know how to break it to Inko. He didn't want to make it seem like her son was in danger or that UA was the one that put him in danger, "Ms. Midoriya, are you familiar with the issue that your son's quirk causes him when he becomes panicked."
"Yes. His arc reactor becomes overloaded and begins to discharge energy in the form of lightning." Inko said, with such a knowledgeable voice, Powerloader thought he was talking to an actual engineer. He figured that happens when you marry one, you start to sound like one.
"Understood. And are you aware of what happens if your son does not have his arc reactor within that state?" Powerloader asked. If he was lucky, he didn't have to explain everything.
"No, I am not. Izuku always wears his arc reactor. He always has it on, sometimes I think it's fused to his chest." Inko paused for a bit, then asked, "What happened?"
"There was a panic at the school., nothing to worry about, the issue was handled quickly. Yet the students in the lunch hall were caught unaware and it caused a bit of a panic. Your son's friend, Mei Hatsume, explained the situation better. Your son knew he was beginning to overload his arc reactor, but he was more afraid of hurting the student around him. He disconnected his arc reactor to prevent it from discharging itself, in turn forcing the static electricity to build up in his body.
"Your son managed to hold on long enough for Hatsume to get him out of the building and to the support department. We locked him in an empty classroom, which allowed him to discharge over 1000 Gigajoules of electricity." Powerloader said, restating Mei's explanation from earlier.
"You lost me a bit." Inko's voice still had concern, but now a tad bit of confusion lined in
"Hatsume explained that when your son discharges electricity in such a way, it causes him great pain and exhaustion. He is currently being watched over by UA's pro-hero nurse, Recovery Girl. However, due to his extreme level of exhaustion, she is not able to use her quirk on him without causing him further pain." Powerloader figured Inko was sitting down at this point. However, a loud crash on wood, told Powerloader she had just fallen, "Madam, are you okay?"
Powerloader could hear her crying over the phone, "So that the waterworks, you were always talking about Hisashi." "Madam, I want you to understand that your son is fine and is being taken care of. He is currently asleep and recovering and he's expected to wake up by tomorrow morning."
Powerloader lied about that last part because he knew what Inko needed to hear.
"Powerloader, is my son okay?" Inko said she had to know. At the moment it was the only thing she cared about.
"Yes."
"How long until school gets out?" Inko asked, her voice still filled with worry, but now it was firmed. All she cared about was protecting her son.
Powerloader looked at the clock on his phone, "School gets out in 3 hours."
"Good, I'll be there to see my son." With that, the phone call ended. Powerloader looked at his phone for a bit, trying to make sense of what just happened. His mind wandered to one of the first times they were able to get away from UA after Hisashi left Inko and Izuku. They had gone out late to drink and Hisashi began to talk about Inko.
"I can't think what story my wife will tell my son. In the beginning, I knew they were safe and I could love them. But now I'm in so deep, the only way I can protect them is to leave them behind. I still want to help my son become the hero I know he can become." Hisashi leaned on the top of the bar. His drink lazily rested in his hand.
"Hisashi, I think that when the time comes, you'll be able to return to your wife and kid and repay for the times you've lost to protect them," Powerloader said, trying to cheer up his friend.
"Honestly, at this point, I don't even care if the other teachers find out. I don't care if I have to do things outside of the law. I just want to protect my wife and son and make sure they have a bright future." Hisashi took a long drink of his drink, "I'm just afraid when I do return whatever lie or story Inko told Izuku to make him forget about me…. I just hope I'll be able to show him what kind of father I always wanted to be."
Powerloader closed his phone. He didn't have any more classes for the day. He would have time to do this and it was clear Principal Nezu had plans to do it within the next few days. Powerloader stood up and walked over to his workbench, a crowbar already waiting for him. Powerloader swiped the crowbar on the workbench and headed out of his office.
As he walked down the hallway, all his attention turn to Class 6-G. The most dangerous room in all of UA, and several of the rooms had reputations. Yet while other rooms could hurt harm or injury, the equipment and technology that rested in Classroom 6-G were world-ending.
To most teachers, it was a simple old classroom that belonged to an old teacher. The reason it was boarded up was different depending on which teacher was asking, but only Powerloader, Principal Nezu and Recovery Girl knew the real reason. And the fact the boards were a facade, then real security was whatever Hiashi had built into the doors.
A security program so advanced and complex, Powerloader couldn't dismantle it nor could Principal Nezu hack into it. And what was hidden behind the door? Technological advancements that could shift the world's control to anyone that could get their hands on it. Engineering advancement Hisashi had made in his quest to turn his son into a hero. Devices even nowadays could only exist in the wildest dreams of Engineers. Well, that's at least what Powerloader thought, as not even he had seen the kind of work Hisashi set his free time on. Why less would the door be boarded up
As the door to Classroom 6-G appeared, Powerloader brought his crowbar up and then rammed it into the first board. With some effort, Powerloader ripped the first board off and let fall to the ground. As Powerloader worked on the second board he could only think, "Hisashi, I'll make sure your son knows what you did and sacrificed for him."
Over the next two and a half hours, Powerloader worked to rip all the nails out of the barred door. Once the last nail came out and the last board fell and next to the floor, Powerloader stopped and took a deep breath. Ripping the nails out felt like reopening an old wound, something Powerloader wished he could forget about, yet he knew if he didn't he would be disrespecting Hisashi's memory.
Powerloader took a deep breath and then fell to his knees.
"I assume you've spoken with Ms. Midoriya then." Principal Nezu announced his presence with that statement.
"Yeah. She'll be arriving within the next two hours to see her son." Powerloader let go of the crowbar, allowing it to fall onto the wood it had just pulled off the wall.
"Hisashi always said Inko cared about her son more than we could ever understand." Principal Nezu said, "I'll be at the front gate to greet her. No need to start another panic."
"Yeah, that's what got us into this mess." Powerloader grumbled a bit.
"Would you like that honor?" Principal Nezu said, pulling out the key. He held it out, holding it by the metal key ring.
Powerloader was tempted to take the key and opened the door, however, "Everything in that room was left for Inko and Midoriya. I think they should be the ones to unlock the door and see for themselves what Hisashi has done for them."
Principal Nezu flipped the key back into his paw, "I'm glad you agree." Principal Nezu left Powerloader by himself at the door.
Once Inko had ended the call with Powerloader, she wanted to walk into her boss's office and asked to leave early. Her boss owes her a million favours, as after she got hired as his accountant the first matter of business she took care of was getting all of his company's finances in order. Her boss liked to joke she was the reason his business was still afloat.
But she forced herself to refocus on work, and not allow herself to get distracted. Izuku had been in dangerous situations before, whenever he tested one of Mei's less-than-safe inventions, and Powerloader reassured her that Izuku was fine and safe. If not a little banged up, but that was expected of teenage boys. But whenever she stepped away to take a breath, she found her mind wandering back to the call she had with Powerloader.
She was looking over an order of advanced A.I processed chips that had been created for a military project when a knock came on her doors. "It's open." Inko said.
The door opened, sliding across the smooth oak floor of her office. And in walked her boss, he was stroked his white beard, as it reflected the overhead light, "How are you Ms. Midoriya? I heard you fell not too long ago."
"I'm fine. I got a call from my son's school. He was a bit injured and I was a little concerned." Inko said. She tried her best not to sound panicky, but it appeared in her voice.
"A bit injured and little concern, don't usually result in someone falling to the floor." Inko's boss said, as he walked over and leaned over the chair that face Inko's desk.
Inko chuckled a bit, "I guess not. There was a break in and it caused some panic. My son lost a bit of control of his quirk and in the end, he injured himself to keep it from injuring the other students."
"Shows like he's quite the hero. He does go to UA if I'm not mistaken." Inko's boss said as he moved around the chair and sat down across from Inko.
"Yes. He was hoping to get into the hero course but was accepted into the support course. I will admit I was glad he would not be in direct danger as he would be in the hero course, but it seems like just being at the school will get him into danger." Inko would never say it out loud, but she was glad when Izuku wasn't accepted into the hero course. Her son won't be in direct danger, but clearly, Fate had a twisted sense of humour.
"He's a strong kid, but if you would like to leave early. I'll understand." Inko's boss said with kind eyes and a gentle voice.
"No. I'm fine. I'll leave when his school gets out. Besides this is a project you've spent the last four years working on, I'll be fine." Inko said as she reached forward to her keyboard to finish looking over the order.
Inko's boss held his hand up defensively, "I understand and that's why I'm glad I hired you. You love your son so much." He stood up and began to walk out.
"Mr. Sutein, thanks for understanding." Inko said.
"My pleasure. But as you said, I've been working on this project for four years, if you need to leave, I'm sure the project can wait a few more hours." Mr. Sutein said, before walking out and closing the door. As he walked down the hallway, his cell phone went off. It was a blocked number, but he answered it and opened with, "I heard the break-in was successful."
"It was. My apprentice handled the security system with ease and your authorization key allowed us to break into UA's more secure servers. The plan in a week." a cold voice said.
"Were you able to locate the file of the power source?" Mr Sutein, asked.
"It seems UA was no closer to finding a power source than you were. We'll send you what we got, hopefully, it will help you. Will your prototype be ready?" the cold voice asked on the other side.
"You might work in biology, but Engineering is an art form. It's more than trial and error. It took Hisashi Sutaku years to build his masterpiece, If you were able to copy the information I needed off of UA's server then I can build it within days. Then Hisashi Sutāku will see what kind of power his creations could have given him." Mr. Sutein ended the call and dropped his phone into his pocket.
Izuku slowly opened his eyes. The blind light of the room was harsh against his vision. Slowly the room came into focus and he saw it was a medical-style room.
"W-where am I." Izuku said then felt his extremely dry throat.
"You are my office, the medical section of UA. Good Afternoon Midoriya, you gave us quite the scare after you burned that room." An elderly voice said.
Izuku thought about where he had released his quirk. He had passed out before he got a look at the room, "Is everyone ok?"
"Your friend Mei Hatsume got you to the support department where Powerloader used the advanced fire suppression system installed there." Izuku looked over and recognized the nurse as Recovery Girl. If he wasn't so tired and thirsty he would have requested an autograph. Recovery Girl walked over and held a glass to his lip, "I used 5 IV bags on you, but your body is still going to be sore."
"I went through 5 IV bags in just a few hours?" Izuku asked after a few sips. The water felt go going down, but it caused him to cough a bit.
"Few hours, you've been asleep a lot longer than a few hours." Recovery Girl said, lifting her cane and tapping it against a clock on the wall.
Izuku looked at the clock, it read "3:58"
"But you said good afternoon." Izuku was extremely confused now.
"Of the next day. You were passed out for a little over 25 hours. You didn't miss much, it's still the first week of school." A knock came on the door, "And your mother is here."
"My mother." Izuku nearly yelled, wanting to hide from the wrath of his mother. He knew her worry could easily become fury. Yet in his tired state, he could barely move a finger
Recovery Girl walked over to the door and opened it. Outside were Inko Midoriya, Hatsume, Powerloader and Principal Nezu. Inko locked eyes with her son, before rushing into the room, nearly knocking Recovery Girl over.
Once she got to her son, she wrapped him into a tight hug, causing Izuku to give out a small squeak of pain, "Mom, still sore." However, Inko just tightened her hold on her son.
"Well, this is a lovely family reunion." Principal Nezu said, calming walking into the room, with Powerloader and Mei behind him.
Mei walked up and gave Izuku a small hug, then whispered in his ear, "Your mother agrees with me, the next time you do something like that, we'll kill you." Izuku flinched at the statement because he knew it was true. And the police would never find his body.
"Midoriya, while I'm glad you were able to assess the situation and choose the option that harmed the least amount of people. I hate to see you make those kinds of choices at the expense of yourself. You are my student and it is not only my job to teach you, but to make sure you stay safe." Powerloader said, looking Izuku in the eyes.
Izuku was confused at the last part of the Powerloader statement, "What do you mean to stay safe? I'm in the support course, and the worst thing I experience is Mei's exploding inventions." Mei would have smacked Izuku but then again she didn't attack poor defenceless things.
After a few moments, Powerloader sighed, "You're going to need a wheelchair."
"I can walk." Izuku said and began to lift himself off the bed.
"No, you can not." Inko, Mei and Recovery girl all shouted. Izuku slowly lowered himself back into the bed, surrendering to them.
"Midoriya you have been unconscious for the last 25 hours, your muscles are weak and you have no energy to burn. If you want to leave this room it will be in a wheelchair." The Recovery Girl said.
Izuku looked between the three women in the room, then sighed admitting defeat, "Fine I'll take the wheelchair." At that moment he would do anything to get out of this room.
"Good, I'll send a message to Lunch Rush to prepare you something light to eat on the way." Principal Nezu said, then pulled out his phone.
Recovery Girl disappeared, to return shortly with a wheelchair that had a foldable tray on its side. Recovery Girl and Mei helped Izuku into the wheelchair, and then Inko grabbed the handle on the back.
While Inko pushed her son in the wheelchair, Mei, Powerloader and Principal Nezu followed behind. As they passed the lunch room, Lunch Rush stepped out and gave Izuku a small tray of food.
Izuku thanked Lunch Rush, who excused himself. As they continued through the school, Izuku slowly ate the food he had been given. When they got out to the front, Powerloader directed them over to the support department.
Once they arrived, everyone waited for Powerloader to unlock the front door. However, Powerloader paused and looked at Inko and asked, "Ms. Midoriya, I mean no disrespect but how exactly did you teach your son to view his father?"
Inko froze at the question, she wasn't expecting to be interrogated, "Well. When my husband first left, he explained he was going to go look for a solution to Izuku's problem with his quirk. In the beginning, he would return every other day. Soon that was only twice a week, then eventually once a month then after a bit, he disappeared. He never texted, never called, and never came home. I thought he had abandoned our son because he saw Izuku as useless. A month before he died, he sent me a box full of his old college textbooks and some blueprints.
"I just shoved them into the closet and forgot about them," Inko explained.
"Until I met Mei and you gave them to me." Izuku said, as he looked over his shoulder at his mom.
"Yes." Inko nodded in agreement.
Powerloader nodded and locked the door.
"Thank you. Ms. Midoriya, you thought your husband had abandoned you. But you couldn't be further from the truth. You see, your husband was always working towards a solution for your son's quirk. It's just two years after he started working on the issue, he began to use less than savoury means to get material to find the solution. He met with the wrong people. He did things he wasn't always proud of, but he kept working until he had a solution for his son. It was because of these people that he distanced himself from you.
"They were the kind of people that would use anything for leverage." Powerlaoder stopped in front of room 6-G.
"How do you know this?" Izuku asked.
"Your father needed a safe place to work and someone that could help him build. We had crossed paths before and he came to UA to consult me. Principal Nezu met with him and offered him a safe place to work, as long as he acted as a teacher alongside me." Powerloader said.
"You knew my father?" Izuku asked. He couldn't believe that his father had the chance to work alongside actual pro heroes.
"Yes. We became great friends. I and Principal Nezu were the only two people he would talk to about you two. He always said he loved you, Izuku and he always wanted you to know what kind of man he was. He was the kind of man that would do anything to help his son become a hero."
Powerloader pulled out the key to the room and handed it to Izuku, "This was your father's classroom. In the last few months before he died. He spent most of his time there. We have no idea what he was building, all we knew was it was for you."
Izuku nodded, then leaned forwards and slid the key into the lock. He looked at the lock, everything he knew about his father was wrong. His father loved him and sacrificed his life to keep Inko and Izuku safe. He had left his life's work to his. Izuku took a deep breath and then twisted the key. After a few seconds, nothing happened.
"Thanks, Dad, you left me with a broken and permanently locked door." Izuku sighed.
"Handprint verification." A British-sounding voice said.
"Um, what." Everyone said. None of them was expecting this.
Powerloader and Principal Nezu looked at each other, "Did you know about this?" They asked at the same time.
"Hand Print Verification." the voice asked again.
Izuku looked around the door but didn't find any kind of scanner. Mei suddenly leaned forwards, her face getting close to one of the sections of the door. She suddenly grabbed Izuku's hand and held it across the door. "What are you doing?" Izuku asked, but he had no strength to pull his hand out of Mei's grip.
Suddenly the piece of the door grew a light blue and hummed, "Handprint verified, Welcome Izuku Midoriya. Two more handprint verification needed."
Everyone tilted their heads in confusion. "I'm guessing either myself, Principal, or Ms Midoriya." Powerloader said.
Izuku withdrew her hand and Inko pressed her hand against the door, "Hand Print Verified. Welcome Ice Princess. Two More handprint verification needed."
"Ice Princess?" Izuku asked. He looked up and saw that Inko had a small grin on her face. As if she was thinking about distant memories.
"Your father used to call me that because he said my stare was cold as ice. I'm in the system but not authorized." Inko said.
"Your husband must have not thought you would be here at the opening," Powerloader said, offering an explanation.
Principal Nezu walked forwards and scanned his paw.
"Handprint Verified. Welcome Tik-Tak." Nezu began to chuckle. "That's what your father called me when we first met. He said I looked like a white Tik-Tak."
"One more handprint verification needed." Everyone looked at Powerloader, he was the only obvious person left.
"I guess that means me." Powerloader walked forwards and scanned his hand.
"Handprint verified. Welcome Point Break."
Powerloader was fully ready to break down the door. He balled his fist and said, "Damn you Sutāku."
Inko started chuckling, while Powerloader had murder in his eyes.
"I always hated Hisashi's nicknames." Powerloader tapped his fingers against the screen, causing small cracking. He knew he was going to break something later, but for now, he was satisfied.
The door hissed and began to split apart, sliding to allow access. Inko grabbed a hold of Izuku's wheelchair, however, he stopped her. He grabbed the bars on the wheels and rolled himself in.
He rolled into a pitch-black, dusty room. Izuku felt like he was breathing in dirt, with all of the dust that was in the room. Izuku coughed, then waved in front of his face, "It's dusty."
"Well, it has been boarded up for a while." Powerloader pulled out his phone and turned on the flashlight. It didn't matter too much, as the dust caught most of the light, "Now we just have to find the light switch."
Everyone else pulled out their phone and used the flashlight and began to look for the light switch. "I can't even use my quirk here, the dust blocks everything." Mei complained, coughing on some dust.
"I believe I have some that may help with the dust situation." Principal Nezu pulled out his phone and began typing. After a few minutes, the sounds of air conditioning filled the room.
"Hold your breath and close your eyes." Powerloader said. Within a few seconds, it felt like a mini sandstorm had entered the room. The air conditioning pushed the dust around until it slowly flowed out of the open door. After a few minutes, the dust storm had disappeared and Mei was quick to find the light switch. She flicked it up and the ceiling light flickered to life.
Some were burnt out, but enough light was provided by those that still worked. Everyone looked around and saw it was a regular classroom, with a few desks and chairs pushed up towards the front of the room.
"So this is what my father left me. An empty dusty old classroom. I'm a little disappointed." Izuku sighed. He didn't know what he was expecting but he was hoping for a bit more.
"Beginning, Track 001." the voice said, and four hidden projectors came to life. They were pointed at the centre of the room. When an image came into focus, Inko recognized it was Hisashi.
"Hisashi," Inko said.
"Hello. My dear. I'm afraid this is a mere recording, that I have left behind in the chance that I am killed before I am able to explain anything." the hologram said, then turned and looked at Izuku, "My son. I am proud that you were able to make it to UA and no matter which course it was. Whether it was Hero and support, I am proud that you followed your dreams of becoming a hero."
Izuku rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment, "Thanks, Dad."
"I'm sure Powerloader and Principal Nezu have explained a bit of what I did here. The kind of people I met and the things I did. If they haven't, please locate track 068. But know that everything I did was in hopes of being able to help you."
The hologram of Hisashi paused.
"Would you like to play track 068?" The voice asked.
"No, continue with track 001," Izuku said and the hologram resumed.
"You are currently standing within Classroom 6-G. My own room that I used to teach and invent. I used many means to get a hold of machinery to invent new things, but not all were through legal means. Principal Nezu and Powerloader were generous enough to keep their mouths shut, but as I continued my work, the HPSC began to poke their heads into my work. And if they learn what I invented or the means I got the material for them, I would have never got the chance to finish it.
"I did all I could to make sure they or anyone with ill intention could never find my work. The vault's doors were merely the first step of security. To find the rest, I have a simple question for you Izuku, what is the greatest kind of weapon?'
Izuku thought for a moment, then remembered something he used to hear his father say, "While most people would say the kind you never have to fire out. You disagree, you always prefer the weapon you only have to fire once."
The hologram of Hisashi smiled, as walls and floor tiles began to shift. Everything an inventor would ever need began appearing in the room, "Let me be the first to welcome you to Candyland. Now become the hero I know you can be. Welcome to your hero academia."
The hologram of Hisashi disappeared and Mei fell over to the floor, "Oh my oh my oh my god." She muttered over and over again.
"I think her motherboard got fried," Izuku said, noticing the concerned look on his mother's face.
Powerloader looked around the room, he had stars in his eyes, "You're lucky you're dead, Hisashi. Can't believe you were hiding this from me. Holo Tables. Industrial 3d printers and scanners. Artificial intelligence."
"Hello, my name is Jabisu." The voice introduced himself, "I was created by Mr. Hisashi Sutāku, to help handle the large amount of data generated from his many projects. My last instruction given to me by him was to help one Izuku Midoriya. The one he referred to as his son."
"Jabisu, what exactly was my father working on for me?" Izuku asked.
"Accessing Project Hero Armor." Jabisu said, and the holo table flickered. A model of suit armor similar to Crimson Dynamo floated above the holo table. It was slim and barely taller than the average teenager. Everyone looked over the design.
Izuku noticed the armour had repulsor on the palms, "What exactly was Project Hero Armor?"
"Created by Hisashi Sutāku. Project Hero armour was an advanced exoskeleton housing and Multi-functional internal weapons system, more compact than anything military branches had, all protected by an external plated armor, Designed to be worn and act as a weapon and shield." Jabisu stated.
"Is this design manipulable?" Izuku asked.
"Yes," Jabisu said
Izuku raised his finger and pinched the outer layer of the armour with his thumb and index. He moved his hand to the side and the armour followed it. Leaving the weapons system and exoskeleton together. Izuku quickly separated those, leaving the three main components of the suit by themselves.
The exoskeleton looked extremely familiar to Izuku, "Hey Mei, what does that look like to you."
Mei looked over the exoskeleton then her eyes went wide, "That looks like your boots and gauntlets, the repulsor technology is identical." Mei looked at the armour and weapon system, "It seems like your father had more plans than we thought."
The Holograms were extremely detailed and Izuku almost felt he should call it a work of art, "Jabisu, did my father have a working prototype of this suit?"
"Records state Hisashi Sutāku constructed a working prototype. However, he ran into an issue of power source." Jabisu said as the centre chest piece of the armour glowed a bit, indicating where the power source was supposed to go.
"What do you mean records state? Are you unable to locate the files?" Mei asked.
"I have checked my databases and found mention of the files, however, the files were recently corrupted," Jasbisu stated.
"How recent?" Powerloader asked. He had a sick feeling in his gut.
"Files were corrupted 25 hours, 7 minutes and 45 seconds ago." Jabisu stated.
Powerloader cursed under his breath then said, "That's when the break-in happened. Someone used the chaos to break in and hack into our servers."
Principal Nezu raised his hand, "Jabisu are you linked to the main UA servers?"
"Yes. However, my main files are only accessible under Hisashi Sutāku's login. My senses registered his login being used 25 hours and 8 minutes ago. The UA staff computers located and copied files for Project Hero Armor. After files were copied, a virus was released and corrupted most files relating to the project."
"Can you show us what is left of the corrupted files?" Izuku asked.
The three components moved to the side, then the holo table was filled with broken images. Izuku recognized a bit of the repulsor and the hover boots, "So what I have left of my father's work with several 1,000 gigabytes of corrupted data."
"I won't state that." Powerloader raised his hand and began sifting through the corrupted data, "The history of the files are still recorded, meaning some reference to your father's work remains. If none did then Jabisu wouldn't know about Project Hero armor. So you simply have to find what's left." Powerloader located a file that was barely corrupted. It was marked as Mark I, "and work from there."
"Mark I. Looks like I'm starting from the beginning." Izuku said.
"Jabisu delete all corrupted files, leaving only Mark I behind." Powerloader said The corrupted files disappeared, leaving only the file Mark I left, "Open Mark I file." The file covered the holo tables, a bit corrupt and hard to examine, however, the main files of the exoskeleton and the armour were fine. The weapon system was hazy, "Yes, you're starting from the beginning, the very beginning."
"Thank you Powerloader and you too Principal Nezu. Thanks to you I can begin to understand what my father was doing." Izuku turned his chair and looked up at Powerloader, "Now what did you mean by keeping me safe?"
Powerloader took a few moments before he spoke, "Because of your actions during the hero exam. Your repulsors got damaged, causing you to lose your ability to gain points. However, your actions against the 0-point, the fact you were doing so to recuse a now hero student, impressed several teachers. Your score was still too low to be considered, so now you're in the support class. I talked with the hero teachers and they agreed that if you managed to impress them during the sports festival, and then pass the hero midterm exam you could be transferred to the hero course."
Izuku's eyes beamed at Powerloader's words, "I wanted to give your father's notes in hopes that it could help you towards that goal. This flash drive doesn't hold as much as the servers did but I wanted to help you as much as possible."
Powerloader pulled out the flash drive and hung his head low. Izuku could see the sadness through Powerloader's mask. Izuku gripped the armrest of his wheelchair and hauled himself to his feet. Inko moved to help him, but Izuku raised a hand to stop her.
"My father worked to the end of his life to do all that he could to help me. Now most of his work is corrupted, so I'm willing to accept any form of help I can get. I don't care how little that flash drive holds. If it will help me, I'll use it to the best of my ability."
Powerloader met Izuku and for a second saw the same confident smile that Hisashi always wore when he got something to work, "My father built this by himself and it took him years. This time it should go by much more quickly with three people working together."
Powerloader smiled then said, "Wait? Three people. Who's the third?"
Izuku pointed over his shoulder at Mei. Who had yet to take her eyes off the Hero armour. She was studying the details of the exoskeleton, "She won't forgive me if I don't allow her to help."
Powerloader looked at the devilish look Mei had on her face. She looked ready to kill something, "I think that would be for the best."
"Mr. Midoriya, I look forward to seeing you continue your father's work." Principal Nezu said, "And while this room is no longer in use, it is still technically a classroom and can only be used after school hours with the proper authorization. How about we move this conversation to my office where we can fill out the proper docs to allow you to have access to this room."
"Not like anyone besides Midoriya will be able to get into this room." Powerloader mumbled under his breath. He hated that Principal Nezu made everything be done responsibly even when it was absolutely unnecessary.
"I'm sorry. What was that?"
"Nothing sir." Powerloader said.
Principal Nezu nodded, then turned and headed towards the door, "Oh Mr. Midoriya, I believe you should withdraw Ms. Hatsume from the holo table, she seemed to be in a trance of some kind."
Izuku looked over and saw Mei's eyes starting to glaze over. Izuku wheel himself over and grabbed her hand, "Hatsume."
She made no movement. Izuku raised his hand and snapped his fingers in front of her eyes. Still no movement. Izuku sighed, he had done this a million times before. Whenever Mei got hyper-focused on something, the world around her disappeared and it was up to Izuku to basically turn her off and turn her back on. Izuku pinched Mei's nose close, then held a hand over her mouth. A few seconds went by, and then Mei's eyes bulged.
She began to try to pry Izuku's hand off her face, but Izuku held for a few more seconds then finally let go, "You nearly made me pass out this time?' Mei yelled.
"Better to teach you then," Izuku said.
"Whatever."
The group made their way to Principal Nezu's office where they signed the permission slip for Izuku to have access to classroom 6-G