7: Exposure
School starts up without too much fuss. Izuku drops in early to gift Kurobayashi-sensei some sushi that he's saved up to buy (the good kind, considering he probably couldn't get away with giving cheap fish to a shark…) and to ask the teacher how his summer went. He very narrowly avoids discussing his own summer and slips back to the classroom long before the first bell.
Then, just before lunch, he hears something screaming towards the school from overhead. Considering his seat is on the same side of the room as the door, he can't exactly lean over and check. Waiting gets his knee bouncing faster and faster as the noise grows closer.
"Midoriya, I know it's almost lunch but please-"
A crash shakes the school before his sensei can finish. Izuku is already looking out of the windows before the shaking stops and anyone else can get up. He frowns at the strange metal object that just shattered the pavement outside. Steam hisses off of it, smoke pours out of the exhaust engines, and the rapidly cooling metal turns from orange to blue to green t purple to gray in the sun.
When panels start popping out of the sides, Izuku groans and trudges towards the door.
"Midoriya, get back here!" He pauses by the door and waves, smiling awkwardly at his teacher. The man stares at him with wide eyes as his other students flood the windows. "What are you thinking, we're under attack!"
"I'm just…" Izuku's brain runs out of excuses at the worst possible time, so he just sighs and drops the smile. Then he opens up his wallet and throws the battered piece of paper at his teacher before he walks out. When he's in the hallway he steps a little quicker, reaching the street in roughly a minute despite the distance. He probably tore the floor up, but that's the least of his worries.
He watches the metal pod-thing gradually pop out more and more pieces, all rotating and re-assembling themselves into a whole. Eventually he's standing in front of a robot with a vaguely humanoid top half resting on six legs. Somehow, it's about as broad as Kurobayashi-sensei, or broader, which is saying something. It seems like it doubled its own width while putting itself together and that's a little bit insane.
"Greetings." The voice of the machine is surprisingly human, despite the digital inflection. Izuku's eyebrows raise a little when it extends a hand for a handshake. "I am officially designated Seventeen. How are you today?"
"Uh… I'm good." Izuku shakes the metal hand, not bothering to hide his shock. Green lenses cut to sharp angles give the eyes a mean expression… In fact, everything about it seems designed to intimidate. At the same time, this is the most civil conversation he's had with a stranger in a while. "Do you have an actual name, or should I just call you Seventeen?"
"Unofficially, I'm known as Sonic Spider." The machine's voice lilts as if it's pleased. Izuku nods.
"Alright Sonic Spider, could you explain why you just crash landed here? And… please don't say aliens."
"My mother has given me a mission to fulfill, and Mk. Four gave me this address." Sonic Spider turns its eyes to the school, turning the lenses from green to blue. "I am searching for the anomaly."
"Anomaly…" Izuku frowns. "Care to explain who that anomaly is? Or what makes them…"
He trails off and smacks his hand against his forehead as the machine turns to face him.
"The anomaly is an individual with strength that cannot be measured normally." Sonic Spider intones. Izuku sighs.
"Yeah… yeah that's about how this sort of thing goes." After a second, he scratches his head and looks up at the machine. "I'm your anomaly. What can I do for you?"
"Target acquired. Beginning Subroutine: Testing." Sonic Spider's eyes turn from blue to red as plates and various things retract into the chest. Izuku guesses that it would be for streamlining purposes, but he doesn't actually care enough to pay that much attention anymore.
"We don't have to do this, you know." Izuku frowns as the machine's hands turn from humanoid appendages with odd armor into wicked sharp claws. "Plus, you seem well made. I don't just wanna destroy you if you don't give me a reason."
"My intelligence is stored with Mother and updated at a pace of microseconds." The tone changes into something tinged with static, turning a pleasant voice into something darker and more sinister. "My orders are to assess the anomaly."
"I could just give you a demonstration…"
"Subroutine: Testing is the only valid demonstration." A hiss of steam leaves the machine's neck vents before the eyes flash red. "Mother sends her regards."
Izuku sidesteps as the strike shatters more pavement. Despite the lack of hydraulics and other obvious machinery, the machine is strong. He frowns for a few reasons as he steps back from the next swipe, letting himself speed up beyond the machine's capabilities.
Someone sent this after me here at school. They know who I am… they chose to do this now of all times… Damn it, Tachibana is going to kill me. Now I really do have to get her something.
He's lost track of his 'gear' metaphors for his speed. Now he only knows that he can feel the wind dragging on his face and see the flickering of the LED behind the lenses of Sonic Spider's eyes. Everything moves at a snail's pace as he steps forward and hops into the air. From overhead, he sets a hand on the head and flips over the top to fall behind it.
On the way down, he pulls.
The frame of the machine groans as he crushes it beneath his palm like papier-mâché. When he touches down and peels his hand from the carcass, he sighs.
"Well done." Izuku's eyes widen as the voice emanates from the machine again. "Now beginning self-destruct sequence…"
Before Izuku can fully react to that the machine sizzles and begins to dissolve. He'd been ready to throw it away from the school given a real explosion, but the foam eating away at the metal is almost as terrifying as a real bomb. It eats through the pavement beneath the metal as it drips off the frame. Eventually, nothing but a small cylinder of silver metal remains. From inside, a different voice speaks. This one is definitely human, and definitely female.
"Congratulations, anomaly #2! You've caught the attention of the greatest inventor known to man!" Izuku grabs the metal cylinder, which opens a tiny slit on the side and slides out a business card. On the white background, in shiny black letters, is a name and an address.
Hatsume Mei
UA high school Support Course
For several moments Izuku stares at the card with blood buzzing through his ears. Then he pockets the card and walks back towards the school building. When he reaches his classroom, the students are staring at him with wide eyes. Kābā is grinning at him from his desk.
"Yo, Midoriya! Nice work, as always." Apparently, Kābā's casual attitude leaves his classmates even more speechless. Izuku should probably smile at the way his friend says it, but he can't at the moment. Kābā notices immediately and rushes him with a worried look. "Hey, dude, you all right? What's wrong?"
Wordlessly, he hands the business card to Kābā, who looks up at him with wide eyes.
"You mean that she made…?" Izuku nods. Kābā frowns. "And she knows you're…?"
"Yep."
"But you didn't know she…"
"Nope."
"Then UA…"
"Uh huh." Izuku growls the last words and has to take a few deep breaths.
"Damn…" Kābā mutters. "Sorry man. That's really not cool."
"It's fine." Izuku says flatly. He drops into his desk, dropping the metal cylinder in his bag and carding his hands through his hair. "Just… I'll deal with it later."
"You mean afterschool?" Kābā asks. "You need anything? Tachi-chan and I can head over to check up on Eri."
"No, I'll take her with me. Recovery Girl wanted a checkup this week anyways." Izuku sighs. "Tachibana-san is going to kill me for going out there isn't she."
"Oh hell yeah. You're a dead man. Thanks for saving the rest of us though."
"Fuck…"
"Did you just swear? Midoriya Izuku where did you learn that word?!" Kābā snickers when Izuku finally cracks a smile.
"Er… Midoriya…?" Izuku glances up at his teacher, who's just reached his podium with the unfolded doctor's note in his hand. "This says you're quirkless?"
"Oh, yeah." Izuku shrugs. "It's self-defense."
"I…" The man looks close to tears. Izuku can sympathize. "I'm not sure I follow."
"Honestly sensei?" Izuku looks the man in the eyes with the flattest expression he can muster. "It's better for you guys if you pretend nothing happened."
"R-right…"
"Midoriya, you can't just threaten our teacher like that, man."
"I wasn't…"
"Well yeah, I know that, but he doesn't." Kābā laughs. "They all think you're a serial killer remember?"
Izuku pales.
"I forgot…" Kābā cackles at the way he says it and makes his way back to his desk.
"Never change, Midoriya!" When Kābā sits down he grins at the kids still standing by the windows. "Guys, he cries when his shoe comes untied, you're fine. Plus, he's gonna die when lunchtime comes around…"
"It's always the left shoe, Kābā, it's not fair…!"
Kābā doesn't stop laughing for a long time. Class doesn't resume for a while either. No one stops him when he laughs himself to tears just before the bell. Izuku feels a little bit betrayed.
As it happens, Recovery Girl has Midnight there in the infirmary when Izuku arrives. They put Eri under and Izuku explains with a tight voice that he needs Recovery Girl to watch Eri for a little while. She takes one look at his face and sighs.
"Whatever they did, make sure you give them hell for it, kiddo." She mutters. He nods and storms out, leaving a very confused Midnight behind with Eri's slumbering form. Izuku doesn't knock, he storms into the office without warning and glares at Nezu. The principal seems like he's been waiting, and he's not smiling.
"Midoriya-kun. I heard you'd come to visit. If this has…"
"I was actually starting to believe you." Izuku says quietly. There's enough force to cut the principal off without him raising his voice. "You never said you weren't watching me, but I was starting to trust that you might have been someone I could count on."
The principal doesn't say anything, so he continues.
"Where is Hatsume?" Izuku asks. Nezu's eyes close as the principal sighs, then he hops off his chair and heads for the door.
"You might be upset," The creature begins, leading Izuku through the halls, "But I never lied. Keeping Hatsume hidden from the outside world has been one of our priorities since we realized that she was like you."
"How is she like me?" Izuku glares at the principal's back.
"Somehow, Hatsume Mei can invent things that are at least fifty years ahead of even most classified technology. Despite out best efforts she isn't exactly containable with that sort of knowledge, so we give her projects. Until now there hasn't been a breach of security, but I suppose I should have seen this happening. I never expected that you were the target of that launch earlier." Nezu claims.
"Then she's an inventor. She's not like me." Izuku huffs.
"Not in the same way. But she's also an anomaly. A person who can do the impossible, with no help from any quirk." The principal chirps. "My decision was to keep you from meeting in case things should go badly."
"'Go badly'." Izuku snaps, halting in the middle of the hallway. "She sent an android to attack me at school, Nezu! What kind of hero student does that?"
"Trust me, Midoriya-kun." Nezu grins over his shoulder. "When I said that we can't contain her, I meant it. You'll see soon enough."
Izuku expects Nezu to lead him to the support labs. He'd been banned from those during his stay, after all. When Nezu gets into the elevator, Izuku hesitates before he steps in.
"Quarantine lab, please." Nezu chirps. The elevator closes silently and begins descending. Izuku glances at the principal and stares until the creature finally turns the smile his way. "I banned you from the labs because there were other students there, Midoriya-kun, not because of Hatsume. She's been living in the quarantine labs since the beginning of her time here."
"You have a mad genius living in your school basement?" Izuku raises his eyebrows. Nezu blinks a few times, then lowers his voice.
"She built this, actually. In three weeks." Nezu said quietly. Izuku would have sworn the creature sounded tired. "And she never stops working. Keeping up with Hatsume has consumed a large portion of our budget already."
"…Oh." Izuku mutters. Nezu's smile twitches at the edges. Eventually Izuku begins to squirm. "How deep is the lab?"
"Six stories below ground."
"Su-six…" Izuku gapes at the principal. "Why?"
"Her inventions, as you learned firsthand, are not something we can allow on school grounds." Nezu says. "Building it underground was a convenient measure, considering our fleet of robots and the quirks at our disposal."
Izuku turns his eyes to the door and waits quietly as the elevator slows to a stop. When it opens, his eyes nearly pop out of his skull.
The quarantine lab isn't a 'lab'. Calling the room before him an aircraft hangar might have been closer to the mark but doesn't do it justice. He glances up towards the rafters, past the machines suspended from lengths of chain and wire, measuring it somewhere close to three or four stories up. Judging from the design, the ceiling is a bit more than just an ordinary layer of metal and foundation.
Laid out in front of him for the length of a football field, or perhaps a few football fields, is a mess of desks and husks of machinery. Tools, parts, diagrams… Everything in front of them is beyond Izuku. Nezu leads him through the maze easily, working towards the left side of the room. On the way, he can't help but trip over a few things. Very few sources of light are actually left on, and the only reliable source of light is a faint blue bleeding through the cracks of a machine, coming from what Izuku can only assume is their destination. When the mess is left behind them and they walk into a wide "room", Izuku stops dead in his tracks.
"Ah, anomaly number two." A familiar robot crab walks over, extending a hand. "Wonderful to see you again. I am officially designated Seventeen Mk. Two."
"Mhmm…" Izuku shakes the hand and nods along. The space in front of him is nearly the size of a house. On his left, a row of heavily used wooden tables line a wall covered in blueprints. Across the floor on the right-hand side, a series of computer screens form a semicircle around a wheeled computer chair and a wide, slightly curved desk. Directly in front of him, the third wall of the space is made of vintage tool boxes, with drawers erratically poking out and various parts or tools hanging over them. Cables and various pages of technical notes seemed tacked to pegboards mounted on that same wall.
None of that bothers him much. Izuku's eyes are locked on the machine above him, mounted to the wall.
A thick pane of glass covers a massive array of blinking lights, cables and computer screens. Four metal beams extend from the wall, connected to a rig of metal rings that grew smaller and smaller as they closed in on a large black sphere hanging overhead. The contraption dominates the space of the lab, forming a shifting mechanical ceiling over the wide space that Izuku has just stepped into. If he had to guess, it must be fifty meters to a side with the empty space between each ring.
And, if the sheer size and marvel of the contraption isn't enough, the sphere in the middle turns a single bright LED on him the moment he walks through the "door". Izuku shivers as the light coming from the orb dilates. Rings spin and supports hiss as the orb shifts and pushes itself in his direction, lowering until it hangs barely five feet from his face. The curvature of the rings and supports remind him of a human spine. Every few seconds the light blinks, as if the eye of some alien monster had pulled itself from the ceiling and taken an interest in him.
"New guest identified. Records indicate you are anomaly number two." The aperture narrows along a side as if it were squinting at him. "You are late."
Izuku blinks at the contraption in response. After two or three times, the machine inches closer and blinks back.
"W-what… What even…"
"Monitor-san, Midoriya-kun has had a very long day." Nezu breaks in suddenly, grinning up at the eye as it twists and looks at the principal, who had crossed most of the empty space between the "door" and the far wall. For the first time, Izuku catches sight of a large tarp covering the floor, where a roughly humanoid shape of metal and wires is backlit by sparking lights. He blinks when the light dies, leaving the room significantly less ominous... Even with the gigantic metal creature.
"Huh? Principal Nezu? Monitor, who's that other one?" A welding mask appears over the shoulder of the mechanical contraption.
"Listing anomaly number two as Midoriya-kun." Izuku shudders as Nezu's voice chimes from the sphere, then pales as it turns back towards him. "Nezu-san, what is an acceptable punishment for being several hours late to a meeting?"
"What types of punishments have you found that don't involve weapons?" Nezu's grin widens a touch at the edges.
"Does mild electrocution count as use of weaponry?"
"Not quite, though it depends how you go about it. Most things like electric shock therapy, waterboarding, leeching, bleeding, even injection of addictive drugs have all been considered healthy treatments by humans in the past, and none of them explicitly involve weapons." Nezu chuckles gleefully. "Humans have always been the biggest danger to themselves, even without war. Harming others is still considered an act of friendship today, though it's mostly words!"
"Hurting with words. I feel as though I'd need a module for that."
"CAN WE JUST…" Izuku's shout cuts them both off, earning him a look from the orb and a sinister smile from the creature in the suit. "Not talk about hurting people. Or punishing people."
"I was simply asking a question. Interrupting our conversation was very rude. So far, you've given me even more reason to punish your behavior." The orb pulled most of its neck(?) back towards the ceiling, leaving the brain… eye… orb suspended by three smaller rings and metallic supports. A straight line cut into the glow from the top, giving it a simulated glare.
Izuku blinks, then frowns, then takes a deep breath and… sighs again. A hand drags down across his face.
"This… This can't be happening." He mutters.
"Are you suffering from hallucinations? My records indicate that electric shock therapy is one possible…"
"No, no thanks, I'm good." Izuku raises his hands, keeping his eyes closed and rubbing his hands across them. "It's just an expression."
"I'm unfamiliar with that term."
"I believe Hatsume uses the term 'babies' in a similar fashion." Nezu chimes in.
"Updating my modules. Thank you for the lesson, Midoriya-chan." Izuku glares at the orb as the light flickers on and off.
"Quit laughing at me." The machine stops the shutter when he snaps at it. He's probably the only person in the world who would interpret the fluttering shutter as emotion, but he's absolutely certain that it was doing that on purpose.
"I am an artificial being. My vocal responses don't include an output for laughter." The shutter starts up again, and Izuku has to stomp down a pulse of anger. Even if he stomps out the biting remarks and the urge to tear the machine from the ceiling, it leaves him feeling too warm for his liking.
"Whatever. Where's Hatsume?" He sighs.
"What what? I heard someone ask for me?" The welding mask pops up from behind the project again, much more intent on him now than they'd been on Nezu.
"You're Hatsume? Hatsume Mei?" Izuku glares as a short woman stalks out from behind the human sized metal figure and throws her welding mask over one shoulder. He shouldn't be surprised when Spider catches it and sets it on one of the toolboxes.
"Earth's greatest inventor, at your service! Who're you?" A pair of goggles cover her eyes, leaving a pair of bright green circles in the shadows where he assumes her face is.
"Midoriya Izuku. You sent a robot to kill me earlier." Izuku winces as she gets close and the glow form her goggles becomes painful. "Can you… turn on the lights or something? Those things are too bright."
"Monitor, lights!"
"Yes Mother." Izuku flinches as light floods Hatsume's work area.
Under real light, the machine above him isn't nearly as terrifying. If it wasn't being so annoying he'd take more time to admire it, but his eyes focus on the short, stocky woman that is Hatsume Mei. Baggy industrial pants cover her legs, despite the fact that she's stripped down to a sports bra and covered in grease. The goggles slide up into her pink dreadlocks, revealing amber eyes with crosshairs and a manic grin that rivals Nezu's.
"I sent a robot to kill you?" Hatsume's smile wavers for a second. "I didn't try killing anyone today. Are you sure it was me?"
"I…" Words fail him for a moment before Izuku sighs and pulls the cylinder out of his back pocket. "You sent a robot to attack me while I was at school. It self-destructed and spat this out."
Scratch that, her smile is even more terrifying than Nezu.
"BROTHER!" Izuku yelps as she throws herself at him and wraps him in a hug. "You're the other Anomaly!"
"B-B-BROTHER…?!" Izuku hits the floor half a second later and Hatsume is rushing around him in a circle, grabbing his arms and sides and generally feELING HIM…! "Gah!"
Hatsume barely bats an eye as he shoves her hands off his thigh.
"Man, I expected you to be taller! You beat Seventeen though, so I guess you're the real deal! This is so exciting!"
Izuku stares at woman, still feeling vaguely violated.
"What is wrong with you?" Hisses out of his mouth before he can stop it, earning him another 'glare' from Monitor.
"I build things!" Hatsume throws her arms wide, then gestures at the monstrosity hanging from the ceiling. "And this guy builds himself, nowadays! He's what got me the fancy title."
"Fancy title? Wait, who even came up with that Anomaly thing?" Izuku wheezes at Nezu. The principal hops off the chair near the computers and struts over, looking far too pleased for Izuku's liking.
"I did! So far, we've only encountered a handful of reports about individuals such as yourselves." Nezu's expression turns a touch more serious. "A girl who managed to construct a fully capable, evolving artificial intelligence. A boy who's quirkless yet proves to be bulletproof."
Izuku catches the look of appraisal from Hatsume and crosses his arms.
"No way. Forget it."
"You're not the only ones," Nezu barks, putting more force into his words. "We've got reports of others, though most of it is only rumors. At first we called them Wild Quirks, but you two proved that it isn't necessarily quirks. Somehow, a select group of people are evolving at a pace that should be impossible. Anomaly was the only thing that fit, given the data we had."
"Basically, you're like me!" Hatsume threw her arms up again. "And if you can defeat my babies, then you're even stronger than I thought!"
"How'd you even find out about me?" Izuku groans.
"Oh, Monitor here picked up some unusual activity in Musutafu over the past few months, and then you came and trained at UA." Hatsume grins as she looks over to the machine. "He told me that there was another possible Anomaly after he caught some internet footage of you fighting."
"I believe it was the Subterranean King." Monitor offers. "Proving that you were in fact an anomaly was much more difficult."
"When he said that you were a fighter, I built Seventeen over there and sent him to the nearest possible location!" Hatsume grinned. "I was hoping for more data out of that fight, but here you are! Now we can get down to business!"
"No, no business." Izuku snaps. Hatsume blinks in surprise. Nezu's smile breaks for the first time since he's known the creature (which isn't long but feels like damn a lifetime), and the principal looks well and truly shocked. "My life is already crazy enough without murderous robots showing up at my school. I'm here because of him,"
Izuku jabs a finger at Nezu and glares before his eyes lock on Hatsume again,
"And because I had to know if there was actually another person like me. But you're not like me, you're…" Izuku's hands wave at the tech around the lab before slapping against his sides balled into fists. "Something else. Every time someone has business with me, I get shot, or stabbed, or I fight something, or I run around, or I get threatened, and you know what even if no one ever threatened me with torture and electric shock before today that DOESN'T MAKE IT OKAY!"
The orb cycles its shutters at him and Izuku jabs a finger towards it.
"Shut up!" Hatsume's eyebrows shoot up. Izuku sighs, takes two handfuls of hair and uses the tugging in his scalp to ground himself. "This… whatever the hell is going on, I never wanted any of this! I've got someone I need to look after. Nothing else is more important than she is right now. The only reason I'm here is to find out who sent that drone, and to make sure it never happens again."
He pants a bit after the outburst. Nezu already fixed his expression, leaving his familiar neutral stare, while Hatsume stares at him with wide eyes. The orb, Monitor, finally stops blinking. When none of them say anything, Izuku glares at Nezu accusingly.
"You knew. She was here while I was staying with you, and you knew I wasn't the only one. All that time, you kept this from me, and now everyone in my school got caught in the crossfire. This guy," He jabs another finger towards Monitor, "found me and traced my location. Last time that happened, a supervillain ambushed me and dropped a little girl on my lap. You promised you'd keep us safe."
The license hits Nezu in the chest and falls to the floor with a click. Izuku shoves his wallet back in his pocket.
"You miscalculated Nezu. Maybe All for One scares me, but you and All Might sure as hell don't." Izuku spits.
"And what will you do when you get arrested for being a vigilante?" Nezu asks quietly. Izuku's frown splits open and his fists tighten until his knuckles crackle like Bakugō's firecrackers.
"I was fine before you ever knew I existed, Nezu, I'll be fine without you. So far, you and All Might have only made my life worse." He turns on his heel and stalks out after that. Even without the lights, he pushes through anything that tries to trip him. Luckily, the elevator takes him up without Nezu's voice activation. When he reaches the ground floor, he shoves Hatsume's tube in his pocket and stalks towards the infirmary.
Recovery Girl takes one look at his face and shoos him out of the room before he can reach the back. The door closes behind her, and she glares until he finally takes a breath.
"What happened, kid?" She asks quietly.
It's hard to fight the emotions bubbling up in his throat. He can't help feeling angry and betrayed and vindictive, even though he knows that those things won't help him. Eri doesn't need those things. No one, not his mother or his friends or even Bakugō need those things from him.
"He never told me about Hatsume." Izuku mutters. Recovery Girl raises an eyebrow.
"That's hardly the worst thing he's ever done."
Izuku sees red for a second, bites back the retort on his tongue and takes a breath.
"I… It isn't…" He takes another deep breath and lets it out before continuing slowly. "I don't know why I came here."
He digs his hands into his eyes and through his hair and slumps against the wall until he's sitting at her feet.
"This thing, whatever I am, no one ever believes me. I always tell people I'm quirkless. Mom… My mom thought I was doing drugs, and she yelled at me and she slapped me the first time I broke the door. None of my teachers ever believed me, or my friends, or heroes or police…" He chuckles as his eyes start burning. "If I help people, I'm not a hero, I'm a menace or I'm suicidal…"
"But Nezu knew." Izuku's voice breaks over the word. "Hatsume has been here for months. Even when I broke in, he acted like he didn't know what was going on with me. No one told me about Hatsume. And that might have been fine if she hadn't sent a robot to attack me at school!"
He glares at Recovery Girl.
"Nezu promised he'd help keep her safe, and then Hatsume just went and put me on the map." He snorted as his head thumped against the wall. "You should have seen the way she looked at me when she found out I was the other anomaly. I've seen that look before. Always gets me shot."
Recovery Girl taps her cane on the floor when he doesn't say anything beyond that.
"You may not like it, kiddo, but Nezu and All Might have always done what they thought was best for this country. For the world, even." The heroine says quietly. "Heroes aren't perfect. We make mistakes, just like everyone else. Nobody can control Hatsume, bless that little maniac, so don't try telling Nezu off about that."
"I don't have to care what All Might and Nezu do for everyone else." Izuku mutters. "They didn't do anything to help Eri, or to help me."
"All Might saved your life once." Recovery Girl offers.
"Yeah, and then he told me I couldn't be a hero without a quirk." Izuku chuckles. "…I know that being angry about it doesn't help. Nezu couldn't stop Hatsume, All Might didn't choose me. It's not surprising, no one ever chose me. That isn't anyone's fault, really."
"Hey now, that's a bit much isn't it?" Recovery Girl sighs. "You're too young to be so cynical."
"Did Nezu give you the report of my tests?" Izuku smirks as she shakes her head. "You should ask Snipe and Power Loader about it."
"I'll do that." She groans and taps her cane against his knee. "But a little sunshine couldn't hurt either, Midoriya."
"I know." Izuku stands up and scratches his head. "Recovery Girl, can I ask you something?"
"Ask away." The old woman smiles up at him briefly.
"What do you think I should do?" She frowns, then huffs and swats her can against his shoe.
"What kind of question is that, kid? How should I know?" Izuku shrugs as she sets her cane back on the ground. "You talk like you already know what you need to do."
"But… what do I do when everyone turns against me?" Izuku turns his eyes to the floor.
"All Might may be an idiot half the time, but he always said one thing that I can't help agree with, somewhat." Recovery Girl smirks at him. "Putting your nose where it doesn't belong is part of being a hero."
Izuku turns that over in his head, then he frowns.
"I don't want to be a hero." Recovery Girl raises an eyebrow.
"I take back what I said, you're just as bad as the other two." She turns toward the door and reaches for the handle. "You're not the one who gets to decide if you're a hero, Midoriya. You only get to decide what to do with the job. And forget trying to negotiate your hours, either. Stupidity never sleeps."
"I thought it was evil that never sleeps?"
"Where do you think evil comes from, kid? Come on now, don't keep Eri-chan waiting. You're a month too late for an identity crisis."
When he gets home, with Eri sleepily clutching the collar of his shirt and dozing on his shoulder, his mother takes one look at him and deflates.
"What did they do this time?" She sighs. Izuku forces a smile and eases himself into a chair. For a moment, he rubs calming circles on Eri's back and waits while his mother gets her tea and the whiskey and sets the table for yet another one of their 'talks'.
"There are other people like me." He says, after a bit of thought. "One of them lives beneath UA, and she sent an android to attack me during school today."
His mother stares at him for a moment. Izuku expects her to reach for the whiskey, the way she'd done during the whole 'I want to go hunting for serial killers' episode. She drains her teacup, then pours another cup and takes a few breaths, drinking that two.
Then she pours a full teacup of raw whiskey and swiftly drains that, too. Izuku's eyes widen as she grimaces and coughs twice, setting the cup back on its plate.
"And she was there… before?"
"She's a first year. They found out when she got in, apparently."
"Nezu never told you?"
"He made it sound like he needed my information so they could track me." Izuku frowns. "No one told me there could be others."
"Was anyone hurt?"
"No… I gave Nezu back his license, though."
"Good." Izuku's eyebrows rise again, and his mother grimaces as she pours another cup of tea. "I know why they did that better than anyone, Izuku. Don't let Nezu do you any favors until he comes to his senses."
Izuku takes a long breath.
"Mom…"
"I know, Izuku." His mother smiled at him, leaning her cheek in one hand as she turned her eyes to the little girl sleeping on his shoulder. "I watched you grow up, sweetie, I can tell when you get that look in your eye."
The pair of them share a smile, fragile smile across the dinner table.
"Just come back to us. Don't let anyone stop you from coming home, you hear me?" Inko's eyes glaze over a touch and her smiles widens. "Show them up, Izuku."
Izuku is glad his mom can't really hold her alcohol, even after months of keeping a small supply. When he lays her in bed an hour later, pressing a quick kiss to her temple, he can't help but grin as he makes his way to his bedroom.
School is a little bit more difficult, if only because he has even less study time than before. On the other hand, the way the crowd parts around him in the halls is different. Now they stare at him instead of avoiding his eyes. Kurobayashi-sensei had also given him a bit of an earful about his demonstration against the machine, but the teacher made it clear he wanted to keep their training sessions going regardless.
His mother invites him over for lunch one day, and Izuku briefly meets Kurobayashi-sensei's wife. She's a lovely woman, the definition of serenity, and she quickly remarks that she forgives him for stealing away her husband so often. Izuku has to spend the visit in his room, with Eri pressed against his side and his notes laid out across his desk.
That Sunday, the first Sunday of his second term, Izuku is out shopping. Even after the scene Tachibana had caused at school, Izuku couldn't help feeling guilty for causing trouble. He'd asked Sokuchi, and she'd given him a list of some things Tachibana might like.
He's waiting at a crosswalk, already holding a little bag with a light perfume, when time drags to a halt around him. A woman, cradling a child tucked against one shoulder and a phone against her ear on the other side, is three steps into the empty intersection, freshly cleared for them. On instinct, he looks both ways and catches sight of a car crawling towards the woman. Considering how slowly her foot moves towards the pavement and the much fast spin of the tires, Izuku knows what's about to happen.
She flies a little faster than he intended, and he loses control of his speed. The world screams into motion, throwing the woman a short way while the brakes of the car grind and rubber burns. For the first time in his life, Izuku wonders if being bulletproof is enough to stop something larger than him.
Metal bends against his skin as if a sheet of water smashed into his side and wrapped around him. He coughs, trying to breathe while steam and oil hiss and splatter against his skin. The impact knocked everything out of him, but the jagged metal edges only bother him about as much as a rock in his shoe. So, after a few moments to get his breath back, he grabs the edges of the hood to drag himself out of the engine and turns his eyes to the woman he'd just thrown down the street.
"Oh gosh, I'm really sorry about that. Are you okay? Did I push you too hard?" He helps her up, looking over her and the child in her arms (he'd thought it was a baby, but the toddler is fully mobile and deathly quiet from the ordeal) for any sort of injury. Eventually, the police show up and Izuku has to listen as both of the people involved makes excuses. Really, the woman shouldn't be doing things like that, but the little girl probably won't remember it anyways. When the cops get to him, Izuku goes through the motions and hands off a business card to his local police station as an extra.
The officer questions him a long time. Izuku frowns at the scolding, but he doesn't care. He's still trying to figure out why the bottle of perfume and the frilly little bag in his hands is undamaged.
For the first time he wonders just how far his power extends.
He's sitting on the couch wrapped up in a thin blanket with Eri dozing in his lap on a Saturday, staring at the afternoon news when he sees the broadcast switch to the villain attack helicopter. Of course, hearing the switch, his mother wanders in from the kitchen and frowns as the trio wander down the middle of a street and tear through cars.
Izuku barely registers her entry as his eyes narrow on the men wearing the plague doctor masks.
Bird masks.
Eri stirs when Izuku gently presses her into his mother's arms and presses a kiss to her forehead. His mother stares at him blankly with wide eyes as he silently stalks to the door and slips into his shoes, then calls out to him.
"It's him, isn't it?" Izuku pauses with one hand on the doorknob, then turns to a freshly woken Eri and the pained expression on his mother's face.
"Just gonna go take a look."
"Izuku…" She trails off when he smiles at her. It hurts to smile, because it digs into his cheeks and it burns his eyes even though it doesn't actually reach them. Then he's out the door and heading down the steps. Nothing from that little trip actually sticks with him, despite walking at a human pace.
When he reaches the street, he places his hands against the sidewalk and takes a deep breath. Everything dissolves into a blur as he breaks into a sprint and leaps.
It's easy to shove his way through the crowd. No one bothers him for wandering the wrong direction, considering it's barely been ten minutes since the start of the attack. When he shoves out into the street, past a car, he notices a single hero off to one side watching the attack and his blood heats a little more.
Which is saying something, considering the kindling fury stirring in his chest.
"Are you a hero? Coming to do the job even off duty?" The one in the furry collar calls out. Izuku glances down at his gym shorts, windbreaker and white t shirt, then frowns at the men in front of him.
"You're the one who hurt her, aren't you?" His fingers crack when he tightens them. The shaking doesn't help, but just being able to hold himself back is probably an achievement.
"Oh? So you're the one who took her from me. Give her back. She's necessary for my goals." He calls. On either side, the henchmen shift and get ready for a slaughter. Izuku feels his face twitch a few times, then takes another breath and pushes the hate back down into his chest so that it rattles his own ribs instead of burying his fists in the thugs'.
"I won't let you hurt anyone else." He shuffles into a vague fighting stance, matching the one in the furry coat flare for glare.
Lots of things happen at once. The hero is somehow jumping out of a car while the big one, the guy wearing leather knuckle guards, charges him. Izuku waits a long time before time starts to stretch out, moving his arms into a guard to take the impact.
Same as always, the villains are shocked when he's still standing after the blow. The hero phased through the thug in front of him at some point during all that, and Izuku now has a pretty good guess after the kid's quirk. It's vaguely familiar, probably from one of the sports festivals past.
"You took a punch, huh? Then I'll just go all out!" The thug cackles, rushing in for another blow. Izuku doesn't have to time to worry about the size of the guy in front of him when the bastard charges him and starts swinging. Every impact hits harder than the last, pushing Izuku back and leaving him vibrating from every hit. Digging his heels in only breaks the street and digs a crater that rapidly becomes a trench in the street. Speeding up reminds Izuku that the heroes are starting to arrive, though none of them will get involved, and that the boss is still hanging back to watch Izuku get pummeled.
Worse than anything, Izuku is too distracted to block every attack. Keeping himself in check is difficult enough without the bastard throwing haymakers. A few punches slam into his gut or his shoulders, raising his temperature even further. The assault kicks up dust as Izuku grinds his teeth and digs in further, refusing to dig up any more pavement.
Eventually, the bastard has to stop for breath. Izuku sighs as the villain stumbles back a step and cackles.
"Who the hell are you kid? You got a good quirk, that's for damn sure! No one ever goes two rounds with me!" The mask makes him look like some sort of video game boss character. Izuku really, really wants to rip it from his face and smash it, along with the boss' mask. "My name's Rappa Kendo! Call me Kendo, if you survive this!"
Izuku growls internally. For the first time in his life, he's actually agreeing with the inner Bakugō that's been festering in his brain. He rips up to his shredded shirt and tosses the remains of his clothing away as his eyes leave the brute.
"…Deku." Izuku offers. He runs a hand over his chest, feeling where he'd taken hits only moments ago, and mutters out of habit. "I guess that car thing wasn't just a fluke… Whatever. If it keeps me going, I'm not going to complain,"
When he looks up at Rappa again, he takes a breath…
Sometimes, you won't be able to simply run. Kurobayashi-sensei rumbles in his head. Midoriya-kun, why don't you show him what you can do?
I think I'll watch you a bit longer. You're playing both sides now, young man. All for One's mask hisses.
Midoriya-kun, I won't say that you did the right thing, but you certainly got our attention. Nezu chirps. My decision was to keep you from meeting in case things should go badly.
Young man, I'm afraid that you are in no position to make demands. All Might's voice shifts from his loud, boasting persona into the gravelly tone carved into Izuku's brain. No, I don't think you can be a hero.
Don't go thinking you're better than me just cause you found a couple of extras who can tolerate your shit, Deku.Bakugō growls. I'll bet it's lonely now that there's no one to kick your sorry ass around anymore.
Show them up, Izuku. His mother whispers, staring at the sleeping angel pressed against his right shoulder.
The world snaps into place as Izuku meets Rappa's eyes and forms his stance again. A chill washes over him as his anger begins to dissipate, as if someone dumped ice water over him.
"I guess you're not going to let me take on your boss before you're down and out, are you?" He asks, offering a shaky smile. Rappa laughs even louder.
"HELL NO! I haven't had this much fun in too long! Let's go, round two!"
Just like before, his body snaps to attention before he realizes it. Rappa crawls through the air, moving faster than any villain Izuku has faced. That isn't enough. Izuku barely has to shift and swing his arm in a lazy punch, locking their knuckles together. A shockwave rips out from the point of contact, and Izuku lets himself return to normal. Rappa freezes, fist locked tight against Deku's, staring at the boy in disbelief.
"You…! Now you're gonna fight back, huh?! JUST HOW I LIKE IT!"
Waves of heat burn through him as he meets Rappa's punches. His anger isn't completely gone, but for some reason he feels lighter. For the first time since he noticed his change, the weight of it is gone. Every punch he matches leaves a larger ripple hanging in the air and urges the villain onward, making him stronger and faster by the moment. Izuku lets Rappa climb the ladder instead of shifting his gear. The blasts may as well be ice on his skin, and it feels amazing considering how fast they're moving. Rappa seems like he's having a ball.
Until he stops speeding up, at least. Izuku barely registers that the villain is down until he's staring at the man on the ground for several long, drawn out seconds. The world catches up and Izuku hears a faint groan. When Rappa gets up and wipes the blood from his face, he begins to laugh again.
"Man… what… are you even… made of… Quirk like that… and you're just a brat…" Rappa barely steadies himself on his right leg, his form completely shattered.
"I'm quirkless." Izuku mutters. Rappa freezes entirely and glares.
"Don't lie like that, dumbass. This is a fight, not a FUCKING GAME! THIS IS A BATTLE OF MEN!"
"Look, this…"
"NO!" Rappa screams, clenching his battered fists and shaking with rage. "DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE! YOU DON'T GET TO LIE ON THE BATTLEFIELD. ONLY THE WORST PULL SHIT LIKE THAT!"
Izuku sighs and scratches the curls at the back of his skull.
"You guys always throw tantrums like this…"
Rappa lunges forward with an angry, mindless scream and grinds to a halt just as quickly. Izuku is already jumping over him, throwing a rough kick to the back of the man's neck before he lands. Everything quickly goes silent as the thug passes out.
He scans the heroes crowding the street and the rooftops, locking eyes with the student and the tall, thin man who he vaguely recognizes as Sir Nighteye. Then he turns back towards his true enemy.
Izuku walks out of the crater, facing the masked villain without care for his lack of a shirt. His opponent stares him down with disbelief written on his face.
"Did you really do it…? Did you really use her like that?" The anger is back, leaving him trapped as ice and fire play out across his mind. He doesn't even know if his voice reached, but the bastard in the mask seems to move in response.
He pulls out a gun, and Izuku wonders if he should laugh.
A bubble pops into being around Izuku, stunning him for a moment. It makes sense, really, having the spear and the shield travel with someone important. Still, a portable barrier quirk is so powerful that seeing it used on the villains' side is just…
Just as quickly as it comes, the barrier falls and something slams into his shoulder. He hears the gunshot and wonders just how distracted he'd been to not notice the bullet before it hit him. When he pries the bullet from his shoulder, he blinks at the syringe sticking out of the top.
"I was really hoping to wait and show off the full clip of finished product… but maybe this will put an end to this foolishness. Return Eri to me. Without your quirk, you're powerless against us. You'll save no one else with this foolishness." The masked man calls, looking bored and angry suddenly. He pulls off the surgical gloves in a slow, threatening way and Izuku suddenly realizes something.
Needles, bloodwork, and gloves all send Eri into screaming fits.
This guy… Izuku frowns and takes a moment at speed. With the world slowed to a halt, he runs everything through his head. The heroes won't interfere but getting answers out of the boss seems like it won't happen while there's still a guard.
Izuku rushes the barrier user. He smashes the bubble easily when he drops his speed down and sends the guard straight into the air. Catching him and dropping the body over Rappa's unconscious form takes more effort than he thought it would, but Izuku isn't having any trouble yet. He glares at the leader when he drops the body and stalks out of the trench again, ignoring the blatant shock on the man's face.
"…Your quirk should be gone."
Izuku stops in his tracks, and the tiny spark of compressed hate snaps.
"These bullets erase quirks?" Izuku's voice breaks as his body begins to shake and the world stutters erratically around him. "You…! How DARE YOU!"
"Who ARE YOU?" The boss screams, howling in fear and rage as Izuku takes his first step. As his hand touches the ground, the stone turns to powder and instantly begins reforming. Izuku pushes forward, smashing everything that the bastard makes as quickly as he can and making absolutely sure that nothing can hit the bodies sleeping behind him. He doesn't stop until he slams a foot into the ground right in front of the villain, who can only stare at him with wide eyes as Izuku bares his teeth and screams.
"I'M THE ONE WHO SAVED HER FROM YOU!"
Unleashed rage turns his blood into molten metal. Izuku slams a fist into the villain's gut and then drops a blow to the back of his head. With his momentum, he can't stop without leaving another crater in the street so he plows down the street instead.
It takes a few minutes for him to well and truly return to the world.
When he does, he's breathing heavily and watching heroes stream into the ruins that the villains left behind. That he left behind. One of them, the blonde student who'd tried to leap in at the beginning, locks eyes with him and starts moving his direction. After a few seconds, Izuku manages to quell the shaking and take off, running for home.
Running, just in case she woke up.
Toshinori coughs a bit when his phone buzzes in his pocket. He itches to answer but can't. It doesn't help that he's been in his hero form for four hours now, and that these court proceedings are taking so long to go through. Apparently it's all just ceremony at this point. No one is there to say that he can't be a parent, or that he's unfit. Considering what happened, he can only imagine that no one wants to admit that this all really happened.
"Now that we've heard everything, it is the decision of this court that Toshinori Yagi, the godfather of Melissa Shield, is in fact fit for the position of guardianship until David Shield has successfully served his prison sentence for the attempted theft and breaking of I-island security measures…"
Toshinori locks eyes with his old friend, who couldn't look more disappointed, and then he turns to the young woman beside him. Part of him had always loved Melissa like a daughter. He really hadn't wanted things to turn out this way, though.