Chapter 86: IdentitiesSummary:
Secrets are revealed.
Notes:
Memes!
X X X X X
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Ochako paced back and forth across the street of the fake city, "Why didn't he tell me?!"
"I don't know." Hitoshi shrugged sympathetically. "Maybe he forgot?"
"Forgot about a lifelong nemesis, Hitoshi?" Ochako huffed. "No. he just didn't want to tell me. I mean, he told me that he had enemies, but I mean, he's the number one hero, so of course he does, but someone who has killed or at least brutally injured pretty much every single holder of One for All? That seems like something he should have mentioned before I agreed to the quirk, right?"
Hitsohi rubbed his temples, "I agree completely."
Ochako stopped, "Are you ok?"
"I'm fine." Hitoshi did not look fine. "It's just that maintaining half control is a little more taxing than full control and I've had Kurogiri under for a while."
"I am so sorry!" Ochako gasped. "I...we can deal with All for One later, um, what else do we need from this guy."
"I'm not sure." Hitoshi said. "I can just order him to go to sleep, but...Ok, um, so he said that all of the quirks that made warp gate were stolen, didn't he?"
"Yeah." Ochako nodded. "Why?"
"Well, I'm just wondering." HItoshi turned to Kurogiri. "Tell me if you chose to work for All for One."
"No." Kurogiri said blankly.
"Then tell me why you work for him." Hitoshi insisted.
Kurogiri seemed to fight the brainwashing for a moment before he answered, "Because he erased my memories and brainwashed me into being devoted to him."
Both Ochako and Hitoshi were shocked into silence for a long moment before HItoshi managed to shake himself out of it, "Ok, then uh...well, I order you to not be devoted to All for One anymore. And to remember what he forced you to forget."
"Can you even do that?" Ochako asked.
Hitoshi took a deep breath, "There's only one way to find out."
He dropped his control and they both dropped into fighting stances, but Kurogiri didn't fight them. Instead, the mist gradually receded until it was just covering the hair on his head and he looked at them with bright yellow eyes that looked lost and a bit more than a little panicked, "Um, hi. My name is Oboro Shirakumo. Nice to meet you?"
Ochako glanced over to HItoshi, who shrugged, "I guess it worked."
The ground shook, almost knocking the three of them over, and Shirakumo gulped, "He's here."
Izuku stared at the screen in shock. Half the school was gone. Before the ground started shaking, everything had been fine. Hitoshi and Uraraka had managed to catch Shirakumo, Dabi was fighting Todoroki, and the only villains still missing were Mineta and Spinner.
Everything was fine.
He sent some of the spider bots to the destroyed area, since the cameras there were obviously shot. Izuku felt a chill run down his spine as he watched the dark figure advance. He wasn't quite sure who he was, just that whatever was about to happen couldn't be good. He felt a chill run down his spine as Mei jumped up from his seat and whirl around, "Stay right where you are or I swear I will unleash all of my babies on you. I won't even blink."
Izuku jerked his head around to see one of Kurogiri's portals appearing right behind him and he only got more tense when Shinso stepped out, followed by someone they didn't recognize. The cat on Shigaraki's lap spat at the newcomer and Shigaraki had fallen into a fighting stance same as Mei.
Hitoshi held up his hand, "Whoa guys, I can explain. It's just me."
Mei eyed him suspiciously, "And where's Ochako?"
"She went to fight All Might." Hitoshi scowled. "We think it's his long last nemesis who just knocked down our front door."
"Yeah, theat's sensei." Shigaraki siad. "But who is this noob."
"I'm offended you don't recognize me Tomura, it's me, Kurogiri…" The newcomer frowned, "Shirakumo. Sorry, I'm trying to undo a decades worth of brainwashing and it's um, kind of causing problems."
Shigaraki looked like his entire world had just flipped upside down as Hitoshi confirmed, "Shirakumo is planning on pulling a Dusty and switching sides now that I got rid of All of One's brainwashing. And got some of his memories back, so he's with us. "
Iuzku glared at the two of them suspiciously, "The league has someone who can change appearances. I still need you to prove that it's you, hitoshi."
"Um, ok. " Hitoshi frowned thoughtfully, "Um…"
"She can't imitate quirks, just faces." Shigaraki said helpfully. "So just brainwash his faker and make him tell you who he really is. Two birds. One stone."
The man who claimed to be Kurogiri looked mildly offended, but nodded, "If that's what I have to do to prove my sincerity then I'll do it."
Hitoshi nodded. "Are you sure?"
Shirakumo took a deep breath, "Yes I am."
Hitoshi took control and winced, "I'm kinda starting to reach my limit buddy, but um, tell me who you are."
"I am Oboro Shirakumo, also known as Kurogiri."
Shinso dropped his control with a huff, "There, is that good enough"
Izuku nodded, "Yeah."
There was another crash and Iuzku ran back to his computer. "All Might is here."
Toshinori cured himself for being so slow, if he was still at the height of his power, he could have gathered to ua near instantly, or at least had enough resilience to catch a ride back with Uraraka after she had come to inform him about All for One's allies attacking the school but no, as it was he had to serseved his strength and couldn't run faster than the eye could see. He'd grown even weaker since the USJ incident and especially since giving his quirk to young Uraraka. It didn't help that her constant disappearances and association with wall gremlins was quickly giving him gray hairs. All that combined to say that he'd really been hoping that All for One was as dead as he'd appeared five years ago.
But unfortunately that was clearly not the case.
All for One knocked him through another wall and All Might spat out another mouthful of blood as he forced himself to his feet. "I will not let you hurt my students!"
"Ironically, it's not actually one of your students I'm after, it's my own." All for One replied amicably. "Well, perhaps with the exception of your successor, but she's a slippery one."
"You stay away from her." Toshinori snarled. "I won't have you hurting her like you hurt Master Shimura!"
"Funny you should mention your old mentor." All for One grinned widely. "Have I ever mentioned Tomura Shigaraki's true identity?"
"Well, he's an asshole" Shigaraki said. "And here I thought he would have picked up anybody he thought he could manipulate."
Izuku and Mei had managed to get some shaky audio from the few remaining cameras, but even with the poor quality audio, they could have heard a pin drop as All for One detailed the way he had hand-picked Shigaraki just because of his connection to One for All.
Hitoshi snorted at Shigaraki's reaction, "You just learned that the guy who raised you basically only took you in to hurt All might and that's all you have to say?
"What? Are you saying I'm wrong" Shigaraki asked defensively "And besides, he didn't do most of the work, his lackeys did, like kuro...shira..whatever over there."
"If I'm allowed to put my two cents in," Shirakumo said dryly, "may I just say that raising you was not easy."
The room shook again as All Might launched forward and the titans started clashing again.
"This room is gonna come down soon." Mei frowned. "Dust boy! Disintegrate the ceiling. Portal man! Make sure the dust doesn't get into the computers.
"Dust boy?" Shigaraki balked.
"Just do it Tomura." Shirakumo said tiredly. "I'll make sure debreis doesn't fall on us from above."
"Destroy the room before it has a chance to destroy us." Izuku nodded thoughtfully. "Smart. Not an option for the other students though. I'm gonna give the group chat a clue for how to get into the tunnels. There's one or two places that can act as bomb shelters, so I'll go ahead and send them a map. They just have to get there before All Might and All for One destroy the entire school….easy."
There was a long moment of awkward silence and they all shared matching grimaces as they realized how not easty that would be.
Finally, Shirakumo cleared his throat, "Maybe I can help? Unlike your friend Uraraka, I specialize in transporting large amounts of people at the same time."
"No good. "Mei said quickly. "They won't trust you."
"Ah, they don't have to." Shirakumo said sheepishly. "Not if i'm quick enough."
Izuku blinked, "So you're suggesting kidnapping our classmates for their own good?"
Hitoshi smiled, "Well, it won't be the first time you to have done that!"
The room shook again and a few things fell off the shelves. Izuku's expression hardened, "Do it."
Ochako knew she'd be safer inside instead of holding herself in midair above the school, but even though she knew Izuku probably had eyes on the fight, she couldn't bring herself to leave. In a way, this was her fight too. She was the next holder of One for all and therefore All for One was her rival too. If All Might fell, she was the only one strong enough to pick up the fight.
As if on cue, all for one launched another superpowered punch at All Might, who barely managed to hold his ground. The media was starting to warm and ochako noticed a few helicopters in the air with her. "Come on All Might." Ochako muttered, "You can do this. Get up and fight him. "
All Might, however, wasn't nearly as strong as he had been. Ochako gasped as the dust and steam cleared to reveal All Might looking ragged and deflated in his smaller form. She could only imagine how the media reacted but she didn't have time to think on it because the moment she saw All Might in danger, she was suddenly right in front of him. She released her quirk and landed in a crouch, slowly standing and doing her best to stare down All for One when he didn't have eyes.
"I think it's time we finally met." Ochako said, doing her best to keep her voice from shaking. "I'm Ochako Urarka, the ninth holder of One for All and I'm here to take you down."
Notes:
Next Update: January 27, 2022 (MST)
Chapter 87: AngerSummary:
The attack on UA comes to a climax.
Notes:
Memes!
X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
"Has anyone seen Shinso or Ochako?!" Mina yelled. "I can't find them anywhere!""
The hallway was crowded with both hero and support course students as almost every single person currently on campus huddled together to try and find some protection. The building kept shaking like it was going to collapse, but Cementoss had, so far, been pretty good at keeping things from splitting apart. He'd only be able to last for so long though, so everyone with a shielding quirk was getting ready for action. She was too, even though she could only hope that her acid would be faster than the falling debris, but she was determined to do whatever she could. They would have evacuated...if they weren't sure that whatever was going on out there was 100 times worse than whatever they were experiencing. Yeah, no, going outside was not going to happen.
There was a swirl of mist and everyone screamed as the entire group was suddenly consumed by a purple cloud of the stuff. It was like the USJ all over again and Mei felt the floor disappear from underneath her feet as they were teleported to a room even smaller than the hallway they'd been in before. The villains they'd caught had gotten teleported too, but to Mina's surprise, they were still with the group instead of getting teleported back to the villain's base.
A loud voice cut through the panic, "Hello everyone, it's me, Cheat Code, please calm down!"
Reluctantly, the students stopped pushing at each other and looked toward a speaker embedded in the wall, "All Might is fighting a villain outside and it's unsafe both for the heroes and the villains to be in the main school right now. You are still at UA, just in a bomb shelter that is highly rated enough to keep you safe. If you have any other questions, please ask Nedzu."
Mina looked around in confusion before she realized that Nedzu, Aizawa, and Todoroki, alongside what looked like a detective, who hadn't been with the group before, had been teleported to...well, to relative safety alongside them.
"Well," Nedzu smiled, "This is an interesting development!"
"What in the world do you think you're doing?!" Izuku yelled at the screen. "He beat All Might, you can't fight him!"
"I have to go help her." Hitoshi paced restlessly. "I have to…"
He tried to go for the door, but Kurogiri portaled him back to the center of the room, "No, you'll only get yourself killed. "
Hitoshi turned to him with a glare, "I have to protect her."
"Do you have One for All?" Mei huffed. "No, so sit down and we'll figure out a way to help her without you charging in like an idiot!"
"What's the support gear he's wearing?" Izuku muttered. "Is it something to strengthen his quirks or just some kind of body armor? Either way, disabling that…"
"Could be deadly." Shigaraki finished. "It's actually his life support. All Might did a lot of damage in their last fight."
Izuku's face lit up, "Even better. We disable his life support and we give Uraraka a fighting chance. Shigaraki, I need to know everything you know about it. I'm sure you know a little bit about technology, being a gamer and all."
Shigaraki grinned, "Yeah, I guess I'm not a complete noob. It's a bit different than a gaming system, but I know enough weak points to point out your targets."
"Good." Izuku ran a quick inventory to figure out which of the school defenses were still functional. "Let's hear it."
"Young Uraraka!" All Might said desperately. "Get away from here! Now!"
"No." Ochako didn't look away from All for One. "This is my fight too, All Might."
"Ah, so the girl actually knows what it means to hold One for All." All for One laughed. "Did you tell her, or did she have to figure it out on her own?"
Ochako ignored a stab of anger at the insult and shifted her stance, "What's important is that I'm not going to let you hurt me or anyone else ever again."
Even without eyes, the patronizing expression on his face was obvious, "Oh my child, that's what all the other holders said as well."
Ochako yelled and ran forward.
All for One sounded almost bored, "Air cannon times five."
Ochako barely teleported out of the way in time, slowed down by having to grab All Might and get him out of the way too, "Get out of here, I can handle this."
"No. you can't." All for One walked toward her. "You don't stand a…."
He was cut off as something exploded underneath him and Ochako smiled as she realized that Izuku must be weaponizing the playing field, "I think you underestimate me and my friends."
"You can't follow a trapper." Mineta called out. "I know you're there."
Spinner dropped from the ceiling and drew his Katana, "You're the one who killed Stain."
"No." Mineta lied. "The heroes did."
"A false hero did." Spinner shot back. "And I think a traitor like you fits that definition perfectly. You can't argue with it anyway, I know . He told me."
"Who?" Mineta panicked momentarily. All for One wouldn't have betrayed him. He didn't have any reason to...right?
"Stain." Spinner tapped his head. "That brainwasher destroyed the walls between us and now I can hear him perfectly. You killed him."
"So what if I did?" Mineta huffed and grabbed a ball from his head. "Killing him was easy, so do you really think you'll stand a chance against me? Don't be ridiculous."
"Oh, you're not just fighting me." The building shook and MIneta struggled to keep his footing, but Spinner just used his quirk to stick himself to the floor. He crawled forward like a lizard, unbothered by the shaking floor, and Mineta tried to dodge, but ended up falling to the floor as another violent tremor passed through. Spinner bit MIneta's arm as he passed and then stood up, licking blood from his lips. "You're fighting both me and Stain."
Mineta felt a shot of fear rip through him as his body went stiff and fell to the floor. He had to get out of this. Sensei would save him...no, no one would save him. For the first time, it was him who was stuck and not his prey.
The building stopped shaking and Spinner stalked forward, drawing his Katana, "And now it's time for you to die."
"Alright, so what next?" Izuku asked. "We've done just a generic explosion, which should have done a little damage."
"Explosions are really only useful if they can clog up his air filters with the smoke." Shigaraki said. "He's got a really high hp, but his constitution is low if we can disable his equipment."
"Alright." Izuku pressed a few buttons. "Smoke bombs it is. What else can I disable?"
"That depends." Shigaraki grinned. "Do you have access to tasers?"
All for One was not doing well. He still hadn't managed to land a single hit on that darn girl because she simply kept teleporting out of the way. She'd learned after the first time that she had to put All Might out of his sight, so he had no idea where his nemesis was and there was a severe lack of other hostages to use. He'd tried using the media helicopters, but she had simply gotten them out of the way as well….or well, the people, considering that the helicopters themselves almost fell on him without anyone driving them. She couldn't match him in physical strength, but in speed and strategy, he would almost be tempted to admit she was superior. He, however, was All for one.
It would have been simpler if he could see the other enemy fighting him. He knew it was Cheat Code, the way the school's remaining defenses were being weaponized against him made that obvious enough, but without knowing where the nuisance was, it was impossible to take them out. His air filters were already giving him issues from all the smoke in the area and All for One was almost certain that Cheat Code was doing that on purpose. And if he knew about the air filter, that meant that choices were high that Tomura was with him and feeding him information. His path forward was simple then, he simply had to find both his target in One fell sweep. It should be an easy task for the symbol of evil. All Mights' successor made another run at him and he readied another attack to push her away, but she disappeared before he could even launch it. In his brief moment of distraction, however, little robotic bugs started climbing up his legs. He went to brush them away when he was hit with a massive shock and all of the sudden, it was Much more difficult to breath. They had fried his life support systems.
"All right. Time to stop playing around." All for One grunted. "Kinetic energy times ten."
"Did my babies do good, Izu-kun?" Mei bounced up and down. "I gave the spider bots the taser marbles and put them exactly where dust boy said!"
"Your babies did amazing, Mei-chan." Izuku grinned. "You can already tell he's looking a little rougher and…"
He was cut off by Kurogiri suddenly snatching him up with a portal and dropping them all with the other students. "My apologies, but that room wasn't going to be safe anymore. You did well, Cheat Code, but um, you also may have managed to make All for One angry. I'll get your friend and All Might and get them here as well."
Izuku nodded, "Ok, good luck."
It was around the time he disappeared that all of the gathered students finally got over their shock and exploded with questions.
"What are the villains doing here?"
"Are you working with the league?"
"You're Cheat Code?!"
Izuku gulped and reached for Mei's hand, "This is why I hide behind a computer."
Shouta stared at the man who had brought back All Might and Uraraka. The quirk was Kurogiri's, obviously, but the face, that was Shirakumo. When he saw him the first time, he'd been half convinced that his eyes were playing tricks on him, but now, seeing him again, he cannot deny the similarities. How in the world had he ended up with the villains?
Shouta glanced over at Hizashi, who seemed to be going through the same thought process he was. Shouta swallowed, "Do you think it's really…?"
Hiszashi took a deep breath, "Well, there's only one way to find out."
He pushed his way across the crowded room and marched straight up to the Shirakumo look-alike, who was currently on the floor playing with the cat that seemed to hang around Shigaraki and Todoroki, "Shirakumo is that you?"
He looked up and gave them a far too familiar smile, "Hizashi, Shouta?! It's been forever!"
"Yeah." Mic's voice sounded choked, "Yeah it has."
Before either of them had time to react, Mic had pulled Oboro to his feet and trapped them both in a big hug.
Oboro laughed and hugged them both tighter, "I guess I've got some explaining to do, huh?"
Shotua pulled away and raised an eyebrow, "You think?"
Oboro gave a wet laugh, wiping tears from his eyes. "Yeah, I mean, it's still a little fuzzy for me too, but this kid, one of your students, I'm pretty sure, he saved me and helped break the brainwashing I was under and everything that All for one used to control me. Um, uh, where did he go…"
"Uh…"
Shouta looked to see Hitohi standing with Uraraka and staring at them in shock, "Do you guys know each other?"
"Oh yeah. I was just talking about you!" Oboro grinned. "This is the kid who saved me."
Shouta felt himself tearing up as he put his arm around Hitoshi's shoulder, "I guess then, that you've already met our son, Hitoshi."
All for One ripped the walls apart. He could tell Cheat Code had been there, a technology mapping quirk let him know that the camera feeds from the front of the school were still being piped into the giant computer until he destroyed it with a single punch. The ceiling had been disintegrated away, so Shigaraki had been there as well, and they were gone, so Kurogiri had been there too. Though the fact that their teleporter was apparently helping the heroes was inconvenient at best. Oh well, just one more name to add to his extermination list. There was nothing left to find here and neither All Might nor his infuriating successor had shown their faces again so All for One stalked away, breathing heavily through his mask now that his life support had been made useless by that stuipid eclectic attack. He was on a timer to end his fight quickly, which was quite the feat when all of his opponents were cowards!
"You're not a difficult man to find."
All for One turned around slowly, sensing Spinner behind him. "Ah Spinner, it is nice to know that not all of my forces are useless."
"You see, that's where you're mistaken. "Spinner said. "I am no longer part of your forces."
All for One scowled, "Oh really?"
"Yes." Spinner said. "My mind has been freed and I finally see clearly. You see, heroes did not kill Stain. "
All for One felt a hint of annoyance, "Oh?"
"I've already disposed of your little traitor." Spinner informed him. "Now it's your turn."
If All for One still had eyes, he would have rolled them. "I just beat All Might, you can't expect to hold a candle against me"
"You see, that's where you're wrong." Spinner raised his kanatna and ran forward. "Things are only impossible if you lack conviction!"
All for One sighed, ignoring the pain in his lungs as he batted the lizard away with one hand, "I don't have time for theis get out of my way."
"No!" Spinner growled, getting to his feet. "Your time is up!"
He ran at All for One again, then again, then again, and each time, All for One butted him away like it was nothing, but i wasn't. His breathing was getting more and more labored. He needed to get back to the doctor, and quickly. As much as he hated it, the best course of action would be to retreat and then dispose of his enemies another day. How amazing.
Suddenly his body locked up and he fell to the floor, knocking his head against the concrete on his way down and shattering his mask.
"That's the thing about conviction!" Spinner said, raising his katana above All for One's neck. "Much like blood, a little goes a long way."
All for One winced as the katana came down. All those plans and he didn't even get to enjoy the outcome.
Nedzu looked out over the ruins of UA and sighed, "We are going to have to rebuild this entire school...perhaps we should make a few changes while we're at it."
Notes:
Next Update: January 28, 2022 (MST)
Chapter 88: ReconstructionSummary:
UA gets a makeover.
Notes:
Memes!
X X
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Izuku put the last of his notebooks into his backpack and walked out of his empty room. The service that UA had hired to help all the students move into the dorms was already there and Mom fretted nervously as they carried Izuku's boxes out of the apartment, "Baby, are you sure you want to move into the dorms? I know they said they may as well build them, since they're rebuilding everything else, but it just seems so hard having you so far away…"
"I'll be close to my friends." Izuku said tiredly. "And I'll be surrounded by heroes, Mom. I'll be fine."
They'd had the same discussion twenty times that week, twice just this morning as he was packing up the last of everything, which only reaffirmed his decision to move out. He'd be closer to his labs and his new computer setup in case of another attack and he'd get to spend more time with Mei and his friends. It didn't make it any easier to say goodbye when Mom was hugging him with tears in her eyes, though.
"I'm not going to be gone forever." Izuku insisted. "I'll still visit on the weekends and everything!"
"I know!" Mom sniffled. "But it just feels...oh you're going to be so far away. At least you'll be protected and safe with all those heroes. I don't want you getting swept up in any more of those villain attacks, you could have been hurt so badly."
Izuku gave her a strained smile. The school had tried telling her about his involvement in the villain attacks, but all she'd heard was that he was the victim, not that he was one of the people trying to prevent the attacks, and it had just made her worry more. It gave Izuku a little more leverage for his argument to move into the dorms, but it still left a bad taste in his mouth.
"I'd better get going." Izuku said. "Mei's probably already there looking over blueprints, so…"
Mom frowned, "You're going to be living very close to your girlfriend, Izuku. Um...do we need to talk about…"
Izuku went bright red and shook his head, "No! Uh, sorry, no, it's just, she's way more interested in making her babies than...you know, making babies or anything."
Mom sighed in relief, "Ok. just so you know, if you ever have questions, I'm here."
"Ok." Izuku smiled. "Well, um, I'd better get going. Bye."
He gave her a final hug and walked out the door.
Hitoshi fiddled with the ribbon on the daisies while he waited for Ochako to pick him up, "You don't think the flowers are too much?"
"Definitely not," Mic answered quickly. "Everyone loves flowers."
"I'm sure she'll love them." Aizawa added. "And the two of you are so awkward already that even if it's the wrong move, she probably won't care."
"Shou!" Mic punched him in the arm. "You can't just say that!"
"Why not?" Aizawa grinned wickedly. "It's true!"
"Don't listen to him." Mic huffed "You'll be fine."
Their entire apartment was a mess of boxes and half-packed suitcases and Hitoshi was pretty sure he should have picked literally any other day for their first official date, but he hadn't known that they were going to be instituting brand new dorms when he'd suggested going out for mochi today. Since both of his adults were teachers, they had a brand new apartment on campus that they didn't have to pay rent for, so, as Dad would say, it was only logical to move. It still didn't make today any less stressful or chaotic.
"I feel like I should be picking her up." Hitoshi said. "Isn't the guy supposed to pick the girl up for the first date?"
"For right now, Uraraka still lives two hours away." Dad said. "And she can teleport. You picking her up would be illogical."
Hitoshi groaned. "I know you're right, it's just...I want to do this right, you know?"
Mic smiled and brushed a bit of imaginary dust from HItoshi's shoulder, "That's what the flowers are for. You're gonna do great, son."
Hitoshi took a deep breath and let it out. "O-ok."
Aizawa nodded proudly, "You've been through like three life or death situations with this girl now, a date is gonna be a piece of cake."
Ochako appeared right next to him, "What's gonna be a piece of cake?"
"Me convincing my husband to eat an actual meal and not just coffee." Mic said quickly.
"Fat chance." Aizawa shot back. "It's got multiple food groups. Therefore, logically, it qualifies as a meal."
Mic pouted, "There's nothing logical about it."
Aizawa just grinned in response, "You two stay safe, call us if there's any villain attacks."
"And have fun!" Mic added. "Don't forget that!"
Ochako smiled, "Oh that'll be easy with Shindig around." She turned to Hitoshi. "Are you ready?"
"Definitely." Hitoshi held out the flowers hesitantly. "And, um, these are for you. If you want them. If you don't, they were my adults' idea."
"Oh, I want them." Ochako turned bright red and took the bouquet, "Thank you. I love them."
She held out her hand for him to take and then stopped, "Oh, uh, actually I forgot. I don't have an anchor at the Mochi place...oops. We might have to walk."
Hitoshi smiled and took her hand anyway, "It's ok. That just means I get to spend more time with you."
Shouto looked at the setup that Shigaraki had planned and shook his head, "I can't believe they're letting you have an entire gaming setup in a prison cell."
Because Shigaraki's information had been essential to protecting the students during the attack on UA, Principal Nedzu had taken responsibility for him. His crimes were too great for traditional house arrest, but he'd been given a cell underneath UA that was basically an extra-secure apartment that locked from the outside and he was allowed to have visitors. Nedzu had even installed a door just big enough for Epurr to fit in, since she'd decided to follow her kittens to the dorms rather than stay in Murder Alley. Shigaraki had brought all his gaming consoles and, once Powerloader had checked them over for security reasons, he'd been allowed to create his own set up.
"Well, it's not like they set me to Tartarus or anything, so that's nice." Shigaraki shrugged. "Plus, it's not like I can step out of line. If I remove these stupid gloves or make a move to use my quirk, the room will instantly fill with some sort of sedative gas and I'll be knocked out before I could even hurt the cat."
Epurr hissed from her place on his gaming chair, but when she saw Shigaraki didn't mean it, she yawned and went back to sleep.
Shouto laughed, "Be careful, I think Epurr might get to you before UA's defenses will."
"No, but I think she's going to smother me in my sleep." Shigaraki said. "How she gets along with the rat principal I have no idea. Are you ready to start the stream?"
"Sure." Shouto shrugged. "Is everything already set up?"
Shigaraki rolled his eyes, "Like I have anything else to do."
Shouto took a seat on the second chair as Shigaraki glared at Epurr, "Move you stupid cat."
"Just put her on your lap or something." Shouto said. "Come on, hurry up."
"Whatever." Shigaraki scooped up Epurr and dumped her in Shouto's lap. "Your cat, your problem."
Epurr gave a disgruntled meow, but settled down on the left half of Shouto's lap. He sighed, "Fine, but she's going to wear you down eventually, you know that right?"
"I can pretend." Shigaraki did a final check that everything was working and then started the stream, "Hello everyone, sorry we dropped off the face of the earth, we got arrested."
"You mean I got arrested, which was your fault by the way." Shouto deadpanned. "You turned yourself in, it doesn't count."
"Yeah?" Shigaraki challenged. "And who's streaming from a jail cell right now?"
Shouto smiled, "Technically both of us."
A look at the chat confirmed that everyone, as usual, assumed they were joking. Their fans were going to get a nasty shock if the two of them ever decided to turn on their cameras.
Mei was already at the school, or what there was left of it. They had put first priority on completing the dorms so that the students could move in, but the rest of the school was still a giant mess of construction and wet concrete. About a third of the school had been completely destroyed and three quarters had been damaged in some way or another.
The good thing was that no civilians had been injured during the attack and student injuries had been kept to a minimum and were mostly just from the students getting caught in the gas attack. Most of the villains had been injured in some capacity with the exception of Dabi who had left before the attack was over, but the only deaths had been All for One and Mineta, who had both shown evidence of being killed by Spinner, not the heroes.
The days since the attack had been a whirlwind of activity, especially for the support course students who were all helping with the reconstruction. Izuku and Mei had spent most of that time helping to redesign the tunnels and making some manual defenses that didn't rely on electricity as a power source.
In other news, they had learned that trebuchets were a lot of fun.
The labs weren't complete yet, so Mei had set up a miniature lab in the common room of their dorms and Izuku smiled as he watched her fiddle with the prototypes they'd made yesterday, "You look like you're having fun. Is your stuff already moved in?"
"The movers are still bringing it over." Mei said without looking up. "You?"
"I'm in the same boat." Izuku said. "So, what do you want to work on until then."
Mei grinned and pulled out some blueprints, "Well, I was thinking of some ways we could make the tunnels a lot more fun!"
Notes:
Final Update: January 29, 2022 (MST)
Chapter 89: HeroesSummary:
Nedzu makes an offer
Notes:
Memes!
X X X X X
Chapter Text
Izuku and Mei were in a construction tent that was currently doubling as Nedzu's office.
"Do you think Nedzu wants to talk about the tunnels or the trebuchets?" Mei asked. "Ooh! Maybe he has a new project he wants us to work on!"
"I'm not sure." Izuku hummed. "Don't get too excited though. He probably just asked us to come so we could talk about logistics."
Nedzu's voice rang out behind them, "In a way, you are both correct."
Izuku and Mei looked to see Nedzu walking into the tent.
"So….we have a new project?" Mei asked hopefully.
"Of a sort." Nedzu said, taking a seat. "I"m sure you're aware that the provisional licensing exam for our hero students is mere weeks away."
"Yeah." Izuku nodded. "Do you want us to give everyone another analysis? Or maybe help them train one on one in preparation for the exam?"
"No." Nedzu smiled. "I would like you to take the exam."
The walk to the mochi shop was nice. It was a warm day and even though he didn't have to, Hitoshi held her hand the whole way. Ochako felt like her face was on fire and she really hoped her naturally pink cheeks disguised at least some of the blush but knew that was probably hoping for too much.
Finally, Hitohi broke the silence, "What do you think of the new dorms?"
"It's kinda weird." Ochako said. "I just barely moved back in with my parents and now I'm gonna be moving out again, it's just a lot of moving."
"Well, you're a teleporter." HItoshi smiled, "You're always going to be Ocha-going someplace or another."
Ochako shot him a playful glare and he laughed, nudging her slightly and they walked the last block to the Mochi shop in comfortable silence.
Izuku stared at Nedzu in disbelief, "What?!" We're not heroes, we're support. We don't want to be heroes."
"What Izuku said." Mei nodded. "I'm not abandoning my babies."
Nedzu held up his hand in a calming gesture. "We're not asking you to. You would still be primarily in support, but what with your prominent involvement in every villain attack we've experienced so far this year, not to mention the increased danger that will come now that your identity as Cheat Code is more widely known, it only makes sense for you to be able to defend yourselves, both in terms of skill and legality. And, of course, in order to do so most effectively, you would need hero licenses!"
"But we don't want hero licenses." Mei said simply. "Licenses mean work and time that I could be using to perfect my babies, so no thank you!"
"It also means using those inventions to help others." Nedzu pointed out. "Which you have already proven that you are capable of doing with great effect. The licenses would simply give you more freedom and resources to do what you have already been doing of your own perogative."
"But we don't want to be heroes." Izuku stood up. "And even if I did want to be a hero, which I don't, I can't. "
Nedzu tilted his head, "And why do you say that?"
Izuku looked at him incredulously, "Um, because I'm quirkless? I thought that was obvious by now."
"Ah," Nedzu looked at him sadly. "I suppose your reaction makes much more sense now, even if I do not agree."
Izuku stopped, "What?"
"The idea that a quirkless person cannot become a hero is, quite happily, incorrect." Nedzu chirped. "Of course, there will be more difficulties, but you excel at overcoming every obstacle in your path, so I have no doubt of your capabilities and there are no laws preventing it, so yes, I believe it is perfectly possible for you to become a hero."
Izuku shook his head, "Look, I gave up on that dream a long time ago…"
"Be that as it may," Nedzu interrupted, "getting licensed is still the best course of action. You may not have had any legal ramifications from your involvement thus far, but if you keep assisting as you have been and performing heroics without a license, that will not always be the case."
"But we're not performing heroics." Mei argured. "We're acting as support, which is what we want to do. That's why we came to UA in the first place."
"Yeah." Izuku agreed. "What we're doing isn't hero work."
"You are saving people." Nedzu shrugged. "I fail to see the difference."
"I've never wanted to be a hero." Mei said. "It would take my focus away from my babies."
"It would also give you better opportunities to advertise them." Nedzu smiled. "Imagine seeing a hero use their own inventions and trusting their life to them, how much more enticing would those inventions look, both to the public and to other heroes. Much more effective than a traditional commercial, don't you think?"
Mei bit her lip, "Well, when you put it like that…"
"How about I let you think on it?" Nedzu suggested. "You two can talk it over and tell me your decision by tonight. That way we can properly adjust your schedules for the upcoming semester. I assure you that you will still be primarily students of Class 1F, but you will be joining class 1A for subjects such as heroics and combat. You would be both support and heroes...support heroes, if you would."
Izuku and Mei shared a look. They had a lot to think about.
Hitoshi smiled as he overlooked the large variety of Mochi they'd ended up with, "You know, this is probably too much mochi for two people."
Ochako hummed, "That's what a coward would say. What, Shindig? Aren't you up for a challenge."
"Oh I'm always up for a challenge." Hitoshi smirked. "Otherwise I wouldn't have been able to catch a teleporter."
Ochako blushed and ducked her head, "I guess not."
"Oh..uh, my adoption papers are going to be coming through soon." Hitoshi said. "It's weird timing right when we're having to pack everything up for the dorms."
"How is that even going to work?" Ochako's eyes widened. "The dorms, not the adoption, obviously not. Oh my goodness. I am so sorry, uh, congratulations."
Hitoshi managed to hold back for a few seconds before bursting into laughter., "Well, for the adoption, you see when two men love each other very much…"
Ochako hit his arm, "Oh stunt up, you realize I can just leave right?"
Hitoshi gave her a cocky smile, "And yet you're still here."
Ochako raised an eyebrow, "I don't have to be."
Hitoshi smirked, "They're giving my adults an apartment on campus so they can hang around and respond if there's any issues in the dorm or whatever. I get a normal dorm like everyone else, but I'll also have a room at the apartment if I want it. It's just kinda up to me."
Ochako nodded, "It sounds like fun. I'm just glad you're in 1A now. It would be so weird if you had to live in the 1C dorm. I mean, it's gonna be weird enough with Mei and Izuku livinig in 1F.
"Let's be honest," Hitoshi. Rolled his eyes. "Those two are going to be living in the tunnels. The rat's already practically adopted them, so they may as well just make their home in the maze."
Ochako laughed, "Yeah, they're probably there now."
Izuku paced back and forth in one of the few areas of the school that had been completed Mei sat on the floor working on her latest project as Izuku paced. "You're going to give yourself motion sickness.'
Izuku slumped down onto the floor with a huff, "What gives them the right to tell me I can be a hero now of all times, Mei-chan? I begged to be a hero for 10 years, that's a whole decade and everyone told me no, even my mom. But now that I've given up and found a new goal and am finally in a good place, now all of sudden, it was possible all along?! How does that even make any sense? What gives them the right to suddenly change their minds like that."
"In his defense," Mei said, "Nedzu was never one of the ones who told you that."
"My old principal did." Izuku argued. "And my teachers and Kacchan and everybody else. I finally accepted that it was impossible, Mei . I found a new dream and I even held a pity party for goodness sake! I threw a goddamn mental funeral for my old dream! What gives them the right to tell me I can be a hero after I put in all that work to come to terms with the fact that I couldn't?"
Mei put down her invention and reached for his hand, "You're being an idiot."
She turned away and started tinkering with her tools again while Izuku stared at her in shock, "Excuse me, I thought girlfriends were supposed to be supportive."
"Not when you're bing stupid." Mei said simply. "I put a lot of work into inventions that never work out, but does that mean I shouldn't try? No! Even if it blows up in my face, it was still worth the work I put into it because I learned something from it. You're just over there giving into the sunk cost fallacy, so no, I'm not going to agree with you. You're being stupid."
Izuku froze, "Oh…"
Mei snorted, "Yep. It doesn't matter what work you've already put in, you can't change that. What you can change is what you do now. I think Nedzu's right. Being heroes will give us a really great opportunity to market our inventions and give us more resources to do what we've already been doing, but you're my partner, so I'm not doing it without you."
Izuku took a deep breath and took Mei's hand before walking into the classroom. Aizawa greeted them with a nod and Hitoshi and Ochako smiled at them while the rest of the class exchanged glances of confusion. Izuku squeezed Mei's hand a little tighter and gave a little wave, "Hello everyone."
"Class, you already know Cheat Code." Aizawa said. "Shinso. Would you like to introduce us to our friends and explain a little bit about why they're here?"
"Yeah." Hitoshi stood up with a grin. "Everybody, these are my kidnappers, Izuku Midoirya and Mei Hatsume and they are going to be heroes."
Notes:
This fic has a Tv Tropes page and a Discord.
If you want to yell at me, please leave a comment or find me on tiktok or tumblr.
I am fine with any translations or fanworks based on my stories. My only rule is that if you post something based on my writing, give me the link so I can enjoy it as well!
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